The Rapture – Is it Real? - Part A

That is what is going on emotionally in the minds and hearts of the disciples during this event, during the supper. They're being filled with anxiety, filled with trouble. Jesus has announced that He is going to leave, and so He comforts them. He gives them a promise.

I'm going to leave, but I'm going to come back. Jesus is going to return one day, and He'll be coming for His people. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip explores the moment when Jesus returns for His church, a major event of which you can be a part. But before we begin, we want to share about a resource that will encourage you as you explore the faith and failings of prominent women in the Bible.

What stands between you and a more fruitful walk with Jesus? Find out how four prominent women in the Bible faced their struggles in a new teaching series from Lenya Heitzig called Queens of the Bible. Here's Lenya on the Queen of Sheba. Hearing is the first step towards spiritual blessing.

Right now, hearing is a step toward blessing because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Hear more from Lenya as she explores the faith and the failings of four different queens in Scripture. The Queens of the Bible collection of teachings is our way of saying thank you when you give $35 or more today to support this Bible teaching ministry. Look, the cost of following Christ is to go wherever He leads. Get your copy of these unique teachings when you call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer.

Connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, let's get into today's teaching. We're in John chapter 14 as we begin our study with Skip Heitzig. When I came to Jesus Christ, I was about 18 years of age, and I remember that there were bumper stickers that people were putting on their cars at that time that said, Jesus is coming soon. And then I noticed bumper stickers that said, Jesus is coming. Are you ready? And then I saw one that said, Jesus is coming.

Look busy. And I even remember something to the effect of Jesus is coming and boy is He ticked off. But all of those bumper stickers had a message no matter how they were formed, and that is the promise that Jesus Christ is coming.

And I want to talk to you about that today from God's Word. Specifically, Jesus coming for His church, something we call the rapture of the church. I'll be honest with you, the first time somebody told me about a rapture, I stopped them and I said, what? Explain this to me. And they said, well, yeah, Jesus is going to come back for His church. We're going to be taken up into the air. And I had never heard that concept before being raised in the tradition I was raised in.

I'd never heard that. And I told them, I said, you got to be kidding, right? You don't actually believe that's going to happen. He said, well, the Bible says it's going to happen. I said, nah, that's probably a misreading of it.

So He gave me all the texts and I went home and I read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, John chapter 14, and others. And I remember thinking, He's absolutely right. That's exactly what the Bible predicts will happen. As outlandish as it sounded to a young convert at the time, I quickly realized the Bible indeed predicts this event. But I didn't understand how that event was going to work, or I didn't understand how it would motivate a person. And I even remember having some friends who got so geeked about the coming of the Lord, they became irresponsible in their present day life. So they were thinking like, I'm just going to bail out of school, or I'm going to charge things up on my credit card, Jesus is coming anyway, I'll never have to pay them back, and all sorts of all sorts of irresponsible behaviors. And I even found myself praying for the Lord's soon return at very opportune times for me personally. So like just before a final exam, even so come quickly Lord Jesus. Or when there were lights flashing in my rear view mirror and I was being pulled over by a law enforcement officer and I remember thinking, Lord this would be a great time for you to show up right now.

In fact I think it would make a real impact on the officer trying to give me this ticket. One time, it was in the summer, I had been a believer a few months. I had come to believe in this doctrine that I am presenting to you here today and the Bible clearly presents. And I remember going to a home Bible study one evening, I knocked on the door, there was no answer, knocked on the door again, no answer. The door was ajar enough that I just sort of imposed myself because I knew these people. I opened the door, I walked into the living room and there on the living room floor were scattered Bibles of people by chairs and by pillows and there were like a jacket and notebooks and it was obviously people had been in that room. And I looked and all I saw was that and no people. And of course I panicked. My immediate thought is the Lord has come back for his church and I wasn't ready.

I wasn't taken. I freaked out and I start hyperventilating and panting and walking through the house and calling out names and finally I get into the back of the house where the kitchen is and in comes the group of people from the backyard through the kitchen into the living room saying, hey, Skip, what's up? And I thought they were playing a joke on me and they said, no, there was just a low flying airplane in the backyard and we were all watching it do stunts.

But I got to tell you, I will never forget the feeling of thinking I was left behind. Speaking of low flying airplanes in that era, there was a vanguard Christian musician by the name of Larry Norman who wrote a song about this event, about the rapture. And he gave it an interesting title. He called it UFO. And the words are, he's an unidentified flying object. You will see him in the air.

He's an unidentified flying object. You will drop your hands and stare. You will be afraid to tell your neighbors. They will think that it's not true. But when they open up the morning papers, they will know they've seen him too. He will come back like he promised with the price already paid. He will gather up his followers and take them all away. He's an unidentified flying object. He will sweep down from the sky. He's an unidentified flying object.

Some will sleep but will not die. I love that song when it came out. Probably most of you here don't remember that, but it made a great impact on me and kind of placed me in that awareness that the Lord could come back at any time. Jesus said he was coming back. We're going to read that again in John chapter 14.

