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Matt Slick reviews the depressing side of eschatology - part 2
We're live, we're on. Let me jump in with prayer, and we'll explain what's going on. I hope you all out there listening are gonna have a good time, and it'll be entertaining. All right, let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this time, and I ask, Lord, that you would bless it, that you'd bless everyone here, that you'd open up our hearts and our minds to the truth of your word.
Lord, we ask that as we look into your scriptures that your word and your truth would be known. We know that there are people who disagree with all kinds of things in eschatology, but we ask, Lord, that you'd grant grace to all of us, that we might disagree lovingly and patiently and kindly as we bring glory to you.
And we ask this, Jesus, in your precious name, amen. All right, first of all, I'd like to say I consider it a privilege to be able to teach you or try and teach you. We'll see if you learn anything because am I right, am I wrong?
We're gonna find out, hopefully. I'm gonna make a bold statement. I believe in amillennialism, which is the teaching that we are in the millennial reign of Christ right now, and that that reign, it's a real reign, but it's not a literal 1 ,000-year reign.
We'll go into some questions and stuff later, so save your questions until after the break, all right? We'll just do this. What I wanna do is present an argument, and we hopefully, hopefully this'll work, because what I did is I got my PowerPoint slides getting going here, and you have the sheet, the handout.
If you can give me one of those, I think I have one. And you'll see on the back, well, it's in the front here where the charts or the grids are. This is just the scriptures for you to take a look at, and hopefully we'll end up with the bottom chart at the end of the study.
That's the idea. And you'll see on the back side is the, or I think I got all of the references, all the scriptures that we're gonna be using. And you'll notice it's kind of like, you know, got blocks, got underlines, got colors.
The idea is just so that you could get an understanding of where some of the themes occur in the various verses. This is not exhaustive, but it's quite representative. Now, as I've said before, I was raised in a household where we didn't really go to church.
I got mixed up in the occult. I've seen things. I can do a seminar on that sometime. And bad stuff happened. I got tricked into being saved. That's another story. Ended up going to different churches and went to Calvary Chapel a lot and some other churches.
Went to a Lutheran college, a Presbyterian seminary. And so between those and after those, I did a lot of different, I went to a lot of churches. And then for a few years in Southern California before I moved here, I did what's called pulpit supply.
And pulpit supply means that you just fill pulpits that are vacant for that Sunday. Maybe the church pastor's out for a month and they have four different guys for four different weeks, you know. And so I would drive 100 miles sometimes, preach in a church, come back, and I wouldn't even be in my own church for three, four weeks at a time.
And did pulpit supply for several years. And that led me to learn some things and to understand some stuff. I'm not loyal to any denomination. I'm not loyal to any perspective. Now, I'm a five-point Calvinist.
If you're not, I don't care. It's all right. I do care, actually, but I want you to not look to that. I want you to look to Jesus. But so I believe that, but I'm not loyal to it. I believe in amillennialism, but I'm not loyal to it.
I am loyal to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And that's how it should be to all of us and with all of us and the whole thing. So what I want to do is present to you this argument and see what you think about it.
And last week, we did the Prescottology, where we went through the seven seals, the trumpets and the seals, trumpets and bowls. And really, nobody was depressed. That's what got me. I failed. Nobody was depressed, right?
You walk out of here depressed, dang it. I gotta work harder. My wife says I'm depressing, but I think it's a different reason. So what we'll do is we'll go through and you'll see pretty quickly what I've done here.
We're gonna go through a few basic slides. What I'm gonna do is get to the place where we see this chart, this grid, several times. And we're gonna go through the grid and then see where the next point goes.
Then go back to the grid, next point. Back to the grid, next point. So you can follow. And you can do this on your own at home. You can do this on your own at home. There's a lot more to study on these areas.
I wish I could just study eschatology for a while. Now, we do have more chairs in there if we need them. Just like, you know, Cameron, you can check it out. All right, you guys ready? At least we got one person who saved.
All right, you guys ready? Yeah. All right, all right, all right, all right. So this age and this age and the age to come. All right, so let's go. I'll click that. And come on. So God's prophecy. I wanna give you a little bit of information first.
Genesis 2, 15 through 17. Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden, you may eat freely.
But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Did he die when he ate it? The answer is yes. God said you will die. Did he die?
Yes. So what does he mean? The death that separates us from God. That sin that separates us from God, Isaiah 59 too, et cetera. All right. And now remember, Adam represented us. He represented all of us, all right?
A lot of people don't know that, but he did. Romans 5, 18. So then as through one transgression, there resulted condemnation to all men. See, to all men. As his transgression, condemnation to all men.
Look at 1 Corinthians 15, 22. For as in Adam, as a term of federal headship, in Adam, all die. In Adam, he represented all of us. We died in him. Now we can go into the theology of this stuff later on.
That's Romans 5, 18, 1 Corinthians 15, 22. Not on your sheet. Sorry about that. Now, I believe that that was a prophecy that's gonna have its fulfillment. Look at Matthew 24, 22. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved.
But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Now it's in a yellowish kind of a color. That's supposed to be, I want red, but red doesn't go with the blue background. So I put it in this color.
