What Happens Next?

Our radio guest for the hour answers the question about what just might happen next in our world. Today we air a message by Pastor Jack Hibbs about an imminent event for the church.

It's called the rapture and it could happen today. Here is today's programming. So glad you can join me today for Understanding the Times radio. And you know, we have had three intense weeks here on the program and we took two weeks to consider the great reset of the World Economic Forum. And last week we heard a first-hand report from Michelle Bachman about the January 6th incident at the US Capitol.

America and the entire world seems to be coming apart at the seams. So this week we consider just good news. I am playing a recent message by my good friend Pastor Jack Hibbs. It is titled What Happens Next? And it considers the imminent rapture of the church.

Here's Pastor Jack. We're going to run through six things today. We'll do it as fast as we can.

I have 45 minutes to do this. And so we're going to go quick. I'm going to ask you to write small in your notes so you can get all of these because my hope is to get you to be thinking about what happens next and why answering that question is very important.

Here we go. Number one, number one regarding the passage of scripture. We just read we're talking about the rapture the rapture of the church and you might say and ask the question, what is it and that is number one. What is the rapture? Why would you ask that question? Let's be honest because the word rapture doesn't appear in the English Bible.

That's a good start. I don't believe the rapture because it's not in my Bible. Well, first of all, neither is the word Bible in your Bible neither is the word Trinity. In your Bible, but the doctrine of the Trinity is in your Bible, isn't it? The doctrine of the Bible is in the Bible, isn't it? And the doctrine of the rapture is in the Bible for this reason rapture. If you read Latin today, the word rapture is in your Bible that criticism. I don't believe it because it's not in the Bible is kind of an embarrassment. Don't use it anymore. If that's you don't say it anymore.

I'm trying to protect you here. Don't say it anymore because you might be thinking God speaks English and he wrote the Bible in English. No, he didn't. He wrote the Bible in a little bit of Aramaic a lot of Hebrew and Greek and the word for rapture in Greek is harpazzo. Almost sounds Italian.

I'd like to have calzone and two harpazzos. It means to be violently removed for good not bad. It's not a bad removal. It's to be snatched away like it were you're being pulled from a train track and an oncoming train. You're pulled into safety harpazzo rapture or in English.

It's two words caught up and you read that a moment ago, but you're going to see it more. What is the rapture? It says right here in verse 13 notice this. I'm going to say this a lot verse 13.

I'm going to drill it into you. Paul told the Thessalonican believers. I do not want you to be ignorant or uninformed untaught brethren concerning and we'll pause right there and look at verse 17 drop down to verse 17.

I don't want you to be uninformed or ignorant about this verse 17. Then we who are alive and remains shall be raptured caught up together with them. You're going to know the difference today about who we are and who they are in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air atmosphere. By the way, it's not celestial universe. It's not starry sky. It's atmospheric.

If you're into science, that's from zero elevation to about a hundred and twenty six thousand feet. That's pretty amazing. The Bible says you someday are going to meet Jesus in the atmospheric sky. Wow, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Say Amen.

Isn't that what you're living for to be with him? So number one mark it down. If you would it's a promised event. What do we know about the rapture? It's a promised event promise to us beginning with none other than Jesus Christ himself in John 14 verse 1 2 & 3 John 14.

This is this is an amazing passage. And if you don't believe in the rapture, then you've got bigger problems than that. But the issue is why not believe in what Jesus says? I do believe in what Jesus said. Okay, we'll start here in John 14 1 Jesus is let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions many dwelling places beautiful places to live in.

If it were not so I would have told you so he's not joking. I go to prepare a place for you Church. Did Jesus leave Earth 2000 years ago. He left Earth 2000 years ago. And he said I'm going to go wait on your prepare a place for you. Okay, he made the world's in the universes in six days. He's been gone for 2000 years and he said I'm preparing a place for you.

I think it's gonna be pretty amazing. Plus he's not only a shepherd. He's a carpenter. So it's a slam dunk for him. And if I go did he go oh he went and prepare a place for you. Here it is. Hang on here comes I will come again and receive you to myself if it ended right there we could argue about this forever, but it doesn't he tells us exactly where he's going to take us that where I am there. You may be also what does that mean friends?

Listen, this is not even open for debate. I'm going he says to go prepare a place for you up where my father's dwelling is. I'm going to be doing it and when I'm done, I'll come get you.

Yeah, I know it's been 2000 years. I'm still working on it. But when it's done, I'm going to come get you and just to make sure you're not confused about where that's going to be.

