Our Blessed Hope Part I Series

THE BLESSED HOPE - PART I

Let’s stand together and open our Bibles to Titus 2 as we continue with our series “God’s Watchman,” with today’s message, “The Blessed Hope – Part I.”

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…

OUR BLESSED HOPE

God’s word is a wonderful book of hope. God’s word reveals the hope of forgiveness and eternal life. God’s word gives us the hope of God’s promises and the glorious hope of an eternal kingdom that will never end. But one of our greatest hopes as believers in Christ is the promise of His return. The return of Jesus Christ is not a superstitious myth or a tall tale. I assure you that the return of Jesus Christ is as sure as the rising sun.

To understand the return of Jesus Christ we must first realize that between now, and the day Jesus Christ returns to this earth as the King of kings, there are many events that must first take place. There must first be an alignment of a ten-kingdom empire of global authority. From that world empire a lawless man of great deception will rise to power. There must be the signing of a treaty that will begin a seven-year tribulation. There must be world wars and famine, with terrible deception and great destruction. These are just a few of the many coming attractions that must take place before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

But there is also one other event that must also take place, and for the believer, it is the most exciting event found in the word of God. It is called the catching away of the saints, or the Rapture of the church. I believe it is the next great event on God’s prophetic calendar.

Bible prophecy reveals the rapture will be the most dramatic, world-shaking event in human history. It will be an event of such magnitude that the world will never again be the same. It will far surpass the shock of Pearl Harbor and 9-11. It will ultimately divide every person on earth between those who believe in Jesus Christ, and those who don’t. Those who believe in Christ, and are followers of Christ will instantly vanish from this earth where we will be immediately ushered into the glorious presence of Jesus Christ, our eternal Savior and King. Glory to God; What a day that will be!

Those who reject Christ, will be left behind to face a world that will be far different than anything they have ever imagined. Those left behind will confront a new world order of despair, and evil and lawlessness, and a global demonic ruler, the antichrist, and his satanic program of terror. Those left behind will experience the floodgates of God’s wrath upon an evil and godless world through 21 divine judgments that are beyond my ability to describe.

But for those who know Christ, we have the promise of a blessed hope in a kingdom of glory that will never end. As your pastor, and your watchman, I preach this message to inspire you to live godly lives as we wait for our blessed hope in Christ’s return, and as a

warning to those who choose to reject Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation.

THE COMING OF CHRIST

To fully understand the return of Jesus Christ, we must first recognize that the coming of Christ will take place in two distinct and separate events. Most people know about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ that happens at the very end of the tribulation when He physically returns to this earth and sets up His kingdom for a thousand years.

But there is also another event called the Rapture that is different from the Second Coming. The rapture is a very unique and special event when Jesus returns for His church in what the Bible calls the great catching away of the saints and our blessed hope.

This Blessed hope, that we call the rapture, is a supernatural event when the Lord Jesus Christ appears in the sky, and in a moment faster than the blink of an eye, He catches away His church to be with Him, in His glory forever. This mind-bending, earth-shattering event is vividly described in I Thessalonians 4:16-18.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself (Who?) will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. NKJV