Key Issues in Understanding Prophecy

Transcript

GRM 930
1/23/2005
Key Issues in Understanding Prophecy
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We’re not only saved from our sins, but we are also saved for glory for eternity. We’ve been talking about matters relating to biblical prophecy, events that are going to be unfolding in coming days. The next event in biblical prophecy is of tremendous significance and importance to us as God’s people. That’s what I want to talk with you about today, the rapture of the church. I want to look into some of these matters, and then in our next study together we’ll have some charts for you to follow and put some of these things together in an orderly pattern.

I think it’s of utmost importance that we be clear in what God has planned for us as His people, because God is clear. You know about 1/3 of the Bible was prophecy when it was written. We are just not occupying ourselves with things of side interest, but a large portion of the Bible was written as prophecy. Many of those prophecies, the majority of those prophecies, have yet to be fulfilled. God in His purposes and plans has seen fit to unfold for us something of His plans and purposes for the future.

We talk about the rapture of the church, we’re talking about that time in perhaps the very near future, perhaps today, when Jesus Christ will descend in the air, not to the earth, but in the air. He will call for all those who belong to Him to meet Him in the air. And then He will take us to the place He has prepared for us in the presence of the glory of His Father. That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the rapture of the church, the time when Jesus Christ will come for His people. Now I want to do a little bit of background for you before we look at specific passages relating to the rapture of the church. What must be foundational for us is understanding how we interpret the Bible. I often hear people say, well that’s your interpretation. When you bring up something about the Bible they say, well everyone has their own interpretation. But that is a fallacy, that is an attack on the very character of God. To say that God has desired to reveal Himself and speak to man, but He was incapable of doing it in a clear and understandable way is an affront to the holy God, is it not? I bring newspaper and magazine articles to you from time to time and read them and presuppose that we understand what is being said because we have a common understanding of language. Yet somehow when people come to the Bible, they think that they have begun to read Peter Rabbit or whoever. We read it like we read the newspaper.

Our way of reading the Bible, interpreting the Bible is crucial. There is no big secret here. We interpret it literally, that means grammatically, historically, contextually. When I say literally that doesn't mean there are no figures of speech. You tell someone you interpret the Bible literally and they say oh you think Jesus Christ became a piece of wood on hinges when He said, I am the door. No, because we use figures of speech in our communication all the time and we understand they are figures of speech. But even a figure of speech has a literal meaning. When Jesus said, I am the door…….what is a door? It is a way of access, a way of entry. You don’t say oh Jesus said, I am the door…..that means He’ll be having supper at Peter’s house tomorrow night. Well, that would have no significance. What’s the connection? There is a literal significance, a literal meaning even in the metaphor. It is something commonly understood. We use them all the time.

We interpret the Bible literally, which means grammatically. We have to look at the grammar. It’s not enough just to look at the words, look at the sentences and just come up with a meaning. Sometimes when your children are little they’ll come running in from their friends and they’re all excited, they’re out of breath, they want to get something done quickly and get back out. They start jabbering and what do you do? You stop them and say, stop, you’re not making any sense. Now you tell me clearly what you’re trying to say. Because a collection of words doesn’t mean anything. Run in, drink, hungry, ball. Well, you know put it together. I want a drink and something to eat because I want to go play ball. Now it makes sense. Well, it’s not so difficult. We come to the Bible and people act like it’s just a collection of words. It has grammatical structure. Children go to school, where do they have to start? This is a verb, this is the object of the verb, this is the subject of the verb, this is how you make a sentence. Then we have simple sentences and complex sentences, and then we put that sentence in a thought and we have a paragraph, and we move out.

I don’t know why people can read the newspaper, they can watch the evening news, but when they come to the Bible, they somehow think that there is something mysterious and ethereal about reading the Bible. Read it literally, using good grammar. Read it in its historical context, that means I may have to do some background study because the Bible was not written in 2005. The Bible was written thousands of years ago. In the book of Acts when it says the disciples were at the temple and they were observing the Feast of Pentecost it’s not valid to say well you can see people in those days went to church and had celebrations. Wait a minute, what was the temple? What was the Day of Pentecost? Who were the people that went there? The Jews. You have to study and learn something of the historical setting of what was said otherwise I’ll take it and use it today for things that it has no significance for.

