Truth Matters: From the Church Age to the Tribulation

Welcome to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis, but the tribulation will end with the battle of Armageddon. So I'm just trying to go through the timeline as to right now we are in the church age. The church age will end with the coming of the rapture, which Christ will come in the air to take his church back to heaven. The tribulation will begin immediately after that, and we suspect that there will be some type of cosmic type disturbance reason as to explain the number of missing people.

But we know there will be a number of missing people. There will be a large amount of chaos that will usher in the tribulation and with the rise of the antichrist to come promise peace and order in such a chaotic time. The tribulation we know will last for seven years. The first three and a half of them will be peaceful. The last three and a half of them will be great.

And what I mean by great is that they will be terrible. At the end of the tribulation will be the battle of Armageddon, and the second coming of Christ will come at the end of the tribulation. After the second coming of Christ, the earth will be regenerated by fire, and this will usher in the millennium. And we find the millennium mentioned in Revelation chapter 20, 1 through 6. And this is where Satan is bound for 1000 years.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he would deceive the nations no more till the 1000 years were finished.

But after these things, he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for 1000 years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the 1000 years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.

Over such, the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him 1000 years. For 1000 years, Christ will rule as king over all the earth from Jerusalem. This is the 1000 year reign of Christ, also known as the millennium. The saints of God who returned with him for the battle rule with Christ during the millennium. Everyone entering the millennium will be a believer. But children will be born who populate the earth during the millennium, some of whom will rebel at the end when Satan is loosed for the final rebellion. The final judgment, the great white throne judgment, the dead who did not die in Christ and the unbeliever of the millennium will be judged.

Then eternity begins. So, you know, we've we've we've asked a couple of questions. You know, the first question being, how do we know that Jesus is coming back?

We answered that. The second question that we ask. Was what is going to happen when Jesus comes back? And so we've talked about the beginning of sorrows, which is known as Matthew 24, Matthew 24, the rapture that will occur prior to the tribulation, the tribulation that will last seven years, which will usher in the second coming of Christ at the end of those seven years and then the millennium for a thousand years. And at the end of the millennium, the final judgment of Satan and eternity begins.

But I have another question that you may be wondering is how how should prophecy really impact the Christian's life? You know, I know all of that to be true. You know, you may be thinking, yes, all this is true and all of this is in the Bible.

But what does that have to do with today? You know, for for all we know, this could happen tomorrow or it could happen another two thousand years from now. For all we know, you know, just having a mental knowledge of this is not enough. You're having a mental knowledge of the word of God is not enough. But if we don't apply this to our life, if we don't apply the study of prophecy to our lives, then really it's not useful. And there are many benefits to studying prophecy.

So I want to go over a couple of those benefits. So the first benefits we find of studying prophecy is First Corinthians four, verse five. First Corinthians chapter four, verse five. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God. The prospect of a future judgment by Christ should keep us from passing judgment on one another now. We should spend our time in God's work, not in evaluating others.

We should spend our time in God's work, not in evaluating others. So studying prophecy teach us teaches us to spend time now in God's work so that we can build works at the judgment seat of Christ that will gain rewards that will have lasting effects even beyond the time that we are here on earth. Let's turn to First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. You proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Whenever we participate in the Lord's Supper, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. The communion meal is a reminder that we are awaiting the coming again of the one who died for us. Another benefit to studying prophecy that we find is in Colossians.

Colossians chapter three, verses one through four. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. If we understand the future and the coming again of Christ, we will respond to life spiritually, not fleshly.

Let me say that one more time. If we understand the future and the coming again of Christ, we will respond to life spiritually, not fleshly. We will set our affection on things above because we know that is where Christ is and from where he will come to receive us to himself.

Another benefit of studying prophecy is found in 1 Thessalonians 3, 12 through 13. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. If we are to stand blameless before him at his return, we must relate to one another in love during his absence. Our personal relationships are affected by a proper understanding of prophecy. The question that we should be asking is, what does love require?

I know there are difficult people in our life that come in and out and there are relationships that take work. But really, what does love require? For Christ, it required his death. What does love require for us today?

What does love require for us today? Another benefit of prophecy we find in 2 Timothy chapter 4, 1 through 2. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Timothy exhorts pastors to preach the word. You know Paul's writing this letter to Timothy exhorting him to preach the word and do the ministry God has given in light of the return of Christ at which time an account will have to be given for our works. The return of Christ affects our ministries. There should be an urgency to our ministries. The return of Christ is imminent.

Hear what I'm saying. The return of Christ is imminent. Therefore, there should be an urgency in our ministries. But I want to ask you, is there an urgency today in our ministries? Are we working to evangelize this nation as if the rapture is imminent?

Another benefit of studying prophecies found in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much more, so much the more as you see the day approaching. These are really one of my favorite verses in the Bible because it really tells us the importance of church. The closer we get to the day of Christ appearing, the closer we should be drawing ourselves together. And the more often I know the pandemic has challenged that, but we should be assembling ourselves together all the more often because the closer it is to Christ appearing.

As the clouds darken in this world in the last days, every believer will need the church more than ever to remain strong. Another benefit of studying prophecy is found in James chapter five verses seven through eight. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Living in the light of the Lord's return should bring patience and therefore stability to all that we do.

As a farmer learns to wait patiently for his seed to bear fruit, so we wait patiently for the final harvest of God. James one eight. You know, it reminds me of the verse James one eight. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. If you don't live life in an eternal view and if you live day to day, you're going to be double minded.

Any win can toss you and you'll be unstable in all your ways. Let's move over to First John. First John, Chapter three, verses two and three. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. The expectation of his return should drive us to live holy lives. We should purify our lives, knowing and the expectation of his return. Another benefit is found in the book of Jude. Jude Chapter one, 20 and 23. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. If we believe Christ is coming back, we will have a burden for the lost and try to reach them.

Do we truly have a burden for the lost and trying to reach them? First Thessalonians Chapter four really is the last benefit that I wanted to go over in this in this lesson, in particular, First Thessalonians, Chapter four, 16 through 18. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will arise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

There's a certain freedom in which we can live our lives in which we don't have the fear of death. You know, I often see this in the workplace. Those that fear losing their jobs are bound. They're they're not able to bring fresh ideas. They're not able to take chances.

They're not able to live and do their work freely. It's the same thing in the spiritual realm when we live our lives for fear of death. Fear overcomes us, and I've seen that in the pandemic on, you know, early on, I was having a discussion with a physician who was trying to control every detail of his possible exposure to covid, you know, and the Lord spoke to me to say, this is what living without hope looks like whenever we live in light of eternity and know that the power of death has no hold on us because because it has been defeated at the cross. And we have a blessed hope. There's a freedom that we have in living our lives and fear does not overcome us.

And I've seen that in the pandemic. I've seen a peace that passeth all understanding overwhelm a lot of the church to the point that we're able to still worship, knowing that we're taking risks going to church. But we know that that is what is pleasing to God.

So just to review a couple of things that we've gone over. What I want you to understand that the key point of this is that God is an eternal being. And so the Bible is written from a perspective of human terms in which for us to understand, but know that Jesus is coming back.

This is an important point. Jesus is coming back. And how do we know he's coming back? Because whenever he ascended into heaven, the angel said, just as he goes up, he's going to come back in a like manner. But why must he come back?

Why? Why must he come back? Why must he come back the second time? He's got to come back for his church to go be with him. He's going to come back to judge the world. And also he's going to come back to rule the world. Thank you for joining us for today's edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis.