Showers, Renald: Prophecy Conference-2004-03 ~ The Rapture-2

They're teaching the imminency of Christ's return. Turn with me, if you would, please, to First Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 10. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse ten, where the Apostle Paul is indicating the attitude, the outlook, the expectation that the Thessalonian believers had in the first century. And he says, and to wait for his son, for God's son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. The verb form translated to wait, like the, the Greek word in that verb form translated to wait literally means to wait up for, is what it literally means, to wait up for. And the idea is that the Thessalonian Christians had the attitude of waiting up for Jesus to come from heaven, to take them to be with him. And a- again, the concept behind that is that people don't go to bed at their normal time. They wait up beyond their normal time for going to bed, and the reason they do is because they anticipate that an expected guest could arrive at any moment. If they knew that expected guest could not arrive, say, for another five hours, they'd go to bed at their normal time and set their alarm to wake them up at the time that they knew that he would arrive. Interestingly, the tense of the verb form that Paul transfers to wait here has the idea of continuous action. And what Paul is saying is that Thessalonian Christians continuously had the expectancy or the attitude that Jesus could come from heaven at any moment. And therefore, the idea is we want to be spiritually alert every moment of every day, not asleep. We want to be spiritually alert every moment of every day for him to come to the door of heaven and catch us up to be with him. And New Testament scholars dealing with this said Paul is emphasizing the imminency of Christ's return, and they believed it. He could come at any moment. Now, what's intriguing is Paul did not say to them, you're wrong for having that attitude, that expectation. Rather apparent, he believed the same thing as they did. Where did they get that idea from? Well, when you read the book of Acts, when Paul went there and presented the gospel, uh, there to the Thessalonians for the first time they'd ever heard it, and a whole group of people there got saved, even though Paul could stay there only a brief period of time because intense persecution broke out against him, and those new believers were concerned for his life, and they got him out of there in a hurry. But he makes it very clear later on in First Thessalonians that he wrote to them after he left that he'd already taught them eschatology, even though they were newborn babes in Christ. He'd already taught them future events, and later on, perhaps tomorrow morning, we're going to see he'd al- already taught them about the rapture, and he'd already taught them about the future day of the Lord that was going to come upon planet Earth, when God's wrath would be poured out upon the world. You know, tragically, there are a lot of pastors today, a lot of believers say today, well, a newborn babe in Christ, we're not going to teach them about future events. That's too deep, that's too difficult, that's not significant. Paul didn't think that way. They were newborn babes, and he was already teaching them, uh, God's plan and purpose for the future and the implications that had for them. And as a result, they had the expectancy, the anticipation that Jesus could come at any moment and take them to be with him. A second significant passage that the New Testament scholars pointed out, where the imminency of Christ's return is, is being presented, is in the book of James, chapter five. The book of James, chapter five, and we begin with verse seven. Again, James chapter five verse seven. He's writing to believers. Be patient you therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it until he received the early and latter rain. Be you also patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, literally has drawn near. What it literally says, the coming of the Lord has drawn near. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge stands before the door. Now notice, James is talking about a future coming of Christ, and the way he describes that future coming, the end of verse eight is that the coming of the Lord has drawn near. He uses a, a Greek tense of verbs here that is referring to something that was completed in the past, but it continues on to the present. The results of that completed action continues on to the present. And so what he's saying at the end of verse eight is, Christ coming from heaven had already drawn near in the past before James wrote his epistle, and Christ coming from heaven continues to be present right up to the present while he's writing his epistle. The end of verse nine, the judge stands before the door. It's the same tense of the verb here for stand. And what he's saying is, before I wrote my epistle, Jesus had already taken a stand at the door of heaven in a genuine sense, and there's a genuine sense in which he continues to stand at the door of heaven as the judge. And scholar after scholar, our researcher has said he's trying to drive home to his readers that Christ could step through that door of heaven at any moment, and they'd be caught up to meet him in the air, in the rapture. Now notice, he describes him as the judge standing before the door. There are implications in the word of God that the first thing that will happen to church saints when they return