Remember in 1984, Terminator 1, some of you remember Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line in the police station, I'll be back. Jesus said it first. He said it to his disciples the night he was having the last supper with them in that upper room. Let me show you the words. John chapter 14, verse 1.

Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. You believe in God. You believe in God. I also am God.

Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions, better translation, more literal translation, rooms, rooms, abiding places. In my father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know. And the way, you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. Now, to understand the rapture as presented in John 14, it helps to have a little bit of background in the Jewish wedding tradition because it's based on that. When a young man in Judaism came of age to get married, he would go to the bride's house and enter into a formal engagement, a betrothal. He may have had that wedding arranged since he was a child, but about a year before the wedding, he's going to enter into an engagement, a betrothal. After that, he goes back home to his father's house and begins to build a room onto it, where he and his bride will live after the wedding. When the time for the marriage has come, he goes to his father, asks permission to go get his bride, and then he goes from his father's house to the bride's house unannounced. Makes no announcement, she has to be ready in advance, she has to be ready at all. She has to be ready in advance, she has to be ready at all times, along with the wedding party. And when the groom is in the neighborhood near the house, somebody blows a trumpet, a shofar, announcing that an event is taking place. Then, when he gets to the bride's house, the groom lets out a shout, introducing himself that he has come to get his bride. At which point, she follows him back to his father's house, where they have the wedding and then the wedding feast that lasts about typically seven days.

That's the Jewish wedding. Now, Jesus is here at a meal in an upper room in Jerusalem with his disciples. It is the last night he spends with them before his passion, the cross. His public ministry is over, the nation has rejected him, the cross lies directly in front of him, and so he turns his attention, his words, his instruction, and his comfort to his most intimate friends, his followers, the apostles. What I want to show you in the verses that I just read and other verses are four aspects of Jesus coming for his church, four aspects. The first aspect is the comfort of his coming, the comfort of his coming. He begins by saying, let not your heart be troubled. There's only one reason somebody says that, and that would be because his audience is troubled, and they were troubled. Anxiety was filling the hearts of the apostles moment by moment during that meal because Jesus has made some announcements.

So let's look at it. Go back, if you don't mind, just to a few verses to get the flavor of this back into the previous chapter, chapter 13, verse 33. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I have said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come, so I say to you. Well, that's quite an announcement.

They didn't expect that. Oh, by the way, boys, I'm leaving. I, your Messiah, who has come, am leaving soon, and you can't follow me. Go down to verse 36. Simon Peter said, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterward.

Well, that's sort of enigmatic. So Peter said to him, Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for your sake. You can feel the trouble going on in Peter's heart. And then by the time we get to chapter 16 in verse 6, Jesus says, because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. That is what is going on emotionally in the minds and hearts of the disciples during this event, during the supper.

They're being filled with anxiety, filled with trouble. Jesus has announced that he is going to leave, and so he comforts them. He gives them a promise.

I'm going to leave, but I'm going to come back, and I'm going to get you. Now, look at, again, that command in verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. It is a command. It's an imperative.

And the way it is written in the Greek language, it is a present passive imperative, which simply means he is giving a command for them to stop an action that is already going on. It's already going on. It already has begun. The anxiety has begun, and Jesus says, stop it. Stop it. Literally, it's let not your heart continue to be agitated. Stop being stressed. Stop freaking out. Now, the fact that it is a command shows me that we have the power to control emotion.

This kind of emotion can be controlled. The fact that Jesus says, stop it. I'm giving you a command to do it. Whenever Jesus gives a command, he gives with the command the capability to obey the command. He wouldn't give you a command that's impossible. So he gives him a command. With the command is the capability to keep the command. You have the power to obey the command.

With the command is the capability to keep the command. You have the power to stop freaking out. Why do I say that to you?

Because the world is freaking out. And as a Christian, you have the power to not allow your mind, not allow your heart to be overwhelmed. Let not your heart be troubled. Let that be Jesus' word to you. Let not your heart be troubled.

