Transcript for:
Biblical Rapture Overview

well again I want to welcome you to the end time scenario session number two and uh Shalom and let's bow our hearts for a word of Prayer father we thank you for the day and we thank you for your presence here we pray father that you would just anoint this time with your holy spirit that we might have our lives and hearts open to your word we pray father that you would guide us into truth and keep us from error but in all things keep us focused on our precious King in whose name we commit this day and ourselves in the name of Yeshua our Lord our coming King our savior Jesus our Messiah indeed amen okay and we are in session two we're going to just hit head on just to start it off with one of the most controversial subjects in the in the Lexicon here and we're going to talk about this thing which in Greek is called the harpazzo and uh and it's commonly called The Rapture and uh it's it's candidly it's the most Preposterous Doctrine in Christian Evangelical Christianity bizarre strange Viewpoint it really is we need to just acknowledge and depending how we feel about it we should just acknowledge it is a strange perception so we want to hit that head on and talk about it and uh so uh I'd like to just admit to ourselves it's a strange strange Doctrine and when we travel speak at other churches I usually find out in advance what the pastor's attitude is and if he's not comfortable with that I don't even get into that subject just to not tell you because I don't want to leave the wake of confusion behind me but at the same time it is in this case of course we should hit it head on talk about it we want to talk about the scriptural basis where does this idea come from it wasn't cooked up by some some you know internet uh blogs this is goes way way back and so we want to talk about the scriptural basis of it we'll talk about some alternative views about it you and uh so explore that and we're going to talk about a Doctrine you don't find explicitly pronounced that way but it is a prevalent Doctrine among many called the doctrine of imminence what does that mean we'll get into that and it may surprise you that I'm going to show you what I suspect are allusions to this in the Old Testament even among most conservative Scholars now to say Dallas Theological Seminary or wherever uh will argue that the Rapture and they're very pro-rapture about it but they argue it doesn't show up in the Old Testament and I'm I'm going to let you come to your own conclusions by showing you three passages in the Old Testament you decide isn't that what that's what the Fox News always say we report and you decide well that's we'll do that with some of these issues so listen to The Rapture and uh so it's obviously the most Preposterous belief of biblical Christianity and so the word is actually not Rapture that comes from the Latin but it's uh arpazzo in the Greek it's to be the word means to be forcibly caught up and taken out and that's what's emphasized in the Greek term we're going to talk about the promise of it we'll talk about the process by which it occurs and what the purpose of it is and that will collectively call that the Blessed hope that's what Titus in the book of Titus does we'll talk about its prophetic profile and we'll talk about problems and those of you that are Seminary trained know it must be true because they all this alliterative you know if you're a graduate from Seminary your points in in your sermon always have to start with the same letter usually P's or s's because it's easier but uh I always needle my Seminary friends that way this must be true because there's alliteration and so but the Jewish concept of Prophecy is the pattern is pattern is prologue and we need to really understand the Jewish mind or for many for many reasons let's start with the promise of this believe it or not it starts in John 14. in our study of the Gospel of John we're going to enter that period which is called The Upper Room discourse from chapters 13 to 17 the Gospel of John an incredible segment of his Total Gospel devoted to that one discourse and right in the middle of it of course John 14 we'll take a look at it here says let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me wow then he continues in my father's house are many mansions and if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you really that's what he's telling him and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself really if you're a careful student of the scripture you know that's not the second coming he comes in anger and and he's Blood Stained from the blood of his enemies read to Isaiah 63 and we will do that later I will come again and receive you and myself that where I am there ye may be also that's an incredible promise is that some kind of broad brush figurative thing or is it being specific well these how often do you see what's the subject of these verses not him you if you believe in God believe also in me I would have told you I find a place for you I find a place for you I will receive you that where I am ye maybe also who's the focus of this you are certainly the 11 word I'm going to suggest if you're one of his disciples it's so you it's you also you need to Let's back up a minute and let's try to understand a Jewish wedding not the current ones the ancient ones how are they how were they formatted we need to understand that if for no other reason than John the Baptist always refers to himself as the bridegroom who's the president actually a friend of the bridegroom who's the bridegroom of Jesus Christ right Book of Ruth go get you get into all of that okay well it starts with the betrothal the katuba and the payment of a purchase price purchase see the bride was purchased did you realize you were purchased absolutely and set apart the theological word to Sanctified the word just means set apart and you can find that all through the scriptures and I won't take the time it'll be in your notes you can move on here the bridegroom departs then after the betrothal he departs to the father's house really that's the pattern what does he do he departs to his father's house typically in the old days to make an addition for his family subsequently but he prepares the room edition if you will and the bride in the meantime doesn't know how long he'll be gone but she has to be prepared to receive him at any moment and he and and so she is charged to prepare for his eminent return that's with an eye not an e meaning something with no precedent warnings then there's a surprise Gathering he shows up sometimes in the middle of the night to gather his bride and that's in all all through the Old Testament model the Hoopa then is the wedding in contrast to the Truffle the betrothal commits her that it would take an action of divorce to split it in other words it wasn't just a casual promise no it's a commitment and but then the Hoopa the wedding is directly and after the wedding occurs the the marriage supper and it's traditionally seven days long they those guys knew how to throw up but they knew how to throw a party you know it's amazing when you study the feasts of Moses they're not overnight these are that one day thing no day passes there these are seven day deals and so uh so that and don't confuse the wedding with the marriage supper because we've got some bizarre observations to share with you as we go forward in this and most of that we'll do in the in session six but anyway you can you can fish out from your own references some of this and so so and uh so the marriage fulfilled We are following that the Covenant was established according Paul in First Corinthians 11. the purchase price was paid for by our Lord on the cross people worry about eternal security I know I'm secure because my justification was established two thousand years ago on a cross the bride then is set apart and of course we are set apart in the scripture Paul make you know fulfills this model in terms of our participation and he reminds us of the Covenant in First Corinthians 11 and so forth the bridegroom in the model has left for the father's house where's Jesus today he's out of place he's not on his throne he's on his father's throne that's going to get corrected all those misplacements are correct in the Book of Revelation and uh Satan's free but he's not going to be Jesus is on the wrong Throne you can go right through and look at it almost as as correcting misplacements the redeemed are on the Earth are going to be with him and so on and so forth and anyway so he's going to escort he'll have an escort to accompany him upon his return to gather his bride first Thessalonians 4 and we'll look at that specifically in fact that's the process we will take a look we talked about the promise I'm using John 14 as my platform there we'll move on and talk about how's this going to happen it's described for you the the two most important letters eschatologically in the New Testament are the Thessalonian letters the first Thessalonian letter is uh about the is about the rapture the Third a third Thessalonians which we call second Thessalonians because second Thessalonians was a forgery and Paul wrote second thesis what we call second Thessalonians as a response to a forgery being circulated with his name on it apparently and once you understand that the whole tone of the what we call second Thessalonians I'm only I've always been tempted to re-label that as third Thessalonians just to confuse my friends and so uh but that's why I always like to talk about the Epistle of Jacob we call it James but the word was Jake but anyway but that's just Mischief I'll move on first Thessalonians 4. okay let's take a look at it we'll do something radical let's just read it okay let's set aside our presumptions whatever they might be and let's read what Paul says to the Thessalonians the context is that some of their friends have passed away and they when Paul was talking there talking about the Lord they sort of feel because they've passed away they may have missed something and Paul's trying to set the record straight interesting thing just to make a background here Paul was with the Thessalonians three weeks from scratch he founds a church there's he's been with him three weeks and he's on he then writes a letter back to them to remind them what he taught them in their first three weeks of Christian walk that's starting to really put in Focus here he's going to talk about eschatology he's going to talk about what we call the rapture and he's reminding them not something this is not new information for them it's something he's reminding them when you get to the second Thessalonians same thing he's explaining stuff a little more clearly that he taught them in those first three I'm fascinated with that we often think that gee those are topics we wait until a guy gets a little more mature in his Bible well that might be good advice but gee Paul just hit it right on apparently anyway he goes on he says to them but I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that she sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him oh how can he do that for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord now this is not Paul's suspicions or comments there's somebody who does that occasionally no this is to say to you by the way of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep how's that going to work that raises a couple of questions well he goes on for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air not only not on the earth in the air wherever that is and so shall we ever be with the Lord that's wild just stop there embrace it cling to it realize what he's saying then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together that's the word harpazzo in the Greek snatched up forcibly together with them in the clouds that's going to be a strange event I I can't I have two big problems with that it's hard to visualize I admit it I mean even more mystified as I try to focus on What's Left Behind if that happens what's going to happen on the earth it's life's going to go on presumably these guys just all going to disappear you got to be kidding Chuck that's weird yes it is that's what it says in fact he goes on to say wherefore Comfort one another with these words that's the passage the Lord himself shall descend from heaven okay with a shout the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God by the way the word Trump of God only appears twice in the Bible and of course that cyanide when the law was given and here these aren't the trumpet judgments of Revelation it isn't the shofar or the silver trumpets of the temple neither one something very distinctive it's the Trump of God so if you want to start digging I encourage you to just make that a footnote in your notes to chat track it down Trump of God where does it appear only twice in the scripture the voice of the archangel what voice are we going to hear I have a suspicion I can't prove it from the text you know what I think we're going to hear our own names Lazarus come forth I think God's capable of doing it calling us each by name wow and the dead in Christ shall rise first and the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord what a promise what a promise to cling to nothing left from that point on separate us from him that's breathtaking wherefore Comfort one another with these words um I'm working very hard not to take you in a by Road of hyper hyperspaces and the Dem that we're not dealing in three dimensions here but more than that but we'll go on here now I say well your friends will say the word rapture doesn't occur in the Bible wrong get your Latin Bible okay and you'll find it is in the Latin Bible that's where we get it I remember and it's a proper tense of rapio our English words wrapped in Rapture come from the past participle of that Latin word so yes the word rapture occurs in the Latin Bible but most of us use English Bibles right and so uh that's fine but if you really want to get strict let's go back to the Greek it's the harpazzo and it's probably not a bad practice to start using that term did you know there's seven raptures in the scripture not all the same kind of thing but seven forcible Enoch was raptured Elijah was raptured Jesus in several Paces is alluded to that way Philip in Acts 8 and that's a very interesting one because that validates in my mind at least the Ethiopian location for the Ark of the Covenant again that's a by road you can chase on your own and then Paul taking care of this war and it's interesting and the body of Christ here in this passage and it's interesting and then John in Revelation 4 1. I believe in the first verse of chapter chapter 4 of the Revelation is synonymous if you will at least in concept with the Rapture and it's these last those four that are the word harpazzo is actually used if you will but anyway we'll move on here there's a verse there's a chapter in Revelation chapter 12 which is a summary of the history of Israel portrayed as a woman the woman that gives birth to The Man Child that's not the church it's interpreted for you by none other than Jacob or excuse me Isaac in in Genesis 37. the the imagery there of the the son of the moon and the stars is imagery drawn from the Torah but she the woman in Revelation 12 is clearly Israel and that should be very obvious when you study it carefully but Israel then she the woman brings forth a man child and that's obviously the Messiah who was to rule all the nations with the rod of iron that label should identify him for you because he's used that way all through the Old Testament and New as an identity if you will of Jesus Christ to rule all the nation through the rod of iron this is then her child is caught up into God into his throne when most of us read that summary in Revelation 12 we assume that what's in view there is the the Ascension acts 1 right and it was G.H Pember I think was one of the first Scholars to suggest the possibility that that may not be what it's limited to that it may also be descriptive of the body of Christ you say watch this one person caught up no the body of Christ is used singularly in the text and it was I think James Pember that pointed out that verse can simultaneously point to both of them so I mentioned that for your notes and you can chase that down and come to your own conclusions I think pember's right right on the money for a lot of reasons because the next verse verse 6 on talks about the tribulation and that also conforms to the pattern of Daniel 9 because after you've got the interval there that represents the church that's terminated then before the 70th week can start but be careful don't presume that the 70s week starts at the Rapture at some time after the Rapture and we'll show you that as we go forward here but anyway her child was caught up unto God in your throne from the term Rapture we're dealing with there so so what's the purpose of all this what's going on here well first Corinthians 15 Paul deals with this in the in the most essential chapter according to Paul in the Bible because if you don't have chapter 15 you got nothing Paul presents it that way if you don't have the resurrection of all of us in your in your vocabulary you've missed the point this is what Paul is trying to say in First Corinthians 15. it's a very very interesting fact we use the term gospel all the time how many have heard the word gospel in a conversation what is the gospel well it's the good news that's the cop-out what is the gospel Paul defines it in the first four verses of First Corinthians 15. how the Christ died for our sins according to scriptures he was buried in Rose again the third day that's the gospel according to Paul what's astonishing is you can find maybe one Church in ten that preaches that in the United States they'll pray they'll preach about everything else all kinds of social good things to do and and behave yourselves and all that sort of stuff but what's the gospel the gospel Paul does not include Christ's teachings he doesn't include his miracles he doesn't include his example those are all humanitaries don't misunderstand me the gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to scripture he didn't disappear he died best documented death in the history of man he didn't just die he fulfilled hundreds of specific specifications including his genealogy and all the circumstances and all spell out in the Old Testament in advance he died for our sins then just die he paid for you and me he was buried only Paul emphasized that his gospel because he builds a thing on baptism later and he rose again the third day according to scriptures and the assignment that I give you on your own time not my time is show me where in the old he's talking about the scriptures the Old Testament um where in the Old Testament does it predict that Jesus will be in the grave three days or raised on the third day where does it say that well there's Jonah indeed because Jesus in Matthew 12 40 points you to that so that's cheating you got one of them there are seven of them find the others the other places where the the third day thing is tucked away in the text somewhere so I'll leave that with you to play with in your free time having done that we'll move on let's take a look what Paul is saying here Paul says now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of a god I almost put a period there and think about that one flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption in other words they're antithetical behold I show you a mystery now the word in Greek mysterian is a little more specialized than we use the term Mist a mystery with mysterian is something that's been hidden up till now and I'm revealing it to you it's sort of like letting you know the password you sometimes say a secret is something you tell one person at a time that's sort of the flavor here behold I show you a mystery I'm going to reveal something to you we shall not all sleep and he's using sleep here in the euphemistic sense meaning that we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible shall be changed for this corruptable must put on incorruption and this Mortal must put on immortality wow let's get back in a moment in twinkling of an eye that's not a blink in the twinkling of an eye what on Earth is the twinkling of an eye let me give you an approach take the speed of light and see how long does it take to Transit the thickness of your iris and when you get that result you'll discover that's Planck's constant is the shortest unit of time possible is 10 to the minus 43 seconds in a moment in the twinkling of an eye that's the plank limit 