with Christ from above the earth at the rapture back to the Father's house in heaven, the first thing that will happen to them is they're going to stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ, at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, not to evaluate whether they're saved or not, because, uh, if they weren't saved, they wouldn't be up there at that point. They wouldn't be raptured out of the world. So it has nothing to do with whether they're saved or not, but more to evaluate, for example, their ministries. And did you use your God-given abilities to minister we entrusted you as a stewardship, uh, when you were supposed to use them and how you were supposed to use them, and with proper motives. Judgment seat of Christ. And so notice here, he's describing Jesus standing at the door of heaven as the judge, as the judge. And again, the scholars are saying he's trying to drive home the point. His coming is near at all points, and he's standing at the door as the judge at all points of time. And therefore, he could step through that door of heaven at any moment. We're going to be face to face with him, and then return with him to heaven and stand before him at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, notice what he said in the verse nine: grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be condemned. He said the fact that Jesus could come at any moment should motivate you to live the right kind of life and how you treat your fellow believers, because the next moment he may step through the door of heaven and you're face to face with him. Now, that says something to us. You know, a lot of people say, well, you know, pre-trib, mid-trib, three-quarter trib, post-trib, I could care less. I'm pro-trib. I'm for the rapture. I'm, I'm for the rapture. It doesn't matter when it happened. What, what difference does it make? Well, James was pointing out it makes a very practical difference. The fact that Jesus could come at any moment, God intends to have a purifying effect upon our lives as believers, and to encourage us to be living holy, godly, Christ-honoring lives. Every moment of every day. Because the very next moment, we may be face to face with the Lord Jesus. The Apostle John, in First John chapter two and verse twenty eight, writing to believers, and now little children, abide in him, abide in Christ. He's talking here to Christians. They're already abiding in Christ as far as eternal salvation is concerned, but in this context he means keep or maintain a right spiritual relationship or fellowship with the Lord Jesus. And again, the by- abide here, the tense has the idea of continuous action. Continuously abide in Christ in the sense that you're maintaining proper fellowship with him, moment by moment, day by day. Here's why. That when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Again, John is indicating the fact that Jesus could come at any moment should make a difference in how we live as believers, moment by moment, day by day. Because again, in the very next moment, Jesus may step through that door of heaven, and we're caught up to meet him in the air and be face to face with him, then return with him to the Father's house in heaven and stand before him at the judgment seat of Christ. A purifying effect that God intends of this concept. Now, let's take this imminency of Christ's return that's taught here in the New Testament and apply it, uh, to the different views concerning the time of the rapture. To my knowledge, at least to this point of the, of those who hold different positions I've read, advocates of all the views believe that the tribulation hasn't started yet. In light of that, those who hold to the mid-tribulation rapture view, which says that Christ, uh, will not come, cannot come until the exact middle of the future tribulation period to rapture the church out of the world, are therefore saying he can't come for at least another three and a half years. When you say that, you've destroyed imminency, because then it can't be at any moment. It can't be at any moment. Uh, those who hold to the pre-wrath rapture view, which says that he, he can't come and rapture the church out of the world until about three-fourths of the way through this seven year period of time. Therefore, say he can't come and rapture the church for at least another five to five and a half years. And as soon as you say that, that destroys imminency. Then it's not an imminent return. It can't be at any moment. In fact, uh, the men that developed that view are two personal friends of mine. And when they met with me, uh, good many years ago for the better part of a day to present their view, they asked, do you see any problem with this view? And I said, well, to be honest with you, I'm not sure I clearly understand everything you're saying yet, but yes, there does seem to be one problem from my perspective. But what it, what is it? I said, it seems to me that this view destroys the imminency of Christ's return to rapture the church. And they said, nowhere does the Bible teach the imminency of Christ's return, and totally reject that view. Then according to the post-tribulation rapture view, which says that he won't rapture the church out of the world until after the end of the seven-year tribulation period, according to that view, therefore, he can't come and rapture the church for at least another seven years. And as soon as you say that, that destroys the New Testament teaching of the imminency of Christ's return. Of the four views, the only view that