As I announced yesterday, we're coming now to what I feel to be the most important prophecy we're considering this week, the prophecy of the rapture of the church. Now, in this church, I'm satisfied most of you are familiar with this doctrine. But it's a tragedy that many churches, maybe the predominant number of churches, do not speak on this subject. They do not deal with prophecy. They just avoid the subject. They think for one reason or another, they shouldn't consider it. And yet this is a blessed hope that Christ has left that gives the content of our future hope that the Lord may come at any time. I think I pointed out earlier that when Paul went on his missionary journey here to Greece, first to Philippi and out of Thessalonica, he not only preached that Christ had come historically, died on the cross and rose again, and that we should be saved by trusting him as Savior, but he also, along with it, preached, the truth that Christ was coming again. And even though he was there a short time in Thessaloniki before he had to leave, the people apparently absorbed this truth and believed that Christ was coming and they could look forward expectantly to his return. But since Paul had left, some of their number, who now are new converts to Christianity, had died. And this raises questions, of course. When you see a person who you love died, is dead, you ask the question, when will I see that person again? That's a natural question. Now, as Christians, of course, we believe in the doctrine of resurrection. And it's clear the Thessalonians believed in that, that ultimately, every one who dies, whether saved or lost, is going to be raised and judged before God. And so our loved ones in Christ will be raised, and we'll join them in eternity. But the question is, how soon? Now, the Thessalonians understood that Christ was coming in their lifetime possibly, but they didn't know what had happened to Christians who died. They thought possibly there'd be a waiting period. Now, we don't know exactly how much they comprehended in those few weeks. It's possible they knew something about the rapture, something about the time of trouble that would follow, and then something about the second coming of Christ, so it's not mentioned in that terminology here in this book. So they may have thought they're going to have to wait until Christ brings in its kingdom before their loved ones will be raised. And Timothy didn't know how to answer that question. So he brought this back with several other theological questions to Paul. And Paul in writing Thessalonians answers some of these questions. And so he answered that here. And his answer in a word is you won't have to wait because Christians who have died will be resurrected a moment before living Christians are translated and raised to meet the Lord in the air. Now notice what he tells us beginning in verse thirteen. I do not want you to be ignorant or uninformed brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep lest ye sorrow as others who have no hope. Now I notice he addresses them as brethren. I think it's possible to be a Christian and not know much about the rapture about prophecy. There's a lot of Christians like that I'm afraid and when the rapture occurs They're going to be very much surprised because they've never been taught, but they're going to be caught up along with people who did expect it. But he addressed them as brethren, and we have to face the fact that people who disagree with us in some areas in prophecy will nevertheless go to heaven. I always hope when I get there I'll be allowed a class remedial theology to straighten some of them out, but I don't know, it may not be necessary, but some of them need to be straightened out in their expectation of the future, in my estimation. But they are brethren. We should regard them as such and realize that they are fellow Christians who have trusted in the Lord. But he doesn't want us to be ignorant about it. In other words, God put prophecy in the Bible to inform us about future events. And about a fourth of the Bible was predictive when it was written. Now about half these prophecies have already been fulfilled. The ones that are still future, God wants us to anticipate and prepare for the future because we know what's going to happen. He doesn't want us to be ignorant. He wants us to be informed. I can't understand passages that say, well, I can't preach on prophecy. It's too controversial. Well, everything about the Christian faith is controversial. There are people that deny that Christ was born, that he died, that he rose again, that he's the Savior, that he's God. They all, there are many of the people that deny this. Deny there's a judgment to come. We even deny there's a life after death. They're wrong. But Paul doesn't tell us to be silent about these things. I think we should try to preach in a non-controversial way, but nevertheless we have to contend for the truth. And that's what Paul did. That's what the other disciples did. In other words, the prophets contended against ignorance and unbelief. And that's