The rapture of the church is an imminent event, not preceded by specific signs, but rather by events that prepare for the major occurrences following it, such as the revival of the Roman Empire and the rise of a global dictator. While many passages are debated, the Bible does not support a post-tribulation rapture, as illustrated by the Noah account in Matthew 24 and Luke 17, where those 'taken' are judged, not saved. The sermon argues that the current global political and technological landscape aligns with prophetic timelines, suggesting the rapture could be very near. The primary preparation for this event is personal faith in Christ, which should also spur believers to actively serve and share the Gospel while awaiting His return.
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This entire week we've been dwelling on the idea that the rapture of the church is very near and giving some of the evidence for it. I believe the Bible does not give any signs of the rapture as such. You can look up every passage on the rapture. It never gives us a sign that tells us to look for him, not for the Antichrist or for anything that will follow, but to look for him as a daily expectation. This is the way it was given and The Thessalonian church, as we studied this morning in our nine-thirty hour, in First Thessalonians four, has offered to them as a daily possibility that they'd be rejoined to their loved ones, some of whom had died, because the Lord might be coming at any time.
But if there are no signs of the Lord's return, how can we know that it could be very near? And what I've been developing, of course, is what the Bible teaches about what will follow the rapture. And what we are seeing in our world today are not signs of the rapture, but signs of preparation for these major events that will follow the rapture. Now, if these are close and the signs are there for events that will follow the rapture, and the rapture is first, then it's obvious that the rapture could be very, very near. And I don't think it's any time in the history of the church when there's more reasons for believing in the daily coming.
possibility of any day the rapture occurring and we'll be on our way to heaven in order to understand this and have in mind the frame of reference we need to chart once again the major events that will follow the rapture we've been developing these in subsequent messages and evening and the first thing that's going to occur I believe it could even occur before the rapture but it'll certainly be true shortly afterwards and that is that the Roman Empire will be revived in the form of ten nations. We saw the background for this in Daniel chapter seven, that ten nations will emerge and be reunited in Europe, probably, possibly some other countries in the Mediterranean area, and form a revived Roman Empire.
And we saw how the recent changes in Europe, the falling of the Berlin Wall, And the nations since World War II not arming against each other as they have for centuries, but now in a friendly relationship in the common market. This is exactly the situation you'd expect if, as a matter of fact, even the secular world's predictions are fulfilled, that there's going to be a united states of Europe very soon. Of course, that's exactly what's going to happen in connection with the rapture and the days that follow. The second major event is that a dictator is going to arise, anticipated in Daniel seven, eight, the little horn of Daniel seven, that is going to conquer three of the ten countries, then apparently all ten, and he's going to end up as the major power of the Middle East.
That's step number two. Step number three, from that position of power, he will impose a seven-year covenant of peace on Israel. trying to settle the problem of Israel in relation to our neighbors in the Middle East. This peace treaty is going to be observed for three and a half years, and Israel will be able to relax their military preparation. It protects them now and depend upon this ruler. And then suddenly, in the middle of that last seven years, this ruler has reached such power politically that he's able to proclaim himself dictator over the whole world. At the same time, he claims to be God and demands that everybody worship him, and he also lies himself with Satan.
So as you follow him and worship him, you're also worshiping Satan, the final form of satanic substitution of religion for the true faith in Christ. And this brings about what the Bible calls the great tribulation that we saw in previous messages. Christ himself said this period would be unprecedented, never anything like it. never anything afterwards, so terrible that if he didn't stop it by his second coming, there wouldn't be any human beings left. Last evening we traced through this scriptures, particularly the Book of Revelation, that describe this awful period of devastation for the whole world that probably destroys eighty to ninety percent of the people in the world in that three and a half year period.
It ends up in a world war as nations begin to rebel against this ruler, and that continues right up to the day of the second coming of Christ. Now, the fact that we're living in a time when the Roman Empire could be revived, when we're already talking about the United States of Europe, when we're talking about a dictator who eventually become a world ruler, all of these things add up to the idea that we're living in that day that is just before these events. As I pointed out, earlier, in our modern world, we now have all the components for our world government. We have rapid transportation. We have immediate communication. We have a computer, the large computers that can keep track of the financial transactions of the world.
And we also have missile warfare, which will be in the hands of this dictator, which will help him gain control over the world. And all of these things have come about in the lifetime of many of us here tonight. So we're living in times of very much change and development that is related to the prophetic word that makes us realize that something is about to happen. And I believe that something is the rapture of the church. Now you bear in mind, however, that many Bible scholars and the church as a whole has not accepted this idea. And through the centuries they have attempted to put the rapture and the second coming together as the same event.
