All right, all right.
Well, listen, I tell you, we need to be a praying church, and that's where the power comes from: just asking the Lord to do it. We don't want anything to be done for our own selves or for our own glory. We want it to be done for Him. And so, I encourage you to take that prayer bullet and be praying over these things on a regular basis in your own time frame. And we plan to utilize this additional time that we get on Wednesdays to be able to just pray a little bit more, be a little bit more intentional about what we're praying for.
And I love to get you to pray with one another and different things. We got some ideas that I'm excited about and things like that. But tonight, we get to dive right back into. Our series through Revelation. And if you're just joining us for the first time on a Wednesday, thank you for being here.
We do things a little bit different on Wednesday. I view Wednesday in here as Bible study, an opportunity for us to just dive a little deeper and things like that. On Sunday, you know, we got the whole room filled with different ages and stuff. It's a little bit different. On Wednesday, we get to really go a little bit deeper.
And I hope that you enjoy that. I hope that you're ready for that. And that's what we do. And so if you did not, because I understand we kind of walk in, we're talking to people. If you did not get an outline on your way in, I provide these on Wednesdays to keep you engaged.
Pastor Bailey has some. If you can just flip up your hand if you didn't get one, he'll take one to you and get those to you. And the reason why we do this is sometimes on Wednesdays, I get it. We're tired, we're exhausted, the whole nine yards, and you need to stay engaged, stay awake as much as possible. I did tell a teacher of ours.
That I understand it's first week of school.
So, if they need to lay out in the seat and just go sound asleep, that's okay. The first week of school, I don't care what you do, honestly. I'm just grateful that you're still breathing and you're here, okay? And so, but this outline hopefully will keep you engaged a little bit as we dive into God's word. Here, here together.
And so, Revelation chapter number four is where we are going to be tonight. And we are in a little bit of a transition. And so, I want to show you how we kind of have started because we've gone through, this is week number nine.
So, it's taken us eight weeks to get through Revelation one through three. And chapter four is a little bit of a transition chapter. And so, I wanted to show you, we haven't shown this the last few weeks, our timeline. And I didn't have any printed for us down front, but we've been printing our timeline a little bit for you. I think we have a picture up on the screen, if I'm not mistaken.
Do we have this picture of the timeline? We do not have a picture of the timeline, it's not in there. Oh. Oh, okay. It just says the word timeline.
Just put that up there. There it is.
So All right. And so we don't have a timeline, but many of you, hopefully, this is your timeline, okay? Many of you hopefully have the one that we've printed for you several times in your Bible. If you don't, that's okay. But the way that Revelation breaks down, and everybody loves the book of Revelation.
We love studying about it. We love learning about it. It's such a fascinating book. And the way that it works out is that Revelation chapter number one through three deals with the church age. And so just a little bit of background.
The Apostle John, he's writing this around AD 90 or so.
So he's about 90 years old or whatever. And so he's writing this. He was the last of the apostles to be living. And he gets exiled on the island of Patmos, which was really where Rome, all their prisoners would go. It was like a prison camp for them.
He wasn't on vacation on this island. And he's exiled there because. They felt if they exiled him that he could not be used for God and he couldn't preach in the name of Jesus and things like that. And so he gets exiled to the island of Patmos and he receives these visions from Christ. And all these different visions are for revelation.
That's where we get the name. It's a revealing is what the word means. It's revealing Christ and revealing things that are to come. And in chapter number one, you have really the outline. You can turn back if you want.
Chapter number one, verse 19, you have the outline for the entire book. And it says, Write the things which thou hast seen. That was the apostolic age and the things which are, which is the church age in which John, this was after Christ had ascended. And when he was receiving this, he was in the church age. And that's where we are today.
We're still in the church age. And so that's the things that are and the things which shall be hereafter. which shall be hereafter. The word hereafter is very important because it is a Greek word, metatanta. And I hope I'm saying that right.
I'm sure somebody that's more eloquent in Greek will probably come up and correct me afterwards. And so, but here's what I will tell you, is it's this word hereafter. It's that Greek word meta-tanta. And basically, here it's the same word that we have mentioned two times in Revelation chapter 4, verse number 1. And you're going to see that.
And so what I'm trying to say is that chapters 1 through 3 are all about the church age in which we're living in now. And then in chapter 9. Number four, he gets another vision from the Lord, and it is this word, metatanta, the things that are to come. In other words, everything from here is futuristic. Everything from chapter four on is something that is going to happen in.
