Evacuation and Invasion (Part A)

Here are the signs.

These signs will tell you that my return is imminent and we have to open that up, which I hope to do. Then the last section, verses 32 to 37, which hopefully we'll get next session, Jesus emphasized very much to his followers, being us, those living during the time that verses 28 and 31 begin. He emphasizes us to watch. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in Mark chapter 13 as he begins his message evacuation and invasion. Verses 28 through 31. Now, learn this parable from the fig tree when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves.

You know that summer is near, so you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near at the doors. Surely I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. The Lord has been quite emphatic with his warnings throughout this 13th chapter as we've been considering the last of the last days. This is something that God wants us to learn, to be familiar with. The revelation of Jesus Christ, it's not called the veil of Jesus Christ. It is the revelation that is put out in the open.

And as I was preparing for this, I got to the bottom of my first round of notes and I just typed in ponder, just to think about these things. Peter said it this way in his second letter in the third chapter. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you be in holy conduct and godliness? And then he continued, because he was talking about the end of the world when he wrote this, in the 14th verse of 2 Peter, he says, Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless. The point is that end time study is not to be wasted on our desire to know these things. It must go beyond that. It must at some point be processed internally in our heads, in our hearts, to Lord, why are you telling me these things?

What can I do with them? And so he has been emphatic with his audience and we're going to just briefly review how he has approached this end time teaching with his followers, intending the message to go way past them to reach us. And that's what this morning is about.

The generation, the time we live in right now. Now, as he unrolled this prophecy, they're out of sequence and he has left it to his servants to line it up. So let's briefly look.

If you have Mark open, just stay there with me. I'm not going to read from it, but I'm going to take the sections, the paragraphs, verses 1 and 2. Jesus told them of the utter obliteration of that second Jewish temple that Zerubbabel had built and then Herod had come along and expanded it.

And it was a significant expansion. In verses 3 through 13, Jesus told of the many tribulations that would take place from the time that that temple was destroyed to the next phase, which we have been living in and are still a part of. Then from verses 14 through 23, he told of the last three and a half years of the Great Tribulation.

So again, 3 through 13, he says, well, this is this kind of trouble you're going to face as people on earth. And then he jumps ahead to the middle of the Great Tribulation, which knocks it out of sequence. And there he spoke of the abomination of desolation that will take place in the third Jewish temple that has not yet been built. In verses 24 through 27, he spoke of his return to earth that would end the Great Tribulation period.

The Great Tribulation period lasts for seven years, but three and a half, those last three and a half years will intensify on Israel. And when he comes, he puts an end to the Great Tribulation and human rule, and he himself will rule the world from Jerusalem. He is warning us, he is telling us, here are the signs.

These signs will tell you that my return is imminent. And we have to open that up, which I hope to do. And then the last section, verses 32 through 37, which hopefully we'll get next session. Jesus emphasized very much to his followers, being us, those living during the time that verses 28 and 31 begin.

He emphasizes us to watch, and that makes it real to us. In a single verse, now departing from that brief review, in a single Old Testament verse, God makes this statement about making a distinction between his people and those who are not his people. Now he does this throughout the scripture. He did it with Cain and Abel. He did it with Noah and the antediluvians who perished in the flood.

He's done it throughout. But here it's just a very clear statement, Exodus 8, and he's talking, this is in the days when Moses and Aaron were facing Pharaoh in Egypt. God said, I will make a distinction between my people and your people. And we have every reason to believe that he is not going to depart from that, but continue with that approach, which leads us to the pre-tribulation removal of the church, the body of believers, which will be our first topic. We're talking about evacuation before invasion. The invasion is when Christ returns. He's going to invade this planet with the armies of heaven.

It will be every bit of a spiritual and physical invasion. But prior to that, seven years prior to that, there is what we know as the rapture of the church, the true church, and the rapture is the removal. It is God evacuating his citizens. And this is not something new in the scripture. There's other cases of this.

A lot was evacuated from Sodom and Gomorrah before the judgment fell. Believers, which I hope we all are, and if you're not a believer, maybe you will be by the time this message is over, but believers have, at the very least, a dual citizenship, one in heaven and one on earth. Now of course you can hold multiple citizenships on earth, but essentially you have a citizenship in heaven and one on earth. The one in heaven is your dominant citizenship. You must not ever lose sight of that.

It's very important. Because as your national comforts and pride are eroded, you have to default to your dominant citizenship, which is that in heaven. So Paul writes to the Philippians, he says, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this globalization, this spirit of globalization that has been upon us includes eroding nationalism so that the world can say, well, you belong to us and not, you know, you can't be a patriot.

