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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. And I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program, on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Today, as we come to the end of our series, What Every Christian Should Know, I thought it was appropriate that we look at the 10th historic pillar of the Christian faith, and that is what every Christian should know about the end times. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Many Christians are woefully ignorant about the end times. Some fear the book of Revelation is too complicated to understand.
Others don't realize how important prophecy is to their daily lives. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares why future events are both comprehensible and extremely relevant. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. I'm so glad you're with us because today's program features my final message in the practical teaching series called, What Every Christian Should Know.
Most of us have become talented multitaskers, right? Because of mobile devices, we rarely spend a moment of solitude because we're forever scrolling through the news and our personal emails. Look, I get it, but sometimes it's helpful to have nutritional reading materials in your hands so that you can fill your quiet moments with spiritual food. That's what we had in mind when Pathway to Victory designed its periodical for you. Pathway magazine is printed in a handy format so that you can take it wherever you go, and it's filled with relevant articles and devotional readings.
Let me introduce you to Pathway magazine. I'll send your first copy without cost or obligation of any kind when you request it from ptv.org. And then this is my very last time to mention my book, What Every Christian Should Know, and I've included a chapter on the end times. If you've had a good intention to request a copy, today's the day to reach out. On this final day of our special time-limited offer, please get in touch with Pathway to Victory to request your copy of my book, What Every Christian Should Know. I'll be sure to send a copy to your home when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
More details are coming later in the program. Right now, let's turn in our Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 3. I titled today's message, What Every Christian Should Know About the End Times. Anticipating the end times motivates us to live in a God-honoring way, and I'm going to try to summarize all of Bible prophecy in 25 minutes. What you need to know about the end times.
Here are the events we're to understand. Right now, we are living in a period of time we call the church age. The church age is that period of time between Pentecost until the rapture, during which Gentiles are invited to participate in the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant.
That's the age that we're living in right now. The church age when Gentiles are invited to participate in the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. Now, when the last Gentile has been saved, that marks the end of the church age and points to the next event, the rapture of the church. What is the rapture? It's the snatching away to heaven of all Christians before the beginning of the tribulation.
The key passage in scripture for the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 16 through 18. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
I was at a cemetery yesterday doing a service. On the rapture day, those graves are going to be opened and all believers' bodies will be snatched up. And those of us who are alive at that time will be snatched up as well to meet the Lord in the air. Thus, we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Now, after the rapture will come the next event, the third event, the tribulation. Here's the definition. The tribulation is the seven-year period that begins with the antichrist when he signs a peace covenant with Israel and ends with Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Bible defines it as a seven-year period of time. What is the purpose of the tribulation?
It's twofold. First of all, the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles. This is God giving Israel and others one last chance to be saved. This final seven years is called Daniel's 70th week that he prophesied over 2,000 years ago in Daniel chapter 9. Remember, the 70 weeks of years, 490 years have been decreed for you and your people.
483 of those years have already passed. There's one seven-year period left, and that is the great tribulation. But it will also be a time of the condemnation of unbelievers. God will pour out His wrath in the series of judgments, the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. God will pour out His judgment on unbelievers. By the way, that's why I am absolutely convinced Christians will not live during the tribulation.
We will not be here for that period of time. Critics of the rapture say, oh, you're just trying to have a quick way to get out of this world so you don't have to suffer. No, that's not truth at all. There is every guarantee that Christians are going to suffer in this world. Christians right now around the world are suffering.
There's no promise to be exempt from suffering in the world. But the suffering the world, the Christians are experiencing right now, is persecution from other people, from unbelievers. The tribulation, that seven-year period, will be the first time in history that the whole world, since the flood, it will be the first time that the whole world has experienced God's judgment, His condemnation. And as a Christian, I never need to fear God's wrath or condemnation. Romans 8 one says, there is therefore now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. God took all of the wrath that you and I deserve, and He poured it out on His own Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus experienced the wrath of God so I could experience the blessing of God. And if I have to quake over the idea of some future judgment of God, then it means the death of Christ was totally unnecessary.
No, no Christian needs to fear the coming wrath of God. That's the great tribulation. The tribulation will end when all the world forces gather together in the valley of Jezreel, the plain of Megiddo that so many of us have been to so many times. It's the battlefield that when Napoleon looked at it, he said this is the greatest battlefield in history of any place in the world. It's that spot that the world forces will gather together to overthrow the Antichrist. That's why they assemble there. They're tired of the world calamity and the judgments against the world.
They're going to blame Him for it, and they're going to try to overthrow Antichrist. But suddenly they're going to look into the sky and see something they never expected. Revelation 19 11, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, and he who sat upon it is called faithful and true. And the armies which are in heaven, verse 14, clothed in fine linen, were following him on white horses.
That's you and me. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, verse 16, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, king of kings and lord of lords. This is the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. That's the second coming. The second coming of Christ is the visible return of Jesus Christ to establish His kingdom. Now, as I said earlier, there are some similarities between this and the rapture, but there are some key differences.
