Turn to Revelation chapter 6. I'm coming back tonight to the subject of Bible prophecy to give a summarized overview and explanation of the book of Revelation, and in particular to refute the error of a position on Bible prophecy that has gained acceptance and popularity in the last few years, known as the free rapture of the church, which was first actually proposed in a book published in 1990 by a guy named Marvin Rosenthal, various versions of which are currently being promoted by Stephen Anderson, Kent Hovind, and other greatly misled individuals. Thankfully, many Christians are finally coming around to the truth that the popular pre-trib rapture doctrine that has been taught in many churches for decades is fundamental, unquestionable dogma. is nothing but a fabrication and a huge lie and a hoax, taught nowhere in scripture. And that Christians are, in fact, called to go through and endure the time of great tribulation that Christ spoke of in his Olivet Discourse. But unfortunately, many of those same Christians are also jumping from the frying pan into the fire and buying into this new deception known as the pre-wrath rapture, which misdefines the tribulation period and postulates that Christ's saints, His elect, His called-out, born-again believers, will remain on earth through much of the time that Jesus described in Matthew 24 as great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no one ever shall be. but will also be raptured or taken out of the world prior to the outpouring of God's wrath on the wicked. While the pre-wrath rapture position does properly interpret 2 Thessalonians 2, 1-8, which plainly says that Antichrist must be revealed before our gathering together unto Christ, and therefore allows for the persecution of Christians by the Antichrist prior to the rapture, which is a step in the right direction, but it's still in serious error and must be rejected for several reasons. I'm going to briefly introduce those reasons and state my premise first, and then we'll look a little bit more closely at the proof of my premise from various scriptures that we're going to look at. The major flaw that makes both the pre-Trib and the pre-Wrath rapture theories impossible to reconcile with scripture, which for some reason far too many Christians are just far too willing to overlook and to ignore, even when informed of the problem, is that both the pre-trib rapture and the pre-wrath rapture require two separate returns of the Lord in power and glory, returning first to gather His elect and then a second time to crush and to destroy the Antichrist at Armageddon. When the Bible shows over and over and very clearly that there is only one return of Christ, when He returns at the end of the tribulation period, first to destroy the Antichrist and those gathered against him at Armageddon and then to resurrect his saints to enter the Millennial Kingdom. But in one way actually the pre-wrath rapture position is in a degree worse than the pre-trib or more absurd than the pre-trib rapture since it actually proposes that the outpouring of God's wrath can be separated out from the tribulation period to a separate period of wrath. After the tribulation and the rapture which actually is impossible. In the book of Revelation, John writes of three series of judgments. Seven seal judgments in Revelation 6, seven trumpet judgments in Revelation 8 through 11, and then finally seven vial judgments in Revelation 16. The pre-trib and the pre-rapture positions make the common error of presuming that these judgments proceed in a linear chronological fashion. In other words, with all the seven seal judgments being loose in order and then the seven trumpets followed chronologically by the seven vial judgments in order. And pre-wrathers generally take the position that God's wrath is not included in the seal or the trumpet judgments. and is only being poured out during the vials in Revelation 16, which really is an absolutely preposterous and impossible conclusion to reach when one actually reads the text to see what's happening when those judgments, the seals and the trumpets are being executed, which we're going to do tonight in this message. The simple fact is The very reason the Lord Jesus referred to this period as Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be, is because of the fact that God's wrath will be poured out on the world through those judgments during that time. And we see right up front here as we read Revelation chapter 6, at the opening of the sixth seal, in Revelation 6, verse 15, We read, And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? The clear evidence from this scripture shows that this fearful statement here in verse 16-17 is made as a result of the judgments that had been previously rendered prior to that sixth seal being loosed. That's what we read here. And the reason for that is that when we honestly compare the sixth seal here, the seventh trumpet, and the seventh vial judgments, we have to conclude that they all describe the same event, or a combined series of events actually, all of which concludes and finalizes the outpouring of God's wrath and the tribulation period. Therefore, an honest Bible student who really wants to know the truth must conclude that just as Joseph interpreted two separate dreams of Pharaoh that both meant the same thing, so did John. John's vision of the seal, the trumpet, and the vial judgments are and must be three separate visions of the tribulation period that occur in parallel, together, not in series. all of which precedes the resurrection of the saints or