The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Introduction to the Rapture, Part 5

[0:00] is the rapture, pre, mid, or post. Please turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and we'll be looking at verses 13 through 18.

[0:25] 1 Thessalonians 4.

[1:25] Convert one another with these words.

[1:58] 1 Thessalonians 5.

[2:28] The text is one that is quite controversial in Christian circles, and primarily the controversy centers around the three aspects that are mentioned in the title of the message this morning.

[2:40] Pre, mid, or post rapture. Some would wonder, pre, mid, or post what? Well, it is pre, mid, or post as regards the tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, the seven-year period that is going to transpire upon the earth that Jesus Christ described as the most horrendous time that the earth has ever seen, that the world has never experienced anything this terrible in the past, and never would again in the future.

[3:14] It is called ho flipsis in the Greek, and it means tribulation, the great one. It is a time of unparalleled distress, mayhem, murder, persecution, death, disease, everything you can think of.

[3:31] Everything that is negative that can befall mankind is going to be dumped upon this planet in proportions the likes of which it has never experienced before.

[3:42] It will be as close to hell on earth as can be realized. The question is, the translation of the church, the removal of the body of Christ from this earth, will it be pre, which means we will exit before that time of degradation and mayhem begins, or will it be delivered mid-tribulation period, three and a half years into the seven years, or, as some believe, will the church be removed at the end of that seven-year period so that the church will have been here for the entirety of it, and that is referred to as the post-tribulation period.

[4:33] Of late, there has been another surface that is not in your bulletin, but I'll just mention it briefly. It is referred to as the pre-wrath rapture, and the thinking is this will be about, not halfway through, but about three-quarters of the way through the great tribulation.

[4:55] And when we look at this, we will be examining the seven years in detail, especially when we get into the book of Daniel and the 70 weeks prophecy that Daniel gives us.

[5:08] But you need to note and understand that, generally speaking, this seven-year period can be broken down into, I guess we could say, three kind of segments as regards the intensity.

[5:24] And I'm talking now in general purposes, general perspectives, and that is about the first third of this seven-year period, roughly about the first third, as depicted in the Revelation, seems to indicate that the vast majority of the conflict and mayhem that is taking place on the earth is through human instrumentality.

[5:55] It is man doing his worst upon his fellow man. This may involve nuclear activity. It will be the kind of tribulation that human beings are capable of bringing upon one another, which is pretty ugly.

[6:11] We have seen instances like the Holocaust, and we ask ourselves, how is it possible that human beings could ever stoop to such a low as to treat fellow human beings as they were treated in the Holocaust?

[6:35] It escapes us. But we know it is part of the ugliness of human history. So as best as I am able to understand, it appears as though man is going to be at his worst during the first third of these seven years.

[6:55] And then it is going to intensify because his infernal majesty, Satan himself, is going to wreak havoc upon this earth through demonic activity and through deception that will actually intensify what man has been doing to his fellow man.

[7:17] And it will be an increase in persecution and murder and everything that goes along with it. It's going to be incredible persecution and simultaneously amazing evangelism is going to take place.

[7:38] During this time, during this time, people will not be able to buy nor sell without the mark of the beast, and we'll be talking about that when we get to it.

[7:49] And it is going to cause many people to die from starvation. Drinking water will be at an absolute premium. You will not go to any grocery store and buy your bottles of water like you do now.

[8:02] That will not be available. It will be an intense time that will worsen the time that man inflicted upon man because this is none other than Satan himself.

[8:15] But the worst is yet to come. And the last third is when God Almighty pours out his wrath on an unbelieving world.

[8:37] And neither man nor Satan has seen anything until they see what God does. And the thing that is going to characterize the majority of people on the earth during this time is something that we can scarcely imagine.

[8:57] But the book of Revelation makes it very, very clear. And that is this. Despite all the calamity, despite all the tribulation, despite all the death and disease, and despite the fact that man begins to understand that God is behind this, there is no repentance.

[9:24] There is no remorse on the part of humans. Those remaining will dig in their heels and shake their fist at the Almighty as God unleashes these.

[9:38] And the book of the Revelation refers to them as the vials or the bowls. They are the third series of judgments. The first has to do with the scroll that is opened.

[9:51] And the second has to do with the trumpet judgments. And the third has to do with the vials. And it is God who dumps the vials on the earth.