what we should be doing today. So he doesn't want us to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep. Now, he's not talking about people sleeping in church. You know, it used to bother me when I saw someone sleeping while I was preaching and speaking. I finally arrived at the point where I thought it was a compliment. You see, if I was going to say something erratical, they'd stay awake. And the fact they go to sleep shows they'd trust me implicitly. And even at the door, sometimes they'll shake my hand and say, I enjoyed the service very much. Of course, they did, you know. Maybe if they had heard the sermon, they wouldn't have enjoyed it. I don't know. But it's not talking about that. It's talking about death. uses this softened expression of a sleep because when a Christian dies it's a temporary situation they're not going to remain dead they're going to be resurrected if the rapture occurs it could be very very soon you see he doesn't want us to sorrow concerning those who have died lest you sorrow as others who have no hope it's hard even for Christians to realize that unless a person is saved Forgiven, justified by faith, by faith in Christ, that he's not forgiven at all. He's lost. And they can be nice people as far as our standards are concerned. They can be refined. They can be educated. They can be religious and moral. But if they're not born again, they're lost. He doesn't want us to be that way because they have how much hope? None, whatever. It's a clear-cut... difference between those that are saved and those who aren't. Now, sometimes we have trouble deciding who's saved and who isn't, but God doesn't. He knows the heart. He knows exactly those that are his. There's no uncertainty with God. And the important thing is to be one who trusts in the Lord as the Savior, as the Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again, and have that conviction that we've committed our salvation to him. And, of course, he's promised to save us. So it no longer depends on our worthiness or our good works or how well we behave. It depends entirely now upon His word and His work, which He did for us on the cross. So there's no hope for those who do not trust in Christ. One of the books on the book table is a book on four views on hell. And I was asked to contribute it and I really don't like books that give four different views because people say, well, you can make a choice then. Well, I consented to do it because I wanted to tell what I believed to be the truth. And three others wrote on the subject, too. One of them believed that hell was eternal but not literal. Another was a Roman Catholic scholar who expounded the doctrine of purgatory, which isn't hell at all, but it's the place where people go after they die, even if they're Christians. They have the idea that you have to have unconfessed sins purged away, and it takes a while of suffering to do that before you can finally get full status in heaven. And it's interesting, this Roman Catholic scholar admitted that it wasn't in the Bible. It's in their apocryphal books and in the decrees of the church, but not in the Bible. The Bible doesn't teach purgatory. You either saved and justified, or you're not saved and not justified. And everybody who's raptured or resurrected, who's a Christian, is totally justified he's regarded as righteous by god not because he's attained it but because he sees that person in the perfections and the work of his son jesus christ we are in christ and that's why we're saved that's why we can be sure of our personal salvation and so those that do not have this are lost there was a fourth man who wrote on the doctrine of hell he thought it was only temporary I noticed he ignored the passages in the Bible that teach otherwise. It's amazing what you improve in the Bible if you just ignore the passages that don't agree with you, you know, but he just ignored what the Bible said. I don't think you can do that. In fact, why are people in hell forever that are lost? It's because they don't change. Hell is not remedial. They don't get better in hell. They continue to rebel against God, even though they have to acknowledge He's God. And I saw this so dramatically there in Revelation chapter sixteen, where you have the bowls of the wrath of God. And the last bowl, as we pointed out, I think on Monday night, is going to ruin all the cities of the world. A series of terrible judgments that demonstrate God's power to judge. And what's the reaction of men? They curse God. You see, these judgments don't bring people to Christ necessarily. And people are in hell eternally because they're going to be wicked eternally. And that's the terrible thing about hell. And while I wish there was an escape hatch somewhere, we don't like the idea of people living forever in a place of torment. Yes, that's what the Bible teaches, and that's what drives us. and trying to lead people to Christ, to be saved, to be forgiven, to be justified before they die, before it's too late. Now in verse fourteen, he talks about the certainty of the rapture. Now because