Those are the words of Christ. Now look what he says. Unless those days be cut short, no life would be saved. Now I believe, my opinion is, that what God prophesied in Genesis 2, 17 will come to fulfillment in that man is going to kill himself or get on the brink of killing himself.
And if those days be not cut short, no life would have been saved. Jesus is gonna stop us from killing ourselves. Nuclear war, whatever you wanna call it, a gigantic celestial, I told you so, is what's going on.
And that's why last week we talked about this. I mentioned this before. Last week we talked about it. We're going through the bolts. We're going through stuff. And the rapture is post-trib. We are going to be here.
We're not gonna escape. And I'm gonna show it to you. All right, now what's gonna happen? What are the signs of those times? We're gonna be coming back to this stuff a little bit more. But I want you to know false Christs are gonna be around this time.
Wars, famine, earthquakes, martyrdom, apostasy. Hopefully we'll talk about that next week. We'll see. I may or may not have time to prep it because I gotta go away this weekend. But false prophets, lawlessness will be increased.
Gospel will be preached to all the nations. That's good. And the abomination of desolation. So much to talk about. Not enough time, too. We'll get to the study. Now, Matthew 24, 21 through 22. For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will, unless those days had been cut short.
So the great tribulation right there, the tribulation of those days be not cut short. There would be no life saved, right? So we're back to this. It's parenthetic statements. Left parenthesis, right parenthesis.
Genesis 2, 17, Matthew 24, 22. This is what I believe. I'm a pessimistic amillennialist. All right. Now, what we're gonna do is get into this. And I could do this here simultaneously if you want on the chalkboard.
We can come back later if you want. Hopefully it'll work fine on that. Everybody can see it, I hope. So the eschatology. Eschatology means the study of end times. The eschatology of Jesus and of Paul the Apostle is broken up into two groups, this age and the age to come.
This age and the age to come. Now, how many of you have not heard that preached in your church? Not heard it. Raise your hand. You've not heard it. Okay, how many have heard it preached in your church?
Okay. You guys don't raise your hands very much. I actually like to know and know what is going on out there in a church world. I've never heard this preached in any church I've ever been in over years and years.
And I've been saved since I was 17 and really started studying apologetics in 1980. And so I've never heard this taught. Never, ever. Why is it? I believe it's because certain people are loyal to denominations and certain traditions.
But nevertheless, whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come.
This age, the age to come, right? There it is. Mark 10 .30 and Luke 18 .30 basically say the exact same thing, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions.
And in the age to come, eternal life. Now that's talking about the full resurrection, the full everything. Look at Ephesians 1 .21 that Paul says, for a far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
You see? This age, the age to come. The present age, the one to come. Two ages. Are you with me? We good? I'm not making this up. I'm not inserting a slickism in here. This is what it says. All right.
Now, the chart. Now, I had to modify this a little bit because I've cut and pasted this so much lately that I think the chart last week had a couple of things out of category. I think these are pretty much, this is perfect.
You'll see. Perfect. So what we're gonna do is this chart, I'm gonna come back to this over and over and over in this slide presentation. Over and over and over, we're gonna come to this thing. Come back to it.
And you can mark on it. Of course, it's yours to take home. And we're gonna go through and hopefully we'll establish this. There are two ages. This age and the age to come. Right? Now and then. Now, can everybody see this and read it okay?
Pretty good? You're bored way back there. You're already done?
You're not bored? You're not bored? No? Okay. Just checking. Because I looked back over and you're yawning. But that's all right. I'm not trying to draw you out or embarrass you or anything like that.
It's okay. Oh, he's afraid now. I'm not yawning anything, I'm not doing anything.
All right, so what I'm gonna do is this. This age and the age to come. Now check this out. I hope you can read that little thing right here. At the end of this age, I should have made that bigger so you could read it.
That little yellowish dot thing or dash line, that's the end of the age. Now why am I putting it there? Because it's at the end of the age. That's why I'm putting it there. And I didn't put exactly on that line and you'll see why later.
But at the end of the age. So whatever the end of the age is, it's at the end of the age. Yeah, you guys don't listen to me. You're not saying anything. Yes? All right. Hence the chart. You're gonna see this chart a lot.
All right, here we go. Now, oops, I forgot something. So let's look at the first one. The wicked gathered at the end of this age. Matthew 13, 40 and 49 through 50. Now let's just do this really fast. Turn your sheet over.
Go to Matthew 13, 40. And you can see I got the verses there and they're different arrangements. But 13 is the second paragraph down, verse 40. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
See, just as the tares are gathered and burned with fire. That sounds like judgment, doesn't it? Judgment? Burned with fire. The tares are the wicked. The wicked are gathered at the end of the age, right?
That's what it says. The tares, it's in verse 40. So the tares are gathered up and burned with fire. So shall it be at the end of the age. So we actually can see there that's both judgment and the gathering.
Now look at Matthew 13, 49 through 50. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous. Isn't that the opposite of what you've heard? It's always the righteous who get taken out from among the wicked.
Jesus says the exact opposite right here.
It blows me away. And people are like, uh, what do I do with this? Oh, my brain's hurting. Because last time I did this, I saw some people's, their heads were like this. I saw several of those people.
