Okay, I'm sorry about that. Verse 3, And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming unto the end of the world? That's really two or three questions they're asking him. When is the temple going to be destroyed? When are these things going to be thrown down? And what shall be the sign of thy coming unto the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. There's warning number one about deception. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, That means turned away, turned aside from the faith. And shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. That's warning number two about deception. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. You might want to underline that. Whoso readeth, let him understand. We're going to come back to that verse. Now let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. There's another warning there about deception. It's the third warning. Deception, deception, deception. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers. Believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even into the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. That means everyone's going to see it. You're not going to miss it. Every eye shall see him. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. He's talking about there's a dead body. say, half a mile off. You can't see the dead body, but you see the vultures up in the sky surrounding it. You're going to see the signs. Everyone's going to see it. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other." Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord God, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for prophecy. We thank You for our great salvation. Thank You, Lord God, that You didn't leave us here to wander about in the grope. You gave us Your Word so that we know Your will for our lives. Lord, we know that your prophecy is given not to scare us, but to prepare us. And I thank you, Lord, that you have declared the end from the beginning. And that we know that one day you're coming. And we have such glory to look forward to. Beyond the pains of this life. I pray that you'd help me, Lord, to speak your word tonight to your people. And let's pray that we would all look at this together in a spirit of harmony and grace and unity. and that there be no division, but that we would all desire to seek truth. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. The Lord warned three times here about deception in the last days. And He also said, over in Luke 18, verse 8, He said, Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith in the earth? You know, as we draw nearer to the coming of the Lord, we're going deeper and deeper into apostasy and deception, are we not? I look at America and I see a whole nation of people that are deceived. And we are in deception, but a lot of that deception is in the church. And Jesus said here, verse 22, Except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Verse 24, there shall arise false priests, false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. I've got news for you. The elect are deceived in many ways. He's talking about the false priests and false prophets. The true elect will not be deceived by a false Christ. The truly elect are going to know Jesus. They're not going to be deceived by a false Jesus. But, in other areas, God's people are pretty much deceived in a lot of areas. And so we need to open our eyes to his word and not be deceived. There have always been disagreements among Christian brethren regarding Bible prophecy. It's just always been that way. I have a quote here from Justin Martyr. Justin Martyr is a disciple of Polycarp. Polycarp was a disciple of John, so he's third generation Christian. And he was an apologist. He was a Gentile. But he was a great apologist and he went before Caesar and he argued for the Christian faith. And this quote is from a treatise that he wrote, I understand, called Dialogue with Trifo, a Jew, where he's describing his conversation with Trifo. And this is from chapter 80, the opinion of Justin with regard to the reign of a thousand years. Several Catholics reject it. And Trifo to this replied, I remark to you, sir, that you are very anxious to be safe in all respects, since you cling to the Scriptures, but tell me, do you really admit that this place, Jerusalem, shall be rebuilt? And do you expect your people to be gathered together and made joyful with Christ and the patriarchs and the prophets, both with the men of our nation and other proselytes who joined them before your Christ came? To which Justin replied, I admitted to you formerly that I and many others are of this opinion. and believe that such will take place as you assuredly are aware. But on the other hand, I signify to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith and are true Christians think otherwise. But I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points are assured there will be a resurrection of the dead and a thousand years in Jerusalem which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declared." Now this isn't about the rapture, this is about the millennium. But the point is that Christians have always disagreed about Bible prophecy. And this cannot be a point of contention and division amongst us. I'm just trying to get y'all to see a truth that you may not have seen before. And it's a very important truth. In areas, you