The Biblical Prophecy of the Rapture

Transcript

GRM 835
2/2/2003
The Biblical Prophecy of the Rapture
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

Jesus Christ is coming to earth again, called the Second Coming. His first coming was at Bethlehem where He was born of a virgin. He came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. He is coming again to this earth and at that time He will set up a kingdom over which He will rule and reign. There is a 7-year period preceding the return of Christ to earth to set up His kingdom. It’s called the 70th week of Daniel. It is found in Daniel chapter 9 verses 24-27. Some of you said to me I knew when you said prophecy, we were going to go to Daniel chapter 9. You always have to go to Daniel chapter 9, but we’re not going there this morning. We’ve already been there. Daniel is told in Daniel 9 that 70 weeks are determined upon your people, the Jews, and upon your holy city, Jerusalem. So, 70 7-year periods, 490 years are determined. Six things are mentioned in Daniel chapter 9 that will be accomplished in that 490 years and we will be at the kingdom which Christ will establish on the earth at that time. That last 7-year period is the 7 years that will precede the Second Coming of Christ to earth to establish His kingdom.

Two things are going on during that 7-year period that we have looked at already. Number one, it’s a time of God’s wrath and judgment being poured out on an unbelieving world. It’s the worst catastrophe and suffering that the world has ever experienced. Secondly, it is a time of final discipline of the nation Israel and deliverance for their salvation. God is preparing Israel for the glory of the salvation that He has provided for them.

Look back in the Old Testament at Deuteronomy chapter 4. I want you to note the emphasis on what God is doing in this 7-year period leading up to the return of Christ. If you’re going to talk about Biblical prophecy and have any understanding with clarity about what the Bible says about future says, and it says much about future things, you have to understand that the Bible always keeps Israel and the church distinct. The church is not called Israel and Israel is not called the church. They are two distinct groups, two distinct people. Israel or the Jews are the physical descendants of Abraham. Those among the Jews who will receive the promises related to God’s covenant with Abraham and the Jews are those physical Jews who believe in the truth that God has revealed and believe in Jesus as their Savior and Messiah. The church is primarily composed of Gentiles, although some Jews are part of it. It began in Acts chapter 2, it will end at the rapture of the church, it is not a nation, it is never called a nation, it is never called Israel. They are always distinct. When Paul refers to the Israel of God in writing to the Galatians he is not talking about the church. He is talking about those Jews who have believed in Christ. They are the Israel of God, in contrast to Israel generally that has rejected God. So, you must keep Israel and the church distinct because the Bible keeps them distinct.

When we come to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 instructions are being given to Israel as they prepare to enter the land of Palestine that God has promised to them as their land. And He tells them in verse 23, “watch yourselves lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you.” There’s a danger that Israel when they go into the land to begin to enjoy the prosperity that God will bestow upon them, with the passing of time their zeal for the Lord will cool. They’ll get caught up with more of the good things of the land of Canaan, and they’ll have less and less interest in the things of God. Finally, they will turn from Him altogether and God will bring judgment upon them and drive them out of the land and bring great suffering and hardship on them.

Verse 24 says “the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Verse 27, the warning if they are unfaithful to God. “The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, you shall be left few in number among the nations where the Lord shall drive you.” During that 7-year period preceding the return of Christ to earth the Bible tells us two-thirds of the Jews in Palestine are going to die, and it will be a terrible time. They’ve been scattered among the nations; they’re being regathered in preparation for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise.

Down in verse 30, “when you are in distress and all these things have come upon you in the latter day you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.” Notice when this happens, in the latter day. It will be in the closing period of that 7 years leading up to the return of Christ. Toward the end of that 7 years, 70th week of Daniel, Israel is going to turn to the Lord. Zechariah chapter 12 says they will mourn over Him whom they have pierced. Romans chapter 11 says “all Israel will be saved, there’ll be a national turning to Jesus as their Messiah” toward the end of that 7-year period.

