Chuck Missler The Pre Tribulation Rapture Of The Church Part 1 Of 2

[Music] [Music] well tonight we're going to explore this controversial topic called the rapture and I'm fond of calling it some on certain occasions as the most preposterous belief in biblical Christianity most of us probably in this audience are familiar the rapture and hold of that view and yet we need to recognize I think at least acknowledge in our minds that it's a wild idea strange idea that in some at some indeterminate moment Christ believers will be caught up snatched up out of this world while the world goes on with a very very definite agenda and very strange idea and we're going to do this in two sessions the first session we're gonna explore what's called the Blessed hope and the second session we'll get into some of the background and I'm gonna call that pattern this prologue if we understand the patterns that God deals with it's very very helpful we'll look at strategic structure in the scriptures but the word rapture some people say it's not in your Bible well actually it is but we'll come to that the Greek term where it appears it's called the harpazo and our pot so it's if we're going to deal with it in the first session we're talk about God's promise the process and the purpose and then we'll talk in the second session the prophetic profile where it fits in the problems that are associated with it and then finally a proposal so the first session will be the first three the Blessed hope and the second session will be the final three the prophetic profile the problems and the proposal so I'm fond of quoting dr. Richard Feynman Caltech when speaking of quantum physics he made a very interesting remark he says he said I think it's safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics in fact it is often stated of all the theories have proposed in the session in this century the silliest is quantum theory some say that the only thing quantum theory has going for it in fact is that it is unquestionably correct very often quoted quote by Feynman of the the current state of quantum physics but I feel it echoes the same kind of attitude towards the rapture because it sounds so preposterous on the one hand but the only thing that it's got going forward is the more you study your Bible the more you take it seriously and I'm talking about the whole Bible isn't as integral ho more it's clear that it is an essential ingredient in God's program so let's take a look at it let's start with the promise if you have a Bible and encourage you to turn to John 14 and as we do so let's remember the context this is that last night they would go from there to go cemani and they and all the episodes through the night and then following day and climax in the cluesive in the crucifixion Jesus has just finished dipping the SAAP and announcing that he was going to be betrayed Judas thus identified has left and something worth understanding is that the timing was controlled by Jesus Christ the one thing that they did not want to do is take him on a feast day certainly not on Passover if you study their Matthew 26 and so forth in the background but Jesus let the cat out of the bag himself and he announced a Judaism that Judas is going to betray him which forced Judas to fish or cut bait if he's going to do it he had to do it that night so he takes off to make the arrangements but what's left in the room then are the the eleven the believing disciples Judas is going and Jesus makes announces a fascinating promise the first verse in that chapter says let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me just four days ago Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem and was proclaimed the machine indeed the Messiah the king on the exact day that Daniel had previously predicted or I should say that Gabriel told Daniel five centuries ago but he's announcing disciples you believe in God believe also mean that's a let's just recognize how audacious that statement is angels were not to be worshiped but he's putting himself quite apart from that there are four possibilities either was God or wasn't either knew or didn't know accordingly now if he was God if he wasn't God and didn't know it we'd haven't condemned the one thing when daddy to see us Lewis for this simplification but it certainly makes sense if he if he wasn't God and knew that he wasn't then he's a liar he should be stoned obviously if he was God he knew but if he was God he knew that he was God we called him Lord and that's what this is all about he's going to because that's all true he's going to announce his program in the next verse he says in my father's house are many mansions therefore 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 unto myself that where I am there you may be also fabulous fabulous commitment dears also will make mention before the evenings over that it's essential that he leaves what the Holy Spirit can come says the comforter can come for some reason undisclosed they seem to be mutually exclusive Jesus would have to leave before the comforter could be given that's gonna be entering will see that reversal occur before he returns the comforter in the sense that he indwells will be withdrawn and he will come but the main thing to notice here you see father's house are many mansions you we tend to to visualize heaven probably as a street with buildings because we think of cities but the the idiom here at least is that we actually will have a specially tailored environment within heaven within fo it within the father's house and he goes there to prepare a place it's irresistible to not notice that God created this universe in six days and we only know the universe after the curse and even after the curse it's breathtaking to rediscover this universe Jesus is gone to prepare a place for you and he's been added how long a couple thousand years I suspect this could be rather magnificent and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also