prophecy sometimes is advanced by those who add a lot to it, the Bible teaches, and sometimes they're wrong, people say, well, prophecy isn't nearly as sure as history. Once the things happen, we know it happened, but prophecy, well, you can't be sure. In fact, prevailing ideas, you can't interpret prophecy literally. You can't really know what the future holds. I think that's wrong. I think the Bible makes it very clear that there are things going to happen in the future. But there was a time when even some of the major events that are now history were prophecy. And he reminds us of that in verse fourteen. He says, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so will God bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. Now Paul calls attention to the fact that the Old Testament, of course, predicted the death and resurrection of Christ. Every time they brought a lamb to a priest, it presented in type the idea that Jesus Christ would die for the sins of the world. And we have great texts like Isaiah fifty-three, six, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him. the iniquity of it all. In other words, it pictures his death. And, of course, that is now history. Now he has died as a sacrifice for sin. The Old Testament also predicted his resurrection. David wrote, that thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to seek corruption. And he called attention to this verse in his Pentecostal sermon, Acts two. He said, now David's tomb is still here. David wasn't talking about himself. He was talking about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, who rose from the dead. His body did not decay. And so that was once prophecy. Now it's history. Now what he's saying is this. Just as that prophecy was literally fulfilled, and it's absolutely certain, so also the doctrine of the rapture is absolutely certain, even though it's still future. It's equally certain, in other words. Now notice how he expresses it. Even so God will bring with him and with Christ, that is when he comes, those who sleep in Jesus. Now what happens when a Christian dies? Well, a medical doctor can come in and find the signs of life gone. He can pronounce them physically dead. Theologically, a person dies when the soul leaves the body. and we believe according to second Corinthians five to be absent from the bodies be present with the Lord and for a Christian it means there's instant transmission from this life into heaven for the soul now we bury the body the body sleeps in the grave but the soul is not asleep it's very much alive and enjoying the blessings of heaven we have this pictured in passages that talk about heaven and so we're going to go to heaven and when we die And we are comforted by our loved ones, sometimes in their final days, have suffered a great deal. And when death comes, it's a release, and we rejoice in the fact that while we miss them and can be lonely for them, nevertheless, they are joyously in the presence of the Savior. Now when the rapture occurs, it tells us here he's going to bring the souls of Christians who have died in heaven. He's going to bring them with him back to the sphere of earth. Why? because he's going to resurrect their bodies. People sometimes ask, why do they have to resurrect their bodies? I didn't decide that. That was God's decision. He wants us to have a body that will continue forever, a body to be functional and useful. And he wants us to have that kind of a body. And so at the time of the rapture, he brings their souls with him because he's going to command their bodies to be resurrected and the soul is going to re-enter the body permanently. In other words, Christ is a pattern. He died. His soul left his body. And the resurrection, the soul returned, you see. He was resurrected from the grave. And the new body, the resurrection body, took the place of the old. When the rapture occurs, I don't think we're going to leave our old bodies around here. While we die, they bury our bodies. When we're living and the Lord comes, we're going to have our bodies transformed to go to heaven. Now he explains all this in the verses that follow. He says in verse fifteen, For this we say to you by the word of the Lord. Now you notice he doesn't quote the Old Testament here. The Old Testament talks about resurrection, but it doesn't talk about rapture. Now it's true. Enoch and Elijah are raptured. They were the exceptions to the rule. It's the point of the man wants to die. But there is no prediction of a whole generation of Christians going to heaven without dying. That is not found in the Old Testament. And so it's only now revealed in the New Testament. Paul, after his conversion, you remember he had a short theological course in the desert as the Lord brought him up to date on some of these doctrines. And one of these doctrines was the rapture of the church. So it's by the word of the Lord. Direct communication to Paul. And this is what he tells us. That we who are alive, that is Christians who are living at the rapture, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, will