I ask you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Titus chapter 2, the book of Titus chapter 2. As I noted earlier, the Lord has drawn me to speak this evening on the theme, the blessed hope or no hope. It's really an apologetic for a pre-tribulational rapture position, the blessed hope or no hope. This past weekend we've been able to celebrate as a family my father's 90th birthday. It was a real joy yesterday to gather together with my three sisters and their husbands and several nieces and nephews and have a big family time. My dad received cards, some from people even here, but from people around the country. He entered pastoral ministry. In the early 1950s, and so there were cards from people who were in ministries where he served in the 1950s, he received a card from Jerry Savinsky that was very meaningful. He had Jerry Savinsky come and preach when I was eight years old. And Brother Jerry Savinsky at the time was pastoring a little church down in Starr, South Carolina before he became an evangelist. Jerry Savinsky is now an 80-year-old evangelist. And Brother Savinsky commented to my dad what a blessing it was that my dad took a chance on him, kind of, or helped him get started in evangelism when he was young. And we get a kick out of such things. My father has long talked of prophetic themes. When I'm together with him, he loves to speak of prophecy, and I think I've inherited that gene. I think one reason prophecy became so important to him was God used his understanding of or hearing of prophetic themes to challenge him towards salvation. He came home one day after school and the pots and pans were on the stove and his mother wasn't there. And he'd been thinking that he needed to be saved and suddenly the thought crossed his mind, she's been raptured. And that wasn't funny to him. In fact, it was so moving to him that it began his process of seeking the Lord as Savior, and he wrote later on in life, a little poem in which he said, in seeking my soul to save, many things did the Lord employ. A look at death and eternity's shore, such things were designed to annoy. The Lord does know how to disturb our places of peace, and one of the ways our places of peace can be disturbed is eschatological thoughts or prophetic themes. For the lost and for the wayward, considerations of Christ's return ought to be troubling. For the believer, the considerations of Christ's return ought to bring great joy and wonderful comfort. We've opened to Titus chapter two, Titus chapter two, where we read in verse 11 that the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. This is a text that needs to be pondered often because it says in verse 11, grace teaches us. And what does it teach us? not to live haphazardly or wantonly, not to live as libertines and just rejoice that while we're sinning, God is continually forgiving. No, not at all. Real grace teaches us in verse 12 to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope. and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And I divide verse 13 into two parts very purposefully. There is the blessed hope, and there is the glorious appearing. And there are two different events. The blessed hope, I believe, is the rapture of the church. And I want to speak this evening as quickly as I can about why I believe the rapture of the church comes before the tribulation. It's a blessed hope, after all. And I want to tell you something, if it happened at the end of the tribulation, I wouldn't be calling it a blessed hope. After having survived seven years of tribulation just to go up and come down, it doesn't sound like such a blessed hope to me. The rapture is a blessed hope and the glorious appearing. Now that's something else. The glorious appearing being spoken of here is the second coming, I believe, in which Christ is seen in great glory coming to judge the world It's the moment of Armageddon. It's the time when his foot stands on the Mount of Olives, according to Zechariah. That's the glorious appearing. Two separate events. But this evening we're gonna focus on the blessed. The next event in the calendar of events, according to the prophetic word of God, is the rapture, or the translation of the church. It's an event in which Christ, without immediate warning, now there are plenty of warnings, but without immediate warning. Christ, without immediate warning, will suddenly appear in the clouds of heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, calling from the graves all the believers who have died, who have trusted in his blood to satisfy their sin account, that are included together in the church, snatching them away, and snatching away all living Christians, uniting them with the resurrected saints, and thus united they will be taken to dwell with him in heaven. I love what Hermann Hoyt, or I'm sorry, this is James Boyer in Prophecy Things to Come. Boyer and Hoyt both taught at Grace Theological Seminary up here in Winona Lake, and Boyer was the one who said this, the next sound we hear may be his voice. The next sensation we experience may be a strange transformation in these physical bodies. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Can you draw a prophetic timeline in your mind? If you were asked to do that, could you put together a prophetic timeline in your mind? There is a timeline that I'm presenting here that demonstrates the beginning of this particular timeline with the rebirth of the nation of Israel. 