Have a Seat 1 Thes & Rev, 3:10
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 1 Thessalonians; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 1-2 · Vern Peterman · Dec 23, 2001
Revelation (2001-03), No. 14
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262239112160

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Just for those folks who are visiting us here or here for the first time, we've been going through the book of Revelation. And so we're kind of hitting a hinge point here where we need to be going over a couple of subjects. And so we'll be taking a look at that this morning at a subject that's relevant to our point in Revelation as well as the Christmas story that we're commemorating this morning. One of the things we want to do here is to take a look at the history of how we got to this point. Here was a chart that we showed people last week. There are about 300 prophecies about Christ that have been fulfilled, and this is just a brief listing of some of them. And those that are highlighted in yellow are those that were fulfilled in Christ's first coming just in the Christmas account.

And in those are included, for example, the wise men, the Magi as they're also called, they came to Jerusalem by their study of the stars. See, they're actually astrologers. And the stars told them the King of the Jews was born. That brought them to Jerusalem to Herod.

It was God's Word, Micah 5.2, that told them, oh, he's actually in Bethlehem. They actually looked it up there in Jerusalem and said, here is where the King of the Jews is to be born, in Bethlehem.

It was also Isaiah, here, Isaiah 7.14, that told them in advance, as a matter of fact, about seven centuries in advance, that the Messiah would be born to a virgin. But these are all just a long listing of prophecies pointing ahead to the Messiah's being born.

And then last week, we look at one of the most quoted passages on the first coming of our Lord, when the angel Gabriel, speaking to Mary, said this, and this is from Luke chapter 1, verses 30 and 31. The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus." And you will remember that we said that this part of the angel's words were fulfilled here. They were fulfilled there at the very beginning, at the first coming of Christ. So the angel was telling her, you're going to bear a son, you're going to name him Jesus. That's right here.

Now, other than being nice, and perhaps an intriguing story, and one which we'll take a closer look at tomorrow night, the birth of the Son of God to Mary by itself would in fact mean very little to you and me all by itself. Frankly, by itself, the birth of the Child to Mary wouldn't be worth our gathering this morning, or really any other time, all by itself. It was only that He died in our place. This baby grew and came to a place.

He died in our place and took upon Himself the very penalty that was due us. That's the reason that what we're commemorating this morning, that what we commemorate this Christmas time, is an unparalleled event. Further, not only that He died in our place, but that we were identified with Him. See, those who place their trust in Christ for salvation are identified with Him in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. That's what makes it significant. For those who place their faith in Christ for salvation, then Christmas, together with every other thing that the Lord has done, becomes valuable. Then Christmas makes lots of sense. What's often overlooked and even explained away during the Christmas season is the meaning of the next couple of verses that the angel told Mary. Many overlook it.

Let's not do that, okay? Let me read it to you. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

The angel told Mary was not fulfilled in Mary's lifetime. Those verses we just read. It wasn't fulfilled in Mary's lifetime. As a matter of fact, it has not been fulfilled in our lifetime yet. It has not been yet fulfilled in our lifetime. It is yet to be fulfilled.

We're looking for its fulfillment now in this time to come. This is the time when we're looking at these things being fulfilled. The time that is described here in Luke chapter 1, these verses we just read, is what's called the millennium. It's a time to come, a time when Christ will reign on earth. Then He will have a house, a throne, and a kingdom. Then this will be fulfilled.

It could happen as soon as seven years from now. Because between now and then is the rapture of the church and the seven-year tribulation. The rapture, since this place is pretty full, has not happened yet. Not yet. Now, last week we took this overview of Revelation and examined the many solid and God-given reasons for studying biblical prophecy. But before we proceed ahead with the rest of the text of Revelation, It'll be important for us to have a clear understanding of this event that we call the Rapture. One of our main reasons for taking a look at the Rapture today is that the Rapture is the next event that is to take place before the beginning of the Tribulation period and following that, the fulfillment of the last part of this prophecy of what was told Mary by the angel. What we have called the rapture is mentioned in more than two dozen places in the New Testament. And we're going to be taking a look at one of them that describes it very well. Here's the background.

There was a church in a city called Thessalonica, and the people in the church had somehow gotten this misimpression, somebody was misinforming them, telling them that the day of the Lord has already come. Hey, the bad stuff is already here, and you guys have missed it. And so he's coming back to them. He's trying to make it clear to them. Look, I want to tell you exactly how it's going to happen. So here's his explanation.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." Now, this trumpet of God phrase that's in the middle of that, it kind of reminds me of a story.

