The Rapture in Prophecy

Transcript

GRM 931
1/23/2005
The Rapture in Prophecy
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We’ve been talking about the matter of biblical prophecy and last week we started to look at the matter of the rapture, the rapture of the church, that time when Jesus Christ will come to gather the church to be with Himself. We noted that foundational to everything in our search of scripture is coming with a literal or normal approach in interpreting the Bible. That would mean we interpret it grammatically, according to the rules of grammar. We interpret it historically, in its historical setting. The Bible was written 2000 or more years ago, so naturally we have to become somewhat familiar with the setting in which it was written to understand better its meaning. The context of scripture becomes crucial in our understanding. Most people drift in their understanding of scripture over this basic issue. They assume that somehow the Bible is a spiritual book, that means you just don’t read it and take it at face value. You look for hidden meaning. We read it devotionally, by which I mean you just read it and try to think of something that means something special to you in that passage. Again, I’m not minimizing the personal impact of the Word of God. You understand that God has spoken, and He has spoken clearly and understandably and what He has said cannot be understood in 13 different ways. We understand it as He gave it and meant it to be understood.

As you interpret the Bible literally or normally, you come to a recognition that there is a clear distinction between the nation Israel and the church. The nation Israel is the people that God has chosen for Himself among all the nations of the earth. He has a program with Israel and promises that have been fulfilled and some are yet to be fulfilled with the nation Israel. The church came into existence in Acts chapter 2 following the death and resurrection of Christ and then shortly after His ascension to heaven and will be in existence until the rapture of the church. I’m going to ask Robin to put up the chart that we put out, maybe to help us follow some of these things. Next week Randall Price is going to be here so I used his book of charts and we’ve deleted some things that we thought might distract you. Up to here is where we come to the first coming of Jesus Christ, from Genesis chapter 12 about 2000 years before Christ, where we have Abraham, down to this point, the focus of God’s work in the world was on the nation Israel. Through the earthly ministry of Christ, the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—God’s focus is on the nation Israel. Important to understand that. The focus in the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—is not on the church. The church has not come into existence yet, it is on the nation Israel. About one week before the death of Christ, the 69th week of Daniel came to a conclusion. We looked at the matter of the 70 weeks of Daniel in Daniel chapter 9:24. Seventy 7s are determined upon your people, and that is literally 70 7-year periods, a total of 490 years comprise God’s program for the nation Israel. And the angel makes clear to Daniel what will be accomplished for Israel in that time. It’s for Israel and for the holy city, Jerusalem. After the 69th week, after 483 years Messiah will be cut off. Here you have Jesus Christ come into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the Triumphal Entry, completing the 69th week. Then after that 69th week, after 483 years the Messiah was cut off. There is a gap, there is one 7-year period of time left in God’s program for Israel. That’s what we call the 70th week of Daniel, the tribulation, we refer to it.

Now the church comes into existence just after the death and ascension of Christ. Christ ascends to heaven in Acts chapter 1 and the church comes into existence in Acts chapter 2. The church is not the new Israel, as we have noted. The church does not replace Israel. God’s program with Israel has been put on hold, so to speak. Israel is no longer the focus of what God is doing in the world in revealing Himself and in bringing His message of salvation. Now it is the church, and the church begins after the 69th week of Daniel, because it’s not part of God’s program for Israel, and it will leave the earth before the 70th week of Daniel begins. The rapture here does not technically mark the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel. According to Daniel chapter 9 the 70th week of Daniel begins when the western world ruler, the prince that is to come, the little horn, the Antichrist signs an agreement with Israel for one 7-year period, that period divided into two equal 3½ -year periods of time. Now the rapture may occur simultaneously, it could be they’re signing that agreement, and while they’re signing the agreement the rapture occurs. But you also note that the 69th week of Daniel ended here just before the crucifixion of Christ, about a week before. The church does not begin for about two months. Maybe there is a gap of two months back here, the rapture of the church. We’re not told that. The rapture removes the church, the Spirit is in His restraining ministry, so I assume these events will happen very quickly, they may happen simultaneously but there could be a period of time afterwards. There is discussion, some believers hold that the rapture of the church occurs here at the Second Advent of Christ. In other words, Christ will come, call the church to meet Him in the air and then He'll turn around and come back down together. The problem with that is, if the rapture of the church occurred here and every believer received a glorified body, who is going to have children and populate the millenium? Who is going to be guilty of sin and receive punishment in the millenium? Isaiah said anyone who dies at 100 years of age during this kingdom will be thought to be a child. Who is going to rebel against Christ at the end of this kingdom here as Revelation 20 talks about, if everybody that went in there went in in glorified bodies? It’s impossible for the rapture to occur here, keep that in mind even though it’s popular among some people.