In the future.
Now, we haven't gotten to chapter number six, and so we're going to be in four tonight. And we're just going to read two verses here in a moment and kind of get ourselves kind of situated to where we're going. But in chapter number six, on our timeline, chapter six through 18, it describes a Terrible time that is coming for our world. It is the time of the seven-year tribulation. And it's seven years that the scripture says it's going to be terrible.
And we're going to get there. We're going to look at it in detail, chapter 6 through 18. And this time comes, and we're going to look at it. And basically, what's going to happen is devastating events will happen, such as wars. Famine.
Economic collapses. You'll see that there's going to be natural disasters and all sorts of things are going to happen during this tribulation period that John is going to show us in chapter 6 through 18. And really, we have to ask ourselves: why would he allow something like this? I mean, why would God, a loving God, allow such a tribulation? And the reason is, and the best thing I can give you, so God is holy.
And sin has to be punished because of that. A holy, just God cannot allow sin to go unpunished, or else he would not be holy and he would not be just. And we want a holy and just, just God. And so sin has to be punished. But I feel like the tribulation, it's almost like what I would tell you is this: that seven years that are going to be terrible for our world, it's almost like the last call, if you would.
You know when you're flying in the airport? And if you're like me, you're always looking for a deal on your flight and your plane ticket, and all these people that spend a lot more money than you usually get called first, right? And then finally, they get to my thing and they're kind of like, last call, right? Last call for anybody, all the leftovers or whatever. I kind of feel like that's somewhat of what the tribulation is because he's going to pour down his wrath on the world, and it's almost like his last.
Call to kind of trust him as Savior.
Now, I understand that in the tribulation, there's going to be a lot of deception from the Antichrist and different things like that. We'll get to all this eventually, but there's a lot of deception on that. But there are going to be people that are going to trust Christ as Savior during the tribulation, but it's kind of a last call. And that is coming in chapter number six. And we're going to look at it.
But the question is, when that comes, and this is going to be where we're going to be tonight, it's this question. Where are Christians going to be during the tribulation? Those who accepted Christ before the tribulation, where are they going to be?
Now, I promise that I'm going to preach through the book of Revelation, but there are some times you got to kind of teach a little bit, and that's going to be a little bit where we're going to be for a few moments.
So just bear with me. But when we ask this question, where are Christians going to be? There's pretty much three. Um Views that people hold to. And I'm going to give you where I hold to tonight and where I believe scripture is.
I'm not just going to give you my opinion. I'm going to try to support it with scripture so you can see why I believe what we believe about this. But there's three viewpoints out there. The first one is this: it's on your notes. It's called a post.
tribulation or post-trib View of what happens to Christians when it comes to this tribulation period that is coming to our world in chapter 6 through 18. The post-trib view views this. Christians will be taken after the tribulation is over.
So there are some people, and this is why you got to be careful. We all love studying the book of Revelation, but if you just go down to some bookstore or whatever, and you just grab a book on eschatology and the study of end times, You got to understand that you could pick up a book that, you know, from an author that might believe something different about their eschatology than you do.
So I'm going to inform you on some of these things of what some people believe.
So there are some people and good people, godly people, that believe that Christians will be taken after the tribulation is over and they're going to have to live through the tribulation. One of the passages that a lot of people that believe in the post-trib view, they use to support their view is John 16, 33. In John 16, 33, it says that in this world you will have tribulation. You remember that verse? But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.
And the reason why I would disagree and I don't hold to this view is because that verse is talking specifically about troubles and trials. And a lot of people interpret that verse to say about Revelation 6 through 18, that tribulation period. But it's talking about troubles and trials. And here's what I will tell you: we all endure troubles and trials. We just went through a whole prayer list of people's troubles and trials.
And so I don't think that Christians are going to live through the tribulation. But there are some people, good people too, that believe that. The second viewpoint is this: the mid- what we call the mid-tribulation view. This means that Christians will go through half of the tribulation, in other words, the first so seven years, so the first three and a half years, and then some scholars would say that Christ will come back and rapture his church at the midway point of this. The reason people believe that is a verse in which in Matthew 22 that Christ said that for the sake of the elect, Christians, the days of this terrible tribulation will be shortened.