About 30 years ago, Nancy and I were in college. Can you imagine that? I can't believe it. Anyway, 30 years ago, Nancy and I were in college, and we had a good friend who was among the Christian group there, and her name was Cricket. I'm not sure I'd call one of my kids Cricket, but Cricket was her name. Cricket had been in a kind of women's lib type background, and she became a believer, and she had learned about this very passage.

And it was about Christmas time like this, and she was in one of the stores, and it was one of those department type stores, and she had her arms just full of packages, and all of a sudden she heard, and it was over the PA system, she heard this trumpet sound over the PA. She dropped all of her packages and said, Lord, I'm ready! Okay? Well, she learned about this well, okay? And that's good. That's good. I'm not suggesting you should drop your packages every time you hear a trumpet, but she was ready and that's a good thing.

Now, some people may tell you, well, you won't find the word rapture in the Bible. And you know what? You won't. But, the word rapture is not a word to find in the Bible, but it's something that the Bible clearly teaches. And here's where the word comes from.

We just read in 1 Thessalonians 4 and where it talks about being caught up. Caught up or taken up. The Greek original there is harpazo. And then what happened is about the year 400 it was translated into Latin and they used this word. So now we've kind of taken over into English this word rapture. But that's all it is. It's kind of the English version of this original Greek word. So is the word rapture in the Bible? No. But the Greek source of it is.

Now, we want to return to the big picture here because that's always important to keep our perspective. This event we call the rapture will be the end of the church age. Triangle there. That's where we're at. And I won't put a time space between that and the rapture. But it's an event that is imminent, could happen any time.

It will remove those who have died, who have become believers, placed their faith in Christ. It will also, from the earth, remove those who are living at that point in time. So that both will be raptured. Some folks think, if I die then I won't be raptured. No. Those who die in the Lord and those who are living in the Lord will together be brought up, caught up together with the Lord.

Now, it's going to be prior to this seven year period of time we call the tribulation. And the idea is that it's going to be God's wrath upon the earth, that tribulation period. The rapture is to take us out before that period of time. Now, we should ask, why is the church taken out before that seven-year period of tribulation? Now, we know that the tribulation is a time of God's expression of wrath upon the earth, and in the next chapters that we go into, through chapter 19, there'll be references to the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb a number of times.

Let's take a look at that. One of the things that you'll note is over the last couple of months we've been studying through the messages to the seven churches. And as we've been studying through that, we've noticed that the word church or churches has showed up three times in the first chapter, eight times, and then six times.

It keeps showing up. So it's there again and again and again, but you notice From here on out, it's going to disappear, up until he starts talking to the churches once more at the very last chapter. The word churches disappears, but what word all of a sudden shows up that hasn't been there before? All of a sudden you see scattered throughout the chapters we'll be looking at, and in some cases multiple times, you'll see the word wrath.

There's a sudden change that takes place. And that's because at the end of the Church Age, the Church is taken out. Gone. That's the reason for the change. Now, we're told in two different passages that the Church will not be subjected to the wrath of God.

And as a matter of fact, a passage we just looked at in Revelation 3.10 says that the Church will be kept from the wrath. So let's take a look at those passages.

In 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10, it says, For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. And they truly did. They truly did turn from real physical idols. And to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Keeps us from that period of wrath. In the same book, chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, 1 Thessalonians, for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. Notice, this is what God has planned. God is sovereign. This is what God intends to take place. He said, I am not going to have my church go through this time of wrath.

And then in Revelation 3.10, the last half of the verse, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

And if we take a closer look at that Revelation 3.10 passage, this was a diagram that you have had in a handout of a few weeks back here. And notice some of the things here is going to keep them out of this time of wrath that's going to come upon the whole earth, this time of testing. It is not take them out in the middle of it. It's not keep them in it. It's not keep them through it. It's keep them from it. It's going to take them out beforehand so that they're totally kept out from this time of wrath.

Now, one of the other things we'll notice as we go through the book of Revelation, there are other kind of changes in phrase patterns too. Not just the change of now we have the church and then the church word drops out and then wrath all of a sudden shows up. There's other phrases that all of a sudden drop out or suddenly come into being there. On the earth is all of a sudden one that just begins showing up. where previously it didn't.

Why? Because one of the things that we try to teach very consistently at this church is believers, those who have placed their faith in Christ, are not living on this earth. They are dwelling seated with Christ positionally in the heavenlies already. It's only in our physical conditions until that time that we're living on this planet. But on the earth, all of a sudden, becomes a very commonly used phrase.