the rapture. So we're going to come back and look later on at the seals, the trumpets, and the vials to prove this point, but first I want to turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. As we've shown in multiple messages and on our webpage devoted to this subject, the post-trib rapture, the New Testament clearly teaches in multiple passages that the resurrection of Christ's saints, in other words the rapture, occurs after the Great Tribulation. Lord Jesus said so very clearly in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, verse 29 to 31 and also Mark 13, 24 to 27. The Apostle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Thessalonians 2 that our gathering together to Christ occurs at the last trump and after the Antichrist is revealed These are things the Pre-Rathers actually say they agree with us on, except they wrongly define the Tribulation to allow for their escape. But both the Pre-Trib and the pre-wrath positions are disproven by several other passages that deal directly with the timing of the rapture. For instance, the Apostle John said that the resurrection in Revelation 20 is the first resurrection, he called it the first resurrection, which therefore cannot be preceded by any pre-trib or pre-wrath rapture in the book of Revelation. There's also a very important premise that Paul lays down here in Romans chapter 8 that completely contradicts, in my mind, actually soundly disproves both the pre-trib and all variations of the pre-wrath rapture positions, but that actually harmonizes perfectly with our post-trib position, as all scriptures on this subject do, by the way. Romans 8, verse 18, Paul says, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature of creation, waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature, creation, was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Verse 22, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. First, Paul says here in verse 19, that the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. That phrase, the manifestation of the sons of God, is defined in verse 23. where Paul says, Not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves have grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. So the manifestation of the sons of God is the redemption of our body, and what is that redemption? Obviously, the redemption of our body is the resurrection of the saints, and we will be glorified together with Christ. In other words, this is the rapture, as preachers have dubbed it. At which time, this passage says, all creation will also be restored. As Paul says in verse 21, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and the glorious liberty of the sons of God. So, this is a clear reference to the curse, actually, that this entire world came under at the fall of man into sin in the Garden of Eden. When God said to Adam, in Genesis 3, verse 17, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, God said to Adam, Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou even all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistle shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread. Till thou return to the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art. And unto dust shalt thou return." At the same time God cursed Adam with death, death came on the entire creation. Paul says that death entered the world through Adam's sin. And that all of creation was cursed at the same time. Because of Adam's sin, then all creation was cursed. God says, for your sake Adam, because of what you did, I'm cursing the ground for your sake. So Adam's fall into sin brought God's curse on all creation so that we now live in a fallen world where we have to contend with thorns and thistles and sickness and disease and decay and death. But Paul says here that Christ's sacrifice on the cross ultimately results in the redemption of our bodies, but it will also result in the redemption of all creation. And we will all be set free from that curse at the same time. In other words, Paul says here that since mankind and all creation was cursed at the same time, it will also be redeemed at the same time. I would challenge any and all pre-Tribbers and pre-Rathers to correct me if I'm in error here, but my guess is they'll choose to instead ignore this passage or pretend it doesn't exist that they've done for decades. But it's very clear to me that what Paul's saying here is that this big event that all of the redeemed of mankind is waiting for is the redemption of our bodies, which is the rapture. Therefore, since the rapture occurs at the same time creation is restored, it therefore cannot occur prior to any one of the cataclysmic judgments of God's wrath being poured out. That should be clear. That should be clear to everybody. If the rapture preceded those events, creation would be awaiting Christ's coming, not the redemption of our body. That point, this passage in itself completely disproves both the preacher position and all variations of the pre-wrath position as well. And it also agrees, by the way, completely with what the Lord Jesus taught in his parable of the wheat and the tares. I want to look at that. Turn to Matthew 13. in perfect harmony with what we just saw in Romans 8. The Lord Jesus also taught in his parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew chapter 13 that it is the wicked that will be removed from the earth, not the righteous. Preachers say that the righteous are going to be taken out of the world and God's going to leave the wicked here to judge and all that. Send the judgments down