Is it true, according to the Bible, that Jesus could come at any second and that's how we should be living our lives? Welcome to the broadcast, friends. This is Michael Brown as we continue our focus on the end times and the second coming on this month's Line of Fire broadcast. We are here every day, five days a week, to infuse you with faith and truth and courage so that you can stand strong on the front lines. Friends, God's church, God's ekklesia, Jew and Gentile together in Jesus on the earth. We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world.
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We'd love to get you on our welcome tour, share more about our ministry and all the different ways that we are here to serve you. All right. When I came to faith, I was taught that Jesus was coming any minute and that this was what the Bible clearly said.
This is what I was instructed. And, you know, we looked at passages in Matthew 24 that no one knows the day or the hour or 1 Corinthians 15 that in the twinkling of an eye that will be changed. And that it seemed that on the one hand, there was a second coming, which would have signs, which we would clearly know it's near. But then there was the rapture where Jesus was coming as a thief in the night and it was at any moment and we just didn't know when. And that's how we lived. And I've shared this before, but let me share it again.
So I'm a believer. I don't know if I was saved for a year or two at this point, but it was the season when you switch your clocks. Nowadays, things are digital, right? So you may have to reset a microwave oven or something like that in your house, but your computer goes to the new time automatically. Your smartwatch, your phones, they go to the smartphones, they go to the new time automatically.
But back then, if you remember, that wasn't the case. So if you forgot to change your alarm clock before you went to sleep and move it back an hour, move it forward an hour, then you wouldn't know the time had changed. So it was one of those seasons and I forgot to adjust my clock, so I arrived at a church service an hour early. Now it was Sunday morning, right? That's when you switch your clocks. Sunday morning, and I arrived for Sunday school, so normally that would have maybe 10, 15, 20 people max. And then the Sunday morning service would maybe have 90 or 100 people. So I show up and there's no one there.
There's not a car at the building. And what's the first thought that hits me? I missed the rapture. Many of you have lived your lives like that and you don't want to sin because if you sin, you missed the rapture. Let me present a different picture today, raise a few questions, and look at the scriptures together. Fair enough?
All right. Number one, we've been waiting for the return of Jesus to the earth since he left. In other words, for 2,000 years we've been waiting for his return.
Every generation that has been waiting for his return has died so far. So while we hope, we pray, we desire to be the generation that sees his return, we say, Maranatha, our Lord come, we say even so, come Lord Jesus, we say your kingdom come, your will be done. We're eager to see him. We long to see him. We long for that day.
We're longing for his appearing in the language of 2 Timothy 4, 8. At the same time, we know that what is certain for every generation up until now is death. Every generation that has lived up until now, everyone has died. Whereas every generation waiting to see the return of Jesus, that hasn't happened yet. So death is certain. And here's what we know about death.
We don't know when it's coming. How many friends, you know, family members that died suddenly? A free car accident, a heart attack, something else happening that was unexpected and unforeseen. So we should always live ready to meet the Lord. In other words, I don't need an any minute rapture to help me to live ready to meet the Lord.
Because number one, I love him and I want to live in such a way that I'm in harmony with him. In other words, I'm not thinking, I better not sin today because if I sin, I might miss the rapture. Or if I sin and I die in my sin, that's not a good way to die. No, we should love the Lord and because we love the Lord, we want to please him. You know, it's just like if you're married to your spouse, you're not thinking, I better not try to commit adultery because I'm going to be caught.
No, you love your spouse. You don't want to commit adultery. So the first motivation for living right is we love the Lord. And secondly, yes, if the motivation of wanting to die in a right state with him matters to you, then always live ready. There's that old Jewish saying, repent one day before you die, but since you don't know when you're going to die, repent every day. So every day we seek to live lives ready to meet the Lord at any moment because we don't know when our final breath will be.
All right, so I don't need an any minute rapture to help me to live like that. The question is, is it biblical? Is it scriptural? Does the Bible know this idea of Jesus could come at any moment? Let's start with the idea of Jesus coming like a thief in the night. That's a theme that's found many times and Jesus speaks of it himself, even warns in the book of Revelation that he'll come as a thief. And Paul writes about this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And he says there that I don't need to write to you about the times and the seasons because you yourselves know that the Lord's coming is a thief in the night.
And as everyone is saying, peace and safety, sudden destruction will come. But then Paul continues right into the Thessalonians, in 1 Thessalonians 5, and says, but you are not children of the night that he should come like a thief because it's like a thief in the night. You're children of the day.
Therefore, because we are children of the day, we will understand the times and the seasons. He is not coming as a thief for us who understand the times and seasons. He's not coming as a thief in the night for those of us who live in the daylight.
If you live in the daylight, he's not coming as a thief. So that's the first thing to consider. Here's another thing to consider. Is there a separation in the New Testament between the return of Jesus in the clouds where we're caught up to meet him and the return of Jesus to the earth? We've gone into some depth about that in previous days to say that it's one and the same event.