and from that time launch will always be with him now I want you to notice the frequency of you in these verses or not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also who's the focus here you are and the disciples of course and by extension ourselves there's a background piece that you and I are absent of and that is a Jewish wedding especially the ancient Jewish wedding you and I are familiar with a wedding approach or formula or ritual that's quite distant from the ancient Jewish wedding after which the Bible is patterned it opens with the ketubah the betrothal the commitment the generally on the part of the the prospective bridegroom he took the initiative and they established a marriage covenant and the negotiating price the mohair was he had to pay to purchase for us for his bride and once that was done from that point on she was set aside she was she was sanctified in a sense set aside set apart from that moment on she was considered exclusively for the bridegroom there was an enforceable contract remember Joseph and Mary they were espouse and yet he had that problem because they even though it was just an espousal he was committed to the it was a it was a it was a committed situation in matthew 1 and also malachi 2 and so forth so and as a symbol of that relationship they would both drink wine as a ceiling then so that that led to the next step and this is all you'll find this all through the scripture in judges 14 10 and 11 all the way through but let's go on to the next part when after that happens the bridegroom would be part to his father's house and he would prepare typically a room addition that would be it would take some time for him to construct in the range for meanwhile she would prepare for his eminent return this is a very interesting concept that we didn't brace and understand because there's it's referred to all through the scripture and that is that the bridegroom they're committed but they're not married yet and the bridegroom is absent and how long he'll be gone is deliberately indeterminate she does not know when he's going to return if that's what we mean by imminence there was no preconditioned event that would have to take place before he could return and when he finally did return there was a surprise gathering usually at night often at midnight and he would he would sometimes be gone say maybe for a year while he he added a room to his father's house and that would you know give her of course a chance to get a trousseau together get prepared for married life and so he would the end of this separation he would come to take his bride with him the groom the best man other male attendants would leave the father's house conduct the torchlight procession typically to the home of the bride and although the bride was expecting her groom to come she didn't a win and so as a result the groom's arrival was typically preceded by a shout and which was which forewarned the bride to be prepared for his coming in the notes that accompany this will have all the footnotes and the authorities for all these things but that then leads to the the the Bupa I might mention by the way the surprise gathering that is even memorialized in Matthew 25 by Jesus way talks about the ten famous tent versions understand that parable the context of it they're waiting for the surprise of the bridegroom coming you find that all through the scriptures if you know where to look at Psalm 45 and so on but anyway the hoop event that leads to the wedding proper and they would they would be escorted by the members of wedding party to the bridal chamber originally a hoopla now just memorialized the little canopy but in the original days was a separate chamber and Bryer prior to entering the chamber the bride remains veiled so that no one could see her face while the groomsman the bridesmaid went outside the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber alone there in the privacy of that place they entered in the physical union for the first time that counts the marriage and that was covenant presumably maybe a year earlier and after it was consummated the bloom would come out of the bridal chamber announced the consummation of the marriage to the members of the wedding party and then the guests so forth that the wedding party would announce it to the guests and so forth and that leads of course to the marriage supper lasted typically seven days you'll find that in a number of places judges 14 Matthew 9 Matthew 22 again we have it used as an idiom and in the parables and so forth so they had a great wedding feast so on and and after the seven days that bride would be under the hill and they were going to see her face and so forth so that's it now what's interesting this marriage model is not only in the scriptures and in other authorities it's fulfilled in the idiom of the church in the scripture the covenant was established first Corinthians 11:25 deals with that the purchase price was nothing other than the blood of Christ himself first Corinthians 6:19 2:20 is goes through that in fact that's what we usually do when we take communion to commemorate that the bride then was set apart you want to really read carefully Ephesians 5:25 to 27 where we have instructions where Paul tells them you know that wives submit to your husbands and so forth and he goes through that whole thing and then even quotes justice 224 for this cause some man leave his mother has probably cleaved his wife the two shall be one flesh he quotes that in the context of Brydon of the Bride of Christ and Christ Himself you put crisis in the church the very next verse after he quotes that he says but I just about the time you get there you think he's what Paul is talking about is the marriage relationship but then he throws you a curve ball says I speak of Christ in the church he's expressing this model and we remind our first covenant in 1st Corinthians 11 the bridegroom