Must Christians Believe in the Rapture?

Will all Christians be raptured during the end times, or will some not be? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. With your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch us on YouTube and send us a message that way, or you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Well, first up today, here is a voicemail we received about heaven. Yes, I have a question regarding where in the Bible it tells the reason that Satan was kicked out of heaven.

Thank you. Yeah, well, thank you for that question. There are a couple of places in the Old Testament where we typically go to describe, or where the fall of Satan, the evil one, is described, and those places are in the prophets. Isaiah chapter 14, that's one place, and then also in Ezekiel chapter 28.

There, it's talking in Isaiah chapter 14, for example, about this arrogant king, the king of Tyre, who essentially fell, but there are some allusions there also to Satan. We read in Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12, How you are fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn. How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will make myself like the most high. And so really the issue here is pride, arrogance, and I think that this is also alluded to actually in the New Testament in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 6. You know, Paul is writing to Timothy about the qualifications for elders, for pastors, and he talks about the importance of humility, not being arrogant, not being full of pride, lest they fall into the condemnation of the devil. So as far as what was it that got Satan kicked out of heaven, and also another New Testament passage you can look at is Revelation chapter 12 where this is talked about, this war in heaven, but typically we would point to pride, that arrogance, wanting to ascend above the stars of God, above all the angels, wanting to be like the most high, and that's impossible, and so the evil one was cast down.

Thank you for that question, and check out those passages of scripture again, Isaiah chapter 14, Ezekiel 28, and then Revelation 12. A great reminder for all of us about pride. Boy, that is one of the things the Lord detests more than anything else, right? Yeah, I know, absolutely, and that's I think precisely why I mentioned that passage in 1 Timothy chapter 3, why Paul brings it up in this discussion about Christian leadership and pastors, you know, that has to be something that all of us are watching out for is this sort of pride that can begin to well up within us.

God resists the proud, and so we humble ourselves before the Lord. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Here's the number to call if you have a question. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Opal in St. Louis, Missouri. Opal, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Pastor Adriel, I would like to know, sometimes when I be praying and I just don't know what else to say, and in Romans 8, 26 and 27, where it gives groanings unto God, unto us, what is the groaning? One of the things I love about here, what we see in Romans chapter 8, is we're called to pray, and because the Spirit lives in us, we're told in Romans 8, we cry out to God, Abba Father, we recognize that we've been adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ, but we're also told here that the Spirit is interceding for us. Likewise, verse 26, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray as we are, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, and he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And so, Opal, one of the wonderful things here is, you're right, sometimes we don't know what to pray, well guess what, the Spirit himself is interceding for us according to God's will, and you know who else is praying for you, Opal, who's praying for the church? Jesus is praying for the church. You see this in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25, it says that he ever lives to make intercession for us, or you remember what Jesus said to Peter. You know, Satan wants to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you. And so the Spirit and the Son intercede, pray for us, and that's what the Apostle Paul is getting at there in Romans chapter 8. And what I do, Opal, when I'm wrestling with prayer, and I don't know what to pray, is just go to the scripture, pray as Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew chapter 6, or open up the Psalms, for example, pray with the psalmist.

I think when we don't have the words, God gives us his word so that we might pray it back to him. Thanks for your question. Thanks, Opal, so much for calling Core Christianity, great to have you as one of our regular listeners.

Let's go to Danielle in Choctaw, Oklahoma. Danielle, welcome to the program, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, I got saved when I was six when I was younger, and I know I had all those fruits getting older into my teen years of just loving the Lord, and loving others, and I had the peace that passes all understanding, and having where in seventh grade I had the things of this world grow strangely dim. But as I got older, I let sin in my life, and for about nine years with bad health, I turned away from the Lord, like in the sense I ran from him, and I just, I fought him. And I'm just wondering, because my love went so cold for the Lord, did I become the person that committed the unforgivable sin, or the A-word? And it's just, it's really scary, because I'm like, I know salvation is eternal, but people say, you know, if they went out from us, they didn't know us, and I'm like, no, I can't explain anything that happened in my life if it wasn't Jesus in those times.

Hey, Daniel, I'm so glad that you reached out to us. Let me say something to you. Our love does grow cold at times. It shouldn't, but we let sin in, we stop pursuing the Lord. I mean, the reality is none of us love the Lord as perfectly as we ought to. And even for genuine Christians, there can be seasons of grievous sin. It doesn't make it okay, but times where we turn, where we wander away, even, like you said, where we run from him. Now, is that the unpardonable sin?

No. The unpardonable sin is unbelief, rejecting Christ and his gospel, wanting nothing to do with it. That's, you know, what the religious leaders were doing when Jesus rebuked them. And what I can say to you is that even when your love grows cold for the Lord, his love, Daniel, does not grow cold for you. He has a perfect love for his people that is steadfast. That's one of the ways that it's described throughout the Bible, in particular in the Old Testament, this steadfast love and faithfulness that the Lord has for his people. And one of the ways he demonstrates that love to us is by continuing to pursue us and to pursue you.