10 to the minus 43 seconds those of you that have mathematical skill can go check that out if you like okay all right now so Paul continues so when this corruptable shall have put on incorruption this Mortal shall I put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying Ed is written and by the way Paul is quoting three times here from Greek poets not from the scripture I know I think Paul is he's an interesting guy he had the best schooling in in the Greek society and obviously he was taught by Gamaliel himself in the as a Pharisee so he has a br he probably is one of the most Brilliant Minds That Ever Walked the Earth his book of Romans is the highest level of logic you'll find anywhere in writing so don't be surprised but anyway he's quoting here strangely enough from Greek uh poets death is swallowed up in Victory oh death where is thy sting o grave where is thy victory and it's just a poetical plea but it's very colorful the physics of immortality he talks in dimensionality of First John 3 2 that we might put that in your notes or Circle it on your thing you want to check that out because John gives us a statement of physics there but also there is a term that occurs twice in the Greek in the Bible called oketerian we see it in two places in second Corinthians 5 2 the other one is in Jude verse 6 I believe it is and it only appears twice and we'll get to that before the discussion goes on the Beloved now are we the sons of God and if not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is we are not going to it's not like a photograph if I hold up a photograph I'm showing you a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional person if I show you a hologram I'm showing a three-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional person what he's saying here whatever dimensionality Jesus enjoys we will also have because we won't see a representation we will see him we shall see him as he is many people would miss this without some mathematical background but that's really what what John is saying here but here's the first second Corinthians 5 2 the word okatarian occurs if for we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved what is he talking about my body my physical body see one other thing let me just pause here for a minute I'm sitting here looking at this audience beloved and I'm thrilled you're here but I have a grief because I can't see you I can't really see you I can see the temporary physical residence you're residing in the real you is not physical call it Soul Spirit give it a fancy word to hide the fact we're not sure what the reality is but the real you isn't visible it's residing in the body and it's software not Hardware I have a computer up here and if you knew every detail of every part in that computer you would not be able to protect this Behavior why because behavior is determined by the software that's resident in it and I can upgrade this computer a few years put a new one here and everything is going on can go on on the new one maybe better in color or whatever you know so on because the real personality if I want to call it that is soft ground Hardware in fact I can send it through the airwaves I can take a disc it's blank and weigh it it's about seven tenths of an ounce in it I can spend hundreds of dollars and load it with a million bytes of software and still weigh Seven Ten third ounce software has no Mass which means it has no time there's no time to mention so the real you is software and Hardware the real you is eternal whether you're saved or not that's scary the issue is where you're going to spend it if you're perfect you can spend in the presence of God if you're not too bad so that's a whole nother story we'll get into later anyway I know that this Earthly House of this Tabernacle will dissolved my Hardware if you will we have a building of God a house not made with hands Eternal in the heavens for in this we groan earnestly Desiring to be closed upon with our house which is from heaven now what's interesting here the word here is ocotarian it only occurs twice in the scripture the other place that occurs is it's the body that the Angels disrobe themselves from in order to participate in the Mischief of Genesis chapter 6. that's where the linkage is in Jude verse chapter 1 verse 6 Jews only one chapter in in Jude verse 6. oh katarian I suspect that the Greek technical term that's more specific than we had previously realized it refers to the embodiment that we aspire to when we have our heavenly bodies it's the body that the Angels disrobe from that we're up to mischief in fact in June 6 here it is for you and the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in Everlasting chains under the darkness unto the Judgment of the great day these are angels that are being punished Jude points that out in second Peter chapter 2 deals with these angels that indulged in Mischief back in Genesis chapter 6 and subsequently again when Moses sends the spies into the after the Wilder Swanson the spies that excuse me when Moses sends the spies at Kadesh barnea the Ten of them come back and saying there's Giants in the land at verse 33 of numbers 13 it speaks of the Nephilim that were in the land Satan had done another laid a Minefield down he had 400 years to do that so anyway um Second Corinthians 5 for we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God in-house not made with hands Eternal in the heavens for in this we grown earnestly Desiring to be clothed with a barn with our house which is from Heaven if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked that's the term being used that was Adam's Discovery when he sinned he was naked not in the sense that we think of nakedness he was no longer closed with light as the scripture implies elsewhere closed upon and so on then he was let's get back to the Jewish wedding here the Katie was the betrothal payment of a purchase price set apart and Sanctified the bridegroom departs to his father's house prepares the room addition the bride prepares for his eminent return and he would get we encounter this strange thing that some people call the doctrine of imminence and it's a it's not really an Express command it's just an observation from a collection of teachings the word eminent I mean it by this word the next expectation not to be confused with two other words that are very similar in their spelling imminent in the sense that only God has transcended far above us as with I and an A in the m in it and he's always with us and active on our behalf that's what that word means nor should this word be confused with eminent with an e and an i which is a title of Honor reserved for persons of outstanding distinction those are two words spelled very similarly but means something quite different imminent with the eye but both beginning and the middle there is the next expectation if something is imminent that means there's no required intervening event and it's the next thing to happen so to speak so the documentary Believers we we assert that Believers are taught to expect the Savior from Heaven at any moment you find that in Philippians 3 20 Titus 2 13 Hebrews 9 28 first Thessalonians 1 10 and 4 and 5 and Revelation 22. you can jot those down circular them in your notes and that's your leisure check it out but you'll discover those are just a few examples seven actually examples of uh justify our we are taught to expect Jesus before this session is over before the weekend's over whenever it's the next thing to happen on someone's agenda here we already expect him at any moment that expresses hope in a warm Spirit of expectancy that's the first Thessalonians uh one of those there and it should result then in the Victorious and purified life if you really believe that and really apply it to your walk your walk will improve you're expecting him to show up at any moment he doesn't want to catch you in some places that you don't want him to find you at right it's interesting that Paul included himself among those who look for Christ's return in first Thessalonians 4 and 2 Thessalonians 2 you see that's Paul's tone he had an expectation that he might be alive when Jesus comes back and so he and Timothy was admonished to keep this commandment without spot unbutable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ see there again Paul taught Timothy as Protege to live his life in a moment by moment expectation of the Lord's return that's what we call the doctrine of imminency Jewish converts are reminded that yet a little while and he shall he that shall come will come and will not tear that's in Hebrews 10. Jesus himself said occupy till I come people that get carried away with the Rapture and we'll talk about that in a minute seem to dismiss the fact that our Command was to occupy not to put our feet on the desk and wait for the Lord's return Daniel is a great example for us he's in slavery in Babylon he knows that the 70 years captivity are almost over about 67 of the 70 have gone by he doesn't sit there I hardly wait if you the the Captivity is almost over no what does he do he goes into prayer in chapter nine the first 20 verses of chapter 9 are not about the seven he is in prayer so intense that even in the translation in your English translation you can feel him tremble as you read those passages you'll see the verbs the pick up as he gets more and more intense in his prayer in those 20 verses and Gabriel interrupts that comes and says by the way if I got a message for you and gives him those four verses that we've been studying occupied until I come the expectation of some were so strong back then that they had stopped work and had to be exhorted that even was in Paul's day they had to return to their jobs and sex the second Thessalonians 3 and to have patience in James 5 8. so that you know that expectation was was had overly applied so to speak so there are two extremes we encounter one I call raptureitis and the other one is Rapture and that's Rapture paralysis people who get so wrapped up with the Lord's coming the day after tomorrow they don't do anything they Park themselves and they become so Heavenly minded that they're no earthly good some people put it and we'll call that rapturitis for lack of another term and then the other aspect is Rapture Mania these are people that get so wrapped