August 31, 2003
Title: It’s Closer Than You Think!
Text: Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand--
Joel 2:1 (NIV)
Introduction
1. This morning, I would plan an ambitious undertaking.
A. I hope to explain the chronology of events from before the beginning of time...
B. Until the eternity following the end of time
C. of course, I will only be able to hit the high points...
D. and I will give more time to the beginning and the end...
E. since most of my preaching is done in the middle...
F. this will give us good balance!
2. And I’ve entitled my sermon this morning, It’s Closer than you Think!
A. Meaning that the events associated with eschatology...
i. The Rapture
ii. Tribulation
iii. Second Coming
iv. and the Millennium
v. are closer to becoming a reality than what you may realize.
B. First of all, let me point out that Jesus says, ""No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" Matt 24:36 (NIV)
i. And I certainly don’t propose any specific dates...
ii. Because, to be honest, we cannot pinpoint the exact day for certain events in ancient Bible history, for example, the creation of Adam.
iii. However, there was a reason for all those genealogies that we always thought were so boring to read.
iv. Through the process of backtracking through the genealogies, we can make some estimates.
v. And looking at the time that end time events will last...
vi. we can come to some interesting (if not specific) "conclusions" or theories, if you prefer.
C. Let me also point out that it is MAN who thinks in terms of TIME.
i. But time doesn’t apply to God...
ii. God is above and beyond the scope of time...
D. And, let me also add a disclaimer here...
i. God hasn’t given me the gift of prophesy....
ii. What I share with you this morning is my opinion...
iii. based on my interpretation of Scripture and my personal study...
iv. Science and Scripture don’t always see eye to eye.
v. And I will tell you up front that my faith is in Scripture NOT science.
vi. On some points, you either have to bend Scripture to explain science...
vii. or bend science to explain Scripture...
viii. And, in my mind, I let science do the bending...
ix. it’s changed enough over the years...(remember, we used to believe the world was flat!)
x. But Scripture remains constant and unchanging.
xi. And it seems that the closer we get to the end time events...
xii. the more science verifies Scripture!
xiii. And one more very important point...God created science too!
xiv. And at some point...all science and Scripture will have to agree, because God created it all!
xv. That may not happen until we get to heaven and have better understanding than we do now...
xvi. but it will happen.
E. But, let me reiterate something that I’ve said before...
i. While it is interesting to study about these types of things...
ii. to me they aren’t worthy of argument or discord...
iii. The foundational, bedrock issue throughout all this...
iv. is NOT WHEN specific events are going to occur...
v. but the most important issue is ARE YOU READY?
vi. ARE YOU READY....TODAY?
vii. Have you invited Jesus into your heart?
viii. That is the most crucial question.
ix. If you haven’t answered that question...
x. then the rest of this pales in importance.
F. It is my hope that by sharing this series of sermons on ESCHATOLOGY
i. that you will give special attention to the importance of your spiritual readiness.
Read Text: Joel 2:1 (NIV)
1. Eternity Before Adam
A. Before the creation of the world, God was there.
i. Before time began, God was there.
B. So what was God "doing" during this time before time.
i. He was having fellowship with His Son. Jesus said, "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began" John 17:5 (NIV)
ii. He was creating angels Job 38:7 says, "while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" Which is a description of the response of the angels to His creating the earth. Job 38:7 (NIV)
iii. He was planning His future Kingdom Matthew 25:34 says, "Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Matt 25:34 (NIV)
iv. And everything was at peace.
2. Adam to Abraham (2000 years)
A. And then, we come to Genesis 1:1..."In the beginning"
i. God was there in the beginning; and He set the whole thing in motion.
ii. As you read on through the creation story...
iii. you get the impression that God created everything in 24 hour cycles (days)
a. Day 1: matter, energy, water, light
b. Day 2: atmosphere
c. Day 3: Land, and plant life
d. Day 4: Stars, sun, moon
e. Day 5: Fish and birds
f. Day 6: insects, animals, and Man.
g. Day 7: God saw that everything He had made was "very good" (gen 1:31) and He rested from His labor.