And that has continued until our generation. There are still many godly people who believe that the rapture is going to follow this time of trouble. I pointed out last evening the difficulties this position is in because while they earlier disregarded completely the time of tribulation said it's just the time of trouble we have now, but of course it's What we have now doesn't compare to what Christ said would be unprecedented and what the Book of Revelation describes as a terrible time of judgment. Nothing like this has ever occurred. And they have a problem now because First Thessalonians five, nine says that we are not to enter the day of wrath as the world will.
Well, the Great Tribulation is a day of wrath, as we pointed out last evening from chapter six on. It pictures these great catastrophes which are described as the wrath of God poured out in a Christ-rejecting world with devastating results for everyone living in the world. And so they have a problem. But they still persist in saying that the rapture comes after the tribulation. And so tonight I'd like to go through some of their reasons for this. And I think when you get all through, you'll come to the same conclusion that I did, that there isn't a single verse anywhere that teaches a post-tribulation rapture.
It simply is not in the Bible. And much as they try to find it in one passage after another, when you examine the passage carefully, they just do not teach this. Now, bear in mind that the rapture is a double event. It's a translation of living Christians and taking them to heaven. And it's also a resurrection of Christians who have died, who will receive resurrection bodies. So a rapture is these two elements of resurrection and translation. And there isn't any other rapture in the future. As far as scriptures are concerned, there are some resurrections, yes, but not a resurrection of the church and not a resurrection of the other people involved, such as the Old Testament saints.
That's still future. We believe when the rapture occurs, a church will be raptured, but from then on there is no more rapture of living people. Now, about thirty years ago, I wrote a book called The Rapture Question, in which I presented the theological arguments for a pre-tribulation rapture. That is a rapture before this end-time trouble. But I find that that theological approach is a little difficult for some people, unless they're trained theologians, And so I went back more than ten years ago now and added one hundred pages to the book and methodically went through every passage in the Bible that is discussed in connection with the rapture or the second coming of Christ.
Asking the question, is there any evidence in any passage that the rapture occurs in connection with the second coming? I came up empty-handed. I don't think there is such a passage. Now go with me as we journey through these passages, which they themselves bring up, some of them at least, as evidence, and we find the evidence slips through our fingers that simply isn't there. Now the first passage to teach, go to, is Matthew thirteen. And you'll bear in mind that Matthew thirteen is Christ's answer to the question, what about the kingdom of the Old Testament? You see, the Jews expected him to bring in his glorious kingdom, and he didn't.
because the second coming is still future, and that's when the glorious kingdom would be fulfilled. And so for the first time, the Bible opens the door to the revelation of what's occurring in this present age. Now the age in Matthew thirteen isn't just the church age, though that's involved, but it's the whole period from the first coming of Christ that is appearing in the world to his second coming. It includes all these elements between the first and second coming. because in the Old Testament the first and second coming seemed to be put together and a lot of people thought of the same event now we learn that this extended period of time now more than nineteen hundred years between the two comings of Christ and so he explains this and there's a number of parables here or illustrations well the first one you remember is the parable of the field with the wheat and the tares and he points out how they grow up together The tares are weeds that look a lot like wheat in the early stage, but of course do not produce wheat.
But he tells us that this has to grow up together until the harvest. When the harvest comes, the tares and the wheat are separated. It says in verse thirty of Matthew thirteen, let both grow together until the harvest. At the time of the harvest, I'll say to the reapers, first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. And they point out how the order is to gather the tares first, and then the wheat. They say that's contradictory to the rapture tooth. Then later on in the passage, it deals with the nets, you remember, where the good and bad fish are gathered, and then he has to separate the good and the bad fish.
dragnet beginning in verse forty seven he says in verse forty nine so it will be at the end of the age the angel will come forth and separate the wicked from among the just and gather them into the furnace of fire there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and they say there's no rapture there of course they're right there isn't and why there isn't any rapture because there isn't any rapture at the second coming in other words this passage is talking about the second coming of Christ not the rapture and has no bearing whatever upon the issue that's before us. Now, one of their choice verses, which practically every post-tribulational book brings up, is found in Matthew twenty four.