And they walked into the wall on the way out a couple of times. They weren't okay. Any movies about hitting the wall? Oh, the end times, yeah. Well, you'd think that they would do this thing. You'd think they'd go like this with the Bible.
That's what you'd think they would do. But to me, it's right there. It's right there. The wicked are taken out from among the righteous. And we're gonna get to some other stuff about that too. All right, nevertheless.
So the wicked are taken out and they are, look what it says right here. The wicked are gathered at the end of the age. Is that fair? Anybody have any problems with what it says? Let's go to the next chart.
Now let's look judgment of the wicked. Matthew 13, 40 through 42. So now just go look Matthew 13, 40 through 42. Same stuff. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
The son of man will send forth his angels. They will gather out of his kingdom, all stumbling blocks. That's gonna happen. The wicked are the ones taken out. And those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire, in that place there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
All right. So the judgment of wicked is happening at the end of the age. Okay, let's get that going right in there. There it is. The judgment of the wicked happens at the end of the age. Now let's go to the next issue.
Back to that chart again, or that grid. The elect are gathered, Matthew 24, one through 31. Now, of course, it didn't put the whole thing here. It wouldn't have enough room. But Matthew 24, you have one through three, and you can look, and it says, go down to verse three.
As he was sitting at the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us, when will these things happen? The destruction of the temple and all that stuff. And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?
Now go down to Matthew 24, 29 through 31. But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky. And then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. So the elect are gathered at the end of the age, right?
That's what it says. Anybody have any problems yet? That's what it says, right? So what we do, here we go. The wicked are gathered at the end of the age. The judgment of the wicked occurs at the end of the age and the elect are gathered at the end of the age.
It's just going with what the scripture says. All right, now let's look at the harvest. Matthew 13, 39. So if you go to Matthew 13, 39, it's up there. And the enemy who sowed them is the devil and the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels.
This is the parable of the wheat and the tares. So he says in verse 39, and we go to 49. And the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. That's what it says. The harvest is the end of the age.
And in verse 49, so shall it be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous at the end of the age. So when is the harvest? The end of the age. In the fall?
Probably, time of the harvest for them, yeah. At the time of the harvest, we'll see. So let's go back now. So there's nothing for resurrection here. Jesus returned. Let's go to Matthew 24, one through three.
We've already, we can see that we're gonna go over these over and over again. Matthew 24, because he says in verse three again to Matthew 24, as he was sitting in the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these happen?
These things happen, destruction of the temple. What will be the sign of your coming? Your return? That's the issue. What will be the sign of your return? In the end of the age, right? They're asking about his return at the end of the age.
And then he gives us the information in 29 and 30. But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give us light. The stars will fall from the sky and the powers of heavens will be shaken.
And then the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. So when is he returning?
The end of the age. You guys with me so far? That's what it says. As Nathan mocks me, that's what he says. That's what he says. How do I say that? That's right. So now let's go to the rapture. The rapture.
Now, trust me, we'll get into this as a rapture goes across the grid there. Matthew 24, going back to these verses again, we've already done Matthew 24, three, which is what will be the sign of your coming?
Your return and the end of the age. Go to verse 31. And he says, and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.
So that's the rapture when the elect are gathered. Now, some of you may say, I don't like the word elect because it's Calvinistic. I guess Jesus was a Calvinist then. All right. But no, it's, you know, I quote verses like this.
Oh, you're a Calvinist. Why? Because he used the word elect. But that was scripture. I was just, it was scripture. Oh, I don't agree with that. What? I get this, you know. So the rapture, the gathering of the elect happens when?
At the end of the age. Oh, wait, there's more. All right. Now, so now what we'll do is go to the last day. And the last day, notice this, this little green line. Can you see that green line in there? That's the last day.
I could make it red and bloody and drips. Green's good. So the last day, now what we're gonna do is go to our chart. John 12, 48. Hope I got all these on here. We'll find out. Down there, John 12, 48.
He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. The words that I spoke will judge him, last day, right? Now, notice what it says.
He who rejects me does not receive my saying. Those are the wicked people. Okay, that's what's going on. He has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him at the last day. So the judgment of the wicked happens when?
Last day. So what we're doing now, judgment of the wicked is in the last day. Okay, no problem. Now let's go to resurrection. John 6, 39, 40, 44, 54, and 11, 24. So John 6, 39. Hopefully I got it in there, yes I do.
This is the will of him who sent me that all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. Well, that's called the resurrection. On the last day. For this is the will of my father who sent me that everyone beholds the son and believes in him will have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.
In verse 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. Verse 54, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 11, 24, Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. When's the resurrection? The last day. Now I'm not reading into the text anywhere, am I? It's what it says.
Now look at this so far. The wicked are gathered at the end of the age, the judgment of the wicked at the end of the age, the elect are gathered at the end of the age, the harvest is at the end of the age, Jesus' return is at the end of the age, the rapture is at the end of the age, the judgment of the wicked is on the last day and the resurrection is on the last day.
Let's keep going. Now we'll go to the day of the Lord, all right? Day of the Lord. So I'm gonna do here, the day of the Lord is just gonna be in blue, okay, bluish up there, all right? So the day of the Lord, let's go to resurrection, which is 1 Thessalonians 4, 16 through chapter five, verse two.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel and with a trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Now, the dead in Christ will rise first, that means preceding those who are alive on the earth, okay?