[10:02] It is an incredible time that is coming. And all of this, keep in mind now, don't lose sight of this one fact. All of this is the ultimate payoff for human sin and rebellion against the Almighty.

[10:23] Only then will it be shown the horrors and the consequences and the depth and the seriousness of human sin which for all practical purposes in most quarters of the earth right now is poo-pooed, denied, made fun of and everything else.

[10:43] But God is not amused. This is the time that is coming upon the earth. The question that we are dealing with now is our believer is going to be here to undergo this time.

[10:56] We take the position that we are not. Now, there are those who take the position that we are going to go halfway through it. That Christians are going to be subjected to the first half of the tribulation which means it will not be as bad as it's going to get.

[11:12] It's going to be pretty bad. And halfway through the tribulation, then the church, the body of Christ is raptured, taken out before the last half begins.

[11:24] And then, of course, the third position which is embraced by a number of believers and by the way, these are all sincere, well-meaning believers. They all love the Lord and they all love the Bible and they all study it like we do.

[11:37] They just reach different conclusions and they believe that the church is going to go all the way through the tribulation period and be subjected to everything that is happening during that time.

[11:50] And at the end of the tribulation period, then the rapture will occur. But many of us, especially those of the pre-tribulation position, wonder, what's the point of removing the church at the end of the tribulation when everybody's experienced everything, what removal, what benefit, or what release is gained from it.

[12:14] And those who are of the mid-tribulation position and the post-tribulation position look upon those of us who are of the pre-tribulation position and they say, you people are a bunch of wimps.

[12:30] What you're doing is you're using the rapture as a cop-out. It's escapism. That's what you're interested in is escapism. You want to get out of all of that horrendous thing that is coming so you conjure up this idea of a pre-tribulation rapture and you're not going to be here to undergo any of it.

[12:52] And our response to that is, well, yes, but that wasn't our idea. That's what God said He was going to do, that He was going to keep us from that hour of trial.

[13:03] And make no mistake about it, I don't know anybody of the pre-tribulation rapture position who believes that we are going to escape it because we deserve to. Nonsense. We are people who traffic deeply in the grace of God and we know full well we don't deserve anything.

[13:20] but we also know that God has special care and love and provision and protection for those who are in Christ and we believe that this is going to be one of the greatest examples of it.

[13:31] So He's not removing us because we don't need the purging. Of course we do. He's not removing us because we are just escapists and He wants to get us out of here.

[13:45] Of course He does, but He has His reasons and He is not going to subject His bride. And by the way, many are of the opinion and I can see the validity of this that the church of which Christ is the head and we as believers constitute the body and some liken that body also to a bride and the head to the bridegroom.

[14:09] Is the tribulation something that a groom would subject his bride to? The thing breaks down there, doesn't it? Of course not.

[14:20] So we believe that we are going to be delivered from the wrath that is to come because that is part of the plan and program of God and not for any other reason.

[14:32] So we're going to examine these and just give some consideration to it and then eventually we're going to work our way into the tribulation period which will be spelled out in Daniel's 70th week in Daniel chapter 9.

[14:48] So thus far we've looked at the reality of the rapture. There are those who deny that there is even going to be a rapture for anybody at any time and we are convinced that the scripture portion read this morning spells it out very, very clearly that such a thing is going to happen and a collateral passage is 1 Corinthians 15 and it is spelled out there with equal clarity and then there are at least a half dozen other collateral references all to be found in the Pauline epistles.

[15:21] These are not in the gospels. These are in the Pauline epistles. The rapture of the church is not in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.

[15:32] It isn't there. I know some are persuaded that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself and where I am there you may be also.

[15:44] John 14 that is not rapture and we will look at that and see why. Also the passage in Matthew 26 I believe it is it talks about two men being in the field one being taken the other left common interpretation of that among most believers is the one that is taken is the believer is taken in the rapture removed and the unbeliever is left behind.

[16:07] It isn't teaching that at all. How do we know that? All you have to do is examine the context and the context makes it very clear. It isn't talking about rescue it's talking about judgment and we will see that in perspective.

[16:23] So I just want you to get this picture and another reason of course that ought to be intuitively obvious to us is that you will not find anything about the rapture in the Old Testament it isn't prophesied you will not find anything about the rapture in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John you find it only in Paul's epistles.

[16:44] Why? Because the rapture is a subject of mystery not prophecy and that means it is revealed only in Paul's epistles.