Then of course the context is always true, text without a context is a pretext. That’s true. We look at the immediate context. We’ll have our children read something and then we’ll ask them what does that mean? And they’ll give an idea, and you say to them no, read the sentence before it. All right, now what’s the sentence after it mean? Again, somehow, we come to the Bible, and we seem like, oh I read this sentence. There it is judge not that you be not judged. Oh? Well, the Bible also says eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die. So go home and stuff yourself and tomorrow you’ll be dead. No, you must read the context of that. Judge not that you be not judged, that’s true, that’s said in the Bible. What does it mean? I don’t have any idea; I just don’t think you ought to judge me. We must come to the Bible and find the context and the historical setting, using proper grammar. That’s a literal interpretation of the Bible.

Now we also must have the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to understand what God has said and not presupposing that ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is a closed book to the person who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit working in their heart and mind. But it’s not because the Bible states things in a non-understandable way, it’s because spiritual things are spiritually discerned. That’s not an excuse to ignore what is said, that explains how we understand the clear statements of what is there. I was in the local college several years ago, professor of theology invited me to speak to his class. I was going through what the Bible said about salvation. He said” well that’s your interpretation. We’re in the class there and he spoke up. I said, well let me ask what your interpretation will be, let me read you this sentence. I’ve used this example for you before. The Bible says all have sinned. No, we know what the word all means, it means everyone. We know what sin is because the Bible tells us sin is an offense against God, it’s a rebellion against God, it’s disobedience to God. We understand what the Bible………. Oh, that could mean a hundred different things. Well even the class went hmmmmmmmm, because we couldn’t communicate any longer. I am speaking to you today on the basis of what? There is somewhat a common understanding of the English language and words used in a context convey meaning and so I communicate to you, you understand what I am saying and so on. If I say we’re not going to get done today until 1:30, everybody will understand that, and it will have an impact on everyone. I realize I will be talking to an empty auditorium, so we will get done sooner.

All of that to say this: anyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ, that believes the Bible is the Word of God, interprets what it says in history literally, knows all the prophecies that have been fulfilled thus far were fulfilled literally. For example, when the wise men turned up in Jerusalem and asked where is He who has been born King of the Jews, Herod called the Jewish leaders and said to them, where will the Messiah be born? They said, He’ll be born in Bethlehem because Micah the prophet says that the one whose days are from eternity will be born in Bethlehem. How did they interpret that? There is no way that Jesus could have been born in Neligh, Nebraska. You know it just means a little out-of-the-way town someplace. No, Bethlehem is Bethlehem; and hundreds of years after Micah the prophet wrote that, the people understood. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Isaiah said He would be rejected; He would suffer and die and be buried in a rich man’s tomb. How was that fulfilled? Exactly as Isaiah 53 said it would be. There is no debate. When Peter preached in Acts chapter 2, he said that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof that He fulfilled the scripture. Why? The Spirit of God had said through David that the Messiah would not suffer corruption in the grave. His physical body would not deteriorate in a grave. How do you interpret that? Well, that’s just a figurative expression in saying there would be no corruption in the Messiah, He would be sinless. No. Peter said David could not fulfill that because David died and was placed in a tomb and his body decayed. But Jesus fulfilled it because He died, His body was placed in a tomb, but He was raised from the dead and His body never decayed. How is that prophecy interpreted? Literally.

So there really is no debate in interpreting the Bible among believers, either in its past history or prophecies that have been fulfilled. But somehow many people, when it comes to prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled, think that now we’re going to change the way we look at the scripture altogether and come up with a new way of looking to interpret prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled. The Bible talks about Christ coming back to earth to establish a kingdom. They say well that can’t be coming back to the physical earth to establish a physical kingdom, that simply means that through His death on the cross He established a kingdom in our hearts. It’s called amillennialism, the “a” means no millenium, no earthly kingdom. The kingdom exists today in the hearts of those who are subjects of Jesus. I mean if you have a king and you have subjects you have a kingdom, so we have the kingdom. Wait a minute, that’s not what the Bible said. You have to understand it spiritually. No, you have to understand it the way you understand all the rest of the Bible—literally.