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Now, as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you for yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief of the night.
The day of the Lord comes like a thief of the night. The day of the Lord is what? The rapture. Now, the chapter break is unfortunate. There is no chapter breaks in the Greek, so we just keep reading, just so you can know.
But he says, you don't have any need to anything be written to you for the day of the Lord's coming like a thief of the night. He's talking. The day of the Lord comes like a thief of the night, right?
That's what it says. Now, oh, I went ahead, didn't I? I went to resurrection. I didn't do the judgment of the good. Oh, I skipped it. We'll have to go up there. Sorry about that. Let's go up to 1 Corinthians 1 .8, my bad, who will also confirm you to the end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blameless in the day of our Lord. That's the day of judgment will be blameless. That means the good are judged on the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord judgment of the good occurs. Look at 1 Corinthians 5 .5.
I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. There's a judgment that happens on the day of the Lord. And the Bible talks about that day.
It'll use a phrase that day. That's a whole nother study. It's a lot of fun. So the day of the Lord is a judgment of the good. So judgment of the good, the day of the Lord. And we're gonna get to where the day of the Lord is.
You'll see in a minute. It's right there. You'll see. Okay. Now we already did resurrection. My bad, I went ahead, mess it up. 1 Thessalonians 4, 16 through chapter five, verse two. This is the rapture and the resurrection there, which comes like a thief of the night, which is the day of the Lord.
Okay. That's what we already went over those. So now you can see the rapture. Now I had the colors different for a reason. Because the rapture here is in green, which is the last day. See how the colors in the grid here.
And I could have done that on the chart up here, but that's all right. And so what I wanted you to see in this chart that's going on, the various colors represent the various issues of the day, the judgment, the end of the age, things like that.
All right. So now let's, Jesus returned and the resurrection and the rapture all happened on 1 Thessalonians 4, 16 through 18, chapter five, verse two. So we read that. Okay. Go with that again if you want.
The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will rise first. Okay. That means those who've died first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air.
That's the rapture. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Now as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you for yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
Now in here we have the rapture, return of Christ, the resurrection. Now I don't have this in here, but I talked about it on the radio either. I think it was today. In Acts 1, 9 through 11, it talks about the prophecy that two angels gave about the return of Christ.
And they watched, the disciples watched him go up into the heaven and the angel said, don't you know that he will return? Why are you looking up into the sky? Don't you know that he will return the same way you have seen him ascend into the heavens?
So there's one return the prophecy is, and he's gonna return from the clouds. That's what it says. Now notice what it says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout.
That's the fulfillment of that prophecy. That's the fulfillment of the prophecy. How many returns are there of Jesus? Just one. Is there a seven year kind of return before thing, and then he comes back?
That's what most people say. They go, well, he kind of comes back a little. That is real return. He's just mostly returned, but not really returned. All right. You've seen, you know, Princess Bride, just mostly dead.
All right. Just mostly came back, but not really. All right. So that's what they're saying, and it's not there. They have to say this in order to hold to the pre-tribulation rapture view. Sorry, I don't approve of the pre-trib view.
I mean, okay, I don't. I have other reasons why too. But in order to hold to that view, now they have to say he comes back basically twice in the sky that you saw him go up. That's what they're saying, into those clouds.
And he says right here, into the clouds. Right? Descended from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, meet the Lord in the air, caught together in the clouds, verse 17. Caught up together with them in the clouds.
If Jesus is in the clouds, do you think he's returned? Mostly returned. He hasn't touched the ground yet. Right? People are gonna do this. We don't find two returns. And we got more coming. Show you. So we did the rapture.
All right, so the rapture is there. Now notice this chart. Notice that the rapture is also at the end of the age. That's why I put an asterisk there. I mean, no, an at sign, sorry. So the rapture is at the, which is the last day or the day of the Lord.
But notice in the yellowish up there, that the rapture is at the end of the age. Also notice the judgment of the wicked at the end of the age, but the judgment of the wicked's on the last day or yeah, on the last day.
You see how the Bible starts saying that these things are the same time. The end of the age and the last day are the same, aren't they? That's what it says. All right. All right, so let's do this. First, okay, we've already gone over 1 Thessalonians 4 .16 through chapter five, verse two, many times.
Look at verse two of chapter five. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Look at 2 Peter 3 .10. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up.
So the only difference here is in the night. Why the difference? I'm not exactly sure. I think the phrase, he come like a thief in the night, but come like a thief, I think they're similar enough that we could say it's the same thing and it certainly seems to be the same thing.
But I suspect that why one says night and one does not might be that the earth is an oblate spheroid, basically it means round, and it'll be night on one side and daylight on the other. I don't know. That could be it, could not be.
I'll just leave it for you to have fun with that or kick it out the door if you don't like it. So, but nevertheless, the day of the Lord will come like a thief, the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
I think it's similar enough to say the same thing. So there's no thousand-year reign, no literal 1000-year period because according to standard eschatological views of comfortable America, who wants the name and claim it, blab it and grab it, and I'm gonna get raptured out because that's what I like view, then what happens is we're gonna get out there, but no, wait a minute, no.
