Let's start with a word of prayer, okay? Father, we just want to study your word in a right way, and not misuse it in any way, and have a good understanding of it. So I just would pray for clarity of thought tonight, for all of us, and for me, just for putting out what I see from scripture here, that we'd have just a better understanding. And if I'm wrong in what I'm presenting, Lord, you'd make that clearer. And maybe we could sort through those things. But we do want to do justice to your word. It's precious to us. And we don't want to in any way speak anything that's wrong. So just if it isn't right, Lord, that be known. And with that in mind, Lord, just guide us this evening as we go through this now. In Jesus name. Amen. So, what I'm teaching is this is my understanding, okay? And honestly, I can't find anyone anywhere teaching this. I've looked over sermon audio, I've listened to lots and lots of sermons on the internet, Google, I've Googled a dozen different ways, and I cannot find anyone teaching this. So I could be wrong. And that's a scary thing to think about. But I've been working on this for as close to two years, I think, because of a message I was listening to of a guy out of California. He just kind of piqued my interest on this last verse that we're gonna look at. And we'll read through the text here. And we talked about this some a while back when Quentin asked a question about that verse, we'll get to it, about the eagles and the body and what's that mean and whatnot. So the view that I hold, and I'll just tell you this. Let me say this. If you're going to have a title, it's The Revealing of the Son of Man. And I heard this old adage years ago. It said something. I don't know where I heard this. It said, tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them, and tell them what you told them. OK? And so that's what I want to do. But I want to start with a question. And that is, I want to see just a show of hands. How many have been taught that the rapture happens in the twinkling of an eye? Most of us, probably. And this one's just for me. How many have been taught that the rapture is silent? Anyone ever heard that? The rapture is silent? You have? So, what I'm proposing is that the rapture does not take place in the twink of an eye. That it's a period of time. I don't know how long. I just don't think scripture reveals that. Or if it is, I haven't found it yet. And I've looked. but that there is, the rapture takes some amount of time, and I don't know how much. I don't know if it's minutes, hours, days. I tend to think more along the line of an hour, half hour, I don't know, but that's just a guess on my part. But that's what I'm, I think I can demonstrate through quite a bit of scripture, and I think I make a really good, solid argument for it. I think it solves some things, as Linton said, solves some verses that you look at, you go, how does that work? And so that's that's where we're going. OK, so the text is Luke 17. If you want to go there, we'll read the text first and starting verse 20. Luke 17, 20. And to the end of the chapter. And I use the ESV. I like the ESV. Verse 20 of chapter 17, being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, look, here it is, or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And he said to the disciples, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the son of man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, look there, or look here. Do not go out or follow them. For as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the son of man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the son of man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, on that night, there will be two in one bed, one will be taken, and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken, and the other left. And they said to him, where, Lord? And he said to them, where the body is, my translation has this wrong, I believe, and we'll get into that. I'm just gonna tell you what it should be, in my mind. Where the body is, there the eagles will gather. Okay? So, Luke is the only Gentile writer of the Gospels. Okay? The other gospel writers are all Jews. Luke writes some interesting things, some things that are different, and I think that specifically, I think he's writing in some ways more to us Gentiles. I mean, he explains things that the other writers don't explain because he understands that He feels he needs to explain it because he's a Gentile and these are Jewish traditions, Jewish things. So I think the Lord's given this to Luke specifically. This isn't anywhere else. This isn't the Olivet Discourse. And if you look at a lot of Bible commentaries, John MacArthur, if you go to Luke 17 and study this, he'll say, see my commentary on the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24. Okay. Well, Luke has all that discourse as well in chapter 21, but we're not there yet. We're a couple of weeks ahead of that. We're down somewhere before Jericho. We're on the way to Jerusalem. We're probably a couple of weeks from the crucifixion. Okay. But this is a different message here. It's not the Olivet discourse. It's