This morning we're gonna pick up our lesson in 1 Thessalonians. Talk about the rapture of the church. We'll start here. Yeah, it's up here someplace, right? 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verses 13 through 18. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." Okay. You notice that nowhere through here, this passage I wrote, the word rapture came up. Well, that's because rapture is from the Latin raptura, which was used in the Latin Bibles coming out of the Vulgate, and it was used for the Greek word harpazo, which is the word translated caught up in verse 17. Now that word harpazo, caught up, means a sudden, forcible, seizure. It's just, it's not a casual, let's just float on up to heaven. Okay. With the little harps and things. No, it's a, you're just picked up and launched into heaven. Okay. Now the purpose for this teaching, we can see it in verse 13 and 18, verse 13, number one, we don't want you to be uninformed. about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope." And then 18 says, comfort one another with these words. Now we have to look at, we have to consider who the Thessalonians were. Number one, they were looking for the second coming. I mean, you can see that in chapter 1, verse 10, where Paul really just extols on them how wonderful they're doing. And another thing, which is a good thing, was to wait for his son from heaven, whom he had raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. And then 2.19 says, for who is our hope, or joy, or crown of exaltation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? So in other words, they were looking for the coming, they were anticipating the coming, and it says it again in chapter three, but... And as we should be looking for the coming. As a matter of fact, last week we talked about it in communion. We celebrate the communion until he comes. And we look, we celebrate it, we look for it, we long for it. Because when he comes back, he will then come and take up the position of glory that he deserves. Well, he will assume the position in front of the entire world as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So that is our anticipation. And it's not just the good things are going to happen to us, which are really unfathomable. We can't imagine how wonderful it's gonna be for us. But for sure we don't know. One thing we do know, the saints will hear. And in that respect, the noise will be so loud it'll wake the dead. But that's a good question. We're gonna look at some passages about The trumpet of God and especially there's an Old Testament passage. I'm looking forward to reading. It's such a neat passage. But anyway, don't go looking ahead. But no, it's for without a doubt. His people will hear that trumpet. His people will hear that voice. And we're gonna read some passages this morning that's gonna talk about voices and trumpets and so forth in connection with this very event. So, now it's talking about, who are asleep, now that term asleep refers to those Christians who have already passed away. And that caused, in chapter four, verse 15, says, For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive shall remain until the coming of the Lord and not shall precede those who have fallen asleep. This was a common designation back then for those who have died. And what the Thessalonians basically, they're worried and they say don't grieve and that word grieve means be in distress, sad, sorrowful. And he says, as the rest who have no hope. Of all people, we believers have hope, okay? We have hope. And what is hope? It's not like the world or like we even use hope in our everyday conversation, like, gee, I hope it works out okay. No, that's not biblical hope. Hope is anticipating and relying on the fact that this will happen. See, that's not hoping, that's knowing. Hope is a byproduct of faith. Because of faith, we have hope, we know our future. We know what we have believed and are convinced he is able to perform it. It's gonna happen. See, that is biblical hope. Now, verse 14, and this is important. It's only if we believe, it's only for true believers, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, verse 14, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Again, believers have fallen asleep in Jesus. Now, What will actually take place? Well, in verse 15, which says, by the will of the Lord, the following things are being taught, and I've already read it. So I'm just gonna go through our list down here. And it says, one thing to remember is those who are alive, will not precede those who are dead. And that was the Thessalonians' concern. Remember, they were a very young church. Then there's various thoughts as to how young, but they were very young. Remember, you read through the whole letter, and Paul tells us the story, how they were there for a short time, and then they had to leave. They were worried about him because they didn't hear anything, so we sent Timothy back there and said, Timothy, check on them, see how they are. And Timothy brings a report back that these guys are flying. I mean, they're doing great. I mean, they're out there, not only they're learning, but they're witnessing and their testimony is spreading throughout the entire area. And so they were doing good, but being a young church, they didn't understand, they weren't taught everything. I mean, let's face it, you