You have to be a globalist. That's what they're trying to do. And to do this, they're trying to strip, at least in this nation, our identity as Americans. Take away from us our freedoms and the First Amendment, the Second, on and on it goes. Now that's what's going on.

Don't be shaken by these things, or at least not too much. The rapture has as its objective to remove believers from what is coming. And so, you know, we talk about the rapture. There are those in Christianity that believe the church will be raptured halfway through the tribulation.

Who knows, other points, which I don't agree with. I believe in a pre-great tribulation removal of the body of believers because there's no way I can explain it out of scripture. First, Thessalonians. Now remember, if you're going to be a student of end times, a caution, we have no right to be only a student of end times. There's a whole Bible to know.

There's a lot of information and a lot of work to do. But we should have an end time view in order in our heads. To get that, you're going to have to read and take some time in the book of Daniel, some time in Ezekiel, in the New Testament, 1 and 2 Thessalonians for sure, the book of Revelation, the Olivet Discourse, which is what we're studying in Mark. We're going to get to Mark this morning.

Mark my word. But 1 Thessalonians, speaking about the removal of the church, Paul says, therefore, comfort one another with these words. Well, if the church is going to have to go through some of the tribulation, there's no comfort. I can't be comforted because there's going to be a lot of trouble on this planet at the very beginning.

Wars, natural disasters unlike ever before, and that's just leading up to the three and a half year period. And so when Paul says comfort one another with these words, there would be no comfort if I had to endure these things. He continues in the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, for God did not appoint us to wrath. Again, this is in the context of the end times and the rapture, the removal of the church. He continues, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ was plain speak to me.

He did not appoint us to wrath, which the great tribulation period is an outpouring of God's wrath on sinners. 1 Thessalonians 5, 5-11, he repeats himself, therefore, comfort each other and edify one another. Because he's talking about end times, he's saying, you should be built up learning about the prophecies that are still to be fulfilled concerning the return of Christ. You should be comforted by this and you should be built up and then you should build up others with this information, pretty much what I was reading from Peter at the beginning this morning. But perhaps the strongest single verse in the New Testament, because it is illustrated in the Old Testament, for example, again, Lot and Noah.

But Revelation 3, 10, I got to pause here. There are some that think that the church means this universal, undisconnected body. That is part of the definition of the ecclesia, the called out ones, the church. But there is the local church where the emphasis is. And when Paul called the elders from the local church in Ephesus to meet him at Miletus, everything he said was with this mindset that we assemble. That's what we do as Christians.

Satan hates it, the lazy don't like it, and there are others who find reasons not to do it. And you are non-compliant with Scripture. I do not say this because I'm a pastor, I say it because I'm a Christian. And it's very clear in the Scripture. And you have missed formation when you abandon the church, as Paul writes to the Hebrews, forsaking the assembly. Well, when Christ writes to the seven churches, he's writing to assemblies, not this detached bunch of believers doing their own thing. And it is an assembly with a structure. He himself gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers for the equipping of the saints, the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ.

The assembly. The Jews had their synagogues. They still do. We have our churches. And Christ died for the church, for the called out ones. He gave his life for the church.

Purchased it, we're told in the Bible, with his own blood. And so I won't tolerate any conversation that goes for something less. Now there are some that cannot meet, they cannot assemble. They may have some illness or some other condition.

Of course that's understandable. But there are others that I fear are neglecting a very easy calling. It is hard to go to church and stay, continue to go to church.

Satan hates you doing it. He wants to break down your loyalty. If we could have Christians that had truth and love and loyalty, we'd get a lot more done as a body of believers.

But these things are evasive. Well, that was just part of everything else that's coming. Back to this statement Jesus makes to the church in ancient Turkey in a city called Philadelphia. He says, because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Well, when he spoke it to that church, there was no trial coming upon the whole earth and there has not been a trial come upon the whole earth like the one that's coming. He is talking about the great tribulation period. And so he says to this body of believers who have persevered and kept to his command, which is his word, I'm going to spare you from this tribulation that is coming. I'm not going to wrap you in bubble wrap.

I'm going to snatch you out of here. There's a lot of error in human theology due to a misunderstanding as far as making the difference between the church and the nation Israel. They're not the same. They are connected. There are similarities, but they are not identical. And if you cannot make that distinction, you're likely going to be a legalistic person. You're going to miss the emphasis of grace in your Christian walk.

At least that's been my experience. But this tribulation period, the three and a half for Israel, as I mentioned, comes from this verse, one of many, but Jeremiah 30 verse 7, the prophet says, Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. And it is the time of Israel's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. You see, the original Hebrew says Jacob's trouble. Well, Jacob's name was changed to Israel.

