CLOUD PORTAL
A new drawing in my small Rhodia drawing book (“Shoshi’s Little Black Book”).
I have just started following Miss Betsi on YouTube and learning some of her doodle patterns and techniques. She is worth checking out, as she does beautiful 3-D pen work.
One of her drawings was of a tunnel, or portal, and it got me thinking about how I might use this to represent the Rapture of the Church.
The Rapture of the Church
1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
The late Dr. Chuck Missler, Bible teacher extraordinaire, described the Rapture as “Christianity’s most preposterous belief,” and at first glance it certainly looks like it! However, the Bible is quite clear that this extraordinary event will take place, and given that all the signs of the End Times prophesied in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments are now in place and converging, that event is surely not far off.
The world is rapidly heading towards the most devastating and terrible period of its entire history, according to the Bible – the seven-year Tribulation when God’s wrath will be poured out on a rebellious and disbelieving world. Please see my page “New Life in Christ” for more details about how to avoid going through this terrible time, and to receive God’s promise that all who put their faith in Jesus Christ will be “delivered from the wrath to come.”
The cloud portal
It has long been known, and confirmed in the Bible, that there is an unseen spiritual realm inhabited by angels both loyal and fallen, and demons. This is now postulated to be a separate dimension from that in which we currently live on earth and in the physical universe. There are ancient sites around the world which have long been believed to be portals to this realm.
When Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection (see Acts chapter 1), He was taken up in a cloud and disappeared from the disciples’ sight. We know from what the angel said to the disciples at that time that He will return in like manner and His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, at the end of the Tribulation. This is His Second Coming. Seven years prior to that, before the beginning of the Tribulation, the Bible states that He will come in the clouds but rather than setting foot on earth, He will call the true believing Church, the Bride of Christ, up to meet Him in the air, from whence He will take us to His Father’s House in heaven. This will surely involve the opening of a portal through which we will pass into the heavenly realm.
This is what I have attempted to depict in my drawing.
The Greek word “harpazo” means “the snatching away,” or “rapture.” This is the word from which “caught up” is translated in the passage quoted above. Many people deny the doctrine of the Rapture because they say the word does not appear in the Bible. This is true, in our English translations – it does not. However, in the Latin Bible the word is “rapio,” from which the word “rapture” is derived, and from which we also get the class of birds of prey known as “raptors” because they snatch away their prey, quickly and suddenly from above.
The gold lines ascending from the word “harpazo” into the portal represent the believers. The darkness surrounding the portal prefigures the dark period of the Tribulation to come, after the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit indwelling the Church is removed from the earth, and evil is allowed free rein for a season.
For any out there who do not believe in Jesus, the world will experience a huge shock with the disappearance of millions of people from the earth in an instant. There is no doubt that the powers that be will try to explain this event away, for instance that the aliens have come and removed all the Christians who through their bigotry and old-fashioned attitudes have been holding the world back from achieving its full potential, enabled by those oh-so-friendly “space brothers.” Do not be deceived. Put your faith in the Lord Jesus now, or if you have been left behind, immediately after the event, and on no account receive the “mark” which the world leader will impose on everyone, because if you do, the Bible says it will be absolutely impossible for you to be saved.
To receive Christ today and escape the wrath to come, please see my page “New Life in Christ,” and may God bless you.
The drawing was worked using Staedtler fine liners. The shadows were created with Tombow Dual Brush Markers in various shades of grey, and the gold is a fine-tipped Posca acrylic marker with metallic gold.