70 A.D. becomes a key time also. This is when Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem. Preterism is popular among some; some of you listen to radio programs taught by preterists and have asked me questions about it. Preterist simply, basically means past. The preterists believe that most of the prophetic prophecies given relating to the Second Coming and these events down here really took place in 70 A.D. So it’s history. But you cannot handle the Bible and prophecy in a consistently literal manner and come to such an interpretation. We’ll come back to this chart from time to time, just give you some flow of events.

I want to talk about the rapture of the church. When we talk about the rapture of the church, we talk about what goes on right here. You’ll note in this chart they’ve put a temple in here because we know there will be a temple rebuilt during the first 3½ years of the tribulation, the 70th week of Daniel. Christ referred to it in Matthew chapter 24, Paul wrote about it in II Thessalonians chapter 2. It’s measured in the book of Revelation chapter 13. There will be a tribulation temple here, in the middle of this 7 years the Antichrist will set himself up in the temple and declare himself to be God; and the only worship allowed in the world during this last 3½ years will be the worship of the Antichrist.

Then there will be a new temple constructed in the kingdom, the millennial temple. The millennial temple is described in the last part of the book of Ezekiel, beginning with chapter 42 and on. While we’re on the temple, you ought to know that we are not on the chart. But back here in the Old Testament Israel had a tabernacle, the book of Exodus talks about the construction of the tabernacle, and then Solomon built a splendid temple for God. The tabernacle and then the temple was the focus of God’s presence among His people on earth. Solomon’s temple was destroyed when the Babylonians in 586 destroyed Jerusalem. Then in the book of Ezra we find Zerubbabel went back, I believe it was about 515, and built a second temple. Then Herod elaborated on that temple and in the gospels in Jesus’ time on earth Herod’s temple was the center of worship and it was a splendid, magnificent temple. Many, from the descriptions and so on, believe that Herod’s temple would have been more magnificent than Solomon’s temple. Of interest, and I have to be careful I don’t get sidetracked, the temple is destroyed in Jerusalem 70 A.D. Interesting, the church begins shortly before that, the temple ceases to exist in 70 A.D. and there is no temple in Jerusalem right down to today. It will be rebuilt when God resumes His program with the nation, Israel. What is the temple during the church age? Well according to I Corinthians chapter 6, the physical body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. According to I Corinthians chapter 3, the church is also the temple of God.

Israel does not have a temple after 70 A.D. and down until the time of the starting of the 70th week of Daniel, but there is a spiritual temple in existence, if you will, because the presence of God on earth is manifested in His people and in His people joined together in the church, the body of Christ. So again, it would be fitting that the church would be removed. Now the temple may be starting construction here, we don’t know. This gets into discussions, does the ark of the covenant exist? Some believe that before the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. Jewish leaders took articles from the temple including the ark of the covenant and secreted it, hid it, under the temple mount and it’s there to this day and they believe that part of what will happen is they will rediscover that, and there are passageways and rooms and so on under the temple mount. But it is a very difficult issue because, of course, the Muslims don’t want anyone under there. But they believe the relocating of the ark of the covenant will provide impetus for the construction of the temple and so on. Those are all sidelights, no charge on that and it doesn’t come off my time, either.

Turn to II Thessalonians chapter 2. We have to talk about the rapture of the church. You know some people say well the Bible doesn’t use the word rapture, so you’ve just created that. Well, they’re right and they’re wrong. They’re right, the Bible does not use the English word rapture. That does not mean that the rapture is not in the Bible. The word rapture comes from the Latin word, but the concept of the rapture is in the Bible. The word trinity is not in the Bible, but the concept of the trinity is in the Bible. So, we have taken the word trinity and applied it to a biblical truth, even though the word trinity is not found in the Bible. Does not mean the doctrine of the trinity is not found in the Bible. The word rapture is not found in the Bible, but the Greek word that would be translated rapture is found in the Bible. One of the great passages on the rapture of the church is found in I Thessalonians chapter 4. We have a slide prepared that will help us follow through on this. I Thessalonians 4:13, “but we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep.” The word asleep is used only of believers in the New Testament, and it refers to the fact that their bodies are not presently being used. It doesn’t teach soul sleep, because the body without the spirit is dead, James 2:26. When the spirit leaves the body, the body is dead, but the person hasn’t ceased to exist. Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, Philippians 1 and II Corinthians 5. Death occurs when a person leaves their body. For us as believers our bodies now are asleep, they’re not presently being used, but they will be awakened at a future time.

There are two kinds of people who grieve at funerals, at the death of loved ones. There are those who grieve with hopeless grief, they have no hope. That loved one is gone for time and for eternity. There are those who have sorrow over the separation from a loved one, but that sorrow is muted by the hope that they have in knowing that they will see this loved one again; that's the hope that believers have. Paul wants the Thessalonians to know, the Thessalonians have a concern over this matter, you can understand. It’s going to come out again in the second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. What about this whole issue of suffering? What about those who die? What about the matter of the tribulation? We need clarification of it. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. At the rapture of the church, what’s going to happen here is all believers who have died from Acts chapter 2 down to the rapture, Christ will descend in the air and the events described here will take place. Those bodies will come out of the grave and be transformed, glorified. The saints who have been in glory with Christ without their bodies will move back into their bodies. II Corinthians 5 says these bodies are like a tent, and at death we fold up that tent and set it aside for a time.