up they're setting dates now there are dozens of admonitions not to set dates again and again and again and again but nevertheless that doesn't hold some people back from publishing books that it's going to be you know on October 12th of year X or whatever the date Setters we'll talk a little bit about them let's take the Rapture items and I'm going to suggest this may be just a uniquely American dementia because there are people in the states that have that preoccupation to which I have a question a question just because I believe I can show you from the text that the church will not go through the Great Tribulation that's a specific time Where Do We As Americans get the arrogance to assume we'll Escape what most of the body of Christ in most of the world for most of the last two thousand years have had to endure it's called persecution don't confuse persecution which Jesus promised us with the Great Tribulation a specific event that we will spare it be spared from the time of we'll get into that too before we're through here well we've got the date Setters coming that goes back to 1260 we find Publications where Yakima Flores predicted and millets of co-merits in 1365 Joseph Meade in 1660 John Napier the mathematician that discovered logarithms and he even was guilty of some of this in 1688. Pierre of France in 1689 and on it goes with these guys all the way through history you find people setting dates sitting on the hill waiting for the Lord to come back on that date they were convinced for whatever reason was the time William Miller and and he was wrong in 1843 but then he revised it to October 22nd of 1844 so he's correcting for errors there I guess or something CT Russell wisinan wrote a book 88 reasons for 1988 that book is available very expensively these days people say I'll get a letter from someone that's predicting that that Lisa is coming back you know in November of this year when I evaluate it so I'll be glad to in December of this year [Music] and so uh Harold Camping I just put the way he's been at it several times and I I'm sparing some and of course with 2012 with the Mayan calendar I keep getting interviews I I cut several times a week we get somebody who wants to interview on the radio and I usually always have it on what about the my encounter I said do you know about the 45-day error what you didn't know there's a 45-day error of the month yeah the Mind calendar implies the world comes to an end on December 21st of the year 2012. and there's a 45-day error because it doesn't come to to end the on December 21st of 2012. it comes to the end on the second November of second Tuesday of November 2012. and it takes about 10 seconds as I'm talking about the federal elections in the United States and uh Matthew 24 36 but of that day an hour north no man no not the angels of heaven but my father only in fact by the way another verse you want to Mark in your list here is Mark 13 32. Mark's uh gospel which is really Peter's gospel is almost identical with Matthew but there's one this is one of the places it's slightly different Matthew said in Matthew Jesus according to saying but at that day and hour knoweth no man no not the answers of heaven but my father only Peter's quote of that as recorded by Mark but at that day of our knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven not the son but the father only and it's a very troubling verse to the theologians because that implies at least at that moment there was something the father knew the son didn't and that shatters some of their presumptions here they need to reread more carefully the first three verses of John but we'll move on here okay Matthew 24 42 watch therefore for ye know not what hour the Lord doth come and uh Matthew 44. therefore be also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh and so if somebody's protecting a particular date you know that's not the date because such an hours you think not the son of man cometh now if you're sure that's not the date then that's probably the date that he'll come so I'll leave you with that one logic to unravel watch therefore if we know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh and on it goes so therefore be ready for a son of man cometh had an hour that you think that and by the way see I'm convinced personally that the reason the Rapture is so everything else in the scripture you can somehow sequence you can lay out it that's what we're really studying this weekend but there's one thing that's the one thing that's elusive there's no clue as to when it's going to be and I personally believe that's the father's way of catching Satan by surprise I think part of the strategy is to catch Satan unawares because when the Rapture occurs then he that opens a window of time he knows he has but a short time and so people say do you know is the Antichrist alive today absolutely no question about it in my mind really yeah if you asked me that 100 years ago I'd say absolutely see Satan's problem he has to have his man in the wings because he doesn't know when the Rapture occurs when the Rapture occurs he's got to have his guy positioned to pull off whatever he's going to try to pull off and so uh that's part of I think that's part of the strategy here we can't sing by surprise and when Jesus is ready to ascend they say are you not going to set up the kingdom we'll talk about the kingdom in the subsequent session it's not for you to know the times and Seasons the father had put his own power he doesn't say he's not going to set up the kingdom in fact he confirms that he will but the timing is not their business so that leads to the second coming now something else if you why don't I check some of these things you can find passages that describe the second coming and I've listed them for you in your notes so you don't have to bother scribbling them all down now you're in possession of them with your hand out there and these are all verses that if you read describe what apparently we would call to be more specific let's be precise the second coming of Christ and if you look at all of these they all have something in common I'll summarize them for you here in a minute and so these are verses that describe what you and I will label the second coming he comes in power to take control and and start running things there are another collection of verses John 14 we just looked at First Corinthians 15 we've just looked at first Thessalonians 4 and there are a whole bunch of others that describe something that is quite different than the second coming and I'll summarize these in a summary slide here in a minute but these are all you can look them up and come to your own conclusions don't for heaven's sakes don't accept it because I say so that's that's the real thing we're trying to get you to do is you do your own homework here come to your own conclusions but these describe an event that is distinct from the ones that I just showed you in the previous slide and let's let's go look at there's two events one I'm going to call for lack of another term the Rapture I should say a harpazzo but okay we'll we'll yield to the common vocabulary and the other Second Coming in the Rapture there's a translation of Believers their physics are changed in the second coming there's no translation involved here's a translation those that are spiritually dead are judged a thousand years later at the great white throne and the Raptors translated Saints Go to Heaven we just saw that right and saying come in there's no translation Saints returning the the translates things are coming back to the Earth with him it's a different deal Rapture the Earth isn't judged the second coming that's what it's all about rapture's eminent could happen any moment the second coming follows definite predicted signs Donald Ray barnhouse used to come to the office with the students there and he said sad day sad day Jesus can't come back today that was his way of needling the post-tribulation guys that are around him because that they have all these things that have to happen before the Rapture no the Rapture is not in the Old Testament according to Conventional Rhythm I'm going to puncture that one here before we're through but that's the common wisdom and second coming is predicted in the Old Testament obviously the Rapture the Dallas theologians say is not in there I'm going to show you some things you can judge that yourself the Rapture is involves Believers only the second coming affects everybody on the Earth every eye shall see him okay the Rapture comes before the day of Wrath and the second coming concludes the day of Wrath he interrupts it with by interrupting Armageddon and all that Rapture has no reference to Satan and second coming Satan is Bound for a thousand years his two sidekicks get thrown in again and a thousand years later when Satan is released and then captured again he joins them but they've been there A Thousand Years by then Rapture he comes for his own Second Coming he comes with his own there's a distinction there that you have to reconcile and uh Rapture comes in the air but in the second coming he comes to the Earth in fact it splits under his foot he claims his bride in the Rapture and he comes with his bride in second coming they're distinctive in that regard the Rapture said we only his own see him second coming every eye shall see him they're distinctive the scripture clearly separates them into two groups the Rapture the Great Tribulation begins that's not technically quite right there could be some 30 40 years between the Rapture and when the great trip starts but the point is the rapture occurs before the Great Tribulation and of course Second Coming is when the Millennium begins and uh Rapture as Church Believers only but the second coming the Old Testament are saying the Old Testament saved are raised later and there's some theologians have a different view but there are some theologians that make the case that the Old Testament Saints are raised at the second coming not at the rapture the dead in Christ in the in a denotative sense that's involved but that's a debate among some of the knowledgeable Scholars Who let that go anyway the marriage is fulfilled the Covenant was established in First Corinthians 11 the purchase price in First Corinthians 6 the bride set apart in Ephesians 5 and following