1948, the nation of Israel became an independent and sovereign state once again, recognized by the United Nations. An event that's miraculous in many ways, but an event that was prophesied repeatedly that God has said to the seed of Abraham that they would never perish, and though he would scatter them, and he's done so often, he would always regather them, and so they're regathered. That is, by the way, an evidence of God's ability to fulfill prophecy. Now, he could scatter them again, If he tarries his coming for a thousand years, the nation of Israel could be scattered again and regathered again, but they will always be regathered again because that's what God's word says. But I pictured here that sometime after 1948, something's gonna happen that comes from the earth and from the heaven. For the Bible says, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we which are alive and remain will be caught up with him. That's the rapture. I believe that following the rapture, there's a period of time of seven years called the tribulation. Now the tribulation is the most specifically timed out event in the Bible. It's spoken of as seven years, two three-and-a-half-year portions, two 1260-day portions. It's talked about as the 242-month portions. It's very specific throughout the pages of God's Word. It's also called the abomination of desolation, or that's when the abomination of desolation, which is spoken of by Daniel, will happen when the Antichrist will desecrate the temple, which tells me, yes, the temple is going to be rebuilt. And yes, it's going to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. We won't be talking about that much tonight. But at the end of those seven years, I have an arrow that comes all the way down to earth because I believe that's when Christ returns, and that's the point that I'm going to try to defend this evening. He saves national Israel. There's a resurrection of the tribulation believers, and we enter into a 1,000-year millennium. There's a millennial kingdom where Jesus will rule and reign in power and great glory on earth for a thousand years. And so the millennium, at the end of the millennium, the Bible talks about the great white throne judgment and new heavens and new earth. Tonight we focus on the rapture, the rapture. The term rapture comes from a fourth century Latin translation of the Greek word harpazo, It's a word that's found in 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 17. So if you want to turn there, 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 17, then we which are alive and remain should be caught up. There's the word. Now in the Latin, it's harpazo, which, or in the Greek, rather, it's harpazo. It means to be caught up, but the Latin term is raptura or raptura, and it means to be seized, to be caught up. In fact, that same word is used in 1 Corinthians 12 in verses 2 and 4 where the Bible says, you were Gentiles carried away, seized, and under the authority of dumb idols. So the word to be raptured means to be seized by force. And it's an interesting word, just like the word Trinity is not found in the Bible, and the concept is very clear. The word rapture, if you're looking through a concordance to find the word rapture in your Bible, you're gonna be disappointed. It's not there. But the concept is there, and it's a concept that attracts a whole lot of attention. Okay, let's be honest. How many here have read the Left Behind series? Left Behind series, okay. That's what I thought. Must be a lot of people who've read the Left Behind series. The 16 volumes have sold 80 million copies. 80 million copies. I wish they'd have sold stock in the Left Behind series. That would have been a cool thing to get involved in. A lot of people are really interested in prophetic themes, and when they think about the term rapture, sometimes they go to the Bible and say, well, I can't find it. The word rapture's not there. Correct, but the concept is, and it's spoken of very clearly in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 to 18, and it's spoken of there in triumphal terms. There are five triumphant promises that are found in this passage with regard to the rapture. We read in verse 16, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. That's the return of Christ. The Lord is not going to send an angel. He's not going to send any personal ambassador or messenger. He's going to come Himself. And the Bible says, verse 17, then we which are alive and remain should be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. I love that little phrase in the air. because there is one according to Ephesians chapter two who is the prince of the power of the air. And I think it's almost a statement subtly given of the triumph the church will enjoy over Satan at last when we gather together in the air with Jesus. The return of the Lord is found here and how triumphant that promise is. Then there's the triumph of the resurrection of the Christians. He says, the dead in Christ, in verse 16, shall rise first. Now, the Bible doesn't speak of a general resurrection. The Bible speaks of specific resurrections. I can enumerate at least five of them. Can you? What resurrections can you think of tonight? Now, this is the resurrection of the church. The resurrection of the church, the dead in Christ shall rise first. All right, so we've got one. Give me another one. Vicki? Okay, so the Old Testament saints. No time to turn there this evening, but in the last three verses of the book of Daniel, we find a specific date for the resurrection of the Old Testament saints. The resurrection of the Old Testament saints happens approximately 10 weeks after the tribulation. And if you don't want to take my word for it, you can look it up in Daniel chapter 12, okay? So we've got the resurrection of the church, the resurrection of the Old Testament saints. They are not the dead in Christ. Hey, when you got saved as a New Testament believer, you were placed in Christ. Wow! What enormous privilege we have seated