by no means perceive those who are asleep. for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first then we Christians of course who are alive and remain shall be caught up and that's where you have the word rapture caught up or snatched up or raptured together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall also always be with the Lord therefore comfort one another with these words. Now, supposing the rapture occurred this morning, what would happen? Well, first of all, the Lord Jesus would descend from his throne at the right hand of the Father and come to the air above the earth. The rapture, there's no record that he ever touches the earth. We rise to meet him in the air, according to the scriptures. And when he gets to that position, he's going to bring the souls of those in heaven with him that have died, and it's Christians. And he's command their souls to be resurrected, and that's number one. Then immediately afterwards, he's going to command that Christians who are living will have their bodies instantly changed, the bodies that are suited for heaven, patterned after the resurrection of the body of Christ. And so there's going to be translation of the living and resurrection of the dead. And together they're going to rise and meet the Lord in the air. And then as he tells in John chapter, as he told his disciples, he said he's coming back to take them to the Father's house. And by that he meant heaven. So he's going to take us to heaven. And we're going to be removed from this world. Now notice the details of it. He's going to descend from heaven with a shout. And the word shout has in it the idea of a command. You see, Christ isn't going to beg God to raise the dead. He's going to command it. According to Revelation chapter one, he alone has the power to raise the dead permanently. Now there are restorations before by some of the prophets. Christ himself rose Lazarus and some others in his lifetime. But a permanent resurrection body can only be supplied by Jesus Christ. And so he's going to cause people to rise from the dead. He's going to give this shout. It's going to be a selective resurrection. Not everybody's going to be raised. I take it that those who are in Christ, and while there's debate about this, apparently the Old Testament saints will be raised later, and these are a resurrection of Christians who have come to know Christ between Pentecost and the rapture, the saints of this present age. And they're going to rise from earth and meet the Lord in the air. Now, I remember not many days before Christ's own death, he was out at the tomb of Lazarus. He'd been away, you know, and Lazarus got sick and died. And Mary and Martha, his sisters, said, Oh, if Christ were here, they'd seen him heal hundreds of people. He could have healed our brother Lazarus. But he wasn't there. So Lazarus died. They had the funeral. They put his body in the tomb. And some days had elapsed. When Christ came, they were all weeping. And Christ shed tears, too. Interesting, didn't he? He knew he was going to restore Lazarus to him, but nevertheless he cried too. Then he went out to the tomb and said, take the stone away. Lay demurred. They said his body has been in the tomb for some time. Take it away. And they did. And then he said, Lazarus, come forth. What happened? Lazarus came forth. They were so astounded they didn't know what to do. He had to tell them to help them get those grave clothes off because that was hindering his movements. But he came forth. And one commentator puts it this way. If he just said, come forth by everybody in that area, he had to come forth. See, if you have the power to raise one, you have the power to raise the other. Now, the rapture is a selective resurrection. It's the dead in Christ and the living in Christ that are going to be raised. Then the second thing it mentions is the voice of the archangel. The archangel is the head of the holy angels. And... There's only one in the Bible or maybe more, some people think, but an ark means highest angel. And he's been contending against Satan and the demon world for these thousands of years. And Satan has done all he could to hinder the gospel, to spoil the lives of Christians in their testimony, to blind them that are unsaved to the gospel. But now in spite of all that Satan has done, here is the church, triumphant, A trophy of God's grace. I think Michael under circumstances entitled to a little shout, don't you? Maybe he had a Methodist background or something, but he gave a shout. And I think it's a shout of victory. Though some people attribute that to other ideas as well. And then there's the trump of God. Now, First Corinthians fifteen calls it the last trump. And people get confused because there's many trumpets in the Bible. This is the last trump for the church. It's not the last trump of time. There are the seven trumpets of Revelation, trumpets of judgment of the angels. There's the trumpet of Matthew twenty-four, thirty-one that assembles all the saints to end the millennial kingdom. Trumpets were a signaling device. I