different. And There's things said in here that are not said in the other three accounts of the Olivet Discourse, Mark 13, Matthew 24, Luke 21, okay? Some very similar sounding things, but some distinctly different things, okay? And this is why I think that everyone just kind of tags it into, you know, the Olivet Discourse. It's different, okay? And we'll see those as we go along. Okay, I believe this passage is about the rapture of the church. There's many people who teach it that way, and there's many who teach it as about the second coming, okay? Well, I hold it's the rapture, and it, just, you know, back up just a little bit and say, you know, the rapture, in our view as dispensationalists, you know, we say we're pre-trib, the rapture's the next event on the timeline as far as things to happen in eschatology, okay? I believe that the rapture inaugurates the day of the Lord, Okay, we see the day of the Lord a lot. Let me just read this verse to you, 1 Thessalonians 5, two, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. I don't see how the second coming can be like a thief in the night. I don't see any possible way. I think we almost know to the day when the second coming is. Okay, the Lord tells us, that there's a seven-year tribulation. He tells us that at the midpoint, there's gonna be abomination of desolation in the temple, okay? He talks about it in terms of three and a half years. He talks about it in terms of three and a half years and three and a half years at midpoint, okay? He talks about it in terms of 42 months. He talks about it in terms of 1,260 days divided by 360, which is a lunar calendar that the Jews use, comes out to three and a half years to the day, okay? We see this as the tribulation period, as Daniel 70 this week, that starts as shown in Daniel 9, 24, I think it is, okay? It's the time of Jacob's trouble, that was what I was after, okay? Where the Lord is gonna deal with Israel for seven year period, that 70th week of Daniel, the 69 weeks have already taken place, and we saw Jesus coming into Jerusalem, and he said, if you had known on this day and if we take Sir Robert Anderson's book, The Coming Messiah, I think it is he works out to the day from the time when whatever king it was said, go build the walls of the temple. OK, right down to the day. OK, that was to the day. Why wouldn't the seven years be to the day? And so I think we know when the second coming is to the day. But it gets measured from that decree of Daniel 9, I think it's 24, you know, when the Antichrist makes a deal with Israel and then breaks it three and a half years later. So from the three and a half year point, you got a real, you know, he does this desecration of the temple. So When the Lord talks about come like a thief in the night, that's gotta be talking about the rapture in my mind. I just can't see that any other way. And I tend to look at things logistically, so maybe that's where I'm at, I'm not sure. Okay, so to our text, we'll get going here, Luke 17, 20. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. Nor will they say, look, here it is, or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. So in the midst of you. Christ, their Messiah, was standing right there in the midst of them. Right behind them was the disciples, okay, future apostles. And more than that, they were followers of Christ. They're in the midst of them right then when he was speaking. But then this church thing happens, okay, and this church grows for the next 2,000 years, right? And Jews, they reject their Messiah, and we're in what's called the times of the Gentiles, and it's this this thing that attaches itself to Judaism. They've got their Old Testament, and we come along with our New Testament, and we tag it onto their Old Testament, and even have a Bible that's got them both in it, you know? And they look at that like, what are you doing, you know? And that wasn't our Messiah, this Christ guy. You got it all wrong, okay? But, During the entire times of the Gentiles, which continue to this day, Christians have been in the midst of the Jews, okay? Let me read Luke 21 to you. This is the Olivet Discourse. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And that's what's going on now. It's continuing on, okay? After the Jews became a nation in 48, these Christians, followers of Christ, spend millions of dollars in tourist money to tromp all over Israel. And we're in the midst of them, you know, there they are. And I have this distinct, vision of this woman when we were down by the Dead Sea or staying in this resort. And in these resorts, they have a big buffet they put out every night, at least for us types that were on the tour. And they had us all in this one room. And then you'd go from the room, go out to the buffet tables. They got all these islands of different kinds of food bars. And I distinctly remember passing this woman. She was sitting at a table. And I assume she was Jewish. I'm reading a lot into her thoughts. I just remember her face distinctly. Every time I came out, she would up and down me with her eyes, you know, like you goyim, which is what they call us, and it's not particularly