B. Here at the very beginning, we see science and Scripture at odds.
i. science seems to indicate that the earth is very old...millions or even billions of years old.
ii. while Scripture, if you count back through the genealogies tends to put the creation of the earth somewhere around 4000 BC, which makes it around 6 thousand years old (give or take)
iii. So, one way that some well-meaning Christians will "bend" Scripture is to say that since "1000 years is as a day with the Lord" (2 Peter 3:8) ...
iv. those 6 days actually were much longer than a day.
v. and they will add anywhere from 6000 years to millions of years to the age of the world to accommodate that belief.
vi. They do this for various reasons...
a. one reason is because their radio carbon dating dates the world much older...
a. my response--Scientists also profess that in order for RC dating to be accurate,
b. the specimens must be relatively "untouched"...
c. But, if you believe in the vast flood of Noah’s day, EVERYTHING was changed...water erupted from inside the earth, it rained, the whole world was flooded and shaken to its core...
d. thus making RC dating highly questionable.
b. Another reason: they can estimate the birth/death of stars through calculations of the physics of light travel...putting the universe much older...
a. My response: When God created...He created things at maturity...Adam and Eve weren’t born, and then had to grow up before they could reproduce...they were fully functioning adults...
b. as were the animals and so on.
c. Therefore God could certainly create stars that were "mature" complete with varying light streams.
c. Another reason: Scientific evidence seemed to indicate that dinosaurs were millions of years old and that at NO TIME did man and dinosaurs co-exist (I’ll have to be honest, this one created some trouble for me)
a. My response: Recently, they have found in Texas and Russian, human footprints and dinosaur evidence in the same strata of sediment.
b. "Do you mean to say that God created the dinosaurs to co-exist with man?" Yep, that’s exactly what I mean.
c. "Were dinosaurs on the ark"? Yes...small ones, immature ones.
d. "wasn’t there danger they would eat Noah?" No, when God first created...there was not intended to be any death...including animals. Early animals ate plants. And it wasn’t until after the Flood that animals began to eat other animals
e. Are dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible? Yes, there is a strange sea creature called a "leviathan" mentioned in several places in Scripture that seems to fit the description of a Kronosaurus.
f. Also, in Job, it describes a behemoth, which seems to describe something similar to an Apatosaurus or diplodocus.
g. Even in modern times, there have been descriptions of dinosaur-like creatures.
d. See http://www.christiananswers.net/dinosaurs/home.html for a wonderfully done detailed description of this...perfect for children...good for adults too.
C. Here at the beginning, everything was going great...
i. there was no sin...
ii. the world was plentiful...
iii. there was no death,
iv. no pain,
D. At this point, Lucifer was still an "angel"
i. But something happened causing Lucifer to "fall" and become Satan.
ii. We find the description of this event in Isaiah 14:12-17
iii. Basically Lucifer commited the sin of Pride on Covetousness
iv. He said, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." Isaiah 14:13-14 (NIV)
v. It is interesting that satan used the same temptation that brought his downfall on Eve: "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Gen 3:5 (NIV)
E. And you know the story, sin entered the world...
i. Over a period of time...the sin problem got so bad...that God decided to destroy the world...
ii. but Noah found favor in the eyes of God. "Praise the Lord for Noah"!!!
iii. Noah tried hard to get people to turn to God...but they refused...
iv. so God made a way to save Noah.
v. He had Noah build an ark for him and his family and 2 of each kind of animal.
vi. And once there were all safely loaded, the floods came.
vii. This wasn’t just a gentle rain...
viii. this was the biggest most catastrophic event in all of history...second only to the fall of man when sin entered the world.
ix. Volcanos errupted....
x. water and smoke gushed everywhere....
xi. torrential rain fell...
xii. the sky was darkened...
xiii. many people and animals died.
xiv. even alot of plants died.
xv. Even after the flood water receeded, there would have been a lot of dead animals/plants/and people around.
xvi. This is probably how the animals on the ark survived following the flood...
xvii. they became meat eaters.
xviii. And this is probably where a lot of the fossil evidence comes from.
xix. In order for fossils to be developed, they have to be quickly covered ...
xx. if they are left to be eaten and scattered, not much is left to fossilize.
xxi. But in the flood, many things were covered with water and mud quickly...
xxii. thus allowing the fossilization to occur.
