We're in our study here on page 120, ABCs of Christian Growth, and we are dealing with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And on page 120 there, we will continue through that. Last week, we discussed the promise of his coming. We looked at his first coming, and now we're going to look at the second coming here, beginning with the mention of it being in two stages. So, in a sense, the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was in two stages. Remember, we had the prophecy of his birth, all those prophecies of his birth, and we had the prophecies of the cross, or his death, and also, as well, his resurrection and ascension and so forth. So, just the same, says the coming of Jesus as a babe in Bethlehem was a private event, unnoticed by the world at large, Relatively few got to share the joy of the moment, primarily those who were looking and waiting for his coming. We've got a few passages here. Luke 2, 25 says, Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. In chapter 2, verse 36, it says, And there was one Anna, a prophetess, The daughter of Fanuel of the tribe of Asher, or Asher, she was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about four score and four years, 84, which departed not from the people, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, And she, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. This is speaking of Jesus coming in in that time. And then one other passage here, Matthew chapter two, verses one and two says, now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and we are come to worship him." So notice that just a few came to see him. Just a few were a part of that event. In fact, even the wise men were a part of the event later. They came not at his birth, but after he was two or three years old. or I think is about two years old, if I remember correctly, is, but when our Lord hung upon Calvary's cross, it was a public display in view of all. So too, just like that, just like his first coming, his second coming is going to be in two distinct stages. We use two words to distinguish these phases. We talk about the rapture and the revelation. Or, and often people will just call the rapture the rapture, and then they'll say the second coming of Christ is the second coming of Christ. That sometimes confuses people, and then, you know, people say, well, what about when Christ comes back, isn't he coming back during the rapture? Well, yes, he is, but he's not gonna set foot on the earth at that time. He's coming for the saints. And then there's going to be seven years of tribulation, and then, then there will be the revelation where he will come with his saints and touch down on the Mount of Olives. But the rapture of the saints, we're going to look at here. And if you're watching online and you disagree, please bear with me because there are some good evidences here, although it doesn't deal with every possible argument of disagreement in terms of when it happens and all of that, but it does deal with some. This is an event, or a major event, or the next major event, I'm sorry, on God's prophetic calendar. The term rapture is not found in the Bible, but it's meaning is, and the meaning of the word rapture is to be caught up. In fact, the Greek word, if you speak Greek, I don't think any of you do, but if you spoke Greek, the word in Thessalonians there is harpuzzo, which is like the harp or the pluck. And so the catching out or to be caught up or to be plucked out, that's the concept there. But the meaning there, caught up, is what we use for the word rapture. Rapture, I believe is, if I remember correctly, it's a Latin word describing the catching up of the saints. So we're gonna look at some key scriptures about the rapture here. 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 through 18. But I would not have you 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 under 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 archangels, and 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." Another passage that deals with this concept here is 1st Corinthians 15 51 and 52 says behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in the 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 then the other passage that deals with it here is Philippians yeah Philippians 3 20 21. It says, for our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. So we're going to look at some true and false questions here. First question here is, the rapture is an instantaneous event. Meaning it's not like progressive, which happens over a long period of time. Instantaneous. It happens at a particular point in time. True or false? True. Very good. Number two here. The rapture concerns only deceased Christians. That is, only those who sleep in Christ. False. You are correct. All right, at the rapture, the Lord will send his angels to gather the saints and bring them to heaven. That's a tricky one. Yes, the answer is false. That is correct. In fact, when you look at the other passages where it talks about the angels gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth, that's speaking of the end of the tribulation. That's speaking of the destruction of people, not the salvation of people. That's not the rapture. So, we're basing these answers mostly on the passages that we just read. Okay, so, at the rapture, believers, or saints, will be caught up into the air to meet Christ. Ooh, very good. At the rapture, all Christians, living and dead, will receive a glorified resurrection body. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 talks about there. That's going to be exciting. No more knee problems, or elbow problems, or hip problems, or back problems, or thigh problems. Praise the Lord. All right, let's see here, fill in the blank, whatever it is, whatever body problem you have. No more pimples? None of that, none of that. All right, so let's see, where were we here? Number six, according to Matthew 24, 42, the rapture will be announced to give us time to get ready. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. Now, let me just give a disclaimer here. Matthew 24 is not talking about the rapture. It's talking in general about the coming of Christ, but specifically as it deals with the gathering at that point, that's speaking of when Christ returns on the white horse in Revelation 19. This is after the tribulation. That's not speaking of the rapture there. It's speaking of the coming of Christ to destroy his enemies and set up his kingdom. So, again, when you look at this prophecy, just like the prophecy of the coming of the Lord the first time, I mean, the first time, see, there was a 30-year gap from his birth to his crucifixion. Well, the second time, there's only a seven-year gap So when the Bible speaks of it, it's almost as though it's one and the same is coming. It's like when you're looking across mountain ranges, you may see somebody standing on a mountain over there, and you see somebody standing on the mountain beside them. It looks like they're standing on the same mountaintop from where you're looking, but there's actually They're actually one of them standing on one mountain, and the other one's standing on a mountain behind them. They're both on different mountains, but they look like they're standing next to each other from your perspective, because you just see these little sticks sticking up, right? But there's a valley in between them. So like a timeline would be, you see the one, but you don't notice that there's a little valley in between that you don't see the other one. That's the way that, in fact, that's the way that some of the, Old Testament prophets and some of the Pharisees in Christ's time saw all of the prophecy of the coming of Christ. They saw his birth and his kingdom all at the same time. The prophecies of his second coming, they saw those as part of his first coming. And so they rejected his first coming because he didn't fulfill the prophecies of his second coming. Because they looked at it as he was supposed to do all of that. That was all supposed to happen. And some Jews, even today, reject Jesus because all of the prophecies weren't fulfilled in His first coming. Only the prophecies of His first coming were fulfilled. That makes sense. The second coming, they see as the same thing because they're looking at the same Lord where He's standing on that mountain and that mountain back there. Makes sense, that mountain of time. But there's a huge valley of, so far, about 2,000 years in between the two. but they're still, they're like, he was supposed to do, you know, like you look at the prophecy and you see fulfillment of the prophecy there, and then you see it there also, and they think, well, it's the same person, he's supposed to fulfill that all at once. Well, no, he fulfilled the first part, and he's still coming to fulfill the second part. So, just the same, we have this rapture, short little window, and then return. Okay, so when we talk about the return, don't get it confused. When people say the second coming of Christ or the second advent, all of that, some people do mean a post-tribulational rapture, which wouldn't be a rapture at all. It would just be a resurrection. I mean, the Lord would be here. Why would we need to be caught up in the air? He's coming here. What would be the point? In Revelation 19, it actually speaks of us being with Him in heaven and coming with Him from heaven. So, somehow we got there. Somehow. And there's no evidence in Revelation 19 of anyone being caught up from the earth to be with Him. We're already with Him when we're coming to the earth. So, I've read and I've studied the return of Christ from all of the viewpoints. from the concept of a pre-tribulational rapture, which is what we're teaching here, from the concept of a mid-tribulational rapture, or what they call pre-raft rapture, before the great tribulation, and then also from a concept of a post-tribulational rapture, or just the return concept. And then there's other viewpoints of like an amillennial viewpoint, where they don't see the millennium as a literal kingdom where Christ will come. They believe we're in it now, and we have to make the world good enough for our king to come back. By the way, a lot of politicians that are religious politicians believe that. Yeah, and you know what? That's why, by the way, that's the fuel that burned for the forced religion on people from England. And when we came to America, they forced it on people because they wanted to have, they thought that they were the ministers of Christ's kingdom. And they were enforcing his will upon people, so that when the earth is good enough, he will come back. They're still doing it today. Still doing it today. You gotta get, you know, democracy and freedom in the whole world now. And now we do it in the name of freedom. But anyways, the answer to that question about the rapture being announced, will it give us time? The answer is no. It's not going to be announced. It's just going to happen. Now, even regardless of which one you're talking about, because I've had some people say, well, if you go to Matthew 24 to substantiate your stuff on the rapture, but then you're wrong because Matthew 24 is not talking about the rapture. Or at least you say, It's not talking about the rapture. I said, well, yeah, it's not talking about the rapture. It's talking about the return of Christ, which is a general concept, but specifically it is talking about the return of Christ, like at the end of the tribulation. So does that apply to the rapture? Well, there are certain aspects that are similar. We don't know when the Lord will come for the rapture and we don't know when he'll come back at the end of the seven years. No one knows the day or hour, even though, We can take the time of the signing of the treaty there, the covenant, as Daniel chapter 9 says, we can take that time, we can say, okay, the Antichrist signed the covenant, now we've got seven years from that day. Depends on what calendar you're using. Depends on how that all works out. You still don't know. In fact, well, people who get saved during that time, I believe they'll have at least an idea. The rest of the world, it's going to come upon them like a thief in the night. They're not gonna know. But still yet, no one knows the time that it's gonna happen or the exact date, per se. In fact, I believe there's a window there toward the end of that seven years where it'll happen in that window. That's a whole other really fun study all by itself. Phil number 7 here. According to 2 Peter 3 verses 3-9, it says, knowing this verse that there shall come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of its coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, skipping a whole line, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. As some men count slackness, but as longsuffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish, but that all could come to repentance. According to this passage, the only reason the rapture has not taken place is that the Lord wants to save sinners. Correct? True. True. Very good. Very good. And by the way, this day as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day, that's