could be a Christian for 20, 30, 40 years and not be taught and learn everything there is to know that this book teaches. And so what they didn't understand is about, because they were anticipating the second coming so quickly, says, well, they're looking for the physical return of Christ, all right? They're concerned now, what about our fellow saints who have passed away? Did they miss out on this? What happens to them? They're gone now. See, they were confused about that whole doctrine of the second coming, so they were kind of on the assumption that, you know, Jesus is going to come back real soon and take us all away. Well, that's not really what scripture teaches now that we have the completed canon, which they did not. Okay. And remember Thessalonians is one of the earlier letters that Paul wrote. So we're early on in the Christian era. And so to not worry about it, you know, thankful these people were concerned about their fellow believers, but as Paul said, no need. No need, don't worry, nobody's gonna get left out. So those who are alive will not precede those who are dead. We're all going, and as this portion of scripture teaches us, we're all going together at the same time. Now, and then it goes on, verse 16, the Lord himself will descend from heaven. We're gonna look into that in a little bit. And his appearing will be with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. Interesting. The dead in Christ will rise first, verse 16. Now verse 17 says, then those who are alive will be caught up together with the risen dead. In other words, the graves open up, or maybe they don't, but those bodies are coming out, wherever they're buried, whether it's in the bottom of the ocean, and whether it's in a grave that's cemented over, concreted. They're coming up, they're coming up. So the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we, if it's we, or those folks that are alive at that particular point in history, future, from us, although that future could be tomorrow, anyway, they're gonna rise, and as they rise from the grave, those on the earth, we're all going up together. We're all going up together at the same time. Nobody is gonna get ahead of anybody, okay? Just like, at the grocery store, or tonight at the harvest dinner, there's no budding in line. We're all going together, okay? We're all going up, we're all going up together. And then we will meet the Lord in the clouds, in the air, okay? Which is different than when the Lord comes back and splits the Mount of Olives, okay? Different, very different. Lastly but not least, we will always be with the Lord. This is the first and final trip. We're going there and we're going there to stay, the believers. Now let's compare what we've seen so far in 1st Thessalonians with 1st Corinthians 15. A book Paul also wrote and talks about the same event, quite frankly. First Corinthians 15, 50 to 58. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nor does this perishable inherit the imperishable. Speaking of our physical bodies. Our physical bodies were made and designed by God for this physical life here on earth. Won't make it up there. Won't make it up there at all. Totally different realm. And behold, I tell you, verse 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Die, pass away. We shall not all sleep. But we shall all be changed. And that's both dead and alive at that point in time. When the dead come out of the grave, they receive their new body. When those who are alive are raptured at the same time, they are also given a new body. And together we get just snatched up into the air. Okay, and how long does this take? Well, 52 tells us, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. Again, Paul is speaking as if they are going to be the ones alive on earth when it happens. And so the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed, changed into that same new body that is required for existence in heaven for eternity. It's gonna be an interesting, marvelous thing. Verse 54. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on the immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. That again, that is part of the true hope of the believer. And that's where even times, you know, where like in families in our church have loved ones that are on the edge, on the brink, ready to cross over. Okay, we can, this is again, something the families, believing families can take comfort in their believing loved ones when it's time to pass. And we can say this, oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? There is no, death has zero victory. And death, where is your sting? The sting is temporary. The sting is not because of future, the sting is because of the present loss. That's the only, the sting is just nothing in comparison to eternity. Those that die outside the Lord, The sting is unending, because death is unending. Verse 56, the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast. And this is, here's the application. If you want the, we'll get the, Application to the rapture is right here in verse 58. How do we apply that to our life? Right here in verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. There's how you want to apply the rapture. There it is right there. Better than anything I could say. Of course, God's Word is like that. It's just better than any one of us can say. That, to me, is