presently has left for the father's house that's where he's been for this interval period of time and there'll be an escort to accompany him upon his return to gather his bride and we'll see that in 1st Thessalonians 4 shortly so that leads us then to the process we understand that he's going to gather his bride how is he going to do that you know it's interesting to me to realize that without any Scripture you know the rapture has to take place because there is a point at which all the believers are going to receive resurrection bodies and be with the Lord well whenever that happens there's going to be some believers that haven't died yet so they are going to be changed along with the bodies being resurrected so that's all we mean by the rapture well this could be described here in 1st Thessalonians 4 it but let's before we get a you know this whole idea of the resurrection body isn't just a New Testament idea it's all through the Bible in fact the oldest book of the Bible job 19 quotes no job says for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at that latter day upon the earth and go after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me an incredible declaration of his conviction of the resurrection of body but in the Thessalonians Paul was there for about three weeks founded this church and shortly after he left he found out that they were yet they were getting very upset because some of their friends had died a grandma here a mother there whatever and some of them in the believing community some of them had died and they were disturbed because they felt apparently that they were that those that had died is somehow left had been left out of something it's interesting that they had that much consciousness of the the eminent return but then Paul writes in the letter in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 he says I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep which is an ephah mizzen for those that passed on that she sorrow not even as others which have no hope so he's talking about the believing dead here right for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him okay so when he when he comes back he's going to have them with them for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep really for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the air in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these words so this is the place where the word rapture occurs the word caught up in the Greek as harpazo and essentially knows we don't often the quotes end up verse 17 I think verse 18 is part of this passage says wherefore we comfort one another with these words there are people that believe that the rapture will occur after the Great Tribulation and that puts the Lord in this this kind of this puts the bridegroom in this kind of program come we're gonna get married then I'm gonna beat the living daylights out of you and then we'll go have a dinner Comfort you know these words say the word rapture does not appear in your Bible it does if you read in the Latin Bible in the Vulgate this is the this is the Latin Vulgate the word is RUP a mirror which is it's the proper tense of raffio which is our English words wrapped in rapture come from the past participle of propio so it's derived from that verb so the word rapture occurs in effect in its proper temps it in Latin in the Latin Bible and the Volga that's where we get this term people who say it's baptism the Bible they have another homework they're actually surprisingly enough seven raptures in the scripture Enoch you could call was raptured back in Genesis 5 so designated Hebrews 11 Elijah was taken in second Kings to Jesus of course is the classic example and Philip in acts 8 verse 39 Clau when he's taken to the third heaven in 2nd Corinthians 12 these are all familiar passages and the body of Christ is spoken here in 1st Thessalonians 4 and there's one more when John is called up in the first verse of Revelation chapter 4 in fact what's interesting is four of these the actual word harpazo is used and probably the most provocative one of all of these to me is revelation 12 5 and in Revelation 12 we have Israel portrayed as the woman the woman that reading the sin starts with Eve it's the woman that gave birth to the man shot of the Messiah she brought forth a man child but some people try to make that the church in Revelation 12 that's again a strange contrivance because clearly it's identified by its idioms they're drawn from Genesis Jacob in Genesis actually identifies her for you but furthermore she's the one that brought forth the manchild she's the mother she's not the wife or the bride she brought forth a man child who was to rule all the nations of the rod of iron who would that be Jesus Christ some other than 10 several places okay and her child was caught up to God and to his throne when I whenever I read that as a kid I was presumed with that's referring to is the and it may well be but I believe was GHB member who first recognized the possibility that what may be in view here is the catching up of the body of Christ the church itself in fact the word therefore caught up interesting left is harpazo the same word that we have in 1st Thessalonians 4 okay so that's the process what's the purpose of all this what's going on well 1st Corinthians 15 deals with this for us it says now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither does corruption inherit incorruption so that's our problem we're saved yes but we're still in flesh flesh cannot inherit so there's got to be a transition for those who have died is that the resurrection the resurrection yes so many people are bewildered about the technology of the rapture that's got to be easier than reaching down and getting some what's decomposing the coffin you know but you know interestingly enough but before I leave that topic we were indebted to Michael Crichton forgive us it a demonstration of