see, there are some doctrines I will not, and I won't compromise in this area either, but I won't disfellowship with a brother just because he got a wrong view about Bible prophecy. Alright? Well, maybe I will. Depending on how bad it is. But, you know, actually, we, uh, I told you about the church we went to for a while that was post-millennial. And they didn't believe what Justin believed. Because in about the 4th century along came a guy named Tychonius and he started this doctrine called Preterism. And it was a way of allegorizing Bible prophecy and spiritualizing it. So it meant something ethereal and it couldn't be literally fulfilled. And so they began to not believe in a literal thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. And they began to find other ways to explain that. And a lot of that was brought about because of the fact that, I think it was 312 or whenever, when Constantine basically adopted the Christian faith and decreed that it was the faith of the Roman Empire. Persecution stopped. And all of a sudden, the church was pretty much in charge of politics. And Augustine saw that and he said, well, our eschatology hadn't been right. We've got to change our eschatology. And so Augustine took what Tychonius had been teaching and changed it a little bit. Post-millennialism basically became the eschatology of the Catholic Church, and still is to this day. It also became the eschatology of all the daughters of the Catholic Church that came out of the Catholic Church. You know, as Baptists, we like to say Baptists never went into the Catholic Church, but Protestants, et cetera, Lutherans, Presbyterians came out of the Catholic Church and brought a lot of the false doctrine with them, including infant baptism and other heresies, but especially this preterist approach to Bible prophecy, which basically says that all Bible prophecy has been fulfilled already. The great tribulation Jesus talked about, we just read, the book of Revelation was fulfilled in AD 70 when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. And so it's a weird view of Bible prophecy and it also affects your whole world view. I couldn't put up with that for long. But among premillennialists, There are also differences of opinion, okay, but I would not separate from a premillennialist. Anyway, so to start, I want to look at this false view that Justin referred to, because it's good for you to know this preterism, be it amillennialism, which means no millennium, or be it postmillennialism, which is the belief that Jesus is going to come back after the millennium, The millennium being the thousand year reign of Christ on earth, but they believe he's going to reign through his church, not literally, not visibly. And of course the Pope's like that because they believe he's reigning through them. Right? Turn to Revelation chapter 20. Platterism, it's good to know this. I'm going to talk about this and then I'm going to talk about the rapture as well. I've got a definition of Preterism here. Preterism is a system of non-literal biblical interpretation in which most, or some believe all, Bible prophecy is seen as allegory and is spiritualized so it can be held to have been fulfilled long ago, prior to the present church age. According to Preterists, the Great Tribulation, referred to by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24, further detailed in Revelation 6-19, including the rise of Antichrist, the man of sin, and the beast in Revelation 13, was fulfilled in the first century A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of Jews by Rome. Preterists deny that the Lord Jesus will ever reign visibly and bodily on earth, and believe that God has forever put national Israel aside, having no further plan or purpose for Israel. And I want you to know that this doctrine has made a comeback in recent years. It's growing. There's a lot of Christians that... I know truly born-again Christians that have bought into this. And it changes your whole worldview. And it blinds you to the fact that what we see rising out of the sea is the beast system of the Antichrist. They're blind to that, totally blind to it. And it's something that we have to see. Let's read Revelation 20, 1 through 6. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they set upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Now, I take that literally. But the Preterists don't. The Preterists would say that the angel in verse 1 came down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit. They say that's Jesus. And they say the chain in His hand is the gospel. And with that gospel, He bound Satan so that Satan can no longer deceive whole nations or whole peoples. Well, that sounds pretty good. They also say, here in verse 4 through 6, that this first resurrection is the new birth of regeneration. Every believer experiences upon conversion. Read that again in verse 4. It says, at the end of verse 4, it says, they lived. That word means came to life. It means they were resurrected and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. And so they say that signifies, it's an allegory, signifying the new birth. But there's reasons why we need to know that can't be true. Number one, Satan appears to be on the loose, does he not? I think we still have whole nations to see. The Bible says that Satan prowls about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, right? The