I'm going to be preparing it. I'll come get you and I'm going to take you where I've been. I'm going to show you this question to you.

Just let it soak in your head. How do you get there? How do you fulfill what Jesus just promised the vehicle? The doctrine is called Rapture to be caught up off of this globe out of this world which incorporates the living and the dead in Christ and deposit you not instantly in heaven mind you but first instantly in the atmosphere Christ collects his people both the dead and the living and from there.

He takes them us into his presence in heaven above that has to happen for a lot of reasons, but that is thrilling news. It's a promised event given by Jesus himself. I love this look at 1st Thessalonians 4 starting at verse 15.

Look at your Bible get ready to market. Here's some more promises for this we say to you number one by the word of the Lord. That's a New Testament equivalent to the Old Testament thus saith the Lord Paul said what I'm speaking to you. This is not Paul speaking.

This is none other than the Lord giving you this doctrine. That's a promise. Look at verse 16 for the Lord himself would descend from heaven. That's a promise.

Look at the third promise verse 17 to meet the Lord in the air. That's a promise. I don't like promises unless Jesus gives them by the way promises people give they used to get me excited. Now.

I'd rather not hear them. Are you with me? You know that I promise you, you know, young love I promise to love you forever and ever when yes. But you grow up and it's like sure now I go to the promise keeper. It's Jesus and the fourth one is in verse 17 and thus we shall always Hallelujah, right always be with the Lord the promises. It's a promised event.

Number two. It's sudden. Oh, it's a sudden event.

This is fun. I should have brought out an umbrella for a prop. I told you guys this before but it's really good. Imagine an umbrella and I'm holding the handle and the umbrellas over my head and on the outside of the umbrella over the ribbing. It says the second coming of Christ. But on one side from the handle over to one side of that canopy is the rapture. And on the other side of the handle on this side is the second coming. Now collectively, it's called the second coming, but the second coming is broken up into two manifestations as I said a moment ago. One is an appearance in the atmosphere and the other one the second coming is a physical return to Jerusalem.

By the way, if you don't believe this, how do you know the Jesus that you claim to knows the right Jesus? Because the Jesus of the Bible has to physically return to Jerusalem. That's why Jerusalem's in the news all the time. That's why everybody fights over Jerusalem. It's a spiritual issue. Who cares? Who cares about Jerusalem? It's not such a big deal. If you don't know the Bible, it's like why vacation here?

I'm serious. There's no river. There's no oil. There's no skiing. There's no waterfalls.

There's nothing there. Except it's the place that God said, this is where my name dwells. The ancient Hebrew scholars believe that when God spoke the physical universe into existence, Jerusalem was under his feet when it formed.

There's no natural reason why you should like Jerusalem. God says, I love it. And look, if God would have picked Chino Hills, Chino Hills would be the big news topic of the world, because it would be a spiritual event. No, it's because God moves in the realm of the Spirit.

It's remarkable and awesome. But the Bible tells us it's sudden, it's a sudden event. The rapture's sudden.

Listen, everybody, mark this down. There is no prophetic precursors or requirements for the rapture to take place. There's not one thing that triggers the rapture to be next, nothing.

Just without warning, the second coming, there's nearly 280 prophecies that have to be fulfilled before the second coming can happen. Think of it. One is predominantly by far Gentile in nature. The other one is absolutely Jewish by nature. When Jesus comes in the rapture, he comes to collect those that believe him from the globe, both living and the dead, their bodies. Think of that. When he comes back regarding the second coming, it's specifically to finish his covenantal promises that were given to Israel regarding their relationship with him. It's remarkable.

It's a sudden event. Verse 17 says, then we who are alive and remain, that's Paul's statement. By the way, Bible scholars in here, write it down.

They are known as the five we statements of Paul. Five times in this chapter, Paul says, we who are living when he comes, we will be caught up. We will meet the dead in the resurrection.

We will meet the Lord in the air. Paul included himself as being in that generation that would see the Lord, and he didn't give up on that until second Timothy Chapter four, when he's concedes and says, I'm going to be dying now, and I have loved his appearing and he's beheaded. But all his life he lived, by the way, Christian, every generation from this book, we know every generation of believers is to expect the imminent return of Christ in their lifetime. Did you know that? Every generation from the beginning, the disciples believe Christ would return before they all died. It even says it in the gospels.

Isn't that interesting? The question is, do you? Are you living for? He said, Pastor Jack, people, my grandmother said Jesus was coming back. Okay, so listen, your grandmother was ready.

What about you? And here's the other thing. If your grandmother said it, how much closer are we? Just because she said it then doesn't mean it's not going to happen.