They’ll be caught up and meet Christ in the air. Then we’re told, we who are alive, verse 17, and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; so, we shall always be with the Lord. Immediately following the resurrection of those who have died in Christ, those who are alive—if that would happen right now, every single believer in Jesus Christ in this auditorium would just be gone. Our bodies would be transformed in an instant. We would meet our loved ones who have died, at a meeting in the air. You’ll note, the emphasis here, so shall we always be with the Lord, in these passages referring to the rapture of the church, the emphasis is on our being caught up to go and be with the Lord. Keep that in mind because when we talk about what God says about Israel, His emphasis for them is going to be on going into the kingdom over here. Ultimately the church is going to come back and share in that kingdom, but that’s not what we’re looking for immediately. We’re looking for the Lord to come for us in the air. In John chapter 14, John’s gospel, Jesus said, in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there, you may be also. You’ll note that emphasis is not on I will come to earth and establish the kingdom for you. I will come and receive you to myself and take you to the place I have prepared for you up here. So, the focus is different.

Now let’s go back to I Thessalonians 4:17 and I want you to note the words caught up in 4:17. That’s the translation of the Greek word harpadzo and we’ve transliterated it for you. The word harpadzo means to steal, to carry off, to snatch, to take away. It’s true, the word rapture does not occur in the Bible, but the word harpadzo does. The person who says the word rapture doesn’t occur in the Bible, so I don’t believe in the rapture. Well do you believe in the harpadzo? And they say what’s a harpadzo, a sandwich? No, the harpadzo refers to the church being caught up. It’s a non-issue. We have translated the Bible from Greek to, in our case, English. Now along the way the Bible was translated into Latin in early years and then translated into other………… Some of the Latin words get carried over. Rapture is a Latin word, from the Latin. The Greek word is harpadzo. The point is the doctrine is taught here. We could have transliterated the word harpadzo and be talking about the harpadzo of the church. But that’s not a word we use. Some words we do transliterate. The word baptism, baptisma or baptidzo is the Greek word. We just transliterate it, carry the letters over into English and talk about baptism. We didn’t translate it, we transliterated it, we just carried the same word over and gave it English letters. So harpadzo means to steal, to carry out, to snatch, to take away. It’s used 14 times in the New Testament. We’re not going to look at all 14, but we are going to look at some. Acts 8:39. I want to look and see how this word harpadzo is used. Acts 8:39, “when they came up out of the water,” this is Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch,” the Spirit of the Lord snatched Phillip away.” Snatched away is a translation of the word harpadzo. The Spirit snatched Phillip away, carried him off, took him away. The eunuch saw him no longer. Verse 40, “but Phillip found himself at Azotus.” So here the Ethiopian eunuch was there with Phillip, all of a sudden Phillip is gone. The next thing Phillip knows here, he’s standing in Azotus. What’s happened? The Spirit of God snatched him away, carried him off. There’s our word. Look in II Corinthians chapter 12, the Apostle Paul talking about an experience he had 14 years before he is writing this. He wants to talk about visions and revelations that God has given to Him. In II Corinthians 12:2, “I know a man in Christ”, and he is the man, talking about himself from the outside here as the third party. “I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I don’t know. God knows.” Paul says I don’t know whether this happened to me bodily or it was just a vision God gave to me. “ Such a man was,” here’s our word harpadzo, such a man was harpadzo. “He was caught up to the third heaven, and I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body I don’t know. God knows.” Paul wants to make the stress here. This could have happened to me bodily, but I also have to say it could have just been a vision. But the reality of it and the truth of what is revealed, and the reality of the whole experience is indisputable. This man, verse 4, was caught up into paradise. There’s our verb again, same one we had in I Thessalonians 4:17. He was caught up, harpadzo. Here Paul says I had this experience where I’m caught up from the earth to heaven. What word does he use? Same word we have in I Thessalonians 4. You can just jot down Revelation 12:5, we won’t turn there. The reference in Revelation 12:5 is to Jesus Christ being caught up to heaven at the ascension in Acts chapter 1, that’s the idea.

When we talk about the rapture of the church, we’re talking about the church being caught up to meet Jesus Christ in the air, and thus take us to be with Him. That will mark the completion of God’s program with the church. Then He will resume His program with Israel, the 70th week of Daniel. Turn back to Daniel chapter 9. In Daniel 9:24, the book of Daniel after the large prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Daniel 9:24, seventy weeks have been decreed for your people, and it’s literally 70 7s. We know from comparison with other scriptures that we’ve done on other occasions that we’re clearly talking about years here. You’ll note, it’s for your people and your holy city. It’s for the Jews and for the city of Jerusalem. It’s not for the church. Six things will be accomplished within this 490-year period—to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, to anoint the most holy place. Then you’ll note in verse 26, after the 62 weeks, which was after 7 weeks. After a total of 69 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. There we are at 70 A.D. Then in verse 27, he will make a firm covenant with the many for the one week. You see there is a break, you must have an even that will start in motion this last 7-year period for Israel.

God’s program with Israel is not over here, it’s just, if you will, put on a sidetrack. He’s still dealing with Israel, but He’s dealing with them in judgment today. His work of salvation, His work of grace in the world centers in the church, not in Israel. We have been grafted in, according to Romans chapter 9. But God never fails to keep His promises. So even though the church has been given this exalted position, God just can’t write off this last 7th week and say well we got 483 years in, who cares about the last 7? God cares. This is going to be a time of judgment and refining. By the time we get to the end here then there’ll be salvation for the nation Israel. They’re prepared to receive Jesus as their Messiah. Then you’re told in verse 27, you’re still in Daniel, that in the middle of the week he’ll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offerings. The sacrificial system will have been reinstituted in the middle of that 7-year period, Revelation 11 calls it 42 months or 1260 days. It’s identified for us in a number of ways. This last period gets to be intense suffering and persecution for Israel. We’re concerned about what happens to the church, what happens to us. We’re going in the rapture. When we talk about prophecy, we talk about events to come, the European Union, the restoration of Israel, we’re all talking about things that the Bible talks about will happen in this 7-year period. We see the beginnings of them back here. So, if the rapture is here, you can expect that some of these things will already begin to unfold. But there is nothing that has to take place before the rapture of the church, it is imminent, it can happen at any time.

Okay come back to the New Testament, to I Corinthians chapter 15. This is the second great passage on the rapture of the church. The third would be John 14:1-3. I Corinthians 15 is the great chapter in the Bible on the resurrection of the dead. You want to go to one chapter in the Bible that talks about the resurrection of the dead, you go to I Corinthians 15. We want to go to the end of the chapter, I Corinthians 15:50. He zeroes in, not just on the matter of the resurrection of the dead generally, but on the resurrection of the church. Verse 50, “I say this brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” We must interpret the Bible in its context. This is only talking about the church. There are people who will go into this kingdom here in physical bodies. They will marry and have children; they will repopulate the earth. Some of those children will rebel against Christ, at the end of this 1000 years there will be a number like the sand of the seashore that rebel against Him. Some people will go into the millenium in physical bodies.

The judgment of the sheep and goats of Matthew 25 occurs right here, when Christ returns to earth. All unbelievers are killed at that judgment. Those who became believers during the 7-year period and survived here go into the millenium in their physical bodies. Jesus said to them, enter into the kingdom prepared for you by my Father from the beginning. When you read I Corinthians 15:50, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, who’s he writing to? The church at Corinth. That’s not saying no people will go into the millenium in physical bodies. That kind of handling of scripture ends up with you then saying, well then, the kingdom mustn’t be literal and all those discussions about people in the kingdom and rebellion against the kingdom and all of that, that’s all spiritualized. No, you just have to take it in its context. Because other passages clearly teach there are people going into the millenium in physical bodies. But the church will not go into the millenium in a physical body.

Behold I will tell you a mystery. A mystery in the Bible is something that has not before been revealed. You don’t find anything about the church in the Old Testament. This is new material revealed by the Apostle Paul. Talking about that fact in Ephesians chapter 3 also, the mystery of the church was revealed to me, Paul said in Ephesians 2-3. I will tell you a mystery, we will not all sleep. Not all of us are going to die. Now remember when he wrote to the Thessalonians, he focused on what happens to those who die. Here his focus is more on those who are alive when Christ comes. We will not all die, but we will all be changed, transformed. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. You’ll note the order is the same as I Thessalonians 4 gave. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive will be caught up in the air to meet them. The dead will be raised imperishable, we will be changed. He goes on to emphasize what happens to those of us who are alive when Christ comes. This perishable must put on the imperishable, the mortal must put on immortality. But this perishable will have put on imperishable, the mortal will have put on immortality. Then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. There’ll be an end of death for us, our bodies will be glorified. What will they be like? They’ll be like the body Jesus Christ had when He was raised from the dead. Now it’s not some spirit body, He made that clear with His disciples. It was the same body that was crucified. He said look at the marks in my hands, look at the wound in my side. Touch me, handle me. A spirit doesn’t have flesh and bone like I have. I’m a real person, this is my body resurrected and glorified. But it was a different body. Incidentally, because He said He had flesh and bone not flesh and blood, indication evidently is this physical body is sustained by blood, the resurrected, glorified body will not. But it will have flesh and bone, so when we see each other in glory we’ll be able to give each other a hug. It won’t be like putting your hands through a bunch of smoke or a cloud and ooooooohhhhhhh. That’s as close as I get to singing. It will be of substance. You know I find that reassuring, I just don’t want to float around. But Jesus could go through walls, He appears in a room, and He disappears, and the room is locked and secure. It won’t be bound by restraints, but Jesus sat down and ate fish with His disciples with that glorified body. Isn’t that nice? A lot we don’t understand because we have no experience with a glorified body. All we know about the glorified body in any fullness is the description of the body of Christ. I have nothing else to compare it to. But I know certain things are factual even though I don’t have a full understanding of it yet, and it will be this body resurrected.

