The Rapture - Chuck Missler - Session 2

[Music] when our first session which I call the Blessed hope we've been through the promise the process and the purpose of the harpazo or rapture now we'll go into the second session which we're talking about patterns talk about the prophetic profile that this all fits into some problems that come up as out of the subject and then a final proposal so let's take a look at the prophetic profile you know it's interesting that Jesus gave a confidential briefing on a second coming to his disciples actually a very private briefing only four guys were there four disciples Peter James and John the inner three plus Peters brother Andrew these four and Jesus gave them a a briefing that's recorded in three of the four Gospels and this record of course in Matthew 24 and 25 which is usually regarded as the definitive one men Matthew took shorthand so we have confidence that he probably had it almost verbatim he had to have shorthand skills to hope for his job as a customs official that's that's that's pretty clear now it's also recorded in mark 13 which is Peters Gospel where Mark was his secretary and then Luke and Luke 21 who we constructed it from from comments later so now interestingly enough the main point I'm going to go through those whole briefings that's a study in itself but the main point of those three records is that Jesus highlights a number of things that are non signs this that the other thing will happen but the end is not yet but then he highlights that what turns out to be the key to endtime prophecy he points them to Daniel 9 there's a very famous passage the last four verses of Daniel 9 are the key to understanding prophecy if you take the trouble to really understand those four verses then everything else will fall into place it's a it becomes a litmus test of many ideas if you really understand those four verses many books I've read that are confused are also confused about Daniel 9 they often don't mention it or they have some strange theories about it it's pretty clear you want to do a careful study if you really want to start your study prophecy you want to master the last four verses Daniel 9 the so-called 70 weeks Daniel was in prayer he knew from his reading of the Scriptures namely Jeremiah that the 70 year captivity was about up so he knew that they are about to be released to go back home and rebuild the temple and so forth and so as a result of knowing that he goes to prayer know what a lesson that is that's what Jesus tells us to do which is pretty when you pre pray thy kingdom come it's part of Lord's Prayer what are you praying for for his kingdom to come to be set up on the earth it's astonishing that most churches don't believe that most churches some however we'll come back to that a little later but anyway so Daniel was in intense prayer and in the first 19 verses of Daniel 9 as he prays for his people himself and so forth you can feel him tremble even in the English translation to watch the frequency of the verbs get tighter and tighter you can almost see him tremble to the point where he's interrupted in that prayer by Gabriel who then gives him this classic four verses Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 there's a verse that gives you the scope of the whole thing the next verse lays out in detail 69 weeks of years precisely in fact the precision of verse 25 Daniel 9 is so astonishing it's probably the thing that some 50 years ago galvanized me as a fish I'd already accepted the Lord as many people have in their teens whatever but when I encountered to some surprise some special tutoring discovered what Sir Robert Anderson's unraveling of the Saturday weeks--i Daniel his classic work in 1890 in his classic work in 1894 is worth that should be on everyone's library the coming prints pastor Robert Anderson Rennie case verse 25 are six nine weeks then there's a very key verse to understand that's verse 26 because it talks about some things that happen after the 69 weeks of years but before the 70th meaning they're not contiguous many people will get you know get this muddled up don't recognize that all seventy are not contiguous the first 69 are then there's an interval with some specific things that happen in that interval and then there's a final one and that architecture of the four versus it once you understand that it all starts to come together very clearly the sixty nine weeks of years the the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that from the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the machine again the Messiah the king would be 69 weeks of years to make a long story short that's one hundred and seventy three thousand eight hundred eighty days well we know the commandment restoring to build Jerusalem that was the day that was under Nehemiah the decree of artaxerxes Longinus and march 14th of 445 BC they're actually four decrees but the other three I do with the temple if you say the book of Ezra you know they tried to build their temple had nothing but problems until Nehemiah got the authority for them to rebuild the city and that's what that's specifically expressed in the in in verse 25 the big mystery is okay when did Jesus allow himself to be presented as a king it turns out if you study that carefully there's only one day he allowed it to happen many times they tried he says mine hour is not yet come then one day he dispatches his disciples to a particular place to give him a code word release the donkey he takes that donkey and he rides it from Bethany up over the brook the Mount of Olives down through the the what's called the golden gate into Jerusalem deliberately fulfilling zechariah 9:9 that the king would come present himself as a donkey and that occurred on April 632 ad and these dates can be nailed down then that it is it turns out that between those two dates is one hundred and seventy three thousand eight hundred eighty days Gabriel's margin for error was zero he predicted the exact day that Jesus would present the Messiah would present himself as a king to Jerusalem and what's astonishing about that it's during that interval between those two dates that the entire Jewish Scriptures the Old Testament what we call the Old Testament translated into Greek it's called the Septuagint version that was done three centuries before three centuries earlier this prophecy was part of the Old Testament and therefore translated into Greek so verse 25 at Daniel 9 in and of itself when you understand the background the rest of it is one of the most astonishing demonstrations of the deity of Christ that it really was anyways now the next verse is that we want to focus on little bit here is the interval that's verse 26 between the two after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be Korat executed for capital crime but not for himself who far you and me you got it kid right on but not for himself or the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city in the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and in the end of the war desolations are determined well we all know that when Jesus wrote that donkey he predicted that the city would be destroyed and 38 years later it was under Titus with spacian when the Roman legions laid siege to the city and for nine months slaughtered a million men women and children and laid level Jerusalem so the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the sanctuary who are the people the prince that Shogun the Romans therefore the prince that shall come which is one of the titles of this final world ruler we know he comes from the Roman Empire that does not mean he comes from Western Europe that's where many of us stumble me included so my early thing I didn't realize it's up to think because all of us forget that the eastern leg of the Roman Empire outlasted the western leg by a thousand years Constantine moved the capital of the world to Byzantium from Rome called Constantinople and the scripture seems to indicate that the Antichrist will come from Assyria as we move unto tension as we watch this cauldron of the Middle East brought over as we anticipate tensions with Iraq we realize that that's the region ultimately that this