And so there are some people that interpret that verse to say that we will go through a portion. Of the tribulation, and then for the sake of Christians, that it will be it will be shortened. In other words, like we'll go through a period of it, but then it'll be shortened, and so Christians will be taken out before the when things get really bad in those last Three and a half years. I don't hold to that view as well, which brings us to the third view. And this is the view that I hold to, that our church stands behind.
And I want you to know: if you believe something different, that's okay. And we can talk about this offline. I would love to talk to you a little bit more. But I hope that tonight I can show you why, from Scripture, why we believe in this third one, which is called a pre-tribulation view. In other words, when we talk about pre-we're talking that Christ is going to take us out of here prior to the tribulation, this view says Christians will be taken from earth before.
The tribulation. Before the tribulation begins. In other words, we will be taken before Revelation chapter 6 and the events that are happening from 6 through 18. We will be taken before that.
Now, I understand that if you grew up In a conservative kind of circle, when it comes to these things, this is probably the view that you've been taught.
Okay?
So I've always been taught this view. That's just kind of what I accepted even before I hardly knew what it meant, right? And so that's probably some of you. You're like, if you would have gotten asked on your way here, and I'm sure when you were sitting at dinner before this, this is the conversation you were having with your family, right? And like, hey, when do you think Christ is coming back?
You know, I get it. That's not probably what was on your mind when you came in here today. But if somebody asks you, like, hey, when do you think Christ is going to, you know, take the church and we're going to be called up? When's that going to happen? You're probably going to say, you know, before the tribulation, well, prove it to me.
And that's where you're probably like, oh, I don't know. Know if I could do that. And truthfully, like a lot of us, that's probably true. Tonight, I want to show you from scripture why. I believe this is the right view.
And so, hopefully, tonight, when you leave here, that if this was your view already and you just didn't know how to prove it, you can actually use biblical basis. Because here's what I will tell you: I don't want you to believe this just because your pastor said it, I want you to believe it because the Bible supports it.
Okay. And so that's where we're going to be here tonight. But like I said, if you view this differently, there are good, godly people that look at this a little bit different. But. What we take is Christians will be taken from earth before the tribulation.
The word that we get from this is that the church will be raptured before the tribulation period that's described in Revelation 6 through 18. And in order for us to understand this, and before I get into some proof text of why I believe that we'll be raptured prior to the tribulation period, you got to define what the rapture is. We got to look at this.
So I want to look at this on your notes. What is the rapture? Just so that you have an understanding. There's some people that don't believe in a literal rapture. And I think that scripture supports it.
Some people don't believe in a literal rapture the way that we interpret it because the word rapture is nowhere in scripture. And there's a lot of people that take that to believe. And my response to anybody that says that is this: well, the Trinity, the word Trinity is not in Scripture either, but do you hold to that? And most of the time, you know, you talk to somebody, well, of course, I hold to the Trinity.
Well, just because the word's not mentioned, I think, and I'll show you where we get the word here in just a moment, but I think it's safe to say that the Bible throughout supports it.
So, what is the rapture? Here's a. Definition for you. The sudden return of Christ. In the clouds.
Not to earth, and that's important, where he will snatch. The Christians who are still alive from the earth to prevent them from having to endure The devastating events of the tribulation. I think there's some blanks in there that you can fill in. The sudden return of Christ in the clouds, not to earth, where he will snatch the Christians who are still alive from the earth to prevent them from having to endure the devastating events of the tribulation. That's like the longest definition ever.
But I wanted to cover everything in one definition that I think scripture talks about when we talk about this thing called the rapture.
Now there's two primary Text of Scripture. We're going to get out of Revelation for just a little bit, and then we're going to come back to Revelation 4 here in a moment. But there's two primary scriptures that we use to support where we got. The interpretation of the rapture. The first one is found, you can turn there, it will be up on the screen as well, is found in 1 Thessalonians 4.
1 Thessalonians 4, this is a passage you hear often, probably a lot of times at funerals and memorial services and different things. But in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 through 18, Paul writing to the church, here's what he says. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, them that have passed on, that have died, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Okay?
And he will bring with him. For this we say, verse 15, unto you by the word of the Lord, that ye that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. And then verse 16: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Verse 17 says, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And then he closes in verse 18, saying, Comfort one another with With these words.