[16:57] This is what he meant when he said behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall excuse me but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump and that last trump simply indicates that the end of this dispensation has come.

[17:24] That will signal the end of the day of grace this is the dispensation of the grace of God we are living in right now.

[17:38] God used the apostle Paul to initiate this dispensation he talks about this when he says that he was made a minister of the dispensation of the grace of God that didn't exist before grace existed before of course but the dispensation of grace didn't and this dispensation of grace which is the same thing as the church age is that special time in the plan and program of God where the grace of God is to be exhibited and demonstrated and proclaimed to everyone everywhere Jew and Gentile alike all over the world that's the dispensation of the grace of God when the rapture occurs it's over that's it the dispensation of the grace of God has come to an end and the last trump will signal that we don't have familiarity with these trumpet things but they are very very important especially in the

[18:41] Old Testament Jewish economy because the shofar this was a ram's horn it was an actual animal horn hollowed out it was constituted like a long trumpet and the priest would hold that thing up to his mouth and blow it and it took a lot of wind to blow it and he would give a certain blast on the trumpet and one blast meant one thing and one blast meant another you know our U.S. Calvary carried that over in the Civil War times when the bugler would learn certain things that he was to play and when he blew a certain thing on the bugle that meant charge when he blew another thing that meant retreat when he blew another thing that meant everybody fall in when he blew another thing it probably even meant mail call but they knew by the sound of the trumpet what everybody was supposed to do and this is that meaning in scripture when it says if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound who will prepare himself for battle if you get the wrong signal from the trumpet blast you don't know what to do and everybody's in confusion but this time at the last trump and there is very good reason to believe that no one is even going to hear that trumpet sound unless they are in Christ everyone else will have deaf ears and never hear it

[20:14] I don't mean to be demeaning but it will be like the proverbial dog whistle you know with the high pitch you can whistle that thing and a human being can't even hear it but a dog will perk up his ears and he hears it because he's on a different wavelength a believer in Jesus Christ is on a different wavelength than everybody else and when that trumpet sounds we will hear it and we will be changed in an instant in the twinkling of an eye the reality of the rapture 1 Corinthians 15 1 Thessalonians 4 Titus 2 Philippians 3 some say it is of late origin popularized by J.N. Darby in the 1800s we've already given you documentation showing that some of the earliest church fathers dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century fully embraced the concept of the translation of the church there is nothing new about it in fact we may say that it is true that there were centuries that had gone by when the rapture of the church was ignored not understood not appreciated at all simply because the church which was primarily at this time and I do not say this to be unkind

[21:39] I say it to be factual the church primarily at that time for those centuries was far more into tradition and ritual than it was an exploration of the scriptures and that was true of the Roman Catholic Church and by the way it is still true of the Roman Catholic Church tradition and tradition and the ritual and the liturgy that goes with it is far more involved in the Roman Catholic Church to this day than is the exposition of the scriptures and that always has been it always has been that's just a matter of fact I think any priest would have to agree with that so for all practical purposes the teaching of the scriptures including the rapture and all that that involves had been lost for centuries and for those who find that hard to believe consider this the theme of justification by faith was lost in the church for centuries until Martin

[22:43] Luther resurrected it in the 16th century and for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years the church has virtually done without that precious truth of justification by faith and reduced it to a system of works and sacraments and ritual and all the rest of the foldy roll and Luther put it back on the front page justification by faith we can say the very same kind of thing has happened with the doctrine of the rapture of the church and yes it was J.N.

[23:18] Darby J.N. D. Darby who popularized it and brought it back to life in the church and in the 1800s and 1900s it became a very prominent subject but it's been there all the time 1st Thessalonians has been there for 2,000 years 1st Corinthians 15 has been there these other passages they've been there nothing new about them they were simply ignored ignored and the average person couldn't even read the Bible didn't even have a Bible you realize it wasn't until 15 whatever it was that Miles Coverdale gave us the first complete printed English Bible that's only 500 years ago something to consider so the reality of the rapture and the translation cannot be questioned by serious Bible students and eminence cannot be questioned nothing need yet be fulfilled before the rapture can occur and we are very dogmatic about this and it's very important and by the way you need to understand that only with a pre tribulation rapture can you accommodate the doctrine of eminence because if the rapture occurs halfway through the tribulation it won't be eminent you'll know if you were here you would know when it would occur it will occur three and one half years to the day from the time the antichrist signs that covenant with