nice. And they like our tourist dollars, but we are a flea on their back in many ways, because the way we tromp all around in the midst of them, okay? I was listening to a guy here the other day, a Jewish guy, he was saying, you guys need to make us jealous, that's your job, and we'll look at that a little bit later. You know, she wasn't jealous, but she needs to be jealous, and I think if what I'm teaching here is correct, that we'll be very jealous, okay? Either way, they're going to be jealous. Okay. All right, let's move on. Okay. In the midst of you, we're done with that. Verse 22 now. And he said to his disciples, the days are coming when you'll desire to see one of the days of the son of man, and you will not see it. I think this is looking ahead. Is it looking for the Lord to come back and you're looking for that and you're not going to see it. Okay. Not when you want to see it. Okay. Verse 23, and they will say to you, look there or look here, do not go out and follow them. And the Lord's saying, don't go chase off after everyone who says, here's the Messiah here, or there's a Messiah over there. That's not how he's gonna show up, okay? And we see that when we get to 24, okay? For as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the son of man be in his day. you're gonna know it when I show up, because I'm gonna light up the whole sky, okay? Now this, we're gonna get to a difficult part here, because we've got to jump around some, so you need to keep your finger here in Luke, and then we're gonna go over to Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse, so you get headed that direction. What I'm saying here is I think that the sign that is in verse 24, Matthew 24, 30, go take a look at that. I'll let you get there, we'll start in 29 actually. So this is the Olivet Discourse. Matthew 24, 29, we'll start there. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. None of that's happened yet, right? Big deal. So the tribulation is over here at the end of verse 29. And what happens next, I think is reminiscent of what took place seven years earlier at the rapture. Okay, are you with me? We're at the end of the tribulation here in this verse, okay, at the end of 29. And what happened seven years earlier is now the sign of the Son of Man, verse 30, okay, look at 30. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect, and I'm calling these tribulation saints, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. So what I'm saying is the rapture does not happen in a flash. It happens over a period of time. Let's just for talk, say an hour, okay? I don't know what goes on in the sky, but a bunch goes on in the sky, okay? And everyone sees this, and this is gonna be rate, I mean, this is, as he just said, when we were looking back in our previous verse in 17, don't go looking there, don't go looking there, the lightning's gonna come clear across the sky, you're gonna know when I show up, okay? That doesn't fit with a gone in, a twinkling of an eye. Matthew 24 talks about a sign, and there's a number of commentators that say, we don't know what that sign's going to be. Some people say the Shekinah Glory, this, that, and the other thing. I think it's what happened seven years earlier, and they recognize it. They say, oh, seven years ago at the rapture when the church all left us, there was a sign in the sky And then the dead in Christ raised first, we'll get to these verses later, okay? And then we who are left go up and our bodies are changed in the twinkling of an eye, I'm jumping ahead of myself, but that's what happens in a twinkling of an eye. And we go to heaven, we actually go to the clouds and meet the Lord in the air. and then on probably to the marriage of the Lamb during the seven year tribulation. Seven years later, there is a sign in the sky. They know to the day when this is coming, I believe, because they've had this timeline, they've had opportunity to read it. Matter of fact, if you look, I didn't have this written in here, but if you look at Matthew and I think it's... Mark's account. It says, let the reader understand. Who's that talking to? It's talking to someone in the future. It isn't talking to the guys right then. They don't have anything to read. It hasn't been written yet. They write it. But anyway, it's a future thing. OK, so. still Matthew 2430, then will appear the sign of the Son of Man, and I'm saying that's what happened seven years earlier, then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, they'll see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He will send out His angels, okay? I don't believe angels are involved in the rapture. other than an archangel making some sort of noise, the voice of an archangel, okay? Angels aren't involved in the rapture. I'm quite convinced of that. And that solves some problems for the wheat and the tares and something else. Well, let's look at it this way. The Lord is coming back for his church. He ain't gonna send, he's the groom. He's not gonna send angels to get his church. Remember the, and I think, what, it's Matthew 25, the 10 virgins? Why are we talking about 10 virgins? When you go to a wedding, the