Now we understand the Bible in that normal or literal way, and we see that God has said He has chosen Israel to be His people. Some of you have been part of our study on Genesis, we will be in this in our study this evening with Jacob, the promises of God reiterated. God gave covenantal promises to Abraham, they were repeated to his son, Isaac, they were repeated to his son, Jacob. They related to their descendants, Abraham through Isaac through Jacob. Jacob was given the name Israel by God. We talk about not the nation Jacob today, but the nation Israel. But they are all descendants of Jacob—Abraham through Isaac through Jacob and through Jacob’s 12 sons. There are specific promises, prophecies given regarding the nation Israel. Some of those have been fulfilled. Prophecies relating to their rejection of their Messiah have been fulfilled, literally. But there are many prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled—promised earthly kingdom on this earth where the lion will lie down with the lamb, where the young child will play on the hole of the poisonous snake, where they will not hurt or destroy throughout any of his kingdom, where Jerusalem will be the capital of the world and the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will rule and reign. Those are all promises given to the nation Israel, promises regarding the day when they will turn from their sin and rejection of their Messiah and cry to Him for mercy and salvation. All yet to be fulfilled.

When you follow a literal interpretation of the Bible you see a distinction between Israel and now, we have the church that exists today. Those who don’t follow a literal system of interpreting the Bible, consistently literal, begin to confuse things. They say well I think the church has become Israel. Okay, if that would be so, what’s the proof? I have proof. Turn to Galatians chapter 6:16. In the book of Galatians as its background, Jews who were opposing the preaching of the gospel of Paul. Look at verse 16, we’re just going to pick up and not get into the context here because the last statement will be clear. Those who would walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them. Now note verse 16, the last statement, and upon the Israel of God. This is the #1 verse put forward by those who believe the church has become Israel. The church is the Israel of God. Now wait a minute, I’m not disagreeing there is an Israel of God because I believe in literal interpretation, and he talks about the Israel of God. I just want to know why the Israel of God has become the church. The nation Israel had rejected Christ, so naturally the Israel of God must be someone else, and that must be the church. I need something that tells me Israel has become the church because all through the Old Testament, beginning in Genesis chapter 12 all the way through the Old Testament, all the way through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Israel is Israel. Now on the basis of Israel that because you understand the promises of God to Abraham, through Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to the 12 sons of Jacob were not to every single physical descendant of these men; but to the physical descendants who had the faith of their father, Abraham. So while it’s true it’s not to every single Jew that these promises will be realized, it is to a certain segment of those Jews these promises will be realized, to those Jews who turn in faith to Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul who wrote the letter to the Galatians was part of the Israel of God, he was a Jewish believer. There were a number of those. You remember on the day of Pentecost Peter preached the Word to the Jews. They were celebrating the Feast of Pentecost and some 3000 were saved. A little later we have 5000 people saved. It’s not until Acts chapter 10 that the Gentiles get saved. The Israel of God are those Jews who have come to believe.