comfortably fits the New Testament teaching of the imminency of Christ's return is the pre-tribulation rapture view. And according to that view, many things may happen between now and the rapture of the church, but biblically there's nothing now that must happen before Christ comes to rapture the church out of the world, and therefore we believe he could come at any moment. And now many things must happen biblically before the second coming. All the events of the seven-year tribulation period have to transpire before the second coming of Christ, so that's not imminent. But the only, the only view that comfortably fits this New Testament teaching of this imminency of Christ's return is the pre-tribulation rapture view that believes it's in any moment coming of the Lord Jesus, and therefore he could step through the door of heaven at any moment. He may do so before we leave this auditorium this day, and uh, we should be ready every moment of every day to meet the Lord Jesus, and what a glorious time it'll be, but we want to meet him with confidence and not be ashamed for the way we were living when he steps to the door of heaven with a shout of the archangel, the trump of God, and snatches us up from the earth to meet him in the air. The third implication concerning the time of the rapture of the church, and this is related to the seventy-week prophecy in Daniel chapter nine. and so if you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me, please, to Daniel chapter nine, uh, beginning with verse twenty four. God sent the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel to reveal to him God's long-range future program of chastening of the people of Israel. And in verse twenty four, Gabriel said to Daniel, seventy sevens are determined upon your people and your holy city. Now, he's saying seventy periods of time. Each, uh, one of those seventy periods of time will consist of seven years. The Hebrew literally says seventy sevens are determined. If you go to Leviticus chapter twenty five, we find that early in Israel's national history, God gave them a unique calendar system divided into seven-year year segments. In each one of those periods, the first six years, they were to till the soil of the earth to grow food, but every seventh year, they were to allow the soil of the earth to rest as a sabbatic year. And so Gabriel is saying, in this long range future program God has determined for Israel and their city of Jerusalem, he has developed seventy periods of time, each one of those periods consists of seven years. So seventy times seven, a total of four hundred ninety years in this prophecy altogether. Now, there's some important things to see about this and implications they have with regard to the rapture of the church. The first important thing to note is that Gabriel says that all seventy weeks, all seventy periods of seven years are determined upon Israel and Jerusalem. This is God's program exclusively and uniquely for the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem. It is not his program for the church. So again, we've got to keep that in mind. This is God's program for Israel. It is not his program for the church. When you go on in the following verses, Gabriel indicated that when God would begin this unique program for Israel, and then would count off the first four hundred eighty three years, in other words, be the first sixty nine periods of seven years, from the time it would start until the end of the first four hundred eighty three years of this prophecy, Messiah would be present in the land of Israel and would be doing something very significant. And the question is, what would be that significant thing? Well, Gabriel said, unto Messiah the Prince. What's a prince, a future king? This was God's way of foretelling that at the end of the first four hundred eighty three years of this unique program for Israel, Messiah would be present in the nation of Israel, would be officially presenting himself to the nation of Israel as its prince or future king. Now, interestingly, another prophet of God in the five hundreds BC, the prophet Zechariah, in chapter nine, verse nine, recorded revelation God gave to him in which he said, Jerusalem, here's how you will know your king. He will come riding into you on the back of the foal of a donkey. That's what Jesus did in fulfillment of that prophecy on the day of his triumphal entry in the city of Jerusalem. And so God was foretelling that the first four hundred eighty three years of this prophecy would end with that triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. That was his way of officially presenting himself to the nation as its prince or future king. But the next important thing to note about this prophecy is that the last period of seven years, the seventieth week of seven years, did not follow immediately after the end of the first four hundred and eighty three years. There's a gap of time in between, and we don't have the time this evening to give you the reasons why, but there are at least four or five reasons that indicate very clearly there's a gap of time. That last period of seven years has not yet begun, and that means that you and I right now are living in that gap of time between the end of the first four, uh, sixty periods of seven years and the beginning of the seventieth period of seven years. Now, he- here's how this has significance with regard to the time of the rapture of the church. Keep in mind, this was God's program exclusively and uniquely for Israel. It has nothing to do with