once had a student come in in theology and said he wanted to write his master's thesis on the trumpets. I said, have you ever looked it up? No, he hadn't. I said, get a concordance and look up the word trumpet. And he came back a very chastened man. He said, I didn't realize there were that many trumpets in the Bible. You see, it was a signaling device. When they marched, when they stopped, it was marked off certain feasts. There was a feast of trumpets. In other words, it was a signaling device. And, of course, there were many last trumpets, the last trumpets of a day or a march, about this is the last trump for the church. Now, the Bible doesn't mention any earlier trumpets. Dr. Ironside suggests that possibly in the background, Paul had in mind the three trumpets that characterized the Roman army. They had a trumpet in the morning, first all, that was their alarm clock. Woke them up. Time to get up. They had a second trumpet that called them to assemble for their orders of the day. Then they had a third trumpet, which was the last trump of their daily schedule, that gave them the orders to march off to their assignments. Now he said, that's like the trumpet for the rapture. We've had the trumpet of the gospel. We've had the trumpet of call to service. Now we have the trumpet of going to heaven, the last trump for us. But it's not the last trump of scripture. We must not get confused with that. And when that occurs, all over the world, Christians who have died will be resurrected, living Christians will be changed. They'll rise to meet the Lord in the air. and be forever with the Lord. Now, what kind of bodies are we going to have? Well, the Bible has a whole chapter on that. First Corinthians, it points out how our present bodies are not suited for heaven. First of all, they're sinful bodies. Our bodies just naturally sin. We don't become sinful by sinning. We're born this way. We inherit a sin nature that has a natural tendency to sin. It's only as the grace of God corrects us and curtailed our activities that are wrong that we can have a better Christian life. So we have a sin nature. You've got to get rid of that. And then there is also the problem that our bodies are mortal. That is the decay as they get old. Now, most of us have experienced something of that. You know there's all sorts of definitions of old age. We were talking with the breakfast table. When you drop something on the floor, you know you go down to pick it up. And while you're down there, you look around to see if there's anything else needs to be picked up. You don't want to have to make a second trip. Well, age has its features, and some of you are acquainted with that. I like to think of age also as the time when some things just don't work anymore, and what works hurts. I think you know what I'm talking about there, too. No, these bodies wear out. And the bouncing baby eventually becomes the person who's just getting around as best he can or best as she can. And then our bodies are mortal. They're subject to death. In fact, it's amazing we live it all when you consider the hundred and one things that could cause instant death if something went wrong. It's really amazing that we live our three-score years in ten plus, and a lot of you are plus, and so am I. In other words, these bodies go on and on. But eventually, we've got to face the facts of life. They don't go on forever. we have a mortal body. Now, you don't want to have a mortal body, or a body that's growing old, or a body that's sinful, when you come into the presence of the Lord. Now, I take it when the rapture occurs, our new body will be without sin, without the problems of maturity or age, and without the problems of death. It will be forever delivered, and God's going to wipe away all suffering, all tears, the things that characterize this life. Now, we learned something about the resurrection body by studying the resurrection of Christ. Now, you've got to be careful. You don't fill in what it doesn't say. But you know, Christ rose from the dead. And while the Bible isn't entirely clear on it, I think he left the tomb long before that stone was rolled away. You see, the tomb didn't hold him in. He could go through the wall. Later that day, remember, he entered this room without the door opening. He went right through the wall. And I take it when we're raptured. We're now all going to go out the door. We're going to go right through the ceiling. Something about our body is such that these physical things will not deter us from accomplishing what God wants. We're going to have a new body. And so I don't think that he had to have the stone rolled away to get out. But the stone was rolled away for a purpose. And that was to let us in, to be absolutely sure that that the tomb was empty. I remember the women came and the first Mary Magdalene particularly didn't apparently understand that he was risen. And she and the other women came early in the morning. They found the door rolled away and an angel standing there. Now the other women apparently understood that he was risen, but Mary