Our Blessed Hope In The Rapture - Part 2

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. Well, if you were with us last week, we began a two-part message titled, Our Blessed Hope in the Rapture.

And so today we're going to conclude the message with part two. And as we discussed last week, this doctrine of the rapture is a message of great hope. It is a message of great comfort for those of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. But for those who are on the earth, who have rejected Jesus Christ, who will not go away in the rapture, it's not going to be a time of comfort. It's not going to be a time of hope, but it's going to be a time of chaos. It's going to be a time of panic.

It's going to be a great time of fear. Because in that day, when the rapture takes place, millions of people will literally disappear from the earth. There will be unsaved mothers who are out at the playground watching over their little ones. And in an instance, in the twinkling of an eye, their children will literally disappear.

There will be mothers who are unsaved, but yet pregnant with child, seven months pregnant, nine months pregnant. And at that time of the rapture, their babies will literally be taken from their wombs and raptured to be with our Lord. Imagine the chaos.

Imagine the panic. During that time period, planes will fly unmanned, out of control, eventually crashing to the ground, because pilots that have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ will be raptured to go away to be with our Lord. There will be pile ups of cars all over the freeways because there are those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ in the instant. They will be taken away and their cars will become unmanned.

And so there will be car crashes. There will be surgeons in the operating room performing open heart surgery. He will be taken away in an instant. There will be utter fear, panic, chaos, because the surgeon that was there performing open heart surgery will be no more because he will be gone to be with our Lord. Imagine the panic. Imagine the frantic.

Cries and pleas and searches that will be taking place because there are those who will be looking for their loved ones. A husband and a wife will lie down at night to go to bed and upon waking up in the morning, one shall be there and the other one will be gone, taken away to meet the Lord in the air. And there are those out there who hear this, who have rejected Jesus Christ, and they say we're insane. They say we are nuts. They say we are delusional for believing in this thing called the rapture of the church. There was a movie that was made a few years ago, and in the movie they depicted the rapture and they actually made fun of the rapture.

And in the movie, they actually shot Jesus Christ out of the sky as he was descending into the clouds, into the sky to rapture his followers. They made a joke out of it. They were mocking it. They thought it was funny.

They thought it was hilarious. But that should come as no surprise to us who are followers of Jesus Christ, because the Bible says that one of the signs before his coming would be mockers. The Bible says that one of the signs would be those who will be scoffers. Second, Peter Chapter three, verses three through four tells us, knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lust and say, where is the promise of his coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. It is telling us there that there are those who are going to say, yeah, my mama talked about the return of Christ. My grandmother talked about the return of Christ.

My granddad, my aunt, my uncle, people talked about it hundreds of years ago. But yet he is not returned. Where is the promise of his coming? And they will laugh at us and they will mock us and they will make fun of us and they will say we are crazy for believing in the return of our Lord. But second, Peter, three, nine says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but as long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You see, one thing we have to keep in mind that the Bible tells us that a thousand years unto man is as is one day unto our Lord. And so when we put the time periods into God's perspective, Jesus Christ went away nearly 2000 years ago. And so a thousand years unto the Lord is his one day into man. So from our Lord's perspective, he's only been gone two days. But to us, it's been a long period of time. But you see, our Lord is not slack.

As some count slackness. You see, we think about things through the eyes and the mindsets of mortal man, but we have to think about things through the eyes of our Lord. But he's long suffering because it's not his desire that he should perish. Yes, he's delaying his coming only for the sake of giving time for those to come to repentance. If you want to consider it a delay, he's doing it only to give time for those who come to repentance. He's long suffering. He's loving.