Back to Romans chapter 9. You wouldn’t believe how prominent this view is, it is the view of the Roman Catholic Church, it is the view of most Lutherans, Presbyterians, the major denominations. It’s called amillennialism, and really the church has become Israel. Romans chapter 9, he’s talking about Israel’s rebellion against God and the tragedy of Israel’s rebellion against God. You ought to note chapter 11 verse 1, and then we’ll back up. Romans 11:1, I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? Chapters 9-11 are about Israel. May it never be! Maganeto, the Greek expression. Such a thought is impossible. That is not even one of the options. I, too, am an Israelite, and he goes on to talk about God’s work of grace that will ultimately bring about the salvation of the nation Israel. Come back to chapter 9 verse 6, so it is not as though the Word of God has failed, with Israel's rebellion. Now note this, for they are not all Israel who are from Israel. Play on Jacob’s name there, given to him by God. You’ll no longer be Jacob, you’ll be Israel. They are not all of Israel, not all Israel who are from Israel. What does he mean? Not every single physical descendent of Jacob, Israel, is truly part of the Israel that God is going to bless. Oh, that just means we’re not talking about physical Israel anymore. The promise is always tied to the spiritual relationship, so these physical people have certain promises that will be realized in them. The ultimate realization of these promises will be in those physical people who turn from their sin and place their faith in the Messiah. Not every physical descendant of Jacob is going to inherit the blessing. That’s where the Jews got trapped, they thought being born a Jew was guarantee of their salvation. That’s why the Old Testament prophets told them, you have physical circumcision, you think that will save you. You need your heart circumcised. We oughtn’t to be confused on this.

You have Israel and that is Israel. Nowhere anywhere in the Bible is Israel anything other than Israel, physical Jews—nowhere. I’ve given you the two best verses that those who think Israel is the church will use. That’s as good as it gets. On that basis you’re going to discard the hundreds of promises given to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and say we’re just going to spiritualize them and now the church is Israel and Israel is the church. God doesn’t operate that way. That means the church is distinct from Israel. The church is comprised of peoples of all nationalities, including Jews today, who place their faith in Jesus Christ. Now God’s program for Israel was laid out in 70 7-year blocks. Remember Daniel chapter 9. Seventy sevens, 70 7-year periods are determined upon your people and upon your holy city. Who do these 70 7-year periods, this 490-year period pertain to? Daniel 9, they are determined for your people, Daniel, the Jews, for your holy city, Jerusalem. After 69 weeks, 483 years, the Messiah will be cut off. It does not say in the 70th week, it says after 69 weeks because there is a gap between the 69th and 70th weeks. Approximately 1 week after the 69th week came to completion, Jesus Christ was crucified, then raised from the dead. Following that He appeared to His disciples in Acts chapter 1 and then He ascended to heaven and then the church began in Acts chapter 2.

We still have 1 7-year block of time that God has said He will bring to fulfillment with the nation Israel. You say well I think that happened back there, we’re just not sure when it was. Well, there is a difficulty with that. The Bible tells us that that last 7-year period will come to a close when Jesus Christ visibly and bodily returns from heaven to earth, destroys all His enemies and sets up His kingdom. Maybe you think that has happened, I don’t think so. This ain’t much of a kingdom. The Bible says in the kingdom Christ will set up they will not hurt or destroy in all of that kingdom. Did you turn on the news today? I did before I left, they’re still hurting and destroying the earth. They will not do that when Jesus Christ reigns. He will be personally and bodily present and Jerusalem will be the capital of the world. Daniel chapter 2 says, in the days of those kings in that final kingdom, there is stone cut without hands, and it smashes the kingdoms of the world and itself becomes a great kingdom. In Daniel chapter 7 the final form of earthly world empires preceding Christ’s empire pictured with the 10 horns, remember, and then the little horn that we talked about recently. And in the days of those kings, that last 10-nation confederacy led by the little horn, we are told in Daniel chapter 7 that God Himself will set up a kingdom of which there will be no end.

Now you see what happens, when you’re going to interpret the Bible literally you have to say well that is yet to come, because that 7-year period will close with the return of Christ to earth. Unless we are in that 7-year period it’s yet future. I know it hasn’t happened because Christ hasn’t come to earth yet. That’s why I said all of a sudden people say well we don’t interpret future prophecy literally. Some say well Christ came back to earth using the Roman armies in 70 A.D. and when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. under the Roman general Titus, that was the return that Christ was talking about. Does not cut it. Because we’re told that every eye will see Him. We’re told in Acts 1 that He’ll come in the clouds as He went, we’ll see a description in Acts chapter 19. Probably not today at the rate I’m going, but maybe in our next study. That’s why I say if we’re going to take the Bible at face value, normally, literally, these things have yet to come. It’s not a matter of well this is your interpretation. Well other people have their interpretations, and I don’t like to get into prophecy because everybody has a different view. Well then everybody ought to throw their view out the window and submit to God’s view. But don’t discredit my God by saying He couldn’t speak in a way that could be understood, make Him less intelligent than we are. The problem is we don’t want to accept what He has said. Just like the Jews, when Jesus came the first time, they would not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Why? The Bible prophesied clearly, Isaiah, He will be of no reputation, there is no comeliness about Him that we should desire Him. He’s meek and lowly, He comes on the colt of a donkey. We only want to accept the fact He’ll come to rule and reign in power and glory. You just can’t decide this part of the Bible I don’t like, I reject it, this part of the Bible I do. Then we find out God was speaking literally, He came, He suffered, He was rejected but He’s coming again, just as literally.

