The End Times Scenario - Session 2 - Chuck Missler

[Music]

Well, again, I want to welcome you uh to

the end time scenario session number

two. And uh Shabbat shalom and let's bow

our hearts for a word of prayer.

Father, we thank you for the day and we

thank you for your presence here. We

pray father that you would just uh

anoint this time with your holy spirit

that we might have our lives and hearts

open to your word. We pray father that

you would guide us into truth and keep

us from error but in all things keep us

focused on our precious king in whose

name we commit this day and ourselves in

the name of Yeshua our lord our coming

king our savior

Jesus our messiah indeed. Amen.

Okay. And uh we are in session two.

We're going to just hit head on just to

start it off with one of the most

controversial subjects in the in the

lexicon here. And we're going to talk

about this thing which in Greek is

called the harpato.

And uh and uh it's commonly called the

rapture. And uh it's it uh candidly

it's the most preposterous doctrine in

Christian evangelical Christianity.

Bizarre

strange

viewpoint. It really is. We need to just

acknowledge independent how we feel

about it. We should just acknowledge it

is a strange perception. So we want to

hit that head on and talk about it. And

uh so uh um I like to just admit to

ourselves

um it's a strange strange doctrine and

when we travel to speak at other

churches I usually find out in advance

what the pastor's attitude is and if

he's not comfortable with that I don't

even get into that subject just not

because I don't want to leave the wake

of confusion behind me but at the same

time it is in this case of course we

should hit it head on and talk about it.

We want to talk about the scriptural

basis. Where does this idea come from?

It wasn't cooked up by some some you

know internet uh blogs. This is goes way

way back. And uh so we want to talk

about the scriptural basis of it. We'll

talk about some alternative views about

it. You and uh so explore that. And

we're going to talk about a doctrine you

don't find explicitly pronounced that

way but it is a prevalent doctrine among

many called the doctrine of eminence.

What what does that mean? We'll get into

that. And uh it may surprise you that

I'm going to show you what I suspect are

illusions to this in the Old Testament.

Even among most conservative scholars,

ought to say Dallas Theological Seminary

or wherever, uh will argue that the

rapture, and they're they're very pro-

rapture about it, but they argue it

doesn't show up in the Old Testament.

And I'm I'm going to let you come to

your own conclusions by showing you

three passages in the Old Testament. You

you decide. Isn't that what that's what

u Fox News always say? You we report and

you decide. Well, that's we'll do that

with some of these issues. So, let's the

rapture and uh so it's obviously the

most preposterous belief of biblical

Christianity. And uh so the word is

actually not rapture that comes from the

Latin but it's arpato in the Greek. It's

to be the word means to be forcibly

caught up and taken out. And that's

what's emphasized in the Greek term.

We're going to talk about the promise of

it. We'll talk about the process by

which it occurs and what the purpose of

it is. And uh that we'll collectively

call that the blessed hope. That's what

Titus uh in the in the book of Titus

does. We'll talk about its prophetic

profile and we'll talk about problems.

And those of you that are seminary

trained know it must be true because

they all this illiterative. You know, if

you're a graduate from seminary, your

points in in your sermon always have to

start with the same letter. Usually P's

or S's because it's easier. But uh I

always needle my seminary friends that

way. This must be true because there's

aliteration. And so but the Jewish

concept of prophecy is the pattern is

patternist prologue. And we need to

really understand the Jewish mind for

many for many reasons. Let's start with

the promise of this. Believe it or not,

it starts in John 14

in our study of the Gospel of John.

We're going to enter that period which

is called the uh upper room discourse

from chapters 13 to 17, the Gospel of

John. An incredible segment of his total

gospel devoted to that one discourse.

And uh right in the middle of it, of

course, John 14. We'll take a look at it

here. Says, "Let not your heart be

troubled. Ye believe in God. Believe

also in me."

Wow. Then he continues, "In my father's

house are many mansions, and if it were

not so, I would have told you. I go to

prepare a place for you." Really, that's

what he's telling them.

And if I go to prepare a place for you,

I will come again and receive you unto

myself.

Really, if you're a careful student of

the scripture, you know that's not the

second coming.

He comes in anger.

and and he's blood stained from the

blood of his enemies. Read Isaiah 63.

And we will do that later.

I will come again and receive you and

myself that where I am there ye may be

also. That's an incredible promise. Is

that some kind of broad brush figurative

thing or is it being specific?

Well, he's How often do you see what's

the subject of these verses? Not him.

you

if ye believe in God believe also in me

I would have told you I find a a place

for you I find a place for you I will

receive you that where I am there ye may

be also who's the focus of this you are

certainly the 11 were and I'm going to

suggest if you're one of his disciples

it's you also

you need to model let's back up a minute

and let's try to understand a Jewish

wedding not the current ones the ancient

ones. How are they how are they

formatted? We need to understand that.

If for no other reason than John the

Baptist always refers to himself as the

bridegroom

who's the bride, excuse me, a friend of

the bridegroom. Who's the bridegroom?

Jesus Christ, right? Book of Ruth. Go

get you get into all of that. Okay.

Well, it starts with the betrotheal, the

cuba. And uh the payment of a purchase

price.

Purchase. See, the bride was purchased.

Did you realize you were purchased?

Absolutely.

And uh set apart.

The theological word is sanctified. The

word just means set apart.

And you can find that all through the

scriptures. And I won't take the time.

It'll be in your notes. You can move on

here. The bridegroom departs. Then after

the betrothel, he departs to the

father's house.

Really, that's the pattern. What does he

do? He departs to his father's house

typically in the old days to make an

addition for his family subsequently,

but uh he prepares the room edition, if

you will. And uh the bride in the

meantime doesn't know how long he'll be

gone, but she has to be prepared to

receive him at any moment.

And he and and so she is charged to

prepare for his eminent return. That's

with an I, not an E, meaning

something with no precedent warnings.

Then there's a surprise gathering. He

shows up sometimes in the middle of the

night to gather his bride.

And that's in all all through the Old

Testament model. The hoopa then is the

wedding in contrast to betrotheal. The

betrotheal commits her that it would

take an action of divorce to split it.

In other words, it wasn't just a casual

promise. No, it's a commitment. And but

then the hoop of the wedding is directly

and after the wedding occurs, the the

marriage supper and it's traditionally

seven days long. They those guys knew

how to throw a they knew how to throw a

party. You know, it's amazing when you

study the feasts of Moses, they're not

overnight. These are not one day thing.

No day passes there. These are seven-day

deals. And so, so that and don't confuse

the wedding with the marriage supper.

because we've got some bizarre

observations to share with you as we go

forward in this and most of that we'll

do in in session six but anyway you can

you can fish out from your own

references some of this and so so and uh

so the marriage fulfilled we are

following that the covenant was

established according to Paul in 1

Corinthians 11 the purchase price was

paid for by our Lord on the cross

people worry about eternal security.

I know I'm secure because my

justification was established 2,000

years ago on the cross.

The bride then is set apart and of

course we are set apart in the

scripture. Paul make, you know, fulfills

this model in terms of our participation

and he reminds us of the covenant in 1

Corinthians 11 and so forth. The

bridegroom in the model has left for the

father's house. Where is Jesus today?

He's out of place. He's not on his

throne. He's on his father's throne.

That's going to get corrected.

All those misplacements are correct in

the book of Revelation.

And Satan's free, but he's not going to

be. Jesus is on the wrong throne. You

can go right through and look at it

almost of as correcting misplacements.

The redeemed are on the earth. They're

going to be with him and so on and so

forth. And um anyway, uh

so he's going to escort the uh to he'll

have an escort to accompany him upon his

return to gather his bride. 1

Thessalonians 4. And we'll look at that

specifically. In fact, that's the

process. We'll take a look. We talked

about the promise. I'm using John 14 as

my platform there. We'll move move on

and talk about how's this going to

happen. It's described for you that the

two most important letters

esqueologically

in the New Testament are the

Thessalonian letters. The first

Thessalonian letter is uh about the is

about the rapture.

the third the third Thessalonians

which we call second Thessalonians

because second Thessalonians was a

forgery and Paul wrote second Thessal

what we call second Thessalonians as a

response to a forgery being circulated

with his name on it apparently and once

you understand that the whole tone of

the what we call second Thessalonians

and I'm always I've always been tempted

to relabel that as third Thessalonians

just to confuse my friends And uh so u

but that's why I always like to talk

about the epistle of Jacob. We call it

James, but the word was Jake. But

anyway, but that's just mischief. I'll

move on. 1 Thessalonians 4. Okay, let's

take a look at it. We'll do something

radical. Let's just read it. Okay, let's

set aside our presumptions, whatever

they might be, and let's read what Paul

says to the Thessalonians. The context

is that some of their friends have

passed away. And they when Paul was talk

there talking about the Lord, they sort

of feel because they've passed away,

they may have missed something. And

Paul's trying to set the record

straight. Interesting thing just to make

a background here. Paul was with the

Thessalonians three weeks from scratch.

He founds a church there. He's been with

them three weeks and he's on. He then

writes a letter back to them to remind

them what he taught them in their first

three weeks of Christian walk. That's

startling to really put in focus here.

He's going to talk about esquetology.