world leader is going to come from so that's going to be exciting time to do our homework but let's move on here's a diagram the first verse 25 was 69 week 7 + 62 verse 26 was the interval that we've talked about and in that interval four days later comes if after after them after the donkey ride Jesus gets crucified but not for himself and then we have the temple destroyed those events took about 38 years but we know this interval has had to at least it had it last at least 38 years we've discovered by experience it's lasted better part of 2000 years but there is verse 27 of Daniel 9 it's the 70th week 69 weeks were fulfilled with a precision that's astonishing the 70th week has more details described about it in both the old and the new testament than any other proof time in human history that's what we called the strange period the 70th week of Daniel since it's a week of years many people call it the tribulation as that seven-year tribulation and that's comfortable as a idiom of literature but it's actually technically incorrect 7 years for the week yes but the Great Tribulation is the last half of that week so let's take a look at this 70th week it's it's critical for us it's defined in Daniel 9:27 as a covenant that's enforced by a world leader this final super guy I like to call him Nimrod the second the first world dictator was Nimrod and I believe he's going to come out of that same region and he may make Babel in his capital that's very different than many of the prophecy books that doesn't mean I'm right but at least it'll cause you do a little digging on your own to check it out yourself but the main point is that this week is defined by a covenant that he enforces which means he has to emerge in public scenery before he's powerful enough to enforce a covenant that defines that week so he's ahead he had one of it he has to occur before this weakness now in the middle of that seven-year period he violates that covenant by any event that has a technical term called the abomination of desolation and Jesus points to that event as the key to endtime prophecy and that's going to happen in the middle of the seven-year period the reason it's so important is it initiates see there these the the 70th week is divided into two halves each half is described as three and a half years is described as forty-two months is described as 1260 days each half has those references in the Old Testament and the new again and again called chriscrisp cross referenced so we know the precision here by the Holy Spirit is clearly beyond any attempt to make it symbolic or just a figure of speech that sort of thing now the reason it's also so important Jesus himself labels the last half of that seven-year period the last minute half years he calls it the Great Tribulation he does so by quoting from Daniel 12 where it's alluded to he quotes that pins it from there from when you see domination of insulation then shall be the Great Tribulation what makes it distinctive from other forms of tribulation and you learn more about it and discover it God's wrath is being poured out this is a tribulation uh from Satan in the world it's it's a bond the world and then ultimately upon Satan's through Satan's realm so it's just the opposite that's why it's distinctively different and one of the promises to the church is that it will be removed before that happens another label of that same period in the Old Testament in Jeremiah 30 is called the time of Jacob's trouble it's worldwide but its focus is on the Jews the first Holocaust in Germany took one Jew out of three according to Zechariah 13 verse 8 and 9 the next one will take two or three the time of Jacob's trouble time time trouble and they have never seen till that time or ever would see again you see around in Israel you'll never again I got bad news for them it will happen once again and worse of course this whole thing then is the occasion of the second coming and the establishment of the millennium so the 70th week is concluded it is it started by the establishment the enforcement of this covenant it concludes with the second coming of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom up on the earth for a thousand years eternity starts after that the Great Tribulation it's defined by Jesus and quote from Daniel 12 he says for then there should be Great Tribulation such was not since the beginning of the world to this time nor ever shall be except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened that's an interesting technological expression that phrase could not have had much meaning to us if we were reading this in the middle of the 18th century how could the world wipe itself out with bayonets and muskets and yet today we tremble every time you open the paper if we realize that there is enough nuclear and other forms of weaponry that could literally and I only wipe out all flesh but alter the orbit of the earth the the Jewish label for this the Old Testament label is time of Jacob's trouble day of 12 at that time shall Michael stand up the Great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people Michael is always a military commander on behalf of Israel every time you see him Gabriel is always a messenger on behalf of the Messiah different issue and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even at that same time that's the quote the Jesus in effect echoes and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book so at the end they're gonna be driven to the wall and then saved a lot of the Old Testament amplifies that in Isaiah and elsewhere alas for that day is great so that none is like it is even the time of Jacob's trouble but he shall be saved out of it now it's interesting the last few verses of Matthew 23 describe the purpose of all history he said o Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and that's the purpose of all history God's desire to gather his own but the tragedy of all history is that he would not the Messiah came as promised in fact on the very day he was scheduled with hundreds of details fulfilling them to authenticate himself and they would not have him rule over them we have no king but Caesar they current so as a result the great tragedies as behold your house is left unto you desolate forever no Paul in Romans 11:25 says there until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in then God is gonna once again be dealing with Israel for I say unto you that you shall not see me as well till ye shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of Lord the triumph of all history and that day that will be the climax of the tribulation the purpose of the tribulation is drive them to the wall to recognize and when they do he comes and rescues them in Hosea 5:15 Jesus her God says in Hosea he says I will go and return to my place how can God return he must have left it I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me earnestly and indeed they will that's the purpose of the tribulation is to get Israel to acknowledge their sin of rejection of the Messiah it's going to take the tribulation to make them do that as a nation that doesn't mean individuals aren't saved the mean time but as a nation as a corporate commitment that is yet future and that all happens at Petra and so forth and you can look at it now another issue you need to understand you most people who have trouble in this area have problems not of eschatology study of last things they have problems in ecclesiology and also hermeneutics hermeneutics being a theories of interpretation I'll come back to that last to show you you can you can tell where you are on hermeneutical scale by your eschatology your eschatology will derive from your theories of an interpretation but one of the other problems that most Christians have is they haven't done their homework on what's called ecclesiology the study of the church how is the church distinctive over one thing it's called the body of Christ that's a very unique term the New Testament portrays the church is the Bride of Christ we find that in Ephesians 5 very eloquently there's 10 verses therefore 11 verses from 22 on that detail that I encourage you to just study that it speaks for itself you think as