Note verse 31, “for the Lord you God is a compassionate God, He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.” There are some who believe that God is done with the nation Israel, that the church has replaced the nation, Israel. In fact, they call it replacement theology, meaning the church has replaced Israel, there is no future for Israel, all the promises to Israel and all of God’s blessings promised to Israel are not fulfilled in the church. That is a lie, that is a denial of scripture. In verse 31 God says, “I will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers” which He, referring to God, “swore to them.” It cannot happen. Israel is under judgment now, Israel is under the discipline of God and that discipline is about to turn very, very severe. God is focusing His work of salvation in the church which began in Acts chapter 2, but that program will come to conclusion, perhaps very soon, and He will resume His plan with Israel and bring it to completion. That’s the promise here.

Look in Jeremiah chapter 30 verse 3, “behold days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah.” Now Jeremiah is writing in the days of the Babylonian captivity. Israel, or the northern kingdom, has already been in captivity, carried away by the Assyrians over 150 years ago or so. Now the southern kingdom, Judah, has gone into captivity. God says there’s a day when I’m going to bring it all back together. “And the Lord says I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall possess it.” Then in verse 4 and following he talks about terrible days of distress that are coming. Verse 6, “it is like a man in the pain of childbirth.” We saw this with some of the judgments in Revelation, the seals, the trumpets and the bowls, and the tremendous pain and agony. People longing for death, and they can’t die. Verse 7, “alas for that day is great, there is none like it, it is the time of Jacob’s distress.” That’s the 70th week of Daniel, particularly the last half of that 70th week, the last 3 ½ years. A time of tremendous suffering for Israel. But he will be saved from it. You can be sure God is not done with Israel. They’ve been gathered back into Palestine and it’s all part of God’s plan. But there is coming a time when more Jews will die than have ever died at any other time. Tremendous suffering before God intervenes to bring deliverance to them.

Verse 11, “I am with you, declares the Lord, to save you. I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you. Only I will not destroy you completely, but I will chasten you justly. I will by no means leave you unpunished.” We talked about the best is yet to come, the worst is yet to come. We as the church, we are just looking for the glorious climax for Israel. The worst is yet to come before the glorious fulfillment of promises.

Come to the New Testament, you might as well stop at Zechariah because it is right at the end of the Old Testament, the next to last book of the Old Testament, Zechariah chapter 12. This whole closing chapter of Zechariah is tremendously significant in light of God’s future plans for Israel. Look at verse 1, “thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him. Behold I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around.” When the siege is against Jerusalem it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the people. Verse 4, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment, his rider with madness.” The nations have been gathered in the campaign for the climactic battle of Armageddon. They have gathered at Jerusalem and God intervenes to bring confusion and destruction.

Look at verse 10, “I will pour out on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication.” The salvation of Israel is an act of God’s grace, supplication. “They’ll call upon Him so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping for a firstborn. In that day there will be great weeping in Jerusalem. The land will mourn.” That’s the time of Israel’s salvation. We’re almost at the Second Coming of Christ when He intervenes in response to the cry of Israel for their Messiah. They turn to Him in faith, and He will intervene to bring salvation, spiritual and physical, to the nation. This 7-year period is a time of wrath and judgment. Remember when John the Baptist came on the scene, Matthew 3, he said “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Then he warned them of coming wrath, because when the Messiah comes that whole time leading up to His coming and then the judgments of His coming is a time of wrath upon the unbeliever.

Turn over to I Thessalonians chapter 5, I Thessalonians 5. As you get I Thessalonians 5 let me read you a portion from the book of Revelation. This takes place in the context of that 7-year period, we’ve already studied this, where the kings, the great men, the rich, the strong and so on will be crying for the mountains to fall on them. They’ll hide in caves and rocks because of how terrible things will be in the world, the judgments of that 7-year period. “They’ll say to the rocks, fall on us, hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.” The great day of their wrath has come. See that 7-year period is a time of God’s wrath, judging the unbelieving world and disciplining the nation Israel to turn them to Jesus as their Messiah.