You think about the parable of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. You know, he turns away. He runs from the father.

He engages in all sorts of sinful behavior. He thinks, I'm gonna go back. I don't even know if my father will accept me as a son anymore. Maybe he'll let me in as a servant.

You know, have I done something that's gonna keep him from loving me? And what does the father do there, Daniel? He runs to his son. He clothes him in the best robe.

He throws a party for him. And when you turn to the Lord, even after years, five years, seven years, ten years of running from him, he runs to you. And he lavishes his gifts, his grace, his forgiveness upon you through his son, Jesus.

And so you can rest in that, receive that, embrace it by faith in Christ. God bless you, Daniel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we should let you know that some stations air our program on a delayed basis. So if you'd like to talk to Pastor Adriel live, make sure to call us at these times, 11 30 a.m. Pacific, 12 30 Mountain, 1 30 Central Time or 2 30 Eastern Time. For that 30 minute period, we are on the air live. Now, if you can't call or listen during that time, you can always leave us a voicemail at 833-The-Core.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to James in Newport, Arkansas. James, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Yes, Mr. Adriel. In Judges 16, 4, it shows that Samson told all of his secrets. And when you get to 18, you know, they buried him. And did he get forgiven?

I mean, for doing all that? Yeah, that's a great question. You read the story of Samson in the book of Judges, and it's absolutely tragic, isn't it? Because over and over again, Samson disobeyed the Lord in very clear ways. And it's almost as if, gosh, how did you not know better, Samson? I mean, you're so easily deceived.

You're acting so foolishly. One of the things that I think that the story of Samson illustrates for us, James, is how blinding sin can be. I mean, literally, at the end of his life, Samson was blinded right before his death. But the fact of the matter is, sin has this stupefying effect upon us, brothers and sisters. It blinds us.

It causes us to not be able to see clearly. That's what sin does. That's what sin will do in your life. Now, the question of, was Samson saved, I think is answered for us in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 11, where the author of the Hebrews talked about the Hall of Faith. And what's so encouraging to me is that despite the fact that Samson had this very tragic life where he continually rebelled and failed in miserable ways, at the end of his life, he cried out to the Lord.

And you know what? He's described in Hebrews 11 in the Hall of Faith as one of those who belonged to the Lord. And so, yes, I would say despite the fact that he met this tragic end and that throughout a lot of his life, he did things that were just outrageous, foolish.

He should have known better. God was still merciful to him and he still had faith. And so I would say look at that text in Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Faith, and that would be a good place to go for your answer. Thanks for that question, James. Great question, James. You know, when I was a kid, Adriel, and I first read about Samson, I was always afraid to go to a female hairstylist because I thought, you know, what could happen? Yeah. Yeah. Well, that would be the wrong application of the story of Samson. Okay, thank you. Thanks for pointing that out.

I'm sure you know that now. All right, let's go to Paul from Johnston, Rhode Island. Paul, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Yes. I was wondering what you would say is it right and beneficial for us to anoint ourselves with oil for healing daily? Hey, Paul, thank you for that question. Well, you know, James in James chapter 5, he talks about if anybody is sick, let them call the elders of the church and let them anoint the sick individual with oil, praying with faith that there would be healing. I don't think you see in scripture places where people were anointing themselves. In the Old Testament, typically, you know, this anointing had to do with being placed in a prominent position in a particular office in service to the Lord. So the kings of Israel, for example, they would be anointed. The priests would be anointed. The prophets would be anointed. It was a sign of God's blessing and a sign of God's Spirit. It wasn't magic oil or anything like that.

It was a picture of God's presence and of God's Spirit. And so in scripture, you do have, even in the New Testament, as I said, examples of being anointed, praying for healing. I don't know that I would say, yeah, it's something you should do to yourself every day. I don't think you have examples of that in the Bible. I say save your oil for cooking and for other things. But if you're sick, do what James said in James, Chapter 5, and go to the elders of your church and ask for prayer and ask them to anoint you with oil and pray for healing. Now, we don't know whether or not God will always heal us. It's something that's in the Lord's hands, but it is something that we're encouraged to do.

And so that's what I would encourage you to do, brother. Thank you for that question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. One of the books of the Bible that can seem very mysterious and confusing to Christians is the Book of Revelation. Well, we have a free core guide we'd love to send you that will help you understand that book better. It's called Five Things You Should Know About the Bible's Final Book. Again, we've been offering this resource for a few days now because we get a lot of questions about the end times and in particular about the Book of Revelation. How do we understand, you know, these numbers and this sort of apocalyptic symbolic imagery?

It can be hard to make sense of. And so this resource is going to help you sort of go through the weeds in the Book of Revelation and understand really why it was written and how it can benefit you. It's called Five Things You Should Know About the Bible's Final Book, and it's yours for free. We'd love to send that to you. Just go to our website corechristianity.com forward slash final book corechristianity.com forward slash final book. You can also call us for that at 833-843-2673.

That's 833 the core. Well, let's go to a voicemail we received yesterday. This has to do with the end times. Will a believer that does not believe in the rapture be raptured?

