take your Bibles and go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 if you would, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. As Eliza was singing that song I thought of this passage of Scripture. And as you are turning to 1 Thessalonians I'd like to read it for us. It doesn't have anything to do with the message. But in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28 and following it says, "'Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not? Neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. So it's so good to know that a lot of the songs that we sing are scripturally based, amen? Praise the Lord for that. Also, I just wanna say this as we get into the message, is starting tomorrow for the church family, those who are on our email list, and if you're not on our email list, let me encourage you to send us a email and give us your address so that we could put you on. We're gonna start giving a daily devotional. It's gonna be a video devotional. It won't be any more than five to 10 minutes. In fact, I've already taped the first couple, and so what we're going to have them do is everyone on the staff, we're going to take a particular day of the week. And so for Monday through Saturday, you'll be getting in your inbox a video devotional. and just giving you a passage of Scripture, a thought for the day. We'll have a word of prayer together. And I trust that this will be a blessing to just sort of bring us all together and get us focused and on the right path. And I want to encourage you to look forward to that. It should come into your inbox around six o'clock in the morning. And so I just want to alert now, if you don't get up till the crack of noon, like most preachers, then of course, you can just watch it whenever you can get around to it or whenever your day starts. Okay, so I just want to alert you to that. That's something that we wanna do to try to just stay engaged as a church family. Trust that this will be something that you look forward to and will get us, like I said, going on the right footing for the day. to read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I want to begin reading here in verse 13. And my message is entitled, What's Next? What's Next? And of course we are speaking about the Rapture of the Church. Now it is interesting that as we sang the Congregational song it was a song that is so appropriate for for this message, as well as many of the songs that we sing really uphold the fact of the rapture of the church. In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, Paul's writing to a local assembly, and he says, But I would 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 will God bring with Him. 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 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. 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. Person by the last name of Turner wrote the lyrics to this song on Christ's returneth. And I'd like to read those lyrics. It may be at morn when the day is awaking, when sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking, that Jesus will come in the fullness of glory to receive from the world his own. It may be at midday, it may be at twilight. It may be perchance that the blackness of midnight will burst into light in the blaze of his glory when Jesus receives his own. While its host cry, Hosanna, from heaven descending, with glorified saints and the angels attending, with grace on his brow like a halo of glory, will Jesus receive his own. Oh joy, oh delight, should we go without dying, no sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying, caught up through the clouds with our Lord into glory, when Jesus receives his own. O Lord Jesus, how long, how long, ere we shout the glad song, Christ returneth, hallelujah, hallelujah, amen, hallelujah, amen. You know, some of the songs that we sing are very familiar to us. I know that I've sung that song, if not one time, I could imagine hundreds of times, if not even more than that. And so many times we'll sing these special songs and they're in our subconscious. And as the pianist plays and we begin to sing, the words just sort of roll out of our mouth. We don't even really have to concentrate on them. And they just come and yet we don't really pay much attention to them. And yet so many, as I mentioned about Liza's song and the other songs that we sing here, they're scripturally based songs. And I don't think we can take them for granted because they're to point us and prepare our hearts for the pure word of God. And here in this passage of scripture, we have the pure word of God, a message from God to us. And it's songs like this that really strike really to the heart of the believer. I don't know about you, but it excites us. It excites me. And just thinking about that Jesus Christ should come at any time. Now, the current events of the world are really gripping each and every one of us. Our lives have been changed. Some lives have been turned upside down, so to speak. We have the conspiracy theorists out there. We also have those who would just like to just act like nothing else is going on really, as if nothing is going on. And yet we know that life is not the same. And some people are caught up in a spirit of fear. God tells us that He's not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. And some people say, well, they weren't going through what we're going through. Well, if you study the time of the Lord Jesus Christ in that first century church, In some respects, they were going through a lot harder times than we are right now. It was a different kind of a time and a different kind of persecution that they were faced with. However, their world was turned upside down as well. And so this message that we have this morning is just applicable for us today as it was back in the day of Jesus, as it was in the day of the first century church. And I'd like to just simply address one particular aspect of Bible prophecy this morning. And I trust it will calm our fears as believers about the future and what awaits us. And I want to address scripturally the next prophetic event on God's calendar. I remember as I've pastored here for almost 32 years that some of the different