he starts they start about husbands and wives but as he gets to a climax he then throws a curve on you says I speak of Christ in the church he's three throws and ellipsis there he wants husband and wives to behave like like the church should be Christ but on the trends around it also gives us a clue about the idioms that he's using all through the scripture Romans 7 for second Corinthians 11 James so forth now Paul in that passage even quotes Genesis 2:24 as a union at the parousia or the appearance of the bridegroom Justice 2:24 is that famous passages quoted several times in throughout the scripture for this cause shall a man leave his mother and his father and cleave to his wife the two shall be one flesh it comes out justice 2:24 but of course it's used by Paul in Ephesians 5 to do climax the marital Union but then the next verse he throws you a curve verse 31 he mentions that men verse 32 says I speak of Christ in Christ in the church so he's using that the idiom of the bride the body of Christ and as the Bride of Christ rather intensely now the church is expressly exempted from God's wrath in 1st Thessalonians 5:9 we are not appointed to wrath Paul tells us and he says it emphatically in that passage and also revelation 3:10 there is a church idiomatically a subset of the church that is exempted from God's wrath I'll keep you not from the tribulation from the term of the tribulation in Revelation 3:10 commonly expressed verses there's another thing you should be sensitive to when you read Daniel 7 you find the passage about the Antichrist it says I beheld the same horn that's a made war with the Saints and prevailed against them when you see that you should be shocked because you may remember Matthew 16 we'll look at that in a minute when you look at Revelation 13:7 again we're speaking of the Antichrist it was given unto him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them really and power was given him over all Kindred's and tongues and nations that's disturbing because here's the in Daniel he prevails against them in Revelation 13:7 he overcomes them in Matthew 16 at Caesarea Philippi Jesus made an announces the first time that he announces the church this is I say unto thee thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it now it's interesting the gates of Hell are gates offensive or defensive elements defensive it's not the church that's defending itself against Satan it's satan defending himself against the church who has the initiative here the church let's not forget that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it now this word prevail and overcome is disturbing because it is it is in the one case we have the church will not be prevailed over and the other case the the Antichrist will prevail over them that leads to an insight that we whenever you have a contradiction or apparent contradiction study carefully because behind that lines of discovery and I want you to think carefully we're a quote from both Matthew and Luke let's use Matthew because the closest jesus said in matthew chapter 11 verse 11 verily I say unto you among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist that's pretty wild that's quite a statement but then before the verse visually goes Isis notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he what on earth's going on here is he saying that John the Baptist wasn't saved I don't think so but the kingdom when he's using the kingdom of heaven here he's referring to something very specific in fact when we get to a few verses later in Rev in verse 13 of Matthew 11 he says for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John what he is saying what he says more clearly in Luke 16:16 says the law and the prophets were until John John the Baptist is the close of the Old Testament we think of the Old Testament finishing a book of Malachi that's the last book in the Old Testament there are 400 years of history is still to come and those are not the silent years that recalls in silent years no they're dictated for you in detail in Daniel 11 in advance the wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucid empires for the set for half-a-dozen dynasties are detailed there so precisely the critics have had to say gjm that must have been written later couldn't been written back then well it was in the second second of six dynasties in under Tom II Philadelphus is when the Septuagint translated all that stuff and in Greek it's around it lays out history in advance with a credible precision but the point is the Old Testament dispensation the Old Testament period closes with John the Baptist John the Baptist say but he's saved under the Old Testament ground rules see where and Jesus is introducing something new something new we need to understand that not all Saints are like not all so that's the only point I'm trying to make here there are Old Testament Saints there are people saved the Old Testament make your list you can guess who they are there's the church by definitions I'm not talk about churches and structures not talking about denomination of time but the true biblical believing church choosing the churches the Bible would use the term they cleese yeah they're also people that will be saved after the church is gone will come they call tribulation Saints people died during the tribulation are seen under the under the altar in the fifth seal the books open and so on we could talk a lot about this at the point is to anybody if anybody thinks the church goes through the tribulation has two pieces of homework to do you got to find out what the church really is and as you do you'll discover it's exempt from that but a lot of reasons the second piece Alma gotta find what the tribulation is really all about what's its purpose what its goal what's it what's it out to do and you discover they're mutually exclusive for lots of reasons but that's a piece of homework that's why that's why this area of study is so challenging because you can't hang a doctrine on a single verse here and there what you need to do is your test is the whole Council of God and and when you have a conjecture of some kind does it fit the tests of tying all the loose ends together it's the integration of the whole and when you study eschatology you can't divorce it from ecclesiology study the church and all of that is driven by your home and etics here at your theory of interpretation you know it goes now I might mention something else by the way Susan a lot of misunderstandings Jesus had to leave physically for the Holy Spirit to be given to the church but in a very special sense the Holy Spirit's always been around will always be around even after the church is gone but not in the sense that it and Wells the believer the whole concept that you and I can just a briefing like a quick briefing like this I can't build the whole case where you just want to lurch you the pasta bill have you studied it yourself the Holy Spirit was given in a unique way to the church to indwell and seal you to your day of redemption and that's something that would that blew Paul's mind he knew the Old Testament he knew that David could pray take not thy Holy Spirit from me you and I can't pray that prayer I'm gonna sing that song but we can't pray that prayer because the Holy Spirit's given without repentance and scripture tells us you need to study first Corinthians 12 verse Corinthians 14 and so on Holy Spirit and when he's removed in that special relationship the church is removed he's still God and he's still on the present and he'll be very busy people who are saved then maybe there may be more people saved during the tribulation period than before and any that are saved or saved by the Holy Spirit you need to understand that now there are Old Testament patterns is another kind of this is not something you build doctrines on it's one that you sort of uses collateral information to get perspective I have a couple of favorites there's a lot of these I thought I just saw through he knocked in the flood of Noah we'll talk about him in a minute we're talking about Isaac's absence after his offering it's intriguing when Isaac was offered by Abraham he's edited out of the record into his United