All right, so we have Israel has a yet future plan, future in the plan of God. They have a kingdom that will yet be set up on the earth. There is a temple in that kingdom, described and given in Ezekiel 42-48. What do we do? Well we spiritualize that because that can’t be a future temple because I don’t think a temple will ever……….. He goes into all these details of what we know of as the millennial temple. Well, what about the millenium? Revelation chapter 20, six different times talks about a 1000-year reign of Christ. 1000 years doesn’t mean 1000 years, one day with the Lord is as 1000 years, 1000 years as one day so that just means a long time and we’ve been in the kingdom a long time because Christ has been dead 2000 years. So, see it’s just a long time. Well we just throw things around like……… Six times He says in Revelation chapter 20, this kingdom will be 1000 years, He’ll rule and reign for 1000 years. We will reign with Him for 1000 years. And then someone has the audacity to say I don’t think it’s 1000 years. And I, with all the grace I can muster, say, I could care less what you think. You should care less what I think if that’s the way I handle scripture. When God says it, that settles it, I believe it.

We have the church beginning in Acts chapter 2, the church begins in Acts chapter 2. Now remember the 69th week of Daniel, the first 483 years laid out by God through Daniel the prophet have ended Palm Sunday, before the crucifixion of Christ and then His subsequent resurrection. Now we’re in a gap, the 70th week didn’t begin yet, that last 7-year period, like I said it couldn’t have begun because Christ is going to return at the end of that 7 years to earth. We know it didn’t happen back then because Christ didn’t return to earth in power and great glory, destroy all His enemies and set up a kingdom with Jerusalem as the capital. Not if you take the Bible normally or literally. But He starts the church in Acts chapter 2. Want you to go back to John chapter 14 and we’ll just review or remind you and make a connection and then we’ll have to leave the rest to our next study. John 14. I’ll have some charts for you next week, John 14. Remember Jesus is prophesying the coming Spirit, remarkable changes. John 14:16, I will ask the Father, He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. We saw in previous studies recently, He said it’s better for you that I leave and send the Holy Spirit than I stay with you. We live in a more privileged position and relationship with God than those before the coming of the spirit did. Wouldn’t change places with them for a moment. I wouldn’t even want to be back and walk the earth with Christ during His earthly ministry because He told those who did it will be better for you that I go to heaven and send the Spirit to dwell in you.

But you’ll note there is a change in the Holy Spirit’s ministry here. He’s with you but He is in you. The Holy Spirit was always present in the world, we observed in Genesis chapter 1 it was the Spirit of God who hovered over the face of the deep when God brought creation about. In Genesis chapter 6 it was the Spirit of God of which God said my Spirit will not always strive with man. He was going to bring about the judgments of the flood upon the earth. But the Spirit of God is coming in a new, fuller, more significant role. That’s what He talks about in chapter 14 and then over in chapter 16, the end of chapter 15 He talks about the coming of the Holy Spirit in verses 26-27 and then down to where we were. The Holy Spirit is coming to indwell believers, to make His truth known to them. Those original apostles were given new scripture. We don’t get new scripture, but the Spirit of God, now, enables us to understand the truth that has been given, I Corinthians chapter 2. Apart from the Spirit of God no one can understand the Word of God.