not to be used as a timeline for creation. He's not even talking about creation there. He's talking about, well, he's talking about how creation will be destroyed. All of creation will be destroyed. Um, But basically, the context is that God is not slack. Just because God waited a couple thousand years doesn't mean that he's not going to judge the earth. He will judge the earth. So the revelation of Jesus Christ, this is the second phase of the return of Jesus Christ. Revelation 19, verses 11 through 16. You know, we could look at Revelation 19 as a whole, but we don't really have time for it right at the moment. But you should at some point. Beginning of Revelation 19, you see the saints in heaven. But anyways. And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was faithful and true. and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. And his name was called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." So in this passage, verse number 11 calls him what? Faithful and true, verse 13 calls him The Word of God. And in verse 16, it calls him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Very good. So according to verse 14, which says, the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. What's that? And in Jude chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, it says, Enoch also with are the seventh from Adam prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against them." According to these passages here, the Lord Jesus will return with All right, 10,000 of his saints, the armies of heaven, the saints, he will return with the saints. I think that's where that song comes from, when the saints go marching in. There will be a time when all of the followers of Jesus do come to fight a war. but it will be a physical time when we actually return from heaven. From heaven. At that point, you know, King Jesus will be literally and physically and he'll be right there, like, leading that battle. Right now is not the time for those kind of things. Just because we disagree with something doesn't mean that we take up our sword and make it the way that we think it ought to be. Now is the time to preach the truth and see people get saved. Zechariah 14, verses one through four, it says, behold, the day of the Lord cometh. All right, go ahead, Faber, get out of here. The day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall, my goodness, all of a sudden I get all my emails like all at once right here, so where'd I go? There we go. The day of the Lord cometh, and the spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled. Notice he says all nations. And the women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle, and his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. That's gonna be pretty cool. When Jesus went up into heaven, he left from the Mount of Olives. And the Bible says here that he's going to be setting foot on the Mount of Olives. And when he lands on the Mount of Olives, it's going to be like nothing we've ever seen. He's going to come down. And you know, like those movies do with those guys that come flying down from the sky and they hit the ground. He's going to come down. He's going to land on the Mount of Olives. And it's just going to go split open. That's pretty serious. And what's interesting is he's supposed to walk into the Eastern Gate to set up his kingdom. And the Muslims have put graves right outside of the Eastern Gate because they know that it's unclean for a Jew to walk through that area. So the king of the Jews obviously wouldn't want to walk through there, but what they missed is the fact that when he set foot on the Mount of Olives, it's going to cleave and the whole earth is going to be ripped open right there from the Mount of Olives to the Eastern Gate. And all those graves are just going to come out of the way. That's pretty cool. And by the way, a lot of people are buried on the Mount of Olives as well, or in the Mount of Olives. Brother Alex didn't have his, he didn't mention that when he was here, but the graves on the Mount of Olives are, they're not like that. They're stood up, because there are so many of them, and it costs a lot of money to be buried in the Mount of Olives. Because a lot of people want to be buried there. It costs a ton of money, but what's neat is, when he comes back, he's going to land, and all of that's going to... What's even neater is, seven years Approximately seven years before that all the saves that are in that mount buried or they're gonna be Getting up out of there. So anyways, so we read this passage here says when Jesus returns in glory he will set his foot his feet down on the Out of all I've said that word probably what 15 times in the last few minutes So now, one other passage and then we'll probably stop there and we'll talk about this time of Jacob's trouble next week, Lord willing. But 1 Thessalonians, or 2 Thessalonians 1, verses 7 through 10 says, and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day. By the way, before we deal with the question here, where it says they're from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, that's not talking about like away from, talking about that's where the destruction is coming from. The destruction says they'll be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. That destruction is coming from His presence and it is coming from the glory of His power. I know a lot of people will say, you know, that hell is a place where you're cast out away from God, and I'll use that passage to try to prove it. But in Revelation, it says that the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest. And it says that they're there in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. To try to make that point of it's a place of, now it's a place of outer darkness, And I would say that it is a place that is absent of the presence of the beneficial presence of God, the good presence of God. It is a place where the presence of God is nothing but wrath upon them. And I believe that that is scripture. I believe to try to argue that you're being cast away from the presence of God is unscriptural and it's very difficult to prove. And you have to twist words like that. So anyways, the revelation of Jesus Christ will be a time of divine vengeance and destruction. Any questions on what we talked about so far? I know I just kind of threw in a huge rabbit trail there, but I have to explain verses sometimes. Sometimes people mis-teach. Any questions? Comments? Disagreements? Speak now or talk about it next week? All right. Then, well, let's pray.