It's two sides of the same coin. We are waiting not for a secret event that almost touches down on the earth but doesn't fully arrive. We are waiting for what? The parousia, which is the arrival of Jesus. We are waiting for the epiphania, which is his appearing.
This is something public and seen. We are waiting for his apocalypses, his revelation. And it says that the coming of the Son of Man will be like the lightning shining from the east to the west. Every whole world will see it. Every eye will see him.
It's one and the same event. So we are looking for what? Longing for his appearing. Not for a secret rapture, but for his appearing. So he appears in the clouds.
The whole world sees him. We are then caught up. The dead and Messiah rise first. We who are alive and remain are transformed. At that moment, we receive our resurrected bodies. We ascend to heaven with him. And 1 Thessalonians 4, this meeting in the air.
The Greek word for meeting is often used in the ancient world for when you would meet the emperor or the major official outside your city and then escort them in. So we go to meet the king to escort him back to earth. And as I've said many times, it's an extraordinary picture of the triumph of God. Here you've got believers in the midst of persecution. Believers under attack from Satan. Believers hated and despised by the world. Our savior mocked as powerless.
He'll never come back. You believe in myths and fables. He appears for the whole world to see him.
We are caught up together with him and transformed and together with him to send to the earth where he sets up his kingdom. It is one and the same event. And although we don't know the day or the hour of that event, we know that there will be signs preceding it. The idea that the rapture has no signs preceding it and the second coming has signs preceding it makes a distinction between rapture and second coming. Whereas the New Testament uses the same vocabulary to describe both.
Why? Because they are two sides of the same coin as we have emphasized. So the idea that there is a separate signless event which could happen at any moment and then the second coming preceded by signs, I strongly differ with that. If there is a seven year tribulation and we don't know the day or the hour but Jesus is coming at the end of seven years, well then we can know the day or the hour. Because we just look at the first day of the tribulation or the first day of the great tribulation which is the second half of the tribulation period and we can just count the days.
That is making a massive assumption. That is making the assumption that you're going to be able to say, this is when the tribulation began, this is when the great tribulation began. I have people writing to me all the time, Dr. Brown, I believe the tribulation has started, I think we're now in the tribulation, I think we're in the beginning of the great tribulation. It's not just going to be like some giant clock out there or some giant calendar, day one of the tribulation, day one of the great tribulation. No, it's not going to be like that where you can know the day or the hour but you should know the times and the seasons. And that's why Jesus in Luke tells the disciples, when you see these things happening, look up, your redemption draws near. And it'll be so clear, it'll be so powerful, it'll be so dynamic that we'll be able to see the shaking will be that definite.
The day, the hour, we won't know but the times and seasons, you better believe we will know. Alright, important announcement and we will be right back. I'm Dr. Paul Burnett, a board certified doctor of holistic health and I've got some exciting news for you today about an amino acid formula scientifically shown to build lean muscle, improve strength and reduce recovery time at any age. Dr. Robert Wolf was a researcher of muscle health who raised 20 million dollars to fund 30 years of research and now this formula is available in TriVita's MyoHealth.
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So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at TriVita.com. Thanks for joining us on the Line of Fire broadcast today. Michael Brown, so glad to be with you. A little later in the broadcast we'll tell you about the textbook that we're using along with the Bible for this month's series. Professor Craig Keener and I, Craig is one of the world's foremost New Testament scholars and probably the world's foremost Bible background scholar when it comes to the New Testament documents.
Craig Keener, his Acts commentary is about 6000 pages long. He's working now on what will be the most comprehensive commentary on the Gospel of Mark in human history. But the miracle of this book is somehow Craig and I were able to write it together and it's only a little over 200 pages, not afraid of the Antichrist. Okay, maybe you differ with the points I've made so far. Maybe you have a different reading of Scripture and we don't divide over these things. We can still work together for the Lord, for the Gospel, for the lost, despite having differences about the end times.
You see, I'm not all worked up about it, I'm not mad if you have a different view, so please don't get all upset if I've challenged some things. The question is, Lord, what does your word say? And if you believe I'm an error, pray that God would bring me into the truth. What I like to do is pray the same prayer for myself that I pray for others. So I pray, Lord, bring us all into the truth together. My friends that differ with me, where I have a blind spot, where they have a blind spot, show us. And when we're believing what's true, confirm it through your word.
And let's just pray that as we grow. But I want to present some ideas to you that the New Testament believers did not believe in an any-moment rapture. The apostles did not believe in an any-moment rapture. Now for sure, Jesus taught against the idea of the King's never coming back, the Lord's never coming back. He talks about, you know, the King or a landowner going on a distant journey. And while he's away, some of his workers say, he's never coming back, we could just party. And he's going to come at an unexpected moment. So for those in sin, he will come at an unexpected moment. For those in complacency, he will come at an unexpected moment. We never want to have that idea. The scoffers referenced in 2 Peter 3, where's the sign of his coming? What happened?
Where is it? We don't ever want to be like that. He's never coming. It's going to be centuries and centuries if it ever happens. We don't want to have that attitude. We want to live with the hope that we can see him return in our lifetimes. But the question is, did the New Testament disciples think that Jesus could come at any moment?
