I think all kids are fascinated by magnets and how they attract and repel each other. One magnet can chase another one across a table. A person can do tricks such as placing a magnet under a sheet of paper or cardboard and pull items in various directions.
When I was about 9, my brother and I got Monster Magnet by Wham-O. We had lots of fun with them! They were red, shaped with two arms and you put your hand through its mouth to use them. Once they attracted and got stuck, it was very hard to break away. I sometimes pulled my little brother across the floor with my magnet as we tried to break loose the grip!
Obviously, magnets are fun. People can be like magnets: we can be drawn to them, or they repel us. We say, “I’m drawn to him.” Jesus had magnetic charm. Even kids wanted to be around Him. That can’t be said about a lot of us. Jesus was genuine.
Besides His charm, healing abilities, and providing for the needs of others, He had a different type of magnetism. He was God-in-the-flesh! Almost all of humanity is drawn to God! We want to be in His favor. We want to please Him. We want to imitate His ways. We want to be in right standings with Him. And we want to be like Him! But He had a different way of making sure all mankind could be “attracted” to Him. Jesus said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). So, what exactly did He mean? Would He use a huge, powerful Mega-Monster Magnet? Would He force men to follow Him? Nope! He was predicting His death!
Through crucifixion, He knew He’d be suspended between earth and heaven. He would accomplish the plan He, the Father, and Holy Spirit, had agreed upon BEFORE the foundations of the earth!
The Father’s wrath is something none of us can take. Only Jesus, the perfect Lamb, could offer a perfect sacrifice and appease God’s demands (John 1:29). Therefore, after suffering brutal beatings and a horrendous death in our place, He rose/went to the Father with our redemption, and drew all men to Himself and the Father. That’s Magnetism!
But that’s only the beginning! Soon to come, Jesus will, like a huge magnet, call all believers home! “But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 underline mine).
That will be an absolute attraction! We’ll be “beamed up in millionths of microseconds! *The word Rapture comes from the Greek word, harpazō, meaning to snatch away, or be caught up (underlined above).
Millions of Christians misunderstand the Rapture because they miss the point that when the trumpet sounds, no one will see Him! We’ll be gathered to Him in the air and will stay with Him to celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb just before He returns with us (Revelation 19:7-9) at the Second Coming. That’s when all eyes will see Him. He’ll return with the armies of heaven (Revelation 19:14), (Jude 1:14), (Zechariah 14:5), which include the saints (the church)! He can’t show up at the end of time without the saints, and suddenly, we’ll be there. First, we have to go to Him!
Be drawn to Him!
Sam
Recommended Song: Who Is This {Official Lyric Video} Vineyard Worship feat. Wendy O’Connell.
P.S. In the previous post, The Vail Upon Your Heart, the word appears as vail in the Old Testament, and as veil in the New Testament. For the sake of Scripture, I had to go with vail.