if you would, to I Thessalonians chapter number 5. I Thessalonians chapter number 5. That's going to be our jumping off place, so to speak, for our message tonight and over the next probably several Sunday nights as we look at this time known in Bible prophecy as the coming day of the Lord. Now, we're living in a day when our world has gone mad. Have you noticed that? I mean, it's turned upside down. I mean, we thought we'd never see the day that we're living in today. You cut on the evening news and prognosticators are there talking about the end of the world. Economically, climate change, militarily, that somehow or another man is going to self-destruct on this planet. Well, I've got good news for you. It was God that brought this planet into existence, and it's God who will take it out of existence. Man will not self-destruct. Now I believe you can self-destruct in your own personal life, self-destruct a marriage or a family, all of that, but man's not going to end human history. He's not going to do that. God is in charge of human history. And when you come to I Thessalonians chapter 5, it follows Paul's teaching on the rapture. You remember the Thessalonian believers? He had taught them about end-time events. They were concerned. They sent questions to Paul. What about our loved ones who have died that know the Lord? Will they miss this event that you've taught us about, this catching away of the saints of God? Out of that, the Holy Spirit gave the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He shared with us the most definitive passage found in the Bible on the rapture of the saints of God. That's 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13 through 18. Paul talked to them about that glorious day when God's saints will be suddenly and instantaneously translated to heaven. We call that the rapture. We know that to be the next event on God's prophetic calendar. It is a signless event. We learned that. There are no signs of the times appearing everywhere. And all of that, we understand that if there's any kind of prelude, if there's any kind of forewarning, if there's any kind of sign whatsoever, it does not point to the rapture. It always points to Jesus' return to the earth. It has to do with what we're going to talk about the coming day of the Lord. There's not one sign, there's not one prophecy that must be fulfilled before Jesus comes. The rapture is imminent. It could happen. at any moment. Listen, it doesn't mean imminent. We learned this. It doesn't mean soon. It means inevitable. We sing the song, Jesus is coming soon. You remember that? And so people are saying, well listen, I've been hearing that all of my life and He hasn't come. Well, imminent doesn't mean soon. It means inevitable. It means at any moment, at some moment, Jesus is going to come, He's going to step out into the atmospheric heavens, and He's going to catch away the saints of God. Now, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Say, preacher, what is it? It's sooner than it's ever been before. I will tell you that. If Paul was looking for Him in his day, how much more should you and I be looking for Him tonight? Amen? And so we find that nothing must take place before this glorious event. For church, we're not going to be looking for signs, but for the Savior. I feel for those that hold to a pre-wrath or rapture position, believing that the church is going to go through half or two-thirds of the tribulation period. You know, they're looking for the Antichrist. I'm looking for Christ. I'm not looking for the devil's son, I'm looking for God's son. They can look for him if they want to, but that's not who I'm looking for tonight. The Bible says 2 Timothy 2.13, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. After hearing and being taught about that great event, you know what the next thought, the natural question on the minds of his readers? It's this. Well, after the rapture, what's next? And Paul answers that question in chapter 5 and verse number 1. Look what he says. But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly, and I want you to underline this phrase, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Friend, when God begins to fulfill Bible prophecy, it will happen suddenly and without warning. It will catch the world totally, completely by surprise. Notice the Bible says, For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail, birth pains. cometh upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." Paul is sharing with them the great day of God's wrath. It's a season. It's a period of time. We know that time as the tribulation period. Now, hold your place. Look with me at Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6. We're going to move back and forth in a number of passages. Many of them will be in your notes tonight. For sake of time, we probably won't get all the way through the notes. And if you didn't get those, you can grab them on the way out the door. The guys were ready. I did not recognize that and I apologize for it. We sort of just had a different kind of service tonight. And so you can get that and listen to it, fill in the notes. But look if you would, chapter 6, find verse number 15. The Bible said, "...