Bible says that Satan should get advantage over us because we're not unaware of his schemes in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians 4, it says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world, Satan, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. This is after the cross. The Apostle Paul is writing this long after the cross. Satan is still blinding them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. So I believe satanic deception prevails in today's world more than ever. It's increasing, it's not decreasing. Amen. There's another reason why their approach to this passage is wrong. In verse 4, this word lived, I told you it means came to life. It's used here in verse 4, came to life. It's also used in verse 5. It's the same exact word, verse 5, but the rest of the dead lived not again until a thousand years were finished. The Preterists say that first came to life, first resurrection is spiritual resurrection. But the second one is bodily resurrection to judgment. It's the same word. And there's nothing in the context to indicate they're different in character. They're both bodily resurrections. One is of the saints and one is of the aints. But there's another obvious reason here that this cannot be interpreted in this fashion. That this has to be interpreted literally. And this obvious problem they have with this passage totally destroys their whole system. Just this one verse right here, verse 4. Does anybody see what could possibly be a problem in this verse with that first resurrection being a spiritual resurrection to eternal life? Do you see how that's totally impossible? Look at the first part of the verse, or just up a little bit. I saw thrones they set upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus. They'd already been put to death for their faith. They'd already been martyred. An unregenerate man doesn't do that. Right? They'd already been saved. And for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads. And they came to life. They'd already been martyred for their faith. So the Preterist approach to this passage is impossible. That alone forces you to interpret this literally and understand that the millennium is going to be a literal time of Christ reigning on earth. There's a whole bunch more disproofs of their system, but whenever I'm talking to Preterists, I come right here because that's the one passage that clearly blows away their whole system. Turn it back to the Olivet Discourse, Matthew chapter 24. The Preterists also have a false view of this chapter, believing that the whole thing has already been fulfilled. And when I say Preterists, this is prevalent among Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, several others, many of you might think are not saved. There are some Baptists that aren't saved too. We already read through the passage, the Preterist position Matthew 24, look at verse 34. And you can almost see how they could come up with this. Matthew 24, verse 34 says, Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. And so they say, because it says that, the generation he was talking to, it all had to come to pass in that generation. This generation shall not pass. That's what they believe. But that's impossible. It can't be. The proper way to interpret verse 34 is in light of verse 33 where he says, So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door. It's the generation that sees all these things beginning to happen. That's when it's going to be fulfilled. But it's impossible for this passage to be interpreted in light of it having already been fulfilled. The key to this passage There's two keys, verse 15 and verse 21. Verse 15, Jesus said, "...when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand." Jesus said the key is the book of Daniel. He also said in verse 21, "...for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of this world to this time, nor ever shall be." He's quoting in verse 21 from the book of Daniel. And he's telling us in verse 15, Daniel holds the key. When you see the abomination of desolation, you have to know what Daniel said about the abomination of desolation. And if you knew that, you'd know this passage could not have been fulfilled in A.D. 70. So therefore, let's turn back to Daniel chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12. There's no way this could have been fulfilled. Not in light of the context here. Jesus said, understand the book of Daniel. That's the key. It's also the key, as many of you know, to the book of Revelation. It goes hand-in-hand with the book of Revelation. But look at Daniel 12. Verse 1 and 2. This is an angel talking to Daniel. And he says, At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince that standeth for the children of thy people. He's talking to Daniel. Thy people is Israel. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Remember what Jesus said, Matthew 24, 21? For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. The same thing the angel said to Daniel. And then verse 2 in Daniel 12. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. There's a few things I want you to notice here. Number one, the great tribulation spoken of in this passage is never to be equaled in history. Never to be equaled in history. A.D. 70, when Rome destroyed Jerusalem, was pretty much a replay of what the Babylonians did in about 600 BC. Including, people talk about how Jerusalem in 80-70 was besieged for a couple of years and the Romans crucified Jews outside the city. They really did do that. And people inside the city were starving and they resorted to bark to cannibalism. Well, they did in 600 BC too. He did the same thing. You read what Jeremiah says in Lamentations. He talks about the women having to eat their children. It was just as bad. AD 70 was a replay. It wasn't anything new. It wasn't an event that had never happened before and would never happen again. What we're looking at is something far bigger than that. That's number one. Number two, the great tribulation spoken of in Daniel must be connected in time with, we see, The end of verse 1, and at that time, thy people shall be delivered. Let me ask you a question. In AD 70, was Israel delivered? They were decimated. They were driven out. They were dispersed. They were not delivered. So A is the deliverance of Israel rather than its destruction. It must also be connected with, B, the general resurrection of saints. Look at this in verse 2 and 3. The great tribulation that Jesus spoke of must be connected in time with the resurrection. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. But the point is that This tribulation in verse 1 is connected with the resurrection in verse 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust shall awake some everlasting life. So the conclusion is that the great tribulation has not yet been fulfilled. That's just two areas that you can point out to a preterist why it has not been fulfilled. But that's pretty clear to me. So the conclusion is that the great tribulation is yet to be fulfilled. The time text in verse 34 has to be interpreted in light of verse 33. I've already went over. So, let's look at the Great Tribulation itself. As we know its future, let's look at it a little bit. Turn back to Daniel chapter 9. I want to look at the Tribulation real quick, because to talk about the rapture in relation to the Tribulation, some of you, this might be the first time you've been hearing this stuff, and you need to know what we're talking about. This is boring for some of you students, but that's okay. Daniel chapter 9. The Great Tribulation is known as the 70th week of Daniel. It's also called the time of Jacob's trouble. Daniel chapter 9. We'll just go ahead and start in verse 24. No, let's start in verse 20. I'm sorry, let's lead up to it. Daniel had been fasting and praying. And verse 20 says, And while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, he wanted to know when they could go back. He knew that it had been decreed by Jeremiah that they were going to be in Babylon in captivity for 70 years. He knew it was about time to go back. So he was fasting and praying and he wanted his people to go back. He's praying, Lord, when can we go back? Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved. And isn't that great? What a compliment for Daniel. Therefore, understand the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, And threescore and two weeks, that's 69 weeks, the streets shall be built again on the wall, even in troublous times. After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with the flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. And he, who's that? That's the prince that shall come, talking about the Antichrist, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. That's the 70th week. 69 weeks have already been fulfilled. This is the 70th week. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate. That is the abomination of desolation that Jesus talked about. even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." So a few things I want to point out here. This is a reference. This is the Great Tribulation period that we talked about. And we want to see, number one, that it is a seven-year period. These weeks are weeks of years. Number one, it will be a precise seven-year period. The 70th week is yet to be fulfilled. I've got here on the outline here. You can go back and look at Genesis chapter 29 and see where where the Hebrew word for a week is a seven, and it's interpreted in that passage as a seven-year period, where Jacob had to work another week for Rachel. He worked his first week, seven years, for Leah. Thought he was working for Rachel. He got deceived because he was a deceiver. And he had to work another seven years for Rachel. He got fooled. But Laban called that a week, a seven-year period. So, when you look at the chronology here, the first 69 weeks, first there's a seven week period, that's probably up to the time that Ezra finished the writing of the Old Testament, you know, the books and had them all compiled. And then there's another 62 weeks. These first 69 weeks were fulfilled literally to the day from the time that Artaxerxes commanded Nehemiah to go back and build up the walls. which is in 445 BC. You can read that in Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 5. It was in the spring, the month Nisan. And from what the information he gives us there, we know it was about 445 BC. From then to the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the spring of AD 31 was exactly 69 weeks of years. And you can get that by, if you want to get the details of that, read The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson. And I can give you a link to that. It's an old book, but he did a great study about that. But he had