And we agree that in Matthew twenty four, Christ is answering the question of signs of the end of the age. And he gives them signs, general signs first, and then the specific sign, the sign of the second coming. And the lightning will shine from the east to the west, and Christ will return in power and glory. Now, you remember, in connection with this, he gives a series of illustrations and applications. And in connection with this, he uses Noah as an illustration. And in verse thirty-six, he says this, But of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven, but my father only.
but as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as the days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving and marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know till the flood came and took them all away, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken in the other left. See there? They say it's a rapture. At the second coming. Everybody agrees that's the second coming. One will be taken and the other left. What's the problem with that? It completely reverses the illustration. At the time of the flood, who was taken away?
Is the people outside the ark? What happened to them? They drowned. That's just the opposite of the rapture. You see, in the time of the second coming, the saved person stays, you see. And that's why illustration of Noah is good, because he stayed through the flood. But the one who is taken is taken and put to death. Now they try to argue around that. But it's obvious that they're taking illustration that doesn't illustrate the rapture. First of all, if you look at that, you'll see there's no mention of resurrection. There's no mention of rapture. Where are these people taken who are taken? Well, here we have an answer that all the post-tribulations just totally avoid.
It's rather interesting. How they avoid the scriptures that contradict them. And that's true of this also. Turn to me to Luke chapter seventeen. And here in this passage we have a parallel. And it says in verse thirty-four of Luke seventeen, I tell you in that night there will be two men in one bed and one will be taken the other left. Two women will be grinding together, one will be taken on the other left. Two men will be taken on the field, one shall be taken on the other left. Is that the rapture? Well, Rita, they answered and said, Lord, where?
You know what he said? In other words, where were they taken? He said, wherever the body is, there the eagles or the vultures will be gathered together. See, this is not a rapture. This is just the opposite. You see, at the second coming of Christ, the one who is left is the saved person. He goes into the millennial kingdom to repopulate the earth in the thousand-year reign of Christ. The one who is taken and put to death is the unsaved person. So the one who is taken is not raptured. He's put to death. It's just the opposite of the rapture. And so this verse which they all quote and try to apply to a post-tribulation rapture, because the only verse that even approaches teaching post-tribulationism When you examine it, it just teaches exactly the opposite.
In other words, it doesn't provide this scripture. Now they go through the Bible and try to find some other ways. I pointed out they used to, years ago, just ignore the tribulation entirely and say Christ could come at any time. And if he did, he would come from heaven to the air above the earth. And we'd be raptured. We'd go up to meet him. Then we'd make a U-turn and come back with him. Now the problem, of course, is the Bible doesn't teach that. There's no verse that tells us that at all. And we're going to see tomorrow night as we study the doctrine of second coming, there isn't any rapture at the second coming. There isn't even any resurrection on the day of a second coming.
You see, that occurs later as the scriptures make plain and we'll be explaining that tomorrow evening. There is no rapture and no resurrection there. But they try to find it there. But now they have a problem. If the church is in the world through the tribulation, right up to the time of the second coming, then they have to go through the period of wrath. And the book of Revelation makes it very plain that the tribulation is a time of wrath. And they don't want that, and so they have to do something with it. And so they come through various expedients. And they try to find the book of Revelation some other place where the rapture could take place. And so they go through the Bible and try to find it.
And one of the places that they come to is Revelation chapter eleven. Now, this is a very interesting passage because it's talking about two witnesses that bear a faithful witness for three and a half years in the Great Tribulation, and they're protected, even though they preach the truth from the enemies and Satan. But after three and a half years, God allows them to be put to death. And the scriptures record how their bodies are allowed to lie on the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days. And the world just rejoices and extends gifts because now these enemies of theirs are put to death, these servants of God.
And then as they watch, suddenly they're resurrected and go to heaven. At the same time, there's a terrible earthquake and five thousand people are killed in the city of Jerusalem. Now they say that's the rapture. After all, it's a resurrection, isn't it? Yes. Of whom? Two people. Who are these? They live in the Great Tribulation. But this is not the church. And where is the rapture of the living? It isn't there. This is not the rapture of the church. Yet they seize upon this scripture as if it proves their point and it doesn't prove anything at all. Now they still go on to another scripture. And this is in connection with the seven trumpets of God, trumpets of angels.
And you remember in chapter seven of Revelation and following, it talks about the seven trumpets. And the last trumpet is the seventh trumpet. And this sounds, according to Scripture, in verse chapter eleven, verse fifteen, it says, the seventh angel sounded. And there was a loud voice in heaven saying, The kings of this world have become the kings of our Lord and his Christ. He shall reign forever. And it refers to this as the last trump. Now they say, after all, doesn't First Corinthians fifteen talk about the rapture occurring at the last trump?