F. I need to move on and cover the next 5000 years rather quickly!
3. Abraham to Christ (2000 years)
A. From Abaham to Christ is approximately 2000 years.
i. This is known as the time of Law.
ii. It is the time of animal sacrifices
iii. it is the time of the covenant between God and Abraham and the Children of Isareal
4. Christ’s First Coming to Christ’s Second Coming (~2000 years)
A. And then Christ came and changed everything.
i. instead of being the time of Law...
ii. it is now the time of Grace...
iii. The time of animal sacrifices has passed
iv. The Church is born....
v. the Holy Spirit is with us...
B. God’s plan for creation involved 6 days, and then resting on the seventh...
i. And using the Scripture in 2 Peter But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day 2 Peter 3:8 (NIV)
ii. I believe that God’s plan FOR His creation involves 6000 years that man is "in charge" in the sense that God has given us freewill to choose to follow Him or reject Him.
iii. And then, on the "7TH" DAY or in other words, the 7th "Thousand years" is a time of rest.
iv. If you put the creation at roughly 4000 BC...
v. Abraham at roughly 2000 BC
vi. Christ at around 4 BC
vii. The Millinneum would fall roughly around around 2000 AD to 3000 AD
a. The millinneum is the 1000 years of time that Christ is reigning, described in Rev. 20
b. (more about that later).
viii. Following the millinneum is eternity...
ix. similar to the eternity before the creation...
x. But BEFORE the millennium occurs...there are other events that must occur.
a. The Rapture
b. The Tribulation
c. The battle of Armegeddon...
d. and so.
C. Now: IF God is using a 7000 plan for human history between the "eternities"
i. And if our timing/dating is correct...
ii. then these events could literally happen any day!!!
iii. Let’s say creation occured at 3970 BC (which is one of the estimates I saw)
iv. That puts the millinneum at 2030 AD, only 27 years away.
v. 7 years of tribulation before that puts the beginning of the end times events at 2023 AD...
vi. less than 20 years away!!!
vii. If you subscribe to God’s 7000 year plan for human history...
viii. then in order for the Rapture to happen today...
ix. that would put the creation at 3990,
x. the Millenneum would be at 2010,
xi. the 7 year Tribulation before the millennium would begin in 2003!!
xii. and those are certainly plausible dates with what we know of Bible history!
Conclusion
1. Now Jesus said, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" Matt 24:36 (NIV)
A. I think it is wrong to arrogantly specify the date when the Lord will come.
B. People have tried that in the past... and it didn’t work...
C. plus, Jesus said that "no one knows"
D. And you will never here me list a day or hour...
E. and in fact, I will never list the YEAR...
2. But Jesus did say, Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour Matt 25:13 (NIV)
3. In the words of our text, I want to:...
A. Blow the trumpet in Zion;
B. sound the alarm on my holy hill.
C. Let all who live in the land tremble,
D. for the day of the LORD is coming.
E. It is close at hand
4. I completely believe that it could happen any day...
A. and I certainly believe that it could easily happen during my lifetime
B. But...to be honest...I might be wrong...perhaps God isn’t going on the 7000 year plan...
C. perhaps He won’t come for another 1000 years..
D. We REALLY don’t know
5. But one thing I DO know...
A. Jesus IS coming again...
B. And the MOST IMPORTANT THING ISN’T WHEN HE IS COMING....
C. BUT ARE YOU READY?
D. "Let all who live in the land tremble,
E. for the day of the Lord is coming,
F. It is close at hand"
6. There’s a Great Day Coming #336