He's compassionate. But he's not slack concerning his coming. But it is a message of great hope, great comfort for those of us who will put our faith and trust in our Lord. Because he also says it is a message of protection because for those who are watchful, meaning they are ready for the Lord's return, they are living obedient to his commandments. They will be found worthy to escape the wrath of the great tribulation that is yet to come. Luke 21, verse 36. Our Lord says, Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

Are you living in a way that you will be found worthy? To stand before the Son of Man and to escape the things that are going to come upon the earth, to escape the wrath of God that is coming in the tribulation for those who have rejected him. Revelation three, verse 10. 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. It is obvious that it is not God's plan for Christians to suffer through the wrath that he will pour out upon those who have rejected him as Lord and Savior. Because when his wrath comes, the Bible says it is going to be a time that the world has never seen before, nor ever will see again. It is going to come a time in which a fourth of the world's population will die from a single judgment. It's going to be a time in which the Bible says that people will be tormented with scorching heat and rather than repent, they will shake their fists. They will look up in the sky and shake their fists at God and say, God, this is because of you, rather than repenting and accepting him.

The Bible says there is a time coming in which men will be in such great pain that they will look as if they're in childbirth. A great time of suffering is coming in which the waters will be turned to blood. The moon and the sun will not give us light. Darkness will be cast upon the entire earth. There will be famines. There will be pestilences. There will be murder. There will be blood throughout the streets. But for those who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we are not appointed to the wrath.

Have you trusted him today? Have you given your heart to Jesus Christ or are you living for the devil? Because if you're living for the devil, the time of judgment is coming. A time of great wrath is going to come upon the earth. But again, there are mockers out there who say this rapture, this is all a joke.

This is crazy. This is delusional. But as we look throughout the scriptures, we see many indicators. Yes, it is true for those out there who will argue that the word rapture is not in the Bible. Yes, it is true. The word is not there, but the concept is there.

The the catching away is there. The being caught up to be without law. The concept is there very clearly demonstrated throughout the scripture. And we find symbolism as we look into the culture of that day in which the scriptures were written. And see, this is one of the things that helped me to understand the Bible more as I grew older, is when I began to look at the scriptures with the mindset of the Jewish culture in mind, because, you know, we oftentimes will look at scriptures through the eyes of our Western civilization.

You know, we're kind of self-centered by nature that we'll look at things based on our perspective. But when we when we look at things based on the Jewish culture of that day, a lot of things that may not be clear upon first glance then begin to become clear. And one of the things we find when we come to this concept of the rapture is when you look at the Jewish wedding tradition, because we find symbolism between the pre-tribulation rapture, the marriage supper with the Jewish wedding tradition. The marriage supper is spoken of in the Book of Revelation, chapter 19, verse nine. Then he said to me, right. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb.

And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God. This marriage supper will occur in heaven for all who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And there are great parallels between the Jewish wedding tradition of the biblical days and this rapture of the church, this pre-tribulation rapture of the church. For what we find is that in the Jewish wedding tradition, the groom would go to his father's house to prepare a wedding chamber at the end of an engagement period. He would go to his father's house to build this room, to build this chamber for his bride to be. Jesus Christ, when he left the earth after his resurrection, he went to the father's house to prepare a place for us. As he tells us in John 14, one through three, he said, I go away to prepare a place for you. And where I go, I prepare this place so that where I am there, you may be also. And he said, in my father's house are many mansions. Our Lord went away to prepare a chamber, a mansion for all who put their faith and trust in him.

And in the Jewish wedding tradition, once this chamber was complete, the groom would then go to get his bride, but it would be at a time unknown to her. So she wanted to be ready at all times, make sure she was looking her best, doing her best in her best state. And I was talking to my wife about this and my wife wears this. I call it a beret. I think she says it's called the bouffant. I don't know some kind of headdress that she wears to bed.

And I'll be honest with you. I don't think it's the most appealing thing, but I get it. I understand why women wear it, because you want to protect your hair.

You want to protect it and make sure your hair does not break off and so that when you do get up and you go out, your hair is looking your best. So I get it. I totally understand it. But if we were living in the day of the Jewish wedding tradition. And you were engaged to a man, you would not want to wear that, because if he were to show up at midnight and found you in that state, he just might get turned off. And he might start having some second thoughts. But in all seriousness, the bride would make sure she was ready at all times.

She would want to make sure she was impressive to her soon to be groomed. And so likewise, Jesus Christ, he's going to return at a time unknown for his bride, which is the church. We find that in Matthew Chapter 25. And so we must be ready at all times.