So, a couple of things. I know that was a lot, but if you go back real quick on the slides to verse 15 for just a moment, if we can do that, verse 15, there's a word there, and so I want you to understand it.
So, the word prevent. The word prevent. Our English translation of the word kind of. Views that word a little bit different. And the word actually means in Greek here, it's the word phathano, and that word literally means to proceed.
To proceed.
So, in other words, here's what it's saying. That we which are alive and remain into the coming of the Lord shall not precede this. Them which are asleep. We shouldn't, so those who are alive at the time of the rapture, we're not going to be first. And so you've got to look at who is.
Now, verse 17, if we can go to verse 17 as well, up on the screen so that you can see this, there's a phrase here when it says, Then we which are alive and remain shall be, everybody say, caught up.
So the word caught up is a Greek word, that phrase, it's the word harpazo. Harpazzo. It means to seize or to snatch. That's why I used the word when we were defining the rapture, the word snatch, because that's what caught up literally means: to snatch. And here's, and I'm going to go a little bit deep, historical for you for just a little bit.
So. The scripture in its original language. was in the Greek.
Okay, Old Testament Hebrew, New Testament Greek.
Well, after that, they took the Greek and they translated it into Latin. We call that the Latin Vulgate. And so when our English translators came in to translate the Bible, they kind of used that to translate it into our English text that we're holding today, okay? The Latin Vulgate is super important because the word that they used when they translated it from the Greek, okay, which was the original language, all right? And so Paul did not receive under the inspiration of the word or the inspiration of the Spirit.
He didn't receive it in our English text.
Okay, we have to understand that.
So when the Latin was translated, they translated that phrase caught up and the Latin word that they used. was rapturo. And the word rapture, it's where we get our English word rapture.
So the word called up means to snatch, and when it was translated into Latin, which was before our English text, it was translated as rapturo, which is where we get the word rapture. And so, I wanted to give you a little bit of history of why we use that word. If the scripture doesn't use the word rapture, but that's what we mean. The rapture is a time where we are going to be snatched from. From earth those Christians That are still alive when Christ comes again, at the trumpet sound will be.
Will be snatched up, okay?
So, what's that going to look like? Isn't that interesting? How many of you watched the Left Behind movies everywhere? You know, and so growing up, that was the thing. And so, I always would ask, I'm like, Are we going to go up with no clothes on?
Because every time I watch this movie, there's always these piles of clothes laying all around, and I'm always confused as a kid. And I'm like, Man, that's going to be such an exciting time, but an awkward time for a lot of us, and that kind of thing. And I hope my glorified body is there before anything, right? And so, the point is, as we ask these questions and stuff, I want to kind of give you a little bit of picture of what I think scripture is saying about what that timeframe is going to look like. And so, a couple things about the rapture, this time where we're going to be snatched up.
So, first, you need to understand this: it's back in our text in verse 15 and 16 of 1 Thessalonians 4. The first thing that's going to happen when Christ comes back, He's going to come down. And by the way, don't mix up the rapture with the second coming.
So, when the rapture happens and Christ comes back, he's not coming back to earth. He's, and this is the next thing on the timeline.
Okay, we're in the church age. The next thing on the timeline is this moment where Christ comes back. It's not coming back to this earth. He's going to be in the clouds. And we which are alive and remain are going to go together and meet him in the clouds.
And so you have to understand that. And so it's important, but there's a couple of things that are going to happen at this moment that 1 Thessalonians 4 says. First, the dead in Christ will rise. First. It's very clear.
The dead in Christ will rise first. Let's look at that. What does that mean?
Okay. Because we all have questions about this. And I want you to know as we talk about this. I'm going to teach from scripture, of course, but there's some things I might say tonight about this. This is all futuristic.
Nobody knows exactly how this is going to go, okay?
So I want you to give me some liberty tonight as we talk about this. But I was thinking about this because we have questions. What does that mean?
The dead in Christ will rise first. That literally means those who have died.
So if you have a loved one that has already died. And you buried them, and they knew Christ as the Savior, this is what that means. By the way. comfort one another with these words. The dead in Christ will rise first.
So when a Christian dies. their body goes into the ground. And so, what happens at this moment? I mean, we've all sat at funerals and gravesides, and we've watched. A body, you know, get lowered into the ground.
So the scripture says that to be absent from the body. is to be present with the Lord.