[25:01] Israel in Daniel 9 that is the commencing of the great tribulation period and the scriptures make that quite clear that's when the tribulation starts it doesn't start when the church is removed in the rapture no no it starts when that covenant is signed how much time will transpire between the translation of the church and the signing of that covenant we don't know could be weeks months years we aren't given a time frame for that so we do know when that covenant is signed that's the trigger seven years from that time is when the tribulation will end three and a half years would be the mid point with a mid trib rapture everybody would know there wouldn't be any eminence but with the pre tribulation rapture every generation that has existed from the time Paul was inspired to give this information every generation including Paul's anticipated the distinct possibility that the translation would take place in his lifetime now we've spent 2,000 years and there hasn't been any rapture but there will be probably there were some saying probably there were some saying that God has promised a Messiah way back in Genesis 3 and it's been 3 now 4,000 years and he still hasn't come but he did and he was born in Bethlehem and it was 4,000 years after the promise was given so as

[26:41] I've said we've only waited half as long for Christ's second coming as what the world waited for his first coming keep that in mind eminence cannot be questioned nothing need yet be fulfilled before the rapture can occur there are no prophecies nobody nobody can say well such and such has to happen before there can be nothing has to happen that's why the rapture could occur before we conclude this service before I conclude the next sentence the rapture could occur that's what we mean by eminent it means any moment unannounced do do you do do you know what it is intended to impact our life to impact our behavior to make a difference in our agenda and in our motives and in our works it is intended to avoid embarrassment of having to meet our

[27:42] Lord and having things that we should have cared for uncared for it means we are to live our lives on the cutting edge of the possibility of the rapture occurring any moment keep your accounts short with the Lord and with each other because we may be called into question at the Bema seat at any time only with the pre-wrath only with a pre-tribulation rapture can you have the doctrine of eminence and the scriptures make it very very clear there is no time frame for the rapture of the church to take place some are of the opinion this has to happen first that has to happen nothing has to happen first it is right now it will be immediate that's what we mean by eminence that's the practicality of the eminence and we've talked a little bit about the logistics of the rapture how the dead in

[28:46] Christ shall rise first present day believers human spirits are with the Lord when we exit this earth through physical death our spiritual self and I want you to understand this please listen up our spiritual self is the real you your body is not the real you your body is the physical essence by which we identify each other our bodies are just a shell they are a temporal abode that our spirit indwells while we are here on this earth and it is subject to all kinds of breakdowns and failures and disease and death and everything that goes along with it but your human spirit is not so subject it is eternal it is indestructible and when the body dies which is destructible and it is spoken of as our mortal bodies when your mortal body dies your immortal spirit goes on it leaves the body and goes to be with the

[30:11] Lord and it dwells with the Lord as a disembodied spirit I cannot begin to get my brain around that I cannot conceive of what that would be like your body is going to the grave or to the ocean or to the crematory or wherever it goes but your spirit leaves the body if you are a believer leaves the body and goes to be with the Lord and it will be there as a disembodied spirit now what this means if I understand this correctly and by the way I certainly don't have all the light and understanding on this that I would like to have not by a long shot but this means for instance that the apostle Paul is with the Lord as a disembodied spirit what would that look like it doesn't look like anything because it isn't physical can you get that if you can please clue me in because

[31:26] I can't it isn't physical but we can only think and deal in terms of the physical when it comes to appreciating these things we we know that our bodies are material and we live in a material world and this is physical and maybe it's made up of atoms and all the rest and I guess it is but and we are made up of atoms and this body undergoes a whole new set of atoms and all kinds of stuff that God has built into the human body that is refurbished and replenished in ways that are just absolutely mind boggling but your spirit is not physical it's not material and yet it is very very in fact let me put it this way your human spirit is more real than your body because the essence of your being is not your body it's your spirit but where do we put all the emphasis on the body that's part of our misappropriation and misunderstanding but it's a fact and we we we pamper these bodies and we print these bodies and we clothe them and we perfume them and we bathe them and nobody is saying that you shouldn't but they take up all of our concern and all of our effort and all of our time as these bodies partly because we all have a touch of vanity and we're concerned about how others will see us aren't we of course we are that too is part of our fallenness it's called pride it's called the pride of the flesh so when this trump sounds this last trump sounds these these spirits these disembodied we call them disembodied because they don't have a body yet they're very real these disembodied spirits and there are millions of them the spirits of every believer in

