In The Twinkling of an Eye Part II Various Texts

The Hope of the Rapture in a Dark World

If you do some research on hymns, that's the oldest hymn in our hymnal. It comes from the fifth century, so a very old one. And what a blessing it is to sing with you. Now last week, we looked at the dark realities facing our world and how in the midst of everything that is going on, the Christian should be filled with great hope.

And this is so because as the world moves toward the end, there is an event promised for believers, and that event is known as the rapture. Now the word rapture is an English word, but the Greek word used in 1 Thessalonians 4 .17 where the Apostle Paul writes, we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

The words translated caught up literally means to be snatched. To be snatched suddenly. What scripture remarkably describes is that believers will be going through their daily life when suddenly Christians will be taken into the air to meet Jesus.

And what that text says, as we saw one week ago, is that the dead will be raised. The dead will be raised first, and what people say is that they're raised first because they actually have further to go, right, because they're in the ground.

The dead will be raised first, and then those who are alive will suddenly be transformed into your glorified body, and you will meet the Lord in the air. One week ago we looked at the places where the Apostle Paul writes about this.

In three of his letters, 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians, he highlights this end times rapture. Now this morning as we continue our sermon on the rapture, we are going to look at another one of Jesus' apostles describe this event, and that is the Apostle John.

The Apostle John, like the Apostle Paul, is one of the most prolific writers in the New Testament. The three apostles, I should say writers because Luke is not an apostle, but the three top writers in the New Testament are John, Luke, and Paul.

Luke actually wrote the most. He wrote the longest gospel, the Gospel of Luke, and then he wrote the Book of Acts. Then there's Paul, and then there's John. John wrote the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and the book in the Bible that most describes the end, and that of course is the Book of Revelation.

John 14 and the Promise of Heaven

So at this time we will jump in to see what John highlights about this event. This sermon is once again titled In the Twinkling of an Eye, and this is part two. And our big idea once again is to live with the expectancy that Christ can take you at any time.

Live with the expectancy that Christ can take you at any time. And I'm not calling you to turn anywhere specific because we'll be looking at several different passages, but I do encourage you to write those passages down as we go through them.

Now the first time John mentions the rapture is in his Gospel in John 14, verses 2 -3. In these verses, he remembered the time when Jesus told him and the other disciples about this glorious future event.

There Jesus told his disciples, in my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also.

These words from Jesus are a problem for anyone who does not hold to a pre-tribulation rapture. Now I mentioned last week the tribulation. The tribulation, the final tribulation is the seven-year period at the very end of the age where the Antichrist is going to reign over the world.

And what I believe scripture teaches is that the church will be taken before this final seven-year tribulation. And this passage in John 14 is a problem for anyone who does not see that, I believe. Other views have a hard time knowing what to do with this.

The place where Jesus is going to take his people to be with him is heaven. As Jesus is talking to his disciples, he is telling them that he is about to leave them. As Jesus speaks with them here in John 14, he is in the upper room.

This is the night before he is crucified. Then after his resurrection, Acts 1 .3 says that Jesus spent 40 days appearing to different followers and during this time he told them about the kingdom of God.

Then Acts 1 .9 says Jesus was taken up in a cloud and the place he was taken to was heaven. This is the place where Jesus is right now. He sits at the right hand of his father in this place of blessedness known as heaven.

In John 14, what Jesus is describing is preparing a place for believers. He describes heaven as his father's house that has many rooms. And what Jesus is telling his disciples is that these rooms are reserved for you in this glorious place.

This passage blows up the post-tribulation view that believes Jesus only comes back after the seven-year tribulation. If you hold to a post-tribulation rapture, believers meet him in the air and then they come right back to earth.

But that is not what Jesus says in John 14. Jesus describes his father's house, also known as heaven, the place he went ahead to to get ready for his followers, to prepare for his followers. Jesus would not take one to a place and call it his father's house and describe rooms where one will stay if they weren't going to be there for a while.

The description is of a place where those who are alive at his rapture will spend a temporary period of time with him in heaven. And that period of time is seven years. He is telling them the place where I am going, you will join me.

Just like he told the thief on the cross in Luke 23 -43, today you will be with me in paradise. Jesus is telling his disciples and all members of the church down through history, if I return in your lifetime, I will take you to the place where I am going, heaven.

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb and the Parable of the Ten Virgins

Their believers will be with Jesus for seven years. In Revelation 19, verses 6 -10, the Apostle John writes about the marriage supper of the Lamb that Jesus will enjoy with the church. This marriage supper describes the enjoyment that Jesus will experience with his people.

It is a blessing to enjoy a meal with someone else. We experience this throughout the year. Maybe after church today, you will enjoy a meal with someone. Thanksgiving dinner is probably the biggest meal we have all year.