How will God bring that body back? Some bodies have been cremated, some died and were buried at sea and the fish have eaten them and then people have eaten the fish and where does that take you. Well, my problems are not God’s problems in that sense. There are a lot of things I can’t do that don’t create any barrier for God. I know He’ll do what He said. He said the dead will be raised and the living will be transformed. You’ll note this in I Corinthians 15:52, it will happen in a moment. We get the English word atom from this Greek word, in the smallest particle of time. When that happens, it’s going to be so instantaneous, faster than you can bat your eye. We’ll undergo that transformation, and we will have moved from here to here. Think of it as a celebration. We’re going to meet our loved ones who have died in Christ at a meeting in the air and then what are we going to do? Those who believe in a post-trib rapture, two basic views. The pre-trib rapture means before this tribulation period, 7 years, the church will be removed. Post-trib means after the tribulation, they believe the rapture will occur here and we’ll just come back down with Christ. Can’t happen, because then everybody has a glorified body, and you can’t have the kingdom described in the Bible. What is Christ going to do with us when we all meet in the air? I’m going to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and receive you to myself. He doesn’t say I will come again in case you enter the kingdom. That’s down here on earth. No, I’m coming to get you, meet you in the air, take you to the place that I have prepared for you.

Let’s go to II Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul’s concern in II Thessalonians is the same as I Thessalonians from the standpoint, the coming of the Lord, future things. These are great letters on the coming of the Lord. In II Thessalonians 2 Paul has to address a heresy that has already developed. It’s the heresy of post-tribulationism, that Christ won’t come until after the tribulation. We request you brethren with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that’s the rapture. That’s what he talked about in I Thessalonians, the first letter written shortly before the second letter. The coming of our Lord and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or disturbed, either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come. The Day of the Lord is that 70th week of Daniel, the tribulation. Because of their suffering and trials, the persecutions they’re undergoing, the Thessalonians were concerned, and some false teachers came and saying, I have a letter from Paul. You’ve misunderstood, we’re in the tribulation. No, I was at such-and-such a place and Paul taught me that we’re going to be going through the tribulation, we’re going to go through the Day of the Lord. Paul says, don’t believe it. No matter if they say they have a letter from me, no matter whether they say they heard me teach it, no matter they say the Spirit revealed it to them, no matter where they say it came from, it’s wrong, it’s false, it’s a lie. Don’t be deceived, don’t be shaken, thinking you’re in the Day of the Lord. This is a serious matter. Read Revelation chapters 6-18. See it’s a serious thing to be in the Day of the Lord. It’s a day of God’s wrath and they’ll cry out for the rocks and the mountain to fall on them and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. Serious matter to be in the day of the Lord. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come, referring to the Day of the Lord, unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed. Want to talk about the word apostasy, with you. Verse 1 you have the rapture of the church, verse 2 you have the Day of the Lord. Now he’s going to explain the order of events for them. The word apostasy. Now here’s a word we have just transliterated. Translate means you take that word and give it an English word that means the same thing. Transliterate means you just take the letters of that Greek word and replace them with English letters. The Greek word for apostasy is apostia, we’ve just carried it over into English. Apostia, apostasy. So, it’s not translated here in our New American Standard Bible, it’s transliterated. What does the word apostasy mean, is the question. Now the noun apostasy, we have a noun here, it’s used twice in the New Testament—in our passage in II Corinthians 2 and it’s also used in Acts 21:21 of those who departed from Moses. The word depart is the word apostia. A Greek lexicon for apostasy, apostia, Lydell & Scott, now it’s a classical Greek lexicon but it is the last word for classical Greek lexicography and meanings which precedes New Testament Greek. It gives a second meaning of the word as departure or disappearance. The issue will come, would that meaning fit here? Now the noun is only used twice in the New Testament, the verb is used 15 times. The verb is not apostia so we’re following the word apostia but the verb is aphostima, but the verb is not apostia so I don’t want you to be confused here. The verb form of the noun apostia is used 15 times in the New Testament. We’re concerned about the use of the word, the verb form of the noun that we have in II Thessalonians 2. In Luke 4:13, referring to the devil after the temptation of Christ it says, he left Him, using the verb. He departed from Him. In Acts 12:10 the angel departed from Him. In II Corinthians 12:8 Paul prayed that the spirit that was plaguing Him might depart. In our updated version, might leave me. I’ve noted here the Lydell & Scott definition of the noun apostasy or apostia is departure or disappearance.