what the technology would be to be required to do to do this because it is faint it's classic novel about Jurassic Park these prehistoric creatures are created with nothing more than a piece of information happens to be the DNA that was captured and they have a mechanism for the plot that doesn't it but simply if you realize what's going on there it's a demonstration of how you could create a prehistoric creature from nothing more than a piece of information all God needs to resurrect you is a your DNA and maybe a little bit more but a piece of information because the trick called atoms you might choose to use a fungible elements anyway to assemble and put together and I suspect that they're pretty with pretty some confidence that we're not necessarily build out of hydrocarbon molecules in a resurrection body in fact there's some surprises coming we'll come to that but the point is the main point is that this transition has to take place in first Corinthians 15 is the chapter it really deals with the whole issue resurrection I could argue I think Paul would argue that it's probably the most important chapter in the Bible because without first Corinthians 15 we have nothing it's the key to at all but in verse 51 it says behold I show you a mystery now a mystery in the Greek the wisteria the word means some up till now has been hidden and now revealing they used the term mystery a little differently than we used it it's more like revealing a password kind of thing I'll show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed notice the we there by the way Paul identified himself in this category in some surprising ways especially even the second letter will come - we shall not all sleep but we saw all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this in this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality so this is the transition saying place and this twinkling of an eye by the way that's not a blink a blinks a long period of time I personally suspect that's a conjecture on my part that that's going to be about 10 to the minus 43 seconds because that's the digital limit one of the things that we know from today and I'm not being facetious I know it's the I usually am but that's we live in a digital simulation one of the great discoveries of quantum physics is that length mass-energy time almost anything we can engage in this universe is composed of individual indivisible units you would think that length no matter what you have you can cut it in half and whatever you got left in cut in half again you can do that forever at least conceptually no you can't get down to my 10 to the minus 35 centimeters if you try to split that in half it no longer has locality it becomes immediately connected to everything else in the universe the proving of nonlocality an aspect when those guys back in 1982 shocked the physics world and the map on the macrocosm the universe is finite it's a big discovery 20th century science on the microcosm the whether it's mass time whatever it's made up of indivisible units the smallest unit of time is 10 to minus 43 seconds SmartNet does not exist it's digital and that's profoundly significant the points that's why I suspect that's probably the unit of time the quickly even I it was a see it's that it's this the speed of light how long does it take you to go through the iris about that so uh anyway let's move on the climax then is the next version says so when this corruptible Shah put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory Oh death where is thy sting or grave where is thy victory now the physics of immortality we've had some briefing packet on that so if I want to just extract a couple of things you might find interesting the first thing it fascinates me is the dimensionality issue we know that Jesus Christ in his physical body on the Sea of Galilee he was a three dimensional body can handle him see he ate then you know he was familiar but we also know that after his resurrection he he had some very unusual properties he could enter and leave a room without passing through the walls floor ceiling we think of a cube as having six eyes but he could enter and leave without passing through any of those six sides after your mathematician you can deal with this because they were dealing with hyper spaces there's only two kinds of people can deal with hyperspace and that's mathematicians and special training and small children but you and I probably have difficulty with that where this comes up see it some people speculate that Jesus as people who are expert in this area tend to conjecture that Jesus had to have at least eleven dimensions in order to accomplish what he accomplishes now you know I can't relate that without some mathematics and I'll get on that here but the point we need to understand we're dealing here in spaces of more than three dimensions and first John 3:2 has a fascinating verse in first John 3:2 he writes beloved now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is now that sounds like double talk at first and yet what he's saying in effect see you and I when we look at say it a set of drawings for a house we look at a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional house and when you look at a painting that's artists two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional space what are you saying you see what he's really saying here we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is we're not going to see a three-dimensional representation of a four-dimensional being or a five dimensional representation of a six dimensional being whatever it is we'll be like him because we're going to see him as he is see the only way you can get a three-dimensional representation of the three extra person is to be a three dimensional person with them follow me that's what he's saying so whatever he is whatever it is we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is when will we do