False Claims About The Rapture / Return of Christ (Setting Dates / Preterism / JW's / SDA / etc)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Many sermons on this subject, right? So someone could be thinking to themselves, if I had a nickel for every sermon I've heard on the coming of the Lord and the rapture and the end times, well, you know what?

Even if you had a nickel for every sermon, you wouldn't be rich. You'd have a few dollars at the most. But you know what? You are rich in that you belong to a church that still believes Jesus is coming back.

You are rich because you belong to a church that actually still preaches on the rapture. Do you realize there is a growing number of churches, evangelical churches, that no longer preach on the subject.

Some of them don't even believe Jesus is going to return. The ones that don't believe Jesus is going to return, they are called what? See how well I've taught you.

Foolish.

Yeah, foolish. Amen. Well, there's a group, they're called preterists. Preterism basically means in the past. So the preterists, they typically believe that all the end time events, the events of the book of Revelation, the return of Christ, it's already happened, they say.

And Jesus already returned in 70 A .D. So they're not looking for Christ to return. They don't ever expect Jesus to return in their lifetime. Listen, some of them may be nice folks, but they're seriously wrong on this subject.

Why 70 A .D.? Well, 70 A .D. is when what happened? The Jerusalem temple was destroyed. Yes, that happened. And yes, Jesus predicted it. But here's the problem with saying that Jesus returned in 70 A .D.

Here's the problem. Nobody noticed. Nobody saw him return. And more importantly, nobody was caught up. Nobody was caught up. So they basically deny the rapture. Some of them will scoff at the idea of the rapture.

And one of the things they say, they say, well, the term rapture isn't even in the Bible. Have you heard this? The word rapture is not even found in the Scripture.

Okay. You know what?

That's true. Guess what else isn't found in the Scripture? The word Trinity isn't found in the Bible. And what does Trinity mean? Tri-unity? The three in one? God is still Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

That is in the Bible. What else is not in the Bible? The word Bible is not in the Bible. But we still have a Bible, don't we? And what does Bible mean? Bible means book. You've heard of a bibliography.

A bibliography is a list of books.

We have the book.

So the issue is not do you find the word. The word grandfather is not found in the King James Version of the Bible. Does that mean there's no grandfathers? I mean, that's a lousy argument. The question is, does the Bible teach it?

Does the Bible teach the rapture? Well, what's the answer to that?

Yes.

Look at 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17 again. Then we who are alive and remain shall be. So the Greek word translated caught up is harpazo. And to make a long story short, it was translated into Latin, and it became rapturo.

And then in English, we have now the word rapture. So rapture simply means a catching up, a snatching away. Where at Christ's coming, the dead are raised, resurrected, taken up into the clouds. Then those who are alive at that moment are caught up, caught up.

To meet Jesus, to meet him where? In the air, in the clouds. It's interesting. Go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 8. This Greek term harpazo is used elsewhere in Acts chapter 8. This is the account where Philip is preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch.

And, of course, the eunuch believes. And then he says, you know, what doth hinder me from being baptized? Philip says, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And look at Acts chapter 8, verse 37.

Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away. Basically, Philip was harpazo. He was raptured. He was caught up. He was taken away so that the eunuch, what? Saw him no more.

So Philip was there one moment. The Ethiopian eunuch turns around. Guess what? He's gone. The Lord snatched him away. So he basically disappeared. Now, he was not taken to heaven. He did not meet Christ in the air.

But dare I say, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, he was there one moment, gone the next. And that's going to happen. If we are alive in that generation, we're all going to be here one moment, gone the next.

So if everybody disappears and only two or three of you are left, and you look around, where did everybody go? Start praying, okay? Accept Christ into your heart. You have to go through the tribulation.

That will be difficult. But you say, well, is this really going to happen? Well, what does the Bible say? You know, there will come a time where the people of this earth are eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage.

Two will be in the field. One will be taken. And the other will be left behind. Perhaps two will be standing at the altar. And one will be taken and the other left behind. And let me just say this for the single people here and especially the young people here.

You want to marry a Christian because it would be a terrible thing for you to be caught up and taken to heaven and have your loved one left behind to face the great tribulation. And again, you say, is this really going to happen?