Wake up. It means we're that much closer. Oh, it's going to happen. God said it's going to happen.

It's a sudden event. If you just join me, you're listening to a presentation by Pastor Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, California, titled What Happens Next? Let's get back to Pastor Jack. First Corinthians 15 51. This is fun.

Watch this. First Corinthians 15 51 says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. The word in Greek is Mysterion.

It's a very cool word. It means something that has always existed. It's always been there. It's always true.

It's always been real. It's just that there's been no reason to unveil it because it didn't matter. It's God's eternal truth. There was no reason for the Mysterion with what he's about to say to be given in the Old Testament. So it's not because God's truth is eternal. Are you with me? So when Paul says here, Behold, I tell you a Mysterion, I'm telling you something that has always been God's truth, but it's not needed to be revealed until now. Why? Because the church age of believers are to be ready to meet Christ. It just so happens you and I are now 21 centuries out.

How close are we? Look what he says. We shall not all sleep. The word sleep is referring to the believers body appearance, not your soul. Some of you have been taught soul sleep.

That's a cult view. When people misunderstand scripture, Oh, sleep. Does that mean when you die as a believer, you just wait or you sleep and then someday wake up?

Nope. The Bible says to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Think of that.

No, it's always referring to the body. You look a Christian, a believer. You look when you're sleeping, you look like you're dead. Some of you sleep. Is he breathing? Wake him up. Is he dead? Is he sleeping in the Lord?

He looks dead. The church, the doctrines were used the word sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye. Some argue back and forth 18 to 22 thousands of a second. Who cares?

It's fast. At the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall notice there he goes again, Paul, we shall be changed. I want you guys to look at this word.

Go ahead and put up on the screen. It's first Corinthians 15 51 again. Watch this, everybody.

This is fun. Read your Bible carefully at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and what are we talking about? The dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. He's talking about the event you just read in first Thessalonians four. Are you with me?

Are you tracking? Here's what's cool. There are those who have been taught. Oh, you see the word last trumpets. Oh, I was getting excited.

But now I know for sure the rapture is at the end of the tribulation period because that must refer to the seven trumpet judgment of the Book of Revelation. So there you go. There you wrong.

Has nothing to do with that. Listen, the reason why there's a last trumpet is because there's a first trumpet and it goes back. Listen, the whole context is gathering God's people together.

Do you agree? Do you see that is gathering God's people together. God told Moses, I want you to build two trumpets made out of silver for the gathering together of my people.

Moses is okay. He builds two trumpets. Every time Moses gathered God's people together, the Jewish people, he would blow a trumpet. And to this day, the Jews will say, but what's the other trumpet for? Why too? And some will say it's a backup.

It's case the other one breaks. It's a mystery. The first trumpet calls the Jews together. God's been calling the Jews together for certainly since 1948 back into their own land. He called them together for battle. He called them together for convocations.

He called them together for announcements. But the second trumpet, the last trumpet's never been blown. That last trumpet is to gather another group of God's people together.

You. It's the last trumpet. The first one gathers Israel, the last one gathers the church. And to prove the context, it demands that the dead are raised incorruptible. This means the bodies of the believers come out of the ground.

Wouldn't it be love to be driving through Forest Lawn when that happens? And as soon as you say, look at that, can you imagine? And now we lay our brother down.

Anyway, look, the context is amazing. The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we, the church living at that time, shall be metamorpho, or transformed, transfigured. We will be molecularly changed.

Isn't that amazing? Changed. Our molecules are going to change. We're Christians.

We believe in resurrection. That means this flesh is going to be repositioned. God's going to take the molecule structure, the molecular structure of our flesh, and just tweak it. And when he tweaks it, it will be in its glorified state.

It's the words he uses. Absolutely awesome. I'm so excited I'm losing control of myself over this. Thirdly, under this point, it's required. You gotta have it. The rapture's not only found in the Bible, it has to happen. We need it.

It's part of God's redemptive process. Just know that. It's going to happen. It's going to be required in the scripture to happen. Because our series will eventually cover elements of this, I want to move forward. But before I do, I just want to say something about this. In 2 Peter 3, verse 3, you should jot this down, because you're living in it right now.

This is our age. In 2 Peter 3, 3, remember, this was written 2,000 years ago, Peter warned, know this first. Priority one. Can you imagine? Peter's got his clipboard. All right? First things first. The scoffers will come on the last days, walking according to their own lust, and this is what they're going to say.

Where is the promise of his coming? Isn't that amazing? He said, my goodness, Pastor Jack, I talked to somebody yesterday about that. Did you get a picture with them? You should take a picture with them. Get a selfie with them. Shake their hand.