with his bride two chapters later very interesting that's a alteration of the text in a very profound way and the Genesis 2219 mostly was no my materials are familiar with that where was Ruth during the threshing floor seen at the feet of Boas so you can study the that whole typological thing and where's Daniel in Daniel chapter 5 we have the fiery furnace where was Daniel it's not there so to the extent those are types they point to a pre-trib typology but let me just pick one and get into detail detail all those there are three groups facing the flood of Noah three groups those that perished the flood right there were those that were preserved through the flood only eight out of the entire world that world might have been over a million people with all kinds of calculations that people have made it's not just a few tribes it was very substantial out of the entire world only eight were saved the rest were wiped out you understand why there's a whole story behind but the main point is there's those that perish there were those that preserve and there were those that removed now which fee it is and obviously while it was removed prior was Enoch you say well that was only one guy indeed but the so is the rapture only one person it's the body of Christ mistreated at the single body Enoch was born by the way on the day that they the Jews observed for other reasons his hug she wrote and it's interesting they have a tradition I don't know what comes from I'm trying to track that down they have a tradition that he was translated raptured if you will on how to vote also his rapture on his birthday I think if I can prove that somehow from Scripture I would be very instantly because he may be a type of the church the church was born on hog show vote Feast of Pentecost is it possible the church also will be translated or raptured on its birthday you know everybody every year people who study the Feast of Moses pathetically you know like the hang their hat on either Feast of Trumpets or some of the Feast of Tabernacles whatever I'm not sure it's that's I think it's sort of almost a date setting kind of things so I wouldn't go too far with that but if it's going to be more if he if it's going to be on one of these days I might candidate would be the Feast of Pentecost I think it's only half fulfilled and maybe another half coming talks about feast of weeks harvest Pentecost whatever okay now something else that I want to share with you this is not doctrine and you will find you won't find this in most of the conservative geological treatments of eschatology you can I'm Hal Lindsey usually kids me a lot he calls me a mystic and I guess I'm guilty but I want to just show you some verses and you draw your own conclusions as to what they say to you okay let's first of all start with Isaiah 26 the interesting passage now Isaiah 26 starting about verse 19 the dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Isaiah says awake and sing you that dwell the dust for thy do is as the dew verbs and the earth shall cast out their slain come my people enter thou into thy chambers not his chambers your chambers come my people enter thou in thy chambers shut thy doors about the inn hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation is past is over past for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain I don't know if that's what's that talking about all I know is it says G come my people enter thou into thy chambers and wonder what chambers these are that can provide that kind of protection shut thy doors about then hide thyself as it were for a little moment until what's Pat's on the indignation is over past Wow I think that's kind of interesting the Lord because the Lord is gonna come out of the place to punish in the habits of the earth for their iniquity that's the indignation until that's over you've got your rooms now stay there keep the door shut that's in the Old Testament kind of interesting let's take a look at Zephaniah to 3cq the Lord all ye meek of the earth which have wrought his judgment seek righteousness seek meekness it may be shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger that's an interesting promise that's an interesting promise Psalm 27 5 4 in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up on a rock who is that rock Christ you got it that's he that's the easy part well oK we've looked at a few pattern kinds of things let's hit a head on some of the problems we encounter when we talk about these kinds of things the root one you're gonna want to talk about as briefly as amillennialism because it is the commonly taught doctrine of the denominational churches both Catholic and Protestant and a subset of the other collection of problems are several them really beg the question will the church or will it not enter the Tribulation and let's take a look at this but first of all to understand the right the return of Christ to rule his right to rule there are eighteen hundred and forty-five provinces in the Old Testament seventeen books give prominence to the event three hundred and eighteen references in the New Testament two hundred and sixteen chapters and twenty-three of the 27 books of the New Testament you promised to the event of Christ coming back to rule on the planet Earth not rule in our hearts and all that rule on the earth you rule from the throne of David that was Gables promise to marry Luke 1:32 David stone didn't exist in those days for every prophecy of Christ's first coming there are eight of a second coming it's a well-documented event well documented in advance well where on earth did we get this idea that he's not really going to come in the room well it really goes back to Oregon he was a writer that did many good things but he also had a theory of Alec's sure's mostly allegory and the danger here is when you have an allegory can make it almost mean anything you want to mean and Augustine picked up on this he really heavily influenced Berg and he developed and he did a number of wonderful writings nailing some of the heresies of his day there's a long list of these but what he also did he really embraced this idea of amillennialism the Bishop of Hippo he did a lot he's very influential you have to sort of understand the politics of that day the Roman Empire had not only legalized Christianity by then after Constantine to the second guy after him made it the state religion so passes were government employees now you're in a government pulpit and you're gonna start preaching how Jesus is going to come back to rid the world of its evil rulers it doesn't have any market research behind that does it it's a little it's not it's not exactly politically correct well how they deal with all these passes well speaking out ransom come back and rule in people's hearts and so they start finding ways to get around this the idea of a literal millennium no no no it's a they they found by allegorize ngey guide around this the problem is that Augustine's writings which embraced this gave them the rationale starts getting codified in the medieval church and becomes the core doctrine not just the Catholic Church but the Protestant churches also Roman Catholic eschatology is based on Augustine and the Reformation did wonderful things in the area of soteriology salvation by faith marvelous people willingly were burned at the stake for the commitment to salvation by faith alone so you can't knock that but you do have to as you stand back and write the report cards you need to realize they didn't go far enough to re-examine their eschatology so they just went with what they'd alts are even taught the Augustine amillennialism so most Protestant denominations today they derive from the Reformation RR millennia on the one hand and also post tribulation on the eschatological views that is they don't really VIN a literal return on the earth rule on the earth and they also feel that the church somehow is going to go through the tribulation it turns out those two ideas strange enough go together there are problems on millennialism there are messianic promises throughout the Old Testament that are unconditional and if you don't believe God is going to fulfill those literally you're calling him