Now I say this because it becomes crucial. Apostasy as we use the word in English means a rebellion against God or a departure from the truth. It’s taken on that almost technical meaning. We talk about apostasy; we’re talking about a person who has abandoned the truth of God. We say he’s an apostate, he has gone away from. The word is apo, means from, and stasis, means to stand, someone who stands away from something, so it has gone away from something, now has moved off from where he was. We use this word, and it’s used this way in the Old Testament, it’s used this way in extrabiblical Greek of religious apostasy. However, I think we need to look in the context of II Thessalonians and then in the context of the Thessalonian letters. We have in II Thessalonians 2:3, “let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first.” If you were going to just translate apostasy, and incidentally when we talk about religious apostasy, it’s usually qualified. As we saw in the Acts passage with this noun, you apostatize from Moses, you apostatize from the faith. Here is just the noun, apostasy. If you translated it, you could translate it, unless the departure or the disappearance comes first. Then the man of lawlessness is revealed. I want you to note the parallel down with verses 7-8. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed. And the end of the lawless one will be the coming of the Lord, you know the Second Coming. That marks the end.

Now note the parallel. Verse 3, the apostasy or departure comes first and then the man of lawlessness is revealed. Look at verse 7, the restrainer is taken out of the way. We noted in our previous discussion the restrainer is a reference to the Holy Spirit who came in a special, unique and powerful way in Acts 2 to mark the beginning of the church. He indwells the church, and our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He will be taken out of the way. That would parallel the apostasy or the departure of verse 3, and then the man of lawlessness, the lawless one, verse 8, will be revealed. That parallels the next statement in verse 3, the man of lawlessness is revealed. There would seem to be a parallel here--the apostasy or departure and then the revelation of the man of lawlessness. the departure of the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, and the revelation of the man of lawlessness. The departure or the removal of the Holy Spirit refers to the same event—the removal of the church at the rapture, at the harpadzo, the time when the church will be caught up.

This would be understandable back in verse 3 you’ll note he says, unless the apostasy, and the definite article does appear in the Greek text—the apostasy, the departure. What departure has he talked about? He didn’t talk about any mass departure from the faith in his first letter nor in his second letter. But in his first letter he did talk about in detail the departure of the church in I Thessalonians 4, and in verse 1 he talked about that departure in the immediate context. So, when he talks about the departure in the context of the Thessalonian letters, the departure that he focuses on, is the departure of the church to meet the Lord in the air.

This also fits with the promises that the church will not go through the wrath of the tribulation. We could go back to the chart, and as we do that why don’t you go back to I Thessalonians chapter 1, the first letter to the Thessalonians. Paul talked about the sufferings of this church in verse 6, they received the word in much tribulation and their faith and faithfulness during suffering has become an example all over the region. Then verse 9 he talks about his reception with them, how you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God, to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus who rescues us from wrath to come.

Turn over to I Thessalonians 5. He talked about the rapture of the church at the end of chapter 4. Chapter 5:2, “For you yourselves know full well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” The Day of the Lord, we’re talking about this period of time in here, the 70th week of Daniel, the tribulation, the Day of the Lord. “It will come like a thief in the night,” but it won’t come like a thief in the night for believers, but on unbelievers; and the return of Christ will catch them unaware. “But you, brethren,” verse 4, “are not in darkness that that day would overtake you as a thief.” Look down in verse 9, “For God has not destined us for wrath.” This is a time of wrath. Read Revelation 6, the day of His wrath has come, describing this period. It's a time of wrath. “For He has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.” So, whether we are awake or asleep, we live together with Him. You’ll note the emphasis in these passages is not that we’re going into the kingdom here. That will happen, but as we’re going to be together with Him and we’re avoiding the wrath, the Day of the Lord.

He has to write an immediate follow-up letter, II Thessalonians, because these false teachers are trying to unsettle believers. Let me clarify to you about the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him. The departure has to come first, you can’t be in the Day of the Lord. The man of sin has to be revealed. This time begins, as we noted, with the man of sin, the man of lawlessness, the prince that shall come signing the agreement with Israel as a representative of the revived Roman Empire. Have to have the rapture first.

I think it is consistent within the context of II Thessalonians 2 and of the letters to the Thessalonians that the word apostasia would be referring to the rapture of the church. Now I want to put this qualification in, that’s why we didn’t do it earlier. There are good men who do not believe. The question comes, the use of the noun and the use of the verb and can the meaning of the verb be carried over to the noun in this context and all of those. If you want a full discussion, there are a number of articles in print that you can read on it. This is not new; I first became familiar with it in the ‘60s through the commentary on the Greek text of Thessalonians by a man named Lineberry. I don’t know how I picked up that commentary, I’ve never seen another one and I never see it referred to. But he advocated it. Back in the ‘50s G. Skyver English was promoting this view. Wayne House in The Trumpet Sounds, a book edited by Tommy Ice has about 30-35 pages espousing this view. If you read the following view Paul Fineberg in his appendix to his article gives his critique of it. If you want to get into details on it you can go there. But this is a summary of it for you and I think that it fits the context of the Thessalonian letters and ultimately as long as you’re within the framework of the proper use of the Word, I think the context has to determine the meaning.