the church. In light of this, it's fascinating to note that God did not bring the church into existence during any part of the first four hundred and eighty three years of this prophecy. Church was not here at all during the first four hundred and eighty three years of this prophecy of God's program for Israel. But then it's fascinating to note that less than two months after God interrupted this unique program for Israel with this gap of time, God brought the church into existence on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. Jesus made his triumphal entry to Jerusalem at the end of the four hundred eighty three years. Several days later, Daniel was told he'd be cut off with a violent death. He was crucified. Then, uh, a number of days after presenting himself in his resurrection form to over five hundred people, he left the earth and ascended to, uh, God in heaven, took his seat there, and ten days after Jesus ascended, the church was born on the day of Pentecost, there in Acts chapter two. God did not have the church here at all during any part of the first four hundred and three years of this unique program for Israel, and the fact that he brought it into existence less than two months after God interrupted that program strongly implies that God does not intend the church to be here on the earth during any part of this entire seventy-week prophecy program for Israel. And so that would strongly imply that before God picks up this program for Israel with the last period of seven years, he shall remove the church by rapture from the earth, and then after that resume this unique program of chastening Israel during that last period of seven years. So this has an implication to the effect that he will remove the church by rapture before that last period of seven years of this unique program for Israel of chasing it to bring Israel back in the right relationship with him and acceptance of his son as Israel's Messiah and Savior. Now, closely related to this seventy-week prophecy is a fourth implication concerning the time of the rapture. And that fourth implication is references to the church and Israel on earth, references to the church and Israel on earth during the seventieth week of Daniel nine, during that seven-year period. References to the church and Israel on earth in the book of Revelation, uh, during that seventieth week of Daniel nine. Interesting thing. The book of Revelation refers to the church in twenty four verses, but what's intriguing is there's not one reference to the church on earth in chapters four through eighteen of the book of Revelation, which are chapters related to the seven-year tribulation or the seventieth week of Daniel nine. That seems to imply the church will not be here on the earth during that period of time covered by those chapters in the book of Revelation. By contrast, Revelation refers to Israel or to the Jews by different terms, the Jews or Israel or the tribes. Revelation refers to Israel or the Jews in twenty two verses. Sixteen of those twenty two verses refer to Israel on earth during the seventeenth week of Daniel nine are in the chapters dealing with the seventieth week or the seven-year period of tribu- tribulation there in the book of Revelation, which again is implying that seventieth week period is uniquely God's program for Israel and not for the church. Let me convert that into percentages. Zero percent of the references to the church in the Book of Revelation refer to it on earth during the seventieth week of Daniel nine, which again implies the church will not be here on the earth during that period of time. By contrast, over seventy two percent of the references to Israel in the Book of Revelation refer to it on earth during the seventieth week of Daniel nine as it's described there in the Book of Revelation. So these references to the church in Israel on earth in the book of Revelation, again, strongly imply that God will remove the church from the earth by rapture before the seventieth week of Daniel nine, or as we often call it, the seven-year tribulation period, will begin. The next implication concerning the time of the rapture we want to look at is the relationship of church saints to the future day of the Lord. References to church saints in relationship to the future day of the Lord. Let me, uh, just give some background with regard to the day of the Lord to help us understand what we're driving at here. When you look at all the passages in the Bible that talk about the future day of the Lord, there are three key terms that, uh, crop up from time to time with regard to that future time of the day of the Lord. The first term is the term wrath, referring to the God's wrath. The second term is birth pangs, birth pangs, and the third term is tribulation, tribulation. Look first, please, at Isaiah chapter thirteen, beginning with verse six. Isaiah chapter thirteen, and beginning with verse six. Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid, pangs, afraid of birth pangs, and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain as a woman that travails. They shall be amazed one at another, their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate. He shall destroy the sinners thereof, uh, out of it. For the stars of heaven, the constellations thereof, shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened as going forth, the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place of the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. Notice terms here of wrath and birth pangs. Birth pang. The word travail is literally birth pangs in this passage. Turn over, if you would, please, to the prophet Zephaniah. The prophet Zephaniah, chapter one and verse fourteen. The great day of the Lord is near. It is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath. There's the term of wrath again. A day of trouble and distress. Now, the, the Hebrew word translated trouble in our translation is the Hebrew word for tribulation. He's saying the day of the Lord will not be a time of wrath, it will also be characterized by a tribulation. It's a Hebrew word, Sarah, which means tribulation, tribulation. A day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet alarm against the ten cities and against the, the high towers. I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men because they've sinned against the Lord, and their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as the dung. Go back to the prophet Jeremiah chapter thirty. What's been described for us is one particular aspect of the future day of the Lord. Jeremiah chapter thirty. And look, if you would please, at verse six. Jeremiah thirty, verse six: Ask you now and see whether a man does travail with child. Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail, literally in birth pangs, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. Again, it's an unparalleled time of trouble. It's even, uh, the time of Jacob's trouble. It's going to be the unparalleled time of trouble for Jacob, for the people of Israel, but he shall be saved out of it. The time of Jacob's trouble will be one part of the future day of the Lord. If you look at all the passages related to the day of the Lord, and notice here again, birth pangs are associated with this future day of the Lord. Now, what's intriguing is this. In light of passages such as these in the Old Testament, and in light of the seventy-week prophecy of Daniel chapter nine, which indicates there's still one seven-year period yet to go. In light of all these passages, ancient Jewish rabbis taught that the last seven years before Messiah comes to planet Earth will in- involve the unparalleled time of trouble and suffering in all of world history. Uh, they called that last seven-year period before Messiah is here ruling the world on behalf of God, they called that period the birth pangs of the Messiah. And the idea was that just as a woman must go through a period of suffering, birth pangs, before she delivers a new life into the world. So planet Earth is going to have to go through a period of seven years of suffering like birth pangs before the new messianic age is born into the world. And by the way, let me, uh, explain something to you. The words that are translated tribulation in the Bible for the day of the Lord, they are referring to a constriction, where people pass into a constriction, something that constricts them tremendously. And the idea is, once you begin in that constricted area, you can't back out and get out of it. Once you're in it, you got to stick with it and go the whole way through that restriction, no matter how, how terrible it can be. And that's the whole concept behind the word tribulation, both in the Hebrew language, the Greek language, in the Bible. And one of the reasons it's associated with, also with birth pangs is this. Once a woman has her first birth pang, she's coming into a situation of life where she's constricted, and she can't say, well, now that I've had that first one, I've changed my mind. I'm not going through with this. I'm going to back out. She can't. Once that first birth pang comes, there's no backing out. She's got to go the whole way. She's constricted to that, the whole series of birth pangs. First the beginning birth pangs, and then the hard labor birth pangs. And the scriptures are saying, once planet Earth ends, uh, begins in this future day of the Lord, and the Hebrew, uh, rabbis understood it being seven years. Once the Earth begins that, it can't back out of that. It's going to be constricted into a parallel time of trouble of God's wrath being poured out upon the earth and, uh, tremendous suffering described as birth pangs. It's doomed to go the whole way through for God to accomplish his purposes for that unparalleled time of trouble. Now, with that in mind, go with me, please, to First Thessalonians chapter five. Look at verse one. Paul says, but of the times of the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly, really accurately, that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. He's going to begin describing here how the future day of the Lord will begin. And one characteristic is this. It's going to come like the thief in the night. What's he mean by that? There will be no forewarning to the world that this is about to break in upon them. Nothing will be taking place before the day of the Lord comes that will forewarn them this is coming. Like a thief in the night, any thief worth his salt is not going to send a forewarning to his intended victim. He depends totally upon the element of surprise, and this is Paul's way of saying that's how the future day of the Lord is going to begin. It's going to break in upon the world, the unsaved people of the world, with no forewarning whatsoever. And then to emphasize that further, verse three says, for when they shall say, literally at the same time they are saying, peace and safety, while the world's running around saying we finally have established lasting peace and safety. Here's what's going to happen. Then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Now, the