END TIME EVENTS


END TIME EVENTS

                That the coming of the Lord involves 2 separate events I have no doubt. The two events are completely different from each other. So to compare the two events we must call one of them the “Rapture” since that is the Latin word for being caught away and the other event we will call the 2nd coming of Christ, also known as “The glorious appearing.”



                I want to discuss this today, not as a doctrinal argument per se, but as a warning to two groups of people… namely those who believe in the rapture and those who don’t believe in the rapture.



                As for the pre tribulation rapture people, I would have to say that I have never seen so much confidence over a doctrine that has so little biblical support and I would love for somebody, anybody to sit down with me and provide clear textual support for a pre-tribulational rapture. Here I am talking about those people who tell us not to worry about the signs of the times because we won’t be here for any of it. I believe that this is a highly dangerous and unsupported idea.



                On the other hand, for those who don’t believe in the rapture at all, I would like for them to explain how Jesus comes in the clouds and we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air… (1 Cor. 15:51-55) verses Jesus coming with all of His saints to defeat the Battle of Armageddon and then to take up His millennial reign from Jerusalem. Rev. 19 14-21



                I know that in part they solve this problem by doing away with the literal millennial reign of Christ on the earth, but you have to ignore about 20 percent of scripture to believe that and it makes God into a liar and a covenant breaker and Romans eleven is the clincher when it comes to that issue. Besides, even apart from Christ’s earthly millennial reign the event we call the rapture and the event we call the second coming are distinctly different from each other and cannot be treated as the same event.



                As for the pre-tribulation rapture, we have to presume that when God called John up into heaven to see future events (Rev. 4:1) that also represents the catching away of the church. That is a giant leap to say the least. I like it and I want to be out of here before any of the really bad stuff happens just as much as the next guy, but I don’t see anywhere were Jesus tells us not to pay attention to the signs because they don’t concern us. On this account Joh sees before him an open door and corresponding to that the church in Philadelphia has set before them an open door, but Laodicea has a closed door with Jesus knocking from the outside. Which church best represents the church in the world today? We simply cannot take these issues lightly.



                In Mt. 24 Jesus says that He has given us these things in advance and in Luke 21:34-35. Jesus says: “Be on guard that you r hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life and that day come on you suddenly like a trap for it will come upon ALL those who dwell on the face of all the earth.”



                Now the very next verse comes down in favor of a pre-tribulation rapture for it says: “But keep on the alert at all times praying in order that you may have strength (or be counted worthy) to escape all these things that are about to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”



                Here we have a clear pre-tribulation rapture text for Jesus warns us to pray that we may have strength or be worthy to escape all of the things that He has just listed as end time events. But in this text Jesus doesn’t say exactly how we will escape these things (although they involve strength and worthiness) but He does say “and to stand before the Son of Man” and that conjures pictures of the saints standing on the sea of Glass doesn’t it?



                However, Paul tells us in 2 Thess. 2:3, 4 that the rapture (The coming of the Lord and our gathering to Him 2 Thess. 2:1) will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God.”



                And Paul starts out this description of the coming antichrist by saying “Let no one deceive you for that day (The coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him) will not take place until after the great apostasy and the revealing of the antichrist. This being the case we most definitely need to study Bible prophecy. Many will fall away from the faith when things happen that they said they would not be here for.



                We are watching preparations being made both politically and physically for the temple to be built in Jerusalem and this peace deal to be announced yet this year might just be the covenant with many that clears the way for the temple to be built.



                Here I am not making an argument against the rapture, but what I am saying is that we need to study the signs and we should not glibly say as some do that we don’t need to know any of this Bible prophecy stuff because we aren’t going to be here. In truth we do not know exactly which things constitute general tribulation and increasing birth pangs from the actual tribulation and Matthew 24 shows the world entering the great tribulation after the Abomination of Desolation takes place in the temple and that is consistent with Paul’s statement in 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.



                So, someone said in effect the other day that we should not be scaring each other with things like the Noahide laws because we won’t be here anyway and to me that is a very irresponsible statement. It requires a lot of presumption… and I believe that Jesus told us to watch and to pray for a very important reason, most specifically because no one knows the day or the hour of His coming.



                Like I said, this is not an argument against the rapture so much as a warning that we presume way too much when we think that we don’t need to understand end time events. Jesus gave them for a reason and they involve “all those who dwell upon the face of the earth.” Luke 21:35.