Rapture, they say, then seven years, they'll say, and then thousand-year reign of Christ, and then a new heavens and new earth. But this certainly seems to say the new heavens and new earth occur at the same time as the rapture.
Now, why would that be? This is my theory, you ready? This is the eight and a half dollar tour. I suspect that because the earth is gonna get so bad when we get destroyed, that what God's gonna do is come back at the last minute and he's gonna stop the world from destroying itself, Matthew 24, 22, 22, 24, and that he's gonna take the wicked out, they're gonna be judged, may be taken to Armageddon, that's a whole nother thing, because the Bible says in Luke 17, at the end, where are they taken, where the body is of vultures gather, we can get into that a little bit later.
And they're taken to a place of judgment, the wicked gathered out, they're gonna be bound, they'll be burned, judged, and I lost my train of thought, darn it. And so, oh yeah, I think I got it. And so, he's gonna come back, take us out, the new heavens and new earth are gonna be made, they're gonna be destroyed with intense heat, and we can't be here for that.
And the universe is gonna be remade, so to speak, by God's incredible power. Maybe we'll get to watch it, I don't know, but that'll be something. Talk about fireworks, whoa, yeah, that's gonna be big.
And the dead, the unbelievers are gonna be judged. I kind of have a feeling, or I wonder if the, it says three unclean spirits like frogs go out to gather them together in Revelation 14 or 16, gather them together for Armageddon.
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man, for they were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage, till the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came in, took them all away, like Matthew 24, I think it's verse 37, but I don't remember, Matthew 24.
And in Luke 17, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man, for they were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage, till the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
That's on this, and I'm not gonna give it to you now. And that's what it says right here. And then they ask him, well, where are they gonna be taken to? In verse 37 of Luke 17, he says, where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.
They're taken to a place of death. So the people in the fields who are taken, the ones who are taken are the wicked. They're taken to a place of destruction. Could it be that the unclean spirits like frogs go out to gather them together for Armageddon?
Don't know. Just throwing that one out there too for fun. So, back to the grid and the chart and everything. The new heavens and new earth are made at the end of the age or on the last day. Because it comes like a thief in the night, right?
The last day, which is the blue, is when the resurrection happens, the judgment of the good happens, Jesus' return happens, the rapture happens, new heavens and new earth are made on the last day. Where's the future thousand year reign?
It can't exist, can it? It's just not there. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. Sorry, it's not there. A guy named Bob, yeah, he was like going down the road and he ran into the rear end of a, I won't say anything.
I don't wanna insult people, but it's just right there. Sheesh. All right. So, now let's keep going. Let's go to the chart again. And we'll do last trumpet. Try and get those in yellow, all right? So, 1 Corinthians 15, 52 is when the resurrection happens.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. So the last trumpet is the resurrection. Now remember, in 1 Thessalonians 4, look just down there, the next one down.
The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God. That's the last trumpet. That trumpet's the last one because that's when the resurrection occurs.
1 Corinthians 15, 52 says at the last trumpet, the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable. That's the resurrection. The last trumpet is the trumpet of 1 Thessalonians 4, 16. The rapture.
And yeah, you can see it, there we go, okay. So, last trumpet is when the resurrection occurs the last trumpet, you can see it in yellow there, is when the rapture occurs. And down here at the rapture, see how we have it?
Last trumpet, the rapture at the end of the age, the last trumpet, also the resurrection at the last day and the last trumpet and the rapture on the last day. This is just what, we're just going by what the scriptures say.
We're not doing anything to them. Where's it go? Last day. Last day. Where's at the end of the age? End of the age. That's all we're doing. The last trumpet happens where? Last day, end of the age. That's all we're doing.
Look, there's no denominational bias. I could entertain you by trying to make these fit into a preconceived eschatological view. And you could watch me squirm and try and make it fit. Oh, you know what?
There's the second coming, but there's really a one and a half coming of Christ. And it's a secret one. And people disappear beforehand because we're not supposed to suffer the wrath of God. We get to escape it.
Where's that? In the book of Deuterectomy? Not there. I have a reason. Let me tell you something. I'm somebody who loves theology and I love the truth of God's word. I believe in the truth of God's word.
I want the truth of God's word. When I do marriage counseling, I teach the doctrine of the Trinity. When I do various forms of counseling, I do scripture. When I'm on the radio, I give the references constantly, constantly doing that.
I want you to look at the word of God. I want you to look at the word of God. I want you to check the word of God. That's it. Now, if something is not according to the word of God, there's a problem. Little bit of error can lead to a lot of error later on when that error is defended.
Let me give you an example of something. So two nights ago, no, Sunday night, I was talking on a show and I was talking to a pastor in the Midwest and we got talking about the nature of the atonement.
Now, I'm gonna just give an example of this. You don't have to agree with me, but I believe Jesus only bore the sins of the elect. That's my position. We can talk about it another time, whatever. I was talking to this guy about this and I made a point.
I said, look, in Colossians 2 .14, it says that he canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees, which is hostile to us. He took it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. So the certificate of debt is the Greek hierographon.