[33:41] Christ that has died up to the present time they are all there what do they look like they don't look like anything what do they occupy they don't occupy time and space because they are immaterial physical bodies need time and space spirit doesn't and let me explain this this way if I can although it's a difficult concept for us to grasp as much for me as it is for you our human spirit is the most important part of our being it is the preponderance of our being not our bodies and when the text says that God is spirit Jesus said I think it was John 4 34 something like that he said God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth and all that means is you don't worship

[34:45] God with your body you worship God with your spirit and that includes your mind your intellect your will volition imagination everything else that's what we worship God with and contemplate if you will that when Jesus said God is spirit there was a time when Jesus the son was with the father and the spirit of God and they were all spirit the father is spirit the son was spirit and the holy spirit is spirit all three members of the godhead were spirit not materiality they weren't made out of anything they have no they have no essence they just have properties of spirituality and yet it is out of spirit that materiality came this means the spirit is of the higher order that the physical is of the lower order but it's the one basket we tend to put all our eggs in again that's part of our fallenness is reasoning with a warped intellect it causes us to put the emphasis where we ought not to put the emphasis we ought to put the emphasis on the spirit part of our being feeding it educating it training it etc by the word of

[36:17] God which is what Christ meant when he said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God when you take in the word of God you are not feeding your body anything you're feeding your human spirit and your human spirit is what matures and grows and develops and becomes Christ like and all your body is is an extension through which you can manifest that growth and we do that through our deeds of kindness and love and consideration and all the rest those things are displayed on the basis of what is inside of us so it is out of spirit that materiality comes God dwelt as spirit before anything was created before any heavens any planets any earth any angels anything there was

[37:18] God who existed in father son and spirit and they were all spirit beings and one of them one came down to this earth and took upon him physicality we call that the incarnation that was the son of God made flesh the word made flesh and dwelt among well what was he before he was made flesh he was spirit Jesus as a member of the triune Godhead took upon him human flesh flesh and as best I understand he will forever in eternity remain in human flesh and when this rapture takes place all of those human spirits none of which are visible because when the human spirit exits the physical body at death nobody sees it nobody can say oh there he goes and he no because it's immaterial can you understand the immaterial if you can please explain it to me because this material world is just so we're so locked into this this is this is as far as we can go it seems like when that trumpet sounds all of those disembodied spirits are going to be reunited rehoused in a brand new physical body and then the disembodied spirit indwelling that new body won't be disembodied any longer will now be a complete entity which will be a soul and as

[39:20] I pointed out to you in the past you do not have a soul you are a soul and your soul is made up of the material body and the immaterial the spirit those together constitute the soul that's the totality of your personhood you are a soul it's interesting to note I don't know where they got this or how they began utilizing it but they do and I've heard it a number of times that ships captains and airline pilots do not talk in terms of persons on board they talk about souls on board do you know that I don't know if it's just a tradition or what but they talk about souls on board that's quite interesting they do that at sea and in the air souls on board and when

[40:21] Paul was describing the shipwreck that took place of which he was apart in Acts 27 he talked about 276 souls were saved that could have perished in that storm but he told him take courage God has informed me this night and he said this in the midst of a storm he probably screamed it at him because nobody could hear you with all the noise and the commotion and the storm going on and Paul said God take heart because God has informed me that not one soul is going to perish and sure enough that boat broke up it was a huge huge Egyptian green ship it was the largest sea going vessel in the Mediterranean world at the time and that green ship broke up in the midst of that storm and yet every one of those 276 persons were able to make it ashore so not a one of them perished and they are referred to as souls entities complete persons spirit and body told in

[41:36] Genesis 2 7 that God fashioned Adam from the dust of the earth and he breathed into his nostrils can you can you feature that and somebody says somebody says well that's that's not that's not literal okay if it's not literal what is it what did it signify I I maybe I'm just a country bumpkin but I think it was just flat out downright literal God breathed into Adam's nostrils he never did that for donkeys or for pigs or for any other biological life form but he breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and the text says and Adam became a living soul wow when God breathed in and I don't want to get too far afield here but