He's going to talk about what we call

the rapture.

And he's reminding them, not some, this

is not new information for them. It's

something he's reminding them. When you

get to the second Thessalonians, same

thing. He's re explaining stuff a little

more clearly that he taught them in

those first three. I'm fascinated with

that. We often think that, gee, those

are topics we wait until a guy gets a

little more mature in his Bible. Well,

that might be good advice, but G. Paul

will just hit it right on, apparently.

Anyway, he goes on. And he says to them,

"But I would not have you to be

ignorant, brethren, concerning them

which are asleep, that you 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."

Well, how can he do that?

For this we say unto you, by the word of

the Lord. Now this is not Paul's

suspicions or comments. There's some he

does that occasionally. No, this I say

to you by the way of the Lord that we

which are alive and remain unto the

coming of the Lord shall not preede them

which are asleep.

How's that going to work? That raises a

couple of questions. Well, he goes on,

"For the Lord himself shall descend from

heaven with a shout, with a voice of the

archangel, and with the trump of God,

and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall

be caught up together with them in the

clouds to meet the Lord in the air, not

on the not on the earth, in the air,

wherever that is. And so shall we ever

be with the Lord.

That's wild. Just stop there and embrace

it. Cling to it. Realize what he's

saying. Then we which are alive and

remain shall be caught up together.

That's the word harpato in the Greek.

Snatched up forcibly

together with them in the clouds.

That's going to be a strange event. I I

I can't I have two big problems with

that. I can't. It's hard to visualize. I

admit it. I'm even more mystified as I

try to focus on what's left behind. If

that happens, what's going to happen on

the earth? It's life's going to go on

presumably.

These guys just all going to disappear.

You got to be kidding, Chuck. That's

weird. Yes, it is. That's what it says.

In fact, he goes on to say, "Wherefore,

comfort one another with these words."

That's the passage.

The Lord himself shall descend from

heaven. Okay, with a shout, the voice of

the archangel, and the trump of God. By

the way, the word trump of God only

appears twice in the Bible. It occurs at

Sinai when the law was given. And here,

these aren't the trumpet judgments of

Revelation.

It isn't the chauffear or the silver

trumpets of the temple. Neither one

something very distinctive. It's the

trump of God.

And so, if you want to start digging, I

encourage you to just make that a

footnote in your notes to check track it

down. Trump of God. Where does it

appear? only twice in the scripture,

the voice of the archangel. What voice

are we going to hear? I have a

suspicion. I can't prove it from the

text. You know what I think we're going

to hear?

Our own names.

Lazarus, come forth.

I think God's capable of doing that.

Calling us each by name. Wow.

And the dead in Christ shall rise first.

And the dead in Christ shall rise first.

And then we which are alive and remain

shall be caught up together with him in

the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

What a promise. What a promise to cling

to. Nothing will from that point on

separate us from him. That's

breathtaking.

Wherefore comfort one another with these

words.

I'm working very hard not to take you in

a byro hypers hyperspaces and the dimen

that we're not dealing in three

dimensions here but more than that.

We'll go on here now. You say, "Well,

the book that your friends will say the

word rapture doesn't occur in the

Bible." Wrong. Get your Latin Bible.

Okay? And you'll find it is in the Latin

Bible. That's where we get it. Rap. And

it's a proper tense of rapio. Our

English words wrapped and rapture come

from the past participle of that Latin

word. So yes, the word rapture occurs in

the Latin Bible, but most of us use

English Bibles, right? And so, uh,

that's fine. But if you really want to

get strict, let's go back to the Greek.

It's the harpato.

And it's probably not a bad practice to

start using that term.

Did you know there's seven raptures in

the scripture? Not all the same kind of

thing, but seven forcible. Enoch was

raptured.

Elijah was raptured.

Jesus in several places has alluded to

that way. Philip in Acts eight. And

that's a very interesting one because

that validates in my mind at least the

Ethiopian location for the ark of the

covenant. Again, that's a by road you

can chase on your own. And then Paul

second. And it's interesting and the

body of Christ here in this passage. And

it's interesting. And then John in

Revelation 4:1, I believe the first

verse of chapter chapter 4 of Revelation

is synonymous, if you will, at least in

concept with the rapture. And it's these

last those four that are the word

harpatsu is actually used if you will.

But any we'll move on here.

There's a verse there's a chapter in

Revelation chapter 12 which is a summary

of the history of Israel portrayed as a

woman. The woman that gives birth to the

manchild. That's not the church. It's

interpreted for you by none other than

Jacob or excuse me Isaac in in in

Genesis 37.

Um the the imagery there of the the sun

and the moon and the stars is imagery

drawn from the Torah. But she the woman

in Revelation 12 is clearly Israel. And

that should be very obvious when you

study it carefully. But Israel then she

the woman brings forth a manchild.

That's obviously the Messiah who was to

rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

That label should identify him for you

because he's used that way all through

the Old Testament and new as an

identity, if you will, of Jesus Christ

to rule all the nations with the rod of

iron. That's his child who's caught up

into God and to his throne. When most of

us read that summary in Revelation 12,

we assume that what's in view there is

the the uh ascension acts one, right?

And it was GH Peber, I think, was one of

the first scholars to suggest the

possibility that that may not be what

it's limited to. That it may also be

descriptive of the body of Christ.

You say, "Well, that's just one person

caught up." No, the body of Christ is

used singularly in the text. And it was,

I think, J Peber that pointed out that

that verse can simultaneously point to

both of them. So, I mentioned that for

your notes, and you can chase that down

and come to your own conclusions. I

think Pimber's right right on the money

for a lot of reasons because the next

verse verse 6 on talks about the

tribulation

and that also conforms to the pattern of

Daniel 9 because after you've got the

interval there that represents the

church that's terminated then before the

70th week can start.

But be careful, don't presume that the

70th week starts at the rapture. It's

sometime after the rapture. And we'll

show you that as we go forward here. But

anyway, her child was caught up unto God

in her throne and the term rapture we're

dealing with there. So, so what's the

purpose of all this? What's going on

here? Well, 1 Corinthians 15, Paul deals

with this in the in the most essential

chapter according to Paul in the Bible.

Because if you don't have chapter 15,

you got nothing. Paul presents it that

way. If you don't have the resurrection

of all of us in your in your vocabulary,

you've missed the point. is what Paul is

trying to say in 1 Corinthians 15. It's

a very very in fact we use the term

gospel all the time. How many have heard

the word gospel in a conversation? What

is the gospel? Well, it's a good news.

That's a copout. What is the gospel?

Paul defines it in the first four verses

of 1 Corinthians 15. How that Christ

died for our sins according to the

scriptures. He was buried and rose again

the third day. That's the gospel

according to Paul. What's astonishing is

you can find maybe one church in 10 that

preaches that in the United States.

They'll pre they'll preach about

everything else. All kinds of social

good things to do and and behave

yourselves and all that sort of stuff.

But what's the gospel? The gospel

Paul does not include Christ's

teachings. He doesn't include his

miracles. He doesn't include his

example. Those are all commenatory.

Don't misunderstand me. The gospel is

that Christ died for our sins according

to scripture. He didn't disappear. He

died. Best documented death in the

history of man. And he didn't just die.

He fulfilled hundreds of specific

specifications including his genealogy

and all the circumstances and all spell

out in the Old Testament in advance. He

died for our sins. Didn't just die. He

paid for you and me. And he was buried.

Only Paul emphasized that as a gospel

because he builds a thing on baptism

later.

And he rose again the third day

according to the scriptures. And the

assignment that I give you on your own

time, not my time, is show me where in

the old He's talking about the

scriptures, the Old Testament. Um, where

in the Old Testament does it predict

that Jesus will be in the grave three

days or raised on the third day. Where

does it say that? Well, there's Jonah

indeed because Jesus in Matthew 12:40

points you to that. So, that's cheating.

You got one of them. There are seven of

them. Find the others. The other place

is where the the third day thing is

tucked away in the text somewhere. So,

I'll leave that with you to play with in

your free time. Having done that, we'll

move on. Let's take a look what Paul is

saying here. Paul says, "Now this I say,

brethren,

that flesh and blood cannot inherit the

kingdom of God."

I almost put a period there and think

about that one. Flesh and blood cannot

inherit

the kingdom of God.

Neither do corruption inherit

incorruption.

In other words, they're antithetical.

Behold, I show you a mystery. Now, the

word in Greek, mysterion, is a little

more specialized, and we use the term

mystery with. Mysterion is something

that's been hidden up till now, and I'm

revealing it to you. It's sort of like

letting you know the password. You see,

we sometimes say a secret is something

you tell one person at a time. See?

Well, that's sort of the flavor here. I

be behold I show you a mystery. I'm

going to reveal something to you. We

shall not all sleep.

And he's using sleep here in the

euphemistic sense, meaning death. We

shall not all sleep, but we shall be

changed

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. For this

corruptible must put on incorruption,

and this mortal must put on immortality.

Wow.

Let's get back. In a moment, in the

twinkling of an eye, that's not a blink.

In the twinkling of an eye. What on

earth is the twinkling of an eye?

Let me give you an approach.

Take the speed of light

and see how long does it take to transit

the thickness of your iris.