and they're reminded of the Covenant First Corinthians 11 just a recap of what we said before and so and the bridegroomers left for the father's house he declares that in in Hosea 5 verse 15. and uh the escort accompanied him to uh upon his return to gather his bride so that gets to a term that is sloppily used among many prophecy Buffs the Great Tribulation that is not persecution in general it's a specific period of time that Jesus himself labels it it's defined by Jesus by quoting from Daniel 12. and we'll see that modeled here in a minute and um for then shall be great tribulations such was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever shall be that's a terrifying statement because behind it is the Holocaust of Germany that's not what he's talking about it's one that's even worse is the point the Holocaust in Germany took about one Jew and three the Holocaust according to Zechariah 13 verse 9 the next one the big one will take two out of three and that isn't Chuck Missler has said that it's Zechariah said that I quoted that on the radio once and and a defamationally put me as a anti-semite on their list of anti-summits I think that's been corrected now but except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened that's a time of trouble that's pretty hairy I don't think we can really Embrace understand what that's really all about time of Jacob's trouble that's the label that Jeremiah uses he calls at the time to see the focus of it is of course Israel but it's worldwide but here's the quote that Jesus draws on when he labels in Daniel 12 1 says at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such it was never since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book time of Jacob's trouble that's Jeremiah's phrase I'll ask for the day is great so that none is like it it is even the time of Jacob's trouble but he shall be saved out of it that's where we get that label is from the Jeremiah quote 37. and Jesus has a similar kind of Illusion when he's writing that donkey that we looked at you previously he's writing that dog in Jerusalem he says oh Jerusalem and he's weeping over the city and he says oh Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killeth the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings listen some people call the purpose of all history that's the purpose of all history that I would have gathered thy children together even as a hen gather chickens under wings the tragedy of all history is when occurs They didn't accept it and you would not behold your house is left unto you desolate wow for I say unto you ye shall not see me henceforth until he shall say blessed is he that comes in the Lord and that will be the Triumph of all history in verses in chapter in the last few verses of Matthew 23. you have the purpose the tragedy and Triumph of all history summarized by the Lord himself and you ought to know in Isaiah 5 15 is one of the most provocative verses it's the last verse of that chapter God says I will go and return to my place that's a strange phrase to return to his place he must have left his place you can't return if you haven't left I will go and return to my place until I encourage you sometime to get a notebook and collect all the untills in the Bible not all of them but most of them are a milestone of some kind this and that until that and there you can get I will go and return to my place until they acknowledge their offense that singular and specific what offenses does Jesus have in mind here the rejection of him is a messiah I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face in their Affliction they will seek me earnestly the purpose of the Great Tribulation is to drive them to the wall till they yield and repent Satan's strategy is to get them wiped out before that happens there is a precedent condition to the second coming there's no preceding condition for the Rapture that can happen before this meeting's over but there is a preceding condition of the second coming and that's for Israel's to petition that's what chapter six of Hosea is all about I'll go and return to my place till he acknowledge their fence in seat my face in their Affliction they will seek me earnestly Satan's strategy apparently is to wipe out the remnant before that happens his way his his scheme to thwarts the plan of God well the body of Christ that's a term we use the New Testament portrays the church in the in the idiom of a bride Paul even quotes Genesis 2 24. for this cause shall man leave his is his father and mother cleave to his wife the union has a concept of leaving as well as cleaving and uh the church is expressly Exempted from God's Wrath in first Thessalonians 5 9 and Revelation 3 10. you can Circle those two and the church is expressly Exempted not just from God's Wrath but from the time of that wrath very important important issue there's a very interesting phrase in both Matthew 11 as also occurs in Luke 16. um and Luke 7 here too Jesus says verily I send you among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist now wait a minute that's quite a statement he's obviously exempting himself the Messiah in that phrase of course because I say that among them that are born of women there have not risen a greater than John the Baptist that's a pretty incredible appellation to John the Baptist right in his next breath just after a semicolon if I can put it that way notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he What on earth does that mean you discover that both in Matthew 11 and Luke 16 it's followed up in a phrase or two by the Lord saying the law and the prophets were until John what is what I'm pointing out Jesus was a dispensationalist and I'm not being flippant yeah I am a little bit but still the whole idea that there is a dispensation and the Old Testament is closed what closed the Old Testament it wasn't balachi the Italian book Malachi no that's the last book in our in our in our collection of the Old Testament no the Old Testament is closed by John the Baptist he's part of that old dispensation he's a friend of the bridegroom he's not part of the Bride be careful here huh we're going to discover there's three kinds of Saints at least our Old Testament Saints like John the Baptist and prior there are the church obviously that Paul illuminates so handsomely in 14 of his Epistles and they're what we call the tribulation saying same as that come to believe after the Rapture they're saved but they are a different group different breed if you will we need to be sensitive to that because many people when it says the elect get confused there's places the elect can refer to the Old Testament because they're elected refers to the Church of course because they're elected it's also those that are saved after see in both Matthew 11 verse 13 and Luke 16 6 chamber for the all the prophets and the law prophesied until John John's the wrap-up of the Old Testament interesting profound fundamental not All Saints are alike the Old Testament Saints are obviously Noah Abraham you can make your list the Church of course is a distinctive group in fact so distinctive that it blew the mind of Paul who was a trained Pharisee he understood that the Holy Spirit came and went with Saul and others the fact that the church is given the beneficiary of a condition that is staggering to John that's that's why Paul has such trouble getting across the answer because we don't understand the question that he's asking how can that be no the holy spirit's given without repentance if you've got the holy spirit it's not taken away you might be taking out the ball game but he's not taken away from you you're sealed by the holy spirit that was a concept that blew Paul's mind and he tries to get across in Ephesians and other some of his other letters well the church enjoys it but that has a Terminus when the the holy spirit is removed in the sense that he's embodied in those believers well how do people come to Faith after the Rapture by the Holy Spirit but he's operating in a different modality he's operating like he did in the Old Testament and and we so we have we call those after the Rapture those are saved but after Rapture the tribulation Saints now were there there's a term we use just meaning that they're saying they came to Faith after the harbatsa that's why I presumably but it's during the tribulation in Daniel chapter 7 there is a a passage that deals with the Antichrist and as I beheld the same horn meaning this Antichrist character made war with the Saints and prevailed against them very strange phrase in Daniel 7. when you get to um Revelation 13 verse 7 speaking of the Antichrist again it says and it was given unto him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and Nations so again that's an antichristing in which he prevails over the Saints you're with me so far both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 verse 7 have that same illusion there and Prevail or overcome in Matthew 16 at caesarea Philippi Jesus says under the famous Declaration of Peter who do you say I am without the Christ and so forth he said I say sanity of Thou Art Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it the word Prevail same word these contradict each other Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 implies that the Antichrist is going to succeed over the Saints Matthew 16 speaks of a group of saints that shall not be conquered will that Prevail against it what does that tell you that they're in a different category these are not all in the same category that's the point I'm trying to make here see the saints that are Saints after the Rapture of the church has been taken up are called tribulation Saints and and they they they're going to have some some challenges and the word prevailed overcome and Prevail is the same vocabulary here and that's one of the several it's not the only basis but it's the simplest one to get across is that there are different categories if you will now there are Old Testament patterns we have Enoch in the flood of Noah how many people were spared in the flood of Noah anyone how many we have fun of Noah judgment on the earth how many were saved eight four got no one has three sons and their four wives that's eight wrong you've overlooked somebody what about elac well he was removed before absolutely that's