Tell them, oh my gosh, can you wait for a minute? I want to read to you 2 Peter 3, verses 3 through 4. You are a walking Bible prophecy fulfillment.

You said Jesus isn't coming back? Stand still. Look at you. Wow. The Bible said there'd be people like you. You're scoffers. You're a scoffer. And that's how I know we're getting closer to the last days, even though there's no prerequisite.

Oy vey, you're a scoffer. His coming's close. And listen, the closer, watch, listen everybody, the closer we get to his coming, we know something. There will be more and more people not believing it. There will be more and more people departing from the faith. More and more people will give up in believing. That's one of the indicators. Although there are no prerequisites, Paul says we will know the times and the seasons.

We'll have a general feel. What a remarkable warning. Watch out for liberal theologians in this day and age that say, well, it's a symbol. It's symbolism. It really means this, and it really means that. It's typological.

No, no, no, no. Whenever the Bible is typological, it says so. Did you know that? And I'll prove it to you.

You already know this. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the Bible says Jesus went into the water. John the Baptist baptized him. The Bible says that Jesus came up out of the water, and what happened? You guys are smart.

Were you at first and second service? See, I'm telling those people. First and second, they all said, a dove landed on him. Now, this we know for sure.

We know absolutely for sure. In fact, the chances of an eagle landing on him or a turkey would have been higher than a dove, and I'll prove it to you. The Bible says Jesus was baptized, and he came up out of the water, and the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove. That means, in theology, it means it wasn't a dove. Are you with me?

Yes. It automatically means this we know for sure. It's not a dove.

Why? Because it says it was like a dove, which excludes all doves. It does, but I saw the movie, the dove landed on him.

Doesn't count. The Spirit of God came upon Jesus like a dove would land on your head. When the Bible speaks symbol, it says so, and there was a great dragon, as it were, that rose up out of the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns. So you're thinking, oh my goodness, they think they got pictures of a dragon in the North Atlantic living at like 20,000 feet below the sea. That's how close we are to the end.

Where do you get that from? The Bible says in the last days, it's like a dragon coming out of the water. No, the governments of the world to come, and the one world order will be like a dragon rising up. It's simple if we just slow down and read it. Watch out. Number two, church, it's this. What happens next? Who's involved in the rapture? Who's involved in it? First Thessalonians again, look at verse 14, it says for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so God will bring with those who sleep in Jesus.

Number one, mark it down. Those who are involved in the rapture are the dead, the believing dead, technically the previous dead. Because at the moment of the rapture, this is amazing. If I died right now, my body would fall down because my spirit's gone, in a sense, think of it this way. So man, you know, the guy was dead before he hit the ground. Well, it just simply means my soul, my spirit was gone before he hit the ground. When this thing hits the ground, oh, let's pray, let's pray, leave me alone.

Who asked you? Just bury me somewhere. I don't care where.

Put me in your garden. I don't care. I'm not going to stay there.

I'm gone. My soul, the me that I am, and you that you are, you immediately go to the presence of Jesus. It's like you go, like when you lay down to sleep and you go into dreamland, you're like this. Your body looks dead. You're all over the place in your dreams.

Think of that in reality. You're going to be with him. Your body's going to be here. Your body's going to be put in the ground, or you're going to be cremated, doesn't matter. Doesn't change the molecules at all. It just reduces them down in size.

It doesn't change them. Think of it. We love friendly feedback. Write us through our website, OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org. Call us central time at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. Get our mail when you write to Jan Markell and Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

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Sign up at our website under resources at OliveTreeViews.org. We'll get through this new year together as we await His return. It's the Holy Spirit's job to give you to Jesus at the rapture or when you die. You ever seen a baton being passed in a race? Think of the Holy Spirit being the one that passes you over to Jesus. That's the Holy Spirit's job. He's been doing it since the day of Pentecost. God's going to see to this.

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The video format is also posted to our YouTube channel and also his channel, Christian Television. This ministry is pleased to partner with sister ministries and churches, and we conclude today's message by Pastor Jack Higgs. And for those that are going to come out of the ground, the Bible says, and the dead in Christ will rise first. All that means is that according to order, it doesn't mean that they rise first and seven years later we Oh, no, it's probably nanoseconds of time, but they have first privilege. Their body comes up and the scripture tells us that he brings with them. He brings with him those that died in Christ. You understand that's their spirit and souls in heaven, their bodies here on earth or under the earth, technically somewhere in the earth.

Number two. Who was involved in the rapture? All of us who are currently can I put it this way? Yeah, I could have put all of us who are currently living, but that's obvious. The Christian right now we are grieving as we live.

You know that you really do know that you just haven't thought about it. We all kind of walk in a fog of grief. Somebody sick someone died. This is an injustice.

This was terrible. The this the other. Are you with me? Fill it in.

If that doesn't affect you turn on a nature program. And you're looking. Oh, my goodness. Those look how beautiful Look how beautiful that gazelle is going across the African plane and then It's eaten up by this lion and you go, Oh, gosh, turn the channel. Turn the channel.

The kids are watching. What happened? The Bible says all of nature is groaning because of the sin of man. Adam and Eve plunged this world into sin and death came, the Bible says death.

So God made it man blew it up, messed it up. We need to understand that. But currently you and I grieve over that.

We really do. We see things that are animals that are born or Children born with defects or whatever and your heart just wrenches or you see someone suffering. Human suffering like never before in my lifetime. And as a believer, I'm grieved. It's like, Lord, thank you. This is not my home. Thank you, God. We're getting out of here.

Thank you, Jesus. This was not your will. This is not your plan.

This is not what you did. But we're grieved. And we groan. The Bible tells us in the book of Romans that we groan.

Young people are like, I don't get it. You're gonna get it. As you get older, you're gonna start groaning. Back's gonna hurt.

You're gonna get sore. You know us older people are more mature people. We have to be careful because I have found a little bit of a glee when I see some young person finally wind up saying, Oh, man, I said in that spot and I'm going. That too is sin, and it needs to be repented of. But here the Bible tells us that we do not sorrow like those who have no hope. You know, we all have put the body, buried the body of a loved one. And we cry, and we miss, but not without hope.

Because I think of my mom, my goodness, my sister, my dad, we put them, we put their body in the ground. But because they had accepted Christ, they immediately went to heaven. But there's gonna be a day when they'll be resurrected. And that body will be reconstituted new. And they're gonna meet up with their consciousness, the real person of who they are in the atmosphere and will be there to see it.

You're gonna be there to see it. It's like, Oh, my gosh, this is first Thessalonians four happening here, folks. And then thirdly, who's involved is all we are united in Christ Jesus. It's called the church people.

The church has been given promises and things that no other group in the Bible have been allowed or favored. Did you know that? Isn't it amazing, look at us, black, white, every color in between whatever social structure, whatever economic structure, whatever continent, whatever nationality, isn't it beautiful? Whatever pigmentation and language, every country, tribe, tongue and nation, Jesus says, that's my church. Isn't she beautiful? He loves that.

What a neat thing that is. Number three in our study, number three, it's this, when will the rapture happen? That's why you came today. You want me to tell you when it's gonna happen? I'm writing a book right now and when I'm kidding, just joking, exactly. Nobody knows the day of the hour, there ain't no way. If somebody wrote a book telling you when Jesus is coming back, don't buy the book.

No one's gonna know. When will the rapture happen? The Bible tells us in verse 16 of first Thessalonians four, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven.

Watch this, three things. With a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, three things. So listen up, Jesus Christ is coming back, the rapture will be on the day when Jesus shouts.

That's the answer. The day Jesus shouts, that's the day we're gonna get raptured. The Bible tells us he's gonna come out of his heaven. If you get a chance, watch the documentary, Before the Wrath.

He comes out of his heaven to pick up his bride. The word shout here is the word, it's an amazing word, it means to incite. Now when you hear the word incite, what do you think about?

We've been conditioned to think negative, haven't we? That incited a riot. That's a form of incitement, like it's always negative. God uses the word for his son, Jesus, when he shouts, it's gonna incite. And what is incited is, first of all, in order, the bodies of the dead. I like this.

This is amazing. He's gonna shout. And when that happens, the dead, can you imagine the dust is gonna start assembling? The dust, dust thou art and dust thou shalt return, right? That's the scripture, we're dust.

And God is able to do that. Gee, I got my arm bit off on the North Shore, my arm got chewed off by a shark, and what happens when the rapture takes place? Am I gonna have one arm in the rapture? No. You know, Stonewall Jackson had his arm blown off. You know who Stonewall Jackson is?

Civil War general? No? Anyway, forget it. Yeah, I mean, you gotta know who he is, he got his arm blown off, he was a Christian, so when they buried him, when he died, he died years later, but when he died, they wound up digging up his arm, and they wound up putting his arm in his gasket and buried him with his arm, because they didn't want him to be resurrected without an arm. Believe me, God can work all that stuff out. Yeah, but a shark bit this guy in Indonesia, and he's from New York, and what's gonna happen in the resurrection? This is the part of you that's wet, that's all, it's an ocean, it's still dust, but it's wet. He'll assemble it together, it's nothing for a scientist like God.

