"I'LL PAY YOU $5,000 IF YOU CAN PROVE THE RAPTURE!"
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: The doctor’s bill
1. Morris was worried because his wife Barbara was very ill and needed a good doctor. Dr. Myers was the best doctor in their city, so Morris asked him to treat Barbara.
2. Dr. Myers said, “OK, but can you afford me? What if I’m unable to save Barbara and you decide not to pay my bills?”
Morris replies, “I promise to pay you whether you cure Barbara or kill her.”
3. So Dr. Myers agreed to treat Barbara. Unfortunately, Barbara died. When Dr. Myers invoice arrived, Morris refused to pay, despite his promise. The doctor took the bill before a judge.
4. After reviewing the agreement, the Judge asked, “So did you cure her?” “No.” “Did you kill her?” “No, I certainly did not,” replied Dr. Myers.
5. “In that case,” says the Judge, “Morris owes you nothing – you fulfilled neither of the conditions on which you agreed that your fee should be paid!”
B. RECENT EXPERIENCE
1. Carol, a lady who goes to our church, had a recent experience in which she went to a Bible study in someone's home. During the lesson, the teacher stated that there was no such thing as a "rapture."
2. When Carol objected, the teacher was so bold as to say, "I'll give you $5000 if you can give me a Scripture that proves there is a rapture!"
3. So imagine yourself in that position. Everybody is looking at you and expecting you to come up with Scriptures to defend your beliefs. What would YOU say that circumstance? Would you be flummoxed are which you have answered you give to them asking you?
C. THESIS
1. We're talking about the rapture tonight and using this time as a laboratory experiment. Once you've done all you can, then I will give you my reasons for believing there is a rapture.
2. The title of tonight's message is, "Why We Believe in the Rapture."
I. WHAT IS THE RAPTURE?
1. “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” 1 Thess. 4:16-17.
2. Definition of “Rapture”: “Christ’s sudden, brief, and unannounced coming in the air to catch away His Church before the ‘Day’ of God’s wrath begins. Jesus returns to heaven with His saints for the Believer’s Judgment and Marriage Supper of the Lamb.”
3. The Greek word “harpadzo,” used in 1 Th. 4:17 and trans. as “caught up” was trans. in the Latin Vulgate as “raptus,” from whence we get our English word rapture.
4. CONCEPT OF BEING EVACUATED
a. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” Jn. 14:1-3.
b. The Lord cited the rescue of Lot and his family from Sodom before judgment fell and the 10 Virgins who had to be ready, 5 of which WENT WITH Him to another location. This is a key concept of the Rapture.
II. WHY WE BELIEVE IN THE RAPTURE
A. JESUS SAID HE WAS COMING BACK
1. Early in His Ministry (Luke 4:18), Jesus told Jewish leaders that He had come to heal the sick. They didn’t believe He could, but He healed the people anyway.
2. Jesus told them He could drive out demons. They
didn’t believe He could, but He did it anyway.
3. Jesus told them He would rise from the Dead. They didn’t believe He would.
a. His body was wrapped in grave clothes
b. A heavy stone was rolled against the tomb’s mouth,
c. Soldiers were posted outside the tomb to guard it,
d. The door was sealed so it couldn’t be opened….
4. BUT NO HUMAN OR SUPERNATURAL FORCE COULD STOP THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS FROM THE DEAD! HE’S ALIVE!
5. This same Jesus told us, “I am coming back.” There are 52 prophecies of Jesus’ 2nd Coming, 535 verses! Many Christians have quit looking for His appearing, but HE’S COMING BACK!
6. Many people today make fun of the idea of the Rapture. People like Harold Camping have made a mockery of it.
7. BUT JESUS IS COMING BACK & ALL THE POWERS OF HEAVEN OR HELL, OR ARMIES, OR NUCLEAR MISSILES CAN’T STOP HIM!
8. JOKE. We do wish He’d come back sooner. Like Uncle Pete who had to wait in long lines to get to see the Doctor. When he finally saw him, the Doctor apologized for the wait. Uncle Pete said, “It’s Ok, I just thought you might prefer treating my ailment in its earlier stages.”
B. PAUL THOUGHT HE WOULDN’T DIE
1. Another interesting proof of the Rapture is that Paul believed it was possible he would never die, but be translated (like Enoch) when the Lord Jesus Came back.
2. “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 Cor. 15:51-54.
3. 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.” 1 Thess. 4:15-17.
C. CONTRASTS: RAPTURE VS REVELATION
1. RAPTURE REVELATION
J. COMES TO CLOUDS TO MT. OF OLIVES
DESTINED-HEAVEN DESTINED-EARTH
COMING SECRETLY EVERY EYE SEES HIM
COMES FOR HIS SAINTS COMES W/ HIS SAINTS
2. These clear differences point out that the Coming Of Christ was expected in 2 phases: His secret coming to take His church out of the world before the wrath of God fell, and the open coming of Christ to Judge the world and set up His Gov’t here.
D. PROMISE OF ESCAPE FROM WRATH
1. John 3:36. The wrath of God is for unbelievers, not for the righteous.
2. 1 Thess. 5:9. The divine agenda for the Saints does not include wrath. What wrath? See Revelation 6:15-17.