Number one, you have the Great Commission. Go into all the world, make disciples of the nations. Gospel being preached, beginning in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, out of most parts of the earth. So before they'd even started their mission, before they had preached to the first people, before he had gotten throughout Judea and then Samaria, they certainly couldn't have thought that Jesus is coming any minute.
Obviously, they're just starting in their mission. So they couldn't have initially thought he's coming any minute. Not only so, but in Acts chapter 3, Peter preaches to his Jewish people, and he says, repent then and turn to God that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, that he may send the Messiah whom heaven must retain until the time of the restoration of all things spoken of long ago by the prophets. So Peter's saying that the Lord will not return until there's national Jewish repentance, and the time comes for the restoration of all things. So there's no way that with the Gospel just barely penetrating the Jewish people, that Peter and the apostles could have thought he's coming any minute, he's coming any minute when they knew there's this massive work that still needs to be done. Now, it could happen overnight, the Gospel could spread overnight, more people could be reached in six months than in 600 years. God does those kinds of things, and that's why we can't just have a strict timetable, because God can accelerate the pace. There's a verse in Isaiah 60 in Hebrew, I am the Lord, I will hasten it in its time. So when the final moments are here, God can speed those moments. He even speaks in Matthew 24 in terms of the final upheaval of shortening those days for the sake of the elect. And that also tells you you can't count the exact days because they can be shortened. So again, we don't know the day or the hour. But suddenly the apostles understood that Jesus could not come any moment when the Great Commission had just begun. And let me ask you this, do you believe that Israel being in the land again today is a sign that we're in the final generation or approaching the final generation?
Do you believe that's a sign? Well, if you do, now many of you don't. But if you do, then that would indicate that before Israel was back in the land, before the Jewish people were back in the land, before the modern state of Israel was reconstituted, that you recognize that Jesus could not come yet, because the Jewish people had to be back in the land before he would return. So just a further thought for you.
Even on a very practical, simple level. Peter. Jesus tells Peter about how he's going to die as an old man. And in 2 Peter he says, yeah, the times come from my putting off this earthly tent. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul talks about, yeah, the time for his departure is here. So in point of fact, Peter understood from Jesus that he was going to be an old man, an older man, and he was going to die by crucifixion. That's what Jesus told him in John 21.
Not explicitly, but clearly enough. And Paul understood that Thomas Martyrdom was there. So, how could Peter have believed, and in any moment rapture, hey, maybe Jesus will come when I'm 30 years old, or when I'm 40 years old, or if Jesus is telling him when he's an old man, how he's going to be treated, and what's going to happen to him, and how he's going to die by crucifixion. So, I just throw those thoughts that there are many more things I could say, but no, I do not believe that the Bible teaches in any moment rapture. Nor do I believe it's helpful to live in that way.
So let me say this again. We should always be ready to meet the Lord at any second. I don't need an any minute rapture for that.
I'm ready to meet the Lord at any second, number one, because I love him, and want to live in fellowship and harmony with him, and number two, because no one knows the day of their death, the moment of their death. You could be talking, and a plane could come crashing down on your building. There could be a sinkhole as you're driving home from work that swallows up your car. There could be some freak, freak things happen, totally bizarre freak things, and people die every single day.
Someone with a heart attack about to happen, they don't know it, high blood pressure, silent killer, I don't need to be morbid, I'm just saying, you don't know. It could be any second. So I don't need an any minute rapture to have me ready to meet the Lord. But not only do I not need it, not only do I find it not scriptural, I find it unhelpful, because it takes away a multi-generational mentality. It takes away thinking about children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and the generations to come.
You say, but he's coming in a minute. And that mentality is what takes us out of being in positions of influence. Look, the 1960s, counterculture revolution, America shifted. Many Christians thought this is the final apostasy, the final rebellion.
I remember hearing it as a new believer in 71, 72. We're out of here any minute. So we weren't thinking about changing the world, because we're out of here. And yet, and yet, what actually happens? People with other agendas, radical feminists, Marxist leftists, gay and lesbian activists, they had a different vision for America.
They felt that their plan for America would be best for the nation, and they've been very successful in implementing it when we thought we're out of here. So while we have life, let's live. Let's live with a multi-generational mentality, and if the Lord interrupts it along the way, wonderful, glorious.
So I'm running with a baton in a relay race. My goal is to hand it straight to Jesus at the final generation when he returns. But if not, I'm going to hand it to the next generation and the next to the next. I spend much of my time teaching young people, college age, pouring into them, not because I think any second we're all out of here, but because I know there's a calling on their lives. And I got saved 52 years ago being told Jesus is coming any minute.
That was 52-plus years ago, and the clock keeps ticking. So let's have a multi-generational mentality. Let's turn the world over to our kids, grandkids, by God's grace, better than when we got it as the gospel gets extended through the Great Commission and the light continues to shine, and let us pray and work towards the soon coming of the Lord Jesus.
This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener-supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the Word and prayer in your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, and click Donate.