You enjoy not only the meal, but you enjoy this rich time of fellowship. There is lots of laughter. It is a joyous occasion. This marriage supper describes the enjoyment that Jesus will experience with his people during these seven years.

It is a blessing to enjoy a meal, and he will have that. What is interesting is that as we think about John 14, there is another author in the New Testament that helps fill in what Jesus is saying in John 14, and that is the author Matthew in Matthew 25.

We looked at this only a couple of months back in one of Jesus' parables known as the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Now the Christian documentary Before the Wrath, which was released in the last year or two, ties these two passages together very well.

What this documentary shows is that Jesus' words in John 14 are describing an ancient Jewish wedding custom. When a Jewish man and a woman became betrothed, and betrothed is something like engagement to us, when they became betrothed, they would separate until the wedding.

What happened during this time is that the man would go to his father's house and build a room onto his father's house. In this room, he and his future bride would live. Once the betrothed man finished the room, he was ready to go get his bride to officially marry her.

But it was not up to him to decide when to go get her. It was up to his father. The time when the father would tell his son to go get his bride would be at some point in the middle of the night. Someday, he did not know.

Suddenly, his father would come to him and say, it's time. Go get your bride. Everything I just said ties exactly in with what Jesus said in John 14. But the only way to fully understand John 14 and the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 is when you study them together.

Matthew 25 comes into play as the groom is on his way to get his bride. What happened in the ancient Jewish custom is that ten virgins, these were ten women, ten bridesmaids, they were to meet the man as he was en route to get his bride.

What Jesus explains in Matthew 25 is that ten virgins each had a torch, but five of the virgins were not ready. They did not have enough oil. The oil lit the torch that would help them see so that they would be able to go with the man on this journey to get his bride.

So the five virgins were not ready, but five were. They had enough oil to light their torches to go with the groom to get the bride. These five who were ready would observe the ceremony and then enjoy the feast with the bride and groom, while the five virgins who were not ready missed out on this great celebration.

As Jesus said in Matthew 25, verses 10 -12, the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, Truly I say to you, I do not know you. What Jesus is describing in John 14 and Matthew 25 is the rapture.

And it's a surprise. And it happens before the seven-year tribulation. What he is communicating is that this feast is coming and his people need to be ready. As he goes to get his bride to enjoy this feast, are your torches lit?

The call is to be ready. To walk through that door with him to enjoy the feast. As Jesus says at the end of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 -13, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

All who have believed in him and are walking with him will enjoy this feast with him. So make sure that you belong to Jesus. Make sure that you are ready to meet him when he comes suddenly. This unbelieving world is going to be blindsided at his return.

At the rapture. But no one in this room has to be in that number. If your trust is in him for your salvation, for the forgiveness of your sins, then you will be ready for the rapture. It is true that some believers are more ready than others.

The closer you follow him, the more joy you will have as you meet him. You don't want to have that feeling of living in mediocrity as he suddenly takes you. As he takes you, you want to be living a life glorifying to him.

John’s Teaching on Glorified Bodies and Sinless Perfection

Now the apostle John also describes the rapture in two other places. In John 3, verse 2, he writes, Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

In what way will believers be like Jesus? Philippians 3, verses 20 -21, describe this. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

Think of the bodies we have now. They get sick. There's weakness. They age. You're going to get a body one day that doesn't do any of that. It's going to be unshakable. What a hope that is. And think of how depressing it is for the unbeliever.

All they can think about is the glory days, when their body worked well, when they were younger. For the believer, as you get closer to Christ, that day is coming when you will have a completely new body.

1 John 2 is specifically describing the perfection that you will have at the rapture. And there's two ways this perfection is described. One is, like I just said, the new body. The other perfection is, you will be sinless.

Think of the old hymn that we sing in this church sometimes, Come Thou Fount. Oh, that day, when freed from sinning, I shall see his lovely face. Clothed then with blood-washed linen, I shall sing thy sovereign grace.

Come now, Lord, no longer tarry. Take my ransomed soul away. Send thine angels now to carry me to realms of endless days. The writer of that hymn is crying out, Lord, I don't want to sin anymore. I want to be sinless.

I want to be perfect. And that's what John is describing here. 1 John 3 says, Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, as he is pure. So when you see him, you will be like him. You will be sinless.

This is a marvelous hope. Everyone here who belongs to Christ, there is a day coming when you will not sin. Right now, we have a nature that leads us to sin. One day, you will have a nature that will not allow you, enable you to sin.

You will be completely pure. And this will happen at the rapture. Suddenly, you will be given a glorified body that will be sinless. And when people think about the Apostle John's writings on the rapture, there is one verse that comes to mind more than the others, and that is Revelation 3 .10.

This is a passage that describes the church being spared from the judgment that is coming on the entire world. This is what Jesus says in this verse, Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth.