Magdalene apparently didn't. And she rushed back to tell the disciples his body was gone and someone had stolen the body of Christ. And then she came back the second time. And the Gospels tell how she saw Christ. And through her tears, she thought he was the gardener. And she said, Tell me where you place the body. I'll go and get it. Now, of course, she couldn't have done that. But she was beside herself. You know what Christ did? He just said, Mary. She recognized his voice. People say, Am I going to know people in heaven? Why, of course. You're not going to be somebody else. You're going to be the same person you were here. If you're white, you're going to be white. If you're black, you're going to be black. If you're Chinese, you're going to be Chinese. If you're whatever your nation is, you're going to look back there. You're going to be the same person throughout eternity. Now, I think God's going to give us a little beauty treatment. Some of us need it worse than others, you know. When God gets through, everybody's beautiful. That takes quite a bit of work in some cases. No, we're going to get a new body that's going to be a work of God's perfection, but it's going to be a resurrection body. And, you know, when Christ said Mary to her, the Scripture said that he says, do not hold on to me. Actually, the word is, do not embrace me. She just embraced him in her ecstasy. You see, she was a woman out of whom Christ had cast demons. And after her salvation, she followed him wherever she could in public meetings and listened to him. She loved him very dearly. Have you ever faced the question as to why Christ appeared to her first? Why not to Peter? Why not to his mother? The answer is she sought him most diligently, didn't she? She was first at the tomb, first the second time, and Christ appeared to her. The basic law of Scripture that Christ has communion with those that are seeking his face, and so that was her situation. A little bit later, perhaps within thirty minutes, the other women came back the second time, And the scriptures record that they fell at his feet and worshiped him and held his feet. Now, I take it his feet had the nail prints. Now, in our case, we're going to lose our disfigurement, whatever it is. I think we're going to have a perfect body. But in Christ's case, it is very important that the resurrection body be identified as the body that died, even though it was transformed now in resurrection. I take it the hands and the feet were pierced and the wound was in the side. And then you remember he talked to Peter, and the scripture don't tell us about that, but he denied his Lord three times. He had to get straightened out with the Lord. And then that same day on the road to Emmaus, that Sunday afternoon, he went with some of his disciples, and they were discussing this strange thing about Christ dying. And Christ approached them, and it says their eyes were holding. That is, they didn't recognize him. They were supernaturally blinded. So for about two hours, it would take that long to get out to Emmaus, to the west of Jerusalem. He explained to them the Old Testament scriptures, the Messianic prophecies. My, we just had a tape recorder. We could have taken it down. It would have been wonderful. And Christ lifts himself. Of course, there have been an Aramaic. He might have a few problems with that. But he explained it. And towards evening, they came to Amaz, and they invited him in for supper. And as he broke the bread, suddenly their eyes were opened. Now it's possible he saw the nail prince in his hand and he suddenly came alive. This is the Savior. And then he just disappeared. Well, they were so astounded they forgot all about their supper. They rushed back to Jerusalem and late that night they found the disciples in a room with a door locked. You see, they were afraid the Jews were going to come after them next and crucify them. And they were discussing today how he had appeared to the women and how he had appeared to Peter. And then he told them how he had appeared to them on the road to Emmaus. And while they were talking about it, suddenly Christ appeared. The door hadn't opened. And they were scared to death. I don't know if you ever met somebody who you thought was dead, have you? I remember hearing about a certain preacher and he had died. And I was walking through the Miami airport one time and came face to face with him. Well, I woke up in a hurry. What was I seeing? Well, it turned out the report of his death was exaggerated. He was very old, but he wasn't dead, so I was wrong. But you don't see people who have been resurrected, you see, very often, a man. And Christ had a jar of them into realizing that he was a real person. So he said, what do you have to eat? Well, that's a down-to-earth question. And they'd had broiled fish and honey for supper. That was a common meal there. And he ate something. I don't know if that teaches that we'll be able to eat in heaven. I know. For some people, it wouldn't be heaven if they couldn't eat, I'm afraid. But he ate something. And then he said to