the best application, is the one Scripture gives us. Here's how we apply that truth. Again, see, prophecy wasn't written to us to make us fortune tellers. or anything like that, it was to let us know our future, to let us know what's going on. And prophecy also, as you see, or as mankind through the ages have seen various prophecies fulfilled, It also increases our personal faith as we walk on this earth. Saving faith should be there, but our personal faith and confidence, if you will, in the word of God, which I hope and trust, hope and used in the physical sense, not the biblical sense, which I trust is alive and well in all of us, okay? Now, back to 1 Thessalonians, in verse 16, where it says, the Lord himself will descend from heaven, but I must, I wanna add, but not all the way to earth. It says, verse 17 says, we're gonna meet him in the air. Let's compare that to Acts chapter one. The book of Acts chapter one, beginning of verse nine, and we're gonna look at the little portion here, nine to 11, where Christ ascended into heaven. He was speaking to his disciples, and then verse nine says, after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And they were gazing intently into the sky while he was departing. Behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. Those would be angels, by the way. And they also said, and I love this part, men of Galilee, Why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him, watched him go into heaven. So when he comes, he's going to come in the clouds. and then we are gonna be just snatched right up to meet him in those very clouds. He's not coming to earth to get us, he's just coming down into the atmosphere, if you will, and we are gonna be caught up to meet him. So he's not physically returning to earth at the time of the rapture. That will come later, the physical return. Now, it says he's coming with a shout. What's that all about? That's word, Kelusma, is only used here in the New Testament. And what it is, it's a commanding shout, much like a military commander would shout out an order to his troops. We can compare that with John, John 11, 43 to 44, we won't turn there, but that one's, remember when Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus? And he shouted, Lazarus, come forth. That was a shout. It was like a command and it was come forth. Okay, that shout. Interesting. Our Lord shouted, Lazarus, who was dead in there, heard it, came out. Now look at John chapter five, that verse in John chapter five, 25 to 29, John 5, 25 to 29. 25 starts off with a truly, truly. Matter of fact, there's a bunch of them in this chapter, chapter five. There's a lot of really important things that Jesus was speaking about. And so verse 25, he says, truly, truly, or verily, verily, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is. when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and those who hear shall live. There's an interesting, shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and those who hear shall live. For just as the Father had life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. Now, The dead will hear the voice. Now, in Jesus speaking there, you've got the spiritual dead that are hearing even right now. Right now, as in the time Jesus was saying these words, that are hearing and believing. Guess what? You hear, you believe, as in the gospel, you believe you have eternal life. Okay, keep that in mind as we go through there. Verse 27 says, he gave him, speaking the Father gave to Jesus, authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Now think back when this term, Son of Man, does everybody remember what we saw back in Daniel chapter 7? Remember, the Ancient of Days sitting on the throne, then one like the Son of Man came before him, and then the Son of Man sent. Think of that. When Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man, think Daniel 7, the conquering Messiah that's coming to earth. So think Daniel 7. Verse 28, do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice. And shall come forth those who did good to a resurrection of life and those who commit the evil to a resurrection of judgment. Hmm. Two resurrections. One to a resurrection to eternal life. As far as the church is concerned, that happens at the rapture. And then one, two, everlasting judgment, that happens on the other side of the millennial where we see the, what they call, what was often called the great white throne judgment. And we're gonna find out, we'll read a verse today, but we're gonna find out when we go into the, we talk about the millennium, maybe next week, depending on what we do this week. we're gonna see there's a third, actually third resurrection. The Old Testament saints, Jews, resurrected, brought into that kingdom. Subject for another day. Now, the voice of the archangel. Now Michael is the only archangel identified in the Bible, at least by name, okay? And this designation of that is given in Thessalonians and also in Jude 9, which we really don't need to look at. Now, archangel is a compound word from archon, meaning chief, talking about rank, power, and then angelos, which is transliterated angel, but that literally means messenger, if you were to just translate it. There's a lot of words in the New Testament, especially, that are transliterated. Everybody know the difference between a transliteration and a