In this passage, a specific church is mentioned, and that is the church in Philadelphia. We will look at this church in the coming weeks as we're going to be looking at the seven churches of Revelation.

Now, this church in Philadelphia is not, of course, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was an ancient church in the Roman Empire. This ancient church, Philadelphia, is representative of all true churches, all true churches in this age that we live.

This includes Eureka Baptist. There has been much debate about two Greek words in this text, and how you say it is, it's teresoek. In English, these two words mean to keep from or to keep out from. Those who hold to a post-tribulation view, again, that the rapture happens after the seven years.

By the way, if you're post-trib, you pretty much believe the rapture and the second coming are one and the same event. Those who hold to that look at this passage, and what they say is that he is going to keep you through the tribulation during the seven years.

But there's a big problem with this. The word ek carries the meaning of from, out from, or away from. With that in mind, the best way to take this is the Lord is going to remove his people from the period of trial that is coming on the earth.

If Jesus intended to cause his people to endure through the seven-year tribulation period, he would have said that he would keep them through the trial. And instead, there would be a different word here, a different Greek word, that would make much more sense.

But rather, Jesus says he will keep you out from the period of trial, that period known as the final seven-year tribulation. It is truly remarkable to see how clear the Bible is concerning this great snatching of God's people from the earth before the tribulation.

To know these details about the end times is to be blessed. Revelation 1 .3 says this, Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

And this is something that is so close to my heart. This book is clear. Sometimes people look at the end times and they say, well, there's lots of different views, we really don't know. Do you think God would want that?

Of course not. This book is clear. We can know about the end. The Bible is very detailed. A lot of times people try to kind of take away the details and just make everything vague and allegorize the text, and there really isn't a real millennium, there really is only one rapture.

Every good story has lots of details. Every good story has all these twists and turns. And of course the greatest story is the story of the Bible. This is the story of life. There's all these different twists and turns.

There's all these different phases of the resurrection. Christ was resurrected. There's going to be a resurrection at the rapture. There's going to be a resurrection after the seven year tribulation. There's going to be a resurrection after the one thousand year reign of Christ.

I mean, think of how detailed this is. God is all knowing. He knows lots of details. He gives us these details. We need to do our best to see these details. And it's not just so that we would know things, but that we would be transformed with this knowledge.

To miss out on these details is to miss out on this joy that all believers can have right now as we anticipate this rapture event. As we anticipate that at any moment Christ will take us to be with him.

This should fill us with great hope, with great joy. If we don't hold to a rapture view that Christ can take us at any moment, then we can only meet him at death. Three-fourths of the world is going to die during the final seven year tribulation.

Very few people will actually survive to see Christ coming. But the Bible teaches that he will come in the clouds to gather his people. And what a great hope that is. The American Evangelical Church has made an effort to simplify this, to smooth over the details, and to miss out on the glory that is there.

It's almost like Christianity today is like, let's just get rid of the corruption. Let's just see the corruption, get rid of the corruption, and find the truth. And one of the ways we find the truth is by correctly understanding the rapture, correctly understanding the end of the story.

One thing I love is living in a place like this. People have a lot of common sense. We don't overthink things. We don't get corrupted in academia. It's just, what does this say? And believe it. To say there is only one coming of Christ after the tribulation is to simplify the end.

Some even say there is no future one thousand year reign of Christ, as I mentioned, before the eternal state, which is frankly a view that diminishes God's great plan for the world with all of its intricacies.

So we need to be diligent to study these details. In recent years, as we get closer to the end, a proper understanding of the rapture, this view especially has fallen on hard times. The pre-tribulation rapture was the dominant view in the church during the 20th century.

Sadly, there are lots of Christians who make fun of it and say that they get their understanding only from the Left Behind series. But what is true is that the writers of the Left Behind series got this understanding of the end from the Bible, as I just shared with you.

It's clearly in the text. These commoners got it right, while academics, who often miss the truth, got it wrong. And what I want to say to you is don't let anyone tell you that the pre-tribulation rapture is a modern day fairy tale.

As I have shown you today, it has strong biblical support. It is stronger than the other views by a mile. And what we see in our world is that when people cannot argue against someone else's view, they resort to name-calling.

This is what I have seen in the Christian community. Most of the arguments I have heard against the pre-tribulation rapture are what is called straw-man arguments. A straw-man is when you tear down a false understanding of another's view.

What people say is that the pre-tribulation rapture started from a man by the name of John Darby, a Bible teacher in the 19th century. However, there was a book written several years back that has debunked this argument.

The book is called Dispensationalism Before Darby. And by the way, dispensationalism is a fancy term that has the pre-tribulation rapture in it. A dispensationalist believes there is a pre-tribulation rapture, then there is the second coming of Christ after the seven years, then there is the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ, and then there is the eternal state.