So, what does that mean if we're sitting at a graveside service and their body is right in front of us and we're going to watch that body lower? What does this mean? The dead in Christ will rise first?
Well, you've got to understand that when a Christian dies, what happens is this: if when you know Christ, your body gets put into the ground, but your spirit goes. immediately with Christ.
So, those that you have said goodbye to here on this earth, I want you to know that their spirit is right there with Christ in the presence of Christ right now as we speak. And what's going to happen is at the rapture, when Christ comes back into the clouds, the scripture says that the dead in Christ. Will rise First. And so, what this means is that tombs and graves. will open and bodies will Will literally be snatched and go up to heaven.
And at that moment, the body will be glorified. It will be glorified. That's when a glorified body comes to be, is when their body gets snatched up into heaven at the rapture. Which, you know, this question, I mean, as we look at this, I mean, there's all these different questions because, you know, you have a body and it goes, it's going to be snatched up to heaven at this moment. What does that mean with.
If you have a loved one that got cremated. You ever thought about that? Like what happens to that body? You know? And here's all I will tell you, and hopefully this will, if you've ever asked this question, because it's kind of like, how is that going to work?
Like, what does that mean if we spread their ashes somewhere, my loved one or whatever? Like, what does that even mean at the rapture? How is their body going to go up if we've already, you know, cremated the body? Here's all I will tell you. And hopefully, this will free you from any fear about what this is going to look like for your loved one or whatever.
Here's all I'll tell you: I do not know. But here's what I'll tell you. Is that if our God Can form human mankind out of the dust of the ground. All I know is that he can put ashes back together and form a body, and that body can go up right there with him, okay? And so that's all that I can think of in this: is that if he can form man out of the dust of the ground, he surely can build a body out of a bunch of ashes, okay?
And so I don't really know how that's gonna look, but what we know is that the dead in Christ. Those who have died knowing Jesus, they will rise first. And so then the second thing we learn here from 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17. is that Christians that are still alive will be raptured.
So, in other words, when Christ comes back in the clouds, the first thing that's going to happen, now I don't know if it's going to be instant, all this is happening at one time, or if it's going to be a little bit of a You know, they go first and then we go, or what? I don't know the timing, but I do know that he says the dead in Christ will go first.
Okay, so they're gonna go first, and then We, the scripture says, we which are alive at that moment. That is referring to those who know Jesus. As Saviour but are still alive when he comes back.
So in other words, think about it. Right now. If Christ was to return. at this very moment.
Okay. We're still all alive.
So, what would happen is that outside of here, there's going to be a ton of bodies going up and graves being split open like crazy, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we which are alive and remain will be called up together to meet him in heaven. in the clouds.
Okay, so that is what is going to happen. And at that moment, when we meet him, we will receive our glorified body. We will receive our glorified body. The reason why we believe that, that that's when our glorify we'll receive our glorified body, is because of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51, he says this: Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep. But we shall all be changed. And then he goes on in verse 52 to say, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we. Shall be changed.
In other words, what that means is that all of us, if he was to return right now, those that are still living that know Jesus Christ as Savior, you've trusted in him and his plan of salvation for you through this death and burial, something that you could never do and something that we deserve to pay, right? He took it for us. If you trusted in that, what's gonna happen is after the dead in Christ rise first, we will be snatched up, caught up. to meet him in the air and in that moment we shall be changed. We will receive our glorified Body.
And by the way, you know, 1 Thessalonians 4, there's no accident in Scripture. Comfort one another with these words. Like, we've all lost loved ones, and I get it that it's painful. And I understand as a I've been blessed. I've not lost.
People close to me, and I have walked as a pastor with some of you who have lost family members that are so dear to you-parents and brothers and sisters and spouses. And I've had to sit with you, and I'll be the first to say I can't empathize with any of those feelings yet because I haven't experienced that yet. But what I want you to be comforted with is that if they knew Jesus as their Savior, that right now, while you sit here today, their spirit is in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And one day, if you know Jesus, you're going to be reunited with them in the air. And that's going to be a good day.
That's going to be a good day.
So um So the question that we have to ask ourselves is this. When will the rapture? take place on the timeline of eschatology.
So the scripture teaches we do not know it's imminent that he could return at any moment. You know, there's all this different scripture references that we can give you. He could literally return before we're done tonight. And by the way, there's nothing on... the timeline of scripture preventing him from coming back.