I'm giving you a command to stop freaking out. II Corinthians Chapter 10, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Romans Chapter 12, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 1 Peter Chapter 1, gird up the loins of your mind. That's an old-fashioned way of saying, self-controlled exercise self-control stop going in that direction mentally now what that tells me is this the key to peace is to replace anxiety in the present with the certainty of the future I'm going to say it again the key to peace is to replace the anxiety we feel experience in the present with the certainty of the future you go certainty of the future the future is uncertain that's why we freak out because we don't know what's gonna happen we face an uncertain future yes you do partially of course you don't know what's gonna happen day to day nobody does you don't know who's gonna live who's gonna die what might happen catastrophically around the world nobody knows that but there are certain things you do know and those things you do know ought to bring you comfort and settle your heart it's the same thing that Paul said to the Thessalonians they were also freaking out because Paul had told them Jesus is coming back and the problem is they were being persecuted by the world the persecution was getting worse and to make matters much worse you say Jesus is coming back but a lot of my relatives and friends have died so they're gonna miss the event of his coming so Paul writes words of comfort in 1st Thessalonians 4 he says no the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the air to meet the Lord and so shall we ever be with him therefore comfort one another with these words how would that give them comfort the comfort is you are one day gonna see the Lord and when you see the Lord you're gonna see the Lord with your loved ones they are also gonna see the Lord so there is comfort in these promises folks every tomorrow has two handles the handle of fear and the handle of faith it's your choice which one you're gonna grab you're gonna wake up tomorrow and you're gonna grab the handle of fear most people grab that handle freak out freak out freak out or you're gonna grab the handle of faith if you grab the handle of fear you're gonna freak out if you grab the handle of faith you're gonna chill out because you'll realize God is in control of the future and he has made me pretty incredible promises that are certain so there's the words of Jesus let not your hearts be troubled now to comfort them specifically you'll notice in verse 2 he points their thoughts toward heaven in verse 2 he says in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself though where I am there you may be also think about that for just a moment think about heaven how he describes it first of all heaven is a real place whenever Jesus spoke about heaven he always spoke about heaven as being a real place you know why he did that because heaven is a real place that's why to Jesus it's real he knew what it was like he had been there in in his existence previously he was going back there so he spoke about heaven as a real place but here notice something else he speaks about heaven as a relational place he doesn't refer to it by the word heaven he does in other places but here he calls it my father's house that's relationship in my father's house there are many mansions many rooms he did that to comfort them because when you get to heaven there's gonna be the father you'll see him there's gonna be Jesus your Savior and there's gonna be all those who have followed Christ that are your friends and relatives who died or slept before you there will be that reunion so then heaven is sort of like home your home is precious not because of what you have there but whom you have there heaven is precious because of whom is there so it's a real place it's a relational place the third thing to notice in what Jesus comforts his disciples with is that heaven is a diverse place in my father's house there are many mansions and I I've told you should be translated rooms mansions is sort of an unfortunate translation because when Americans hear the term mansions they're thinking of like Texas oil ranches you know you got like 20 acres and then the mansion the castle and then you got a whole bunch of land and then your castle and you got all this stuff going on it's better to think of it in terms of the Jewish wedding where the groom goes back and adds a room on so there's always room for more you just keep adding and it's especially fun to think of it this way because when we get to Revelation 21 the new heavens and the new earth there's a city that comes out of heaven toward the earth called New Jerusalem and the measurements happen to be given in Revelation 21 John sees an angel measure the New Jerusalem and he says you know first of all I says I noticed this is odd shape it's a cube it's the same depth and height and width and he measures at 12,000 furlongs on all sides that's 1380 miles so a 1400 mile cube descending out of heaven to the earth roughly the size of the moon roughly two million two hundred and fifty thousand square miles and those that have studied that said the New Jerusalem this city could easily accommodate 20 billion people and that's assuming that only 25 percent of the city is used for dwelling places and the other 75 percent used for streets parks public buildings etc 20 billion people and that each person could have a cubicle block of 75 acres on each face to themselves now we don't know exactly what that's going to be like that's just an idea that's an estimation but I like the idea in my father's house there are many rooms I don't know about you but when I get to heaven I'm gonna snoop around I'm gonna be knocking on doors I want to see what your room is like and I'm not gonna be sitting on a cloud playing a harp I'm gonna be very busy just exploring the digs it's gonna be a diverse place and then something else that is in this little comforting promise of Jesus as he directs his have thought their thoughts toward heaven he tells them heaven will be a personalized place because notice that he says I go and prepare a place what what are the next two words for you remember what occupation Jesus had when he was raised by Joseph and Nazareth he was a carpenter now he's a custom builder now he's making things custom built for you it took God six days to create the heavens and the earth he spoke them into existence he's been working on your place for 2,000 years what do you think that looks like don't know but it sounds like it's gonna be awesome he's making it just for you as one little girl said to her father if heaven looks this good on the wrong side what does it look like on the right side well I don't know but it's gonna be something for you that's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series 2020 now here Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong connecting you and many others to the Lord as believers we look forward to the future with hope when Christ will reign for eternity that's good news for the entire world and we want to share that hope found in Jesus with as many people as possible you can be a partner in that through your generosity when you give a gift you also keep this ministry going strong so you can continue to receive encouragement through these messages here's how you can give today visit connect with Skip comm slash donate to give a gift that's connect with Skip comm slash donate or call 800-922-1888 800-922-1888 thank you for your generosity and come back tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares deeper insight into the rapture of the church and how you can be prepared for it at the rapture Jesus comes in the air and we meet him in the air we will ever be with him first Thessalonians 4 but at the second coming Jesus comes from heaven through the air that is through the atmosphere all the way to the earth again at the rapture he comes to claim his bride the second coming he comes with his bride connect with Skip 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