I explained this to him. It means a handwritten IOU of legal indebtedness. The certificate of debt, the sin debt is canceled at the cross. And he goes, yeah. Can you go to hell for a sin debt that's been canceled?
He says, oh yeah. I said, wait a minute. So the sin debt does not exist and you can go to hell for that. Yeah, how? Well, by not believing. Not believing is a sin. Was that canceled? Yes. All sin or most of the sins?
Most of the sins, right? So I got this guy going, okay, wait a minute. So what you're telling me then is your sin debt can be forgiven, completely wiped out, doesn't even exist and you can go to hell.
God will judge you. Yep. Do you see the problem? This is a pastor telling me this. They call it cognitive dissonance. He's not able to make rational sense of what he's saying, but he's affirming it. Why?
Because he was loyal to a specific traditional view, not to what the scriptures were actually saying in this case. And I was in this room for 15 minutes doing this with this guy in different ways. And he was saying things like this, saying a debt forgiven can be given back to you.
And he said, Jesus actually, he actually said Jesus justified everybody. Justification means a legal declaration of righteousness. Everybody's justified, but you have to believe it in order for it to work.
So it makes no sense. Now let me tell you, when things don't make sense like that and you believe this and you're reading the scriptures, you're gonna come up against things and you won't be able to make sense of them because it doesn't make sense, but you believe a certain something.
So, okay. All right, so what do you do? You don't solve the problem. You don't solve the issue. You leave it where it's at and you go on to something else. And another problem comes up and you develop this little barrier system of false ideas.
And when you come up to the scriptures that confront that, you ignore those scriptures or you just whatever, ignore them, misinterpret them, whatever it might be, offer something illogical, and then you continue on in more error.
Loyalty should only be to Jesus Christ and to his word. And if something in here contradicts what you believe, you better change what you believe. And that's how it has to be. Let me tell you, I've been doing this for 37 years and I have had my beliefs challenged so many different ways from within the church, without the church.
I've had to learn. It doesn't mean I got all the answers. I'm not saying I'm right about everything. I'm not. It's just that I'm not loyal to Lutheranism or Calvinism or Presbyterianism. I'm not loyal to the church down the streets or Calvary Chapel or the Baptist church or the AG or the, you know, ABC or NBD.
That's the no big deal church. I'm not loyal to any of them. I just don't, I don't care. And when I got to preach in all those different churches, it really was valuable. When I was doing pulpit supply and I learned different denominations and different churches, I was just preaching all over the place.
Sometimes three different churches in one day. And I loved it. Being able to preach and teach. And I'd go in, I'd say, what issues are a hotbed issue that don't need to be addressed? Because I'm there once.
I can really cause a problem. And then they'd have got a big mess. That's not why I'm there. I'm there to preach on a Sunday, okay? And elevate the Lord and do what's got to be done in that thing. Okay.
And they said, well, this issue, that issue, that issue. And I had no problem in those contexts, just working around certain limitations and requirements of people in various things. Not a problem. I wouldn't compromise the word, but okay.
And so I learned to understand what people needed and what people wanted, but still be able to tell the truth of God's word. That was a real help for me in a lot of areas. And like I said, I went to a Presbyterian seminary and I was not a five-pointer when I graduated.
I was not. I resisted until I was talking to two Mormon missionaries and I adopted limited atonement while talking to two Mormons. It's the truth. That's another story. I remember going, dang, now I believe it.
Darn, oh man, gosh. And they didn't know I was, you know, anyway, whatever. All right. So back to the chart. We can see if you go to 1 Corinthians 15 and 52, the last trumpets mentioned there. And 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, that's the last trumpet also.
In Matthew 24, one through three, and let's go to Matthew 24, starting at verse 29. And you'll see, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
This is the great tribulation period for the people who go to this gate. The stars will fall from the sky. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky.
Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming in the clouds of the sky. Remember Acts 1, 9 to 11. Power of the sky and great glory, verse 31. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and it will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.
So the rapture, last trumpet, that's what it says. We can see already from the charts that we're developing that the rapture happens at the last day, which is also at the end of the age. Hey, I got one set of orange dots is missing.
Oh man, whole thing's shot now. All right, so we can see the rapture's at the end of the age, the judgment of the wicked, the last trumpet, which is the resurrection, the last trumpet, which is the rapture, the last trumpet, which occurs after the tribulation.
See right there in the white, after the tribulations when the last trumpet occurs. Now folks, where's the pre-tribulation rapture? There's no room for it. Where's the thousand year reign of Christ? The literal 1000 years, it's not there.
The new heavens and new earth are made. And look down here, the last trumpet was a rapture comes like a thief and new heavens and new earth, like a thief, the last day. That happens at the end of the age, the last day.
All of this happens at the end of the age, all of it. Okay, now I had to move the vertical bar over running out of room. And here, what I did was I put the verses next to the various topics. I didn't do that on this chart, just don't have time.
I mean, didn't have enough room. I could have made it fit, but then you'd need a microscope to do all this. And maybe next time I'll do two pages and stuff. What I wanted to show you, when I did this, I actually went through just a few days ago and I said, okay, look here, put this here.
I wouldn't check every one of them, there we go. This all happens on this age, at the end of this age, the last day, the last trumpet, the judgment, everything, new heavens, new earth, everything. That's the conclusion, this is it, here we go.
