The Rapture Series

The Rapture

Sunday, March 27, 2011

End-Times Series : Sermon 2

[VIDEO 1]

[AFFIRMATION]

TEXT: Matthew 25:1-13

[PRAYER]

[VIDEO 2]

INTRODUCTION

2 Weeks ago, I preached a message entitled, "What On Earth Is Going On?"

That message of course dealt with the Signs of the End-times that we are obviously seeing come to pass right before our eyes...

In that message, we looked briefly at "The Rapture of The Church"...

I want to stress again, "The Rapture of the Church" is not to be confused with "The Second Coming of Christ"...they are two separate events...

[EXPOUND]

What I want us to do this morning, is to dig deeper into this subject of "The Rapture of the Church"...

I want to state again today, just as I did a couple weeks back...

As far as we can tell right now, there are no prophecies in the Bible that need to be fulfilled before this event we call, "The Rapture of The Church"...

Meaning..."The Rapture" could happen literally at any moment!

Somebody would say, "But Jesus said, no-one knows the day or hour..."

That's true...but Jesus implied that we can know "the season"...

Luke 21:28, Jesus speaking, "Now when you see these things BEGIN TO HAPPEN, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near"...

[EXPOUND...what "things"...etc...]

Pastor, just what do you mean by "The Rapture of the Church?"

By "Rapture", we mean the "catching away of the saints...the church..."

The word "Rapture" is not found in your Bible...it's a word that the church has ascribed to the event for the purpose of brevity...

The word "Rapture" as related to Bible Prophecy, defined in the Dictionary:

"the transporting of a person from one place to another, especially

heaven"

[EXPOUND]

In the Gospels, each of the four Apostles wrote from different perspectives and in some regard were addressing different cultures...

Mark, for instance, was addressing the Roman culture and society...

Luke, was addressing the Greek culture, the highly educated of that time...

Luke himself was a Doctor...

John, on the other hand, wasn't so much addressing a society or culture...

John speaks of the Deity of Christ, the Holy Spirit and His work, and basically introduces the Salvation message...

Which brings us to Matthew...Matthew is addressing the Jewish culture of that time...

This parable of the Ten Virgins here in Matthew 25, is written with the Jewish Marriage Customs in mind, while at the same time painting a comparative picture of the Church (aka the Bride of Christ) and their relationship with Christ the Lord...whom the Bible refers to

as the Bridegroom!

When you understand the Jewish Wedding Customs, then you can rightly understand this Parable and what it represents to us, The Church of Jesus Christ...

Let me share with you a basic outline of those Customs along with some Scriptures that make it relevant to me and you...

The First Major Step in a Jewish Marriage in Jesus' time, was the "betrothal"...

"Betrothal" defined: "a covenant; a mutual promise of marriage"

Today, we call it an "engagement"...

"Engagement" in our society is a lot different than "betrothal" of that time...

1) Betrothal involved the establishment of a marriage covenant. In Jesus' time it was usual for such a covenant to be established as the result of the prospective bridegroom taking the initiative.

Jeremiah 31:31, "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah..."

God didn't wait for us to come to Him...He came to us by sending Jesus!

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the "New Covenant" (Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22)

2) The prospective bridegroom would travel from his father's house to the home of the prospective bride. There he would negotiate with the father of the young woman to determine the price (mohar) that he must pay to purchase his bride.

NOTE: Jesus came from His Father's House to our house...

"The Price" of the New Covenant / Marriage Covenant was already decided...

Hebrews 9:22, "...without the shedding of blood there is no remission (of sins)"

Matthew 26:28, Jesus speaking to His disciples at The Last Supper, "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins..."

3) Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established, and the young man and woman were regarded to be husband and wife.

1 Corinthians 6:20, & 7:23, "You were bought at a price..."

4) From that moment on, the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified, set apart exclusively for her bridegroom.

2 Corinthians 6:17 (MSG), "So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good, says God, 'Don't link up with those who will pollute you, I want you all for Myself' "