the point they were not somebody asked that question to say nine and you'll catch them by surprise okay and so what about Isaac's absence after his offering it's interesting that when after the Akida when they're up in the hill and and at the last minute God substitutes a ram right we get to verse 19 of Genesis 22. it says Abraham went down and joined the two men in the dunk and they went home where's Isaac he obviously went with him and they all went home but that's not what the text says you'll discover the person of Isaac is edited out of the record from the time that he's offered until the time he's United with his bride two chapters later chapter 24 verse 62. so that modeling the whole what fascinates me is the holy spirit even diddles with the text so it doesn't do violence with what it says and yet it fits the model and that's why that's why God was so upset with Moses when he didn't when he hit the rock the second time have you done what God told him to do it would have modeled the first and second coming of Christ and and Moses let them think God was angry he wasn't angry so immediately after 120 years he's put in the Penalty Box he spends 40 years in Egypt kills the Egyptian splits he spends 40 years in the in the back side of the Midian married to Avanti Carlo there you know you all seen the movie and uh then 40 years wandering in the wilderness he's been serving for 120 years and he blows it at refine that second time where God says speak to the Rock and he'll give you the water and he hits it with a stick you disrupt misrepresented me but he also has punctured the model so he's out of the ball game he saw the ball game rules during the thrashing Floor scene ruse is sitting at the feet of Boaz that's all these are patterns in the Old Testament that a Jewish mind will pick up right away we all justify the whole patterns we're talking about and so you can search those on and then of course Daniel's absence from the fiery furnace that's another one people miss remember Daniel chapter Two that incredible time where this young guy young guy explains to the the king now because what his dream was how did he know he was dream and interprets it for him medicines is really impressed so he boosts this young guy and his three friends into a a position of stature which you know went over big with the staff the existing staff thought that they they're just waiting for their chance to set these young guys clock and so we have the whole fiery furnace episode where these three guys are put in the fiery they're falsely accused and then they're thrown in the fiery furnace and you read that whole episode you forget to ask wait a minute where is Daniel you got a couple of choices Daniel bowed they didn't no not no chance of that well if Daniel didn't bow then he should be with him no because he wasn't around we don't know we presume he was on some errand for the king he was absent and that's why the staff took advantage of that to nail these three guys with false accusations and try to get them out of the picture the interesting thing of the fiery furnace episode in Daniel chapter 3 is where's Daniel well he's on a errand but he also noticeably from a Jewish pattern point of view he's not involved he's been removed from the from that challenge a fiery furnace is a model of the tribulation the three young men are not spared to the furnace they're just not hurt by the furnace they're spared through the experience but there's one that isn't even around and that's where most Scholars begin to see Daniel as a type if I may use that term of the church and so all these are examples of Old Testament patterns that's you know that that conform to verse 26 of Daniel 9 that interval where Israel and the church are used mutually exclusively and so there are three groups of people that were facing the flood of Noah the flood's coming it was not a surprise by the way it was preached on for four generations but then Enoch was told that when as long as the sun is alive it won't come until he's dead so he names the Methuselah which means his death shall bring and but the three groups facing the flood of Noah those that perish the flood a whole bunch of people Millions probably perish the flood God decided to start over because the human genome had been corrupted by these this Angel Mischief going on those that were preserved through the flood there were at least those four people excuse me there's four those eight people the four guys and their four wives that apparently were not tarnished by the the genome problem that doesn't mean they were the only ones but we know that they were distinctive because verse 9 and Genesis 6 says that they were without tamim that's a physical defect of the genealogy and so they were preserved through the flood and then there are those that were removed prior to the flood Enoch so that in that sense Enoch is a type of the Church I want to show you three passages and you come to your own conclusions these three passages are in the Old Testament and I suspect it's possible that they may be illusions of the um the Rapture in the Old Testament let me take Isaiah 26 first and if you look this up in your Bible start early go a few verses beforehand you'll discover the context of this as a woman in travail interestingly enough but let's just pick it up here at verse 19. Isaiah reads as follows thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise this is Isaiah talking right we together together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy do says the two of herbs and the Earth shall cast out the Dead come by people enter thou into thy Chambers shut thy doors about thee and hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpassed for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the Earth for the iniquity and the Earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain wow I'm sorry read that after John 14 verse 1 to 3. come my people enter thou and thy Chambers I go to prepare a place for you my father's house many mansions I go to prepare a place for you enter thou in thy Chambers and shut thy doors about thee and hide thyself for a little moment until the indignation be passed I hear Great Tribulation for behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the Earth for their iniquity the Earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain that's a resurrection however you want to slice it okay let's take a look at another one this is Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 3. just a little phrase so if I say Seek Ye the Lord all ye Meek of the Earth which have wrought his judgment seek righteousness seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger what's all that about you decide one more if I may Psalm 27 verse 5 a little illusion knows what the psalmist says in Psalm 27 for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his Pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up on a what a rock and understand how universally that term is used by the Holy Spirit cover to cover of none other than the stone which the builders rejected it's become The Headstone of the corner well anyway okay we've got some problems in all of this there's a problem lying behind all of this that we'll take up more later but I want to hit it here while we're at it a a disease that has infected the church since the first century the church became very anti-semitic and out of that came a Viewpoint that's known as amillennialism a denial that the Millennium is serious or literal and this it it impacts the subject at hand will the church enter the tribulation that's a big debate among knowledgeable Christians so understand there are good Scholars that don't agree with some of the things I'm sharing with you here the return of Christ to rule let's start with that there are 1845 references to the return of Christ to rule in the Old Testament those are not trivial and you've got to deal with every one of those if you're going to be a millennial 17 books give promise to the event and 318 references in the New Testament talk about Christ returning to rule on the planet Earth 216 chapters 23 of the 27 books give permanence to that very event in the New Testament for every prophecy of Christ's first coming you can find seven or eight of them for his second coming where the Prophecies of the first coming fulfilled literally absolutely will the Prophecies of his second coming be fulfilled literally absolutely well that gives you a problem if you're a millennial because you've got to allegorize most of those 1845 references in the Old Testament the others where did all millennialism come from a guy by the name of Oregon he developed a hermeneutics a theory of interpretation that treated scriptures just allegories colorful Legends but they have they're useful for teaching but they're not real you know unfortunately he's his views get picked up by Guy Augustine and out of Augustine we have our millennialism and that becomes the foundation for the Catholic Church the Roman Catholic Church the eschatology is a millennial and when we have a Reformation occur fantastic these people in the Reformation willingly were burned at the stake for their commitment to soteriology my faith alone so a scriptural solo scripture fantastic history change the course of the world I'm not here to demean what they did don't misunderstand me phenomenal however they didn't go far enough they were getting the scriptures in the hand thanks to the Gutenberg Bibles over they were able to discover the scriptures and they understood they got their theory of Salvation correct and they clung to it they didn't go further and re-examine their eschatology so the denominations that come out of the Reformation which are many of them not prominent denominations to this day still carry a history of an all-millennial perspective of the scripture well that's just Revelation 20 that's just an allegory no it isn't most of what we know about Millennium doesn't come out of Revelation 20. it comes out of Isaiah 65 and 66 and others see the Reformation failed to address catology and most Protestant denominations are our millennial and post and this post-tribulational in their eschatological abuse India's be aware of that you don't have to disagree or agree with it just understand that is their view you want to check it with scripture