In I Thessalonians chapter 1, and the letters to the Thessalonians are letters about prophecy, future events, words relating to the coming of the Lord and so on. He says in verse 9 “that the people report what kind of reception we had with you, how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God.” The people who truly to the Lord become His servants, doulos his slaves. They not only turn to the Lord to serve Him, but to await for His Son from heaven whom He promised. The one He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from wrath to come. In the context of the Thessalonian letters, he’s not talking just about coming wrath and delivering us from hell, he’s talking about the wrath that will also take place in the day of the Lord, the 70th week of Daniel.

Look in chapter 5 of I Thessalonians. In verse 2 he talks about “you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Matthew wrote about it, there’ll be marrying and giving in marriage and the Lord will suddenly come, the judgments of the Lord and all of that. The day of the Lord refers to the tribulation, the 70th week of Daniel that is coming. But note verse 9, “God has not destined us for wrath.” He’s talking about the day of the Lord and events associated with that and he says God has not destined us for that wrath. There is coming deliverance for the church from that time of wrath, and that deliverance will come in the event that is called the rapture of the church. The first 69 weeks of Daniel, you remember, came to a conclusion on Palm Sunday, shortly before Christ would be crucified because Daniel 9 said that after the 69th week the Messiah would be cut off, crucified. There is one 7-year period yet to resume. That will take place after the rapture of the church. The church had no part in the first 69 weeks of Daniel because they relate to the Jews and Jerusalem. The church will have no part in the last week, the last 7-year period. It will be removed from the earth before that 7-year period unfolds. The church is unique, it is separate and distinct from the nation Israel.

My understanding is that the first prophecy of the rapture is found in John chapter 14. Now some find the rapture in Matthew chapter 24 and let me just correct that for you. Matthew chapter 24 is talking about the Second Coming of Christ to the earth to establish His kingdom. The first part of Matthew chapter 24, he’s talking about the 7-year period preceding Christ’s coming, the 70th week of Daniel. In verse 21 he says, “then there’ll be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be.” It is so great if Christ didn’t intervene at the end of 7 years nobody would survive. It’s that time of wrath. But then the coming of Christ occurs, and you’ll note He comes to the earth. It’s like the lightning flashes across the sky in verse 27, some of the signs we saw in the judgments of the tribulation laid out. Verses 29-30, “then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the tribes of the earth will mourn, they’ll see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” That’s when He comes to earth to establish His kingdom. Now you’ll note then He gives some analogy, you can tell the seasons by looking at the trees, when they have leaves and are ready to bear fruit and so on. The days of Noah which I referred to. Then you read verse 40, “then there shall be two men in the field. One will be taken; one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, one will be left. This is not the rapture of the church.” I’m going to explain the rapture in a moment. This is the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. In connection with that event which He has just been talking about, according to passages like Matthew 13, Christ will send out the angels and they’ll gather out all unbelievers from the earth. So, the ones that are taken here are taken in judgment. The ones that are left are those going into the kingdom. This is not the rapture of the church here.

The first reference to the rapture of the church is in John 14, so go back there. This is Jesus’ last night with His disciples. They’ve just eaten together. Now He is going to be giving them instruction. When this evening is over, He will have been betrayed and the next day He will be crucified. He said to them “let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so I would have told you.” Now note this, “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also.” Now note this is different than the Second Coming of Christ to the earth to establish His kingdom. The Jews were looking for the Messiah to come in clouds of glory, deliver the nation and establish a kingdom. That will happen, as was described in Matthew 24. He comes in clouds of glory. The Bible tells us “He’ll descend to the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Olives will split in two from east to west, and there’ll be a great valley. And the Jews will flee from the destruction in Jerusalem to the salvation of their Messiah.” But here Christ is going to heaven, the Father’s house, His dwelling place. Going to prepare a special place there for His followers. Then He is going to come and take them to that place He has prepared. That’s different than coming to the earth and establishing a kingdom. When He comes to the earth to establish His kingdom, according to Matthew 25, He’ll say to all those who have believed in Him, “enter into the kingdom prepared for you.” In John 14 He gives them a promise now. I’m going to go to heaven and prepare a special place for you and then come and take you to that place. No elaboration at this point.