And when you get that result, you'll

discover that's plank's constant.

It's the shortest unit of time possible.

It's 10 theus 43 seconds. In a moment,

in the twinkling of an eye, that's the

plank limit. 10 - 43 seconds. Those of

you that have mathematical skill can go

check that out if you like. Okay.

All righty. Now, so Paul continues, "So

when this corruptible shall have put on

incorruption, this mortal shall have put

on immortality, then shall be brought to

pass the saying, it is written." And by

the way, Paul is quoting three times

here from Greek poets, not from the

scripture. I know I think Paul's He's an

interesting guy. He had the best

schooling in in the uh Greek society and

obviously he was taught by Galio himself

in the as a Pharisee. So he has a br he

probably is one of the most brilliant

minds that ever walked the earth. His

book of Romans is the highest level of

logic you'll find anywhere in writing.

So don't be surprised. But anyway, he's

quoting here strangely enough from Greek

uh poets. Death is swallowed up in

victory. Oh death, where is thy sting?

Oh grave, where is thy victory?

And it's just a poetical plea, but it's

very colorful. The physics of

immortality, he talks and

dimensionality.

First John 3:2 that you might put that

in your notes or circulate on your

thing. You want to check that out

because John gives us a statement of

physics there. But also there is a term

that occurs twice in the Greek in the

Bible called okotarion.

We see it in two places. in 2

Corinthians 5:2 and the other one is in

Jude uh verse 6 I believe it is and it

only appears twice and we'll get to that

before the discussion goes on. Beloved,

now are we the sons of God and it does

not yet appear what we shall be but we

know that when he shall appear we shall

be like him for we shall see him as he

is. We are not going to it's not like a

photograph. If I hold up a photograph

I'm showing you a two-dimensional

representation of a three-dimensional

person. If I show you a hologram, I'm

showing a three-dimensional

representation of a threedimensional

person. What he's saying here, whatever

dimensionality Jesus enjoys, we will

also have because we won't see a

representation, we will see him. We

shall see him as he is.

Many people would miss this without some

mathematical background, but that's

really what what uh John is saying here.

But here's the 2 Corinthians 5:2, the

word otitarian occurs. If for we know

that if our earthly house of this

tabernacle were dissolved, what is he

talking about? My body. My physical

body. See, one of the things, let me

just pause here for a minute.

I'm sitting here looking at this

audience,

beloved, and I'm thrilled you're here,

but I have a grief because I can't see

you.

I can't really see you. I can see the

temporary physical residence you're

residing in.

The real you is not physical. Call it

soul, spirit, give it a fancy word to

hide the fact we're not sure what the

reality is, but the real you isn't

visible. It's residing in a body

and it's software, not hardware. I have

a computer up here and if you knew every

detail of every part in that computer,

you u would not be able to predict its

behavior. Why? Because it behavior is

determined by the software that's

resident in it.

And I can upgrade this computer a few

years, put a new one here, and

everything that's going on can go on on

a new one, maybe better in color,

whatever, you know, and so on.

Because the real personality, if I want

to call it that, is software, not

hardware. In fact, I can send it through

the airwaves.

I can take a disc that's blank and weigh

it. It's about 710 of an ounce, and I

can spend hundreds of dollars and load

it with a million bytes of software, and

it still weighs 710 of an ounce.

Software has no mass.

which means it has no time. There's no

time dimension.

So the real you is software, not

hardware.

The real you is eternal whether you're

saved or not. That's scary.

The issue is where you going to spend

it. If you're perfect, you can spend in

the presence of God. If you're not, too

bad. So that's a whole another story

we'll get into later. Anyway, I know

that this earthly house of this

tabernacle were dissolved. my hardware,

if you will. We have a building of God,

a house not made with hands, eternal in

the heavens. For in this we grown

earnestly desiring to be clothed upon

with our house which is from heaven. Now

what's interesting here, the word here

is okaran. It only occurs twice in

scripture.

The other place it occurs is it's the

body that the angels disrobe themselves

from in order to participate in the

mischief of Genesis chapter 6. That's

where the linkage is

in Jude verse chapter 1 verse 6. Jude is

only one chapter in in Jude verse 6.

Okotarian

I suspect that's a Greek technical term

that's more specific than we had

previously realized. It refers to the

embodiment that we aspire to

when we have our heavenly bodies. It's

the body that the angels disrobe from

that were up to mischief. In fact, in

Jude 6, here it is for you. And the

angels which kept not their first

estate, but left their own habitation,

he hath reserved in everlasting chains

under the darkness unto the judgment of

the great day. These are angels that are

being punished. Jude points that out in

second Peter chapter 2 deals with these

angels that indulged in mischief back in

Genesis chapter 6. And subsequently

again when Moses sends the spies into

the after the wilder sends the spies at

excuse me when Moses sends the spies at

Kadesh Barnea

uh they 10 of them come back and saying

there's giants in the land.

verse uh 33 of Numbers 13, it speaks of

the Nephilim that were in the land.

Satan had done another laid a minefield

down. He had 400 years to do that.

So anyway, um 2 Corinthians 5, for we

know that if our earthly house of this

tabernac were dissolved, we have a

building of God and house not made with

hands eternal in the heavens. For in

this we grown earnestly desiring to be

clothed with upon with our house which

is from heaven. If so be that being

clothed, we shall not be found naked.

That's the term being used.

That was Adam's discovery. When he

sinned, he was naked. Not in the sense

that we think of nakedness. He was no

longer clothed with light as the

scripture implies elsewhere.

Closed upon and so on. Anyways, let's

get back to the Jewish wedding here. The

categories of betrothe payment of a

purchase price set apart and sanctified.

The bridegroom departs to his father's

house, prepares the room edition. The

bride prepares for his eminent return

and we get we encounter this strange

thing that some people call the doctrine

of eminence. And it's a it's not really

an express command. It's just an

observation from a collection of

teachings.

The word eminent I mean by this word the

next expectation.

Not to be confused with two other words

that are very similar in their spelling.

Imminent in the sense that only God is

transcendent far above us. That's where

the I and an A and eminent is always

with us and active on our behalf. That's

what that word means. Nor should this

word be confused with eminent with an E

and an I. Uh which is a title of honor

reserved for persons of outstanding

distinction. Those are two words spelled

very similarly but mean something quite

different. eminent with I but both

beginning and in the middle there is the

next expectation

if something is imminent that means

there's no required intervening event

and it's it's the next thing to happen

so to speak so the doctrine of eminency

believers we we we assert that believers

are taught to expect the savior from

heaven at any moment you find that in

Philippians 3:20 Titus 2:13 Hebrews 9:28

1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 4 and and five

and Revelation 22. You can jot those

down, circle them in your notes and at

your leisure check it out. But you'll

discover those are just a few examples

uh seven actually uh examples of justify

our we are taught to expect Jesus before

this session's over,

before the weekend's over, whenever

it's the next thing to happen on

someone's agenda here. We are to expect

him at any moment.

That expresses hope in a warm spirit of

expect expectancy. That's the first

Thessalonians uh

one of those there. And it should result

then in a victorious and purified life.

If you really believe that and really

apply it to your walk, your walk will

improve. You're expecting him to show up

at any moment. He doesn't want to catch

you in some places that you don't want

him to find you at. Right?

So,

it's interesting that Paul included

himself among those who looked for

Christ's return in 1 Thessalonians 4 and

2 Thessalonians 2. You see, that's

Paul's tone. He had an expectation that

he might be alive when Jesus comes back.

And so, he and Timothy was admonished to

keep this commandment without spot

unbutable until the appearing of our

Lord Jesus Christ. See there again Paul

taught Timothy his protege to live his

life in momentby-moment expectation of

the Lord's return. That's what we call

the doctrine of eminency.

Jewish converts are reminded that yet a

little while and he shall he that shall

come will come and will not tar. That's

in Hebrews 10.

Jesus himself said occupy till I come.

People that get carried away with the

rapture. and we'll talk about that in a

minute.

Seemed to dismiss the fact that our our

command was to occupy,

not to put our feet on the desk and wait

for the Lord's return.

Daniel is a great example for us. He's

in slavery in Babylon. He knows that the

70 years captivity are almost over.

About 67 of the 70 have gone by. He

doesn't sit there, oh, I hardly wait if

you the captivity is almost over. No.

What does he do? He goes into prayer in

chapter nine. The first 20 verses of

chapter nine are not about the 70. He is

in prayer so intense that even in the

translation in your English translation

you can feel him tremble. As you read

those passage you'll see see the verbs

the pick up as he gets more and more

intense in his prayer in those 20

verses. And Gabriel interrupts that

comes and says by the way have I got a

message for you. He gives him those four

verses that we've been studying.

occupied. The expectations of some were

so strong back then that they had

stopped work and had to be exhorted.

That even was in Paul's day.

They had to return to their jobs in

second 2 Thessalonians 3 and to have

patience in James 5'8.

So that you know that expectation was

was had had overly applied so to speak.

So there are two extremes we encounter.

or one I call rapture itis and the other

one is rapture and that's rapture

paralysis. People who get so wrapped up

with the Lord's coming the day after

tomorrow. They don't do anything. They

park themselves and they become so

heavenly minded that they're no earthly

good as some people put it. And we'll

call that rapturitis for lack of another

term. And then the other aspect is

rapture mania. These are people that get

so wrapped up they're setting dates.