and you'll you'll discover that in the Christian Community there is a subset a minority that take the Bible seriously and they get labeled fundamentalists I have some problems there are Messianic promises throughout the Old Testament you've got to allegorize and some of them are really tortuous you know there's an expression in the computer industry if you torture the data long enough it'll it'll confess to anything so the destiny of Israel in God's covenant that's why it's you'll notice people who take the Bible literally are also people that are pro-israel when people start quarreling well as a Jew or is it Israeli is that there's a difference there those are people that you'll discover are anti-semitic in their roots by the angel Gabriel in in Luke chapter 1 verse 32. Gable tells Mary that her child is going to sit on the throne of David promises that there was no Throne of David in those days rule Ram things did Jesus ever sit on the throne of David no will he absolutely we'll talk a lot about that especially in session six and of course there's numerous reconfirmation of each of these things in the New Testament these aren't just Old Testament ideas the all Millennial problems occur in the New Testament anyway the point is if you go through the divisions of theology go to any pastor's bookshelf and you'll find a book group of books called systematic theology their content will differ depending on their Traditions but the the table of contents will be almost identical bibliology the Bible theology proper the attributes of God christology the study of the Lord Jesus Christ study pneumatology that's their term for studying the Holy Spirit angiology Angels both fallen and unfollen anthropology study of man and soteriology salvation fancy words of studying salvation and ecclesiology study of the church itself and eschatology so that's the list of more there is in that list a missing element that involves five sixths of the Bible that is not a category of most studies of systematic theology and Royal fructanbaum got his doctoral by pointing that out and he's got a book called isriology The Missing segment of Theology and uh it's it's a must it's a must-have Book for a serious Bible isriology not not for Israel's sake isriology as an instrument of God's Plan of Redemption for all of us that's a legitimate study theologically quite apart from Israel as a nation as such Israel in the church they have different distinction different Origins different missions different destinies and there's a a a close cousin of amerennialism called replacement theology where Israel is replaced by the church that's a heresy out of the pit of Hell and it's taught in many churches why am I so hard on that because that makes God a liar we all are we all may have different views about eschatology good Scholars have different views but if you are embracing replacement theology you are making God a liar you got to face that and of course all of us laid the basis for anti-Semitism you can go from Augustine to Auschwitz if you want to blame somebody for the Holocaust in Germany blame the silent pulpits that didn't speak out they were anti-semitic publics in the 70 weeks that we're dealing with in this conference is going to deal specifically with Israel not the church something that's missed by many of the prophecy Buffs that publish books they fail to understand the jewishness of the 70 weeks Paul's dichotomy he introduces three groups all through the Old Testament it's Jews and Gentiles Jews and Gentiles all kinds of comments when the church after Acts chapter 2 you've got three categories Jew Gentile in the church if you're in the church it eclipses the past when you get after the Rapture you again have the two distinctions Jew and Gentile to the Book of Revelation because the church is in heaven it only shows up in chapters two and three of The Book of Revelation and so anyway the distinctives reappear after Revelation chapter four verse 1. and that's a whole study if you're studying The Book of Revelation it'll go into that if you're talking about eschatology your first branch in the road are you omillennial post-millennial or pre-millennial is somebody who believes that the million's just an allegory not literal there used to be a group called postmodern where we're already in the millennium that view evaporated in the 19th century the 20th century the most bloody Century in the history of man there's any sane person that thinks things have been better than they've ever been and that there's no more sin and all that sort of stuff so post-millennial is an academic thing but most of us here as you probably are praying Millennial we believe that there is a you know we're for we we accept the reality of a thousand year period that's been set aside for whatever God's purpose now out of the pre-millennial people you still have some divisions and that has to do with how does where does the Rapture occur with respect to the tribulation and people that are all Millennial in general will turn out to be post-tribulational they think that the rap things what we call the Rapture will occur at the end of the Great Tribulation that's their View and I'll show you why we don't think that's feasible most of us are would be categorized as pre-tribulational we believe that the church does not go through any part of the tribulation there are a group of people that are sort of between they call themselves mid-tribulation meaning that they think the Rapture occurs in the middle of the 70th week the trouble with both post-trib and mid-trib is that they deny the concept of the embassy and we'll get into that here in another another piece of this let's talk about the second coming we talked about yesterday the last previous session we talked about the interval we had the 69 weeks then we had this interval that includes the church but we're going to talk about the 70th week of Daniel and uh that week is not defined by the raptures defined by a world leader enforcing a covenant and that's what defines the 70s week people get confused when they make the little charts no that's what defines it in the middle of that seven year period there's an event called the abomination of desolation that splits into two equal parts and the IT the Lord Jesus himself labels the second half of that week the Great Tribulation by quoting him Daniel 12. I want to highlight a subtlety here the Great Tribulation is not seven years it's three and a half in the scripture and um when you hear people talk about the seven year tribulation they're just being sloppy what they really mean is the 70th week they're equating the tribulation with the 70th week of Daniel well that's if you're going to be serious about this be precise the 70th week is six years and 11 months it's called it a seven year period called the 70th week of Daniel it's defined in the text Jesus describes the abomination of desolations being in the middle of that week and it literally is the holy spirit it's the most documented period of time in both the Old and New Testament and we'll get we'll get to that before through here too the 70th week is interrupted at the end of it is it climax is in the battle of Armageddon and it's interrupted by the second coming of Jesus Christ and when he comes he sets up his kingdom Satan is Bound for a thousand years his two cohorts are thrown in Gahanna right then Satan's just Bound for a thousand years he's going to be released because he's going to serve God's purpose once more now the post-trib guys feel that the Rapture takes place at the end of the 70th week that's their View and so there's some problems with that there's first of all there's several versions of that written by good Scholars people that are very articulate and do their homework um but I have I there are there are a group of us that are part of the tree pre-trib study group Gang That published in this area that think they're wrong you have to decide yourself there are some problems with post-tribulation it denies the doctrine of imminency we are supposed to expect any moment you can't be post-trib or mid-trip if you're if you believe in eminency post-tribulations requires the church to be uh on the earth during the 70th week of Daniel that's contrary to Daniel 9 26 and a number of other passages where the church has promised not to go through that the post-tribulation of the church experience of God's Wrath and first Thessalonians 5 9 and Revelation 3 10 among other places that prom the church has promised not to experience not to even be here during that period of time so that's a major controversy eschatologically among among biblical believers and you're going to have to do your own studying come to your own conclusions I'm telling you candidly why we hold the view that we do but you're we're not trying to sell that we want you to come to your own conclusions and the other question to ask the post ribs how can the Bride come with him he can't even poor used to say that makes the marriage supper that I have a snack lunch he comes down you know they come down and go he comes down to get him and takes him up and then he comes right back it doesn't make sense right and so uh and there are more problems who's going to populate the millennium because tribulation has everybody Immortal at the end of the tribulation one way or the other there are any people to populate the Millennium as Mortals who are they who are the Sheep who are in the sheep and goat Judgment of Matthew 25. that occurs when the kingdom set up it's a very strange thing you will study subsequently but there's a question of who is alive because the sheep and goat judgment are judged by works and they're mortal boys that puncture a lot of cliches how can the virgins imagination if I buy oil without the mark of the beast silly little question but it's a good question you'll discover you can't reconcile these virgins that are going out to buy oil they certainly don't have the mark of the beast how can they buy no one can buy or sell you know you get into some in those inconsistencies there should be an alarm Bell going on say something's not competing here now as I say there's a post-trib guys there's the mid-trib people who think well yes we don't go through the tribulation but we and they're right about that they could be Exempted from the Great Tribulation by