Now, I would really like it if someone would buy me some tickets to Hawaii, my wife and I. I'd like it if we had first class tickets and they took care of us. And then I'd like it if a limo picked us up and took us to the beachfront where the hammocks are in the backyard, overlooking the ocean.
I'd also like it if a butler was assigned to bring us whatever we want. So all I'd do is go, bring me the head of a pig. And they'd go get it, that's from a comedian. Okay, Brian Regan, he's funny. All right, and then I'd like it, why?
Because, well, I like comfort. Do you know why I don't like pain? It hurts, that's right. I want comfort. I also like the idea of Jesus coming here and taking me out of it because everybody else is so bad, the world is getting wicked, and I don't have to really worry about them on their way to eternal damnation.
And they're gonna rot in hell forever, but I get to get out of here. I get to go to heaven, I get to get raptured out while they rot in eternal damnation and fire. I have a problem with that. Now, do I like that idea?
On one sense, yes. On the other sense, what about those people? What about them? You know, I've suffered the loss of a child, and I'll tell you, I wouldn't wish that pain and suffering on my worst enemy, I really wouldn't.
Once, June 19th, 1976, I was in a very bad automobile accident. If you get close to me, look for the scars, and you'll see stuff, okay? You'll see stuff, all right? If you get really close, you're looking at me, I'll understand, all right?
Yeah, he tried it once, it went, ah! No one gets that close, so my wife doesn't either. So I woke up, you know, the brain is weird. I woke up two-ish, three-ish in the morning, having driven off a cliff, awake by myself, standing by myself, not knowing my name, not knowing where I was, not knowing what had happened, in severe pain and blood everywhere.
Just woke up standing like that. Weird, huh? But I remember that, and I still remember it. The moon was there, and I cried out to God, and I said, help me, and some guys found me later, crawling on the side of a road that took me to ER, okay?
Took two years to fully recover. Now, I woke up in a place for real. I remember it. I woke up in a place without hope, not knowing what had happened, not knowing where I was, listening to the wild coyotes get closer, the smell of blood, being in intense fear, in intense pain, and blood everywhere.
How was it to wake up like that? I did. Add to that flame, and you've got a pretty good idea of the agony of aloneness, the agony of the terror of what it means to be completely helpless and in great danger.
You add flame to that, and that's eternal destruction. And I find that most of the Christian church wants to escape the judgment to come here on this earth so they can go to heaven, and they're not that concerned with the people who are dying.
Romans 1 .16 says, the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who would believe. And Isaiah 55 .11 says, clearly, the word of God will not come back empty without accomplishing what he desires.
Now, some people are gonna say, Matt, you're a Calvinist, God predestines, what makes you think it's all important? James 5 .16, I think it is, the prayers of a righteous man avail much with God. We can get into all kinds of things.
The truth is this, that God calls us to go preach that gospel, that God calls us to go preach the word of truth. God calls us to go out and make disciples of every nation. I'm giving you what the scripture says.
Doesn't excuse us from doing anything, and it certainly doesn't excuse us to get into the idea of I get to get out of here. Now, I know somebody here who decided to use his talents, their talents for the Lord.
Instead of burying them in the dirt, decided to be used. And the Lord said, good. And being used in some different ways. Instead of getting out, they're staying in. The mentality in too many churches is, my wisdom and my sinfulness will give me the ability to choose God.
Look how good I am. I chose God, but you didn't. And you know what, God loves me so much, I get to get out of here in the pre-tribulation rapture. What if you were gonna go through it, and you knew you're gonna go through it?
And you knew that the people around you, most of them are gonna participate in the great deception to come, 2 Thessalonians chapter two, and that they're going to rot in eternal damnation forever. And you're gonna have to go through a lot of what they're gonna have to go through.
What then? Do you go to church and say, please, can I have a theological breast to nurse on? Can you just pat me on the back? And you don't get some diapers, can you change those as well? I believe that we Christians have the ability to change the world with the power of that gospel.
In Matthew 16, 18, Jesus says, the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. What do gates do? Nothing. Nothing, they sit there. They don't attack us. I can see many Christians walking up, look at the gates, run!
They don't understand. 2 Corinthians 5, or 10, 5, we are able and capable of holding every thought captive for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will go on national TV, I'll debate anybody within reason.
I can debate, you know, chemical biology with somebody. You know, what do I know? I pick my nose and throw something at them. It's all I can do. But I will debate people because I know what the truth of God's word is.
I will do the very best I can to bring glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And if we Christians had the same attitude, instead of, in my opinion, the damaging potential of the pre-tribulation rapture, we're gonna get out of this.
It's not for us, in my opinion, really bad theology. If you believe you're gonna go through it, then you're gonna do something about it. If you know a storm's coming into your neighborhood, what do you do?
I'm gonna get in the hammock. I don't have to worry about it because I'm getting out of here miraculously. I mean, I'd be batting down the hatches. I'd be locking this down. I'd be making sure that's there.
I'd be going like this, make sure I got that. I'd make sure I got this. I would be getting ready because I'm gonna go through it. And I've been through a tornado too. 1964, Wichita Falls, Texas. They use it on TV all the time.