Come over to I Thessalonians chapter 4. What Christ described is an event that is the next event in Biblical prophecy. The Bible teaches the imminency of the return of Christ, it means it can happen at any moment. There is nothing that has to happen before Christ comes for the church, comes to take the church to the place He has prepared for them. Paul’s second missionary journey, and that’s when the ministry to Thessalonica took place, had a strong eschatological emphasis, a strong emphasis on prophecy. The letter to the Thessalonians, written shortly after Paul’s visit with them, had a strong emphasis on prophecy. He says in verse 13, “but we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep. That you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.” If what Christ said in John 14 is true, that He goes to prepare a place in heaven and then He’s going to come and get His followers and take them to heaven, what about those who die before He gets back? The Thessalonians had experienced some of that and they had questions about that. What about my loved ones who have believed in Christ, but they have died? Well Paul says I don’t want you to grieve as those who have no hope. Now note he does not say you can’t grieve. Because we’re believers doesn’t mean we don’t weep and mourn and have sorrow over the loss of loved ones. But we don’t have sorrow like the world has, because we know the sorrow, we have over the separation from a loved one in death is temporary. We’re going to see them again. The sorrow of the world cannot be softened. They can play games, but the reality of it is the separation is permanent and eternal.

“If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, now note this, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” Remember we studied to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So, when a believer in Jesus Christ experiences physical death, what happens is they as a person move out of their physical body and go to the presence of the Lord as a spirit, but their physical body is buried. The Lord is going to bring these people who have been in the glory of heaven as spirit beings with Him when He comes. “This I say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep,” shall not go before those who have fallen asleep. The word sleep is used of believers in the New Testament to refer to their death, because their body is temporarily inactive like it is when you’re sleeping.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven.” Now here’s the picture, Christ coming down from heaven. You have a shout, you have a voice of the archangel, and you have the trumpet of God. Christ descends and three events occur. There’s a shout, there’s a voice of the archangel, Michael the archangel. Why does he speak at this time? Well according to Daniel 12 Michael the archangel is the angel who acts on behalf of the nation Israel. It may be in connection with the removal of the church to heaven, now Michael speaks in connection with that event because now we’re going to be ready to resume God’s final 7-year program to prepare the nation Israel for the kingdom. We don’t know because we don’t know enough about the function of the archangel.

The trumpet of God sounds, calling the church and note what happens. The dead in Christ shall rise first. All those bodies that are in the grave, the spirits of those persons have been with Christ in glory, now they are returning with Him. In this event their bodies are summoned from the grave, wherever that has been, and called back into existence, and they move back into those bodies which have been glorified. We’ll talk about that in a moment. Their bodies now are suitable for the glorious presence of God in heaven. It’s the first thing that happens when Christ returns, what we call the rapture. The Bible doesn’t use the word rapture, so some people say see the rapture is not in the Bible. Well, the word rapture is not in. You can call is the harpodzo because the Greek word is harpodzo. It just means to be caught up. You can call it the caught upness. The word trinity is not in the Bible, but the doctrine of the trinity is taught and we use the word trinity to express the Biblical teaching on the subject.

What happens after those who have died, their bodies come out of the grave, they move back into their bodies. “Then we who are alive and remain, we are still in our physical bodies, living on this earth, 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.” You’ll note the emphasis is not here that He comes to the earth. He comes down in the air and calls the church to meet Him in the air. Then it’s summarized, thus we shall be with the Lord. Where are we going? John 14, “I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I’ll come and get you so you can be where I am.” This fits the oriental pattern of the wedding that would have been practiced in Biblical times, and some of you are familiar with that. We have articles and pamphlets on that in Sound Words also, where the marriage was arranged. That takes place now during this time when we are joined to Christ by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit as His bride. Then the pattern of the wedding, the marriage was arranged and then at an appointed time the bridegroom would come to the bride’s home and get her and take her back to his father’s house. That will happen at the rapture. Christ will come for the church, the bride of Christ. We will be taken to His Father’s house, the place He has prepared for us. There the wedding takes place, marriage is consummated.