together in heavenly places in Christ. You're part of his body, part of his bride. Now, the Old Testament saints have a particularly wonderful position, but they're not part of the church. They're gonna be resurrected, according to Daniel chapter 12, just about 10 weeks after the tribulation. So I've got two resurrections, church, Old Testament saints. Give me another one. Christ, the firstfruits. All right, so now we're at three. Josh? Lazarus was a resuscitation for these theological purposes, Josh. But yeah, he came forth, but he died again. The resurrections we're talking about are resurrections never to die again. So for this purpose, we're going to call it a resuscitation. But yeah, you're right. He came forth. Tribulation saints, that's number four. You've got to get those tribulation saints into the millennium. And so they are resurrected after the tribulation, and you recall the book of the Revelation pictures them under the altar as they cry out, how long, O Lord, faithful and true? Will you not avenge our blood? And they're going to be resurrected. There's one other group, the lost. Revelation, at the end of the book of the Revelation, talks about the great white throne. I saw the dead, small and great. as they gather together and they're lost, and their destiny is going to be the everlasting lake of fire. And that resurrection of the damned would be everyone from Adam on throughout all the dispensations. So we just enumerated five resurrections. The one spoken of here is ours. So I'm particularly fascinated by it. It's the resurrection of the church. It's the one in which my friends are going to be gathering. I love that song that says, friends will be there, I have loved long ago. Yeah, they will. The triumph of the rapture includes, or is included in these promises, the triumph of the rapture of the Christian, just as Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. This passage says, similarly, those who are alive and remain should be caught up together with him in the clouds. So those who are alive when Jesus returns will be instantly ready for life in heaven. And we can move forward from there to a reunion. For so shall we meet them in the clouds. There's going to be a reunion. I was just recently across the street at the Union Chapel Cemetery on the front part, and I was with somebody, and I said, I remember being part of that funeral, and that funeral, and that funeral, and that funeral. And it's worth walking over there, folks, especially if you've been at Colonial Hills Baptist Church for very long. It's a pretty cool neighborhood over there. There are some wonderful people that we're going to see once again, and what a day that's going to be. And then there's that repose, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So shall we ever be with the Lord. Now when will this happen? I've been rushing a little bit because I wanted to get into this section, and I don't believe we'll finish it this evening, which means come back next week. We'll be here again. I said I'd like to share a little bit of an apologetic for why I believe in a pre-tribulational rapture. What does that mean even? That means I want to defend a position. So bear with me for a little while. We'll come to at least nine reasons for a pre-tribulational rapture in just a moment. But let's talk about the timing of the rapture. The timing of the rapture. We don't know the day or the hour, amen? We don't know the day or the hour. We should not speculate. We don't want to be alarmist. We don't want to be those who are sensationalizing. We don't know the day or the hour of the Lord's return, but we can be comforted, I believe, as we consider the timing of the rapture. As I noted earlier from Titus chapter 2, and you may want to turn back to that, Titus chapter 2, we've already done the division of that verse. Titus chapter 2 and verse 13, the Word of God says, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior. I believe the blessed hope speaks about the rapture I believe the glorious appearing speaks about the epiphany or the time when Christ is revealed in wonderment. And just as the Old Testament saints did not fully understand that there would be two comings of the Messiah, there would be the coming of rejection and the coming where He would reign, even so many today don't understand that when we talk about the second coming, The second coming often we need to divide so that we understand there's the rapture and the revelation and they're different. How so? Well, if we can get this to work, the rapture, remember 1 Thessalonians 4? We will meet him in the air. The rapture is in the air. The rapture is the receiving of the church. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Where I am, there you may be also. The rapture is the gathering of the bride. He says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which sleep, that you sorrow not as others which have no hope. And now he begins to talk about the unique and wonderful position that the New Testament believer has looking forward to the rapture. It's the gathering of the bride. The rapture is for the church. 