to go back to 360, biblical 360 day year to do that. But that's where we get 360 degrees on the compass and all that stuff. But it's a very interesting study. But that was fulfilled to the day that Jesus presented himself to Israel as the king in triumph. And what'd they do? They rejected him. What'd it say? Verse 25, Know and understand from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, that was Nehemiah in 445 BC, unto Messiah the Prince. You know what? The Pharisees were given the exact timeline. They should have known when Jesus was the Messiah. They've got no excuse. They're totally without excuse. They're told exactly when He would come. Unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. The streets shall be built again, and the wall even troubles time." It's talking about what Nehemiah did. And after the three score in two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off. That means put to death. Cut off from his people is capital punishment. Read that in the law. He was put to death, but not for himself. What's that mean? Who's he put to death for? For me, for you, for us. Amen? Why? Why this passage doesn't cause any Jew that reads this to repent? I don't know. Because look at this. And the people of the prince shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. You know what that shows? That shows that the Messiah had to come before the temple was destroyed. Does it not? People, they're over there sticking themselves, hasn't come yet. Wait a minute, go back and read your Bible. I had a conversation with some Jewish guy on an airplane once, and he was coming back from Jerusalem, was all excited, went to see the Temple Mount and all this, had my Bible with me, and I pulled this out and said, have you ever seen this? Have you ever thought about this? Didn't quite come to Christ, but you know. And they don't accept Isaiah 53. No, amen. And I don't know what, they apply that to the nation of Israel somehow. I don't know how they do that. But this teaches that the Messiah had to be cut off, crucified, not for himself, before the temple was destroyed, which happened in AD 70. Notice it says, the people of the princes shall come. Who's the people that destroyed the sanctuary? The Romans. This ties the Antichrist in with Rome, does it not? Amen? It surely does. Alright, so point here, verse 27, what's going to happen here? Verse 27, He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. The Antichrist is going to confirm, it doesn't say he's going to write it, it doesn't say he's going to come up with it, he's going to confirm, it may already be in place. There may already be a covenant between Israel and the UN and whoever, the Antichrist is going to come and confirm that covenant for one seven year period. That covenant apparently is going to authorize Israel to regain the Temple Mount and to reestablish Temple worship. somehow. In order for that to come to pass, what's got to happen? The Arabs have to be pretty much, you know, they've got to blow up the Dome of the Rock and it's going to be a massive, I think, a world war that has to precede these events. And that might be, you know, what's in preparation there with Russia and China and all that, but somehow there's going to be a big war that's going to cause the nations of the world to say, we've got to have peace in Israel. And that's where this covenant will come about. But we see that in the middle of the week, Antichrist will break the covenant, he will stop the daily sacrifice, and will perpetrate the abomination of desolation. As Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2.4 about the Antichrist, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. That is the abomination of desolation. So, point four, the second half of the Tribulation will be the most difficult, and the Christ's reign of terror will continue for 42 months, which is also described as 1260 days, it's described as three and a half years, and a time, times and half a time, in Daniel 7.25, Daniel 12.7, etc. So those passages are given for you. All those passages 42 months, 1260 days, three and a half years. Those all show us that when it says time, times, and half a time, that also refers to three and a half years. The Great Tribulation ends at the coming of the Lord in power and great glory. And we read Matthew 24, 29-31, Revelation 19. So that is the Great Tribulation. What I'm trying to show, number one, I wanted to prove that the Great Tribulation is future. Some of you may know some preterists. Don't worry about that. That's in the past. No, it's future. It's coming. It's still coming. It ain't happened yet. It's not going to be any fun. But I also want to correct our view of the Rapture in relation to the Tribulation. There are many different views of the Rapture. Let me give you a little bit of testimony. I've told you about how I got saved. After I first got saved, every day, I would go pick up my lunch at a little Cuban restaurant, and I would go sit under this palm tree along the side of the street and leave my office and go and eat my sandwich and listen to J. Vernon McGee. Every day, he came around at 12 noon, WTIS in Tamsin, listening to J. Vernon McGee and other Bible teachers, all of which taught the Preacher of Rapture. And I believed that. And that was my doctrine. And then I read the Bible. And I couldn't find it in there. And I found lots of passages that conflicted with