word travail here, the translation, again, it's a translation of the Greek word for birth pangs. But what's very significant is this. In the Greek text, it's not talking about birth pangs, plural. It says definite article the, and then birth pang singular, talking about one particular birth pang, that the day of the Lord will break in upon them, just like one particular birth pang breaks in upon a woman. And the idea is element of surprise, no forewarning, you're not expecting it. Which birth pang of a woman is it she doesn't know exactly when it's going to come? The first one. Once she's had the first one, she knows, now I'm in the constriction, I can't back out, there are more coming. And this says to me that Paul is saying that the future day of the Lord will begin with the very first birth pang. The very first birth pang. Now, what's, what's significant about that is this. Go over, please, to Matthew chapter twenty four, where Jesus, uh, uses the same metaphor of birth pangs. Matthew chapter twenty four, and we'll begin around verse six of Matthew chapter twenty four. Jesus and the apostles had just been in the temple, and they'd been asking questions, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of this present pre-messianic age? And notice what he says in verse six. You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilence and earthquakes in, in different places. All these are the beginning, literally, what he said, of birth pangs. All these things he describes here in verses six and seven are the beginning of birth pangs. Now, that word beginning implies there are more birth pangs coming after these beginning ones. He's using again a woman's cycle of giving birth to a child. She has beginning birth pangs, and they're no picnic. They're tough, but they're only kind of the, the foreboding of hard labor birth pangs coming later on, which are going to be extremely severe, extremely. Now, here's what further is intriguing. He talks here about the beginning of birth pangs in verses six and seven. When you drop down to verse fifteen, he says, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoso reads, let him stand, understand. In verse fifteen, he's describing what Gabriel foretold to Daniel in that seventy-week prophecy in Daniel chapter nine verse twenty seven. In Daniel nine twenty seven, Gabriel's talking about that last seven years of God's future chastening program for Israel, the last seven years before Messiah comes to rule the world. And he indicates that at the beginning of that seven-year period, Antichrist, the head of, of this future revived Roman Empire, establishes a strong, binding seven-year covenant with the nation of Israel in the Middle East. But then Gabriel indicates that in the exact middle of that seven-year period of time, Antichrist will commit what Jesus calls here the abomination of desolation. And the word abomination means a detestable thing. In fact, he literally said it's going to be the pinnacle of detestable things that will bring desolation. It'll be the worst, you know, a pinnacle is the highest or worst, so it'll be the worst detestable thing that's ever been committed in a temple of God in Jerusalem. And Paul, in two Thessalonians two makes very clear what that is. That at that time, Antichrist is going to go into the future temple the people of Israel have there in Jerusalem, in the middle of that seven-year period, take his seat in that temple, and make the blasphemous claim that he's God. There have been other detestable things that have been done in the first two temples Israel's already had in the past, but from God's perspective, a man taking a seat in a temple that the Jews had dedicated, they believe, to the worship of God, a man taking a seat in there, taking control of it, and make the blasphemous claim that he's God. To God, that'll be the pinnacle, the worst of all detestable things ever committed in, in one of the temples there that Israel has built for the worship of him. Daniel nine twenty seven makes it very clear that will take place in the exact middle of the seven-year tribulation period. And Jesus here is warning Jews who will be living in the land at that time, ahead of time, that when that happens, when Antichrist takes the seat of that temple, those of you who are in Judah, flee as fast as you can to a mountain wilderness area. Get out of there as fast as you can. Uh, just pray that your flight will not be on the Sabbath day. And he told them why, verse twenty one, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. What he's saying is, when Antichrist in the middle of that seven-year period of time takes his seat in the temple, claims he's God, that will begin the hard labor birth pangs of the Messiah, preparing the world for the birth of the Messiah, reign in the world, the hard labor birth pangs. The implication is that seven-year year, seventieth week of Daniel nine will be divided in two halves. The first half includes the beginning of birth pangs he described, because he puts those before the abomination of desolation, which we know will take place in the middle of the seventieth week. So Jesus indicating the beginning of birth pangs take place in the first half of the seventieth week, but in the middle of that time, when Antichrist makes his claim to be God, that will begin the unparalleled time of trouble in all of world history. That's when the hard labor birth pangs will begin. As we saw from Jeremiah thirty. that'll be the time of Jacob's trouble that God says the