Listen, the structure, the molecules are there. Isn't it amazing? He's gonna shout. Number two, the archangel is going to herald, the word's herald, the word, we look at the word, it's the word phone, by the way, just like you know it to be spelled, but the Greek word is phone or phonae, and it means to communicate language, so what is the angel gonna say?

We don't know, he's gonna say something, he's gonna communicate. When the angel voices, the church is gonna hear something, so Jesus is gonna shout, wow, something communicated linguistically is gonna come from an archangel, I wonder who it is, which one is it? Listen, we got Gabriel in the Bible, Michael, and Lucifer, archangels.

I don't expect to hear anything from Lucifer at that moment. And Gabriel's throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament, Gabriel's amazing, he's an archangel, he shows up, he's the guy, if I can say this respectfully, he's like the white collar, Harvard graduate archangel, he's got like a clipboard, he makes announcements, Mary, blessed art thou among women, you're gonna have a baby, Merry Christmas, Mary. Gabriel gives announcements, he makes announcements every time he shows up in the Bible, excuse me, he makes an announcement, it's like the PR department of heaven, announcement, Michael, Michael's terrified, Michael shows up, Michael doesn't talk much. When you see Michael in the Bible, Michael shows up, and he's, you want me to do these two over here, I can do it. Michael's always fighting, he's fighting, listen, in the book of Revelation, Michael will fight against Lucifer in the atmosphere.

Michael in the Old Testament, boom, boom, fight, fight in the Old Testament, he's warring, he's a warrior, listen, Daniel saw angels and he became sick for many days, he couldn't eat and he couldn't even get out of bed, Daniel saw an angel, freaked him out, that's amazing, and every time I think of archangel, my mom had these little cherub, these cherubim, what are those, they're cherubim, and they're little chubby, naked babies with wings, with an arrow over our bathroom, it's like what is this? They're nothing like that, at all, thirdly, when we're all gathered together, it says thirdly with the trumpet of God, the trumpet of God, the word trumpet here revelry, it means to blow the bugle, the trumpet blast, it means to do that with intent, to rally the forces or to rally the troops together, that is the absolute amazing event, you're looking at, it's gonna be nothing like that, imagine if he came back today, would you be going up, what if that were for real, are you going up? Number four, where does the rapture occur, where does it occur? You might say this is a trick question, you just said it's gonna be the atmosphere, technically, watch this, the rapture is going to number one, occur underground or beneath subterranean, the dust is gonna arise, the bodies are gonna come together, the rapture begins there, secondly, we know that he's gonna bring those that died in Christ with him into the Earth's atmosphere, first Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18, he brings with them to be reunited with their glorified bodies, then we who are alive, this is the third location, us here and now, if we're that generation living, the rapture will take place subterranean, it will take place simultaneously in heaven above and it will take place with you and I walking around if we're that generation, what an amazing powerful truth that is, what a great, great release that is, so you guys, if you're writing down points, it would be in the grave beneath, you can mark that down in heaven above as he brings the saints that died in Christ in previous times before the rapture and then thirdly, it'd be in the moment, that's us right here, if it were to happen like that little fake horn happened, but the Bible tells us when that happens, we'll be changed in the moment, now we shouldn't be surprised about the power of God, although it is awesome.

You are listening to Understanding the Times Radio, this week I'm playing a message given by Pastor Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, California, titled What Happens Next as He Tries to Help Believers Better Understand the Rapture of the Church. Matthew's Gospel Chapter 27 verses 50 to 53 tells us, we often forget this is in the Bible, when Jesus was on the cross and he was dying, when he was finished paying the price for your sins and mine, he said, it's finished, and then he says that he dismisses his spirit, isn't that amazing, Jesus says, I'm leaving now, I'm leaving my body, and he died. The Bible says when he died, the earth began to quake, and then it says rocks began to split open, which is amazing, scientifically, you can do that with rocks, with sound. The moment something reaches its residence frequency, which is the frequency that can dismantle, you've seen the commercial where the woman's singing and the glass breaks, that's a scientific fact.

Rocks can be completely broken if the vibration is at a certain decibel and wavelength level. So the ground shakes, rocks break open, and the Bible says grave stones open up, and the believing dead at the crucifixion in Jerusalem came out of their tombs and walked into Jerusalem. Both then, it says in Matthew 27, and after the resurrection of Christ from the dead three days later. Can you imagine, ground shakes, and people got up, people came, they were, and it says they were all believers in Christ, it says it right there in Matthew 27, isn't that amazing?