on them. But that's not the way Jesus presents it here. Matthew 13. After the parable of the sower that we looked at last week, we see here in verse 24, another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while a man slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, dost not thou sow good seed in thy field? For whence then hath it tares? And he said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them. But gather the wheat into my barn. After the tares, by the way. So then Jesus told a couple more parables, and he dismissed the crowd that had come to hear him. And then the disciples were interested by this parable, and they came to him later, and they said, please explain. The parable of the wheat and the tares, verse 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And his disciples came unto him, saying, Declaring to us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and then which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as a sun in the kingdom of their Father. And then He said, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Unfortunately, those who stubbornly cling to the pre-Trib rapture, even when shown proof to the contrary, apparently just don't have ears to hear like Jesus said here. This parable, in perfect harmony with all the aforementioned passages, shows that the righteous, Christ's saints, and that means Christians by the way, are not removed from this world before the wicked are judged. In perfect harmony with All with the scene described actually in Revelation 19.11-20.6 which shows that the first thing the angels do at Christ's return is to destroy the wicked. After which the rapture occurs in Revelation 24-6. The dead in Christ are raised. We who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord are glorified together with them. Paul says in the twinkling of an eye in 1 Corinthians 15. And then As Jesus said here, shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father in that glorious, millennial reign of Christ. So all of these passages are in perfect harmony with each other and with the post-trib rapture position and they are all in direct conflict. with both the pre-trib and the pre-wrath rapture positions. So why don't the pre-tribbers see that? Why don't they see these things? Because they're stubborn. They've turned their ears from hearing the truth. They've rejected God's light and maybe led into darkness because of it. So keep all these things in mind as we look at the seal trumpet and the vile judgments in the book of Revelation and determine how those judgments must relate to each other. Turn to Revelation chapter 1. Before we outline the book, which we're going to do, I want to briefly look at the interpretive approach to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1. Start reading in verse 1. Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. John says here that the book was signified. He sent down signified by his angel unto his servant John. That means that it was codified. It was placed in code. It was given in signs and symbols. Many of the persons and the objects, such as we read about beasts and other things like that, many of these things referred to should be taken literally, such as the seven churches, the throne of God, angels, saints, 42 months of Revelation 13.5, thousand years in Revelation 20. Many of these things should be taken literally, but also many of the persons, the beasts, and the objects referred to must be taken as symbolic. But we're given clues in the context and elsewhere in the scripture as to how to interpret those symbols. We're given clues throughout the scripture, especially actually in the book of Daniel, which goes hand in hand with the book of Revelation that is in many ways actually the key that unlocks the book of Revelation. with many clues in other books as well. For example, Revelation 12 verse 1 and following we see there a woman, John describes a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Which we know both from the context there and also from Joseph's dream back in Genesis 37. We know that represents Israel or Judaism that Jesus came out of. As we've also seen, though, the woman in Revelation 17, who is named Mystery, Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, that woman represents apostate religion, the unholy Roman Empire, or the Roman Papacy. She's seen there riding a beast that we know from Daniel chapter 7 is actually a global economic, political, and military empire. It's actually the same empire as the first beast of Revelation 13, which is also the same as the fourth beast of Daniel chapter 7, which, by the way, is a conglomeration of the first three beasts in Daniel chapter 7, which is the final world empire of Rome. We went into more detail on these points in the message we posted online titled, The Revived Roman American Empire. in World War III if you want to listen to that. So many of the signs and the symbols in the book are interpreted either directly in the context or elsewhere in the scripture and on those we can make dogmatic conclusions, interpretations. But many other symbols really are not interpreted for us that I can find and many questions that come up may go unanswered and I just have to say I don't know what that means. So that's basically the general interpretive approach that we have to take to this book. I also need to mention that, as we talked about before, many Christians in some Protestant denominations and also some well-known Christian leaders today like R.C. Sproul, Hank Hanegraaff, and now even Chuck Baldwin, hold to a view