only one we're concerned about who's a virgin is the bride. But here we've got 10 virgins. It's gotta be a picture of the church. And I'm jumping ahead of myself, but the church, Paul calls us the bride of Christ, okay? And we're to be made ready as virgins for the Lord, okay? He's coming to get us, he's not sending angels to get us. The Galilean wedding, if you look at any stuff on that, is very much, you know, the proposals made, so to speak, the groom goes to the father's house, prepares a place, and this is John 14, prepares a place, and when dad says it's time to go, remember, only the father knows the day, when dad says it's time to go get the bride, who's supposed to always be ready, all 2,000 years, okay, he goes to get the bride, he doesn't send angels. Would you send someone to go get your bride? No, you'd go get her yourself, okay? And so, anyway, beat dad to death. All right, so this is the cunning of the son of man. Here in 2430, this is him coming to the Mount of Olives. He sends out his angels first, and then you get the wheat and the tares parable there, where they're separated at the end of the age. And again, that mentions angels as well, that parable. So this second coming man, I believe that at the rapture, that whatever happens in the sky is similar to maybe, I mean, just the ascension of Jesus, Acts 1, verse 9. He goes up in the clouds, the guys are all standing there looking up, and then the angel shows up and said, what are you looking at? He's coming back the same way. He didn't just disappear like that. He's coming back the same way. If he had disappeared like that, and it doesn't say he did, they wouldn't be looking up. When you lose your child at the store, do you look up? No. We have no predators that come from up above. We don't look up. They're looking up. He's going to come back the same way, and we're going to go up the same way. Luke two, we read this angels before the shepherds in Bethlehem. You don't have to turn there, but just that there's something in the sky and the shepherds are out there and they see this appearance in the sky and these angels are talking to them. I don't know what that was like. Maybe the rapture is something similar to that. Whatever's in the sky. I don't know. It's the Lord. He makes this flash. probably numerous flashes with thunder and lightning. 2 Kings 6, we've got Elisha and his servant, and Elisha prays and the Lord opens the servant's eyes and the chariots of fire all around, circled all around the city, you know. He's done things like this before, okay? I'm not saying it's any one of those things, but it may be similar to those types of things. So, I'll just say this, I don't think there will be a fume and we are raptured in the twinkling of an eye. Foom is just my word for. This has been taught for a long time and my dad taught it, I've taught it. But let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. This is where it is, okay. 1 Corinthians 15, 51. First Corinthians 1551, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trump will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." Okay. It says our bodies are changed in an instant. That's what it's saying there, in the Twinkum and I. But the rapture doesn't happen until the last trump, which implies there's a first trump. And I think the first trump is when the Lord sets off that lightning strike across the sky, and there's a trump of God, and the voice of the archangel, Okay, I think that's the first trumpet. I don't see these trumpets in any way related to anything in Revelation, okay? Don't see that. And then it says, and the dead will be raised imperishable. Why would he tell us that? If it happens in the twinkling of an eye, why bother to tell us that? logistically speaking, if we're all just gone, why tell us that the dead are raised first? And we've got some other verses that talk about that when we get to Thessalonians, okay? You're saying because everything would happen in a flash. If it happens in a flash, how are you going to know the dead went first? Why even tell us that? And Linton always teaches, you know, Linton gets to the end of the book of Romans or whatever, and it says, say hey to Joe. And Linton says, that's there for a reason. We've got to teach on it. Okay, well this is here for a reason and if we're just gone in a flash Why is it it doesn't really make sense that would be there other than I think we're gonna see the dead go up first You know when Jesus died There's a bunch of bodies that came out of the tombs and went into Jerusalem. I mean, that's a different timing it's not at his resurrection, but It's happened before. And we know it's going to happen. I think we're going to see it. I mean, it says we will. And it doesn't say that we go in a flash. It says our bodies are changed in a flash. And that makes sense. I mean, it'd be kind of weird to slowly change and morph over. It's just, boom, he takes care of it. It just doesn't teach that we go in a flash. All right, our bodies are changed in an instant, the twink of an eye, but the rapture doesn't happen until the last trump sounds. This implies there's a first trump. I think the first trump is at the beginning of the revealing of the Son of Man. Go back to Luke 17 now. And we read this when we were there, but verse 30 just speaks about, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. We're gonna get to that when we get down there, but that verbiage is not found in any of the Olivet Discourse about the Son of Man being revealed. It's just not there. Okay. We need to go now to 1 Thessalonians 4.13. 