The next thing is, we notice while he had used with the church, he kept telling them to repent, repent, repent. When you get into the tribulation period, there's no more command to repent. Instead, four times, it tells us, did not repent, did not repent, did not repent. See the change in breaking pattern there is abrupt and definite. There's another pattern that takes place, too.

As we saw when we were going through the messages to the churches, it would say frequently, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. That phrase all of a sudden drops out and the only thing sort of like it that we find during that tribulation period and the chapters of Revelation that describe it, if anyone has an ear, let him hear. But there's no reference to the churches. And it doesn't say, he who has an ear, it says, if anyone has an ear, let him hear.

See the abrupt change there? Now, I have to square up with you and tell you that while what I'm teaching here is a rapture before the tribulation, you likely have already heard of, and if not, I should tell you about it, there are those who will say, no, the church is going to go through some part of the tribulation and get taken up later. In some cases the teaching includes going all the way through it.

Now, while there are these other views, I think it's critical to take a look at the fact that we've already talked about this wrath issue. We have very definite and clear verses saying the church is not going to be subjected to it. The church would be kept out of it. And so here's some of the major problems, and there are certainly other details you could pick on, but some of the major problems that any rapture view has that's later on in the tribulation.

And the first one, we saw that wrath shows up all the way through, right? The very beginning to the end it shows up. But here, the church-age Christians are to be kept from the wrath of God. Any teaching from the middle to the end has a problem. You've got the church subject to the wrath. And that's a big problem. The next one is, at the beginning of the Tribulation period, the Antichrist is going to show up. And that's a problem. And you know why?

As a believer, I'm to be looking for Christ, not the Antichrist. So any of these teachings that has us raptured sometime later, taken out of the Church, taken out of the world sometime later into the Tribulation, instead of looking for Christ first, I'm looking for the Antichrist, and that's the wrong place to put our focus.

The next thing, the Rapture will come by surprise. After the Tribulation begins, as we'll see in the weeks and months to come, it's clockwork. There's no surprises. You know what's going to happen next, and many of those things are given definite times. Any teaching of Rapture, once you're into the Tribulation, violates that principle. Because you know exactly what the time is.

The last one, and there's others, but we'll not go into them. There is no biblical guidance, nothing in the Bible that says, here's how you survive the tribulation. Here's how you live through it. Here's what to do to prepare. There isn't anything on that. Why not? Because we're not going to be there. That's why.

I could go over other things, but those are just some initial thoughts. And you should be aware that there are those people who do try to put us through the middle of the tribulation period. Now, when we go through the book of Revelation, one of the things that you will notice is that there is no passage in Revelation that has some major description of the rapture. So you might think of that and say, well, how come it's not there?

But there's some good reasons for that. And one reason is, the Apostle Paul was given the place of revealing certain things. And in some cases, what he taught was unique. In other cases, he was given kind of the preponderance of teaching responsibility in that area. Let's look at what some of those things might be.

The Apostle Paul was given the responsibility to teach that Jews and Gentiles are in the church. It first got kind of revealed by surprise to Peter, but Paul was the one who actually taught that Jews and Gentiles together are a part of the church. We're also taught, uniquely by Paul, he's the only one that mentions it, that believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Three times he brings it up, and he's the only one that does so. He also uniquely tells about the spiritual gifts. There's three different passages there that talk about spiritual gifts. And very little mention, if any, is made by any of the other apostolic writers. It's a unique teaching to Paul. Another one, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is something that Paul talks about.

The mysteries are things that Paul has primary responsibility for conveying. Those are Paul's teachings. Mysteries now are things that were previously unknown and mysterious and veiled, are now made plain and clear. So a mystery isn't something that continues to be foggy and unknown, but instead was unknown and is now made clear and unveiled. So it's important to get that understanding.

The next thing, Paul uses the phrase, Body of Christ, and talks and teaches about that. But he is unique in that. The other point is about the flesh. In multiple contexts, and this just gives you one stretch there in Galatians, but in multiple contexts, Paul talks about the flesh. The other apostles, when they write, don't do that. But the last one, the one we're pointing at here, is Paul is the one who has the primary focus of explaining and expounding about the rapture.

This taking up of believers. He gives the explanation that we read earlier this morning as well as those first two verses on keeping from the wrath. He's the one who gets to explain that. And it's his place to do so. And so one reason why we don't read it in Revelation is Revelation is written by John. And it is Paul's place to reveal the information on the rapture.

Another thing just to look at is that John's focus, as we begin to get into Revelation, is actually he starts to shift the focus away from the Church towards Israel. Because what's happening, remember last week? Essentially what prophecy is now, looking to the future, is looking at the unfolding of the promises God already made centuries ago. So what John is doing is he's putting the focus on other things than the church now.