Therefore the rapture has to occur here. You know, it's amazing how intelligent men can take up a position that just isn't intelligent at all. The word last is not a technical word. It always refers to an end-time event. But there are many last trumpets. You know, some people who try to expouse this view go to Leviticus XXIII, where they have the harvest, you know. They said, this is the rapture. And it speaks of the last day. There's a man out in California that thinks that Christ is coming September seventh, because he thinks that's the last day of harvest in September. What he overlooks is the fact that there's a last day every year.
Not just one. There's many last days. And there's last days for harvest. There's last days for the church. There's last days for Israel. It depends on whom you're talking about. I think this comes to light, especially in our school situations. You know, we have classes. And most schools have a system of bells. And suppose in the classes start at eight o'clock, what happens? There's a bell. What does it mean? Well, it's the last bell for the period before the class. It's the first bell for the class. See what I mean? Now, at the end of the class, there's another bell. That's the last bell for the class, but it's the first bell for the intermission.
And then ten minutes later, there's another first bell, but it's also the last bell of the intermission. You see, you get first and last, first, and last again and again and again in Scripture. And to take simply the word last and try to build a doctrine on it, It's simply not good sense, because that's not the way the word means, what the word means. So the last trumpet of the church is, of course, our final call. We're going to go to heaven. That's the first Corinthians, fifteen talking about. But the last trumpet of the angel is a trumpet of judgment. God pours out judgments on the world. And, of course, the last trumpet signals what follows, that is, the seven vials of the bowls of the wrath that are described in Revelation sixteen.
Now you see, as we come to these passages, we have actually several different views involved that deny the pre-trib view. You have the post-trib view, tries to carry the church through it, and there simply is no scripture that supports it. There isn't a single verse that teaches a rapture at the time of the second coming. And they insist on it, but it's not there. But it's rather interesting that the mid-tribulation view that puts the rapture in the middle of that last seven years takes the same scriptures. Well, obviously it can't be the middle and the end both, and they both are wrong. You see, the seventh trumpet is not the end. They're still the seven bowls of the wrath of God. You see, this is not what it's teaching.
Now, we also have more recently a book that some of you know about called the pre-wrath rapture. And I agree that the rapture is before the wrath of God. But the writer of this book tries to hold that there is no wrath until Revelation He claims to have read all the literature in the field. You know, I read the entire book. In fact, the publisher sent to me for my critique before he ever published it. And I pointed out how he showed no awareness of the literature in the field. Not one time in the entire book does he ever face the fact that every argument he brings up has been refuted before. He doesn't answer them. He just dogmatically ignores them.
And so he says there is no wrath before Revelation sixteen. You don't have to be a great Bible scholar to know that's wrong. Where did the wrath mention first? Chapter six. And as we saw last evening, a fourth of the world is destroyed in that fourth seal. Certainly that's the wrath of God. It says so in the same chapter. And then we have the seven trumpets, you know, and the sixth trumpet kills a third of the world. Certainly this is the wrath of God. It's now down to fifty percent for the world population. No, that's not the wrath of God. It's the wrath of men. Men don't do things like that. They can't affect these pestilences and stars falling from heaven and famine and all the other things that are brought about according to Scripture by God's judgment on the world.
No, the wrath of God begins in chapter six. And you can't do as he does put the rapture at the beginning of chapter sixteen because actually there's nothing there to affirm it. Now you say, why are you doing all this argument? Well, the fact is many godly men differ with us on this. And they hold this in spite of the fact that there's no evidence for it. And a lot of people of the Lord are not prepared for the rapture because they don't know it's coming. In fact, in most churches, it's not even preached, one way or the other, that it's don't talk about it. And the average Christian in America, they don't even know what the word rapture means. You've got to explain it to them. And when I come in prophecy conferences in various parts of the country and preach on it, so often somebody comes up to me and said, I never heard the word before.
I've never heard a prophecy sermon before. That's pitiful, in the light of God's wonderful, wonderful word of God. And so as we study the scriptures, what do we find? We find there simply is no evidence for it. The evidence in the Bible all points to the conclusion that the rapture is an imminent event. That's the way it is presented in the first century, and that's the way it's still presented in the Bible. It's something that could happen any time. But then as we look at our world situation, what do we discover? We discover there's been tremendous changes in the last fifty years. Today, Europe is a different place. As President Bush told us, of course, the fact is that Europe now has peace.
And as I pointed out in a previous message, the reason for this is with the advent of the atomic bomb, it would be suicide for Europe to bring on a war, because both sides have the bomb. And both sides could obliterate the other nation. So war there doesn't accomplish any purpose. And so they're not having war instead. They're having peaceful relations as indicated in the common mark. Now the common mark, it's not this future government, but it's the climate in which that future government can be born and prosper. And that's exactly even what the secular world is producing. So as you look at our world today, we see in every hand, evidences. that the Lord may be coming very soon because our world scene is getting ready for the final drama that will end with the second coming of Christ.
But before that ever happens, the rapture of the church is going to take place. Now, that's my expectation. That's what I'm trying to teach, and that's what I'm trying to exhort you to be looking, not for the Antichrist. It's amazing to me how many Bible teachers today are talking about the Antichrist, who is he and what is he? We don't know and we can't find out even. The Bible tells us that before the rapture, he won't be identifiable. I mentioned earlier in one of the prophecy conferences I was in, one of the speakers spent a whole hour trying to prove that King Alfonso was the Antichrist. Of course, I think he's wrong. There's been hundreds of such nominations through the history of the church.
Everyone has been wrong. You think they'd learn their lesson. The Bible does not give us that information. Now, when he comes on the scene, we're going to be talking about that tomorrow in the morning hour, and again tomorrow night, when he comes on the scene, he'll be discernible. You see, he's going to be the one that's going to conquer the three countries and then the ten, something that hasn't happened yet. But he won't be revealed until after the rapture of the church. So it's good looking for him. But the world scene is set up for it now. We're talking about democracy. The Bible doesn't recognize democracy. It may be the best form of government we can have in this sinful world, but the end time government isn't a democracy.
It's a dictatorship. And this dictator over the ten nations becomes a dictator over the whole world. And it's a government from the top in which the people are not consulted. And they're the victims of this evil situation that's going to overtake the world. Now this, of course, all adds up to a very practical question as I've tried to drive home every night, and that is if the Lord's coming soon. Are you ready? I mentioned, I think, that I was on a two-hour question-and-answer program in California recently with this gentleman who thinks the Lord's coming September seventh, and we were open to questions called in from the radio.
all over the country as they called him to ask questions. They could ask him questions or ask me questions, and then the second person could answer the question also. And so they questioned him in all this, and of course I questioned him too, and the announcer questioned him. What is the evidence? And he said, well, it's in the Bible. You know he's produced a big book like this, five hundred pages, entitled, He's had it translated in other languages. He's a wealthy man. He's distributed all over the world. Then he's written a second book, which has a good title. Are you ready? Yes, that's a good question. But you open the book, it's just a rehash of what the first book says, just trying to prove Christ is coming September seventh.
He's not coming September seventh. He may come before that. I think any date that's selected is probably the exact date. He's not coming because the Bible doesn't teach that. But I told the radio station that I'd be glad to come back September eighth and discuss the matter. You know, the best reputation of false prophecies to wait till the day, and it's always been wrong so far. Even the Bible says that's the test of prophecy. And the reason I believe that the Bible prophecies are true is because in my own search in writing the handbook on prophecy, The fact is that five hundred passages have already been literally fulfilled.
You know that's an intelligent proof that the Bible is inspired. No human person could write that. And no group of perhaps forty or more men who wrote the scriptures could get together on something like this. There had to be guidance from God and revelation from God before they could predict these future events, which in the course of history have already been fulfilled. Many of them in connection with the first coming of Christ. You see, our desire and our wish that Christ had come is not just wishful thinking. It's based upon explicit prophecies that says he's coming. And just as his first coming seemed unlikely that God could become man, that he could be born of a virgin, live among men, perform miracles, preach and then die, and then be resurrected.
How can you imagine anything more unlikely? than for a God-man to go through that experience. Yet he did, because that is exactly what the Bible teaches. In fact, you know in II Peter chapter three, where it talks about unbelief in connection with the second coming of Christ, and they argue in their unbelief that all things have continued as they were since the beginning of creation. In other words, run by natural law. They're wrong, of course. Every prediction of prophecy and its fulfillment is supernatural. Christ is supernatural, his miracles are supernatural, he's a supernatural person, and when he comes again, he's going to come supernaturally. You see, this is not natural law, and they're wrong.