a liar they're that clear that's specific that authenticated and what's the destiny of Israel in God's covenants that's a New Testament issue Paul in his definitive statement of Christian doctrine called the book of Romans hammers away chapters 9 10 and 11 that God is not finished with Israel yet they have a destiny prophetically need to understand that remember the promise given to Mary by an angel Gabriel that hid her child would rule on the throne of David throat David didn't exists that's a political throne it did not exist in those days and of course there's numerous confirmations of these things all through the New Testament now another issue that really is integral to all of these issues if you go to any pastures study and look at his you'll probably find a set of books he had in seminary called systematic theology and there's different ones around that are standard for different groups but it's interesting if you look at the table of contents of any one of those you'll find a table of kindness something similar to this the divisions of theology bibliography ology proper the attributes of God Christology the study of Lord Jesus Christ pneumatology called the study of the Holy Spirit in geology studies of angels both fallen an unfallen anthropology which what they mean by that is a study of man in the scripture study of soteriology salvation that was the big cause celeb during the Reformation of course ecclesiology the study of the church and that's a weakness for many of us because we may not have read done our homework there we probably don't understand most of Paul's epistles because he's dealing with problems we didn't you know he giving solutions to problems we didn't know we had and of course eschatology and time last things that what's interesting about this list if you look at almost any set of so-called systematic theology that Romney taught in seminars today you'll see this list and you'll discover by examining it they overlook a subject that involves 5/6 of the Bible there's a subject not listed here that is one of the main subjects of the Bible and that's the study of Israel Israel adji Israel as addition to God's program it's not a separated focus as astonishing when you realize that no wonder there's some confusion on the horizon Israel in the church many people have been taught that the church inherits the promises that were given Israel that means they don't understand either one because they're they have different origins different missions different destinies totally different destinies and there were they call us replacement theology the church has replaced Israel I kid at Hal Lindsey once I went into study is how I got to admit to you I become a replacement theologian he looked at me shocked he thought you know I've been tutored better now look at me you know I says you know I think that you know this one's gonna replace the church and God's plan after the rapture he laughed you realize what I was doing I was just a diverting thing but anyway replacement views deny Israel its place in God's program makes God a liar and it lays the basis for Christian anti-semitism Augustine you go from August in two outfits you follow the threat and the tragedy is it's happening again there's an anti-semitism rising in the Christian Church that will lead to the next Holocaust you'd think we'd learn hallo Hegel said it well history teaches us that man learns nothing from history we're going we're going to go down the same path again the 70 week prophecy is another issue the reason I emphasize the 70 week prophecy that we looked at deal specifically with Israel not with the church they're mutually exclusive the more you study the more you'll realize that see Paul's dichotomy you know if you look through Paul's epistles he speaks of everything in three parts Jews Gentiles in the church three different groups those distinctives see there is no Jew he said there's neither Jew nor Gentile the church in other words there's neither Jew or Gentile or you remember the church that's the way he deals twice several times in Scripture in his epistles those distinctives again reappear after revelation for one of the astonishing things you study carefully look at revelation from chapter 4 on is to see the emphasis on the 12 tribes in Israel again and so forth you won't understand book revelation of us you understand its Jewishness let's take a look at eschatology we talked about a millennial people don't believe there's a millennium we are on the right end of that scale primal and we believe there will be a literal millennium there was a group for some years that were post millennial it said we're already in the Millennium this was a popular view up until about the first world war with the world wars I think that that view as it was originally codified is pretty out of date people I think realized we're not the millennium or as one person said it as if we're in the millennium then satan's chain is too long so but out of premillennial thing if you recognize there is a millennium assuming that you're biblically grounded enough to understand that there are still three subsets of that that you get into discussions on and that has to do with where does the church get raptured post-tribulation Allah mid-tribulation Allah pre-tribulation where am I getting through getting all this from if we take a look at the 70th week as we did before the Great Tribulation we know what gets terminated by the second coming and the setting up of the millennium where is the rapture the church take place the classical view of the church our denominational churches is what you call post tribulation that is they believe that the church will get raptured at the end of the tribulation period that would put it just ahead of the second coming that view is widely held has some serious problems we'll look at a few of them among the problems you know as I think any poor was waiting some years ago he says that makes the marriage supper the lamb of snack lunch you see because you go up you're raptured you have the mayorship of the lamb and you come back down for the second coming you know it looks a little strange if you say post-tribulation abused it turns out part of your difficulty is there's a large number of different views that they argue among themselves there's no codified view that's post tribulation or pain in those guys we could be labeled classical post tribulation ilysm Reese and those guys semi classics like differences the futuristic closer relations George Ladd and so forth and Robert Gundry dispensational post tribulation all these are good guys they're good scholars and they love the Lord that's what makes this area difficult because these are not these are not evil people these are not like your fighting you know some kind of deviant cult at the same time they have some problems I'll come back to they leave you aside some of the problems first of all each one of these has to deny the New Testament teaching of eminency we are taught to expect him at any moment if you're post-tribulation you've got you've got the whole 70th week an angle you've got the abomination of desolation you've got all the stuff that has to precede this the rapture of the church that's contrary to all the other teachings see it requires the church on the earth during the seventh week that has all kinds of because your Israel and church are mutually exclusive and there's a that's a whole study in its own right it also implies that Church experiences God's wrath we are promised that we wouldn't experience it first Thessalonians 5:9 Romans 2 in revelation 3:10 and other passages similar to that and the fundamental problem that bothers me how can the bride come with him at the rapture he's got to be raptured first there's a contradiction there there are more problems who's going to populate the Millenium if the resurrection of the Saints the dead in Christ and the living believers are raptured at the second coming and all the unbelievers are wiped out in their judgment who is going to populate the Millenium who's left there didn't you know you got it sounds funny at first but it's it's it there's it's a real problem and who are the sheep and goat judgment Matthew 25 