1 Thessalonians 4.13. So we're gonna get a little bit more about what takes place here when the Lord comes for us at the rapture. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, okay, who've already died ahead of us, okay, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep, We'll just use my dad as an example, mom and dad. When the rapture's taking place, he brings mom and dad spiritually with him in the clouds, and then their bodies come up out of the ground and meet in the air. They get new bodies, and then we're right behind them, apparently, and we get our bodies switched, if we're still alive, right? and then go to be with the Lord, okay? So that's what he's saying here. God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by the word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, okay? Some people are gonna be here for the rapture, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command and the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trump of God No angels, other than this cry of an archangel, okay. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Is that making sense? The point is, I see a period of time between the first announcement in verse 16, where he says, the cry and command, the voice of the archangel, the sound of the drum. Okay, I see a period of time between the first announcement, verse 16, and the physical rapture of the body of Christ. How long? I don't know. Minutes, hours, days, I don't know. I tend to think more like hours or less, but I don't know. Woke up in the middle of the night one time, and I thought, there's that 30 minutes of silence in heaven. What's that about? So I committed to remember that in the morning, because I didn't want to... Anyway, it has nothing to do with this. I don't want to shoehorn any scripture in. You know what I mean? I want it to fit comfortable, you know? And I've looked around for things. I have found it. Maybe you can find it. I don't know. Maybe it never says. I don't know how long it is. I wish I knew, but I don't know. But this one, the Son of Man is revealed, okay? From the first lightning strike and thunderclap until the last person rises and a cloud took them out of their sight. Just like I'm quoting Acts 9, 1-9, okay? All right. This also gives time for the man on the roof. And remember back in Luke 17, we read about this and we'll get to it again. The man on the rooftop or the man in the field to consider whether to go back to the house to get his precious things or for the true believer to realize that this is the blessed hope he has been waiting for. And that's something we gotta ask ourselves. Am I looking for the blessed hope? Or am I gonna go, ooh, I gotta run back to the house and get my diamonds, or I don't know what you're gonna go get, but you know, you're gonna go get something. And this verbiage is real similar, because the same thing happens at the second coming. The same verbiage is used, very similar, and there's opportunity then to run back to the house, okay? And that's why this gets tied in with all the discourse often, but it's different, okay? I think it's a really big deal that the whole world sees this. It's going to be a big deal either way. If I'm wrong on this and we're just gone, it's going to be a big deal. If just for working numbers, if 10% of the world, and I think that's probably high, but if 10% of the world is raptured, that's the United, the entire population of the United States twice and a couple of small European nations. That's a lot of people gone, okay? If it's 5%, that's all the United States and maybe one small European nation, okay? That's a lot of people gone too, that's 5%. And maybe it's less than that, I hope not. Hopefully it's more, you know, but that's just to give you an idea to just think about it, that it's gonna be a huge disruption when the rapture happens, okay? And we're talking about, the day of the Lord, which is when the Lord interrupts essentially in the affairs of man. He comes in and makes himself known in a big way. And that's what I see the rapture will do. It'll be big whether it happens in a flash or whether it takes 20 minutes to happen. It's going to be a huge worldwide event. It's going to have huge ramifications. And I think this is what's going to really push in the One World Order and a whole consolidation. I mean, they're already pushing that direction as it is. If you read about this stuff going on with the European One World Order thing, what do they call that? The Great Reset. If you're reading any of that stuff, they're just looking for a disaster, you know, let no disaster go, take advantage of every disaster. And they do, just like the COVID. Gained a lot of ground for a One World Order, you know, to push that agenda. And we know that's coming, because the Lord says it's coming. Okay, so that's where we're headed. All right. When the rapture happens, This is going to provoke Israel to jealousy. I mean, think about it. They've been waiting for their Messiah a long time. And now all those Christians are gone. And we see something in the sky, which I believe is going to happen. I think they're going to know it's the Lord. And I think they're going to go, oh. And shortly after this, the Lord gets up 144,000 really good witnesses, Jewish, all Jews. So regarding this jealousy thing, I think we'll just look at that just a little bit. Romans 10, 17, let's head over there. Romans 10, 17. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have you not heard? Indeed, they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. But I ask, did Israel not understand? So now we know who we're talking to here, we're talking about Israel. Okay, they've heard, and they've rejected the Christ. Did they not understand? Okay, verse 19, for Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. He's talking about the church, the nation, their church, okay? With a foolish nation, I'll make you angry. Then Isaiah was so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me, that's us. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me, that's us. But of Israel, he says, all day long, I've held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. I'll jump over to chapter 11, verse 11. So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means, rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. And are they gonna be jealous when the rapture happens and the church goes? Now if their trespass means riches for the world and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now I'm speaking to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. I think I said this earlier, but I was listening to a Jewish guy and he was just saying, you know, your job, he's preaching to Gentiles, your job is to make us Jews jealous. Interesting thing to think about. I was like, hmm, that fits with scripture, okay. Let me give you my timeline, and I've just kind of cut scripture and pasted it together, so to speak, okay? For the Lord himself will descend from heaven. Lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other. I think this would take some time to get everyone's attention. But you know, if right now a big thunder boom went off, Or actually, we'd see the lightning flash first, and that would be so out of character for the day. It's like, ooh, what was that? And maybe it would just keep going. And I don't know, I lived in Kansas, and that lightning sometimes would go all the way across the sky. I mean, you know, 180 degrees sometimes, you'd see that streak lighting. Just fascinating to stand out there in the fields and see that stuff. But I think it's going to be out of character, and it's going to be probably a continuous thing. I don't know that for a fact, but he's going to get our attention. Let's just put it that way. With a cry of command, so the lightning, a cry of command, the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trump of God, first trumpet, the dead in Christ rise first. The world will physically see this happen. Then we who are alive, who are left, are left at the last trumpet, okay, that's the second trumpet, we go up, we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. We'll be caught up together with them, the dead that went first, in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air so we'll always be with the Lord, okay? Does that make sense? Let's go back to Luke 17 in verse 25. Okay, Luke 17, 25. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Okay, so this is Jesus going on, talking to the Pharisees. Okay, I think he's talking to the disciples at this point. So this happens just days later, right? Or just a week or two before the crucifixion. So he's betrayed the illegal court before Pilate, rejection by the Jews, crucifixion, resurrection. So he suffered many things and rejected by this generation, that happened. Verse 26, just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the son of man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. Okay. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. Okay, so we know about that destruction that took place with both Noah and Lot, but what Jesus is specifically bringing up here is eating and drinking, marrying, and being given marriage. Does that sound like the tribulation period? If you know anything about the tribulation where you got the, You know, the seals and the trumpets and the bowls. Okay. I mean, there's a lot of people who are dead. It's a devastating time. It's really devastating time. Are they going to be worrying about getting people married off? You're going to be just trying to survive. Okay. You get to this one in lot. It doesn't mention marrying in lot state. That's kind of interesting. I don't say that, but they're eating and drinking, they're buying and selling, planting and building. Now you're planning for the future here, but I don't see anyone planning for the future in the tribulation. It's