WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT THE FUTURE I
Part 1: The Rapture
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: “COMFORTABLE”
1. Two sisters inherited the family farm. They desperately needed a bull to breed with their heifers and they only had $600.
2. The brunette told her sister, "I’m going to go look at a bull-calf in Jewett. If I decide to buy it, I'll contact you to bring the truck & trailer and haul it home."
3. She looked at the bull and decided to buy it, but the owner wouldn’t take less than $599, or no deal. She bought it and (being before cell phones) she went back to town to send a telegram.
4. She had one dollar and the telegram cost $1 per word. The telegraph operator was curious how she would notify her sister and tell her to bring the truck and trailer to come retrieve the bull – all in one word!
5. After a few minutes of thinking, she nodded and said, "I want you to send her the word ‘comfortable.’"
6. The operator shook his head. "How’s she going to know to do all that with just the word "comfortable?"
7. The brunette explained, "My sister's blonde. It's a big word. She'll read it very slowly.....”
B. WHY DO I PREACH ABOUT THE FUTURE?
1. BECAUSE JESUS DID. Close to 20% of the words & sayings of Jesus were predictive in nature. Jesus talked a lot about end-time events; so should we!
2. BECAUSE GOD HAS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. Jer. 29:11
3. IT GIVES HOPE BEYOND PRESENT DISCOURAGEMENT. The Lord’s coming is our comfort (1 Th. 4:18) and hope (Tit. 2:13).
4. IT’S A MOTIVATION TO STAY READY & WITNESS; Mt. 24:44; Lk. 12:40.
C. THESIS
1. First, we’ll look at God’s great End-Time Plan and its first component – the Rapture. Next, we’ll look at what it’ll be like if you miss the rapture. Third, we talk about the qualifications for going in the Rapture.
2. The Title of this message is, “What God Says About The Future, Part I.”
I. GOD’S PLAN & THE RAPTURE
A. END TIME PLAN OF GOD
1. Diagram: agfbrakpan.com/clientfiles/events/rapture-pre-mid-post-trib-part1.htm “Timing Of Rapture,” Pre-Tribulation Segment only.
2. The first event, in the blue box to the left, is the Rapture of the Church. This is the removal of God’s people from the sphere of judgment which will occur during the second phase – The 7-Year Tribulation (red box). While the Tribulation is happening on earth, God’s people will be in Heaven at the Bema Judgment where Christ rewards them for their obedience and diligence in His service (similar to Olympic Game rewards).
3. The Third Phase will be the 2nd Advent or the Visible Return of Jesus (blue box, right) to defeat Antichrist, destroy evil, and set up His Kingdom on Earth, from Jerusalem, for a 1,000 years [the Fourth Phase – Millennium, yellow box], fulfilling God’s promises to the Jewish people about their Messiah.
4. The Last Phase will be after the 1,000 years (not on the chart) where God will Judge all the wicked Dead & depose them to another dimension. The He’ll destroy the old universe & earth, and make new ones which have never been tainted by the sin or rebellion. The New Earth will be dominated by the enormous golden & bejeweled city, New Jerusalem, which will be our home with God for all eternity!
B. WHAT IS THE RAPTURE?
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.”
1. THE EARTHLY PICTURE OF IT.
a. “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.
b. I wrote up this drama of the Rapture in 2005: “Imagine yourself driving along in your car one day when you hear what sounds like a long blast from a trumpet. Your car begins to reel back & forth & you realize that an earthquake is taking place. You slow down your car, pulling over next to a cemetery. The earth continues to rumble to a crescendo and suddenly -- like a hundred missile silos popping open – hundreds of graves burst open and what appears to be human forms shoot up into the sky and out of sight. Dazed, you get out of your car to get a better look around. Suddenly, you feel a strong presence of the Lord down in your soul like you never felt before. A brilliant flashing on the horizon catches your attention. In the distance, the sky is filled, from one side to the other, with a million streaks of lightning. It races across the sky getting ever nearer and nearer. A strong tingling sensation begins down in your soul and moves outward to every part of your body. An awesome power settles over you and torrents of love, joy, victory, and praise course through you like a river. Somewhere you hear the singing of angels as you watch your body being changed, altered, transformed, recreated & you feel like you’re a baby about to be born. With joy, you see Jesus beckoning, hardly aware that your feet are leaving the ground. The earth falls away as you explode into God’s eternal Kingdom!
2. THE HEAVEN-SIDE PICTURE OF IT: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9-10. Our arrival in Heaven will bring us to the believer’s Bema Judgment for our service to Christ and we will eat at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!
II. WHAT IF YOU MISS THE RAPTURE?
1. If you miss the Rapture you’ll miss the greatest thing apart from Heaven. IT’S REALLY BAD TO MISS SOME THINGS:
a. High School or College Graduation (I almost missed)
b. Promotion on the job
c. Your Olympic spot (covid cancelled Olympics)
d. Your Wedding
e. But missing the Rapture is much worse! It will be the greatest event since Calvary.
A. TERRIBLE REALITY OF BEING LEFT BEHIND
1. Newspaper Headlines will blare the unearthly news – that millions have disappeared without a trace.
2. It will be a nightmare when your friends & loved ones – all the good people – are gone. Matt. 24:40-42 says, “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
3. Planes will fall from the sky without pilots; cars careen off the road without drivers. Children will disappear across the globe, leaving parents frantic. Friends, neighbors, and work associates will disappear.
4. But those the worst affected will be those people who were exposed to the Gospel and teachings of Christ, but didn’t get or stay ready. These people will be racked with dread because they know it’s too late, that they missed it, and have some knowledge of the frightening events about to occur on earth!