Now, there are dozens of admonitions not

to set dates

again and again and again and again, but

nevertheless, that doesn't hold some

people back from publishing books that

it's going to be, you know, on October

12th of year X or whatever. The date

setters, we'll talk a little bit about

them. Let's take the raptureitis. And

I'm going to suggest this may be just a

uniquely American dementia

because there are people in the states

that have that preoccupation. to which I

have a qu a question

just because I believe I can show you

from a text that the church will not go

through the great tribulation that's a

specific time

where do we as Americans get the

arrogance to assume we'll escape what

most of the body of Christ in most of

the world for most of the last 2,000

years have had to endure. It's called

persecution.

Don't confuse persecution which Jesus

promised us with a great tribulation a

specific event that we will spare be

spared from the time of we'll get into

that too before we're through here.

Well, we've got the date setters coming

that goes back to 1260. We find

publications where Yakima Flores

particular and milit of commerce in

1365, Joseph me in 1660, John Napier the

batheician that discovered logorithms

and he even was guilty of some of this

in 1698. Pierro of of France in 1689 and

on it goes with these guys all the way

through history. You find people setting

dates, sitting on the hill waiting for

the Lord to come back on that date they

were convinced for whatever reason was

the time William Miller and and he was

wrong in 1843 but then he revised it to

October 22nd of 1844. So he's correcting

for errors there I guess or something.

CT Russell wrote Wisan wrote a book 88

Reasons for 1988. That book is available

very expensively these days.

People say I I I'll get a letter from

someone that's predicting that that

Jesus is coming back you know in

November of this year. Would I evaluate

it? So I'll be glad to in December of

this year.

And so, uh, Harold Camping, I just put

the way he's been at it several times. I

I'm sparing some. And of course, with

2012 with the Mayan calendar, I keep

getting interviews. I several times a

week, we get somebody wants to interview

on the radio and I usually always have,

"What about the Mayan calendar?" I says,

"Do you know about the 45day error?"

What? You didn't know there's a 45day

error in the Yeah. The Mayan calendar

implies the world comes to an end on

December 21st of the year 2012.

And there's a 45day error because it

doesn't come to to end at the on

December 21st of 2012. It it comes to

the end on the 2nd November of uh second

Tuesday of November 2012. And it takes

about 10 seconds realize I'm talking

about the federal elections in the

United States.

And uh

Matthew 24:36, but of that day an hour

knoweth no man know not the angels of

heaven, but my father only.

In fact, by the way, another verse you

want to mark in your list here is Mark

13:32.

Mark's uh gospel, which is really

Peter's gospel, is almost identical with

Matthew, but there's one, this is one of

the places it's slightly different.

Matthew said, in Matthew, Jesus is

quoted as saying, "But if that day and

hour knoweth no man, know not the angels

of heaven, but my father only." Peter's

quote of that as recorded by Mark. But

if that day and hour knoweth no man, no,

not the angels of heaven, not the son,

but the father only. And it's a very

troubling verse to the theologians

because that implies at least at that

moment there was something the father

knew the son didn't. And that shatters

some of their presumptions here. They

need to reread more carefully the first

three verses of John. But we'll move on

here. Okay. Matthew 24:42. Watch

therefore, for ye know not what hour the

Lord doth come.

And uh Matthew 44, therefore be ye also

ready for in such an hour as ye think

not the son of man cometh.

And so if somebody's predicting a

particular date, you know that's not the

date

because such hours you think not the son

of man cometh. Now if you're sure that's

not the date, then that's probably the

date that he'll come. So I'll leave you

with that one logic to unravel. And then

of course you have Matthew 13. Watch

therefore, for we know neither the day

nor the hour wherein the son of man

cometh. And uh on it goes. So and

therefore be ready for son of man cometh

at an hour that you think now. And by

the way, see I'm convinced personally

that the reason the rapture is so

everything else in the scripture you can

somehow sequence. You can lay out it.

That's what we're studying this weekend.

But there's one thing that's the one

thing that's elusive. There's no clue as

to when it's going to be.

And I personally believe that's the

father's way of catching Satan by

surprise.

I think part of the strategy is to catch

Satan unawares because when the rapture

occurs then he's that opens a window of

time. He knows he has but a short time.

And so

people say do you know is the antichrist

alive today? Absolutely. No question

about it in my mind. Really? Yeah. If

you asked me that 100 years ago, I'd say

absolutely.

See, Satan's problem, he's has to have

his man in the wings because he doesn't

know when the rapture occurs. When the

rapture occurs, he's got to have his guy

positioned to pull off whatever he's

going to try to pull off. And so, uh,

that's part of I think that's part of

the strategy here to catch Satan by

surprise.

And, uh, when when Jesus is ready to

ascend, they say, "Are you now going to

set up the kingdom?" We'll talk about

the kingdom. in the subsequent session.

So, it's not for you to know the times

and the seasons which the father put in

his own power. He doesn't say he's not

going to set up the kingdom. In fact, he

confirms that he will, but the timing is

not their business.

So, that leads to the second coming.

Now, something else, if you want to

check some of these things, you can find

passages that describe the second

coming. And I've listed them for you in

your notes, so you don't have to bother

scribbling them all down now. you're in

possession of them in your handout

there. And these are all verses that if

you read describe what apparently we

would call to be more specific, let's be

precise, the second coming of Christ.

And uh if you look at all of these, they

all have something in common. I'll show

I'll summarize them for you here in a

minute. And so these are verses that

describe what you and I will label the

second coming. He comes in power to take

control and uh and start running things.

There are another collection of verses.

John 14, we just looked at 1 Corinthians

15, we've just looked at 1 Thessalonians

4. And there are a whole bunch of others

that describe something that is quite

different than the second coming. And

I'll summarize these sub summary slide

here in a minute, but these are all you

can look them up and come to your own

conclusions. Don't, for heaven's sakes,

don't accept it because I say so. That's

that's the real thing we're trying to

get you to do is you do your own

homework here. Come to your own

conclusions. But these describe an event

that is distinct from the ones that I

just showed you in the previous slide.

And let's let's go look at there's two

events. One I'm going to call for lack

of another term the ra the rapture. I

should say harpato, but okay, we'll

we'll yield to the common vocabulary.

And the other second coming

in the rapture there's a translation of

believers. There their their physics are

changed.

In the second coming, there's no

translation involved.

There's no translation.

Those that are spiritually dead are

judged a thousand years later at the

great white throne.

And the rapture is translated saints go

to heaven. We just saw that, right? And

second coming, there's no translated

saints returning. The the translated

saints are coming back to the earth with

him.

It's a different deal. Rapture of the

earth isn't judged. The second coming,

that's what it's all about.

Rapture is eminent. Could happen any

moment. The second coming follows

definite predicted signs.

Donald Ray Barnhouse used to come to the

office with his students there and he'd

say, "Sad day, sad day. Jesus can't come

back today." That was his way of

needling the post-tribulation guys that

are around him because that they have

all these things that have to happen

before the rapture. know the rapture is

not in the Old Testament according to

conventional wisdom. I'm going to

puncture that one here before we're

through, but that's the common wisdom.

And second coming is predicted in the

Old Testament. Obviously, the rapture

they the Dallas theologians say is not

in there. I'm going to show you some

things. You can judge that yourself. The

rapture is involves believers only.

The second coming affects everybody on

the earth. Every eye shall see him.

Okay?

The rapture comes before the day of

wrath and the second coming concludes

the day of wrath. He interrupts it with

by interrupting garaged and all that.

The rapture has no reference to Satan

and the second coming, Satan's bound for

a thousand years. His two side kicks get

thrown into Gehana and a thousand years

later when Satan is released and then

captured again, he joins them. But

they've been there a thousand years by

then.

Rapture, he comes for his own. second

coming he comes with his own. There's a

distinction there that you have to

reconcile

and rapture he comes in the air but in

the second coming he comes to the earth.

In fact, it splits under his foot.

He claims his bride in the rapture and

he comes with his bride in the second

coming. They're distinctive in that

regard.

The rapture said we only his own see

him. Second coming every eye shall see

him. They're distinctive. The scripture

clearly separates them into two groups.

The rapture, the great tribulation

begins. That's not technically quite

right. There could be some 30, 40 years

between the rapture and when the great

trib starts. But the point is the

rapture occurs before the great

tribulation. And of course, second

coming is when the millennium begins.

And uh rapture has church believers

only, but the second coming, the old

testament are say the old testament

saved are raised later. And there's some

theologians have a different view, but

there are some theologians that make the

case that the Old Testament saints are

raised at the second coming, not at the

rapture. It's the dead in Christ in a in

in a denotative sense that's involved.

But that's a debate among some of the

knowledgeable scholars who let that go.

Anyway, the marriage is fulfilled. The

covenant was established in 1

Corinthians 11, the purchase price in 1

Corinthians 6, the bride set apart in

Ephesians 5 and following. And they're

reminded of the covenant in 1

Corinthians 11. Just a recap of what we

said before. And so the and the

bridegroom is left for the father's

house. He declares that in in Hosea

5:15.