1 Corinthians 15, 51 says, behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. And as I indicated on Sunday, that's not a nursery verse, that's our verse, okay? We shall not all sleep, we shall not all die, but we will all be changed. I have a sister, I guess I have two brothers-in-law here tonight, but they remember Reverend Green from West Virginia, I know Ron does. When I was a young person growing up in West Virginia, we had an elderly man who had planted churches all around West Virginia, never owned a house, never owned a car. He hitchhiked from place to place and planted churches. He was a unique man, graduate of Moody Bible Institute, I think in the 1920s. He used to always give a testimony and say when he graduated, my dad would remember the year, and then he'd say, and I wasn't young then either. Brother Green was at a funeral for the oldest member of the church who just died, and when that oldest member died, it made him the oldest member. He went up to the funeral director and he stuck his bony finger in the funeral director's face and he said to him, you're not gonna get me, buddy. I'll tell you something, you're not getting me. I think the funeral director thought he'd done a poor job with the funeral. Brother Green was meeting, he thought he was gonna be raptured. He was looking forward to we shall not all sleep, That's death, we'll all be changed. That's the rapture, it's for the church. But the revelation, when we talk about the revelation, this is in truth the second coming. The revelation of Christ is to the earth. In Zechariah 14 and verse four, we read, his foot will touch upon the Mount of Olives, that's the earth. So the rapture's in the air, the second coming, the glorious appearing, Boom, that's to the earth. The Bible tells us that mountain's gonna split in two. It's to the earth, it's rescuing Israel. Take your Bible and go back to Zechariah, Zechariah for just a moment. Next to the last book in the Old Testament, we'll go to the 12th chapter, Zechariah chapter 12. And in Zechariah chapter 12, We begin reading in verse one, the burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth. Behold, verse two, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people round about when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. He's talking about Jerusalem being besieged and all the people that are round about Jerusalem will find themselves trembling. There are some people who say, oh, you know, the whole Matthew 24, 25, Olivet Discourse, that was all 70 A.D. when the Romans surrounded Jerusalem and destroyed Jerusalem. This is called a preterist view, big words. Well, I got news for you. Zechariah 12 says the people that surround Jerusalem, Jerusalem and Judea will be a cup of trembling to them. And the Roman army that surrounded and destroyed Jerusalem under Titus their general in 70 A.D. was not trembling because of Jerusalem and Judea. This passage says, one day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people, and I'm circling the word all, not just Romans. I'm talking about all, because the word of God does say that all the world will come together in this place. And what's the purpose for that day? Well, in that day, we read that the Lord has a purpose indeed, for in Zechariah 12 and verse eight, in that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He that's feeble among them in that day shall be as David, as the house of David shall be as God, and the angels shall be before them. And it will come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. The Lord's going to defend Jerusalem again. That's the revelation. That's when he comes, and according to Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 2, all the nations are gathered against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken. And in Zechariah 14 and verse 4, his foot will stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem. That is not the rapture. The rapture is in the air, the second coming of the revelation is on the ground. So the rescuing of Israel and the judging of the world. Revelation chapter 19 reminds us that the dead small and great will stand before the great white throne. So remember, the thought that we're sharing here is from Titus, the blessed hope, that's the rapture. And the glorious appearing. That's the revelation, which is not the rapture. In fact, in Revelation 19, He comes with the armies of heaven. No time to develop it this evening, but I think the armies of heaven in robes made white by the blood of the Lamb represent the church at the coming of His revelation. And so, the timing is before the revelation, and then I'm gonna say it's before the tribulation. It's before the tribulation. I'm gonna just take five minutes and we'll jump back into this next time, and we'll go even beyond that. It's before the tribulation. And some are saying, Pastor Phelps, you're getting down into some theological weeds with us this evening. I got convicted last Sunday morning after I went home. I thought, I made some statements about a pre-tribulational rapture with Great enthusiasm, and I didn't take the time to develop much of that, and I don't want to have somebody just take it for granted that I know what I'm talking about. I want you to know with me why when we say the rapture's the next thing on the calendar, we can all say, yahoo! That's a more sanctified amen, because that's the way it is, all right? So the timing before the tribulation, there are three common views as to where the rapture should be placed. There are those who are pre-tribulational, that's me. There are those who are mid-tribulational, and there are those who are post-tribulational. Now that mid-tribulational position has expanded. Some people get offended today when you say, oh, you're just mid-trib, because they'll say, no, no, no, I'm not mid-trib, I'm pre-wrath. So the pre-wrath position is kind of a quasi-third position, but it simply means that the believer goes through the first part of the tribulation, which is relatively peaceful, and when the day of God's great wrath is poured out, then the church is raptured. So that's pre-wrath or mid-trib. But the one that's gaining ground today, interesting to me, in theological circles and churches just like ours, there's a lot more attention to an attraction of a post-tribulational rapture. Yeah, I know, you're