that when he shall appear that's exciting that's exciting now in second Corinthians five there's a passage that's often overlooked by people who are in this rapture issue that came up in our studies when we were investigating Genesis six and I'm indebted to Tommy ices recent newsletter who highlight something else so we've got something to trade here kind of history anyway in 1st Corinthians 10 corinth you see nee-san corinthians 5 first verse says for we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens and for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven now it's in the Greek that this has some subtleties you want to be sensitive to for we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle he's using here the idiom of a tent for our temporary dwellings why because the tent is typically considered a temporary dwelling for camping whatever you and I are in are temporary dwellings that that serves us for a period of what threescore and ten or whatever we know that if our earthly house of this tent were dissolved we have a building of God a building of gods he's he's shifting to a more permanent idiom here a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens you know one thing I just insert this to you know most of us tend to think of this is you know look at this podium or the our physical universe is being real and we tend to think of the spiritual universe is sort of ephemeral invisible sort of a fuzzy never-never-land kind of thing it's the other way around this podium is a simulation it's an electrical simulation it only feels solid there's more space than solid here if you really understand the atomic structure it's the real universe that's real this is a simulation of sorts but anyway he goes on then for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven now the word house here is an interesting word in the greek it's Orca tyrion and it's interesting because it only occurs twice in the bible once here as referring to that which we aspire to in our resurrection bodies the only other place it shows up is in jude 6 and there it's a strange allusion in Jude 6 he's talking about the bizarre goings-on of Genesis 6 and the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation hath he reserved in everlasting chains under darkness into the jet entered the judgment of the great day he's referring to the judgment of those angels that generated the Nephilim in Genesis 6 and what's interesting is this first estate the word is RK which is means principality or majesty of either angels or demons they left that they could they kept not their first estate but they left their own habitation the word habitation there again is Oka Tyrion this dwelling that they disrobed themselves of to engage in this mischief in Genesis 6 it's the same word that describes that body that we aspire to in a resurrection bodies that will be instantly given to us at the rapture in fact see the next verse it's interesting Paul reveals something here in the third verse of second Corinthians 5 he says picking up the Olympic verse - first for in this we groan earthly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked what on earth is he talking about you see when someone guys their body of course goes in the ground or whatever what happens to their spirit anyone there with the Lord immediately in the spirit they don't have their bodies yet when they get their bodies at the resurrection Paul talks uses that phrase naked as being with the Lord but not with his body until the resurrection and what he is revealing here interestingly enough is his desire he's hope that he could be raptured so that he's that he will be not naked for that you know for whatever that interval is and to be clothed upon then the pre adverse to is dependent I it comes from epi anand duo it means to put on over put a blunt piece of clothing over another presently being worn so it's Paul's aspiration that he could be raptured because then he is the whole thing takes place at once because what was in view here was the idea that he the spirit would be with the Lord for some interval from the time he died until he until the resurrection takes place know what betrays that is the possibility that the whole time dimensionally will be different on that side of the issue but that's another briefing back another time we talked about the Jewish wedding the ketubah the betrothal payment of purchase price the bride set apart the bridegroom departs his father's house prepares the room Edition and the bride then prepares for his return which is eminent could happen any time and this leads to a very fundamental teaching in the New Testament we call the doctrine of imminence and what it simply means is that there's nothing that need proceed it doesn't mean it'll happen tomorrow but it could happen tomorrow or next week or anything there's no precedent requirement if it's eminent it means it could be right now word eminent it's the next expectation the next event in God's program is for the bride be gathered by the bridegroom there are all kinds of other things that will happen subsequently but that's the next thing to happen next expectation there's no preceding condition they don't confuse this with imminent spelled with an A and that that's that me that means that God has not only transcendent or far above us but he's always with us an active on her behalf so that term in theology has another meeting at different smelling nor should be confused with eminent which is the title of honor reserved with persons have outstanding distinction so there's three different words that get confused imminent with an i i mm INAT meaning next expectation nothing nothing there's nothing be preceded believers are taught to expect the savior from heaven at any moment that's all through the New Testament Philippians 3:20 Titus 2:13 Hebrews 9:28 first Thessalonians 1 4 5 revelation 22 and so on clearly you cannot get through the New Testament