The rapture happens in secret. The only people who will see the Lord in the air will be believers who are snatched up to meet Him there. At the second coming, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess, everybody will see Jesus returning. During the rapture, we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. But at the second coming, Jesus doesn't just come in the air, He comes to earth again. Zachariah tells us His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will be split in two. I'm telling you, when I go to Israel, next to the empty tomb where Christ conquered death forever, to me the most exciting place to stand, as we will do, is that Mount of Olives, to realize this is ground zero. This is where the Lord has promised to return one day.
And why is He coming? To establish His kingdom, the millennium. Here's a definition for the millennium. It is the thousand-year period of time during which Christ will reign on the earth, fulfilling God's promises to Abraham and his believing descendants. God made a promise to believe in Israel, not to national Israel, not to unconverted Jews, but to believing Israel. You don't get into the kingdom by being a Jew. You have to be a believing Jew or a believing Gentile. Even Paul said not everybody who claims to be a Jew is a true Jew.
It's those who believe and accept the Abrahamic covenant and believe in the Messiah. And there's a time when God's going to fulfill His promise to Abraham and his descendants of a land of seed and a blessing. The millennium, you say, oh, that term's never found in the Bible.
Here it is again. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the keys of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, the devil, Satan. And he bound him for a thousand years, a thousand years, milli, a thousand annum years. Six times in Revelation 20, you find the same phrase, a thousand years, a millennium. And he threw Satan into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him. During the millennium, Jesus will be on the throne reigning from Jerusalem.
Satan will be bound. And because of that, there will be a partial lifting of the curse on the world. This isn't the recreated earth. That's still future.
This is a renovated earth. And it's the period Isaiah had in mind when he said people will live longer now that Satan has been removed. Death will be rare.
It won't be non-existent, but it will be more rare. The world will enjoy a time of blessing. Isaiah 11 talks about it as a time that he will judge the poor and decide with fairness the afflicted of the earth. Verse 6, the wolf will lay down with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid. Verse 9, they will not destroy or hurt in my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
This is the millennium. At the end of the millennium comes that sixth event known as the great white throne judgment. It is God's final judgment against all unbelievers who have ever lived. Where do unbelievers go when they die? Right now, they go to a place called Hades. It is a temporary place of intense suffering that Jesus described in Luke 16. But even though they're suffering right now, it's nothing compared to what awaits unbelievers. And at the great white throne judgment, the Bible says Hades will be emptied and all unbelievers will stand before God in judgment.
Look at Revelation 20 verses 11 to 13, and I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. Verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged every one according to their deeds. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Will you notice the subjects of the judgment?
These are all unbelievers, every one of them. Their name is not written in the book of life. Secondly, notice the basis for the judgment. Verse 13 says they were judged according to their works. Why would they be judged by works? Because they said we don't need to be judged by grace.
We don't need Jesus' grace in our life. If there is a judgment, we'll just go by our works. They think their works will validate their entrance into heaven. But the Bible says when they see how short they have fallen compared to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, then and only then will they understand why they deserve why they deserve to be in hell.
They're going to be judged by their works they were depending on and every man will come up lacking. And what is the result of that judgment? Eternal condemnation. Verse 15, and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And that leads to the final period of time in Bible prophecy, eternity future. That is the permanent state of believers inhabiting the new heaven and earth and of unbelievers inhabiting the lake of fire. Once you die, it is too late to make any changes in your eternal destiny.
It is a fixed destiny for both believers and unbelievers. Peter talks about it in 2 Peter 3 verses 7 and 10 about after this great white throne judgment, the present heaven and earth will be destroyed. And John says in Revelation 21, it was at that point I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and earth have passed away and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. John says I saw a new city, the new Jerusalem. Right now Jesus is in heaven building that new city.
I call it the ultimate in prefab housing. It is being built up there. But John says he saw it come where?
Down out of heaven to earth. The new Jerusalem is going to be our primary dwelling place for all eternity. It is not the only place. We will zip around to other places.
But it is going to be our main place. Somebody said how is a city going to be big enough to include everybody? John saw the measurements of the city. In fact, he said in Revelation 21 the size of this city is 1500 miles long and 1500 miles wide. Now, that would be over 2 million square miles.
Tuesday I am going up to New York City to take a special on prayer up there. We think New York is so big, 8 plus million people, it is only 305 square miles. The whole island of Manhattan. And yet it fits 8 to 10 million people. This is going to be over 2 million square miles on a plane. But it is not length and width. It is length, width, and height.
This is a cube. It goes 1500 miles high, these 2 million square miles. That is 660,000 stories high this city is going to be. People say he is speaking symbolically. John says in Revelation 21, 17, these are human measurements. Isn't that interesting? He knew some people would say that just can't be.
He said these are human measurements. It is going to be spectacular what God has planned for us. But you know what to me is even more exciting than what is going to be in the new heaven and new earth.