being raptured in the middle of the week but they're still denying imminency because they can't be if you hold that view you can't have that view until the Antichrist enforces of Covenant at the preceding condition and Marv Rosenthal has a particular variation of mid-trib he calls it pre-wrath I'm going to suggest that we are pre-trib but I want you to notice a very critical subtlety here I want you to notice that the pre-trib Rapture is represented by the left Arrow there is not coincident the beginning of the 70th week it might be an hour away earlier it might be 30 years earlier we don't know there's an indeterminate Gap because the Rapture can occur after the Rapture will the Antichrist be revealed come to power and enforce a covenant that might all happen in an hour more likely it happens he's revealed comes to power he enforces the Covenant and when that's what triggers the 70th week you with me so understand there's a there's an indeterminate interval there if you're going to digest what we think we have from the scripture okay the Rapture precedes the tribulation is clear the 17th week is defined by a covenant enforced by the coming world leader as a Great Tribulation will be the last half of that 70th week I think I've emphasized that and the leader cannot be revealed after the Rapture where do I get that second Thessalonians 2. and um and see the problem is the Thessalonians is they believe the Lord is already the day of the Lord has already come and they missed it somehow either because they were mistaught or somehow and that's why Paul is writing what we call second Thessalonians as a response to that a forgery that was circulating well the question is why were they so upset that Paul had to write a letter they think they've either missed the Rapture or they've been mistowed about the rapture that's what they're concerned about for whatever reasons and so now so Paul is explaining this here's the sequence and he goes through that the day of the Lord he's talking about is the second coming of Christ and that day shall not come except there become a falling away first so there's a falling away an apostasy well ahead of that okay he who now restraineth will restrain until he be taken out of the way he's referring to the Holy Spirit as he indwells the indwells the church the Apostle occurs the restrainer is removed after the rest and then shall the wicked one be revealed the man of sin is revealed after the restrainer is removed and that gets into a whole definition who is the restrainer and you'll discover the only thing that ever restrains sin is the Holy Spirit and so not an angel not there's a number of other theories you can easily puncture if you want to go down that path and so so the man of sin will be revealed after the Rapture is the key thing here and obviously before the day of the Lord that's the sequence implied in the second president that's why II Thessalonians 2 is such a critical chapter in New Testament eschatology and the way to get at that is to go through a commentary on the issue now eschatology as I say you've got either amelony or pre-millennial post-millennial is and the reconstructiveness are our weird side group not serious and of course of the prayer Millennial and posterior we've just been through all of that most denominations are all Millennial and post-tribulational so that's where they resigned so to speak most of us are at the opposite end of this chart and are typically labeled fundamentalists indeed we are but here's the point I want to make if I know your theory of interpretation I know what your eschatology will be if I know your hermeneutics if you're willing to allegorize things you'll be on the left side of that chart if you're really strict and you're really diligent and you in the sense if you take the the text very precisely very literally you will drift to the right side so if I know your theory of interpretation I can predict what eschatological perspective you'll have one derives from the other the more strict you treat the text the more you're driven to the right in the direction to the right here and so now the pre-tribute eschatology is not a new invention it's taught in the first century it certainly was a physical Barnabas and other documents irenaeus and when he wrote against heresies these are first century second century people so this is not a recent some people are arguing that's just a reason thing no it's not true it goes way way back to the very beginnings Ephraim the Syrian of the fourth Century even has a uh we made a there's been a recent discovery of a document of his that from the from the fourth Century he said for All Saints and the elect of God are gathered prior to the tribulation that is to come and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because there's that is in his writings back in the fourth century so these are these are not new ideas there have been a Remnant all the way through history that have clinged to these ideas and uh and we could go through more of these guys that are through history here the the the um what what happened is that the this view was popularized by Emmanuel lukunza in 1812 and followed up with Edward Irving in 1816 and John and Darby in 1820 many people call it darbyism they think he invented it no he popularized it and Margaret McDonald in 1830 some people say she invented it no Darby did it even before she did but they didn't invent it they just were very well known because they popularized it so don't let people confuse you about that let's talk about the Revelation I don't want to get into a whole review of it but I want to highlight a few things in Revelation we have lamp stands seven lampstands that are identified as the church in Revelation chapter one though they are in heaven when John arrives in chapter 4. they represent the church the church is in heaven in chapter four is the point the 24 Elders that are so prominent in the book identify what they represent they are identified as the redeemed in chapter five in several places and they worship the lamb before he receives the scroll very important the 24 Elders represent the church they worship the lamb before he receives the seven sealed book and so when he receives the seventh book and starts breaking those seals that the tribulation starts QED the church is in heaven and spared the time of the tribulation and people miss that but you want to and of course the 70th week is detailed then from chapters 6 through 19 in the Book of Revelation and so be that as a man and we have the profile of the seven churches and these Church the seven letters you want to study because they're the most important chapters in the entire Book of Revelation and it turns out that these seven letters strangely lay out the pro the prophetic history of the church so we move on here guy Israel's time it's it's 69 weeks have transpired the chess clock if I look at it that way the church is about to end and the Israel clock's going to start again and when will that happen it won't happen tomorrow the Rapture could happen tomorrow but some interval of time after the Rapture I don't know if it's an hour or up 30 years whatever I think the entire higher thing will take back one generation less than 38 years so take seven out of that for the 70 weeks 30 it could be as much as 31 years between the Rapture and the beginning of the 73 according to this Reckoning if it's correct and you've got to decide whether it's correct or not and so the battle of Armageddon climax is the 70th week Second Coming follows obviously we know the temple will be rebuilt by the middle of that week that's not the millennial Temple of Ezekiel that's a temple rebuilt Temple that the Antichrist will ultimately desecrate we don't know when it's going to be built most Scholars presume it's built sometime in the first half of that week and that may be part of what the world leader authorizes but in the middle of that week he violates his agreement and sets himself up to be worshiped but that Temple could be built earlier a temple might be built before the rapture we don't know there's no clue no clue it's not our issue it's a Jewish issue because it's it has a destiny that they don't fully appreciate where's the Magog Invasion many good Scholars gal Lindsay being Exemplar of them tight as part of the Armageddon scenario and they may be right if he was here and he would defend that even today and he may be right there are a group of us that suspect the Magog Invasion occurs before the 70th week and we'll deal with that as an issue in the next session so there are 10 reasons before the tribulation the promise of them the hour of trial from Revelation 3 10. it's not that we're not the subject of God's Wrath that's what Luke 21 tells us Escape not to endure the tribulation when these things come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh when these things begin to pass in other words you'll get the Believers will not be caught by surprise by the way in first Thessalonians 5 you are children of the day not the night the coming of Christ as a thief in the night are to the people of the night not the day is very encouraging a part of that look up not out for the Redemption War any war that you always call the ambassadors home first someone pointed it out to me and that's also what the Lord's going to do if the warfare's starting before we he's going to call his ambassadors home I hope you are always a master and the restrainer will be removed before the Antichrist and so forth and the twinkling of an eye that's not an extended activity it's in the air not on the earth women is Israel not the church that's well established the marriage of the Bride in heaven and so forth it includes the Rapture in this Revelation 19 and so forth we'll talk about the bride in session six and by the way John walford's book doesn't have ten he has 50 of these reasons why the church can't go through the tribulation so the question of the day is he coming for you that's a question and with that let you and I borrow his closing word of Prayer father we thank you for who you are we thank you for this time together we just pray that your Holy Spirit would help us understand precisely what it is that you would have of us in the days ahead as we commit ourselves into your hands in the name of Yeshua our coming King indeed amen