3. Luke 21:34-36. We are to watch and pray that we may escape the awful things which are coming on the Earth, described in this chapter. If we escape something, we do not go through it.
4. Revelation 3:10. The Lord's promise is to keep His saints "from" or "out of," not "in" the hour of temptation or tribulation.
E. THE RESTRAINER
1. The Church was born on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) when the Spirit came down on believers. The coming of the Holy Spirit uniting factor between the Jew and Gentile, forming a new family of God.
2. 2 Thess. 2:6-8 tells us that the Holy Spirit, as the Restrainer of evil, will be taken out of the world before the Antichrist is revealed.
3. The Spirit's removal would necessitate the removal of the Church also. This would necessitate a pre-wrath
rapture/ removal, in which no one but Christians participated in.
F. SOURCE OF COMFORT FROM TROUBLE
1. 1 Thess. 4:15-18. Verse 18 says that knowledge of the Rapture comforts the church. The Rapture would not be comforting if the church had to go through the wrath of God. In that case, it would seem better to die first.
2. Titus 2:13. The Rapture of Christians is a "blessed hope," something that brings joy and happiness to believers now.
G. IMMINENCY REQUIRES A PRETRIBULATION RAPTURE
1. Mark 13:32. If the Rapture were either in the middle of or at the close of the Tribulation, Saints could know the day if not the hour.
2. Figuring from the confirming of the covenant by the Man of Sin (Daniel 9:27), it would be easy to mark the day of the Rapture.
H. NECESSITY OF AN INTERVAL
There must be an interval between the rapture and the revelation/second coming of Christ because:
1. The "bride" of the wedding supper in Rev. 19:7-9 is in heaven celebrating before the Lord comes to earth in the second coming (Rev. 19:11-21).
2. Tribulation Saints are not translated at the second coming of Christ but remain in natural bodies (Isa. 65:20-25). This would be impossible if all Saints were translated at the second coming to the Earth.
3. The judgment of the Gentiles (Mt. 25:31-46) indicates that both saved and unsaved are still in their natural bodies, which would be impossible if the translation had taken place at the second coming.
4. Likewise, there would be no need of separating the sheep from the goats (Mt. 25:32) if the translation took place at the second coming, for the translation would have already separated them.
III. BENEFITS OF CHRIST’S RETURN
A. YOU WILL SEE JESUS FACE-TO-FACE
1. The Bible says, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven” (1 Thess. 4:16).
2. Imagine the joy of seeing Jesus in person – the ecstasy of seeing His loving face and beholding His glory!
B. YOU & I WILL BE CHANGED
1. “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).
2. Imagine your new supernatural body – with new strength, new shape, new teeth (remember, we’re going to eat at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb), new hair, etc. 3. Revelation 21 says He will “wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (v. 4).
C. WE WILL BE REUNITED WITH OUR LOVED ONES IN HEAVEN
1. At Christ’s coming, we “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thess. 4:17).
2. Imagine how wonderful it will be to embrace our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters, our friends etc. in heaven! Surely our hearts will be overwhelmed.
D. WE WILL BE REWARDED
1. Jesus said, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward
is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12).
2. Many people think that all that matters is that they
are saved. Nothing could be further from the truth!
3. There will be great rewards for the faithful. Yet not everyone in heaven will receive the same reward:
a. Some will sit on thrones (Luke 22:29-30; Rev. 3:21), while others will “scarcely be saved” (1 Pet. 4:18), yet only as by fire.
b. In heaven, some saints will be richly rewarded while others will have all their works burned up (1 Cor. 3:14-15). Rewards will effect, not whether we be saved in eternity, but how well we will enjoy eternity.
4. It’s like a man needing a wheelbarrow to work on a construction job. He is so poor that a friend has mercy on him and gives him a wheelbarrow. That’s grace. But what he puts in the wheelbarrow after he receives it, is
works.
5. Jesus will judge us for: the hungry we feed; the strangers we take in; the naked we clothe; the people we visit in hospitals (Matthew 25:46); the people we instruct in the Gospel. These are things we’re supposed to be doing.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A few years ago, I had a rapture dream. Just as people were rising to the clouds in my dream, I woke up. It was the middle of the night and pitch black.
2. It had been very cold and our bedroom felt like an iceberg, so I had slept alone in the family room near the wood burning stove with a crackling fire. So, when I woke up, I was all alone.
3. I thought, Oh no, I'm still here. It took a few minutes for me to get oriented and realize where I was.
4. I knew I had been dreaming, but the dream had seemed so real that I couldn't shake that feeling that the Rapture had taken place and I had been left behind.
5. I didn't want to wake my husband by going in to check if he was still in bed, but I also couldn't stop my heart from feeling like it was slamming into my chest wall.
6. I even turned on the TV to see if there had been any reports of missing people. Sometimes I wish my dreams wouldn't be so vivid.
B. THE CALL
1. One day though, it won’t be a dream; it will be real! Will you be ready that day?
2. If you want to be ready, you must start now and stay ready to meet the Lord until He comes.
3. Let’s pray and make sure we’re all ready.
4. Lord’s Supper.