B. RISE OF THE ANTICHRIST
Just after the Rapture, the Bible tells of the rise of the Antichrist, “THE MAN OF SIN” who will take power over Europe, and then over the whole world. He will not only be a Hitler-type person, but blasphemous against God, and have super-human powers derived from the devil. Everyone will be forced to worship him or die. He will use the high-tech surveillance tools of the NSA and other governments to track every human.
C. A PERIOD OF GOD POURING OUT HIS WRATH
1. This also will be a period of unprecedented pandemic (our worst fears realized), of poisoned waters, tsunamis, meteors colliding with the earth, war & nuclear war, the Antichrist’s persecution of Christians & Jews, insect plagues, and the Sun itself will destabilize and send cosmic shockwaves through the earth and burn most with solar rays.
2. During this period, besides the 1 billion people raptured, THREE BILLION PEOPLE will die of various plagues!* That’s half the world’s population, will die. Horrible carnage.
3. IF YOU’RE LEFT BEHIND AFTER THE RAPTURE, YOU WILL BE FACING HELL ON EARTH AND PROBABLY MARTYRDOM. This should strong motivate all of us to make sure we’re right with God and serving Him diligently – so that WE don’t MISS THE RAPTURE.
III. ARE YOU QUALIFIED FOR THE RAPTURE?
THERE ARE RAPTURE REQUIREMENTS:
A. YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN
1. Some are under the misapprehension that if they join a Church, get baptized, take the Lord’s Supper/ Eucharist, or pay their tithes they will automatically go up in the Rapture. This is false.
2. Jesus said in John 3:3,5 that we all must be “born” of God’s Holy Spirit and be made new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17). Paul said, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” Rom. 8:9. It’s the Holy Spirit’s presence in us that identifies us as the children of God. And as when a magnet lifts metal but not wood, so Christ will lift those with His presence.
B. SECRET SIN
1. “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” Isa. 59:2. This applies to Christians; see Ezek. 18:24.
2. David said, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” Ps. 66:18.
3. As one old Pastor told me, “The only sin that will send you to Hell is the one you WON’T REPENT OF!”
C. WATCH, PRAY, OBEY, STAY HOT IN CHRIST
1. After Jesus described the Tribulation Period, He said, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” Luke 21:36, NKJV.
2. AWAKE & OBEDIENT. Matthew 7:21(HCSB) — “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but ?only? the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.
3. NOT COLD OR LUKEWARM. Rev 3:15-16 (NIV); “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” The Lord Himself said if we’re cold or lukewarm, He’ll spit us out of His Body. This means He wants us to stay as close to Him as we can; to stay “plugged into the Vine” (John 15:1-6), connected to the sap of the Holy Spirit. If we don’t, we’re not connected.
4. ILLUS. Keep it Clean. A principal of a school told the students that he would give a reward to the student who had the cleanest desk. A girl asked, "When will you be coming to look?" He answered, "It will be a surprise." She announced that she intended to win the prize. "You?” the other students jeered, "your desk is always a mess." She said, "Then I'll clean it every Monday." "Well, what if he comes on Friday?" "Then I'll clean it every morning." "What if he comes at the end of the day?" "Then," she said, "I'll just have to keep it clean." Amen!
D. PRIDE OR UNFORGIVENESS
1. A major teaching of Scripture is “God resists the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” Jam. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5. Pride must be repented of; it was the very sin that caused the fall of the devil! You might call PRIDE the real original sin (Ezek. 28:17).
2. Jesus conclude His teaching of the Lord’s prayer with the words, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” Matt. 6:15. No one with unforgiven sin will enter the presence of God (Ps. 5:4; Hab. 1:13).
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: WARNING IGNORED, TO FIX DAM
1. In Pennsylvania, at the head of a large valley, was a reservoir enclosed by a large dam, built by a town for its water supply. The Army Corps of Engineers came and inspected it.
2. “The reservoir dam is in danger of collapsing; it must be repaired immediately.” “Ok. We’ll get to it as soon as we get funds.” Next year, engineers came back; “Must be repaired!” “Yes, yes; we told you we would get to it soon.”
3. The next year they warned; “It could collapse at any time!” “Yes, you’ve told us that for years, but it’s never happened. Quit trying to scare us!”
4. Within 24 hours the reservoir collapsed and washed away the entire city!
B. THE CALL
1. JESUS SAID HE’S COMING BACK! The signs are everywhere around us. The Question is, “Are you ready?” You have been warned. Would you be ready if Jesus came today?
2. Are you Born Again of God’s Spirit? If not, raise your hand. Do you have Secret Sin? Cold/lukewarm? Pride or unforgiveness? Are you out of fellowship with God?
3. Today is the day of Salvation. Now is the time to get right with God. Don’t put it off, procrastinate. Don’t ignore God’s warnings. Don’t refuse the dealings of God’s Spirit as He convicts you. God is speaking to you now! Will you obey Him or walk away?
4. All who want to be right with God stand up and join me at the front! PRAYER for salvation & repentance; for a new love for God.
*DEATHS DURING THE GREAT TRIBULATION [These are estimations only] “Pale horse....given power over a fourth (1/4) of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth” Rev. 6:8. “Four angels...were released to kill a third (1/3) of mankind” Rev. 9:15. 7B people less Rapture (1B, estimation because only half the Bridesmaids entered, Mt. 25:10) = 6B. 6B less ¼ (1.5B) = 4.5B. 4.5B less 1/3 (1.5B) = 3B, (which is half of 6B). Therefore, during the Great Tribulation period, besides the 1B raptured, 3B would die of various plagues -- IF the Rapture were to happen soon.