Now we noted in our last study that in verse 7 is where I tell you it is to your advantage that I go away so the Holy Spirit can come to you. When He comes, in verse 8, He will convict the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness and concerning judgment. The Holy Spirit will not only have a ministry in the believer, producing the fruit of the Spirit, enabling the believer with the gifts of the Spirit, but the Spirit of God will have a ministry even through the believer to the world. We talked about the details of this, convicting the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment.

Turn over to II Thessalonians chapter 2, and in II Thessalonians chapter 2 we are placed in the context of that last 7-year period left in Israel’s history. The Thessalonians were concerned because they were going through so much persecution and suffering that perhaps they were in the tribulation. Paul says that can’t be. There are certain things that will be characteristic in the tribulation. Verse 3, let no one deceive you in any way for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. The grammatical construction here indicates that these are the things that will take place in the Day of the Lord. Doesn’t mean these will precede the Day of the Lord, they will take place in the Day of the Lord. That also becomes clear as you move further into the passage. He talks about in verse 6, you know what restrains him now, the manifestation of the man of sin and the outworking of satan’s final phase of his program. So then in his time he will be revealed, this man of lawlessness, the man of sin. It’s the little horn of Daniel 7 and the beast out of the sea in Revelation chapter 13.

The mystery of lawlessness, verse 7, is already at work, only He who now restrains. You’ll note in verse 6 he said, what restrains, using the neuter. Now he uses a masculine pronoun, He who restrains. You know in John chapters 14-16 Jesus goes back and forth in the same way, sometimes referring to the Holy Spirit in the sense of what, the neuter, because the word spirit, pneuma, is neuter. It’s normal that you would have the pronouns that modify that word to be in the neuter to agree. You know in some languages they have masculine forms, feminine forms and neuter forms. Being neuter doesn’t mean it couldn’t be masculine, it’s just a form of the word. But sometimes Jesus speaks about the Spirit and He uses that neuter form, like what or it. Sometimes He uses the masculine He, I think we’re talking here about the Holy Spirit. He who restrains, verse 7, will do so until He is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming. We’re talking about the same thing Daniel prophesied about and pictured so vividly in Daniel chapter 7. The one who came before the Ancient of Days and received the kingdom, one like the Son of Man, Jesus’ favorite title for Himself during His earthly ministry, the Son of Man, the one who fulfills and will fulfill the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, particularly Daniel.

You’ll note, this man of lawlessness is destroyed with the appearance of the coming of the Son of God, and the Lord Himself destroys Him. That didn’t happen 2000 years ago, not if you take the Bible literally. There is something restraining the manifestation of this man, as Paul writes. I take it is the Holy Spirit. There have been a lot of guesses, some said it was the Roman government. Well, who is restraining today? I mean to say He’ll be taken out of the way. We say I believe that’s what happens at the Rapture. The Holy Spirit came in Acts chapter 2 in a special and unique way to indwell the church. According to I Corinthians chapter 6 the Holy spirit dwells personally in the body of every true believer. But according to I Corinthians chapter 3 the Holy Spirit also dwells in the church, and of course believers make up the church, the body of Christ. So, when the church is removed from the earth at the Rapture, the Holy Spirit is removed. Now what do you mean, removed? He won’t be here on earth anymore? Yes, He will, but not in the way He has been since Acts chapter 2. He will no longer restrain sin in the same way. This one who came to convict of sin, righteousness and judgment now will be removed in that restraining power of sin so that satan will be free to unleash his program in the culmination of final rebellion against God and the pouring out of God’s final judgments on rebellious humanity.

Note, the lawless one will not be revealed until the restrainer is taken out of the way. The Second Coming to earth will occur at the culmination of that 7-year period when the lawless one is destroyed by the coming of Christ. That’s consistent with the Old Testament prophecy. We mentioned Daniel 2, the stone cut without hands, referring to Christ and the kingdom He will establish, the kingdom of Daniel 7 and many other passages. This lawless one in verse 9 comes in accord with the activity of satan with all power, signs, false wonders, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish. Revelation 13 describes in some detail his ministry of miracles and signs and wonders. The whole earth goes after him. They ask, who is able to make war with the beast. We are told earlier in chapter 2 of II Thessalonians that he will set himself up in the temple as an object of worship, at the end of verse 4, displaying himself as being God. But that won’t take place, none of that happens until the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, is removed. Then that will unfold, then Christ will return at the end of that 7-year period and all His enemies will be destroyed.