the Pre-Trib Rapture. And I couldn't find one that taught it. And a challenge to all of you, to any of you. If one of you can please find that passage for me, I will be immensely grateful. Because I would much rather get out of here before Tribulation. But I don't see it in Scripture. So I'm here to warn you tonight. Read the book. Don't let your favorite Bible teacher determine your theology. This is the problem with the preterists and the post-millennialists. They are so focused on Rousseff's Russian Union, the father of the Reconstruction Movement. The church we went to had a reception. I sat right next to the guy. visiting pastor, whom I knew, was introducing me to Mr. Rush Dooney and said, he's read your book. And I said, no, I haven't. I'm sorry. Really offended the guy hadn't read his book. But these guys, they spend a lot more time reading Rush Dooney's books than they do the Bible. And that's all they read. And they focus on that stuff. And they fail to go back and compare what that book says with this one. But you know what? There's people that are that way towards C.I. Schofield as well. Well, if Schofield says it, I believe it. It's in my Schofield Bible. Schofield wasn't always right. Something he was dead wrong about. Let's get our theology from this book, not Bible prophecy books. I want to look at some passages for you. I've got problems with the pre-trib rapture. Turn, please, first to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Look at a few passages. And then we'll break. We'll come back and look at a few more. And I'm going to save some time for questions. If you guys want to fire me, that's fine. I just want you to know the truth. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. This is the classic rapture passage. I love this passage. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. That's my opinion. I mean, that's why I'm here talking about this. I will not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus, those who have died before, will God bring within. By the way, that verse teaches that Jesus is God, does it not? Amen. Praise God. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. wherefore comfort one another with these words. Verse 17, where it says, We which are alive remain shall be caught up. That word caught up, actually those four words shall be caught up are taken from one Greek word, harpazo, which is translated in the Latin, repere, which is where we get our word rapture from. Alright, so I'm not a Bible corrector. I'm just telling you what that word means. I want you to notice this. There is no time frame given in this passage. It just says what's going to happen. Paul describes the rapture. What's going to take place? The Lord's going to come down from heaven. He's going to bring those who are dead in Christ with him. He's going to raise those who have died in Christ. He's going to change us. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, like he says in 1 Corinthians 15. But there's no time frame. Paul gives no reference here to the tribulation. There's no time frame given in this passage to reference the tribulation. I want you to notice that the rapture is synonymous with the resurrection of the saints. The rapture means our resurrection. That should be obvious to most of you, but that's what it is. We need to see that, because we want to see how this harmonizes with other passages. The rapture is the resurrection of the saints. Therefore, this passage must be in harmony with all other references to our resurrection. Okay? C. I want you to notice that the rapture occurs, we see, at the sound of a trumpet. with Jesus descending from heaven and coming on the clouds. You see all that? That's all in this passage. He's going to unite the saints from both heaven and earth. We see all that in this passage. Rapture occurs at the sound of a trumpet. Jesus descends from heaven and coming on the clouds, uniting the saints from both heaven and earth. Notice those things as we look at some other passages. 1 Corinthians 15. Turn over to the left. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I want you to notice something else here. We just saw that the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 occurs at the sound of a trumpet. Trumpet of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Look in verse 51. This is the same event. He's been talking about why there must be a resurrection. He's been saying, if there is no resurrection, Christ died in vain. the wonderful glory of the fact of the resurrection, that we are going to be resurrected. And then he's talking there, and now he's going to say when. See, what I want to point out to you is that not only is there no passage I can find that says there will be a preacher of the rapture, but all the passages that deal with the timing of the rapture show it to occur later than before. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. But we shall all be changed. I've seen churches that have this verse posted in their nursery, right? Babies won't all sleep, but they'll all be changed, right? Yeah, okay. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. When? At the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Paul just said that the trumpet he talked about in 1 Thessalonians 4, that trumpet is this trumpet, it's the last trumpet. Not the first one, it's the last one. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. Remember that, this is the last trump. Same event, same context, last trump. Turn to Matthew chapter 24. What we got to do is seek the whole counsel of God. Harmonize the whole Bible together. My position is that we see the same event here in Matthew chapter 24. Verse 29, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, I submit to you that's the same trumpet. And they shall gather together, His elect. I submit to you that's me and you. His elect has chosen. From the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other. Now, why is it that those who hold to a pre-trib position refuse to allow this to be interpreted as a rapture? Because it's rather obvious in verse 29 This happens immediately after the tribulation of those days. That doesn't quite jive with our theology. They've got to find some other way to interpret that as not being the rapture. So what I want you to notice here in letter A, verse 31. The elect are gathered. It says he's going to gather the elect. Now if that word gathered, we're going to come back to that in another passage. They're gathered at the sound of a trumpet. Notice also, verse 30. Jesus is coming in power and glory in the clouds of heaven, just as He did in 1 Thessalonians 4. We see some similarities here to 1 Thessalonians 4, do we not? Verse 29, the trumpet is sounded and the elect are gathered immediately after the tribulation of those days. Now, if this is not the rapture of the church, number one, please tell me what it is, and number two, If this is not the rapture of the church, then the rapture has to come later. It has to come after this event. Why? Because Paul says the rapture is the last trump. That means it has to come after this one. This trumpet can't precede. The rapture cannot precede this because it's the last trumpet. We've got another trumpet right here. Paul says the last trump. Well, it doesn't really mean last trump. Okay, well, tell me what it means then. I think it means last Trump. And I think it's this one right here. It's the same Trump. That's what I believe. And I see that because how I compare this with other scriptures. Letter E. Turn over to chapter 13 of Mark. Mark chapter 13. I want you to notice something here. Just as we saw in 1 Thessalonians 4 where He's going to bring with Him those who had already died. He's going to raise those who are dead. And He's going to transform those who are still, who are alive and remain. Look at Mark chapter 13. And at Mark's discussion of this same event. Look how he words this verse in verse 27. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect in the four winds. We just read that, didn't we? From the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. We didn't get both of those in Matthew 24. He's gathering his saints both from heaven and earth. Not just earth. It's not just Israel being moved to the land. It's heaven and earth. You see the similarities between this passage and 1 Thessalonians 4? It's the same thing. Same events going on. The trumpet. Jesus coming on the clouds. Gathering His saints from heaven and earth together. Gathering together His elect. I believe it's the same event. Letter F. Why do I believe that? Back to Matthew 24. I want you to notice something here. Matthew 24. Why do I think this is a church being raptured, being gathered, rather than something else? I'm going to show you a few things. Notice here that the disciples being addressed in this passage represent His disciples on earth both before and during the Tribulation. I want you to see that. Both before and during the Tribulation. Both before the Gospels preached in all the world and after. Look at verse 14 to 15. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. When ye, talking to his disciples, when you see, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, you shall really let him understand. Alright, now look down to verse 9. Back to verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted. He's talking to four of his chosen disciples here. We're reading in Mark. He's not talking to a whole crowd. He's talking to Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Just those four, privately. He says, "...when you, those who deliver you to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for My namesake." For Jesus' namesake. These are Christians. They're not just Israelites. Not just Jews. They're persecuted for His namesake. That's before the Gospel is preached in verse 14. And then the Gospel is preached in verse 14, and then the end comes, right? Look down at verse 26, then we go into the Great Tribulation. Verse 26, Wherefore if they shall say unto you, there's that you again. They're still here. Before the Gospel is preached, after the Gospel is preached, before the Tribulation, and during the Tribulation. He doesn't make a distinction. He's not going to lie to them and tell them that they're going to have to go through the Tribulation when they're really not. Wherefore if they say unto you, behold, he's in the desert. So the point is that these disciples represent disciples on earth both before and during tribulation. Letter G. Notice this. The gathering of the elect in verse 31. There are some who say that this gathering of the elect is the gathering of national Israel back to the land for the thousand year reign. That's impossible. Why is that? Remember we looked at Daniel chapter 9. And the Antichrist makes a