We'll see evidence of the church there, but it won't be the main focus, because after all, the church isn't there. There's another reason. And that is, when John is talking about the earth, is the church there? No. The word church doesn't even show up.

There are people on the earth, and they're the subject of the passages that talk about the earth. When we focus on heaven in the passages in the Revelation, who's the focus? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the focus, and not the church. You'll see descriptions of various bodies of people, and even different kinds of angels. But the primary focus is on Jesus Christ, and therefore not some major focus. on the church.

Also, during this time of tribulation, there is focus on the tribulation saints, who are not the church-age saints, and a focus on the lost, those who did not repent, not repent, not repent, not repent. So the focus is changing. That's one reason why we don't see a big major rapture passage there in John. It'll be important for us as we proceed through the rest of Revelation to keep the contrast between the rapture, which starts these future events, and the second coming.

Those are separated by at least a seven-year period of time, right? And you have on your handout, on the back side of it, a listing of some of the different contrasts. And it goes into specific detail and even lists verses that kind of show you the difference between, here's the rapture and here's the second coming. And the truth is, the list you have is abbreviated.

One scholar has come up with actually 48 different contrasts between the Rapture and the Second Coming. So a person could go into great detail more than we'll go into this morning. For our purposes this morning, I'd like us to take a look and focus on just 13 points of contrast. And particularly, as we go down this list, one of these points of contrast that I'd like us to look at is number 5. the rapture you'll find described only in the New Testament.

It's not in the Old Testament. Why? The Church isn't in the Old Testament. So you won't find the rapture described there. But the Second Coming of Christ, since it involves other than just the Church, the Second Coming of Christ is repeatedly brought up in the Old Testament, sometimes in very explicit terms, describing the very place where Christ would land when He comes again, describing exactly how He will go about ruling and even specific timing events. The Second Coming is described in the Old Testament, not the Rapture.

That's unique to the New Testament because it's about the Church. The other thing is item 9. The Rapture is Christ coming for His Church. The Second Coming is Christ coming with His Church. The last one there, is the Rapture is at the beginning of the Tribulation. The Second Coming is at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. There are different beginnings. There's one at the beginning and one at the end. So there are all these points of contrast and if people get them confused, I think it's critical for us to take a look. There's one and then the other.

How many of you have been raptured, by the way? It hasn't happened to me either. The idea may seem a little foreign to us. It's been a while since I've seen anybody raptured. But it's a kind of unique event. But I think it's fair to ask, has anything like this ever happened before? And the first answer is no. Not in a huge group like this. But it has happened on an individual basis. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Enoch. Enoch shows up there in Genesis 5. It says, "...then Enoch walked with God..." That's a good thing, right? "...walked with God three hundred years..." No, I haven't walked with God three hundred years, let me tell you. "...after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters." So all the days of Enoch were 365. "...and Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Is that something? Enoch did not die. And he shows up again in the New Testament.

Here's the Hebrews 11.5 passage. By faith Enoch was taken up that he would not see death and he was not found because God took him up for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. See that? Here's an Old Testament instance.

We see another one with Elijah. Here's Elijah and Elisha, and they're walking together, and Elijah's telling Elisha, he says, hey, I'm heading home today. And everybody's talking about this, and finally it happens in verse 11 of chapter 2 in 2 Kings. As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. So here's two instances in the Old Testament where on an individual basis, Something like what we described in the rapture is to take place. These are two men who did not die. Taken up to be directly with the Lord.

Now, you also have on the front side of your handout, page 1, you've got a chart that looks like this. And it's a good thing you have the chart because I don't expect you to read the lettering on this. It's a little tight for especially folks in the back. But this is a really cool chart. And folks with an analytical mind like mine and a number of you know I was an engineer for many years before turning to this task. So a chart like this is just fascinating. I could spend hours at it. But I have good news for you. I won't do it this morning. But you can do that if you'd like on your own.

But I would like us to notice a prominent feature in this chart, something that shows up, is that one of the most common little X's in that column there, one of the most common columns there, is the use of the pronouns we, you, and us. Almost all of the passages there have we, you, and us. Especially when Paul was writing, he used that First-person pronouns that included himself. It included the people he was writing to. These indicate that the Rapture could have happened even in their time. And what that's telling us is the Rapture is an imminent event.

What does imminent mean? Imminent doesn't mean it must happen within some certain period of time. What it does mean is that it could happen at any time. It could happen at any time. There may be a long delay, but when it finally takes place, it does happen, and it's certain. The rapture is now imminent. There is no historical event that needs to take place to set up for the rapture. The rapture could take place in our next breath. The rapture could take place in the next week.