I didn’t even get to the rapture passages, that’s fine—we don’t have to, we’ll get to that next time. But you see where we are in the plan of God and we’ll deal more in detail with the rapture, further evidence of why it will occur at the beginning of the tribulation, why it is the next event in biblical prophecy. There is nothing that has to take place before the rapture of the church will occur. We’ve talked about some of the things going on in the world that make us think that we are moving toward that climactic 7-year period. Because we are looking at events that will take place in the 7 years after the Spirit of God is removed in His restraining influence. Remember Genesis 6? God said my Spirit will not always strive with man, and as a result His judgments will be poured out on an unbelieving world. We had the flood in the days of Noah, so here the Spirit of God will be removed and His restraining influence, sin is allowed to build in its final rebellious form, and then Jesus Christ will come to earth in power and great glory. When He comes to earth the second time every eye will see Him. Jesus told His disciples in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25, if people tell you that I have come to earth, don’t believe it, because when I come to earth it will be like the lightning flashing across the sky and everyone everywhere will know it. I am greatly offended by people that say well you know, Second Coming, that has happened, that’s foolishness. No, it hasn’t; and if the Second Coming has not yet happened, neither have these details happened. The lawless one has not yet been revealed. Obviously, he hasn't set himself up in the temple, declaring himself to be God. Obviously, all the other details of prophecy are yet future. But I’m not looking for these things, particularly, I’m looking for the return of Christ. It is called imminent, meaning it can happen at any time without anything else taking place, without any further warning.

It is true that the Bible says that because we are looking for the return of Christ in the air to take the church to be with Him, in the place He has prepared for us, then we are to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Everyone who has their hope fixed on His coming, I John 3, purifies Himself just as He is pure. For those who don’t, you’re still in II Thessalonians 2, look at verse 10, there is coming a time of greater deception, a time of God’s judgment, a time when you will have sinned away. Sinned against the opportunities that God has given you and sinned away the opportunities He has given you. Judgment will come on men and women, and part of that judgment is they will be caught up in the deception of those days. The end of verse 10, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. That doesn’t mean no one will have heard the truth, could be saved after the Rapture, but I sure wouldn’t want to count on it. Anyone who stubbornly rejects the grace of God in these days, and you understand this is the time of God’s grace to Gentiles; Paul developed that in discussions in Romans chapters 9-11. These are the days of Gentile salvation; these are the days in which God’s grace is being poured out on salvation to Gentiles. For those who reject His grace, will not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved, will not believe the gospel and what God says about them as sinners condemned and doomed to hell, to them things get worse and worse.

For us as God’s people it only gets better and better. Christ comes for us in the air and then takes us to the glory of His Father’s presence, then brings us back to earth with Him 7 years later to rule and reign in glory. Goes from better to better to bestest. But for those without Christ, this is the best it ever gets. From here comes judgment, following judgment comes sentencing to hell. It only gets worse. That’s why we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as the power of God to salvation, to everyone who believes and if you believe today you enter into His salvation.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the clarity of your Word. Thank you, Lord that you have not spoken in confusing riddles to keep us in darkness. But your intention is that we as your people understand the wonderful, magnificent truths of your Word, that they become part of our lives, that your Spirit builds them into us in every way so that our conduct, our behavior, our thoughts are all shaped by the wonder of your truth as we are conformed and transformed into the image of your Son from glory to glory. Lord, I would pray for any who are here who have been exposed again to the wonder of your grace. Perhaps they’ve come for a long time, perhaps they are new. The important thing is not that they are here, the important thing, Lord, is that they have heard the truth and that they receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. I pray that in your grace they might turn from their sin and believe in your Son, who loved them and died for them. We pray in His name, Amen.