And uh the escort accompany him to uh

upon his return to gather his bride. So

that gets to a term that is sloppily

used among many prophecy buffs, the

great tribulation. That is not

persecution in general. It's a specific

period of time that Jesus himself labels

it. It's defined by Jesus by quoting

from Daniel 12. And we'll see that

modeled here in a minute. And u he says,

"For then shall be great tribulation.

Such was not since the beginning of the

world to this time, no, nor ever shall

be." That's a terrifying statement

because behind it is the Holocaust of

Germany.

That's not what he's talking about. It's

one that's even worse is the point.

The Holocaust in Germany took about one

Jew and three.

The Holocaust according to Zechariah 13

verse9. The next one, the big one will

take two out of three.

That isn't Chuck Mister said that. It's

Zechariah said that. I quoted that on

the radio once and the anti-Defamation

League put me as a anti-semite on their

list of anti-semites. I think it's been

corrected now, but except those days

should be shortened, there should no

flesh be saved. But for the elect's

sake, those days shall be shortened.

That's a time of trouble. That's pretty

hairy.

I don't think we can really embrace

understand what that's really all about.

The time of Jacob's trouble. That's the

label that uh Jeremiah uses. He calls it

the time of see the focus of it is of

course Israel, but it's worldwide.

But here's the quote that Jesus draws on

when he labels the faith in Daniel 12:1

says, "At that time shall Michael stand

up, the great prince which standeth for

the children of thy people. And there

shall be a time of trouble such as never

since there was a nation even to that

same time." And at that time thy people

shall be delivered, every one that shall

be found written in the book.

So time of Jacob's trouble, that's

Jeremiah's phrase. Alas, for the day is

great, so that none is like it. It is

even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he

shall be saved out of it. That's that's

where we get that label is from the

Jeremiah quote 37. And uh Jesus has a

similar kind of illusion when he's

riding that donkey that we looked at

previously. He's riding that donkey into

Jerusalem. He says, "Oh Jerusalem," and

he's weeping over the city. And he says,

"Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that

klest the prophets and stonest them that

are sent unto thee, how often would I

have gathered thy children together,

even as a hen gatherth her chickens

under her wings?"

That's what some people call the purpose

of all history. That's the purpose of

all history.

That I would have gathered thy children

together, even as a hen gather chickens

under her wings. The tragedy of all

history is when occurs. They didn't

accept it and you would not.

Behold, your house is left unto you

desolate.

Wow. For I say unto you, ye shall not

see me henceforth until ye shall say,

blessed is he that cometh in the name of

the Lord. And that will be the triumph

of all history. in verses in chapter in

the last few verses of Matthew 23, you

have the purpose, the tragedy of and

triumph of all history summarized by the

Lord himself. And he ought to know

in Hosea 5:15 is one of my most

provocative verses. It's the last verse

of that chapter. God says, "I will go

and return to my place." That's a

strange phrase

to return

to his place. He must have left his

place. You can't return if you haven't

left. I will go and return to my place

until. I encourage you sometime to get a

notebook and collect all the untils in

the Bible.

Not all of them, but most of them are a

milestone of some kind. This and that

until that. And there you can I will go

and return to my place until they

acknowledge their offense. That's

singular and specific. What offense does

Jesus have in mind here? the rejection

of him as a Messiah. I will go and

return to my place till they acknowledge

their offense and seek my face. In their

affliction, they will seek me earnestly.

The purpose of the great tribulation is

to drive them to the wall till they

yield and repent.

Satan's strategy is to get them wiped

out before that happens.

There is a preceded condition to the

second coming. There's no preceding

condition for the rapture that can

happen before this meeting is over.

But there is

a preceding condition to the second

coming. And that's for Israel's to

petition. That's what chapter six of

Hosea is all about. I will go and return

to my place till they acknowledge their

friends in seek my face in their

affliction. They will seek me earnestly.

Satan's strategy apparently is to wipe

out the remnant before that happens. his

way, his his scheme to thwart the plan

of God.

Well, the body of Christ, that's a term

we use. The New Testament portrays the

church in the in the idiom of a bride.

Paul even quotes Genesis 2:24. For this

cause shall a man leave his his his

father and mother, cleave to his wife.

The union mar has a concept of leaving

as well as cleaving.

And uh

the church is expressly exempted from

God's wrath in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and

Revelation 3:10. You can circle those

two. And the church is expressly

exempted not just from God's wrath, but

from the time of that wrath. Very

important important issue.

There's a very interesting phrase in

both Matthew 11. It's also occurs in

Luke 16.

Um, and Luke 7 here too, Jesus says,

"Verily, I say unto you, among them that

are born of women, there hath not risen

a greater than John the Baptist."

Now, wait a minute. That's quite a

statement. He's obviously exempting

himself, the Messiah, in that phrase, of

course, but he's saying, "Among them

that are born of women, there hath not

risen a greater than John the Baptist."

That's a pretty incredible appellation

to John the Baptist, right? in his next

breath just after a semicolon if I can

put it that way. Notwithstanding

he that is least in the kingdom of

heaven is greater than he.

What on earth does that mean?

You discover that both in Matthew 11 and

Luke 16, it's followed up in a phrase or

two by the Lord saying the law and the

prophets were until John. what he's what

I'm pointing out that Jesus was a

dispensationalist

and I'm not being flippant. I am a

little bit but still the whole idea that

there is a dispensation

and the Old Testament is closed. What

closed the Old Testament? It wasn't

Malachi the Italian book

Malachi.

No, that's the last book in our in our

in our collection of the Old Testament.

No, the Old Testament is closed by John

the Baptist. He's part of that old

dispensation.

He's a friend of the bridegroom. He's

not the part of the bride.

Oo,

be careful here, huh? We're going to

discover there's three kinds of saints

at least. There are Old Testament saints

like John the Baptist and prior.

There are the church, obviously, that

Paul illuminates so handsomely in 14 of

his epistles.

And there are the what we call the

tribulation saints, saints that come to

belief after the rapture. They're saved,

but they are a different group,

different breed, if you will.

We need to be sensitive to that because

many people when it says the elect get

confused. There's places the elect can

refer to the Old Testament because

they're elected.

Refers to the church, of course, because

they're elected. It's also those that

are saved after. See in in both uh

Matthew 11:13 and Luke 166 for the all

the prophets in the law prophesied until

John. John's the rapper of the Old

Testament.

Interesting,

profound, fundamental.

Not all saints are alike. The Old

Testament saints are obviously

Noah, Abraham. You can make your list.

The church of course is a distinctive

group. In fact, so distinctive that it

blew the mind of Paul who is a trained

Pharisee. He understood that the Holy

Spirit came and went with Saul and

others. The fact that the church is

given the beneficiary of a condition

that is staggering to John. That's

that's why Paul has such trouble getting

across the answer because we don't

understand the question he's asking. How

can that be? No, the Holy Spirit's given

without repentance.

If you got the Holy Spirit, it's not

taken away. You might be taken out of

the ballgame, but he's not taken away

from you. You're sealed by the Holy

Spirit. That was a concept that blew

Paul's mind and he tries to get across

in Ephesians and other some of his other

letters. Now, the church enjoys it, but

that has a terminus when the the Holy

Spirit is removed in the sense that he's

embodied in those believers.

Well, how do people come to faith after

the rapture? By the Holy Spirit. But

he's operating in a different modality.

He's operating like he did in the Old

Testament.

And um and we so we have we call those

after the rapture those are saved but

after rapture the tribulation saints.

Now there there's a term we use just

meaning that they're say they came to

faith after the harbatzo

that's why presumably it's during the

tribulation. In Daniel chapter 7

there is a a passage that deals with the

antichrist.

And Daniel says, "I beheld the same

horn," meaning this antichrist character

made war with the saints and prevailed

against them. Very strange phrase in

Daniel 7.

When you get to um

Revelation 13:7,

speaking of the Antichrist again, it

says, "And it was given unto him to make

war with the saints and to overcome

them. and power was given him over all

kindreds and tongues and nations. So

again, that's an antichrist thing in

which he prevails over the saints. You

with me so far? Both Daniel 7 and

Revelation 13:7 have that same illusion

there. Prevail or overcome.

In Matthew 16 at Cesaria Philippi,

Jesus says, that's a famous declaration

of Peter, whom who do you say I am? You

thou the Christ and so forth. He says,

'I say unto thee that thou art Peter and

upon this rock I will build my church

and the gates of hell shall not prevail

against it. The word prevail, same word.

These contradict each other.

Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 implies that

the Antichrist is going to succeed over

the saints.

Matthew 16 speaks of a group of saints

that shall not be conquered, will not

prevail against it. What does that tell

you? that they're in a different

category. These are not all in the same

category. That's the point I'm trying to

make here.

See, the saints that are saints after

the rapture of the church has been taken

up are called tribulation saints. And uh

and they they they're going to have some

some challenges.

And the word prevailed, overcome, and

prevail is the same vocabulary here. And

that that's one of the several it's not

the only basis but it's the simplest one

to get across is that there are

different categories if you will. Now

there are old testament patterns. We

have Enoch in the flood of Noah. How

many people were spared in the flood of

Noah? Anyone?