[42:38] I think that was nothing more than a pre incarnate manifestation of the Christ which I call a Christophany that's who walked with Adam in the cool of the day and that's whose voice Adam heard when he was calling out to him and he fashioned him just like you would fashion something out of pliable matter and then he breathed into his nostrils and when he did he put something of himself in Adam we call it likeness and image this is fascinating stuff you have no idea how incredible you are we kind of take ourselves for granted every one of you is an absolute walking miracle every one of us just amazing when that rapture occurs that disembodied spirit and that glorified body going to come together and you will be a finished product finished complete entire no room for improvement you will be all you ought to be wow

[44:03] I can't wait that's going to be something and we believe when that takes place it will be before the conflagration begins on the earth world is going to have an absolute time of unparalleled chaos just trying to deal with the absence of all these people and we talked in our last session if you were not here and you're interested in hearing it you can obtain a CD in the back there with the date on it but in our last session we talked somewhat about what that was going to be like and we gave that some consideration that we won't be able to give it in experience that this world has ever seen question is and the only question to you that really matters is where do you stand regarding all this are you in

[45:24] Christ or do you just hope that you are because hoping isn't good enough you need to know and God has provided information whereby we can know not hope think pray or wish but we can know that we are in him if you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and if you have answered the question if God should you should meet your maker today and God should ask you why should I let you into my heaven you would know what to tell him and you wouldn't commence by telling him how you have always tried to do the right thing and you would skip all of that nonsense and you would tell God you should let me into your heaven because Jesus Christ paid my way he died for my sin and my place and he's all I've got and he's all I need if you've got any other answer it's a wrong answer do you know Christ in that way if you do you are in for a remarkable deliverance because

[46:28] Christ may come at any moment and you would be ready to meet him and if you're not in Christ you are not ready your state is worse than you might imagine because to be outside of Christ is to be outside of the ark of safety wow this is going to be some kind of time and you just imagine the chaos the confusion that is going to inundate this world when this happens because it's going to be all over the world it's not going to be just the USA they're going to be Asian and African Christians and European Christians and American Christians and whoever and wherever they are believers they're going to be going and by the way there is one other view that we haven't even mentioned and I'll just throw this in so as to make it a little more complete they are referred to as the partial rapturists and their position is that only those who are worthy as believers living godly lives will be raptured and all of the nasty

[47:41] Christians that were living in the flesh are going to stay here and go through that time of tribulation and they call that the partial rapture but I think that is shot down by the fact that God can look down upon the sea of humanity and he will fail to find one who is actually worthy none of us is worthy and dear friends that's the thing that makes grace grace it speaks to us in our unworthiness not in our worthiness and it is marvelous got a couple of questions anybody got time for a couple of questions all right Ron let's get the mic up here if you may please up here in front no the other Ron well I have more of a comment okay yes

[48:43] I think I believe you know it's pre pre tribulation because if Israel is going to be at the forefront in the tribulation Christians really can't be here because Christians will be more at the forefront with Israel and it's Israel God's chosen people he wants to you know bring in the limelight and take his bride home okay good good thank you someone else with a comment or question and don't feel it has to be a question because sometimes you can you can offer some insight or something that I've omitted and it can be very beneficial to everybody so by all means don't hesitate if you've got something to say we want to hear it others okay and the back wait a second the mic is coming and we'll be able to the folks that tune in with the

[49:55] CDs can hear it the parable about the virgins some of them were prepared and got to go that doesn't have what does that apply to that doesn't have anything to do about the rapture then no no that's a very good question and it is one that can be confusing because there are the five virgins and the five foolish virgins and the five wise virgins and the oil that they didn't take and so on and they were not prepared and the Lord chided them for their negligence and so on but you're right that has nothing whatever to do with the rapture and the really important thing to keep in mind and this is where understanding something about dispensations and progressive revelation of scripture is really very very helpful and that is this the rapture and everything concerning the church which is the body of Christ is not found in the gospels and it's not found in the Old Testament at all that's what makes it so startling because it just boom just comes on the scene out of nowhere and it comes through the person of Paul the apostle whom

[51:03] God raised up to be the apostle to the Gentiles that was earth shaking we have no idea what a what a incredible impact that made on the culture of that day because only the Jews only the nation of Israel had apostles and they had 12 of them and the thinking among most of the Jews at that time is that God has nothing to do with the Gentiles and doesn't want anything to do with the Gentiles they are dogs they are the uncircumcised and they are vile and unworthy and the Jewish prayer that was offered in the morning by most of the Jews was God I thank thee that thou hast not made me a slave a woman or a Gentile and that was the standard operating line that's the way they felt and you read you read in