And I saw that thing coming at our house, about five years old. And the Lord just moved it. I mean, I know what it means to be in this stuff. It's bad. And people think we're gonna get out of stuff. We're not gonna get out of stuff.
But you know what we Christians need to do? What we need to do is get our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. What we need to do is look to Him. What we need to do is say, Lord, the words that you want me to say, those are the words I want to say.
Where you want me to go, that's where I want to go. What you want me to do, that's what I want to do. Lord, do with me as you desire. Lord, do with me whatever you want. I suggest you take a piece of paper.
I did this. Take a piece of paper, blank, no lines, nothing. Sign it at the bottom. I put my date at the top. That's your contract with God. Lord, you fill it in. Doesn't matter. Only matters what you want.
I have it in a frame. I've had for years, decades. Boys, he filled it in. Are you going to bury your talents in the ground? You're going to bury them and say, Lord, I'll just not worry about it. I hope not.
I hope that what you want to do is serve God. Now, how can you serve Him? Well, I have the ability to memorize scripture. I'm quick on my feet. I'm completely slick. And I'm able to have discussions and I can speak in public.
Okay. I know people who fix things. I know people who know how to bake. People who can knit. People who can open their home up and change a room into a video studio in order to do things for the Lord Jesus.
It doesn't matter what you can do. It matters that you do. It matters that you give yourself to the Lord. Doesn't mean that right now you have to be doing something every second. It means to say, Lord, when you're ready, what are you going to do with me?
What do you want to do with me? What do you want? Please use me, please. I used to have this image in my mind of Jesus standing right there. And I'm like this. I'm like this. And He goes, go. And I'm on Him, right?
And I'm wrestling Him. And I say, I'm not letting you go until you do something with me, until you send me, until you use me. Why? Because on the day of judgment, I'm going to stand before Him. And I'm not trying to please Him for the sake.
Look what I get to do. On the day of judgment. Yeah, at a radio show. Look, that was good. That's not it. I want to be able to kneel before Him and say, thank you for condescending to use me. Thank you for condescending to bless me through trials and tribulations.
Sorry, I messed up so much along the way. But I had to speak for you. I had to live for you. That's what we need to be as Christians. Jesus says in Luke 9, 23, pick up your cross daily and follow after me.
In Matthew 10, 48, He says, if you don't pick up your cross, you're not worthy of me. And too many Christians are getting this idea. All you gotta do is just send this $5 in. You get the miracle spring water.
You drink it and your life will be better. Your best life now, the power of the great I am. Lord loves you just as you are. And He has a wonderful plan for your life. And you're going to enjoy all of it.
It's going to be a little bit tough sometimes, but you'll be really great. This is the ear-tickling crap that's taught from the pulpits all across America, along with the false doctrine that you're good enough in your sinfulness to be able to pick God out of the wisdom of your own sin, which is taught in most churches.
And that's a heresy. Why? Because it satisfies our soul. It satisfies our ears. It comforts us in ways that it exalts us. And if we're exalted, because in my wisdom, I was able to choose God when unfortunately others weren't.
God loves me so much, I get to get out of here, kind of mentality. That's not what everybody believes, but it's too close to the truth. We're going through it. The church has gone through it. People have gone through it.
As I had Dr. Peter Hammond on my radio show a week or so ago, he said, as he's traveled all over the world, the only place Preacher Rapture is taught is here in America. They don't believe it anywhere else.
They go, are you kidding? Where'd you get that? Where's that in scripture? It's not scripture. So what I want to say is, take this sheet, go home, do your own study, map it out on your own, see if what it says is correct.
I don't have all the answers to all the eschatological questions, but I do know this, he's coming back. I do know this, I'm going to face him. And I do know this, that I want him to say to me, well done.
That's what I want. There's no rewards, I'm not interested in the rewards. I only want to serve him. I only want to live for him. That's it. What if we had people all over America like that? What can we do to this country?
I want to push back the return of Christ as long as possible. He's coming. I want to push it back, push it back. It's coming, but push it back. Because more people need to hear that gospel, more people need to get saved.
So I would ask that what you do is, just pray and ask God to use you. But I have to warn you, if you do, he'll take you, he'll change you, he'll shape you, he'll do stuff with you. The hardest thing you're going to have to face is yourself.
Issues of pride and selfishness and covetousness and whatever else is there. He has to deal with those things as he shapes you to make you usable in his mighty hand. It's good, not always fun, but it's good.
All right, amen? All right, I'm going to pray. We'll close, we'll get off the air and then we'll do Q &A after about 10 minutes, all right? Lord Jesus, I thank you again for this time and I ask Lord that you would bless everything that was said that is from you, that it would just minister to the hearts and minds of your people, wherever they might be.
Lord, the foolishness that I've spoken, may it just fall in deaf ears and not be remembered. But I ask Jesus that you empower your church, that you call your church to repentance, that you call your church to the dedication of your word, to believing in your great majesty, and that we, Lord, are saved by your incredible grace and that our response ought to be to love you back with everything we've got.
Lord, I ask that you'd be glorified in our lives and in this evening in particular. We ask this, Jesus, in your precious name, amen. All right.