Yeah, well, thank you for that question. And for those who are unfamiliar with, you know, some of this, we're talking about the end times and there are all sorts of different views about the end times. One view is that there's this thing called the rapture, the rapture of the church.

I mean, it's held by Bible-believing Christians. The idea is that at any moment, Jesus can come appear in the air and that those who are believers, those who belong to Christ are going to be caught up together with the Lord in the air. And the rest of the people on earth are going to be left behind and experience tribulation, trial, a period of judgment. Now, this comes from the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where Paul talks about the coming of the Lord.

And I just want to read those verses. 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 13, Paul said, We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive and who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words. These really were words of encouragement from the apostle Paul. Now, there are others who believe, you know, there's not going to be, you know, a rapture of the church first and then a later second coming of Jesus. But these events, what's being described there in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, is really just referring to the day of the Lord. The final judgment, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And actually that makes sense to me because later in 1 Thessalonians in chapter 5, the apostle Paul begins talking about the day of the Lord.

Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. And now, your question is, if someone doesn't believe in that first view that I articulated, the rapture, will they be raptured still?

Well, I think for those who hold that view, and I don't want to speak for them necessarily, but I have a lot of friends who do take that position, they would say, yeah. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, you would be. But again, this is something where there is difference within the church. What we need to affirm though in terms of core Christianity as it relates to the end times is that Jesus is coming back. And we need to be ready that Christ is going to return bodily to judge the world and to redeem his people. And I think that those events happen actually at the same time. This is articulated in 2 Thessalonians by the apostle Paul, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 7 through 10. The redemption of God's people and the judgment of the world, they're contemporaneous events.

They happen at the same time. And so, that's how I would answer your question, brother. Thank you so much for that question, and may the Lord bless you. And again, we have that great resource available for you on the book of Revelation, which will help explain even more about the end times and what the Bible says about that. There are five things you should know about the Bible's final book. You can find that at our website, which is corechristianity.com.

Let's go to Jason in Goodman, Missouri. Jason, what's your question for Pastor Adrian? My question is that if you sit there, I got stage four colon cancer and the doctors gave me three and a half to six months to live. And I figured this is my second chance to get right with God.

And in between the time before I got sick, I lived my life horribly. My question is, is there a limit or a time limit that God gives you before He don't listen to you anymore? Jason, I want to take some time to pray for you as well, but let me just say, brother, God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And the mercy of Jesus Christ is far greater than our sin. There is an ocean of mercy for those who turn to God by faith. Jesus, the redemption that Jesus accomplished is sufficient to cleanse all of our sins, all of your sins.

It doesn't matter how bad you live. You think in the New Testament about the people that God brought to Himself, people like Saul of Tarsus, a murderer, someone who was persecuting the Church of God. You think about God's mercy on King David in the Old Testament, a man who committed adultery and murdered as well. God is merciful when we turn to Him. And so you can turn to the Lord, brother, and you can look up, you can raise your eyes to Him, and all those who trust in Jesus Christ will be saved. That is the promise of the gospel.

And so you can take that to the bank. And, you know, sometimes we turn to the Lord because of circumstances. We don't know why those things happen. We know we live in a world that's full of sin, and our bodies are broken, they're deteriorating, we experience disease and sickness, things like cancer. But that doesn't mean that God does not love you, and that doesn't mean that God has rejected you. I would say look up to Him, look to Christ, and receive the grace that He has for you. And when you do, like I said, Jason, there's all the reason to be hopeful. Let me pray for you. Father, I pray for Jason. I pray that you would give him an overwhelming sense of your love. I thank you that he called, that he reached out to us. We do pray for healing in his body, but most of all, Lord, even healing in his spirit.

As he looks to you, that he would know beyond a shadow of a doubt your love, your forgiveness, the free grace that you have for him in your son Jesus, who shed his blood for the forgiveness of all of our sins. May Jason truly grasp that, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. And Jason, we will continue to pray for you, brother.

Thank you so much for your call. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Time for one more question. This is Donald from Wichita, Kansas. Donald, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, I wanted to know who my response would be for a transgender person. I want to speak to them lovingly, but I want to give them the information based on biblical ideas. Now, I appreciate the fact that you want to speak lovingly, but you're engaging someone who maybe doesn't get a lot of engagement with other Christians.

I would say love this person, get to know them, get to understand what's going on in their history. There is such a thing as gender dysphoria, and it's a condition that really is devastating. People need help, and ultimately, what you want to do is you want to be a friend, and you want to be someone who can share the love of Christ with those who desperately need it. We all desperately need it, and so I would say the Scripture is very clear. As far as things like gender are concerned, we know that we also live in a fallen world, and so I think you can talk about that reality, the fact that we live in this world that is broken, and where our desires are broken, our sense of identity is broken, and that's why it needs to be renewed.

And where is it renewed? Well, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 and in Colossians 3, it's renewed in Jesus Christ as we put on the new man by faith. And so love this person and point them to Jesus and to the grace of Jesus for everyone. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.