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..." That means every slave and every free man. By the way, do you know there's people in slavery today? There may be more people enslaved in 2023 than ever before in the history of the world. Enslaved in communism, enslaved in human trafficking across our globe, enslaved in Islam. Islam is a very bondage-type religion. Notice He goes on to say, "...and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and 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. It has arrived, and who shall be able to stand?" Who can stand? Who is going to be able to survive it? There's coming a day. that's going to engulf our planet when the undiluted wrath of God will be poured out on an unbelieving world. The Bible calls it the day of the Lord. Now the day of the Lord is going to involve everything that will take place after the rapture all the way through the tribulation period and the millennium. And we're going to talk about the tribulation period, God's coming day of wrath. And we're going to, in the first two points, we're going to talk about the first one. We're going to define it. What is the tribulation period? We're going to give you a definition of it, okay? And so the tribulation period is a set time. known only to God, that will take place after the rapture. Now, wait a minute. The rapture may precede the tribulation period, but it does not begin it. It precedes it. It is a prelude. It only ends this day of grace. It ends what we know as the church age, but it doesn't start the rapture. We're going to talk about what starts or what causes the prophetic clock to begin to tick. We're going to see that in the pages of the Word of God. But it is a set time in which God will pour out His undiluted wrath on an unbelieving world. Now there are two purposes. Mark Hitchcock in his book, The End, it's an excellent book overview of end time events. He's going to give you five. I'm going to give you the two major reasons, okay? He gives you three more that I believe are reasons and I can see it. But I believe there's two primary reasons for the tribulation period. First of all, it prepares Israel for the coming of her Messiah. It prepares Israel for the coming of her Messiah. During the tribulation period, God will once again be dealing with His chosen people, the nation of Israel. Do you realize tonight that God has an earthly people? God has not cast off the Jews. He has set them aside. God, through their own willful blindness and rejection of the Messiah, turned to the Gentiles. For the last 2,000 years the gospel has permeated the Gentile world by which the Lord Jesus has called out from among the nations a people for His name. at a set time known only to God, this age of grace, this time that the Bible speaks of as it relates to the fullness of the Gentiles, the full number of Gentiles that will be saved. When that time in the mind of God, known only to God, is brought to a completion, God will again deal with His chosen people, the Jews. Let me give you a verse. It should be in your notes. Jeremiah 30 verse 7. He tells us, Alas, for that day is great. He's talking about the tribulation period. So that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble. But he shall be saved out of it. So what the Bible says is that the tribulation is known as the time of Jacob's trouble. It's a time when God is going to be dealing with Jews when they're in unbelief, but they're going to become a believing remnant. They're going to receive Christ as their Messiah. Remember what He said? It's a time when He's going to deal with them. and out of it he shall be saved. He's going to be brought through it. And so the tribulation period, God's going to begin dealing with the nation of Israel. Israel is regathered in her land. One of the most momentous events took place in 1948 when out of the Holocaust the Zionist movement and the beginning of the nation of Israel took place again. in her land. They are there, but they're there in unbelief. What's happening in Israel right now is not the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 and 39, or 36 and 37. One of those passages in my mind just sort of skipped. They believe it's the 38-39 passage. And they're there now in unbelief. But can I tell you something? If there is a proof for the Bible, If you're looking for one evidence, one proof for the validity of Scripture, it's the nation of Israel. Nations much mightier and greater than her God prophesied would cease to exist, and those nations no longer exist. But God promised perpetual existence to the nation of Israel. He gave her the land of Canaan, the land of Israel that we know today. And by the way, you should never call it Palestine because it is not Palestine. It is the land of Israel. Canaan. It was renamed Palestine by the Romans during the rebellion of the Jews around 70 A.D. Listen, the Jews were such a thorn in the side of the Romans that when Titus marched into Jerusalem they determined to exterminate the Jewish people. They were going to deal with what they called the Jewish problem. Do you realize they crucified so many Jews there was no more wood to crucify them? They burnt the city to the ground. They ripped it up and they sewed it with sawdust. They did everything they could to eradicate the nation of Israel and even renamed it Palestina. The Palestinians are the ancient Philistines and Arabic peoples. And listen, they have absolutely no claim to the land. It's been given to Israel. Do not allow people who have no knowledge of Scripture and no knowledge of history to skew your mind. They are usurpers. They're squatters. They