[52:10] Luke 4 when Jesus came back to his hometown in Nazareth and started preaching the people were listening to him and they were amazed at his words and then he made what seemed to be a fatal kind of error he mentioned that out of all of the widows Elijah was sent to none but to the widow of Zeraph and she was a Gentile and then out of all of the people in Israel that had leprosy to whom did God send Elijah but Naaman the Syrian the Syrian that's a Gentile and when he mentioned God's care for those two they rose up in rebellion and they laid hands physically on Jesus and jostled him and manhandled him and took him out to the brow of the hill and were prepared to throw him over because he had the audacity to say that God was interested in Gentiles unthinkable and the only and the time and the brow of the hill and he passed through their midst and went on his way we just cannot begin to appreciate that tremendous distinction between

[53:30] Jew and Gentile and when Paul then made that tremendous statement as he closed out the book of Acts he was preaching to an exclusively Jewish audience and for the most part they turned down his offer of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul said seeing as you regard yourselves unworthy of eternal life you aren't interested you won't give Jesus of Nazareth the time of day what he did on the cross you will not take seriously at all lo I turn to the Gentiles and they will hear it that was what we call the Christian church that began the body of Christ with Paul the apostle completely new thing you will search the

[54:31] Old Testament in vain you will not find the church the body of Christ you will not find it in the gospels and when Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church he's not talking about the church which is his body he's talking about that Jewish assembly and the time is coming when he's going to do that that that's when he told the twelve you who have followed me you twelve apostles who have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man comes into his glory he never has but when he does that millennial kingdom will be established and you you twelve are going to sit on the twelve thrones of Israel judging the twelve tribes that's the church that's just the ecclesia the assembly the called out group that he was talking to there in Matthew 16 with Peter's confession one more question in the back there and this will have to be our last

[55:32] Lynette okay I don't remember what scripture it is that you mentioned earlier about the part where it says one will be taken one will be left and that that doesn't have anything to do with the rapture I always believed that it was and I don't want to keep believing it just because that's what I always believed but I want you to convince okay I was going to give that a separate treatment and I will relate it in more detail later but just quickly if I may we're in Matthew's Gospel chapter 24 of Matthew's Gospel and 20 and verse 40 the whole context is in connection with the tribulation and you read the context and you'll see that it's tribulation content verse 40 says then there shall be two men in the field one will be taken and one will be left two women will be grinding at the mill one will be taken and one will be left now probably the common opinion is that this sounds like the rapture sounds like one is a believer one is an unbeliever and the believer is taken and the unbeliever is left behind but what

[57:24] I would encourage you to consider is the overall context and the overall context of the passage relates to judgment and death one will be taken and one will be left it means one will be taken in death one will be taken in judgment and this is the meaning of verse 28 of the same passage when he's talking about wherever the corpse is there the vultures will gather what's that all about that's about dead bodies and vultures gather where there are dead bodies and this whole chapter is one that deals with the perilous times and the return of Christ and that will be at the conclusion of the tribulation period that's what closes out the seven year period of tribulation is the return of Christ and during that time the conflagration and the body count is going to be unimaginable can you can you no you can't I was going to say can you get your brain around this but you can't any more than I can can you imagine how many people do we have living in this world now what is it seven billion can you imagine one third of the world's population being killed one third we're talking two billion that's with a

[58:49] B we shudder in horror when there are a few thousand lost in a tsunami or an earthquake that's nothing compared to what this is going to be you see this is why this is called the great tribulation the population of the whole world is going to be dramatically reduced in a short period of time and later on it will be another third of what's left and that's what's coming upon this earth that's what the world's got in store and you know something don't lose sight of this it is all because of sin that's what's bringing all of this down it is the long suffering of God and the buildup of human sin and the curtain is coming down would you stand please father we cannot contemplate times such as this we cannot begin to imagine the horror the confusion the calamity everything that is going to occur and we cannot imagine how good the grace of

[60:14] God is to make provision for your beloved who put trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be removed delivered from this time of wrath but we are truly glad that you made such provision we pray that you will impress this truth of grace upon us so that we will leave here with a new eagerness and a new zeal to share this matchless grace of God with others simply because you made it available and there was a time when somebody shared it with us we are so grateful thank you for your word for the preciousness of it we trust that we'll take it to heart anything that has been uttered of the flesh may it pass away and come to not in Christ's name