them, a spirit, that is a ghost, does not have flesh and bone. Very interesting. Now, there's a lot built on that because it doesn't say anything about blood. In our present life, blood is where the life is. We may have a different life principle in eternity. It'll keep our bodies going forever. I don't know exactly how to explain it. The Bible doesn't. but it will be flesh and bone. In other words, you'll have two legs, two arms, a head and a body, and you're going to look like a human being. You're going to look like yourself. And that's the way it's going to be throughout eternity. You're going to have a body that's going to last forever and ever and ever. Now, there's a natural question about this, how old will that body be? I never had a man ask that question, but the women sometimes want to know how old they're going to be in heaven. And I don't know, the Bible doesn't say, but In the Bible, thirty years is about the ideal between youth and age. The priests were thirty years of age when they began their ministry. Christ was a little bit more than thirty when he began his public ministry. So that seems to be sort of a balance between youth and age. And it's possible we'll all look like we're about thirty. Now that'll turn the clock back for some. You'll be amazed to see I have a beautiful head of hair once and a few other things. And we're going to see a few transformations in you too. Some of the wrinkles will be gone. and other things that will be a changed body. But you know, some women don't want to be thirty, so I think Christ will make an exception and make them twenty-nine. How's that? No, we're going to have a real body, a body that will last forever, a body to be suited for the worship and service of the Lord. And so he goes on here to explain this, that we will always be with the Lord. From then on, It's like getting married, you know, and the bridegroom comes for his bride. The bride stays with him from then on. She's his wife. And wherever Christ goes, we're going to be. It says we'll be forever with the Lord. And when he comes back in his second coming, as described in Revelation, we're going to talk about that on Friday night. We're going to be in that procession, and we're going to come back with him, and we'll be in the sphere of earth for a thousand years. There's a lot of questions to the Bible doesn't answer about that. but we're going to be with him. And then after our present earth and heaven is destroyed, after the thousand-year kingdom, and a new heaven, a new earth created, and in the new earth, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city, we're going to be in that heavenly city forever and ever. And that's going to be God's temple. It's going to be the home, I take it, of all the saints, not just the church. The names of Israel are on the twelve gates, you know. Israel's going to be there. The foundations are after the disciples of Christ. The church is going to be there. And then it speaks of the Gentiles that are saved being there. You see, all the saved of all ages will be in the new Jerusalem. Now they'll retain their identity, their individual identity, and their corporate identity. You'll always be a member of the church, the body of Christ. You'll always be the person you are now when they wonderfully transform. And that's going to continue forever. And after that, the Bible doesn't talk about any future prophetic events. But that's our glorious future. And it all begins with the rapture. Now tonight I want to talk about that because you know the exhortation is, therefore comfort one another with these words. The words that's translated comfort could be to exhort, to urge on, to encourage. This is intended to be a message to make us excited and fulfilling in our Christian life as we look forward to the coming of the Lord. seeking to serve him every day until Jesus comes. So this is the rapture of the church. To me, that's the most important doctrine in the whole prophetic scheme because it affects me so practically day by day have to live an expectation that the Lord may be coming even today. What a blessed hope. I hope that's your hope as well as mine. Now it's for Christians only. Obviously, an unsaved person doesn't participate in this. You have to trust in Christ your personal Savior in order to qualify. But if you are a Christian, then you're challenged by this doctrine to be living for Christ every day until Jesus comes. Shall we pray? Our Father, bless to our hearts this wonderful doctrine. Help us to understand it and to thrive on it and to be encouraged by it. We have so many problems in this life, some that can't be solved in time. How wonderful it be for the Lord to come, and so many problems will be instantly forever passed. So speak to our hearts according to our need, and may this be a joyous hope, a sanctifying hope, an energizing hope, causing us to be always abounding in the work of the Lord, and a comforting hope, a wonderful truth that God wants us to know and appreciate and look forward to its consummation. We ask it all now in Christ's precious name.