This is different than the Second Coming of Christ to earth. Go to Revelation chapter 19 just so you can distinguish the Second Coming. This is the rapture, it’s the first phase of the Second Coming, but then the Second Coming to earth occurs at the end of the 7-year tribulation. It is a markedly different event. It brings to an end the time of God’s wrath being poured out on the earth. It brings deliverance to the nation Israel. At the end of this 70th week of Daniel, according to Romans chapter 11, all Israel will be saved. There’ll be a national turning to Jesus as their Messiah. But Revelation chapter 19, now you’ll note the context. Revelation chapters 6-18 talk about this 7-year period. Chapters 2-3 talked about the church. The church is not mentioned at all, it’s mentioned repeatedly in chapters 2-3. Then it’s not mentioned during chapters 6-18. Chapter 19 we have the return of Christ to earth at the Second Coming. Look at Revelation 19:7, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” The bride of Christ is the church, that’s clear in the New Testament, in Ephesians. We are the bride of Christ. Remember John the Baptist? He is not the groom, he’s not the bride, he’s a friend of the bridegroom. The 10 virgins in the parable that Christ told in Matthew 25 symbolize Israel, five prepared, five not. They’re waiting for the bridegroom, but they’re not the bride.

The marriage of the Lamb has come, the bride has made herself ready, she’s clothed, and she’s clothed in fine linen bright and clean. What is the fine linen? The righteous acts of the saints. The righteous acts of the saints are the rewards. In other words, the church has already been rewarded for its faithfulness. This is not the righteousness of Christ directly applied to us that brings our salvation, but this is the righteousness now we have been rewarded for faithfulness to Him. We have already stood at the bema seat. We must all appear before the bema seat of Christ, believers. There we will be rewarded for our faithfulness. We’ll have the fine linen bright and clean as the righteous acts of the saints. These are our works. You’re not saved by works but you’re rewarded on the basis of works. So, you note the bride has already been judged and rewarded and awarded.

He said to me, write blessed are those who are invited to marriage supper of the Lamb. This follows the pattern of an oriental wedding of biblical times. Arrangements were made for the marriage, and that was a binding commitment entered into. Then at certain time the bridegroom would come to the home of the bride and get his bride and take her to his father’s home and there the marriage would take place. Following that then, the bride and groom would come out and return and there would be a great celebration and all the guests were invited. So here during this period of time the bride of Christ is being formed, we come to faith in Christ, the commitment is settled, if you will. At this point the bridegroom comes to get His bride, takes us to the Father’s home, the home that He has prepared for us. The bema seat takes place, we are clothed in fine linen bright and clean. Now we are ready to return for the marriage supper and the friends of the bridegroom and Israel will be resurrected here. Old Testament saints, David, John the Baptist, Abraham, will be resurrected here and given glorified bodies. Believing Israel in physical bodies will be here. We go into the millenium which really becomes the marriage supper; the pattern is clear.

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. You see events have already taken place, the church is already in heaven, the bride is already there, already judged, already dressed. Then, verse 11, “I saw heaven opened,” it wasn’t open before this, Christ didn’t come from heaven right here and now the bride comes up to meet Him. The bride is here before heaven gets opened. “I saw heaven opened, a white horse and He who sat on it called Faithful and True” and so on. Verse 14, “the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean were following Him on white horses” and He comes, and you have Armageddon. You have the destruction of all the enemies of Christ and the beast and false prophet cast into the lake of fire and so on. This is a dramatic and worldwide event. Jesus said in Matthew 25, all the peoples on the earth will see this return of Christ to earth as the lightning flashes from the east to the west. He said if they tell you the Messiah has returned someplace, don’t believe it, because when He returns everybody will know. It will be like lightning across the sky. So dramatically different events here.

Go back to Matthew 13 and then we will finish on this note for today, Matthew 13. I sometimes tell the Lord, Lord thank you for all you’ve revealed and thank you for revealing no more, because I am overwhelmed with what I have. More would not have helped. Talking about events related to the Second Coming of Christ to earth. Note the difference. The parable of the wheat and the tares in verses 24-30, and the picture is a man goes out into his field and sows good seed with his servants. Then when he leaves his enemies come in and sow tares. Tares look like wheat as they were growing. So now the wheat is mixed in with the tares, you’ve got a mess. He said in verse 28, an enemy did this. His servant said, “well shall we go through and try to root out the tares?” He said no, because you’ll root out the wheat with the tares, let it grow together. And verse 30, in the harvest we’ll sort it out, because when it is finally ripe and ready then you can tell the difference and it gets sorted out.

