There are various theories on how this will happen…theories that are widely believed today:
Nuclear war, meteor, aliens, natural disasters, global warming, others say disease will wipe out the human race.
ILL - Warm August night 1980 Sunday night
A thief in the night, a distant thunder.
I remember lying awake at night too scared to fall asleep. I didn’t want to get beheaded; I didn’t want to face what I had seen in those movies. I wanted Jesus to save me from it all, so I talked to my mom about it, and I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart in a bathtub right then and there in August of 1980. I made Jesus my personal Lord and Savior because I was terrified of what my future might look like without Him in my life!
What does your future look like? Do you have Jesus in your heart, in your life?
That memory has driven me to study eschatology for years now. I have probably spent more time studying the end times than I have any other aspect of scripture.
I have taken seminary courses on it, I have outline endless books, I have debated people on their views and interpretations… I guess you could say that I am relatively knowledgeable on the timeline of events that take place according to Daniel and John. That being said…I can’t really be certain if I have put the timeline in its correct order. –HA
There is one element of the timeline that has sparked an enormous debate:
The Rapture - 1Thesselonians 4:17, the word ‘rapture’ come from a Latin verb, this is where we get the term describing Christ’s return.
The Rapture is when Jesus instantly seizes up all the Christians here on earth.
No one knows when exactly this will happen, they think they do!
Let me give you a brief, simple overview of the end time events, minus the rapture for the moment.
The Antichrist wins the trust of Israel and signs a false peace treaty with them to protect them. He wins the worlds trust as a leader, as conquest, war famine and death fall on mankind in various forms. The United States is nowhere to be found, the Antichrist reveals his true identity and is taken over by Satan, there are some judgments handed out by God, the wrath of God is unleashed through the sounding of trumpets and opening of scrolls, a partial comet named Wormwood strikes the earth, earthquakes ensue, the moon is turned blood red, God battles Satan and God throws him into the abyss forever, Armageddon proves to be the largest bloodiest battle in all of history and Jesus returns for the millennium, a reign of a thousand years with a select few people who survived the tribulation. After those thousand years we have the great white throne judgment where those who have not accepted Jesus will be judged and sentenced to hell forever.
Tell this to your neighbor across the backyard fence and you can almost guarantee your neighbor will never talk to you again. –HA
This may seem like science fiction! I can assure you, it is very real, it is very graphic and it is very important to study
IT WILL HAPPEN!!! Archeology is steadily proving the bible. We see the prophets in the bible are ALWAYS right, so it is with end times…
I wish we had time to get into all of this, but of course we don’t!
CLASS IN FALL!!! KEEP AN EYE ON THE ATC
Are you ready? Are you prepared to the return of our King?
ILL - Former job of mine, when the boss would come around, I was always worried that things wouldn’t be up to par, my work van would be a mess, my tools would take a while to find… this is never a good situation to be in!
You know what it’s like in your job…
I ask you these questions, are you prepared for the return of Jesus, if you are left behind, if you don’t know Jesus personally…if Christ’s return doesn’t happen until we are going through intense persecution, will you waiver in your resolution? Will you deny Him? Are your friends and family prepared? No one knows the day or the hour NO ONE.
One out of every 30 verses in the Bible mentions the return of Jesus Christ
There are over 300 references to the return of Christ in the NT alone
Only 4 of the NT books fail to mention His return
Man has made attempt after attempt to predict the exact date, to no avail. Jesus says that only God knows the time, yet we constantly try to pinpoint to arrival of these final events.
ILL - In 1988 a bible teacher Edgar C. Whisenwent went public with his own prediction.
88 Reason Why Christ Will Return in 1988. The media jumped all over this, radio shows were focused on it…a video was released supporting it.
I went to school on that September morning scared to death!
We sat in Bible class (Christian school) and watched the hands of the clock count down. I’ll never forget when the second hand fell on the exact time…nothing happened and we all cheered!!!
NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY OR HOUR…Matt 24:36…not angels, not even Jesus…only the Father.
Zachariah 12:10 tells us…
The world will realize this was the Messiah and they missed it. There will be great weeping because it will be too late then.
ILL – HAVE YOU EVER JUST MISSED SOMETHING?
The bus? A flight? An opportunity? An anniversary?
We need to be aware of something…
The first time Jesus came to earth was in humility. A lamb, born in a manger…people in that day didn’t expect that. They expected the Messiah to come in glory and power. Jesus’ disciples thought that Jesus would establish His ‘Kingdom here on earth’ right then and there…imagine how they must have felt when Jesus was crucified!!! What went wrong????
It was only later they realized that He was born to die so that we may live.
Jesus came humbly in a manger the first time. No one except for the prophets expected this. This caught the Jews off guard, they were expecting a mighty king with an army, they thought the Messiah would come to their aid and fight for their freedom, to save them at last.
Then they got Jesus. They didn’t want Jesus! They wanted a mighty King to conquer their immediate disposition and rule by the Roman hand. It wasn’t what they expected.
A common misconception in our world today is that if Jesus were to come back, He would be a soft spoken, philosophical, love and accept everyone type of guy.
That’s what we expect. Many people would expect Jesus to return as the pop cultural icon that we have made Him out to be. “Jesus is my homeboy”. Many people think Jesus might come back like one of us, just blend in and peacefully make a difference…gently nurturing us back to Him.
The first time Jesus came to earth He came in humility…the next time He will come in GLORY!!!! The VERY next time we see His face, if we don’t die first, we will see Him as a mighty conqueror, as a lion..not the politically correct Jesus many think He will be…
2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
5All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
This rapture and second coming is very much a rescue mission. It’s about justice. It’s going to get ugly, it’s going to be the largest battle this earth has ever seen.
ILL – Like when ‘our boys’ go in and rescue hostages, it get s nasty – but we get a renewed sense of patriotism, we get a spark in knowing that our military is looking out for us…putting their lives on the line for our freedom.
So it is with God’s army and what lies ahead…we can rally behind this plan, we can take comfort knowing that God is and will be fighting on our side as Christ followers.
LISTEN!
John 14:2-3 Jesus said, “ I go to prepare a place or you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there may you be also.”
Jesus is speaking of the rapture here. Notice that Jesus says He will come again and receive us unto Himself. He doesn’t say that He will TAKE us. He won’t take us if we don’t want to go!
You might think you can just accept Him when you finally see Him coming…NO! A thief in the night, in the blink of an eye, a flash of lightning…it will happen too quick to make a decision right then and there!
Have you spent your whole life saying ‘no’ to Jesus?
PRAY – SALVATION PRAYER
FOUR THINGS WE SHOULD DO:
BE WATCHING
Luke 12:37 “Blessed are theose servants whom the Master, when He comes, will find watching”. Be watching but stay diligent to the task at hand, telling others about the news of Jesus Christ!
BE READY
BE ANXIOUSLY AWAITING HIS RETURN
Luke 12:36 – When He knocks, open the door!
BE WORKING
Luke 12:43
Be sweaty when God knock on the door!
GO BACK TO ‘BE READY’
Leave on a trip, pack bags night before…Is your life in order?
Preparing your house when someone is coming over…you want to look ready.
Jesus is coming to your house…maybe even today!
We always think about the fact that His return could happen soon…but we rarely live as if it could happen this very moment. What if it did? What if there were piles of clothes everywhere?
Cars on the side of the highway, planes crashing, countries without leaders, businesses without CEO’s, sporting events without players, churches without pastors and congregations?
The events of the end times would be set in motion and no one could stop them!
Are you prepared? Are you ready? Are you kneeling before the one that will rescue you? Have you done all you can for those you love in your life? Are your bags packed?
Are you ready to hear the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant”?
The sacred Truths of prophecy are closing in fast…the knock at the door is immanent…
PRAY
