Episode 11, The Raptured Timeline. I love timelines. I have two timelines in my office, showing timelines of the Bible and of secular history. I like them because I'm a visual thinker, and it translates into me mapping the future events of the Bible, like what the Bible says ahead for the earth and mankind. God is the God of order, and his prophecies, waiting to be filled, should follow his consistent pattern. God has presented to us his order. Let's look at a basic timeline at the beginning of the world to see this order. There is creation, there's fall, and then there's the flood. I'm impatient, so let's zip to the end of the Bible and see its timeline there. Earth is destroyed by fire, and a new heaven and a new earth are created, and we live happily ever after with him. So as we look at the Bible's message overall, there is a beginning that goes wrong, but God resets in the end, and we start over to do as God had originally intended. That's the overall end-to-end view. Let's zoom in on this timeline a bit and see some details between these two events, because that's where we live. If we do a quick skim, we see these events, creation, flood, Tower of Babel, birth of the nation Israel, Messiah's arrival, the church age, Messiah's return, the millennium, new heaven, and the new earth. Seems like a lot, but trust me, it's a light skim. Each one of these events can be studied in detail. Let's look at one to see what I mean. Let's zoom in on the Messiah's arrival. As we zoom in, we see where he is born. We celebrate this at Christmas, where he's teaching in the temple at 12 years old. We see Jesus's baptism, Jesus teaching. We see Jesus healing in his miracles, the rejection of Jesus and his crucifixion, Jesus's burial, Jesus's resurrection, and his ascension back into heaven. The Bible details each of these events as well, but I want to know where we are on this overall timeline right now. We are right here, between Messiah's arrival and Messiah's return. As you should expect by now, this too has greater detail as we zoom into it. The Church Age has a beginning and an end. We also find in Revelation chapters two and three, we have a list of seven churches. These are real literal places in Asia Minor. But from our vantage point in 2025, we can see that these also line up with the church throughout history. There's a church at Ephesus, that's the apostolic church. There's the church at Smyrna, that's the persecuted church. There's a church at Pergamum, the married to the world church. There's a church at Thyatira, it's the medieval church. There's a church at Sardis, it's the denominational or the reformed church. There's a church of Philadelphia, it's the missionary-minded church. And there's a church of Laodicea, the apostate church. This can be dove into deeper as well, and it's a very rewarding study, but we're here to see where we are in this timeline. We are right here, near the end at the Laodicean church. the lukewarm church, the church that is rich and has plenty of stuff, so much that they feel that they have need of nothing from God. They have a form of godliness, but have denied the power thereof. They are so blind that they don't know that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. We are right at the end, ready for the next transition, the Messiah's return, or what's called the second coming of Jesus Christ. What will this transition look like? Well, if it ends like it began, it will be miraculous. At the birth of the church age, a mighty rushing wind came down, and tongues of fire sat upon believers. The believers spake, and everyone heard what they said in their own native language. At the end of the church age, also known as the time of the Gentiles, instead of something coming down, believers go up. In 1 Thessalonians chapter four, the Bible tells us in detail about what will happen. As Jesus descends, there is a shout of an archangel. Then the trump of God sounds. After this, the dead in Christ, that is, those who trusted in Jesus as their Savior but died before his return, these believers, their bodies and their souls reunite. Then they and their new bodies burst forth out of the grave and join Jesus in the clouds. In the twinkling of an eye, the believers who are alive on earth are changed in a moment, and our bodies are glorified, and we are caught up in the air. That is to say, we fly up to meet Jesus and the newly raised believers in the clouds. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Jesus takes us to a place he has prepared for us. This keeps us from the time of tribulation. that comes upon the whole earth, as stated in Revelation 3.10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to them that dwell upon the earth. And Isaiah 26, he says this, Isaiah 26, 19, Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead bodies shall they arise. Awaken, seeing ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed. For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." It's Isaiah 26, 19-21. And in keeping with God's order, as he has done before with Enoch before the flood, and Lot before the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, he takes his people out before judgment comes. After the rapture comes a time called the tribulation, and also it's called the time of Jacob's trouble because it mainly concerns Israel. So when I talk about the end times or our last days, I mean the end of this age, the church age, before we transition into the tribulation, a time of God's wrath and judgment, and then into the reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years called the millennium. Are you ready for this transition? Jesus coming to get his church is imminent. meaning it can occur at any time. We are not waiting for some sign or a warning before he comes to get us. The tribulation has signs and warnings before it starts, and we are seeing those signs now, and they are happening with intensity and frequency. Jesus said you can tell by looking and watching a fig tree that summer is soon to come. And Jesus says, so likewise, you can see that when these things begin to draw closer, you know that it is almost upon us. Friends, I am here to tell you, it is later than you think.