events that have taken place like Desert Storm there in the Middle East and all the constant upheaval that we have There was that time as the armies were gathering from various countries there in the Middle East that there was fear that we were coming to the great battle of Armageddon. And so there was a lot of hype in regards to that. And I can remember as a pastor here that Folks were asking about the end time events and so on. And of course now because of the prophecies of pestilence coming in the end times, people once again have been brought to the forefront of their thinking, the end times. And so a lot of believers though are even shaken when they come to these types of events. And the Bible wants us to not be ignorant as Paul says. In other words, He's not saying that we're dumb, he's just saying we're not informed. And so that's why he gave us 1 Thessalonians, and specifically this passage of Scripture, some others that we'll look at today, to calm our fears and make sure that our focus is on the right thing, on the right individual, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as that great hope of the believer. that we await the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we say that, I'm talking about the rapture, the catching away of the saints. And it's important for us to put Bible prophecy in its proper order. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter two and verse 15, that we have to study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. I always say this, that if there's a right way to divide the truth, there's also a wrong way to divide the truth. And when it comes to Bible prophecy, there's a lot of various teachings out there in regards to this Bible doctrine. And so we want to really address scripturally this subject matter this morning. And so they say Baptists have always been the people of two books. One is the hymn book and the other is a Bible. And so it's so important for us to really take our Bibles out. And as you're watching there at home or wherever you may be, let me encourage you to open up your Bible. Open up your King James Bible and let's see what the Word of God has to say for us this morning. I think it's vital that you not just take any man's word for it because I'll tell you, you can go and you can Google this guy and that guy and this teaching and that teaching and just about anything you want to believe, you can find someone that will go along with you. And they're all trying to get you to go along with them. And so we wanna look at the scriptures and find out what the scriptures have to say in regards to this all-important Bible doctrine. Now, as I said, there are many end time views that people espouse today. There are three main views that you might read in commentaries and you might read about some of the old saints of the past. They held to one of these three views of Bible prophecy. And not only are these the three main views, then you have variant teachings in regards that are encapsulated within these three main views. One is what we call the premillennial view. Now millennial, you know, means thousand. And some folks don't really realize that that's what the premillennial position is. It means before the thousand. In other words, before the thousand year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we believe that Jesus Christ, the rapture will take place. And we say pre-tribulational, pre-millennial. Now pre-tribulational means that we believe as believers, we're gonna be taken out of the world before the tribulation time takes place. We're not gonna go through half of it and then get taken. We're not gonna go through three quarters of it and be taken, even though there are views that espouse those two positions that I just mentioned. They really have no biblical basis for that. Now you say, but pastor, I've listened to some of those guys and they pull some scriptures out and so on and so forth. Yes, but when you take it in order and you look at it and rightly divide it, you'll see where many of those views, they fall to the truth of the Word of God when you take it in its proper place. So there's the premillennial view. I'll read what I have here in my notes. It holds that Christ will come before his reign of a thousand years on earth. He will rule over the world and over Israel in her land. Now, the reason we say pre-tribulational, premillennial, as you know, before the battle of Armageddon, before the thousand year reign, is going to be the second coming. But seven years prior to that, you have what is called the rapture, the catching away of the saints. So before we see the man of sin, the antichrist being revealed, the believers will already be with the Lord. Because you see, the second coming is not the rapture. The first coming, of course, was when Jesus Christ was born there in a, I guess you could say a stable. And then he was laid to rest there in a manger. And so we sing a lot about that at Christmastime. That was the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second coming is there at the end of the rapture when he comes and actually sets his feet down once again on the Mount of Olives. That's the second coming. but the rapture is before that. And the rapture takes place seven years before that time, and Jesus never comes and sets his feet on the Mount of Olives. He comes in the clouds. And the Bible says, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then there's going to be some things that take place during that seven year time. And that you find in the book of Revelation from chapter six to chapter 19. And there you have the tribulation time and the awful things that will take place. But then what are we doing during that time? Well, we're with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to have the judgment seat of Christ. not to try to determine whether we go to heaven or hell. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, my friend, your eternal destiny was settled at that particular point in time. First Peter chapter one says that we have a place reserved in heaven for us. And so at that particular time that you got saved, your reservation was made in glory. That's a great truth. And so then we find that we're going to have the judgment seat of Christ, and that is when rewards will be handed out. And that's one of the things we have to be careful of, you see, is because we're not working now to be saved, but we are working as well as serving the Lord because we want to have a reward. Not so that we can say, hey, look what I've got. No, so that we can say, dear Lord Jesus, I did this for you. And so these gifts that you're giving me, these rewards you're giving me for my life of service and honor of you, I give back to you because you're the only one that's worthy to receive honor and glory and praise, amen? And so we see that the rapture then will take place and we're going to have the judgment seat of Christ as well as what we refer to as the marriage supper of the Lamb. And so while the world is going through what they're going through, as we see witnessed in the book of Revelation, chapters six to 19, you'll find us completely out of that. And our focus won't be on the devastation that the world is going through. Our focus will be on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, amen? And so it's important for you to say, well, why are those chapters given? I think they're given as a warning. They're also given for us as a motivation so that we can reach the world for Christ. Because Jesus said that he came to seek and to save that which was lost. And in the Gospel of John, he says that, as my father has sent me, even so send I you. So we are not doing what we're left here to do if we're not seeking to see people come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's in really a short kind of encapsulated talk here for just a few moments about the premillennial view. There's another view called the amillennial view. When you say ah, that means without. In other words, there are those that hold that there will be no literal millennial reign of Christ. And so what they believe for the most part is that the millennial or the, yeah, the millennium will actually be a spiritual kind of experience that people go through. It's not a real popular view, but it is one nonetheless. Then there's one that is probably one of the most popular, especially in Reformed circles, that's the post-millennial view. It teaches that the thousand-year kingdom will come as the final segment of the present age. In other words, we know the creation probably took place around 6,000 years ago. And so they believe that now we're entering that time of the thousand-year reign. And so that's why you have the post-millennialists really trying to put their emphasis on making our world a better place. Now, of course, as you and I, as believers with the pre-tribulational, pre-millennial view, as we live life, we know that our world is not getting better, it's getting worse, but also we want to do what we can do to make our world a better place. But our hope is not gonna be in making the world a better place, a cleaner place, Our job is to see people come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how we'll truly make our world a better place. And so the post-millennial view, they believe that the gospel will be triumphant and the whole world will then be Christianized. And that is in, that's a real short kind of a synopsis of the post-millennial view. The Bible is premillennial. And so because the Bible's premillennial, so are we. And so there are these three main passages that really present this truth for us. And then there are many, many references and inferences to the same thing. While we do not have time in this sermon, to really give all the ins and outs for this position as well as handle all the various aspects of Bible prophecy, we want to hit some of the main points. So I've got this in point form, several points here that I trust if you're taking notes that you'll pay special attention to it. I have no problem with you searching the Scriptures out in regards to this. In fact, I welcome that. And number one, the Old Testament, spoke of the first coming of Jesus Christ and his suffering and death and resurrection. Now, I know that's a bit wordy and I'm not done with that statement yet. And so if you're taking notes, do a little bit of shorthand if you please, and I'll read it a couple of times so that you can get it down. You may feel like you're in a seminary class this morning, but I trust that this will also culminate in an excitement in your spirit. The Old Testament spoke of the first coming of Jesus Christ and His suffering, death and resurrection. It also addressed some things about the second coming of Christ. So the Old Testament would tell us about the first coming, meaning the birth of Jesus, would also talk about the second coming when He will establish the throne of David once again, where He will sit on the throne of David. So the Jews were looking forward to that. So a lot of the Old Testament scriptures you find talked about the birth of Jesus as well as the kingdom being established. And so Isaiah chapter 53 is a great prophetic passage of scripture that talks about the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have Isaiah chapter seven in verse 14. You have Isaiah chapter nine in verse six. that talks about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in His birth, Isaiah 53, about a suffering, the death, and so on. And then you have other passages of Scripture that talk about the same thing. You have Psalm chapter 22, and other passages that talk about Him establishing the kingdom. So a lot of the Old Testament Scriptures talked about these things, however, when many times it was addressed, it didn't show that there was a time gap. In other words, it almost sometimes gives the impression when you read it, that he was born and then set up his kingdom right away. And that's not how we see the totality of scripture actually opening up for us. That's why it's important to study all the Bible. Because you see, the revelation is progressive. In fact, the book of Isaiah was written some 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. So it's amazing that here a man would sit down, and the Bible talks about inspiration, being moved by God to pen these words, talking about the Messiah coming, and then 700 years later, Isaiah didn't live to be 700 years of age. And so