We know he's talking about Israel. I had just given you an interpretive rendering of that verse, and it is the time of Jacob's trouble. And how will they be saved out of it?

By the return of the Lord with the armies of heaven, us, along with him. The church age, with its removal, completes that dispensation, that period of time. But it leaves behind the false church, which is two parts to the false church. It is apostate. In other words, it's fallen away from the scripture, from God's word. It really doesn't even believe in God's word.

That then brings in the second part. It is ecumenical. That means that it can pray with and include and mix in other religions without any disturbance to its conscience, because it is dead, completely. It is the apostate church, it is the great harlot that is mentioned in Revelation 18 and 19, and the harlot is the one that is unfaithful.

She rides the beast. She is, so to speak, the state church that is tolerated for a while by Antichrist, until finally he exalts himself and will have none of that, and destroys even that. The true church is not apostate. Again, Revelation chapter 3, the same church that he said, I'm going to spare you this great tribulation. He says, I know your work. See, I have set before you an open door.

When did he do that? Pentecost, when the church was born. I'll come back to that in a moment.

And no one can shut it. The church will be here. The true church. There will be at the very least a remnant of the true church preaching the word of God from the word of God. He says, for you have a little strength. Is that not the church? Have kept my word and have not denied my name. You see the contrast between all of these ecumenical churches that are out there that have denied the Lord's name, that are not keeping his word, that are not persevering according to his commandments, that are telling you there are many roads that go to heaven, and just pick one.

We're not the only ones with it. You can find it in the Jewish synagogues, in the Muslim mosque. You can find it under some tree. If you're doing Zen Buddhism or something, all these roads lead to heaven. That's the lie that they're telling people.

And you will know them by their fruits, and the fruit will be, of course, whether it is true and sweet according to Scripture, or if it's rotten according to men. The church, the New Testament church. It was supernaturally injected into human history at Pentecost.

There's no explanation for it. There's no way it should have survived. Those Jews should have shut it down if it weren't for God. But it was for God.

So it was supernaturally injected. It will be supernaturally ejected. And that is the rapture of the church, the evacuation of believers, the removal of the true assembly, which will be outlawed during Antichrist time anyway. And God knows, he sees this happening. And so I believe in the pre-tribulation removal of the church, because I believe the Bible teaches it, and I'm not ever going to be in a mood to explain it away. Also, who needs the 144,000 and the two witnesses if the church is still here preaching the truth? We need these supernaturally, or that's divinely, protected believers, because their message will be intolerant. But God will protect them, because there is, again, this assembly of believers outlawed.

Listen, we just saw—listen, I hope you've been listening—we just saw in our country, in the world, citizen pitted against citizen to make sure you're wearing your mask the right way. Well, in the time of Antichrist, they're going to be citizen pitted against any citizen who decides they're going to preach from the Bible what it says. My point is, there will be those to make sure there's no preaching of the truth without consequence. And thus, the tribulation converts, and the tribulation martyrs, and the tribulation 144,000 who are protected, and the two intolerant preachers of God's truth who lead the 144,000 to Christ, they will be protected only for a while, and then they too will not be tolerated. So, the return of Christ—well, the return for his church is the evacuation, the return seven years later with his church is the invasion.

Jude chapter—pardon me, Jude 14, the 14th verse of Jude. Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints. That goes along with what Jesus was saying here in verse 24, but in those days after the tribulation, and he talks about the sun being dark, and he says, then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and that will be us with him. He's not coming alone, though he could. Revelation 19, 14, and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses, taking no nonsense. It doesn't say that last part, but that's what's happening. Now, hold that into your thoughts, that part about clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Just bookmark that. The objective when he returns with us is to rescue Israel from extinction and to rescue humanity, what's left of it from extinction. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Now, if you say, I don't like that, it's too bad.

You're not liking it, it's not going to make it go away. Not liking what the Bible teaches does not stop it. It continues on, and it will outlive everybody who is against it. But there in 2 Thessalonians, Paul is saying, God is going to come deal with this. He is not going to wink at injustice and corruption and all the evil done to his people and the blasphemy against his name. And then he continues, When he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all who believe. To be admired. So, yes, the beauty of the Lord. Something to behold.

It is going to happen. You don't, well, I'll say it this way. In my younger years as a Christian, it was very easy to feel Christianity. I could feel it when I did sing, I could feel it. But as the years have rolled by and I've taken so many hits, any pastor will tell you this if he's been around long enough.

It's more faith than anything else. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross-Reference Radio. You can search for Cross-Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, right here on Cross-Reference Radio.