We want to make sure we're found in our best state. We want to make sure that we're ready for our Lord when he comes. In the Jewish wedding tradition, the groom would take her to a wedding chamber where they were sealed for seven days. To where they would consummate the marriage. Jesus Christ, when he comes to rapture the church prior to the tribulation, we will go away to be with our Lord for this seven year period. And our Lord would then be joined with us, his church, his bride. And that is where we will celebrate our union with our Lord.

And then the Jewish wedding tradition at the end of the seven days of this consummation period, the bride and groom would exit to a great wedding feast. But when we look at the rapture of the church at the end of the seven year tribulation, the marriage supper will take place in heaven. And then Jesus, along with all of his saints, are going to exit heaven and we're going to come to the earth to claim our Lord's earthly kingdom. It's going to be a time of great celebration is going to be a time of great victory is going to be a time of great glory as we come to live in our Lord's presence for his kingdom is coming upon the earth.

Are you ready for the rapture of the church? You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles, and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage, and the significance of Lesson Israel, just to name a few.

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our Web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's message. The rapture is coming. And we know that the rapture is coming because there is a restraining force that is currently in the earth. The Apostle Paul wrote about it in 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 7 through 8 for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. You see, this restraining force is the Holy Spirit that is living within us, Christians, all who accept Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us. And so this spirit of antichrist, it is already at work in the earth.

It is already here. But this restraining force, the church, we keep the evil forces at bay. And we keep it at bay by standing for prayer, by standing for justice, by standing for righteousness.

And that is why I encourage people today to get involved because there are those out there who believe that, well, we as the church, we should not be involved in politics. But if we leave the politics for the unsaved, then what are you going to have? You're going to have evil. You're going to have wickedness. You're going to have unrighteous laws and legislations upon the land.

We are to be salt and light in the world. And so we are the restraining force. It is just like today when you are driving your car through a commercial parking lot. And you can't pick up so much speed because there is a speed bump there.

And so you may gain a little speed, but then you have to slow down to get over the speed bump without damaging your vehicle. And so in the same way, the evil forces throughout the world today, they cannot gain but so much influence, they cannot gain but so much speed because they run into one of those Christians and there's the Holy Spirit with a stop sign up saying slow down. You cannot come this way. But once removed, once we are raptured, and once we are gone away to be with our Lord, the evil forces will be allowed free reign upon the earth. And the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, will be revealed. And that is why I encourage you to give your heart to Jesus Christ, because the time is coming. If you think the world is bad today, even with the restraining force that is present, even with us Christians, even with the Holy Spirit that is indwelling us present, look at the evil that we see in the world. Every day you turn on the news and there's a shooting, there's a murder. I mean, it's so commonplace that we often don't even think twice about it. Even to the point now, if you look in Chicago, it seems like every weekend a little child is getting killed through senseless gun violence.

Ten month old children, eight year old, ten year old is becoming commonplace. And so as bad as it is now, once the church is removed, these evil forces will be allowed free reign upon the earth. Give your heart to Jesus Christ today so that you can escape the wrath that he is to come. A lot of the confusion surrounding this doctrine of the rapture, I believe, is settled once we know the purpose of the tribulation, because you see, the rapture is an event that was promised to the Church of the New Testament. It was not promised to the Old Testament. And so when we look at this time period that is coming on as the tribulation, its primary purpose is to bring the nation of Israel to repentance, because Israel, collectively speaking, rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Yes, there are some Jews in the world today who have accepted him, who are Christians.

But for the most part, they do not accept Jesus Christ as the true Messiah. And so the Book of Daniel gives a prophecy is what is known as a 70 weeks prophecy. It's called 70 weeks of years. And so one week is seven years, which means that 70 weeks is a 490 year period.

And so I won't go into the details in this message, but just to give you an understanding of overall what the prophecy meant was it was for the nation of Israel. And it gave segments of weeks of years. And at the end of the sixty ninth week, which is 483 years, the Bible says in the prophecy that the anointed one would be cut off.

That anointed one was Jesus Christ when he was crucified, when he died on the cross, when he shed his blood, his innocent blood for our sins. At that point, God pressed the pause button on this prophecy, so that means that 483 years of the 490 years have been completed. When the pause button was pressed, the church age began, and so we are living in what is known as a prophetic gap.