Down in verse 36, the disciples came and said explain that parable of the tares to us, I didn’t get it. He says in verse 37, the one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. It’s Christ and not only Christ during His earthly ministry, but Christ to His followers down through history. Because we’re going to go all the way to the harvest at the end of the age. It’s now as we give forth the good seed, but satan comes along and sows tares, and sometimes it’s hard to tell who are the true, saved people and who are not. He tells them, verse 38, the field is the world. The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, these are true believers, these are those who are going to go into the kingdom. Note now He’s talking to Jews, He had not revealed the church, they don’t know about the church. They only know about the kingdom. He’s explaining to Israel who will go into the kingdom. This period of time when the church has not yet been revealed, they don’t know about this. The Old Testament revealed this but then it jumps over to here. The church is not revealed until Paul comes, it’s a mystery not before revealed. The enemy who sowed the tares are the sons of the evil one, the enemy who sowed them is the devil. They are of their father, the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the reapers are the angels. So as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, those who commit lawlessness and throw them into the furnace of fire. The righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom with their Father. You’ll note the emphasis is different. At this point the angels are going to come and gather all of the wicked so they can be sentenced to destruction. Those who are left are the sons of the kingdom, they’re going into the kingdom. It’s a whole different emphasis—not Christ coming to take them to the place He has prepared for them, but on this occasion, it’s getting the wicked out so that they can go into the kingdom here on earth. At the Second Coming you have the wicked removed and gathered for destruction, and the believers being left to go into the kingdom.

The same thing is in the parable of the dragnet, beginning with verse 47. You throw into that end of the sea; you gather good fish and bad fish. Verse 49, at the end of the age the angels will come. You’re down here at the culmination, the end of the age, so you’re ready to go into the millenium for the Jews. The angels will come forth and take the wicked out from among the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire. For those of you who have this truth, verse 52, become disciples of the kingdom; you see the difference.

John 14, in my Father’s house are many dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you. We’re not talking about establishing the kingdom on earth, we’re talking about He’s going to heaven, He ascended here so He could prepare a place for us and then He’ll come and get us to take us to that place. Just like the Old Testament pattern. Remember they went to get a bride for Isaac, they traveled to the relative’s house, they gathered the bride, they take…………. The process goes on. So here the bride is going to be taken to heaven. That’s exciting, that’s us. I’m relieved to know we’re not going in the tribulation, the time of God’s wrath. The world is a bad enough place, and we don’t have it that bad in this country. I was reading statistics on how many thousands of believers were martyred in 2004 for their faith. You know we just go on like oh somebody said something nasty to me and hurt my feelings. Oh, how I suffer. We lose sight of the fact that tens of thousands of people died in one year because of their testimony for Christ. We’re not in the tribulation, and we’re not destined for wrath, but for salvation. Christ is coming in the air and the church will be removed and then we can resume God’s program for Israel.

Who is part of the church? Everybody who sits here. No, the wheat grows with the tares. There may be tares here as well as wheat, but we all are in the same building. But that doesn’t make tares wheat. The wheat are those who have come to believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ, experienced cleansing from sin and made new. They belong to the bride of Christ. When the rapture occurs, there will be a sifting, the wicked will be left. I dare say if the rapture would occur now, not every seat here would be empty. I may not be able to tell, I’m not called to sort the wheat from the tares in that sense, but I know what He said. The rapture will gather the righteous out and they’ll be taken to heaven. The rest will be left to go into that awful time of God’s wrath. We say if the rapture occurs, and I look around and everybody is gone I’m going to believe. I wouldn’t count on it. Today is the day of salvation, if you sin against the grace of God, God doesn’t promise you tomorrow, God doesn’t promise you another opportunity. Sometimes in grace He does. There will be multitudes who will be cursing God through that 7-year period, knowing He is the cause of all their problems. They don't experience saving grace in their lives.

This is known as a time of Gentile salvation, this is the best time to get saved, this is the time when God is calling together people from all tribes, people, tongues and nations. Have you come to believe in Jesus Christ? If you acknowledge your sin, recognize you are lost and without hope and believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to suffer and die, to deliver you from wrath to come, not only the wrath of the tribulation but the ultimate wrath of eternal destruction in hell.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the revelation of your truth. It is overwhelming. Lord, you have revealed so much and yet you have made it known that we might learn and understand and grow. But above all you have revealed yourself and your wonderful plan of salvation so that men, women and young people might turn from their sin and cast themselves upon your mercy and faith, believing that Christ died for them. That He is the risen Lord, that they would trust and serve Him. Lord, I pray for those who don’t know you that this might be a day of salvation. For those of us who do, that we have our eyes fixed on the hope of His coming for the church in all that we do. We pray in His name. Amen.