that's answering they're asking the same thing another way how can the Virgin's of Matthew 25 buy oil with off the mark of the beast that Afeni Cates this whole a Jewish wedding model I was saying about earlier so if the post tribulation Allah is the classical adversary to the pre-trib position but there's there are those that recognize the church will not go through the tribulation and they correctly point out that the tribulations that last half of the week so they believe that the rapture takes place during the seventh week but prior to the second half well they can be commended in the sense of that insight because we obviously agree with that but at the same time they also have the church on the earth during the seventh week and that creates other problems there is a variant of that view it's created some visibility called the pre wrath position the label is unfortunate because all of us would argue that the pre-trib is the mid period and the pre all argue that we're before the wrath but they've used that as their title but aside from other problems they have first of all they have the rapture take place three quarters of the way through the seventh week at annual and so all the rebuttals that apply the mid trip would apply to them too it's tragic here in as many respects because the people that we're talking about they're advocating some of these positions people that love the Lord they're good scholars Marv Rosenthal has a marvelous ministry he's a very he's a very very terrific writer and leader in many ways it's unfortunate he's got hung up in my opinion this deviant view which has been pretty well frankly in my opinion at least shredded by Stanton showers and most of the the writers have done it a specific analysis of the position and it's got self-contradictions the main problem without getting it all that here because I didn't want to spend our time hammering some of those things is they denying imminency all these deny imminency and that I can rest my case there the pre-trip position argues most people you'll notice we do this a little differently most people have the pre-trip at the beginning seventh week but that leads to an assumption that's not correct the rapture does not trigger the seventh week a Daniel it might doesn't need to it mate it might be ahead of that by a little bit I'll show you why in a minute but the pre-trip position is the only one that will with which you can defend a doctrine of eminency which is clearly taught all through the New Testament the rapture precedes the tribulation for several reason that the seventh weeks defined by the Covenant of the succumbing world leader the Great Tribulation is the last half of that 73 the leader cannot be revealed until after the rapture and the leader has to be the guy that defines it in other words that sequence has to be the rapture the revealing of the leader the leader sets up the seven years and then the last half that sudden uses the tribulation so the church is removed not just before the tribulation but before the seventh week in fact the distance between the rapture and the seventh week has to be a distance that's it could be one day it might be thirty years it's in that interval between the rapture and the beginning of the seventh week that leader has to emerge publicly become strong enough to enforce that treaty that could be a day it could be weeks could be years we don't know now second Thessalonians 2 if we were going to do a serious study of this we would go through and carefully do an exegesis of second Thessalonians two but let me give you the summary of it the second Thessalonians were really upset because they thought that tribulation had begun Nero had started the Romans now had start really laying on him they were upset they thought they either had missed the rapture or that God that Paul had missed taught them they had a letter going around that was a forgery of Paul's and he writes 2nd Thessalonians to rebut that forgery and so he talks about this the 2nd Thessalonians with hey guys remember what I taught you and he's refreshing their memory just proved to them that they could did not miss the rapture the tribulation hadn't started yet they may be experiencing problems but it's not the tribulation he speaks of the day of the Lord that's a term that's used connotative Lee and denotative Lee two different ways but for any cases certainly the big climax for that day that a alert shall not come except there be a falling away first most scholars feel that the word is supposed to see yeah they feel that's a reference to the time of apostasy that has to come first I'll come back to that because there's even there's another view but I'll come back to that he who now restrains will restrain until he be taken out of the way verse 8 says and then shall that wicked one be revealed the sequence of events here is an apostasy the restrainer removed and we're going to argue that restrain the restrainer has to be the holy spirit from the greek usage usage plus the fact it's the own the only thing that it's ever restrained sin is God got the high spirit not not angels not the Roman not the Roman government not the church in the usual sense when the restrainer is removed which is the church and in the holy spirit then the man of sin will be revealed the point is this is one of those passages which indicate that the leader the man of sin will be after the rapture to pre represent he can't he cannot be revealed til the Holy Spirit is taken on the chicken from the church and then we get to the day of Lord so a careful study of the second Thessalonians 2 we'll lay that out for you now as I mentioned eschatology has these I won't go through all these there are some other variants there's preterism is on the rise people said this there's no prophecy that's always fulfilled past that again requires in Norma's allegation of Scripture there's the Reconstructionist that say that Israel is really the church its church is really Israel all that we're gonna dismiss that that's not a issue there are issues but they're not just rapture issues most denominations are on the left side of this chart they're a millennial and post tribulation at the right end of the chart you have what people are called fundamentalist people take the Bible seriously literally and so forth and there they would be premillennial pre-tribulation what's interesting is this will where you sit on this chart will derive from your her minuites hermeneutics is here is is your theory of this for your theory of interpretation if you're willing to allegorize scriptures say well it's just symbolic you'll swing to the right side of the church if you have a different discipline if you feel that the Bible means what it says and says what it means if you feel that if you if you tend towards literalism you'd be to the right side of the charge now I've been that way most of my life but I have to admit several times throughout my 50 years of study I have many times come across something where I've had to revise my view well what's interesting every place that that's happened in my life I'm a number of them it's always that I didn't take it literally enough when I read Matthew 5:17 18 not one author one tittle shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled that drives me to literalism and as I begin to study more and more to see how the pieces fit together I realized they fit even more clearly together the more literally you take the passages I'm not talking about figures of speech now that's all another study so now they said some people say pre-trib is a new position that's not true you'll find the pre-tribulation eschatology in the Epistle of Barnabas in the first century urinates against heresies Hippolyta's leads the second century Justin Martyr he from the Syrian this is an interesting discovery that was just made a couple years ago now Ephraim of Nyssa this was a major writer for the Eastern Church not West not the Latin Church the Eastern Church many and many of it you wrote many of the hymns many many of his sermons have never been translated and this was discovered by Grant Jeffrey's and Tommy Ison and Tim Denny and they contract that have it translated and confirmed in