translation? Well, we use angelos here. Transliteration is angel. Translation is messenger, okay? Baptize from baptizo, right? Transliteration. You want to translate baptizo, it's immerse or place into or under, okay? So that's, again, that's the difference. So now you know something else. Now, Michael is spoken of in, we don't need to turn there, but he's mentioned by name in Daniel 10, and then 12, Revelation 12. Actually, I'd like to look at the Daniel 10 verse, because it gives us a little bit of extra information that, from what we were talking about just a few minutes ago, actually. Daniel 10, 13. where it says, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me, and this is an angel speaking with Daniel, for 21 days. Then behold, Michael, it goes, one of the chief princes of Persia, So it sounds like there's probably more archangels than just Michael. But Michael's mentioned a lot, especially concerning Israel, because Michael is described as the archangel that fights for Israel. So there's other ones out there. Who knows? Maybe Gabriel's one. I don't know. He's not defined that way. And as far as angels mentioned in scripture, If we have any Mormons in the house, sorry Moroni, you don't exist. Okay. You know, there is not an, at least not one of God's angels. There is, I guess he could exist, but he's not part of God's group. Okay. But I digress. And then Gabriel, we know about Gabriel, we'll probably read about him come Christmas season, is the only other angel that's mentioned by name. There's other angels mentioned and spoken of. As a matter of fact, when it talks about angels, they're often talked about as being myriads and myriads and myriads of them, just thousands and millions of them as we would say. And now the trumpet of God, that's the one that's kind of interesting too in the voice. And I'm just gonna read off our notes here, that trumpets were used in a variety of situations. Most of them in like in a military setting, it goes like the sounding alarms, assemble military troops, recall military troops, announce a military victory, and then blown in honor of a king. And then their instruments described being instruments of praise and worship. and also to announce judgment. As a matter of fact, in Revelation, there's a whole series of what's called trumpet judgments. Every time a trumpet is sounded, a judgment falls. So now the trumpet of God, now that's the same trumpet that was mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15 too, the exact same trumpet, because 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians is talking about the same event. when we're changed and go up to meet God. Now, here's one, the trumpet of God used to declare the presence of God. And I think this is, yes, I think so. Well, the confusion for that one comes in in a lot of different places, depending on the theological background of the people that present it. And I don't know if it's, the trumpet is mentioned by all the three major divisions of it. But the main thing is what they also, they read in the Olivet Discourse, where the Lord takes us, remember, to the middle where the desecration of the temple goes. Some of the mid-tribs think it happens there. And the post-tribs, they go all the way in and tie the trumpet of God, if you will, with the actual second coming. And so then those would be the post-tribulation rapture folks. And which really doesn't make sense for a couple reasons. One, it's what's the point? You're going to come right back with him? I mean, it'd be a round trip, like go up, hang a U-turn, come back. And again, the thing that that firms it up for me is the fact that when we, stuff we've been talking about for the last couple of weeks, the 70 weeks of Daniel, the tribulation period is the 70th week of years. The week being seven years. And the church, remember 70 weeks are the angels said are determined upon your people and your holy city. And in the context of the angel speaking to Daniel, that's got to be Israel. And the holy city's got to be Jerusalem. And that kind of takes the church out of it in that the church was not there during the first 69 weeks. Why should we expect to be there in the 70s, when one of the specific purposes of that 70th week, that tribulation period, is to purge and bring back Israel to the place where then they will now, as they should have been doing centuries before, they will actually be the ones that are moving the gospel through the earth. We can look at them, to me that's evidenced by the 144,000 and the fact too, by the time you get to chapter five or six, the church is not spoken of till you get way to the end, where he comes back. You know, so it's, now verse 13 of chapter, of 1 Thessalonians 3, 13, where it says, so that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Now what that's talking about is when all the saints are gathered, there's a judgment time. And he's talking about the people that are alive on the earth, gonna go up, all the saints are the believers, okay? And when he comes back with all his saints, that's referring to the second coming, the actual physical return, where our Christ is seen on the horse, Revelation 19, on a white horse, and all the people behind him in white robes, those are all the saints. And those, and what Paul is saying in 13 is, I'm making you ready, so you're gonna be, you're ready, you're