The church is filling this time period in the church has been existing for approximately 2000 years now. But a day is coming when the rapture takes place and this prophetic gap will be removed. And once that prophetic gap is removed, the last week of this 70 weeks prophecy will be fulfilled. That seven year period known as the tribulation in which God is primarily using that period to call Israel to repentance, to accept, to realize that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah.

Then the clock will begin to tick again on this great prophecy. That is the primary purpose, but it also is to bring all rejecters of Jesus Christ upon the earth to repentance. And so when we understand that the primary purpose of the tribulation, it begins to become even more clear that we as the church are not appointed to the wrath of God because we as the church have been promised. We've been given this promise that we shall not go through this time period that is going to come and test the entire world. The rapture will occur and we must be ready. It is a message of hope.

It is a message of comfort. And there are some out there who may say, well, if all this is true, I have time to get right with God after the rapture. If all this is true, I can just wait until that time comes and then give my life to Jesus Christ and everything will be just fine. But this is a very dangerous game to play because our Lord said in Second Thessalonians chapter two, verses nine through 11, by way of the apostle Paul, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.

And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. So for all out there who think that they could just ignore the urging of your mother, your dad, your grandparents, your aunts, uncles, siblings who have been urging you to come give your heart to Jesus Christ, if you think you can just go and ignore it and then get right when that time comes, the Bible says that God is going to send a strong delusion that you're going to believe a lie and you're going to go the way of the Antichrist. And you're going to be banished to eternal damnation.

So don't play that game about waiting until the time comes. And then you will get right with the Lord because you could even die at any time, even before the rapture takes place. Give your heart to Jesus Christ today. Ask yourself the question, when you die, do you want to be raised to eternal life? John 5 28. Do not marvel at this for the hours coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice.

And then John 6 40. And this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the sun and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ so that on the last day you will hear his voice? So there's only the last day you will be raised up to have eternal life. Except Jesus Christ today is your Lord and Savior while you still have the time. There's this cliche that we often hear. People are so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good.

But C.S. Lewis once said, Our problem is not that we think about heaven too much, but that we think about it too little. Is your mind set on heaven? Is your mind set on the return of Jesus Christ? Where is your mind?

Where is your heart? Because there are so many people that are holding on to this world, holding on to this life is just as if this is all that we have. But no, we were created to be eternal creatures.

We were created to live for eternity. And you're either going to spend eternity in the presence of Almighty God with eternal life, or you're going to spend eternity in the lake of fire where the worm does not. Which side are you on today? Are you on the side of Jesus Christ? I encourage you to give your life to him because the day is coming when this corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. And when this happens, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is seeing in the strength of seeing is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have the victory today in Jesus Christ?

Because that is the only way by which you can have victory is by having Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Do you have the hope of the Lord? Do you have the hope of his return? Do you have that peace and comfort knowing that the day is coming, that if you die prior to this, that the day is coming, that on that day you will be raised to eternal life?

Yes, your body will get out of the grave and be reunited with your soul and spirit. Do you have that hope and joy that if you are alive and remain at the time of the Lord's rapture, that you will be caught up to meet him? If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ, I want to encourage you to give your life to him today. This is a great message of hope. It's a great message of joy.

It's a great message of comfort. Don't listen to the mockers out there. Don't listen to the devil telling you that you've been too, too wrong. You've done too much bad. You've had too much sin. And so God would not accept you. The shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary can wash away all sins. He died on the cross. He went to the grave and then he got up on the third day with victory over sin, with victory over death. And therefore he has victory over anything that is going on in your life.

He has the power. All you have to do is accept it and you can have eternal life, whatever it is that you're going through. Jesus Christ is the way. Jesus Christ is the answer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for this great message, Lord. We thank you for your message of hope and joy and comfort that you promised us by way of the rapture. We look forward to that day when you will come and we can escape the wrath that is to come upon all who have rejected you as Lord and Savior. It is my prayer, Lord, that as we depart from here, that we will pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our website, Godfirst.org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Thank you.