Then there is the time when they come and meet with the guests and the wedding feast occurs. Remember Revelation 19 when Christ returns to earth at the Second Coming? The declaration of heaven is the marriage of the Lamb has occurred, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast. I take it the wedding feast will be the kingdom. Remember John the Baptist said I’m not the bridegroom, I’m the friend of the bridegroom. Because he is part of the nation Israel, he is not part of the church. The church does not begin until Acts chapter 2, John the Baptist was dead. The Jews who believed before Acts 2 and died are part of Israel. They will not be raptured. Israel is not resurrected until the end of the 70th week of Daniel, the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. This is just church saints, those who have believed in Christ from Acts chapter 2 down until this event. In that instant there’ll be a meeting in the air and we’ll be taken to the place Christ has prepared for us.

Come back to I Corinthians chapter 15. The three major passages on the rapture in the New Testament are John 14:1-3, I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and I Corinthians 15:51. Now there are other passages that speak of the rapture, that event we’re talking about, but these are the main passages.
I Corinthians 15 is about the resurrection. It is the chapter in the Bible you go to if you want the fullest explanation of the resurrection of the body, I Corinthians chapter 15. Just look at some of what he says about the resurrection. Verse 35, Paul says some have questions. “Some will say how are the dead raised, with what kind of body do they come?” There were challenges always coming to Paul in his doctrine at Corinth, and there were some who were denying the reality of a bodily resurrection. You know Paul could be abrupt. How would you like to ask a question and have Paul respond, moron. Well read verse 36. “You fool.” Don’t be so stupid, don’t be a moron. You think just because you’ve asked a question. It’s like the Saducees that said to Christ, here’s a woman who died and she had seven husbands, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? What does He say? You don’t understand anything about resurrection. They don’t marry in the resurrection. You think your question is so intelligent, it shows your stupidity. That’s the nature of the questions here. How are the dead raised? What kind of bodies? What are you going to do? Where is that body? It’s disintegrated, dust to dust, ashes to ashes, it’s gone. What kind of body are they going to come back with? Paul says you’re stupid, you don’t think well on this subject. That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies does it? Stop and think, what do you do with a seed when you want to get a plant? You put it in the ground and let it die, right? What comes out of that seed when it dies? A beautiful plant. So, what’s the problem? Why would you deny bodily resurrection? An illustration of it goes on all around you all the time. He goes on to talk about the body, we don’t have time, you can read that on your own.

Come down to verse 42, “so also is the resurrection of the dead.” Now here it’s a contrast between our mortal body and our new body that we get at the rapture in the resurrection. It is sown a perishable body; it is raised an imperishable body. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body there is a spiritual body, a body that is glorified, suitable for the presence of God in glory. Now this happens to you in Christ, he’s talking about believers, he’s talking to the church. Unbelievers will also get a resurrected body, but it is not a glorified body, it’s not a body of glory. It is their body resurrected that will never perish but will suffer for eternity.

Look at verse 50, “Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” Wait a minute, I thought you said the kingdom of God was a kingdom on this earth. Yes. I thought people were going to go into that kingdom in their physical bodies and have children and so on. Yes. Well, have you ever read verse 50? Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So how are people going to go into the kingdom of God if it’s a literal earthly kingdom in their physical bodies and have children if people in physical bodies can’t go into the kingdom and have children? I don’t know, let’s read the next verse. No. There is an answer, very simple. He’s talking to the church; he’s talking to those who are in Christ Jesus here. He just talked about the second Adam in the preceding verses. What he says here is directed to the church at Corinth. It is not applicable directly to Israel in the 70th week of Daniel. Because Jews who come through that 70th week have believed in the Messiah, as well as Gentiles that do the same, will go into the millennium in the kingdom in their physical bodies. But it’s not possible for any church saint to inherit the kingdom of God in their physical body. We keep in mind whom Paul is writing to, and whom he is giving his explanation to. What happens when you lose your distinction between Israel and the church? Pretty soon you are trying to have the church take the promises of Israel and then pretty soon you are trying to have the church live like Israel did in the Old Testament. You make it a political organization and try to implement the social practices of Israel, and the confusion just continues to grow. The church is not Israel, Israel is not the church. The church cannot inherit the kingdom in flesh blood in a perishable body. There won’t be one person from Acts chapter 2 to the rapture, not one, who will go into the kingdom in their physical body.