RAPTURE:            Now as to the two events involved in His coming the rapture will come like a thief in the night and take everyone by surprise. (Except those who are awake and know the signs) 1 Thess. 4:16-18



SECOND COMING:          The second coming will occur when Satan’s kingdom has been destroyed and the earth lies in a shambles with every wall fallen to the ground and the armies of the world are gathered at Megiddo for the final battle of Armageddon. The sun will be darkened and the moon turned to blood and the earth shaken like no other time in history. Clearly His return at this time will not be like a thief in the night.



RAPTURE: We will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. 1 Cor. 15:51-57



SECOND COMING: Jesus returns with His saints at the battle of Armageddon. Rev. 19:14-21, 1 Thess.  3:13, Zech. 14:5 He fights the battle and defeats the armies of Satan. Then He sets foot on the Mount of Olives and enters Jerusalem to commence His millennial reign.



RAPTURE: We will be caught up in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. (Instantaneously, in less than a second.) 1 Cor. 15:52.



SECOND COMING:  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then the sign of the son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.  And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.” Mt. 24:29-30 (this is not an instantaneous twinkle of an eye kind of event.)



                Unfortunately for us in western society, the Hebrews did not give events in linear fashion and not only that but they, Including Jesus, mixed events together because in type and shadow these events would happen over and over again like birth pangs preceding the final birth.



                In Mt. 24 we see a mixture of events concerning the temple and Israel’s flight in AD 70 with end time events that would be similar and principally the same so Jesus mixed them together.



                Today we are clearly seeing that the events of AD 70 will play out again in the tribulation and second coming of Christ. The temple will be rebuilt and the antichrist will commit the Abomination of Desolation and the Jews will have to flee again just as they had to flee before Titus.



                There is so much more to this on both sides of the issue… so many more texts… and as usual, I find it almost impossible to cover these massive issues in a few pages. But my point today is that we simply must observe the birth pangs that are taking place in our day. The world is beginning to fall apart, politically, socially, environmentally and cosmically. Everything is coming at us in rapid leaps and we, as God’s people, need to be awake and alert and ready for any eventuality for indeed we do not know the day or the hour when Jesus will catch us away. Many things that happen in Mt. 24, Jesus calls the beginning of sorrows and He doesn’t actually introduce the great Tribulation until after the Abomination of desolation. See Mt. 24:21



                We definitely need to study these things and to prepare for them, for in a way, if we are ready for the Tribulation we will also be ready for His coming and if we are not ready to face tribulation then neither will we be ready for the rapture. We will be caught by surprise like the foolish virgins who had no oil.  To be worthy to escape all of these things we must be like the wise virgins that had oil in their lamps and were ready to go into the marriage feast. Think about it.



                Those who are bored with Bible prophecy simply don’t understand that these things are being fulfilled in rapid succession right before our eyes. We are in the middle of it right now and the events are unfolding with mind blowing speed. Surely those who cannot see this are among the foolish virgins. They are walking through a war zone without their armor on and they are not heeding Jesus words to be ready.



                Everything is being set up in Jerusalem for the arrival of the antichrist and we can yawn and say we won’t be here to see that event, but we won’t get that from the Bible. In fact our instruction concerning the coming of Christ is:



                “But you brethren are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness; SO THEN, LET US NOT SLEEP AS OTHERS DO, BUT LET US BE ALERT AND SOBER…But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:4-6, 8-9.



                Clearly in several places in Scripture we are promised that we will not have to endure the wrath of God. We can take that one to the bank… But nowhere in Scripture do I see the word saying that we don’t need to pay attention to the signs of His coming on the basis that we won’t be here. Regardless of when the rapture takes place, we need to be sober and alert and ready for whatever Satan wants to dish out, because Satan’s wrath and God’s Wrath are two different things. Please consider if you will that the Wrath of god is announced in the bowl judgments. Is it possible that the breaking of the seals and the trumpet judgments are man’s and Satan’s wrath, while the bowl judgments are God’s wrath against Satan and His kingdom? We presume too much if we don’t at least ask these questions and study them out for biblical answers.



                Christians are suffering persecution and death on a daily basis all around the world right now. Do we think that we are somehow immune from persecution? Don’t be fooled.

               

                The very last thing Jesus said before He prayed His wonderful prayer on our behalf in John 17 is this. “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”   No matter what Satan dishes out, our peace is in Jesus Christ. Jesus is returning to the very spot from which He left, which is also most probably the same spot where He walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve. Everything is coming full circle.

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