covenant with thee many. It doesn't say Israel, but it's talking about thy people. The 70th week was for thy people Israel. They've got to be, Israel has to already be gathered together and back in the land before the tribulation can start. Right? All the actors have to be on stage. They've already got to be there. This cannot be the gathering of national Israel back to the land. They've got to already be there. Do you all see that? I hope you do. Letter H, Jesus is privately addressing his chosen disciples, Peter, James, John, and Andrew in this discourse, to whom he had already announced the conception of the church in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18. I believe if the church was to escape tribulation, Jesus would certainly have told these men who would be leading the early church. Instead, he taught them to prepare for tribulation, to expect persecution or martyrdom, and to await their promised deliverance after the tribulation of those days. You know, whatever He calls me to go through, I'm going to look to what's beyond. Amen? The glory that's beyond. Whatever He calls me to go through, He's going to go through it with me. Amen? 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It's 10 after 5. Do you guys want a break? Or do you want to keep going for a little bit? Huh? Let's finish this page. Let's just finish this page. This kid's getting bored. Okay. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This is important. This is the passage that really first caused me to wonder, how can this passage say this when J. Vernon McGee says we won't be here? I like what J. Vernon McGee says when he says, you know, if you want to believe that doctrine, you'll be in good company. A lot of good men believe that. But he says, if you want to be right, you're going to want to come along with me. I like that. That's good. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. I still love Gabriel McGee. I still love listening to him. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him. There's that word gathering. Notice that. Our gathering. That's the rapture. He's talking about regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. and regarding, or about, our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter asked from us, as at the day of Christ is at hand." Apparently they thought they missed it. Or maybe they thought they were almost into it. And they were fearful. And Paul is saying, you don't need to fear, it can't happen yet. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come. except there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself of all that's called God and has worshiped. He asked God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, when I was with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked, the Antichrist, be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." Revelation 19. Even him, Antichrist, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not love of the truth, they might be saved. But I want to point out to you, it's pretty simple. In this passage, The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he's talking about in verse 1, and our gathering together unto Him, in verse 1, and the day of Christ in verse 2, and that day in verse 3, he's saying those things cannot happen, they will not occur until after the falling away, apostasy, the Greek word is apostasia, I mean it's transliterated apostasy, it's the falling away from the faith, And Antichrist is revealed and destroyed. This passage seems to say to me that our gathering together unto him can't happen until after Antichrist is revealed. That's what it says to me. I mean, that's what the plain sense interpretation of this passage says to me. Now, if you see something else there, I want to know about it. I want to see it. Because I've talked to lots of pre-tribbers. I've heard everyone's explanation to this. And it just doesn't work. The guy that called me a Bible corrector because I made the point that, the guy named Herb, I made the point that when he says, by the coming and by our gathering in verse 1, that's really what the word means, regarding or about. He called me a Bible corrector, but then he went on to totally twist and distort this passage to somehow say the opposite of what it's saying. Now who's the Bible corrector? By the way, these folks don't mind using the word rapture. I don't find rapture in the Bible. Why don't they say that you're catching away? Well, call it the rapture. It's fine with me. It's okay. But I don't see in this passage where our gathering together to Him is before the revelation of Antichrist. I don't see it. Turn to Romans chapter 8, please. Should we break there? You guys want to break right there? That's the end of page 3. Let's break. Let's break. Let's pray. Let's pray for you all to cool down, tempers, everybody. Don't be mad at me. If I'm wrong, you show me. Amen? I want to know. I'd much rather be a pre-tripper. Much rather. But you know what? The Lord's going to get us through anything we've got to go through. Amen? Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord God, please bless this study. Please wake us up to the truth. Show us what we need to do to obey you, to be ready for what's coming. And I just pray for your Holy Spirit to speak to each one of our hearts. Reveal your will and your word to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.