Well, let's see. Let's go to Matthew chapter 24. If we believe Jesus, then this is going to happen. And no, we are not preterists. We do not believe this happened 1900 years ago. That is absolutely absurd.

Dare I say preterism is one of the dumbest doctrines. You know, I'm outside. I feel like I can speak a little more freely. It has to be one of the dumbest doctrines I've ever heard. So if you die before the Lord's return, that's okay.

Because when the Lord returns, you'll be resurrected. And you're going to meet him in the air either way. But we want to be those who are alive and remain. Because as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 1551, he says, Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep. Sleep is a euphemism for death, obviously. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. And he calls it a mystery because believers up until that point, they didn't understand this.

They knew of the resurrection. They did not know that there would be a generation of believers who would never die. So that's why Paul calls it a mystery. And he says, In the twinkling of an eye. We'll read Matthew 24 in a minute or two, okay?

How long is a twinkling of an eye? I used to listen to this evangelist on television named Jack Van Impey. Years and years ago. Any of you know Jack Van Impey? He was quite a character. He says that the twinkling of an eye is 11 one hundredth of a second.

I don't know how he calculated that, but it sounds right to me. So in a moment, in a split second, you will be transformed. If you are in that generation, you'll be here in your earthly, fleshly body.

And in an instant, you'll be in the air with Christ in your new, transformed, glorified body.

Amen.

The Danger of Denying Christ's Return and Reducing the Rapture to a Word Game

Now, I think we have to be careful. Speaking of that individual, and there have been others. There are two extremes. There are the preterists who say that Jesus already came back in the first century, which we reject.

And then there is the other extreme. Basically, people who are so certain of Christ's coming, they are so certain they even figured out the date of when he's going to return. This, unfortunately, has been going on for a long, long time.

Remember Harold Camping from several years ago? I had never heard of him before that. I guess he was pretty well known. He set a date, and he was wrong.

So what did he do?

He set another date, obviously.

Well, he's gone.

Rapture still hasn't happened. There's been some other well-known cases here in America. Right here in New England, there was a very well-known evangelist named William Miller. You've heard of the Millerites?

He is basically the founder of the Adventist movement. And he set a date, and when it didn't happen, I think people sold their property and gave away all their possessions, and they waited on top of a hill for the Lord to come.

I think it was called the Great Disappointment, as you can imagine. So that date didn't pan out. So what did he do?

Oh, you know what he did.

He set another date, October 22, 1844. And when that didn't work out, you know what his followers did? They could not accept the fact that he was wrong. So they went on to found the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And they came up with this doctrine. They say, you know what? His date was right.

He was right.

It really was October 22, 1844. He just had the details wrong. It wasn't the return of Christ, but something did happen, but it was just invisible. So nobody saw it. Jesus entered into the heavenly sanctuary.

I don't know how they know that. So it was invisible. Ironically, 70 years later, 70 years later, the Jehovah's Witnesses essentially did the same exact thing. They predicted the return of Christ in 1914.

Did it happen? So it didn't happen.

What did they do?

You know what they did. They set another date and another date and another date. Finally, they came to the conclusion that, no, we were right. Jesus did return in 1914. It was just invisible.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

It kind of sounds a lot like the Preterists. We said he came back in 70 A .D. It was just invisible. So the title of the message, Jesus is coming back. So when he comes back, the only question is, are you going to be caught up or are you going to be left behind?

It all hinges on one thing. Have you made Christ Lord and Savior of your life?

Salvation, Assurance, and the Coming Tribulation

Let's close it.

Father, we thank you for your word and for the promise that Jesus is coming back. I pray that if anyone is not trusted in Christ as their Savior, that they would humble themselves, even now, by the working of your spirit.

And may this be resolved in the heart of each one here. As we depart from this place, let every heart be assured that if the Lord were to return right now, that we would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we would be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

Father, if there's anyone here who does not know, I trust that they would come and talk to me or one of the deacons afterwards so that they can have that assurance of salvation, everlasting life, and even deliverance from the great tribulation which is to come.

We pray it all in Christ's name. Amen.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.