like, really? And it's one of those that you say, yeah, really, it's really catching fire in evangelicalism, post-tribulational rapture. And the other thing that's catching fire in evangelicalism, I do read about these things, is put a mute on the pastor and don't let him talk about eschatology. Because when we talk about these things, everybody's got a different opinion, and we're not going to be able to get along, and you can't be so sure of your position. So let's not go out there on things we're not sure about. So pastors are being taught not to talk about it. I've been to a number of ordinations in the last couple of years where I've been a little bit astounded because as I work through ordination papers with fellows, they have it great on the Bible, no problem on doctrine of God, doing pretty well on pneumatology, doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And then when we get to eschatology, they'll say, Yeah, we didn't go over that very much in my training. I'm still looking forward to getting into that. I'm thinking it's one-third of the Bible, okay? Prophecy's one-third of the Bible. And it really does make a difference so often when you're preaching, and so I want to challenge everybody. We ought to all be tuned into prophetic themes and not be disillusioned by those who say, well, it will divide your church. I found great unity in it over the years. And so those are the three common positions. So let me start off by giving you some reasons I believe it's before the tribulation. First, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter five and verse nine, that we are not reserved unto wrath. And if ever wrath is described in the Bible, it is surely found when you're describing the tribulation. So let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter five, 1 Thessalonians chapter five, and we're gonna end here this evening. 1 Thessalonians 5, because if I don't end here this evening, there's some children's workers who will probably arrest me outside the door. 1 Thessalonians 5. I want us to get the flow of this passage, and we'll end here because I think it's one of the most significant passages when we come to the topic of where do you land the tribulation, I'm sorry, the rapture. Here we go. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We've already cited this passage. The 13th verse, Paul writes to the Thessalonians. It's one of his earliest books. The people in Thessalonica had been looking forward to the second coming of Christ, and it hasn't happened, and now their loved ones are dying, and they're like, what happened to them? What's God's plan for my loved one? So he writes in verse 13, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which sleep. that you sorrow not as others which have no hope. For if we believe, and it can be translated, since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. This is the greatest, in fact, he comes to verse 18 and he says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. The whole purpose of this section is to comfort our hearts when a loved one dies. What's the comfort there? There's going to be a resurrection of your loved one if they love the Lord. There's gonna be a reunion. We're gonna meet the Lord in the air. Now comfort one another with these words. Now look at the shift as you come to chapter five and verse one. This is one of those times where a chapter division, though a chapter division is not inspired, okay, but it's one of those times where a chapter division makes a whole lot of sense. because it starts in chapter five and verse one with these words, but of the times and seasons, you have no need that I write unto you, for ye yourselves know. Now the personal pronoun is really important in chapter five, because he's gonna divide between the you and the them. And in chapter five, he speaks of judgment coming. For you 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 when he uses that phrase, those who are keyed in the Old Testament go, oh, travail, woman with child, I get that language. That's the language of the book of Joel when describing the tribulation, the great and awesome day of the Lord. So he's speaking now of when they say peace and safety, sudden destruction comes upon them. It doesn't say us, right? Chapter four, the rapture. Chapter five, the tribulation. Ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. And the chronology here is extremely important. Chapter four, the rapture. Chapter five, the tribulation. And the us and them in chapter five is huge. You are all children of the light, verse five, and children of the day. We're not of the night, we're not of the darkness. Let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunk in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, for in Helmut the hope of salvation, there it is, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with So he's sharing with us after the rapture, which is our hope, the blessed hope, the tribulation, and he's separated by personal pronoun use, those who are going to be here and enduring the awful judgment of the tribulation, but we are not reserved under wrath. So where do you put the rapture? Before the tribulation. That's just one reason. Come back next week, we'll talk about 13 more, okay? Thanks for coming tonight. We're gonna be dismissed with a word of prayer and be sure to pick up the children and have a good time as we go out carefully. No mingling in the foyer if you don't mind. And even if you do mind, go out carefully. Hang out under the eaves. Enjoy the time together. Father, we thank you that we can gather together and be in your Word. Lord, help us to look up, remembering that our redemption draws nigh. For it's in Christ's name we pray, amen.