he did not have that foreknowledge except given to him by God. And it's amazing how these Old Testament prophets wrote and they were moved by the Holy Spirit to say and write these things. And then they came to pass exactly as they said. And you see, though, as I like to say, is the Old Testament shows Jesus Christ in shadow form, and then you have the New Testament that actually shows Him in substance. What I mean by that is, you know, if you hit the sun just right and you see somebody walking, you'll see their shadow. Many times, because the shadow is actually a cast casting from the substance or the person, the individual itself, you see that characteristic. You'll see them when they move, you know, the shadow moves. And you can sometimes look at a shadow and say, Hey, I see so-and-so. And so what happens is you see, you have to know the substance though, you have to know the individual. You have to know the object. And so we find that the New Testament presents and shows us the Lord Jesus Christ. So then we can go back to the Old Testament. We say, wow, that's the Messiah. And so you see him in shadow in the Old Testament. You see him in substance in the New Testament. And so the Old Testament, when you see the prophecies, Many times, because the Jew was looking, if they would accept Jesus as the Messiah when he came the first time, there would be no need for the church age. There would be no need for this period of grace that we find ourselves in. This is why we call ourselves being in the age of grace, the period of grace. and so on. It's a parenthesis here between the Old Testament and New Testament, I should say, between the birth and then the kingdom being established. We have this age of grace because of the rejection of Israel as Jesus Christ being the Messiah. And then we are giving a parenthesis, a pause, so that we Gentiles can have an opportunity to be saved, praise the Lord. And so the Old Testament spoke of the first coming of Jesus Christ and his suffering, death and resurrection. It also addressed some things about the second coming of Christ. Number two, as we move into the New Testament, the disciples were confused about the timing of the end times. The disciples were confused about the timing of the end times. Why? Because they had been studied and they had been taught the Old Testament. Of course, there's nothing wrong with it. It's the Word of God. It's not deficient. It's accurate, even as it portrays, without the gap, the first and second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, and so the disciples were confused about the timing of the end times. They thought Jesus would set up his earthly kingdom while he was yet with them. And that's why you find them at times confused when Jesus would teach them things. And we'll look at a couple of those passages in just a few moments in regards to what I'm talking about right now. They thought that what would happen is since Jesus was the Messiah, they trusted him as savior. They thought, okay, one of these days he's just gonna, he's gonna just, take us and set up the kingdom there in Jerusalem. He's gonna establish himself on the throne. That was one of the aspects of the triumphal entry. They thought that that's what was gonna take place. That's why the two on the road to Emmaus were discouraged when after the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and his burial, they're on the road to Emmaus and they're just discouraged because they were thinking, wow, Jesus was gonna establish his kingdom. What happened? Well, you know, they were confused about that. So the disciples were confused about that period of time. Number three. Jesus addressed the rapture the last night before He was crucified. Jesus addressed the rapture before He was crucified. Let's take our Bibles and go to that well-known passage of Scripture, John chapter 14. And it's amazing when you look at these passages of Scripture. that we will try to hold to other Bible positions in regards to the end times, except when someone passes away. When someone passes away, then we'll go to 1 Thessalonians chapter four, we'll go to John chapter 14, and we'll get comfort for immediate comfort right now. But if you hold to some of these other positions, boy, it doesn't give you the same words of comfort. Here in John chapter 14, you have to see what takes place here as we begin reading here in verse one. Let me just give you a little bit of background, and I encourage you to read this on your own. If you were to go on up to chapter 13, you would see here that Jesus has just informed the disciples in that chapter that he's got to leave them. Now understand, they're upset, they're discouraged. Here they had left what they perceived to be everything to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're expecting the kingdom to be established. And now he's saying, I've got to leave you. They were thinking, no, no, no, no, you can't leave us. You can't leave us high and dry now. And they were really upset about that. So Jesus, when you get to chapter 14, begins to give these words of comfort as well as hope about the future. Here's what the Bible says, let not your heart be troubled. And folks, that's something that we need in these days to have really to the forefront of our thinking. Because it says here, let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. And so we need to make sure that we're sticking close to Jesus Christ, amen? And we're listening to his words. And then Jesus tells his disciples these words, in my Father's house are many mansions. So what's he done? He's not done away with the millennial reign, the thousand year reign of Christ, establishing his kingdom. He has come the first time, that's obvious here in this passage of scripture. He has been born, he's matured, he's been doing his earthly ministry for about three years now. And so now we come to this passage of scripture, but he's talking about something that will take place before the millennial reign, before the thousand year reign of Christ. before the establishment of the kingdom. So you have his first coming, and now you have him talking about what's next on the prophetic calendar, and that is the rapture, the catching away. And it says here, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. The truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. And so you see right there, he says, there's something that's gonna take place before the end time, before the millennial reign, before Armageddon. You're gonna be out of here. He doesn't mention and try to scare them at all about that final battle. Why? Because they're not gonna be there. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Jesus is introducing that age of grace, that period of time in between his first coming and his second coming. Praise the Lord for that, amen. So we see that Jesus addressed the rapture before he was crucified. Then we see number four, that Paul addressed the rapture. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I trust you're following along in the scriptures. Now it's interesting here that when we talk about defining the gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, we always go right here to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Look at verse three and four. This has nothing to do with a rapture. This just gives us a definition of the gospel. It says here, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. In other words, Paul said, hey, I got saved. I trusted Christ as my Savior. I believed in His death, burial, and resurrection for my sin. And because I embraced Him as Savior, I received it and now I'm giving it to you. I'm giving you the message. And that's the way it works. You get saved and then you want to go tell somebody else. Something's wrong with your so-called Christianity if you say you're born again and you have no desire to tell anybody else about it. You're either not saved or you're backslidden. You need to get right with God, because that's why we're here, to tell the good news. He says, for I delivered unto you, verse three of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Notice, according to the Scriptures. The Word of God is our authority. We look at the Word of God, not world events. It says, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And then it goes on and just solidifies the personal testimonies and witnesses about the gospel and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But getting back to the rapture now, we find here that Paul addresses this in what we call the great resurrection chapter. And if you wanna study the doctrine of the resurrection, then you wanna study these 58 verses of Scripture, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. But let's go up to verse 51 and look at these verses. So Paul addressed the rapture in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning in verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. Now, A mystery, when it's introduced in the scriptures, means that it's a truth that has not been introduced to this point in time. And so we find here that this is a mystery that people did not really, they were not really informed at, they didn't know about, but now under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, Paul is teaching this to the local New Testament church. And he's saying this, he says, behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Now you'll notice a term mentioned in the scriptures about believers who die. They're called being asleep. Yes, they're dead as far as we're concerned, but really they're asleep. In other words, it's not the final thing for them. We have eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, but we shall all be changed, okay? He says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. Now, if you study those who hold to us going through the trib, they don't talk about tribulation. They don't really talk about this kind of event taking place. They have to explain it and modify the scriptures to fit their dogma, their doctrine. And here it says right there in a moment in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, you see. And so this can even be a mid wrath rapture. As they say, some will hold that Jesus is, we're gonna stay and go through half the tribulation and won't come be raptured out till about Revelation chapter 12. Okay, and so that doesn't fit in this passage of scripture either, because of Revelation chapter four and verse one, where we have the come up hither passage. And we'll see that in just a moment. But notice it says in a moment and a twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. for this corruptible, that's our body, must put on incorruption, that's the spiritual body, and this mortal must put on immortality. This who have, in this period of time, a limited life, so to speak, we have a birthday, we don't know when our death day is, but we have a death day, it's appointed that a man wants to die, but after this, a judgment, Hebrews chapter nine and verse 27, I believe, and then it says here, so when this corruptible, our body, shall have put on incorruption, our spiritual body, And this mortal in this life have put on immortality, eternal life, which is the experience of eternal life. But when you got saved, your eternal destiny was already established. You are an eternal being. He says, shall be brought to pass a saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. That's why we say this is not the end. When someone has passed away and their casket lies before us, or we find it in the cemetery somewhere, we find, hey, look, death is swallowed up in victory. In other words, that's not the end. That's just a period of time there with the Lord. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, absent from the body, present with the Lord. He says in verse 55, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God. There's your hope. This is not a passage of scripture to cause us to stoop our shoulders and be discouraged and in the mulling grubs. It says, no, but thanks be to God was given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ because of the glorious resurrection. He says, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast. Unmovable message for us today, believer. As you are hit with the change of events and maybe because of the virus that you're being laid off from work and you're fearful for your own health or the health of your loved ones and things of that nature, he says, therefore, my beloved brethren, Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Just keep serving the Lord. Just keep serving Him. So Paul addressed this next event on God's prophetic calendar. So in other words, as I'm trying to say here this morning, is that the next event, the rapture, is the next thing that takes place before the tribulation, before the millennial reign. And that's our great hope. Now let's go to Revelation chapter 4 and number 5 if you're taking notes my notes number 5 John addressed the rapture So we have the Old Testament prophets. We have the disciples. We have Jesus we have Paul we have John we go to Revelation chapter 4 now Just, if you're a member of the church here, you know we've talked about this. If you've come to the Bible college, you know that we have opened up the book of Revelation and we've studied these things. But in Revelation chapter one and verse 19, we have the outline for the book of Revelation. And if you're watching there on live stream, let me encourage you to look at verse 19, and this will just give you a rough outline. It just gives you the skeleton, if you please, of the book of Revelation. It says here, write the things which thou hast seen. Now, if you go to chapter 1, verses 10 to 18, you have a vision that John saw. I don't have time to go into it today, all the background of that, but John sees this vision. You can read it for yourself. That's what he has seen. He's told to write it. He says this, and the things which are. In chapters two and three of Revelation, you have letters to seven churches, seven churches of John's day. And so he's writing to these seven churches, as you'll see. And then it says here in verse 19, the last phrase, and the things which shall be hereafter. So here's John in his day. There's seven churches that he's writing letters to. You know, I don't sit there and write letters to the loved ones or friends that I have that have already died and gone on to glory. I can write what I remember, what I've seen in the past. I can write those that are present. I can shoot an email to them. I can write a card to them, a note to them, the things which are. And then it says, and write the things which shall be hereafter. That's the prophecy. And here you find from chapter four all the way through to chapter 22 is the rest of the prophecy. And so here, if you go to chapter four, it's interesting here. Now we live in what is referred to as the church age. You know, you hear about church and church and church. And so everybody talks about the church in this period of time. And these chapters two and three address seven churches. But it's what's interesting here is you get to chapter four and verse one. And from this period of time on, no mention of the church. So you have the throne room of heaven that takes place in Revelation chapters four and five. You see what's going on in heaven. But then from chapter six to chapter 19, you have the tribulation time talked about. The church is not there. The church is gone. It's not mentioned here at all. Will people be saved during the tribulation? Of course they will. But those of us who are saved at this period of time, this age of grace, we're gone. We're out of here. We're taken out. We're nowhere around. We're in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see, it says in Revelation 4, after this, I looked, And behold, John the Beloved's writing, 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. Now notice those three words, come up hither. That's where we get the word rapture. Some people say, rapture is not even mentioned in the Bible. What are you talking about rapture for? Well, the word come up, the three words from the Greek that make up the word come up hither, the words come up hither, is where we get the word rapture. And so it's meaning the same thing. We've just taken that and used that as a one word, a word for the event that takes place called the rapture, or what we would say is the catching away. catching away. And so we find here from chapter four, verse one on, John has addressed the rapture of the church. So what's next on God's prophetic calendar? Do you have to worry about who the antichrist is? Do you have to worry about all these world events and whether we're going to get caught up in the battle of Armageddon or whether we're going to have to take the mark of the beast in our hand or in our forehead? Folks, you don't have to worry about that. You're a child of God. You're going to be up out of here. That's why you need to be saved. If you're not saved, you need to be saved now so that you don't have to worry about any of that. Number six. Paul addressed the rapture in more detail in 1 Thessalonians, the text of scripture that I had you go to. Paul addressed the rapture in more detail in 1 Thessalonians. Let me show you this truth. In chapter one of 1 Thessalonians, you have a reference here to the rapture. And it says, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. In other words, Jesus Christ, He's gonna deliver us from the wrath to come. We won't be, we're not children of the night, we're children of the day. We're gonna escape wrath. The wrath of God does not abide on the saved. And if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you will not experience the wrath of God, amen? Amen. And so then if you look at chapter two in verse 19, the scripture says these words, for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Amen. Look at chapter three in verse 13. The Bible says, to the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. And then you have that passage of scripture here, chapter four, verse 13 to 18. Let me jump on down to chapter five and verse one. But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves 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 upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. My friend, if you study those who believe that we're gonna go through the trib, they can't, this verse of scripture just blows that out of the water, so to speak. because we know the end time is gonna be a terrible time of destruction and bloodshed. And it says here, it says in verse four, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day, and