“Be Prepared – not Scared!”
October 9, 2011
Genesis 6:11-22
“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit] high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
“The earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence!” Sounds like this mornings headlines.
• 2 Severed Heads Found in Mexico City With Message
• Teen Sentenced to Nearly 97 Years for Robberies
• Band of Female Thieves Hit Neb. Churches
• Car Bomb in Somalia Kills 70
• Modesto Officials Investigate Death Of Well-Known Homeless Man
• Bomb Threat Prompts Evacuations At Two Citrus Heights' Schools
These are just a few of the headlines I glanced at as I prepared for this message. Any day of the week you can find pretty much the same thing. Our world is in sad shape. Is there any doubt that it grieves God? Is there any doubt that God wants the violence and the hate and the sin to stop? I don’t think so. It is against His very nature. I don’t know how much longer He can take this. I know why He is so patient – because the Bible tells us. It says,
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
God is so loving; so kind; so gentle; so good – He doesn’t want anyone to die. He doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. He wants to give everyone every chance to repent and turn to Him. But we are fast using up our second and third and fourth chances. There is going to be an end to it. The Bible says:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” 2 Peter 3:10
Make no mistake about it – the “Day of the Lord” WILL come. It’s gonna happen. It is just a matter of when.
A lot of Biblical experts and scholars believe Christ is coming back very soon. Some think it will be before the tribulation – some believe His return will be in the middle of the tribulation – some believe it will be after. They all quote the bible and use some of the same verses to back up their opinion. It is, therefore, important that you read the Scriptures for yourself and allow the Holy Spirit to communicate to you what the Word says. Don’t take anyone’s word for it. This is too important of an issue. It isn’t necessarily critical to your salvation – but it will effect how you life your life. Here’s our Nazarene position:
“We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again; that we who are alive at His coming shall not precede them that are asleep in Christ Jesus; but that, if we are abiding in Him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the Lord.”
(Church of the Nazarene Manual, Article XV)
Notice that we don’t take any particular position. There are good Nazarenes that believe just about every position. I, myself, have held more than one. When I started out as a young Christian I believed in the ‘pretribulation rapture of the church’. My theology professor did mention in passing that most of the old theologians believed in a ‘post tribulation’ second coming of Christ. He didn’t explain why – and I didn’t change my view at that time – but it made me think. Later, in my studies, I couldn’t justify the pretrib rapture with the Scriptures – so I was a ‘pan-millennialist’ for many years. I just believed it would all ‘pan’ out in the end. Now I am convinced that there is no rapture – just a second coming of Christ. A couple of things convinced me of this view.
Before I explain ‘why’ – let me say again – it is very important what view of Christ’s coming you hold. It will affect almost every decision you make; where you live; what skills you develop; what job field you enter; how hard you pursue God; how righteously you live and so on. In Revelation we see famine coming; we see no buying and selling during this period; we see tremendous persecution of Christians. If a Christian suspected strongly that he or she would be subject to that kind of persecution – there would certainly be a lot they could do about it in preparation.
The most popular theory of the day, or was 35 years ago, is the theory of the rapture of the Church before the seven years of tribulation. A lot of people have switch from that position because it is so unscriptural. But it is still popular for a number of reasons. One, is it is attractive to the immature Christian who doesn’t want to think that a cross comes with his salvation. A lot of people want to think God will bless them with wealth and health and life will be good all the time. That’s not biblical. There is a crown – but the cross comes before it. The Scriptures say those who live a godly life will suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12) I think God does love to lavish good gifts on his obedient children – but there will also be a lot of trouble in our lives, Paul says.
Let’s get back to some things that trouble me about that theory. I have a problem with the words “first” and “last” in the Bible. “First”, according to the dictionary, means “preceding all others in time.” In other words, there are no others before it – or it wouldn’t be first.
“Last,” according to the dictionary, means “following ALL others.” So there are none after it – or it wouldn’t be the last. Look at this verse.
“I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
1 Corinthians 15:50-52
The Scripture says that not all of us will die. We will be changed in an instant. That’s the important part – not that we are caught up – but that our physical bodies are instantly changed to resurrected bodies for a higher realm. WHEN will all this happen? “at the LAST trumpet.” Are there any more after it? No. Revelation talks about the trumpets. When each trumpet sounds terrible things happen. Earthquakes. Famine. War. But listen to what happens when the seventh trumpet sounded.
“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” “And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
Revelation 11:15-18
When the seventh trumpet sounded we can conclude that a number of things happened.