moved into a void and sought to take a land that was not theirs. And in 1948, Israel went back into the land and retook their ancient homeland. Now, I know I digressed, but it was a good digression. And we needed it. And they're in the land in unbelief. And God is going to deal with the nation of Israel. Dwight Pentecost in his book Things to Come made this statement. He said, God's purpose for Israel in the tribulation is to bring about the conversion of a multitude of Jews who will enter into the blessings of the kingdom and experience the fulfillment of all Israel's covenants. Israel will experience an unprecedented time of trouble and persecution at the hands of the Antichrist. It's going to be so horrible, so awful, it will make the Nazi Holocaust look like a walk in the park. It will result in the Jewish people receiving Christ as their long-awaited Messiah. There are several verses I gave you in your notes. Zechariah 12 and verse number 10. Would you look at it? It should be in your notes. Is it there? Alright. and I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only Son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." They're going to look at the wounds in the Lord Jesus and they're going to mourn over what they did to the Son of God, their Messiah. Look down at Zechariah 13 verse number 9. And I will bring the third part through the fire. Do you know two-thirds of the nation of Israel will not survive the tribulation period? One third will. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. And they shall call on My name." You remember what Romans 10 and 13 said? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be what? Saved. Do you know that that passage is dealing with the Jewish people as it relates to the Gospel? Romans 9, 10, and 11 are not subjects of Calvinism. That's not what it's about. It's about the fact that God has set aside Israel. It's about national spiritual privilege. That God has set aside His chosen sovereignly, made a sovereign choice for the nation of Israel, but they've rejected their Messiah, and God set them aside so that the gospel would come to the Gentiles, but God has not cast them off He will again deal with them. And you're going to find in Romans 11, verse 26, at the very end of Romans 9, 10, and 11, that parenthetical passage, a section in the book of Romans, that seems like it doesn't fit, but it does. Because the question is, if God is saving Gentiles, what about the Jews? And Paul is saying, listen, I'm a Jew. I'm saved. My heart's desire for Israel is that they would be saved, but the blindness has in part happened to Israel so that you can be saved. That's what he's saying. He's not saying that God's chosen sovereignly to elect who's going to go to heaven and who's going to go to hell. God sovereignly chooses spiritual privilege of the gospel as it relates to nations and ethnic groups. Why didn't the gospel go east? Why did it come west? Because God chose that. God didn't choose for the people in the east not to hear the gospel. There were people that took the gospel there. They didn't receive it. But it came west and the Gentiles in the west received it. You see that in the book of Acts. God directing and God choosing, not individuals. And Romans 9, 10, and 11 is not about individuals. And the Bible comes at the very end of it and Paul says, And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away the ungodliness from Jacob. The one they have rejected, the one they hung up on a tree, the one they said, we have no king but Caesar, crucify him. There's going to be a generation of Jews that's going to receive him. It is proof positive that God is not through with His earthly people, the Jews. Here's the second purpose of the tribulation period, and that's to pour out His wrath on an unbelieving world. Look back, if you would, in chapter 5 verse number 2. Would you do that? Paul says, For your saves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail birth pains upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. He's talking about unbelievers. He's talking about those who are left behind. Revelation 3.10. Is that in your notes? Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation." We're going to come back and deal with that part of the verse. "...which shall come upon all the world, to try to test them that dwell upon the earth." We're going to do an entire message or series of messages on the Antichrist. You realize one of the purposes of the coming of the Antichrist is to test men of whether or not they will receive God's Christ or the devil's Christ? He's going to prove them. He's going to show men's willing unbelief to receive the gospel. That means to examine, to prove them that dwell upon the earth. That's a phrase. You ought to underline that in your notes and then come back and underline it in your Bible. Them that dwell upon the earth. That's used 11 times in Revelation. And prophetic scholars will tell us it's not so much a term of geographical location, but moral condition. It's not just that people are on the earth. It's dealing with the entire horizon of their lives is dominated by earthly ambition. not the will of God. And Revelation consistently pictures the unbelieving as earth dwellers, as the objects of God's wrath because they're hardened in their rebellion against God and they live totally for the flesh, totally for this earth. They look not at the things of God. They