This is the next event. There's not some big thing that has to happen for him to return. And for him to come back and meet us in the clouds. And so I want you to know it could happen at any moment. That's why we say that: listen, if you don't know Jesus as Savior, you are not promised another moment.
You need to accept him tonight. You need to know him. You need to trust in him so that when that day comes, you're ready. You're ready.
Okay, so when will this happen?
So remember what I said: when will the rapture take place? We don't know when. But the reason why we believe in a pre-tribulation, I'm going to put this back up on the screen for you. This is what I hold to, is this a pre-tribulation view of when the rapture will happen. It's Christians will be taken from the earth before.
The tribulation. And I don't want you to believe this because I say it. I want you to believe it because scripture says it.
So I'm going to, for the next few moments, I'm going to show you why I believe this here.
So go back to Revelation 4, verses 1 and 2. John is writing, and remember, up to chapters one through three, he's received a vision from. From God, a revelation about the churches, about the church age. We've gone through every church that He mentions, and all of those represent a different time period that we've lived in. And here in chapter number four, what you see here in chapter four is it says this, verse one: after this, I worked.
And behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet. Talking with me. Which said, Come up hither. And I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
Don't go to verse 2 just yet. Just yet. Because there's two things here, and this is why I think what we're talking about is future. Is because if you remember in Revelation 1:19, the word hereafter was mentioned, and that word is the Greek metatanta. You have that mentioned twice here in verse number one of chapter four.
After this is the phrase metatanta in Greek, and at the end of verse 1 is the word hereafter. That's the same Greek word as Revelation 1:19, when he says, The things which are and the things which are coming And that's the future.
So, what we're seeing from chapter 4 on are future events. Revelation 1 through 3, church age. That's where we are today.
Okay, we're in the church age. But Revelation 4 is about what is to. And then he says in verse 2, and immediately I I was in the spirit. And behold, a throne was set in heaven. And one sat on on the throne.
I'm going to show you a few things. And by the way, we are going verse by verse, so I'm only going to do verses 1 and 2, and then we're going to look at the rest of the chapter next week. But for a few moments, I want to give you reasons why we believe that the rapture, the caught up, the snatching when Christ meets us in the clouds will be before the tribulation. A couple things, it's on your notes, and hopefully this will help you if this conversation ever comes up. First, is because of the absence of the church in Revelation 6-18.
And here's what I mean by that. This first reason why I don't think the church is going to endure the tribulation. Here's why. It's because the word church is mentioned seven times in Revelation one through three. And it's all talking about the church age and churches and different things.
And even in those verses when it's talking about the church, there's verses might not use the word church. It's alluding to the church and things. But it's used seven times in chapters one through three. The word church is not mentioned one time in Revelation 6 through 18. It's completely absent.
It's not there.
So, as Christ is revealing to John all of these terrible things that are going to happen on the earth during the tribulation period, I don't think it's a coincidence. That he doesn't mention anything to do with the church or Christians. And so it's important that we understand.
So that's the first reason. The second reason that I think is important, and reasons why I would hold to a pre-trib rapture. As number two, the door. Being open in heaven.
So, in verse number one, I thought this was interesting. By the way, I hope you just give me some grace. I'm learning a ton already through this, and I'm studying like crazy. And so, I enjoy this. Probably been one of my favorite.
I say this about every series that I do, but I think this is my favorite one. And so, but I'm really learning a lot. But one thing that's so interesting to me when you do these word studies on every word and stuff, here's what's crazy to me. Here in verse number one, the door was opened in heaven. And um I think that the reason the door is standing open, I think it's figurative here a little bit.
I think the reason the door is standing open here is because the church is going up. And here's what's interesting. The only other time that I could find in the book of Revelation where the door of heaven is open is when Christ comes back for us in Revelation 19.
So, I think what in this transition point after the church age, which ends chapter three, and now we're inserting ourselves into chapter four, which is the start of the rapture, it's interesting to me that heaven is open. There's a door, there's a gate. It's almost like this portal is open between the transition of the church age and what he is talking about from the rapture on. And from this point forward, Revelation chapter 4 on, his viewpoint. is from heaven.
John's viewpoint and his vision Is from heaven. And so, what's interesting is, I think that that is another reason why we can look. And the next time that the door, this portal to heaven opens again is in Revelation chapter number 19 when Christ comes back.