of this book known as Preterism, we've talked about that before, which takes an allegoric approach to the scriptures rather than literal, to teach that the entire book of Revelation and Christ's prophecies of his return in Matthew 24 and many other prophecies have already been fulfilled and were in fact fulfilled in the first century AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the replacement of national Israel with the church as the bread of Christ. and who therefore teach that Bible prophecy really is irrelevant to our time and can be largely ignored. We again have a series of messages post-online that shatters that position, which like the pre-Trib Rapture, by the way, was also invented by the Jesuits in the 16th century as a counter-reformation tool to take attention off the papacy. So we have refuted Preterism and other messages. I won't go there today. But among those who do take these passages that they should be taking, which is literally and who, like S. Justin Martyr, who stated in about 150 A.D., rightly believe that Christ's glorious return will be before the millennium, as seen here in Revelation 20. In other words, who believe in what's called the premillennial return of Christ, that He will come back before that thousand-year reign of Christ. There are also great differences of opinion and doctrinal battles about the events that will precede this wonderful kingdom era. when Christ will reign in person on this earth. One of the main differences of opinion, of course, and the debate that it raises on in particular, concerns the issue of when the rapture, as it is called, or the resurrection of Christ's saints occurs. in relation to His glorious return at the close of a period of what Christ called Great Tribulation, which Tribulation period is described in detail in this book, Revelation 6-19. It is clear from the writings of early Christian church leaders that the predominant view was always that the church would go through the entire tribulation period and would confront and be severely persecuted by the Antichrist before the resurrection of the saints. And this is why, by the way, honest Bible scholars today refer to our post-trib position as classical premillennialist. They call it classical premillennialism. I like to call it apostolic premillennialism because it was the position of the apostles as we plainly see in the scriptures themselves. I mentioned Justin Martyr already. Justin on this issue said, two advents of Christ have been announced. the one in which he is set forth as suffering, inglorious, dishonored, and crucified, but the other in which he shall come from heaven with glory, when the man of apostasy, who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the church against us, the Christians. Irenaeus, who lived from 140 to 202, who was a student of Polycarp, who was taught by the Apostle John, said, "...and then he," talking about the prophet Daniel, "...points out that the time of his tyranny," the Antichrist's tyranny, "...shall last, during which the saints shall be put to flight. And they, the nations, shall lay Babylon to waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast, and put the church to flight against heresies." He wrote that. So he believed the church would go through the tribulation. who lived from 150 to 220, who, by the way, is known as one of the first Baptists. He vigorously defended believers' baptism and condemned infant baptism. But he also said this, that the beast Antichrist, with his false prophet, may wage war on the Church of God. Hippolytus, who lived from 170 to 235, was one of the leading theologians at Rome, who spoke of the 1,203 score days, latter half of Daniel's week, during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the church. So, he believed the church was going to go through that whole time. Cyprian, he lived from 200 to 258, speaking of persecution by Rome, said, "...the Lord hath foretold that these things would come, when the exhortation of his foreseeing word instructing and teaching and preparing, instructing the people of his church for all endurance of things to come." He previously warned us that the adversary would increase more and more in the last times. We read in Revelation 6, verse 11, It says, and white robes were given unto every one of them. And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. So in speaking of this little season, Revelation 6.11, Victorinus of Potovia lived in the second century. He died in like 303. He said this, the little season signifies three years and six months. in which with all his power the devil will avenge himself under Antichrist against the church." Victorinus said that. Augustine, in A.D. 354-430 when he lived, he said, the kingdom of Antichrist shall fiercely, though for a short time, assail the church. This was the position of the early church leaders. Many other quotes from early church leaders show that the early church was predominantly post-tribulational in its view of the resurrection of the saints. This post-trib view continued for centuries, even as it developed into the historicist view of the reformers, John Knox, Luther, and Calvin, all of whom believed the papacy was the Antichrist in kind of a perpetual, ongoing, and successive fashion. Which is partly true, of course. The Popes were then and still are a certainly Antichrist in nature. But we see now, and I believe without question, that the Pope will fulfill the role of the second beast in Revelation 13, or the false prophet, who teams up with the first beast, that man of sin, the Antichrist, who will