But the real trouble with these skeptics is not unbelief in the second coming, it's unbelief in the first coming. If you really believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and he rose again in triumph in the grave, that he's indeed the Son of God, And what he said is absolutely true. You'll have to believe in a rapture because he introduced the doctrine in John fourteen. You'll have to believe in a second coming of Christ. You'll have to believe in a great tribulation that the Bible speaks of. Christ himself said it's unprecedented. So terrible that the world would be destroyed if he didn't stop it. All these things are predictions that you can test out, you see. But in as much as the predictions of the past have been fulfilled, these predictions of the future will be likewise fulfilled.
And while sometimes it seems very unreal at one of these days, there'll be a shot from the blue and every Christian will be instantly gone. It's all going to be in a twinkling of an eye. I personally don't think the world's going to see much. You know when Paul or Saul was on the road to Damascus to prosecute Christians there and persecute them, you remember Christ appeared to him? and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And Saul said, who art thou Lord? And Jesus said, he was Jesus whom he persecuted. And he said, what will thou have me to do?
Immediate faith in the glorious Lord that he saw. You know what the scriptures say about the people with him? They heard a noise, but they didn't hear any words. Now at the rapture, there may be a clap of thunder or something. There may be something like that that people look around. But the important thing is that the church will be gone. Now, personally, I believe when the rapture occurs, there's going to be some very interesting things appearing in the newspaper that night explaining it. I wish I was around to read the article to be very interesting. You see how they explain it? But there's going to be a lot of people that won't take that silly answer, try to explain it.
They'll go to the Bible. But people have Bibles. And especially Jewish people have Bibles. You know, over in Israel, they read the New Testament in the high school. That's more than we can do here. You know, a professor in Southern California started out his class the new semester by taking a Bible, throwing it on the ground, and stamping on it. That was legal. If he'd have picked it up and read it, that would have been illegal. Crazy thing for a nation that says on its coins in God we trust, that they ruled out the scriptures from the Bible, from the public schools and from the universities because they think it's mixing church and state. No, it's mixing truth with error, you see.
We're contradicting the error of the public school system and the humanism that's taught there. No, Christ is coming, and he's coming very soon. When he comes, it's going to be a real coming. And he's going to gather Christians up. Christians who have died will be resurrected. There'll be wonderful family reunions there. Christians who are living will be translated. And as I pointed out previously, and as we studied this morning in a morning class, our bodies will suddenly be made over into bodies that are patterned after the resurrection of Christ. We'll still look like ourselves, still have the same body, but it'll be a transformed body, a body of flesh and bone, as Christ explained. And we're going to meet the Lord in the air and be forever with the Lord.
Now, the whole purpose of my message is this week... to emphasize the fact that it could be very soon. And when it happens, it's going to be very real, literal fulfillment. And the important question is, are you ready? Now, the basic preparation, of course, is simply trusting in Christ your personal Savior. I've tried to emphasize that, and I think most of you understand that. The secondary question is, what are you doing about it? In my case, it spurs me on to preach. It'd be very easy when you get older to just relax and get a rocking chair and get it one side, you know, but I believe I've got a commission to preach and I'm going to preach as long as I can and try to excite the people of God with this very exciting event that's about to take place.
You know, I think there's nothing that could possibly happen that would be more exciting than to see the Savior face to face. in one of these days perhaps very soon it's going to happen and i hope you're ready ready because you've trusted christ and ready because you've committed your life to him and making it count for him as best you can every day while we wait always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord so may god grant now tomorrow night i want to talk on the second coming of christ and i want you to see how Totally different event, that is, from the rapture and how the outcome is different, how the context is different, but that it's a certain future event that we can anticipate when God deals with this wicked world in judgment, as He certainly promised He will.
And it could be our generation, if the rapture occurs in our generation, this will be also for our generation when these great events take place when Christ comes to fulfill His predictive work. So may we be ready, may be looking forward eagerly to the coming of our Lord. For we ask Him, and we want the Lord to hear our prayers, even so come Lord Jesus, as the final prayer of the Bible is in Revelation, even so come, Lord Jesus. That was John's prayer as he witnessed the great stirring events described in the book of Revelation. And that's our prayer tonight as well. Shall we pray? Our Father, how grateful we are for thy word.
And this wonderful, wonderful truth that Christ is coming. How can we emphasize it enough? How can we anticipate it enough? It's so indescribably wonderful that Christ is coming. And help us to realize that the facts are piling up, not just wishful thinking, but solid facts, that it could be very, very soon. So speak to our hearts according to our needs. How wonderful it will be to see our loved ones in heaven again, perhaps very soon. And how wonderful it will be to relieve from all the cares and problems of this life and to be forever in His glorious presence.
How we thank you, Lord, for your marvelous grace that saved us and made these promises real and precious to us.