It might be a lot longer. But it is imminent. It could happen at any time. And the use of those words is an implication in what Paul writes when he says, you know, us and we and you. These very people he was writing to could have been the ones. Just as we today could be the ones. And as more and more things begin to kind of wind up, it has the appearance that the time is getting very close. One thing to get clear in our minds, what is the rapture not about? The rapture is not about getting out of our troubles here on planet Earth. Some people will even point to the rapture and say, see you guys just want to get out of things. That's not what it's about.

Paul himself went through all kinds of troubles and he wasn't saying, gee, I'd sure like it to take place so that I could get out of things. It's not about getting out of what's happening now. It is about being kept out from what's going to happen. You see the difference? It's not about getting out of what I'm in now, but it is about being kept out from the tribulation that is to come, because that is the expression of God's wrath. It's different from the tribulations, with a lowercase t, that you and I are going through now, here on planet Earth, from time to time. Maybe even right now. Now, something else here that shows up. We saw this morning several verses and numerous word patterns that we've looked at.

Even more than that though, the rapture is about our love for the Lord Himself. That's really what it boils down to, isn't it? It's about our love for the Lord Himself. We love Him because He first loved us. If we miss this point, we've missed the whole point. That's critical for us to see. If we love the Lord now, then we will love His appearing. Not because of what we're going to leave here, but because we'll be present with Him. If we love the Lord now, we will love His appearing.

If we are beholding Him now, 2 Corinthians 3.18, if we are beholding Him now, we're going to love beholding Him now. See that? That's what loving His appearing is all about. You see, we have this blessed hope of His coming because we love Him.

If that's missing, then what we're doing here on planet Earth is weighed down with stuff I've got to do and places I've got to be and doctrines I've got to And that's all there is to it. And you realize, as we studied some weeks back, that's what the church at Ephesus was doing.

He told them, you've left your first love. Which also meant that they weren't loving His appearing. Because they were so busy with the stuff they've got to do and the stuff they've got to believe. As important as those things were. But they had left their first love. And their first love was the key to loving His appearing.

The church at Sardis appeared to be alive. They weren't living by the life of Christ. How could they then love the appearing of the living Christ? The church at Laodicea was told that they're neither hot nor cold. They were lukewarm. They didn't have a zeal for the Lord which was necessary for them to love His appearing.

So, we've got to ask the question, what are the conditions of heart and mind that keep us from loving His appearance? You see, if we love the Lord now, and we live by His life, and we have a zeal that comes from Him, then we will love His appearance.

And that's rewardable. In this time of year when everyone's busy focusing on the Christmas events. And it's not a bad thing. But that's focused on the very start of this whole process, isn't it? If everything that we do is all focused on, gee, isn't that sweet? There's this little baby born and, you know, it's kind of a neat little story. If that's all there is, that's not enough.

Because we need to come to a place of recognizing of what did He come for? And once we've done that, once we've come to recognize that He came so that we could come to a place of putting our faith and trust in Him for salvation. Then we can come to a place of loving His appearing.

And that's the next event in this sequence that started that Christmas morning. In the end, If we look at it, this Christmas event that we're commemorating now is really just the starting point and the full sweep is our looking for Him, loving His appearing. If we see that, we'll have a far better understanding of what Christmas is all about.

Because this is not just looking at this neat little baby being born in some little rustic place. But instead, this is our Savior who died in our stead. and for whom we now look. And that makes Christmas have an entirely different meaning. It's not just a cute event. But it's the very beginning. It's God's beginning. And really in the end, you look at it, it's what God has done all along.

Did you and I have anything to do with planning Christmas? I don't mean the stuff we do here on planet Earth. I'm talking about that first Christmas. Did you and I have anything to do with it? I didn't. How about when that baby grew up and was crucified on the cross and was buried and raised and ascended and seated? I didn't have anything to do with that. And this rapture that's going to take place? I didn't have anything to do with that either. I'm just going to hear it. And then I'm going to be there. And I'm going to be beholden. This is all about recognizing what He's done and He's accomplished. All we can do is put our faith in Him.

But what better could we do than put our faith in Him? Let's pray. Lord, we pray that indeed we would have a heart longing for Your appearing. Not just because we want to get out of what is here, but because, Lord, You have done such marvelous things in our lives and we've come to recognize that. We've come to put our trust and faith and rest in You. And we just ask, in the busyness of this time of year, that we would be circumspect in knowing what you have accomplished and what you have promised to take place, and that one day we will behold you face to face. We just thank you in Jesus' name.