It is what is not going to be there. You may have seen me on Fox talking about the hurricane. And the anchor said, pastor do you have any word of encouragement for people? I said, well one thing I know for sure, hurricanes, death, and destruction were never a part of God's original plan for this world. And thank God they won't be a part of the next world he has planned for us. Isn't that what John said in Revelation 21, 4? And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there shall no longer be any death, or mourning, or crying, or pain. For the first things, the first world, will have passed away. That is the new heaven.
That is the new earth. God has planned for us. How do we respond to all of that? What should be our response? Three quick admonitions that come from scripture. Number one, stay alert.
Stay alert. It could happen at any moment. 1 Corinthians 15 52, in the moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will be raised in perishable. When Roman soldiers were about to break camp to go to another location, there were three blasts of the trumpet.
The first blast was, strike your tents, fold your tents up, get ready. Second blast of the trumpet, fall in line. And the last trumpet meant, march away. The first trumpet has already sounded for us. God has said, fold up your tents, live as aliens, don't put down roots too deeply, you're just passing through. The second trumpet has sounded, be alert, be sober, we're going to be alert, be sober.
We're awaiting that final blast of the trumpet when we march away into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be alert, stay alert. Secondly, stay focused. You know, the great Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards, when he was 19, composed a list of resolves that would guide his life. One of those was this, resolve not to do anything I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. Now that's wisdom, but there's an even more powerful corollary, and that is, resolve that we should be doing whatever we would do if it were the last hour of our life. What should we be doing since time is short? In 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Paul says, therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain. We need to spend whatever brief time we have left doing that one thing God left us here to do, and that's to go into all the world and make disciples. Stay focused, and finally, stay encouraged.
For those of us who are believers, we have every reason to be encouraged, and no reason to be fearful of the future. Do you remember Charles Dickens' work, A Christmas Carol? Ebenezer Scrooge was such a miserable human being. He lived a miserable life, and he made everybody around him miserable. And remember when the ghost of Christmas future came, he showed Ebenezer Scrooge what the future looked like for everybody's life he had impacted in a negative way.
And then he took him to the cemetery and showed him what his own future was. And Scrooge was devastated by what he saw, and he said, are these shadows of things that will be, or simply shadows of things that might be? The end time events we've just looked at are not shadows of what might be. They're shadows of what will be.
These are set in stone. These things are going to happen according to the authority of God's Word, but God has given you and me the ability right now to make changes in our life that can change how those solid, set in concrete, end time events affect us. Right now, we can examine whether or not we are truly saved or not. We can examine whether we're focused on the things of God or not. And how we change right now will impact our eternity forever. Again, the end time events are set.
We're not going to change that. But how we respond right now will determine whether these events are a prelude to an eternity of blessing or a prelude to an eternity, a nightmare like we've never known. As we come to the end of this study today, I thought Jesus' words in John 16, 33 are a great capstone for this message. Jesus said to his disciples, in this world, you will have tribulation, but take courage.
I have overcome the world. And so will everyone who belongs to Jesus Christ. In the end, that's what every Christian should know about the end times. At the beginning of this practical teaching series, we set out to embrace 10 core beliefs of the Christian faith.
And I believe we've accomplished our mission together. We've been talking about what every Christian should know, 10 core beliefs for standing strong in a shifting world. And that's also the title of my bestselling book, available for one more day.
Remember, today is the very last time I'll mention this exclusive offer. So give us a call, go online or write a letter and ask for my book, What Every Christian Should Know. I'll be glad to send you a copy when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In closing, let me press upon you the urgency of your financial support. We're living in a world that's constantly shifting.
Radical agendas have crept into the church, and it's absolutely essential that we understand and embrace the core doctrines that set Christianity apart from apart from any other religion. Your gift helps us shine the bright light of truth where confusion abounds. We couldn't do this without your partnership. You know, whenever I'm traveling and have occasion to meet listeners, they often ask me how they can help Pathway to Victory. Without hesitating, I explained that the best way to come alongside Pathway to Victory is to become one of our valued Pathway partners. A Pathway partner gives a gift every month and receives exclusive benefits in exchange. You can sign up today by going to ptv.org.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you give your first Pathway partner gift or when you give a generous one-time gift, you're invited to request a copy of the best-selling book by Dr. Jeffress called What Every Christian Should Know. Just call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. And when you give $75 or more, we'll also send you the complete collection of audio and video discs for the What Every Christian Should Know teaching series. You'll get that along with the helpful study guide.
Now this is the very last day that we'll be mentioning this special offer. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You could also send your donation by mail, write to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins.
Wishing you a great weekend. Then join us next week when Dr. Jeffress presents a special collection of messages delivered on location in Israel before the attack by Hamas last October. Discover what took place in Capernaum when you join us Monday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. The Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska with Dr. Robert Jeffress set sail from Vancouver, British Columbia on June 15, 2024. Join me along with musical artists Rebecca St. James and Michael O'Brien and comedian Dennis Swanberg for a vacation you'll never forget.
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