be, I believe, more a political and a military figure than religious. There was no popularly held belief in a pre-trib rapture or that the church would escape the persecution of Antichrist until the 1830s. And this view developed actually as a direct result of a new Roman Catholic doctrine that was concocted as a counter-reformation measure in the late 1500s by two Jesuits, Francisco Ribera and Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino. This new doctrine departed from the Catholic Church's prior predisposition to a Jesuit version of futurism that saw the Antichrist as being a last days figure that therefore could not be the papacy. In the 1700s, another Jesuit named Manuel Lacunza built on the ideas of Ribera and Bellarmino and he published a book in Spanish under the pen name of Rabbi Juan Yosefat Ben Ezra. This book gained popularity throughout Spain and eventually wound up in the hands of a Scottish Presbyterian named Edward Irving, one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, Pentecostal movement, who then translated that book, the Spanish book, in 1827 under the title The Coming of the Messiah. So then in 1830 Irving started preaching that the rapture would occur in two stages. a secret one before the Antichrist and a public one at the end of the Great Tribulation. And then this more famous teenager, Margaret MacDonald, whose visions created a massive sensation throughout Scotland and Great Britain in 1830, was a member of Irving's congregation. So then John Nelson Darby was 30 years old when he heard news of this new doctrine. and it was becoming popular. So he incorporated Irving's ideas into what he called Dispensationalism. And then Darby visited the US on 6 occasions between 1859 and 1874 preaching Dispensationalism and the Pre-Trib Rapture. During this time Darby, greatly influenced, impressed a man named C.I. Schofield who would become the biggest promoter of the Secret Rapture Theory. So then when Oxford University Press published the Schofield reference Bible in 1910 with a new edition in 1917, it caught on like wildfire in America and was soon adopted actually by the Southern Baptist Convention and incorporated as pew Bibles in most Baptist churches. So while there is absolutely no valid scriptural support for this view whatsoever, And while this view is in direct conflict and is contradicted by many passages that teach quite clearly that Christ's saints, Christians, will be on earth through the entire tribulation period, before long, in spite of that, this false system of dispensationalism, concocted by the Jesuits, actually, came to be viewed as fundamental dogma by deceived Baptists, Pentecostals and others. But the main argument put forward today for the entire pre-Trib dispensational scheme. And really the only argument that carries even a veneer of Biblical truth or any resemblance of Biblical support is Paul's statement in 1 Thessalonians 5, 9-10, where Paul says, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. So the pre-tribbers say, God says we have not been appointed to wrath, therefore we cannot go through the tribulation, period. But as we pointed out, the saints do not have to be removed from the earth for God to protect them from His wrath, which He will do. And this argument, by the way, is far outweighed by the many scriptures that clearly show the rapture to occur after the tribulation. as we talked about in Matthew 24, 1 Corinthians 15, 2 Thessalonians 2, Romans 8 we looked at, Parable of the Tarists, Wheat and the Tarists, Revelation 20 and many others. So then in the 1980s, A new compromise doctrine emerged to attempt to satisfy those on both sides of this argument, that Christians would indeed go through part of the Tribulation and would face severe persecution under the Antichrist, but that they would be removed from the earth prior to the outpouring of God's wrath, which according to this position takes place only toward the end or after the Tribulation period. This view, by the way, was never held to or written about in any age of the church until the 1990s. As stated, it was first popularized in a book published in 1990 by Marvin Rosenthal titled The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church. Several variations of Rosenthal's theory have been developed based on differing ideas of just when the wrath of God begins during the Tribulation, including one variation published by Mr. Steven Anderson, who is the CEO of the Faithful Word Baptist Corporation in Tempe, Arizona, and has a rather popular but very deceptive video titled, After the Tribulation, that was promoted even by Alex Jones. Anderson takes the position that the tribulation itself ends in the middle of the book of Revelation or after the seventh trump in Revelation 11 and 12 and before the seven last vile judgments are poured out which he says is when the wrath of God is poured out. In the second half of this message I'm going to take a look at the overall book of overall outline of the book of Revelation, and we'll see just how totally absurd this position is. But for now, we're going to take a break, so stay tuned. Let's go ahead and pray. Father in heaven, Lord God, I just thank you for your word. I thank you for the patience of those here that have heard it tonight. And I pray that you would lead us into a deeper understanding of your word. Help us to understand and appreciate the relevance of Bible prophecy to our lives. Help it to guide us, Lord, in this day and this hour that we do see your word being fulfilled. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.