So, there's like this gate to heaven, or not gates of bad word because Jesus is the gate to heaven. It's more of like this portal almost that you see in Revelation, and it's open here for the church to go up, and then it'll open again in Revelation 19 for Christ to come down with us. And so I just think that's interesting. Another reason, number three, of why I would hold to a pre-trib rapture is this: the sounding of the trumpet. Verse number one: because every time we talk about the rapture in the New Testament, the trumpet is always associated with the rapture.
You see it in 1 Corinthians 11, like we read, and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And here, when he starts to transition from the church age and into the rapture, which will lead us into the tribulation, chapter 6, I don't think it's a coincidence that the voice of God sounds like a trumpet. Because the trumpet is always associated with the rapture. The next one. Number four is the invitation to John from God.
In heaven to come up here. Isn't that interesting? He hears the voice of Christ. Christ, and it's like a trumpet talking with him. And Christ tells him, come up hither.
Come up hither. I think that's amazing. He's like saying, come up. up here. The only time that you see in Scripture that we have an invitation from heaven saying, come up hither, this same phrase, is found in Revelation 11.
And in Revelation 11, what's going to happen? And we'll get to the details of some of these passages that I'm talking about in Revelation later. But in Revelation chapter 11, that is in the middle of the tribulation. God is going to send two witnesses. He's going to send two witnesses down to this earth.
And they're going to prophesy what's going to happen is they are going to die for their faith. And what's going to happen is they are going to die. And then it says that they will be resurrected again. And that's the only other time in Revelation that when they are resurrected, that heaven tells them, come up hither. And I think that there's some here, I think it is just proof again that here in chapter number four, come up hither, is a sign that here in chapter four, during the rapture, that we are going to be called up to him and snatched up to forever be with him.
And then, here's the last one that I'll tell you. is the return of Christ At his second coming. The return of Christ. At his second coming.
So after the tribulation period, so the tribulation describes, is described in Revelation 6 through 18.
Okay, by the way, are you guys still with me? This isn't too heavy, right? I get it.
Some of you guys have had a long day at work, and this is like you're like, oh my goodness, I feel like I'm in seminary class. And I'm trying not to do that, trying to preach through a little bit of it. But it kind of gets a little heavy sometimes. But in Revelation 6 through 18, we have the description of the tribulation period. In Revelation chapter 19, we have what we call the second coming of Christ.
So, what's going to happen after the tribulation is that is when Christ is going to come back, and this time, he's not just going to stay in the clouds. And we're not just going to go meet him. Actually, we'll be with him and we will come back with him. down to this earth, and that'll start the millennial reign of Christ, his a thousand year reign. But here's why I think the return of Christ at his second coming in chapter number nineteen supports a pre tribulation Rapture is because in Revelation chapter 19, verse 14, when it's talking about him coming back, it says, And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen.
White and clean. The armies that he is referring to are all the saints that have gone on before. And so, all I'll tell you is this, and hopefully, this will make sense. In order for us to come with him after the tribulation, we must go to him before the tribulation. Does that make sense?
In order for us to return with him, like Revelation chapter 19 says that all the saints will come back with him as armies, right? In order for us to return back with him in Revelation chapter 19, we have to go up to him before the tribulation. And that's why I think that it supports it. One more passage, it's not on our notes. You can jot this down if you want, but there's two scripture passages in which Christ is talking that I think is also just some further support.
So, if those five things of why we believe or I believe in a pre-trib rapture from scripture is how it's going to happen, here's just one more to add to the support and to the proof that I think. In Matthew 24. And I believe it's Luke 17. Jesus is teaching, and it's two accounts. Remember the Gospels, they're giving an account of some of the same things.
So in Matthew 24, Christ is talking about the rapture, and here's what he says. He says that when the time comes... There's going to be two people working in a field. It's going to be two people working in a mine or something, I think is what he says. And they're gonna be working, and one's gonna be left.
Signifying the person that don't know Christ. and one's going to be taken. Raptured. 'Kay. Here's why I think he says this in Matthew 24 and Luke 17.
Christ is talking in both of those, and he's talking about this about the rapture. And here's why I think it supports a pre-trib rapture. It's because in both of those, so Matthew chapter 24, he starts off his whole talk about the rapture talking about Noah. And you say, what's significant about Noah? And he says, like Noah.