To us, too fantastic, get used to it. Number five, how does the rapture happen? How does it happen? Well, first of all, it happens by the will of the Father, by the word of the Father. God has given us his word, this is a doctrine of the Bible, and God the Father will see to it that it happens. I tell you what, if it doesn't happen, you can throw your Bible away, that's how serious this is. If God breaks his promise in one area, then he cannot be faithful in any.

That's how beautifully sure. Secondly, it's gonna be by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 8, listen to this, Romans 8 verse 10 says, and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin.

In other words, I have to fight my thoughts, I have to fight my desires, I have to fight my passions, just like you do, but we fight. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

You know what that means? If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, and he can't go anywhere without you, did you know that? Your life has been sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. It's the Holy Spirit's job to give you to Jesus at the rapture or when you die.

You ever seen a baton being passed in a race? Think of the Holy Spirit being the one that passes you over to Jesus. That's the Holy Spirit's job. He's been doing it since the day of Pentecost. God's going to see to this. Then thirdly, it's going to be to the glory of Jesus Christ himself. Ephesians 5 tells us that marriage between a man and a woman is a picture model of Christ's love and devotion to the church, the bride of Christ. Isn't that amazing?

The Bible refers to you, the church, as the bride of Christ. It's to his glory. Okay, now, this is kind of, I don't know. I'm going to share this with you.

We'll see if this works or not. It's an original thought. If it's good, it's from God.

If it stinks, then it's from me. But when you look at the doctrine of the rapture in the Bible about what it does, it takes the bodies of the dead and it takes the bodies of the living and it transforms them both. But at the same time, it takes the living believer at the moment of the rapture, and it takes the departed souls and spirits of those who have died in Christ, and it unites all of us in the atmosphere above with Christ. And the Bible says that when that happens, that we look forward to this glory that's to be revealed. Church, listen, I don't know of any other way in the Bible where the church is united and enters heaven. I need you to think and study that on your own. I don't see any other doctrine where the church is universally united and goes into heaven and it's there forever with Christ.

There's no other vehicle. I'm talking body, soul, and spirit, the totality of you. Without the rapture, you ain't got that going on.

Isn't that kind of cool? So why didn't the church I went to, why didn't they tell me this? I don't know. A lot of people say, we're not gonna talk about that in our church, it's controversial.

Truth is controversial. And listen, Satan doesn't want you to have any hope. The Bible tells us that all of us who have this hope, we purify ourselves, doesn't he? It means we get serious with God every day. Why? Because he could come back to an end.

I want to meet him on good terms and I want to know, I want to do what he wants me to do today. Think of it. It's a good thing. The number six will be all done. Why do we need the rapture?

That's kind of what I said a moment ago. Number one is to get the church into heaven. There's no other way. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is talking to the church. Until Revelation chapter four, verse one, he's done talking to the church. No more talking to the church.

Did you know that? Revelation four, verse one, Jesus is done talking to the church. You don't even see the church, hear the church, hear anything said about the church. You don't know nothing about the church.

From Revelation five all the way to Revelation mid chapter 19. The next time you see the church, she's in heaven, quite a gal, I might add. She's on a white horse. She has a wedding gown on, and I think because she's the church, right, she's got the implements of warfare, because it says that she comes with, Jesus is in front of us, riding first point horse, right?

And it says that out of his mouth, Jesus strikes the nations with the rod of his mouth, which is the word of God, and with him, it says the armies of heaven follow, and you look close and you read it, and it's the church. She's got a wedding gown on, helmet, hand grenades on her hips, bouquet, sword, quite a woman. Question is, how'd she get there? You got to get the church into heaven somehow. In chapter 19, she's there, how'd she get there?

You know how she got there. I find it fantastic and awesome that the heavenly scene and the earthly judgments cannot continue until the church is coming out of heaven with Christ. Secondly, the rapture triggers the beginning of the end. The church is removed from earth. The Bible tells us that the spirit of God hindering, and while he does hinder, he hinders until he steps out of the way, and then the wicked one will be revealed, the son of perdition. We know him as the antichrist.

The world governing leader is coming. Remarkable, awesome. And then finally, and I'm skipping tons of verses.

You can go online and get all the notes in detail. There's a lot of verses I'm leaving off because of time. I love this last one the best.

What happens next? Why do we need the rapture? To fill us with an increasing expectation. Oh, I love this. I mean it. It's so nice sometimes things are just so wacky, crazy, and he just I know you're thinking about other things. I'm thinking about finding out this person sleeping with that person. This guy is doing drugs. This one's cheating on his wife. This woman's beating her kids, and they go to church on Sunday. And as a pastor, I mean to tell you, it's like, you know, just sometimes I'm up here just biting my lip. And I'm totally with the person that says, by the way, me rolling out my sleeves has nothing to do with us rumbling.

I'm just hot. But you know when somebody says, I'm not going to go to church, full of hypocrites. I understand that.

That's how they get it. Just know this. Jesus knows the difference, okay? And when I think about his coming, the question to us, does it excite us about his coming? Let that percolate in you, because listen, if you're living lifestyles that are offensive to God, and you think, what, he's just going to overlook you? You go, what, are you going to grade on a curve?

No, I'm not going to do that. It causes me sometimes to just get up and keep doing what I'm doing. It's enough to know Jesus could come back in any moment, because you wonder if anything that you're doing matters. You ever feel like that? Have you ever been a parent? I feel like a gigantic parent. And you wonder, are they listening? Then what are they doing on that floor? Are you with me?

It's like, get over here, you know? And then I'm reminded, Jack, you will answer it to me. You are not going to answer to me, you can answer to him.

My desire, you can all stand. My desire is that these series of teachings will excite you and test your heart, make sure you know Bible doctrine. I told you guys before we started this series, part of the design of it is to bring you into the full counsel of God's word, because many of you are new. And then I also said, if you remember, in doing that, it might cost some of you to go away. Charles Spurgeon said, when that happens, if you teach the gospel clear and the word of God true, that people who leave, he said, don't ever run after them, because he said, those are God's blessed subtractions.

Part of the age in which you and I are living in with COVID, and COVID's not the worst thing, it's the politicians that are the worst things. They're more dangerous to you than COVID, is that God's been purifying his church all over the world right now. And I want you to know that if you believe Jesus Christ is coming back soon, your Christianity, your faith will be put to the limit, you will listen, you'll push every corner and every curve because you're trying to get as much out of this for Jesus in your body, in your life as you possibly can. I don't care about a pretty church, I don't care about anything, oh, look at that, listen, can you get in it and can you go? Can you go all the way to heaven? That's based upon the doctrine and the teachings. Father, we trust you, we love you, we ask you, Lord, that you'd even come today, and if there's a man or woman, boy or girl right now that's very uncomfortable with that idea, they wake up right here and now to the reality that your Holy Spirit is saying, except my son Jesus right now is Lord and Savior, that he died on the cross for you and rose again from the dead. And you'd ask him to forgive you of your sins and that you'd determine today to walk with God for the rest of your life, watch what he does, I tell you what, he'll put fuel in your tank, he'll start your engine, he'll get you on the track, and he'll see to it that you'll finish the course, it's what he does.

Faithful is he who has called you. We ask this in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Indeed in a world growing more hopeless by the day, even by the hour, we need some kind of hope, and the believer has the blessed hope, the soon rapture of the church. By the way, I got an email from Tammy recently who lives in Camden, South Carolina. She wrote this, she said, I was so blessed when I found your program one night right after COVID-19 hit, and I have heard about the rapture all my life, but I knew with everything going on this year, it had to be sooner than I thought. She goes on to say, the Lord has opened up my mind to understand and absorb all there is to learn about revelation, Daniel, the rapture, the tribulation, the thousand year reign with Christ, or the millennium. I have never gotten excited about these things before, but now I catch myself glancing at the sky, looking, watching, and hoping. Thank you for all you do, I will keep you all in my prayers.

God bless you. Well, maybe God has allowed our perilous and unparalleled times in the last year to occur to draw us away from this earthly home and to give us a longing for our heavenly home. So many are clinging to all we know here because it is so familiar, but what a relief it will be to have freedom from the sin that keeps gnawing at us. Many long for freedom from pain. Just the thought brings a flood of peace to be free completely from heartache, from brokenness, from sadness, and from disappointment.

You know, we groan under the weight of these burdens, longing for them to be lifted, and they will one day soon, perhaps even today as the signs of the times explode all around us. He's coming again soon. Look back and thank Him. Look around and serve Him. Look ahead and trust Him, but always look up and expect Him.

He's coming again soon, much sooner than you think. Meet us through our website, OliveTreeViews.org, that's OliveTreeViews.org, call us Central Time at 763-559-4444, that's 763-559-4444. We get our mail when you write to Jan Markell and Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452 Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

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