we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep. That means be lazy. as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us who are of the day be sober, serious, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in hell with the hope of salvation, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, no tribulation for us, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we're out of here. He says, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Go back now to chapter four. This is probably the clearest passage of Scripture that deals with this prophetic event called the rapture. And right away in verse 13, he says, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. Writing to believers, saying you need to be informed about this, you need to be informed about this because regardless of what events take place, you yourself probably, all they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you live a righteous and holy life and are constantly given a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ with your life and with your mouth, you're gonna encounter some ridicule, some persecution, and so on. The Bible says that. And he says, hey, I don't want you to be ignorant about what's taking place. In other words, this is not the end for us, amen? And it says here in verse 14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, there we go with the gospel again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. So what happens, 2 Corinthians chapter five, verses one to 10, I encourage you to read it on your own. It says, absent from the body, present with the Lord, when someone passes away, the moment they pass away, if they're saved, they go right in to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. and they're with Him, okay? It says here, and then when He comes in the rapture, God will bring those saints with Him. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord. Jesus Christ said this. We also know that the Word of God teaches this, amen, the Word of the Lord. We don't have the words of man. that changes sometimes from day to day, from century to century. We have the Word of the Lord, it says, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. We can't keep those who are dead already from coming with the Lord Jesus Christ. He says here in verse 16, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. What I like about this, and when I usually use this passage of scripture at the graveside service, as we're committing the body to the ground, and I like using this passage of scripture. If you study the Bible, many times when God would wanna send a message to his people, he would send an angel. And they'd say, fear not, I've got a message from God, and he'd give the message. You go to Matthew chapter one, Luke chapter two, and you find that when the angel came that spoke to Joseph, and then Luke chapter two talked to Mary, and Zacharias, and Elizabeth, it was an angel that said, hey, don't fear, here's what's gonna happen, I've got a message from God for you, and so on. But here, at this particular time of the rapture, it says the Lord himself. He's not sending an angel. He's not gonna send Michael. He's gonna come himself. He says, 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. They're gonna beat us. Their bodies will. Then we which are alive and remain, so if he came today, if he comes today, even before this service time is over, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up Oh, we just read about that, didn't we? Revelation chapter four, verse one, come up hither, the rapture, okay? He says, caught up together with them in the clouds. So that's not the second coming, because the second coming is when Jesus sets his feet on the Mount of Olives, amen? He says, to meet the Lord in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. So we can get comfort from these words, amen? So it's so important for us to see this. We see Paul addressed the rapture in more detail in the book of 1 Thessalonians. Let me encourage you, take these five chapters, read through them on a regular basis, and it will keep you in tune, amen. Number seven, the theme of the coming of Jesus is imminent. When we talk about the imminent return of Jesus Christ, that means he could come at any time. In other words, we don't need signs and wonders. Let's go here to Acts chapter one, and I'm gonna have to draw things to a close. I trust you're still with me and still engaged in thinking with me. And here I want you to see, let's begin reading here in verse four, verse four. The Bible says these words, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, Will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Hey, the apostles, the disciples are saying, hey, aren't you going to right now? See, he was born, he lived, he taught them for three and a half years, he just was crucified, he's now getting ready to ascend up into heaven, but they're saying, hey, you're supposed to be setting up your earthly kingdom. Will you establish, restore again the kingdom to Israel? Verse seven, Acts one, and he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times. or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power, in His own authority. It's not for us to know the times or the seasons. You will not be able to pinpoint the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought very seriously about taking some books out of my library, which probably some people would thrill if I would do that, but actually just, stack them up of all the books that have to do with prophecy. And I've got books that said, He's gonna come in the year 2000. Remember Y2K? Oh, everybody was, and then you remember these guys that were setting dates? And I've got books from the 70s that talk about Jesus is coming in the 70s because of this, this, this, this, this. And you know what? He didn't come. Now that doesn't mean he's not going to come. It just means he hasn't come yet, but he's coming and it's up to him when he comes. And that's what the Bible's saying. So all these people that are running around saying, hey, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this. Oh man, I've heard the stories where the locusts that come out of the ground in the book of Revelation, that those are actually attack helicopters. And they had it all, they showed these attack helicopters and how they had tails that could shoot and send bombs and things of that nature. I mean, they had it all worked out. I can remember even hearing a prophecy preacher that we had here at our church years ago where he had through the Psalms, he showed us from Psalm, I think it was 96 and 97 and 98 and 99. And so then he left us hanging for the Psalm 100 that Jesus is coming. Folks, this is 2020, 20 years ago. Jesus didn't come. And so you see, he says, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power. See, that's why in Hebrews it says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He says, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. So how did he go up? He went up in a cloud. Keep reading. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. In other words, clouds. Then returned they into Jerusalem from the mound called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. So when's the next thing gonna happen prophecy-wise? The rapture, he's coming in the clouds. We're gonna be meeting him in the clouds, amen? Praise the Lord, that's what the Bible says. That's rightly dividing it, amen? And so let me just say this in closing. The rapture is important for two reasons. Number one, salvation. That's why God says today is the day of salvation. Because you and I are not promised tomorrow. We are only promised the breath that we're taking right now. That's all we have. We could drop dead right now. We need to make sure that we're ready. How do we get ready? We believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And see, he died on the cross to save us from our sins, because the wages of sin is death. Two deaths mentioned in the Bible. There's the physical death, and then there is the spiritual death. And so that's why Jesus came to Nicodemus in John chapter three and says, Nicodemus, ye must be born again. And he thought, how in the world can that take place? Here I am, a grown man, how can I be born again? Can I enter the second time into my mother's womb and be born? He was just really befuddled by what Jesus had just told him because he was thinking physically. And what Jesus was essentially saying is, your physical birth is not enough. You need a spiritual birth. Because Ephesians chapter 2 says, you're dead in your trespasses and sins. You need to be born again. And folks, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you need to recognize the fact that you're a sinner in need of a Savior. That if you got what you deserve, you deserve to die and go to hell. And I know that's not a pretty picture because it's not. But at the same time, God says, I don't want mankind to go to hell. I sent Jesus Christ to pay that sin debt. He's the perfect sacrifice. And if mankind will simply put their faith and trust in what Jesus Christ has done for them on the cross, they can go to heaven. I want them in heaven. See, Jesus Christ, God never sends anybody to hell. people decide to go to hell because they refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. If there's a man dying in the water, and I have myself a life preserver, and I throw him that life preserver, but he refuses to grab hold of it, it's not my fault. And God has thrown mankind a life preserver, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And so if people die in their sins, It's not Jesus' fault. It's not God's fault. It's that individual's fault because they refuse to accept the life preserver. And people die and go to hell because they refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. So if you're listening today without Jesus as Savior, let me encourage you. to just bow your head and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin and come into your heart and save you. And the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not might be, not hope to be, shall be saved. So why talk about the rapture? Why talk about end times? Because today is the day of salvation. If you're not saved, get saved today. The second reason for teaching like this is what we would call sanctification. And that's just a nice fancy word that means live right. That means to become holy. That means that we ought to live right. And so it behooves us as believers, those that name the name of Christ, let's start living for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's live life like Jesus Christ would live his life. That's why we study the life of Christ. We see how Jesus lived and we ought to live the same way. And so you and I ought to be holy as he is holy. And so it's a matter as God matures us and teaches us, we ought to be more and more like Jesus Christ. And so that's why we look at the rapture because one day Jesus, he could come today for us. And if He comes today, we can't say, well, I better get my life in order, or this besetting sin I better take care of, or hey, I better start doing this. You know, I've been under conviction about this. I'm not doing right in this area. I'll get right next week. No, the Lord says today. Today, He could come back today before you have a chance to do something next week. You better be ready and right with Him right now so that you don't need to be ashamed when He comes. If Jesus Christ were to come right now and you were to stand before Him, would you be ashamed? He says, I don't want you to be ashamed. I want you to look forward to my coming. why it says, draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. He wants us to be right, we can be right. Amen. The next event that takes place on God's prophetic calendar is the Rapture. Are you ready? Are you ready for the Rapture? It's imminent. It's Anytime, let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you, thank you, thank you for the Word of God, the Bible that gives us hope, gives us direction, and Lord, helps us every step of the way. Be with those that are listening today. If they're not saved, I pray that today, as your Word says, today would be the day of their salvation. Lord, for those of us who are saved, Lord, I pray we'd live like it, expecting your soon return. Even today, you may come for us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.