Behold I will tell you a mystery. A mystery is something not before revealed in the Bible, so this is new material. Now God is shedding added light. Christ spoke of the event of the rapture in John 14, but He didn’t give an explanation of it. “I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” Not everybody is going to experience physical death, but everybody is going to undergo bodily transformation. Again, he’s talking about the church. Not all of us, we shall not all sleep. This is addressed to believers in Jesus Christ in the church age. How will this change occur? In a moment, the Greek word is atom. We get the English word, we bring it over atom, smallest particle of time, in an atom of time. In the twinkling of an eye, faster than you bat your eye. It happens so fast you don’t even see it. At the last trumpet. Now again people get confused. They say well remember the trumpet sounds at this same even in
I Thessalonians 4, but there is also the 7th trumpet of Revelation. Some people say oh the 7th trumpet of Revelation is the last trumpet in Revelation, so here the last trumpet for the church must be the 7th trumpet of Revelation. Well put it together. We’re not talking about the same thing; you are in two different periods of time. If I say this morning this will be the last trumpet, you’ll say well there’ll be no more trumpets in Lincoln. No, that’s the last trumpet of the morning, it’s the last trumpet for this service. That’s what he’s talking about. It’s the last trumpet for the church, this is the trumpet that calls the church to move out from the earth like the last trumpet that calls the Roman armies, the Roman legions to move out. The church is called now to depart the earth, it’s the last call for the church.

“In this instant of time,” that quickly, “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” Now we had an elaboration of that in I Thessalonians 4, how the spirits of those who have died are coming down with Christ and their bodies are first called out of the grave. Then those who are alive at this event are caught up to the air. Here he just summarizes.
“The dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” Gives more emphasis to those who are alive in the explanation here. In
I Corinthians he gave more consideration to those who had died in his writing to the Thessalonians. “This perishable must put on the imperishable, this mortal must put on immortality.” We are destined to immortality. In my glorified body I will not be subject to perishing, I will not be subject to death. That will be the ultimate defeat of death for us, we won’t have to face it any longer.

Is that true that’s the last enemy we face as it is referred to here? You know you know the Lord, you know you’re going to glory, if I could just get there without the suffering and death that we are often called to go through. But death will ultimately be a thing of the past, and for the church it will be at the rapture. It’s distinct. Christ came in the air, everybody is caught up to meet the Lord, gets a glorified body. Some say oh that happens at the Second Coming to earth. It can’t happen at the Second Coming to earth, it’s a different event. If everybody gets a glorified body when Christ returns to earth to establish His kingdom, who’s going to go into the kingdom and have children? Who’s going to die in the kingdom if only people in glorified bodies go into it and the glorified body is not perishable? You have someone who dies at 100, remember, in the kingdom, will be thought cursed of God. It can’t be the same event. Some of you are aware, this is called the pretribulation rapture, a rapture that occurs pretribulation, before the 70th week of Daniel. Those who believe the rapture is part of the Second Coming to earth to establish a kingdom are posttribulational. They believe it happens post, after, the tribulation. That confuses Israel and the church. That creates unsolvable problems for dealing with other scriptures clearly.