That is what dispensationalism teaches. So this man wrote this book. His name is William Watson, Dispensationalism Before Darby. And what he shows is that Darby was working from a long tradition, tracing back to the 1600s where there were Baptists who saw the pre-tribulation rapture in Scripture.

For most of church history, sadly, there wasn't much attention paid to a thorough study of the end times. All they pretty much focused on was Christ's second coming, and that there would be a final resurrection, and there would be eternal life for believers, and eternal death for unbelievers.

But we can be proud that Baptists, just like they advanced believer's baptism after the Reformation, advanced a biblical understanding of the end times. Because remember, during the Middle Ages, when the Roman Catholic Church dominated everything, people didn't know what this book said.

They didn't know what the Gospel was. Roman Catholicism teaches that you're saved by your works. They didn't know what the Gospel was. So then people like Kelvin and Luther come along, and we're grateful that through their efforts, the Gospel is rediscovered.

But we don't stop there. In 1609, that's when believer's baptism was rediscovered. We don't baptize babies, right? We baptize people upon profession of faith. And then these same Baptists, as they're looking at their Bibles, also see all that the Bible says about the end of the story.

27 of the Bible talks about the end of the story. So if we're not focusing on the end of the story, we're missing 27 of the Bible. And these Baptists in the 17th century were working off of those earlier in Church history who saw in Scripture a future seven-year tribulation, with a future Antichrist who would reign, who would then be defeated by Christ at his second coming, and then Christ would establish his earthly 1 ,000-year kingdom.

In fact, Church Father Irenaeus, who was discipled by Polycarp, who was discipled by John, isn't that amazing? So John to Polycarp to Irenaeus, he saw these future events in the Scriptures. Isn't that interesting?

The guy who wrote Revelation were two people removed. His views were the same as our views as a Church. It was not until Augustine came that people started to look at the end times more figuratively. And the negative fruit from Augustine is still around today.

So there is historical support, and more importantly, Biblical support, for seeing that we, the Church, will not be here for the final seven-year tribulation. The text of Scripture clearly says that he will take the Church, and it also says that the focus of this time will not be the Church, because the Church will be gone.

The focus of this time will be the nation of Israel. Jeremiah 30, verse 7, describes the final tribulation period as a time of distress for Jacob. Jacob is Israel. God's focus right now is on the Church.

In Romans 11, 25, the Apostle Paul writes, "...a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.". The Gentiles coming to faith is referring to the Church, but Israel has been hardened for the last 2 ,000 years.

We see this in our world today. There are about 14 million Jews in the world, and most of them are lost. They have not believed in their Messiah, Jesus. But a day is coming when they will. And what is amazing is that as our Jewish missionary, Trevor Rubenstein, has reported, even now, many Jews are coming to faith.

Look at all the signs that are happening that point to the nearness of the end. One of those signs is that Jews are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And what Trevor also told us is that the conversion of Gentiles is dropping.

Less and less Gentiles are coming to faith, but more and more Jews are believing in Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Treasure. Romans 11, 26 says that all Israel will be saved. So you might be asking, when will the rapture happen?

The answer is once the last member of the Church is saved. That is when the rapture will occur. And what is most exciting is that it can happen very soon, and we should live in anticipation. This is indeed a blessed hope, as Titus 2 .13 tells us.

May we, as a Church, live with this hope, and may it spark us to reflect Him all the more in our daily lives, knowing that He can take us at any time. As 2 Peter 3, verses 11 -12 say, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?

If you knew that Christ was returning tomorrow, wouldn't that make you more diligent in the way that you live? If we knew He was coming tomorrow, we probably wouldn't even go home, right? Let's just stay together, let's just stay and encourage one another in worship.

Scripture tells us about the rapture to encourage you. That's what Paul says, 1 Thessalonians 4. Encourage one another with these words. If we take away the rapture, we will have less encouragement. So we should not do that.

And while we are here, it is fruitful labor for you and I. Now, as I have said, next Sunday, we will begin our journey through the seven churches that Jesus addresses in Revelation. And next Sunday's sermon will be kind of an introduction to the seven churches of Revelation.

So we're going to look at chapter 1 of Revelation, because the churches are covered in chapters 2 and 3 of that book. And I look forward to looking at that with you. But at this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.

Closing Prayer and Exhortation to Holy Living

Oh Lord, help us to live with this expectancy that Christ can take us at any moment. That we would live, Lord, lives glorifying to You. That men would be good husbands and fathers and good friends. That women would be good wives and mothers.

That we would love each other in this church. That we would be unified in this church. I've seen so much of that, Lord, and it's so wonderful to see. We want You to find us following You closely as You return.

So Lord Jesus, prepare us. Help us to walk in holiness now as we await that day. And Lord, we'll either meet You at that moment or at our death. But either way, help us to live lives that are pleasing in Your sight.

And it's in Your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.