How many? We had flood of Noah. Judgment

on the earth. How many were saved?

Eight. Four got Noah and his three sons

and their four wives. That's eight.

Wrong. You've overlooked somebody. What

about Enoch?

Well, he was removed before. Absolutely.

That's the point. There were nine. When

somebody asks you that question, say

nine, and you'll catch him by surprise.

Okay. And so, what about Isaac's absence

after his offering? It's interesting

that when after the on the oidal, when

they're up there in the hill and and at

the last minute, God substitutes a ram,

right? We get to verse 19 of Genesis 22.

It says, "Abraham went down and joined

the two men and the donkey and they went

home.

Where is Isaac?"

He obviously went with him and they all

went home. But that's not what the text

says. You'll discover the person of

Isaac is edited out of the record from

the time that he's offered until the

time he's united with his bride two

chapters later. Chapter 24: 62. So that

modeling the hol what fascinates me is

the Holy Spirit even ddles with the

text. So, it doesn't do violence with

what it says. And yet, it fits the

model.

And that's why that's why God was so

upset with Moses when he didn't when he

hit the rock the second time. If he done

what God told him to do, it would have

modeled the first and second coming of

Christ. And and and Moses let them think

God was angry. He wasn't angry. So, he's

after 120 years, he's put in the penalty

box. He spends 40 years in Egypt,

kills the Egyptian, splits, he spends 40

years in the in the backside of Midian,

married to Vonte Carlo there. You know,

you all seen the movie. And uh then 40

years wandering in the wilderness. He's

been serving for 120 years. And he blows

it at Refodm that second time where God

says, "Speak to the rock and I'll give

you the water." And he hits it with a

stick. You've misre misrepresented me.

But he also has punctured the model. So

he's out of the ball game.

It's not a ball game. Ruth during the

thrashing floor scene, Ruth is sitting

at the feet of Boaz. That's all these

are patterns in the Old Testament that a

Jewish mind will pick up right away.

They all justify the whole the patterns

we're talking about. And so you can

search those out. And then of course

Daniel's absence from the fiery furnace.

That's another one people miss.

Remember Daniel chapter 2, that

incredible time where this young guy

young guy explains to the the king

Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was. How

did he know? Tell him his dream and

interprets it for him. Nebuchadnezzar is

really impressed. So he boosts this

young guy and his three friends into a

position of stature which you know went

over big with the staff. The existing

staff thought that they they're just

waiting for their chance to set these

young guys clock.

And so we have the whole fiery furnace

episode where these three guys are put

in the fiery they're they're uh falsely

accused and then they're thrown in the

fiery furnace. And you read that whole

episode, you forget to ask, wait a

minute, where's Daniel? You got a couple

of choices. Daniel bowed. Well, they

didn't. No. Not no chance of that. Well,

if Daniel didn't bow, then he should be

with them. No, because he wasn't around.

We don't know. We presume he was on some

errand for the king. He was absent. And

that's why the staff took advantage of

that to nail these three guys with false

accusations and try to get them out of

the picture. The interesting thing of

the fiery furnace episode in Daniel

chapter 3 is where's Daniel?

Well, he's on a errand, but he's also

noticeably from a a Jewish pattern point

of view, he's not involved. He's been

removed from the from that challenge.

The fiery furnace is a model of the

tribulation.

The three young men are not spared the

furnace. They're just not hurt by the

furnace. They're they're spared through

the experience.

But there's one that isn't even around.

And that's where most scholars begin to

re see Daniel as a type, if I may use

that term, of the church.

And so all these are examples of Old

Testament patterns that, you know, that

um that conform to verse 26 of Daniel 9,

that interval where Israel and the

church are used mutually exclusively.

And so there are three groups of people

that were facing the flood of Noah.

The flood's coming. It was not a

surprise, by the way. It was preached on

for four generations.

But then Enoch was told that as long as

his son is alive, it won't come until

he's dead. So he names him Methuselah,

which means his death shall bring. And

uh but the three groups facing the flood

of Noah, those that perished in the

flood, a whole bunch of people, millions

probably

perished in the flood. God decided to

start over because the the human genome

had been corrupted by these this angel

mischief going on.

those that were preserved through the

flood. There were at least those four

people, excuse me, those four those

eight people, the four guys and their

four wives that apparently were not

tarnished by the the genome problem.

That doesn't mean they were the only

ones, but we know that they were

distinctive because verse 9 in Genesis 6

says that they were without tamim.

That's a physical defect of the

genealogy.

And so they were preserved through the

flood.

And then there are those that were

removed prior to the flood. Enoch. So

that in that sense, Enoch is a type of

the church.

I want to show you three passages

and you come to your own conclusions.

These three passages are in the Old

Testament.

And I suspect it's possible that they

may be illusions

of the um the rapture in the Old

Testament.

Let me take Isaiah 26 first. And if you

look this up in your Bible, start early.

Go a few verses beforehand, you'll

discover the context of this is a woman

in travail, interestingly enough. But

let's just pick it up here at verse 19.

Isaiah reads as follows. Thy dead men

shall live. Together with my dead body

shall they arise. This is Isaiah

talking, right? Woo. We

But together with my dead body shall

they arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell

in the dust, for thy do as the do of

herbs, and the earth shall cast out the

dead. Come, my people,

enter thou into thy chambers,

shut thy doors about thee, and hide

thyself as it were, for a little moment,

until the indignation be overpassed.

For behold, the Lord cometh out of his

place to punish the inhabitants of the

earth for their iniquity.

And the earth also shall disclose her

blood and shall no more cover her slain.

Wow.

I'm sorry.

Read that after John 14 verse 1:3.

Come my people, enter thou in thy

chambers. I go to prepare a place for

you. thy father's house, many mansions.

I go to prepare a place for you. Enter

thou in thy chambers, and shut thy doors

about thee, and hide thyself for a

little moment, until the indignation be

passed. I hear great tribulation there.

For behold, the Lord cometh out of his

place to punish the inhabitants of the

earth for their iniquity. The earth also

shall disclose her blood, and shall no

more cover her slain. That's a

resurrection.

However you want to slice it.

Okay, let's take a look at another one.

This is Zephaniah chapter 2:3. Just a

little phrase. Zephania says, "Seek ye

the Lord, all ye meek of the earth,

which have wrought his judgment. Seek

righteousness, seek meekness.

It may be ye shall be hid in the day of

the Lord's anger."

What's all that about?

You decide.

One more if I may. Psalm 27:5. A little

illusion.

Notice what the psalmist says in Psalm

27. For in the time of trouble he shall

hide me in his pavilion.

In the secret of his tabernacle shall he

hide me.

He shall set me up on a what? A rock.

and understand how universally that term

is used by the Holy Spirit cover to

cover of none other than the stone which

the builders rejected. It's become the

headstone of the corner.

Well, anyway, okay, we got some problems

in all of this. There's a problem lying

behind all of this that we'll take up

more later, but I want to hit it here

while we're at it.

A a disease that has infected the church

since the first century.

The church became very anti-Semitic and

out of that came a viewpoint that's

known as amalennialism a denial that the

millennium is serious or ser literal and

this it it impacts the subject at hand.

Will the church enter the tribulation?

That's a big debate among knowledgeable

Christians. So understand there are good

scholars that don't agree with some of

the things I'm sharing with you here.

The return of Christ to rule. Let's

start with that. There are 1845

references to the return of Christ to

rule in the Old Testament. Those are not

trivial and you've got to deal with

every one of those if you're going to be

alillennial.

17 books give promise to the event and

318 references in the New Testament talk

about Christ returning to rule on the

planet earth. 216 chapters 23 of the 27

books give promise to that very event in

the New Testament.

For every prophecy of Christ's first

coming, you can find seven or eight of

them for his second coming. Were the

prophecies of the first coming fulfilled

literally? Absolutely.

Will the prophecies of his second coming

be fulfilled literally? Absolutely.

Well, that gives you a problem if you're

a millennial because you've got to

allegorize

most of those 1845 references in the Old

Testament. In others, where did a

millennialism come from? a guy by the

name of Oregon,

he developed a hermeneutics, a theory of

interpretation that treated scriptures

just allegorories, colorful legends, but

they have they're useful for teaching,

but they're not real. You know,

unfortunately, he's his views get picked

up by Gab Augustine

and out of Augustine, we have

amalillennialism

and that becomes the foundation for the

Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic

Church. Their esquetology is amalennial.

And when we have a reformation occur,

fantastic.

These people in the reformation

willingly were burned at the stake for

their commitment to satiology

by faith alone. So by by scripture alone

solo scriptor

fantastic history changed the course of

the world. I'm not here to demean what

they did. Don't misunderstand me.

Phenomenal. However, they didn't go far

enough. They re getting the scriptures

in the hand thanks to the Gutenberg

Bible and silver. They were able to

discover the scriptures and they

understood they got their theory of

salvation correct and they clung to it.

They didn't go further and re-examine

their esquetology.

So, the denominations that come out of

the reformation, which are many of the

prominent denominations to this day,

still carry a history of an almillennial

perspective of scripture. Well, that's

just Revelation 20. That's just an

allegory. No, it isn't. Most of what we

know about the millennium doesn't come

out of Revelation 20. It comes out of

Isaiah 65 and 66 and others.