The church’s glorious destiny is the rapture. The rapture is an imminent event. We don’t have time to look at all the events that say the coming of Christ could be at any moment. What we looked at is what will happen after the rapture, when the church is taken to glory. What will happen during that 7-year period that unfolds to the earth, culminating in Christ’s return to the earth? You know we see some of those things taking shape now and it’s just a reminder, we must be getting very close to the rapture. It’s always been imminent, but now we have reason to believe it is even a very, very, very soon event. How should this impact us? Look at verse 58, “therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Understanding something of the goal toward which we are going ought to shape the way we live. We don’t just study prophecy because we’re interested in knowing the future. We study prophecy because we want to be everything God says we must be, and we want to be diligent and understanding of where God is taking us and what He has prepared and planned for us, and to aid us in being steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. You know I couldn’t help but think as I read this where we started in Deuteronomy chapter 4. Remember what God said to Israel? With the passing of time the danger is your love will grow cool, you’ll have less interest in me, and pretty soon you’ll be distracted and pretty soon with generations you’ll just turn away from me. Here we are to always be abounding in the work of the Lord. You know we need to be careful of the same spiritual trap. We’re not Israel, but some of the same spiritual dangers always beset the people of God. You know with the passing of time we come adjusted. Initially there is an overwhelming excitement and enthusiasm for the Lord and the salvation we have in Him. With the passing of time, it becomes tiresome. Going through the book of Malachi this week, and you know what the people of God said? The worship of the Lord has become tiresome, and God was greatly offended by that. But you know people today who claim to be Bible-believing Christians find the worship of the Lord tiresome. It’s just so much trouble. I would like to do less of it, not more of it and we find the same dangers. Can you say that I am steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord? Because I am looking for what Titus 2:14 says is “the blessed hope, even the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Turn to the last book, the last chapter of the Bible as we close. You know what would happen if the rapture of the church would occur right now. I trust this auditorium would be dead empty, my fear is it would not be dead empty, that there would be some left sitting here. You know it will happen in an atom of time, in the twinkling of an eye, almost everybody gone. Why not everybody? We’re all in the same building, we’re all attending the same church. You know the greatest prophetic book in the Bible would be the book of Revelation that ends our Bible. We read in light of the coming of the Lord, in light of all that is to take place. Verse 17 of Revelation 22, “the Spirit and the bride say come, let the one who hears say come. Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” Verse 20, “He who testifies to these things says yes I am coming quickly.” You know what? There is an invitation that God graciously gives out, even now on the brink of the return of His Son. He has said come and partake of the water of life. What a disaster to reject that invitation. The rapture of the church will occur, some of your family may be gone, you’ll know where they’ve gone. Friends, gone and now judgment comes. You say oh I’ll believe then. You know for the most part I don’t think so. You know what God says? Because of the strong delusion people will believe a lie. If you won’t believe in the living God now, if you reject His grace now, what makes you think your stubborn, hardened heart is going to be any different at a future time? God graciously brought you here to listen now, given you opportunity to partake of the water of life without cost, no charge. His salvation is a free gift if you turn from your sin and believe in him. That’s the difference. Every person in this auditorium who has recognized that they are a sinner without hope, under the judgment of God and turn from their sin and believe in Christ. God, I have no hope, I’m taking hold of your promise, He died for me, I believe in Him alone, we become members of the family of God. You know what? There is coming a day, it will happen when every person on the face of the earth who has placed their faith in Christ is immediately and instantly going to be removed from the earth, and the rest will be left to go into the time of God’s wrath.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for a salvation that is complete from beginning to end. Thank you that we as believers in Christ, members of the church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, are living on the edge of expectancy, looking for the return of our Lord and Savior who will call us to meet Him in the air in that instant of time. We’ll undergo a transformation that will prepare us for the glory of your presence for eternity. Lord, may we be steadfast, immovable and always abounding in your work, knowing that our toil and labor is not in vain. Lord, I pray for those who are here, perhaps Lord they are here every week, perhaps they’ve been here for years. You know our hearts as we are. Those who have never responded to the invitation to partake of the water of life without cost. By your grace may this be a day of salvation for them. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.