judged, you'll be part of that group, okay? And then you get to 14, when you get into chapter four, verses 13, where he talks about the rapture itself, he's addressing a question they had, like, about the people that died before? What about them in terms of being called up? So there's two different aspects, and this is where a lot of the confusion starts, kind of interconnecting verses, and the second coming is always, and it's very easy to confuse the rapture, the event of the rapture, as the actual second coming. Now, the rapture is part of the overall doctrine of the second coming or the doctrine of the return of Christ. Okay. And because he's dealing with, he's going to be dealing with the church separately and Israel separately to get us all to the end of the line that is eternity future. Okay. So, so what we've got now is that remember this, the church, think of the church as a parentheses in a paragraph or in a sentence. But look at this in biblical history. Biblical history from creation all the way through the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ. You get to Pentecost where the church starts and you go all the way out to whenever that rapture takes place. There's a parentheses, and inside that parentheses of time, and it's been close to 2,000 years now, that is the church age, all right? And then after the church is raptured, taken out, the parentheses is removed. It's like you could take all that period of history, pull the church out, pop those prophetic passages together, and it's all about Israel. Does that make sense? It's like you take a parenthesis, it's like, here's an additional thought that I'm gonna add in to the main storyline. And we're a parenthesis to the main storyline as far as creation to consummation goes. The church is a parenthesis. And that was the fulfilled, see that's why the church is called a mystery. Because it was a mystery to the Old Testament saints. They didn't get it, the fact that, Jew and Gentile worship together? Come on. On equal footing? No, they didn't get that at all. They didn't get that at all. And so, does that help? Yeah, it's one of those things in prophetic passages that you get a lot of seemingly conflicts. But again, it's just putting it in in the best order you can, you know. So I don't know if, I hope that helps anyway. Because this, prophecy is a tricky subject. That's why there's so many theories out there. It's theory. I'll tell you one thing, one of the things that's going to happen when we all get to heaven, our eschatologies are going to straighten right out. Anything we've misunderstood or said wrong or taught wrong, that's gonna be ironed out. Okay, I mean, that's one of those areas that I personally give a lot of people at least some leeway on. You know, like I can understand having differences of opinions on certain prophetic things. The gospel, no room, no room there. You know, it's, you know, it's faith alone in Christ alone, you know, it's, there's no wiggle room there, but I can see some differences when it comes to prophecy. Okay. Just the way it's presented, I mean. Anyway, back to the trumpet of God. Psalm 47.5 is, I got the whole psalm because the whole psalm was so good. I figured for those that actually go home, and I heard some of the folks even read these things during the week. 47.5 says, God is ascended with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. And this whole Psalm 47, only nine verses is talking about God being the king of the earth, okay? And again, the trumpet of God is often used to declare the presence of God. But I'd like to look at the passage in Exodus 19. Exodus 19. Verse 16 through 20. Now here at the chapter 20 now is where Moses gets the Ten Commandments, right? So just keep that in mind as far as context goes here. Exodus 19, 16. So it came about on the third day when it was morning. that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Remember, I don't know how many millions there were out there, but loud. You can hear a trumpet blast coming from the mountain. We'll see on top of that too, remember the thunder and lightning flashes, Very much shows the power of God there. Verse 17, and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, can you imagine that? The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. And the Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Can you imagine that? You know, that's amazing. It'd be like a, A trumpet blasting so loud that all of Grant's past got up. It would be a good thing if they did, but anyway. But again, that trumpet, without a doubt, was, in Exodus 19, a trumpet announcing the presence of God. I mean, thunder and lightning also is one of those symbols of God and his power and his majesty. Okay, now I want to draw your attention to this second sheet, the longer one, which is a rapture comparison table. Now there is one that I compared the three passages commonly associated with the rapture of the church. 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, we saw that. I'm going to read John 14 and then just say a little bit about that. John 14, 1 through 6. And that's why I put the comparison chart, because you can see many comparative truths there. I find it kind of helpful, so I thought I'd pass that out to you. There's no extra charge for that. Okay. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for 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, okay, unto myself, receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. I had to keep going on this one. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know the way we are going. How do we know the way? Well, Jesus answered that. I am the way and the truth and the life. I'm going to stop there for a minute. It says, I am the way. The grammar here strongly implies I am the way, as in the only way. I am the truth, as in the only truth. And the life, the only life giver. That's Christ. And to emphasize that, he says, no one comes to the Father but through me. All those people, whether they call themselves Christians or not, says, well, there's, what about the guy, they're sure there's gotta be another way. There is no other way. One. Period. That's one of those no-compromise statements in scripture. Nothing. They're theologies, I should say. Yes, dear? Just now? John 14, one through six. And the part where, now, if we only had John 14, one through six, what we know as the doctor of the rapture, we'd be hard-pressed to prove it from John 14. But when you compare it now, comparing scripture with scripture, okay, that's in fact when it's gonna happen. So that is what happens, anyway, as far as the church is concerned. So there it is. Now, the comparison chart on here, and then the backside in our waning minutes, and we'll probably make a determination today based upon any questions or comments, if this chart back here is going to be the lesson next week. We saw the rapture of the church spoken about, and I got that on one side, and then the physical return on the other. First comparing the rapture with the actual return. Christ comes in the air and then returns to heaven. We saw that in 1 Corinthians 4. Christ comes to the earth to dwell on it, to reign, Matthew 25. See, so there's the difference between the rapture and the actual physical second coming. He stops in the air, brings us up to meet him. The second coming, he comes down and physically comes to earth and physically assumes his role as king of kings, setting up in Jerusalem. And we'll see that when we go into the... And then again, going right down this chart, Christ gathers his people, The angel in Matthew gathers the elect, because remember, there's going to be saved people that aren't killed, and the elect will be gathered and brought into the kingdom, the physical kingdom. Many will be Jews, too, and Gentile nations. We'll get into that when we get into that subject. Then Christ comes to reward his people. Christ will come to judge the nations. You can see the difference there. Believers will be taken up, and then believers will be, well, let me look at Matthew 24. Look at Matthew, we're probably in there, I don't see anybody storming the gates, but Matthew 24, 37. This is one of those passages that gets misunderstood, too, a lot. Matthew 24, 37 to 41. Okay, for the coming of the Son of Man, verse 24, 37, will be just like the days of Noah. And here's what gets people. For as in those days, which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking and they were marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. In other words, things were going along, it was business as usual, okay, even though we know through Peter that Noah, in that, what, 120 years building that ark, according to Peter, was a preacher of righteousness. So he was preaching and they weren't listening. Okay, that's the inference we get. You put all, again, get all the scripture and put them together, Then they were, again, given in marriage and until the day, no end of the ark. Verse 39, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So shall the coming of the son of man be. And it goes on. So there should be two men in the field, the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women grinding, the one will be taken away and the other one will be left. So people, oh, that's the rapture. No, that's not. The ones taken away, again, as in the days of Noah, verse 39, and they did not understand until the flood came and swept them, took them all away. And who was left? The eight members of Noah's family. Same thing when Jesus comes. Those that are called the elect, will remain alive, those that are not of the elect, the sinners, will be taken away into judgment. See, that's what that's talking about. That's where it's different. In the rapture, it's basically the church saints just taken up out of this earth. And then God moves into the next phase of history where the tribulation period starts, judgment, and then after that time has expired, that seven year period, then the kingdom will be set up. Make perfect sense? Doesn't make any kind of sense. And then the rapture takes place prior to the tribulation period, and then the physical return of Christ takes place at the end of the tribulation period, and you can read about that in Revelation 19. So with that, and we'll close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time, Lord, and we thank you for your scriptures, and we recognize, Lord, as we go through these prophetic passages, that they do get kinda difficult at times, and even seemingly contradictory. But Lord, we know as we're faithful, and we continue just to read and study, that your word become clear. And again, Lord, we just thank you for these folks and their interest in your word. In Jesus' name, amen.