See, the Reformation failed to address

esquetology.

And most Protestant denominations are

amillennial and post and thus

post-tribulational in their

esqueological views. You just be be

aware of that. You don't have to

disagree or agree with it. Just

understand that is their view. You want

to check it with scripture and you'll

you'll discover that in the Christian

community there is a subset a minority

that take the Bible seriously and they

get labeled fundamentalists.

Now a millennial has some problems.

There are messianic promises throughout

the Old Testament you've got to

allegorize and some of them are really

torturous.

You know there's a expression in the

computer industry if you torture the

data long enough it'll it'll confess to

anything.

So the destiny of Israel in God's

covenant. That's why it's you'll notice

people who take the Bible literally are

also people that are pro-Israel.

When people start quarreling well is it

Jew or is it Israeli? Is it there's a

difference there? Those are people that

you'll discover are anti-semitic in

their roots.

the promise given to Mary by the angel

Gabriel

in in in Luke chapter 1 verse 32.

Gabriel tells Mary that her child is

going to sit on the throne of David

promises that there was no throne of

David in those days. Rule ran things.

Did Jesus ever sit on the throne of

David? No. Will he? Absolutely.

We'll talk a lot about that especially

in session six.

And of course, there's numerous

reconfirmation of each of these things

in the New Testament. These aren't just

Old Testament ideas. The amalennial

problems occur in the New Testament

because anyway, the point is if you go

through the divisions of theology, go to

any pastor's bookshelf and you'll find a

book group of books called systematic

theology.

Their content will differ depending on

their traditions, but the the table of

contents will be almost identical.

Bibliology, the Bible, the theology

proper, the attributes of God.

Christologology, the study of the Lord

Jesus Christ. Study pneumatology, that's

their term for studying of the Holy

Spirit. Uh angiology, angels, both

fallen and unfallen. Uh anthropology,

study of man. And uh sotiology,

salvation, fancy word, just studying

salvation. And ecclesiology, study of

the church itself. And esquetology

study. That's the list of most there is

in that list a missing element that

involves five6s of the Bible that is not

a category of most studies of systematic

theology

and Ronald Fruckenbal got his doctoral

by pointing that out and he's got a book

called Israel the missing segment of

theology and uh it's it's a must it's a

must have book for a serious Bible

student isology not not for Israel's

sake, Israel as an instrument of God's

plan of redemption for all of us. That's

a legitimate study theologically quite

apart from Israel as a nation as such.

Okay, Israel and the church,

they have different distinction,

different origins, different missions,

different destinies.

And uh there's a a a a close cousin of

amalennialism called replacement

theology where Israel is is replaced by

the church. That's a heresy out of the

pit of hell and it's taught in many

churches. Why am I so hardened on that?

Because that makes God a liar. We all

are we all may have different views

about esquetology. Good scholars have

different views. But if you are

embracing replacement theology,

you are making God a liar. You got to

face that.

And of course, all of this laid the

basis for anti-semitism. You can go from

Augustine to Ashvitz.

If you want to blame somebody for the

Holocaust in Germany, blame the silent

pulpit that didn't speak out. They were

anti-Semitic pulpit.

And the 70 weeks that we're dealing with

in this conference is going to deal

specifically with Israel, not the

church. Something that's missed by many

of the prophecy buffs that publish

books. They fail to understand the

Jewishness of the 70 weeks.

Paul's dichotomy. He introduces three

groups all through the Old Testament.

It's Jews and Gentiles. Jews and

Gentiles. All kinds of comments. When

the church after Acts chapter 2, you've

got three categories, Jew, Gentile, and

the church. If you're in the church, it

eclipses the past. When you get after

the rapture, you again have the two

distinctions, Jew and Gentile to the

book of Revelation because the church is

in heaven. It only shows up in chapters

two and three of the book of Revelation.

And so anyway, the distinctives will

reappear after Revelation, chapter 4,

verse one. And that's a whole study. If

you're studying the book of Revelation,

it'll go into that. If you're talking

about esquetology, your first branch in

the road, are you amillennial,

postmillennial, or premillennial?

Amaleno is someone that believes that

the millennium is just an allegory, not

literal. There used to be a group called

postmillennial. Well, we're already in

the millennium. That view evaporated in

the 19th century. The 20th century is

the most bloody century in the history

of man. There isn't any sane person that

thinks things have been better than

they've ever been.

that there's no more sin and all that

sort of stuff. So postmillennial is is

an academic thing. But most of us here,

as you probably are, are premillennial.

We believe the there is a, you know,

we're four. We we we accept the reality

of a thousand-y year period that's been

set aside for whatever God's purpose.

Now, out of the premillennial people,

you still have some divisions, and that

has to do with how does where does the

rapture occur with respect to the

tribulation.

And uh people that are amillennial in

general will turn out to be

posttribulational. They think that the

the rap things that we call the rapture

will occur at the end of the great

tribulation. That's their view. And I'll

show you why we don't think that's

feasible.

Most of us are would be categorized as

pre-tribulational. We believe that the

church does not go through any part of

the tribulation.

There are a group of people that are

sort of between. and they call

themselves mid-tribulation, meaning that

they think the rapture occurs in the

middle of the 70th week. The trouble

with both post-trib and midtrib is that

they deny the concept of emacsy and

we'll get into that here in another

another piece of this. Let's talk about

the second coming. We talked about yes

last previous session we talked about

the interval. We had the 69 weeks. Then

we had this interval that includes the

church. But we're going to talk about

the 70th week of Daniel.

And uh that week is not defined by the

rapture. It's defined by a world leader

enforcing a covenant.

And that's what defines the 70th week.

People get confused when they make the

little charts. No, that's what defines

it. In the middle of that seven-year

period,

there is an event called the abomination

of desolation that splits it into two

equal parts. And uh the it the Lord

Jesus himself

labels the second half of that week the

great tribulation by quoting from Daniel

12. I want to highlight a subtlety here.

The great tribulation is not seven

years. It's three and a half in the

scripture.

And um when you hear people talk about

the seven-year tribulation, they're just

being sloppy. What they really mean is

the 70th week. They're equating the

tribulation with the 70th week of

Daniel. Well, that's if you're going to

be serious about this, be precise. The

70th week is 6 years and 11 months. It's

called it a seven-year period called the

70th week of Daniel. It's defined in the

text. Jesus describes the abomination of

desolation as being in the middle of

that week. And it literally is the Holy

Spirit. It's the it's the most

documented period of time in both the

Old and New Testament.

And we'll get we'll get to that before

we're through here, too. The 70th week

is interrupted at the end of it is it

climaxes in the battle of Armageddon and

it's interrupted by the second coming of

Jesus Christ. And when he comes, he sets

up his kingdom. Satan is bound for a

thousand years.

his two cohorts are thrown in Gehenna,

right? Then Satan's just bound for a

thousand years. He's going to be

released because he's going to serve

God's purpose once more.

Now, the post-trib guys feel that the

rapture takes place at the end of the

70th week. That's their view. And uh so

there are some problems with that.

There's first of all, there's several

versions of that written by good

scholars, people that are very

articulate and do their homework. Um,

but I have I there are there are a group

of us that are part of the treat

pre-trip study group gang that publish

in this area that think they're wrong.

You have to decide yourself. There are

some problems at post-tribulation. It

denies the doctrine of eminency.

We are supposed to expect them at any

moment. You can't be post or mid-trip if

you're if you believe in eminency.

Post-tribulations requires the church to

be uh on the earth during the seventh

week of Daniel. That's contrary to

Daniel 9:26 and a number of other

passages where the church is promised

not to go through that.

The pre post-tribulation have the church

experience God's wrath and 1

Thessalonians 5:9 and Revelation 3:10

among other places are pro the church

has promised not to experience not to

even be here during that period of time.

So that's a major controversy

escalologically among among biblical

believers and you're going to have to do

your own study and come to your own

conclusions. I'm telling you candidly

why we hold the view that we do but

you're we're not trying to sell that. We

want you to come to your own

conclusions. And the other question they

ask the post is how can the bride come

with him?

Kenny Poor used to say that makes the

marriage supper a snack lunch. He comes

down and come they come down go he comes

down to get him and then takes him up

and then he comes right back. That it

doesn't make sense bluntly. And so and

there are more problems. Who's going to

populate the millennium?

Because post tribulation has everybody

immortal at the end of the tribulation

one way or the other. There aren't there

aren't any people to populate the

millennium as as mortals. Who are they?

Who are the sheep and who are in the

sheep and goat judgment of Matthew 25

that occurs when the kingdom set up.

It's a very strange thing you will study

subsequently. But there's a question of

who is alive because the sheep and goat

judgment are judged by works and they're

mortal. Boy, does that puncture a lot of

cliches.

How can the virgins of Matthew 25 buy

oil without the mark of the beast?

Silly little question, but it's a good

question. You'll discover you can't

reconcile these virgins that are going

out to buy oil. They certainly don't

have the mark of the beast. How can they

buy? No one can buy or sell. You know,

you get into some in those

inconsistencies. There should be an

alarm bell going on. Say something's not

computing here.