just too rough. Okay, here's what I wrote. We all know that destruction took place in the days of Noah and Lot, but Jesus was specifically talking about the conditions immediately before God's wrath was poured out. Life is good, everything is going about normally. One could even say there was peace and people were planning for a good future. They're marrying and planning weddings, building and planning fields. Does this sound like they're going through the Great Tribulation? Supply chains are interrupted. You know, you're not gonna, if there's a woman alive and she sees a man, she'll just grab onto him. We're not getting married, you just grab onto him and she thinks he'll protect her. It's a survival time is what it is. At the end of it, they're calling on the rocks to fall on them. There'll be lots of empty houses. You won't need to build a house because maybe a third of the earth is dead, probably more than that at that point by the end of it. It's just a lot. There's a lot of death. You don't build houses, you just move into one. If you can get to one. It's gonna be bad. It's gonna be really bad. So it cannot be talking about the second coming. I just can't see how that can be talking about the second coming. And he specifically brings up that this is what it's like. Okay, so I just can't see this as a second coming chapter. It has got to be a rapture chapter. Okay, so then he says, verse 30, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Okay, people are gonna be going around just doing their everyday thing. He comes like a thief in the night. That's what it says, the day of the Lord begins like a thief in the night. Total surprise, we already went over the fact that we know to the day, I think, when the second coming happens, people are just going about their everyday thing, okay? That word reveal that's to take the cover off or to disclose, reveal, okay? The phrase the day of the Son of Man is revealed is not mentioned in the accounts of the Olivet Discourse. It's not there, okay? Only here. Again, I think Luke was chosen to reveal that to the Gentiles. Alive in the tribulation and it's a picture of the rapture. If I'm right about the rapture taking some unknown amount of time, it's of little value to us as believers. It doesn't do a lot for us here right now, okay? But it will be another proof for those living in the tribulation. they'll be able to read that and go, wow, that's what just happened. This Bible's got it right. This is another proof, okay? And so, if I'm right, hindsight's 20-20. All right, I've got a lot of passages that I think back this up, but I've got three that I wanna go through right now that back this up. So let's go to 1 Corinthians 1-4. And what I'm saying is, You know, somehow you gotta justify these verses in light of what I'm saying, okay, that the rapture takes a period of time. So 1 Corinthians 1.4. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus, so in every way you are enriched in him in all speech and knowledge. Verse six, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He only has to sustain us to the rapture, okay? And if it's a second, if we're talking about the second coming here, when he's revealed, that's what it says, wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are guiltless at the second coming. We're on white horses with white robes, okay? So how can he be talking about the second coming here? Okay? He's going to sustain us to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the day he's being revealed. Okay? So I'm saying that the Lord is revealed here at the rapture. We're not just gone, he's revealed. And then I'm saying also that, you know, at the second coming, that's the sign that he's back. So the Christian is waiting for one thing, the rapture, the revelation of Jesus Christ. See, did I guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ? Certainly we are guiltless when we return with him at the second coming. We must be talking about his revealing at the rapture of the church, which I believe the entire world will witness, okay. The day of the Lord begins with the rapture. After 2,000 years, Jesus is revealed and the day of the Lord begins, all right. Second verse to look at. First Peter 1.3, let's go there. 1 Peter 1, 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope. And that's how we're to live with this hope, okay? And we're looking forward to his return, not looking forward to going into wrath, right? through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed, okay, in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's how we want to be found, again, like that bride, ready to go. Therefore, prepare your minds for action, being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So the Christian is waiting with hope, but for one thing, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the rapture, there's no need to hope after we are present with the Lord. That doesn't make any sense. Romans 8, 24. In this hope, we are saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? Okay, we're hoping for the rapture. We're not hoping for the second coming. Okay, and there's no point in needing hope once we're with him. We're with him. And this happens at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Okay, here's my third one. 1 John 2, 28. 