likes of which there's never been before. And Jesus said that second half is the world's never seen anything like this before, ever will again. Now, if the beginning birth pangs, as Jesus has indicated here, are in the first half of that seventieth week, then the very first birth pang that Paul in First Thessalonians five is indicating will begin the day of the Lord must be the very first of the beginning birth pangs, must take place at the very beginning of this seven-year period, the seventeenth week of Daniel nine, So that the day of the Lord, therefore, begins at the beginning of the seven-year period of time where God begins poured out his wrath upon planet Earth. And when you re- read the, compare the beginning of the birth pangs with the first four seals of Revelation six, by comparison, they're the same thing. And the first four seals will involve famine, war, and one fourth of the world's population being destroyed, uh, through war, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts. You go back to the Old Testament prophets, God points out war and famine are expressions of his wrath. In Ezekiel fourteen verse twenty one, God says, these are my four severe judgments. War, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts involved in the beginning of birth pangs. Paul's indicating that the future day of the Lord will begin with the very first birth pang at the beginning. Now, how does that relate to the rapture of the church and its timing? We'll close by asking you to go back again to First Thessalonians chapter five. We've already noted that the day of the Lord will involve wrath and tribulation and birth pangs. First Thessalonians chapter five. He's talked about the beginning of the day of the Lord in verses two and three, which again is going to be a period of wrath, God's wrath poured out upon the earth. Now look at verse nine, what Paul says to the Christians. For God has not appointed us to wrath. Which wrath? Well, in the context, he's talking about the future day of the Lord wrath. God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Now, in the preceding chapter, First Thessalonians four, we describe the rapture. Who all will be raptured? Dead church saints will be resurrected from the dead. Living church saints are alive on the earth when Christ comes to rapture the church. Their bodies are transformed from mortal to immortal without dying. And so whether dead when Christ comes out of heaven or alive when Christ comes out of heaven, together, all the church saints are going to be caught up from the earth to live with the Lord Jesus, to live with the Lord Jesus. That's what he says here. We should live together with him. Now, New Testament scholars, when they look at that statement, whether awake or sleep, we shall live together with him, they say this is exactly what Jesus was promising in John chapter fourteen verses two and three. In my father's house are many mansions, but were not so, I would have told you. I go for this purpose back to heaven to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Why? So that where I am, there you may be also, so you can live together with me. Whether you've died before I come for you, or whether you're living when I come for you, here's my purpose for this coming, so that you can live together with me. And we, we looked at, uh, at they, they say not only is Paul here referring to what Jesus promised in John fourteen, he's also referring to what he indicated in the previous chapter, First Thessalonians chapter four, that together the resurrected church saints and the living church saints will be caught up from the earth to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. At the end of that verse, Paul says, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The purpose of this coming of Christ is so that all of his church saints, once they meet him in the air, can live together with him forever. Once we meet him in the air, from that time on, we'll never be separated from him again. From that time on, wherever he goes, we go with him. And I take it what Paul is saying then in First Thessalonians five, the day of the Lord's wrath is going to break in upon the unsaved people of the world where they're not expecting it, and it's going to be characterized by birth pang. But you church saints have not been appointed unto wrath by God, that day of the Lord's wrath, but to be saved from it, to be saved from it as a result of Christ dying for our sins, and the end result is that we will be able to live together with him forever, whether we die before he comes or alive when he comes, because he's going to rapture us out of the world before that day of the Lord's wrath begins. And notice how he s- uh, says in verse eleven of First Thessalonians five, wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also you do, which is exactly what he said in, in First Thessalonians chapter four. the promise you're going to be caught up and raptured, wherefore comfort you one another with this truth. And so the implication seems to be that those today who have placed their trust, their faith in Jesus Christ and him alone to be their savior from sin, not only are they saved from eternal judgment and wrath of God, we're also saved from the wrath of God in the future day of the Lord, and that the way we're saved from it is Jesus will rapture us out of the world before that begins to meet him in the air so that we can live together with him forever from that time on. Implications concerning the timing of the rapture of the church.