Now, as I say, there's the post-trip

guys. There's the midtrip people that

think, well, yes, we don't go through

the tribulation, but we, and they're

right about that. They could be exempted

from the great tribulation by being

raptured in the middle of the week, but

they're still denying eminency because

they can't be, if you hold that view,

you can't have that view until the

antichrist

uh enforces a covenant. That's a

preceding condition.

And and Marv Rosenthal has a particular

variation of midtrib. He calls it

pre-rath. I'm going to suggest that we

are preerttrib. But I want you to notice

a very critical subtlety here. I want

you to notice that the preerttrib

rapture as represented by the left arrow

there is not coincident the beginning of

the 70th week. It might be an hour away

earlier. It might be 30 years earlier.

We don't know. There's an indeterminate

gap

because the rapture can occur

after the rapture will the antichrist be

revealed,

come to power and enforce a covenant.

That might all happen in an hour.

More likely, it happens. He's revealed,

comes to power, enforces the covenant,

and when that's what triggers the 70th

week. You with me? So, understand

there's a there's an indeterminate

interval there. If you're going to

digest what we think we have from the

scripture,

okay, the rapture precedes the

tribulation is clear. The seventh week

is defined by a covenant enforced by the

coming world leader. And the great

tribulation will be the last half of

that 70th week. I think I've emphasized

that. And the leader cannot be revealed

after the rapture. Where do I get that?

Second Thessalonians 2. And um and see

the problem with uh the Thessalonians is

they believe the Lord has already the

day of the Lord has already come and

they missed it somehow either because

they were mistaught or somehow and

that's why Paul is writing what we call

second Thessalonians as a response to

that a forgery that was circulating.

Well, the question is why would they

have so upset that Paul had to write a

letter? They think they've either missed

the rapture or they've been mistaught

about the rapture. That's what they're

concerned about for whatever reasons.

And so um now so Paul is explaining this

here's the sequence and he goes through

that the day of the Lord he's talking

about is the second coming of Christ and

u that day shall not come except there

be come a falling away first. So there's

a falling away and apostasy well ahead

of that. Okay. He who now restrainth

will restrain until he be taken out of

the way. He's referring to the Holy

Spirit as he indwells the indwells the

church.

The apostate occurs. The restrainer is

removed after the rest and then shall

the wicked one be revealed. The man of

sin is revealed after the restrainer is

removed. And that gets into a whole

definition who is the restrainer. And

you'll discover the only thing that ever

restrain sin is the Holy Spirit. And so

not an angel, not there's a number of

other theories you can easily puncture

if you want to go down that path. And so

the so the man of sin will be revealed

after the rapture is the key thing here.

and um obviously before the day of the

Lord. That's the sequence implied in

second Thessalonian. That's why 2

Thessalonians 2 is such a critical

chapter in New Testament esquetology.

And the way to get at that is to go

through a commentary on the issue.

Now, esquetology, as I say, you've got

either alennial or premillennial.

Postmillennial is and the

reconstructionists are are weird side

group, not serious. And of course, of

the premillennial and post, we we've

just been through all of that. Most

denominations are amillennial and

post-tribulational.

So that's where they reside, so to

speak. Most of us are at the opposite

end of this chart and are typically

labeled fundamentalists. Indeed, we are.

But here's the point I want to make. If

I know your theory of interpretation, I

know where your esquetology will be. If

I know your hermeneutics,

if you're willing to allegorize things,

you'll be on the left side of that

chart. If you're really strict and

you're really diligent and you in the

sense if you take the the text very

precisely, very literally, you'll drift

to the right side. So if I know your

theory of interpretation, I can predict

what esqueological perspective you'll

have. One derives from the other. The

more strict you treat the text, the more

you're driven to the right in in the in

the direction to the right here. And so

now the pre-tribic uh esquetology is not

a new invention. It's taught in the

first century. It certainly was epistle

of Barnabas and other documents.

Irenaeus what he wrote against heresies.

These are first century second century

people. So this is not a recent. Some

people are arguing that's just a recent

thing. No, it's not true. It goes way

way back to the very beginnings. Ephraim

the Syrian of the 4th century even has a

uh we made a there's been a recent

discovery of a document of his that from

the from the 4th century he said for all

saints and the elect of God are gathered

prior to the tribulation that is to come

and are taken to the Lord lest they see

the confusion that is to overwhelm the

world because of sin that is in his

writings back in the fourth century. So

these aren't these are not new ideas.

They there have been a remnant all the

way through history that have clung to

these ideas. And uh we could go through

more of these guys that are through

history here. The the the um what what

what happened is that the this view was

popularized

um by Emanuel Lunza in 1812 and followed

up with Edward Irving in 1816 and John

N. Darby in 1820. Many people call it

Darbyism. They think he invented it. No,

he popularized it. And Margaret McDonald

in 1830, some people say she invented

it. No, Darby did it even before she

did, but they didn't invent it. They

just were very well known because they

popularized it. So, don't let people

confuse you about that. Let's talk about

the Revelation. I don't want to get into

a whole review of it, but I want to

highlight a few things. In Revelation,

we have lampstands, seven lampstands

that are identified as the church in

Revelation chapter 1. Though, they are

in heaven. When John arrives in chapter

4, they represent the church. The church

is in heaven in chapter four is the

point. The 24 elders that are so

prominent in the book identify what they

represent. They identified as the

redeemed in chapter 5 in several places.

And they worship the lamb before he

receives the scroll. Very important.

The 24 elders represent the church. They

worship the lamb before he receives the

seven sealed book. And it's when he

receives the seven bill book and starts

breaking those seals that the

tribulation starts. QED

the church is in heaven and spared the

time of the tribulation. And people miss

that. But you want to and of course the

70th week is detailed then from chapter

6 through 19 of the book of Revelation.

And so be that as it may and we have the

profile of the seven churches.

And these church the seven letters you

want to study because they're the most

important chapters in the entire book of

revelation. And it turns out that these

seven letters strangely lay out the pro

the prophetic history of the church. So

we move on here. God Israel's time it's

it's 69 weeks have transpired.

The chess clock if I look at it that way

that the church is about to end and the

Israel clock's going to start again. And

when will that happen? It won't happen

tomorrow. The rapture could happen

tomorrow. But some interval of time

after the rapture, I don't know if it's

an hour or up 30 years or whatever. I

think the entire fire thing will take

back one generation, less than 38 years.

So it takes seven out of that for the 70

week. 30 it could be as much as 31 years

between the rapture and the beginning of

the 70th week according to this

reckoning if it's correct. And you got

to decide whether it's correct or not.

And so the battle of Armageddon climaxes

the 70th week. Second coming follows.

Obviously, we know the temple will be

rebuilt by the middle of that week.

That's not the millennial temple of

Ezekiel. That's a temple rebuilt temple

that the Antichrist will ultimately

desecrate. We don't know when it's going

to be built. Most scholars presume it's

built sometime in the first half of that

week. And that may be part of what the

world leader authorizes. But in the

middle of that week, he violates his

agreement and sets himself up to be

worshiped. But that temple could be

built earlier. The temple might be built

before the rapture. We don't know.

There's no clue. No clue. It's not our

issue. It's a Jewish issue

because it's it has a destiny that they

don't fully appreciate. Where's the Mog

invasion? Many good scholars, Gal

Lindseay being exemplary of them, tie it

as part of the Armageddon scenario. And

he may be right if he was here and he

would defend that even today. And he may

be right. There are a group of us that

suspect the Magog invasion occurs before

the 70th week. And we'll deal with that

as an issue in the next session. So

there are 10 reasons before the

tribulation, the promise of the hour of

trial from Revelation 3:10. It's not

we're not the subject of God's wrath.

That's what Luke 21 tells us. Um he's

escaped not to endure the tribulation.

When these things come to pass, then

look up and lift up your heads for your

redemption drawth nigh. When these

things begin to pass, in other words,

you'll get the the believers will not be

caught by surprise. By the way, in the

first 1 Thessalonians 5, you are

children of the day, not the night. The

the the coming of Christ as a thief in

the night are to the people of the

night, not the day. Read the first

Thessalonians. It's very encouraging

part of that. Look up, not out for the

redemption war. Uh any war that you

always call the ambassadors home first.

Someone pointed that out to me and

that's also what the Lord's going to do.

If if the warfare is starting before we

he's going to call his ambassadors home.

I hope you are all his ambassadors and

the restrainer will be removed before

the antichrist and so forth. And the

twinkling of an eye that's not an

extended activity. It's in the air, not

on the earth. Women as Israel, not the

church. That's well established. Uh the

marriage of the bride in heaven and so

forth. It includes the raptured and

that's Revelation 19 and so forth. We'll

talk about the bride in session six. And

by the way, John Walver's book doesn't

have 10. and he has 50 of these reasons

why the church can't go through the

tribulation. So the question of the day

is he coming for you?

That's a question. And with that, let

you and I bow our heads in a closing

word of prayer. Father, we thank you for

who you are. We thank you for this time

together. We just uh pray that your Holy

Spirit would help us understand

precisely what it is that you would have

of us in the days ahead. as we commit

ourselves into your hands in the name of

Yeshua, our coming king indeed. Amen.

[Music]