1. Christ begins His reign.
2. The time for the dead to be judged is at hand.
3. The time to give rewards to the Christians is at hand.
4. The wicked people who wanted to destroy the earth would now be destroyed.
Revelation 19 and the first six verses of chapter 20 say the same thing.
In those verses we see Satan bound and cast into the pit for a thousand years, then those who would not take the mark of the beast came to life to reign with Christ for a thousand years. So clearly, it is after the seven years and before the thousand year reign. The rest of the dead don’t come to life until after the thousand years are over. All this happens AFTER the LAST trumpet. The Word of God calls this “the FIRST resurrection.” If it is the first resurrection – there is no others before it – and no matter what people may call it – the rapture IS a resurrection. Therefore it can’t happen until AFTER the LAST trumpet.
“For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18
I think the Scripture is clear that the resurrection is AFTER the seven years of tribulation. I want to make it clear that Christian will not go through the wrath of God - the Scriptures teach that we will be spared from that. The wrath of God is poured out on the sinful world. But we are not a part of the world. We will be protected – but we will experience many tribulations, as the Children of Israel did when they left Egypt. BUT – God’s grace is sufficient to keep us through it all. We just need to walk through it with Him.
So – the ‘LAST’ trumpet and the ‘FIRST’ resurrection – seems pretty clear to me. There are so many other Scriptures to back that up – but I’m going to stop here – because I want to ask you the question Peter asked. He said,
“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.” 2 Peter 3:11
I want to add one thing to that. We ought to be prepared, as well. As we read the Scriptures we find that God always warns His servants and gives them a chance to prepare. Consider Noah. The righteous were warned – and they prepared. Consider the Children of Israel – Abraham and his family. God warned them of the coming famine through Joseph’s dreams – and God protected them because Joseph prepared for it. Consider the parable of the 10 virgins. 5 were prepared – 5 weren’t. There seems to be a principle here we need to see.
1. God warns His servants of impending disaster.
2. His servants are told how to prepare.
3. His servants make preparations.
Some people say, “Oh, I trust God. He will provide for me. He will take care of me.” But what would have happened had those examples I mentioned didn’t heed God’s warnings? If they ignored God’s warnings would He be obligated to take care of them when the famine came? I don’t know. It’s something to think about.
I want to mention that if God leads you to store up food for the coming famine – you must not put your trust in your preparation. Your trust must be in God. God may tell you to store up food – and you may never eat that food. You may sell it; give it away; share it; or you may actually eat all of it yourself. What God leads you to do with that food, once you have stored it up, is up to God. Our responsibility is to make whatever preparations He tells us to make. But always keep our heart and our confidence in God.
Personally, I am making preparations. I am studying up on earthquakes and preparing for them; I am studying up for nuclear war and preparing to survive it. I am studying up on famine and preparing for that. There is a lot you can do intellectually, physically, and spiritually. Besides – it is a lot of fun!
Are you preparing yourself? We know for a fact that Jesus will return. Do we live our lives from this perspective? We should. We should prepare our hearts for his return at any time. I don’t believe in a pretrib rapture – but I want to be prepared for it. I want to be ready for it. I am pretty confident that God is warning us that we will be going through some tribulation time. Are you ready for that? Be wise in all that you do. Solomon said,
“The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.” Prov 21:20
Jesus said, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.” Luke 14:28-32
Does that sound like Jesus wants us to ‘just go with the flow?” Just say, Ho Hum. Everything will work out.” God wants us to work hard, as we saw last week. He wants us to be prepared. If we don’t – we may be scrambling around just trying to survive. If we are prepared in every way – we may have the opportunity to be used of God to provide safety and help for others. God may use us to minister to others.
But first, we need to be in a place God can use us – especially spiritually. Peter says “since you know all these things are going to happen – you ought to be living godly and holy lives.” Are you? Are you one of His children – or are you still in the world? Jesus said,
“… those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.” Luke 14:33-34
Have you given everything to God? Or are you still hanging on to the empty promises of the world? Have you lost your fire? Have you lost your saltiness? Fire and salt were used to preserve things in biblical times. We need to be on fire for God. We need to be strongly salty. Are you with me? Do you want more of God? Then pray with me this prayer:
Dear Jesus,
I know that no matter what the future holds – I am safe with You. I surrender myself anew to you right now. Fire me up. Make me strong and salty. Help me to be used of you in whatever what you want to use me. Help me to be prepared in every way.