There's coming a day In which there's going to be two people, one's going to be snatched. And one is gonna When it's going to stay because they didn't know Christ. Why in the world would he liken the rapture to Noah? Think about it. Noah was saved.
Noah was provided rescue through the ark. From God destroying the whole world. And so, if God's going to destroy the whole world, and by the way, when we look in Revelation 6 through 18, the tribulation, the world's not going to be destroyed in that moment, but there's going to be some terrible things that are going to happen. And Christ is prophesying about this, and he's talking about what is to come. And he says, Hey, just like I saved Noah.
There's coming a day where there's going to be two people in the field, and I'm going to save one of them, snatch them up, and one's going to be left behind. I think that supports that we're going to be snatched up before the destruction that is going to happen.
Well, in Luke chapter 17, Christ is saying the same thing: two people left in the field, but this time he uses a different figure. He uses lot. When he's talking about Sodom and Gomorrah. You remember in Sodom and Gomorrah? No, what's hard for me to understand, Lot, and this gives all of us as sinners a little bit of hope.
Lot was kind of a part of Sodom. But you know what God did? God saved Lot, right? And he says, just like I saved Lot, there's coming a day where there's two people going to be in a field and. One's going to be snatched.
One's going to be saved from the destruction that is going to come. I think that is supporting what Christ is going to do and the fact that. That he is going to rapture Us up. Prior to tribulation. And that's why I believe it.
And I hope that that tonight will kind of help you understand. And if we disagree, and that's okay, as we get into Revelation, I knew, and that's one of the reasons I think a lot of preachers don't want to preach on it, because everything is about the future. And so all of us are kind of taking scripture and we're trying to interpret it. That's why, here's what I will tell you: whatever you view. Don't get your viewpoint from a preacher.
Don't get your viewpoint from an author or a book that you picked up somewhere or whatever. Here's where your viewpoint always needs to come from. is this book. And so, whatever you do, whatever you believe, here's what I want you to do. Don't just.
You know, say, well, Pastor Josh tells me, or Union Grove holds to this, or whatever. No, here's what I want you to do: I want you to. To have scripture that supports whatever view that you have. And tonight, I hope that we were able to use a little bit of scripture to support that in this transition in Revelation chapter 4, after the church age ends and the rapture begins, we see this door to heaven and we see that we are going to be raptured, caught up. Snatched.
From this earth. And we will be with the Lord, and you will get your glorified body. And here's what I will tell you. And this is just another thing as I've thought a lot about this over the last couple weeks. Is in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Paul's talking about the rapture and how the dead in Christ is going to rise, and Christians that are alive and remain are going to be caught up, and all this kind of stuff. And then he ends that with verse number 18, and he says, Comfort one another with these words. Here's what I will tell you right now. is that when we get into Revelation chapter 6 through 18, There is nothing comforting about living in that those days. I think it would contradict what Paul is trying to tell the church.
Comfort, it provides, it should provide you comfort. That if you know Jesus is Savior, that you are going to be snatched up to forever be with Christ before all these terrible events are going to happen. Because if you were having to sit here and live every day, like one day we are going to live through this terrible thing that is described in Revelation 6 through 19. Or Revelation 6 through 19. If you were going to have to live through that, there is nothing comforting about that.
But Paul says, comfort one another with these words. The reason it's comforting is because we don't have to endure it. And I said this earlier. There's nothing left to happen in prophecy for the rapture to happen. It could happen at any moment.
And by the way, as I watch our world, here's what I'll tell you. The time is ripe. Uh the time is right. It could happen tonight. It could happen soon.
And the question is, are we... Ready. Can we honestly say in our heart, even sir?
So Come. Can we say, like the song says, Hymn of Heaven, when that line says, Let it be today. We shout. The hymn of heaven. Can we literally say that?
in our hearts tonight because our hearts are so ready. For when that day comes, we are so confident in what Christ has done and what Christ has said in His Word that. When he comes back to meet us in the clouds, we're going with him. We're either going with him Up to see him here, or our bodies are going to be resurrected out of a grave. to forever be with him.
Here's what I'll tell you. The returning king. It's coming.
Soon. And I don't know a lot about what's going to happen in those last days and different things, except for what the scripture has told us. But here's what I'll tell you. When that trumpet sounds. I am going to be out of here.
Mm-hmm.