by the consciousness that the believers were to conduct their lives in a moment-by-moment expectancy of the return of the Savior that whole concept is eminency if you understand that that concept you'll discover many theories that are floating on the landscape would violate that if there are preceding conditions then then that punctures the doctor of eminency and the 1st Thessalonians 1:10 the best example expresses the hope and warmth of expectancy and it should result in a victorious and purified life people who are living with that expense a are minding their men itting their their their their their living their lives in a literal expectation of the Lord to come at any moment the minute you start letting go of that is when you you'll find your start slipping it's a very very purifying doctrine now by the way Paul did seem to include himself among those who look for Christ's return we saw that 1st Thessalonians 4 and 2nd Thessalonians 2 also the 2nd Thessalonians 5 we just looked at Timothy was admonished by Paul to keep his this commandment without spot or rebuke will until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Jewish Congress reminded that yet a little while and he that shall come will come and he will not tarry Hebrews 10 there's many of these in fact the Lord's instruction on the other side is to occupy till i come and see the expectation of some were so strong but they'd stopped work together Lord's the Lord's coming next Tuesday let's relax and so they had to be exhorted to return to their jobs and second that second as long as three and have patience James 5:8 in other words there was such an expectation they were sort of overreacting to that and putting their feet on the desk you know and that's tragic because that's also a legitimate criticism of people who embrace the doctor I'm talking about the pre-trib rapture some of the people who don't hold that view can be critical of us because he that there's a tendency of us not to roll up our sleeves and recognize there's things that need to be done in the meantime so there's two extreme problems one a problem is the rap what I call rapture itis rapture paralysis you might call it and the other one is the rapture mania the date setters and both those are both extremes at the opposite ends rapture itis that's a uniquely American dementia I believe when I travel abroad I don't find as much as here but the hear of the America it's amazing how many people who believe in the rapture pre-trib rapture just because the church I think you can show from the scripture we'll get into that in the next session will not go through the Great Tribulation why should we escape but most of the body of Christ in most of the world for most of the past 2,000 years has had to endure it's called persecution Church was promised persecution and and you can call that persecution tribulation it's troubled times it's not the Great Tribulation as definitive definitively described it's tribulation that comes from where where does the church get persecuted from the worlds of Satan the great tribulation has its source as the wrath of God that's a different thing altogether we are promised not to experience the wrath of God we may experience all kinds of Correction we may endure all kinds of persecution indeed that's not the Great Tribulation we'll come to that and there's an attitude that somehow especially in America that Christians are not going to have any problems we could be facing very dark times where do we get the audacity the arrogance to assume that we're going to escape what most of the body of Christ and most of the world for most last night you're said doing to her it's called prosecution and now the other side of the coin is the date setters boy there's a long history of these I won't take you through mall but you go throughout almost every segment of history has had as Giacomo Flores in the in the 13th century a bunch of them all the way through even to recent times William Miller in 1843 and then again on code and in 1844 and then CT Russell 1874 most of us remember a cc wise intense books 88 reasons for 1988 those books are collectors I don't know Harold Camping in September of 1994 he had that nails and of course with the 2000 now in 2000 you know a whole new cycle there's a whole new cycle of people with charts and diagrams explaining Jubilee years or whatever and let's take a quick look at the scripture of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven but the father only in fact the mark reference of that same things it's not the son but the father only interesting passage Matthew 24:42 watch therefore for you know not what hour the Lord has come Matthew 24:44 therefore be also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh there against not date say but notice again the eminence that's there be ready if you know what he's going to show you could he can arrive at any moment don't set dates watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh I believe the reason this thing is not clear is because God is gonna catch Satan by surprise that's part of the strategy I believe personal conjecture be therefore already also for the Son of man cometh in an hour when you think not Luke 12 241 7 and sending them it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the father had put in his own power now the thing you discover as you get into this topic in depth you start collecting the verses that seem to refer to what I'll call the second coming of Jesus Christ for every most of you realize that there's when his first coming over 300 prophecies that were specifically fulfilled in his first coming what you may not realize is for every one of those there are eight prophecies of a sent I mean there's over 2500 specific details of the second coming so as you go through your bio state you start collecting those and you started collecting those and examining them you listen up you'll discover something rather strange you'll discover that there's a cluster of them that have a lot in common and I'm going to call those for lack of a better term the second coming he's returned in power and set up his kingdom Daniel - Daniel 7 Daniel 12 Zechariah all through the New Testament how it goes revelations on and there's a whole list I won't go through each one of these individually they'll be in your notes for those who want to track them down we're going to compare them another way but there's there's one group that have a certain set of characteristics in common and a couple of dozen of those there's another group that I'll call the rapture passages that are quite different in fact you discover they're contradictory in one case you don't know when he's coming the other one you're gonna know exactly one is coming in one case he comes in secret for his own the other one every eye shall see them you'd be in a real wait a minute as you study these two clusters of a couple of dozen references in each bucket you begin to realize this has to be talking about two different things indeed it does the second coming of Christ and the broad senses it comes in two phases once for the church once for Israel once for the church to fulfill his promises to his bride and secondly he comes in power to fulfill all the commitments that God has laid down in both the Old and New Testaments for a kingdom on the earth we're gonna take David's throne etc and very very interesting times two events let's contrast these a different way by function rather than by reference in one case the rapture there's a translation of all the believers in the second coming there's no translation involved he comes in to earth and sets up his kingdom on the earth and there's people that live in the earth they have children they have you go in the Millennium there's no people that die it's a different kind of you know it's different in some respects and yet it's not it's not eternity yet that comes at the end of the thousand years the rapture the translated saints go to heaven and the Second Coming translate the Saints return to the earth with him different deal it's a different it's a different way of traffic if I may in rapture the earth isn't judged you didn't come to the earth he gathers meets us in the air the judgment comes later the second coming yes judge hears perhaps the most important distinction between these two groups of prophecies in one case they're imminent at any moment and they're signless there's no sign that needs to precede the rapture other than the shout the voice the arcades the Trump of God and that's like now there isn't a preceding set of conditions you can see coming for the second coming there is the most documented period of time an entire Bible a seven-year history that has more information about it than any other period of time in the Bible it precedes the second coming if that starts you can set almost up to date in fact there's a mid-course correction make sure you're on track they say the rapture is not in the Old Testament I don't happen to believe that I'll show you why but that's the standard dictum and of course Second Coming is all predicted throughout the Old Testament Raptors the believers only son coming affects all men on earth the rapture occurs before the day of wrath is so promised and the Second Coming concludes the day of wrath rapture has don't reference to Satan he's not a player that's his whole thing I think it's geared to get him by surprise Second Coming Satan's bound when the rapture occurs that's like a starting gun for Satan because you know it's got a little bit at only a little time that's part of the game that's going on the rapture Jesus comes for his own second coming he comes with his own so the reference to say many places rapture comes in the air the the Second Coming comes to the earth rapture he claims his bride said coming he comes with his bride and the rapture only his own will see him you know it's interesting after his resurrection he was only seen by loving eyes and he was only touched by living hands studies a chronicle very careful it's very extreme apparently rapture - only his own see him second coming every I'll see him and Trumbull rapture generally the Great Tribulation begins now I'm gonna be cautious about this that's what it's usually presented not necessarily that instant but the rapture triggers a series of events the cop that leads to the Great Tribulation the Second Coming the millennium begins the rapture the church believers only many scholars point out that the Old Testament Saints will not be resurrected until after the Millennium that comes as a shock to many but you can check Daniel 12 to check that out for yourself so we see the marriage fulfills the covenants been established first Corinthian the purchase price and paid for his Corinthians six brides have been set apart in all kinds of references that's most of the new testament is admonitions to the bride to keep herself apart preserved we reminder the covenant again at 1st Corinthians 11 the bridegroom left for the father's house and we're waiting for a 1st Thessalonians 4 so in the next session we'll take a break but the next session I'm going to say pattern is prologue we're going to take a look at strategic structure in the scripture and partly for a strategic perspective and partly for some surprises that you may find rather provocative so let's take a brief period but as we do as we do I want you to be thinking about the invitation that Jesus is given to the bride I go to prepare a place for you is he preparing a place for you is Jesus busy right now tonight preparing a place for you are you certain of that because that's really what it's all about and we'll talk more about that in the next session let's take a break

Channel: June062007

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Length: 44min 58sec (2698 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 04 2019