have no thought of God whatsoever. They are earth dwellers. That's what God's doing. Them that dwell on the earth. They are totally sold out to this world and what it has to offer. And they've rejected God. The tribulation will show men, now watch this, to be worthy or deserving of God's wrath. The horrific judgments of the tribulation, instead of softening men's hearts by and large, will only serve to harden them in their defiance of God and His Son. Here's what's interesting. You will read through the book of the Revelation. OK? Not revelations. Revelation of Jesus Christ. And you're going to find this phrase, "...and they repented not of their sorceries." They repented not. It's almost as if it's incredulous. that here God has been pouring out His wrath on an unbelieving world. They're hiding themselves from the wrath of the Lamb. And instead of coming to God, they further reject Him and harden themselves against God and blaspheme His name. Now we're going to talk about a great revival or an awakening during the tribulation period a little bit later on in our message, but by and large the world has rejected Christ and this world, listen to me, will not get by with what they've done to God's Son. They will not. Dwight Pentecost said this world will receive this divine visitation because of the world's rejection of Jesus Christ as the Savior. The world will worship the beast, the Antichrist, and divine judgment will come upon them because they have despised God, rejected His Son, and acknowledged a demon-possessed man as their only king and deity. Well, what about us, preacher? What about the Lord's saints and His people? Will we go through this awful time? Well, here's the good news. Contrary to what some may teach and believe, the church of the Lord Jesus will not go through one millisecond, nanosecond of the tribulation period. Now I love Bible prophecy. My wife, she's not so fond of it. She just has to bear through it because I preach on it a lot. And it's not that she doesn't like it, it's just not an answer. I asked her, I said, why do you not get excited about Bible prophecy like I do? She said, because I'm not going to be there. I thought, good answer. Good answer. But yet, we need to know it, right? And it's more than just me saying we're not going to go through it. We need to understand what God says about it, okay? So I want you to look down at verse number 9 in I Thessalonians 5 in your Bible. For God hath not appointed us to wrath." Now that word, when you see that word appointed us to wrath, that word wrath is not dealing with hell. We've already been saved from hell. We've already escaped the wrath of God on our sins. He's talking about the day of wrath. What is the context of 1 Thessalonians 5? The day of the Lord. The wrath of God being poured out on an unbelieving world. And here's what Paul says. We've not been appointed unto wrath, but to obtain salvation or deliverance by our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what took place in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 in the rapture. Jesus will deliver His saints not through the tribulation, but from it. From it. Alright, we're going to look at Revelation 3 and verse 10 again. You remember we were talking about that passage, Revelation 3 and verse 10, and I told you I'd come back to it? Look what he says, Because thou hast kept the word of my patient, I also will keep thee from, not through it, but from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. God didn't say He would see us through it. He said, I'm going to keep you from it. Did you see that? Alright, let's keep going. Let's look at some more. Let's go to Revelation chapter 2. Could we do that for just a moment? Or Revelation chapter 3? And when you come to Revelation chapters 2 and 3, you're going to find an interesting couple passages of Scripture, chapters of Scripture. There's seven letters here written to seven local churches in Asia Minor. Now I'm not going to go into detail of what I think about this particular two chapters as it relates to prophecy. I will just say this. I do not believe the churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are prophetic in nature. I don't believe that. Now, if you believe that, that's fine. You can. A lot of old prophetic students believed that and they write about that. I think they press it on human history, okay? And if you've got to wait to get to a Laodicean church age, then the rapture's not imminent. You have to wait on something to happen. The seven churches are reflective of the conditions of all churches throughout all this dispensation or this age of grace. That means you've got Laodicean churches, Philadelphian churches. Are there churches being persecuted today? Absolutely. Are there martyrs in the 21st century? Absolutely there are. And so you're going to find that all... Hey, there's churches that are alive and there's churches that have a name and they're dead. By the way, some of them are independent Baptists too. And so it's dealing with these conditions of all ages. Now here's what I wanted you to see though. Look at chapter 3 and verse number 22. Would you do that? Here he's dealing with the last church of the seven churches that Jesus will write to. And notice what he says. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And so he's addressing The things that are. Alright? What's going on right now? Look at chapter 4 verse 1. After this. After what? The church age. What's next? After this, I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was, as it were, a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. When you get to chapter 4 on, it's prophetic. It's hereafter. Come up hither is a picture of the rapture, which must be hereafter. What things? The events of the tribulation period, the day of the Lord, all the way to the end of the book. Look at chapter 1 verse 19. Now I'm going somewhere, so just stay with me. Look at verse 19. This is the golden key. If you've been listening to me preach on prophecy, this should be written in your Bible. This is the key that unlocks the revelation. This is the golden key that opens the door to the revelation. This is the divinely inspired outline. Notice what he said. Jesus is talking to John. Write the things which thou hast seen. Chapter 1. And the things which are, chapters 2 and 3, church age, where we are right now. And the things which shall be hereafter, chapter 4 to the end of the book. Alright? And so, the things which shall be hereafter. Now you remember in chapter 3 verse 22 he's addressing the churches? Okay? I want you to look at something very interesting. Turn to Revelation 13 and verse 19. There is no verse 19. My computer has made a terrible, terrible mistake. It's in verse 9. Computers shouldn't do that to people. Smartphones... Look at verse 9. That's why you all were snickering already, wasn't it? If any man... Wait a minute. If any man have an ear, He's no longer addressing churches. You know why? Church isn't here. He's now dealing with individuals. If any individual, man or woman, boy or girl, will hear, let them hear. Chapters 2 and 3, he's addressing his saints during this age of grace, the church age. He's talking about the churches. I'm going to read it to you so I can get it accurately. He said, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Come over to chapter 13 verse 9. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He's now dealing with individuals in the tribulation period. The rapture is God's way of removing His saints from this awful time of judgment. You say, preacher, when is the church mentioned again? I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to show you. Go all the way to chapter number 19. When you study Revelation, you need to know where you are. Now remember, I told you these were not going to be evangelistic messages as much as they are informative type messages. They're informative type messages. And when you come to verse number... chapter number 19, you're in a heavenly scene. So you need to know where you are. You're going to alternate between earth and heaven. Something's going on in heaven, something's going on in earth. When you come to chapter 19, it is a heavenly scene. And notice if you would in verse number 7, and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. And underline these next two words I'm going to give you. And his wife, underline those two words. His wife hath made herself ready. Who is the bride of Christ? The church. And so now we've come full circle. And guess where we are in heaven? Isn't that good? And while the wrath of the Lamb is being poured out on the earth, we're involved in the worship of the Lamb in heaven, saying, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Isn't that wonderful? Christian, you're not going to go through one second of this terrible time known as the day of the Lord or God's coming day of wrath. God has two peoples He's going to deal with. He's going to deal with the Jewish nation once again. And out of that group He's going to bring out a remnant of that group that will receive Him, the Lord Jesus, as their long awaited Messiah. He's going to fulfill the covenants that He gave to the nation of Israel through Abraham and David. God is not finished with His earthly people, the Jew. You don't need to worry about the outcome of the Middle East. God may move nations. He may use America and other nations to help defend or assist her, but God doesn't need us. You'll find that out, by the way, as we deal with one of the wars of the Revelation. God will take care of some nations that are going to come against Israel. And He's not going to need any help in doing it. But God does use those things. And God does work in our world. But He doesn't need us. But thank God at times He uses our nation. Isn't that a blessing? Isn't that encouraging? What is happening in the Middle East is tragic and it's terrible. I am saddened for Jews and Arabic peoples who are not part of deadly terrorism that are caught in the crossfire of all that's going on there. I am. It's terrible. It's awful what's happening there. But Israel is not going to be eradicated by Iran or any other nation. God has a plan for the nation of Israel. And God has a plan for an unbelieving world and its wrath. Because the world has rejected Him. And the good news is we won't be here. But the sad news is every one of us knows someone that we love that will be here. And it ought to motivate us. I'm not just giving us information. to puff us up or to help us to just understand Bible truth. But Bible prophecy should motivate us to be better witnesses and better Christians and better servants of the Lord Jesus. Because the night comes when no man can work. Serving day is going to be over. And what we're going to do for Jesus, we better get it done. Amen? Let's bow our heads in prayer.