1 John 2, 28. And I've got a bunch of others, I've got a whole couple pages of them, but, and some are weaker and, you know, but I like this one here. 1 John 2, 28, and now little children abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. How are we gonna shrink back if we're gone in an instant? And I cannot be talking about the second coming because we'll be with him on white horses and there's nothing to be ashamed about. Okay, it's gotta be a rapture passage that he's talking about here. And so, if we're to shrink back, there's a time element there. Okay, so back to Luke 17. Luke 17, 31, on that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. Flat rows, go downstairs, get your stuff. Likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. It seems to me that the only people who will think to go and get something out of their houses are those who profess Christ, but have no relationship with him, okay? They profess Christ, but they don't really have a relationship with him. They see the revelation of our Lord and Savior, yet they cling to the world just like, what's the next verse say? Remember Lot's wife. That's what she did. She looked back. That's what she mourned for was her life there. You know, she did not have a relationship with the Lord. And she looked back. This too is not found in the Olivet Discourse. Remember Lot's wife. It's a very big warning. Don't be like that. Don't go after your stuff. If you're going after your stuff, you're a professor. You're professing Christ, but you don't know Christ. We have a hope. That's what we're waiting for. We see it like, wow, this is it. And we're just like, let's go. Let's see those dead people go up. That's in my mind. That's how I see it today. Okay. The warning is remember Lot's wife, not found in the Olivet Discourse. Okay. She wasn't ready to go. Christians that are alive at the end of the tribulation, I believe there's Christians that get saved, people that get saved during the tribulation, okay? They won't be what I call Sinos, Christian in name only, okay? Those are gonna be rock solid Christians at the end of the tribulation in my mind, okay? And so they wouldn't be doing that either. I don't see this as a second coming, you know, this is a rapture. Okay, continues with a thought in 1733, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. Okay, we're to be pouring ourselves out, not seeking to preserve our lives. Okay, Paul poured himself out like a drink offering, Philippians 2. Okay, the next two verses show that the entire world witnesses the revealing of Jesus in the clouds at the same time. Okay, verse 34, I tell you, in the night, there will be two in one bed, one will be taken and the other left. And 35, two women grinding, they're up and working, must be the day. One will be taken, the other left. The words taken in these two verses, It's, in the Greek, it means, get this, to receive near, that is associate with oneself in a familial or intimate act or relation. There's a bunch of other words that could have used for taken, but this is like to bring in close to you, to have a relationship with. It's not like I'm jerking you out and hauling you to the lake of fire. This is the same word that's used in John 14 three. I'll read it to you, but if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you, same Greek word, to myself that where I am you may be also. So this verse is often said to be the only reference to the rapture found in the Gospels. But it's not taken in judgment. It's being taken to the Father's house. It's a very close, close thing, that word. All right, verse 37. And they said to him, where, Lord? And he said to them, and this is my translation, where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. But I think the King James actually has it best, and I'll explain why. Wherever the body is, the eagles will be gathered together. Okay. And what I think is going on is they try and marry it up with this verse. There's only one other verse like it, and it's the one in Matthew 24, verse 28. OK, but there's three distinct differences in those verses. So translators try. I think the translators. Yeah, I think they try and make a match and bias to what is Matthew 24. That's all the discourse. We'll get there. That's the plan. Yeah. Because it's a lot of stuff. And it's some good stuff to chew on. Yeah. And I chew it up and spit it out. I mean, really, if there's something wrong, I want to know it because I don't it's really scary to not find anyone else teaching us this way. But I haven't found a problem with it. And I keep finding verses that go, well, that works with that. And that works with that. And yet, like Linton said, it doesn't really change much for us. Other than I'll admit, when I look out the window, Sometimes I think, maybe I'll see this today. I'm not just going to go. I'll actually see this. It's exciting that way, in my mind. It doesn't seem like you're teaching any brand new theology. No, it doesn't change anything in what we believe.