one of his sermons this is this is a 306 to 373 in its sermon on the last times the Antichrist in the end of the world he firm said for all the saints and elect of God are gathered prior to the tribulation that is to come and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins one of the phrases from his church is sermon no point being only this nothing is right or wrong it's just that this view was not is not new it's the view of the early church it was it was the view of the New Testament church is the view of the early churches and furthermore you can track a remnant of this kind of teaching all the way through church history I won't take you through all this list it was popularized and by Edward Irving John Darby Margot McDonald and the in the in you know early 19th century but they didn't invent it they just popularize it something else I want to put before you before we close the architecture of the book of Revelation there's many many things I could pick I'll just pick a few there lampstands and that show up that a prominent in chapter one they are identified in the last verse of chapter one is identifying the church chapters two and three are the latter seven churches I'll come back to that from chapter four on you don't find the lamp stands on the earth you find them in heaven when John gets there in the fifth verse of chapter four the lampstands are defended by the church there in the yeren heaven in Chapter four I hold it the rapture that John is modeling if you will the rapture when he's called up there and treated to a preview of everything that's coming let's go to the 24 elders a lot of confusion about this shouldn't be the 24 elders are very prominent and they identify who they are they are identify themselves as the redeemed in chapter 5 verses 9 and 10 out of 50 manuscripts one of them uses a third person all the others use that that has two redeemed us first person singular pearl redeemed us from all every tribe tongue and nation and one manuscript has has a second person there and some people try to build a case on that 24 elders identify themselves and the point of it bit is the 24 elders representing the church bear in mind there's only one group of people that are priests and kings no kiss adecco is a king and a priest Jesus is a king and a priest and his redeemed are kings and priests first Peter and so forth speaks to us his kingdom of priests and so forth these guys that they keep the priesthood was 24 courses that David organized if you study 24 it occurs only once in the Bible wants from when when David sets up the 24 courses of the priests in the temple anyway the 24 elders they worshiped the lamb before he receives this seven sealed book yes when after they worship Him the tribulation begins when the seven sealed book is open so get the sequence here the Saints are in heaven they worship the lamb he receives the scroll he opens a scroll that starts the tribulation the church is in heaven before they of course the 70 that from Chapter six on is that detailing of the 73 today up until the climax of revelation 19 where the bridegroom and the bride have their marriage supper and so forth now furthermore if you couldn't study the seven churches in Revelation you'll discover there are seven churches that are representative Church is why these seven because they profile the church's history abscess Myrna Pergamos Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia SC incursion of all the passages in Revelation that really be familiar with his chapters two and three they're the only ones that relate to you right they happen to be in the particular order they're in they happen to lay out the history of the church and the perhaps doctors the persecuted church the married church the medieval church the denominational Church Missionary Church the apostate Church don't accept from this chart just uses a stimulus to do nor it's interesting that the first three are called Group a are distinctive in their structure that the promises given to the overcomers are postscript to the letters the second group Group B I'll call it have to distinctives one of the promises are in the body of the letter promises the order comer that they're somehow different but also they have each of the last four have explicit references to the second coming in fact one of them Thyatira is promised that they are going to go into the Great Tribulation that itself is interesting because that implies the others won't it's a distinctive that the fact error will go read the letter there's one of the four that was promised it would not go into the time of the tribulation a couple of others are problematical will let you study those the theater is the medieval church of the Catholic Church then Sardis must be the Protestant Church and it's the only one it's one of the two letters that has nothing good said about it that should give us a little clause but what we should recognize or say in seven letters seven churches is that each one was surprised by the report fired every one at seven was surprised by the report those that thought they were doing well we're not those that thought they weren't doing well we're doing great that should give us car the pause to really understand the seven letters well we know from a lot of reasons that we're getting near the end of it all if you want or time it isn't you just look at Israel that's God's timepiece for lots of reasons we can infer that the 70th week is getting set up to happen we have of course the Battle of Armageddon we have the temple being rebuilt as a condition of the Obama we don't know it's going to be rebuilt because it could be built before the 70th week or during the first half who knows all we do know is that we'll be standing by the middle of that seven-year period because because Jesus Paul and John all make reference to it there at the end time there's the big issue the big log invasion the classic placement of it is at the part of the Armageddon scenario Hal Lindsey and many other very all competent scholars hold that view there's a few of us they have a different view grant Jeffries and Chuck Smith and myself and some others believe for a number of technical reasons that the Magog invasion occurs prior to the 73 now who's right and wrong doesn't matter they may prove to be the others may be proved to be right the main point is we all do agree on one thing it happens after the rapture of the church the Magog is one of those things that happens after the rapture the church because of the doctrine of imminence ian's and about four or five other things submitted so anyway in any case it's closed because the make dog invasion is you know we now see though for many years pointed turkey being pro West as a major you know indicator it's the only one that wasn't in the picture they've just gone this like party have just succeeded the elections you can expect turkey to swing to the east turkeys a major player maybe they're not ready do that next month or whatever there's still 16 agreements with the Israelis to trade bases and so forth but as the time ticks off turkey will be increasing the adverse to Israel and the Magog invasion that Ezekiel talks about could be all in place applying a nuclear exchange there are 10 reasons that I think the church will go up before the tribulation first of all the fact that were promised to be from the hour of trial Revelation 3:10 and the word act their promise out of thing is from which we get the word exit by the way they're not we're not the church is not the object of God's wrath in Revelation 616 contrast that with first Thessalonians 5:9 there's also a verse in Luke 21 verse 36 where it much watch ye therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which will come to pass and to stand before the Son of man you just scape not endure the tribulation how do you do that by the way that implies that there's a way to keep out of it right your footage following watch you therefore and pray always that she may be accounted worthy to escape all these things how do you do that you do that by being in his body this rapture another person Luke 21 when these things begin to come to pass look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth 9 he says look up not look out you don't find any admonitions Latricia watch out for the antichrist watch out what no no look up first thing before war is you call your ambassadors to home sacré knees 5:20 calls us the ambassadors Christ and before the war starts he'll call its ambassadors homes whose trainers removed before the Antichrist a second Thessalonians 2 we looked at that the rapture takes place in the tweekly are I not in it as an extended activity it's another issue that you can sort through happens in the air not on the earth and the woman in Revelation 12 is Israel not the church it's the body of the child that gets caught up and of course the marriage supper in heaven it includes the raptured and it happens before Revelation 19 verse 11 to 14 by the way I've selected these 10 out of 50 that are listed in John Roberts book the rapture question there's plenty of literature on the subject for those who wonder so let's wrap it up let's talk about the proposal how will all this affect you is the question back in John 14 we said the Lord said let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me do we really he said yes Jesus said I in a few verses later he says I am the way the truth of the life no man cometh unto the father but by me Jesus Christ either was God or wasn't neither knew it or didn't know him right if he wasn't God and didn't know it he's a little too they can dismiss that pretty easily if he wasn't God knew it he's a liar he certainly claimed to be the voice of the burning bush etc that means if he was God he's our Lord he was who exactly who said he was and you can prove it from the scriptures so let me talk about a little before we wrap up let's wrap up let's talk about him we've talked a lot about eschatology and then let's talk about him he's the King of the Jews he's literally going to take the throne of David in Israel which mean he's also a national king he's the king of Israel he's king of all the ages the king of heaven the King of glory and king of King and Lord of lords and the real question is do you do you know him do you really know him he's a prophet before Moses a priest after omeka Zedeck a champion like Joshua and offering the place of Isaac a king from the line of David a wise counselor above Solomon his beloved rejected and exalted son like Joseph yet far more the heavens desire his glory the firmament shows his handiwork he who is who was and will always be the first to last the Alpha and the Omega the Aleph in the time the and the Z he was the firstfruits of them that slept he's the ego eimi the yahoo yeah yes he's the said I am that I am he's the voice of the burning bush he was the captive Lord's host he was the Conqueror of Jericho he's enduringly strong entirely sincere eternally steadfast he's immortal II graceful imperially powerful impartial II merciful in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily the very god of very God he's our kinsman redeemer and he's also our Avenger of blood and he's also our City of Refuge he's a performing high priest our personal prophet our reigning king he's the lofty study and literature he's the highest personality and philosophy he's the fundamental doctrine of theology and he's the supreme problem in higher criticism he's the miracle of all the ages the superlative of everything good you and I are the beneficiaries of a love letter it was written in blood on a wooden cross that was erected in Judea some 2,000 years ago he was crucified on a cross of wood yet he made the hill on which it stood by him are all things made that were made without him was not anything made that was made and by him are all things held together and what held him to that cross it wasn't the nails at any time he could have said enough already I'm out of here it was his love for you and me amazing left he was bored of a woman so that we could be bored of God he humbled himself so that we could be lifted up he became a servant so that we could be made joint heirs with him he suffered rejection so that we could be that we could become his friends he denied himself so that we could freely receive all things and he gave himself so that he could bless us in every way he's available to the tempted and cried he blesses the young he cleanses the lepers he defends the feeble he delivers the captives he discharges the debtors he forgives the sinners he franchises the meek he guards the besieged he heals the sick to provide strength to the weak he regards the aged he rewards the diligent he serves the unfortunate he sympathizes and he saves his officers our manifold his reign is righteous his promises are sure his goodness is limitless his light is matchless His grace is sufficient his love never changes his mercy is everlasting his word is enough his yoke is easy and his burden is light I wish I could describe them to you he's indescribable he's incomprehensible is irresistible he's invincible the heaven of heavens cannot contain him man cannot explain him Pharisees couldn't stand them but soon learned they couldn't stop him Pilate couldn't find any fault with him the personal representative of the rule of the world couldn't find fault with him the witnesses couldn't agree against him Herod couldn't kill him the death couldn't handle him the grave couldn't hold him he has always been and always will be he had no predecessor you have no successor you can't impeach him and he could resign his name is above every name that at the name of Yeshua every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord his is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever amen Wow is right hallelujah what a party that's up let's refresh your memory John 14:3 exam the promise he's given you he said in my father's house are many mansions and if are 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 notice the use that's you I hope see that is the real question then hoping you will resolve in the privacy of your own will is he coming for you it matters not what church you go to what denomination affiliated with how faithful you attended Sunday school whatever that's not the issue the issue is your personal relationship with him are you part of his bride that's waiting eminently for you for his return it could be tonight could be tomorrow next week we don't know but he's coming for his own is he coming for you let's bow our heads for a word of Prayer father we thank you for our bright room we thank you for our Saviour that's gone to such extremes that we might live that we might have fellowship and intimacy throughout eternity with you father not by any merit we have but entirely because of the extremes he's gone - we thank you Father for our Savior we thank you for our Redemption we thank you Father for the assurances that you've given us of our calling we thank you Father that we have the unspeakable privilege of being part of his body part of the bride we pray father that you would through your Holy Spirit keep us separate keep us focused we do pray father through your Holy Spirit that you would reignite in each of us a new hunger a new passion for your word through your Holy Spirit that you would illuminate that path before us help each of his father to grow in grace the knowledge of our Lord and Savior help each of us father to be more fruitful stewards of these incredible gifts and promises then all these things father we might be pleasing in your sight as we commit ourselves without any reservation into your hands in the name of Yeshua Our Blessed hope as we look for his appearing amen [Music]

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Keywords: Chuck Missler, Dr Missler, Charles Missler, Dr Chuck Missler, Dr. Chuck Missler, Dr Charles Missler, Rapture, The Rapture, The Blessed Hope, Pattern is Prologue, types, shadows, Session 1, Koinonia, Koinonia House, Harpazo, Pre Trib, Tribulation, Ancient Jewish Wedding, John Darby, Great Tribulation, Day of the Lord, Revelation, Bible, Prophecy, Rapture Series, wmforce, Caught Up, the rapture, Apocolypse, pre trib, pre trib rapture, pre tribulation rapture, revelation, revelations

Id: wdufyUUfRmk

Length: 68min 2sec (4082 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 13 2019