Revelation Part 2 - The Rapture

Whitten Baptist Church

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Revelation Part 3 Chapter 4 & 5

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Good evening. Welcome to Sunday Night Bible Study. I am Pastor Joe Sia Shipley of Wynton Baptist Church.

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I want to apologize for last week. We had some technical difficulties. I recorded a whole video for you guys on the rapture in Revelation Part 2, and the audio didn't work.

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I messed up with the microphone and didn't have the audio on. So, I'm going here now.

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So, my sincerest apologies about that. Today, we're going to be in Revelation Part 2, What is the

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Rapture? A relatively short video, and I've got a timeline behind me, poorly written, but hopefully will be somewhat helpful for you in understanding the events unfolding.

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And then, hopefully next week, we'll walk through some more of the Book of Revelation in Chapter 4 and 5.

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And then, we'll start working on Wynton to seals and the bowls and all that stuff. So, Revelation Part 2,

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What is the Rapture? Before we begin, I want to remind you, as always, if you would go to YouTube and subscribe to Wynton Media Ministry, W -H -I -T -T -E -N,

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Wynton Media Ministry, even if you don't use YouTube very much, it helps our ministry. We don't get any money for it, but it helps us get the

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Gospel out there better. And, of course, like us on Facebook, Wynton Baptist Church. We have a whole slate.

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Mondays, we have timeouts with Pastor Ben. Tuesday evenings, we have Bible study with either Pastor Jeff or Brother Christian Torres.

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Brother John Everett is coming up soon. I'm excited about that. Wednesday afternoons and evenings, we have

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Brother Andrew with song lyric discussions. Thursday nights are wow moments, which are always fun with Vicki and Mercedes.

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Fridays are off days. Saturdays are question and answers, most of the time live. Then Sundays, of course, we have Sunday morning service,

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Sunday morning sermons, and Sunday evening Bible study. So, here we are, Sunday night Bible study, and I'm ready to go.

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What is the Rapture? Revelation Part 2. Alright.

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So, here's a little timeline I have here. You know, I've got everything positioned just right, so I'm going to try to move slow.

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So, we have here the church age. This is basically, I think, the age we're in after Jesus has left, because we have the church age.

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Okay. I believe that age ends at the Rapture. Now, we're going to zoom in on this a little later on, about this period called the

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Tribulation, the Great Tribulation, which I believe lasts seven years. Okay. I could be wrong.

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That's more of a theological thing. I believe it's seven years. I get that from Daniel 9, the 70 weeks, and 1 ,260 days being the midway point in Revelation, Matthew 24, so on and so forth.

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But, at any rate, we have the Rapture. Then we have a period of time,

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I believe it to be seven years, called the Tribulation. Then we have the Second Coming. Then, after that Second Coming is the

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Thousand Year Reign. Now, for those of you that are watching this like, that doesn't sound like what I learned. Last week, we did an overview on premillennialism.

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I guess it was two weeks now. Postmillennialism and amillennialism. I admitted that I am a premillennialist, but I totally understand there are people godlier than me, but disagree.

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Please go back and watch that video, if you would. Maybe we can put a link on here, before you watch this one.

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Okay. So, we have the Thousand Year Reign. Jesus, at the culmination of that thousand years, that's when the resurrection of the dead happens, the

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Daniel 12 -2, the new heavens, the new earth, so on and so forth. Okay. So, let's do that again.

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And listen, guys. You can learn this. I don't know this, because I'm a pastor.

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I'm just a dude, just like you. You can learn this. It just takes patience and time, and a lot of reading of the

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Bible. Always read the Bible, before you ever read anyone else's silly commentary, or whatever. The words of men will never compare to the words of God.

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Okay. All right. Now, there are many who believe that the rapture happens at the second coming.

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We call those post -trib, because they believe the rapture happens post -tribulation, at the end of the tribulation.

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Those who believe the rapture happens at the midpoint, or somewhere in the middle, are called mid -trib rapture, folks.

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And those who believe the rapture happens before the tribulation, like I drew out here, are called pre -trib rapture, guys.

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Okay. We'll look at that in just a minute. So, the next thing on the agenda, as far as I can tell in Scripture, is the rapture.

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1 Thessalonians 4, 13 -18. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 -18.

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And remember, I would rather you always read the Bible, or at least write it down, and go back and read it.

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That's way more important than listening to what I have to say about it. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 -18.

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Beautiful passage. Okay. I want you to notice something. What you just read made no mention of the lost, made no mention of the resurrection of the dead that are lost, no judgment, none of that.

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This resurrection was only of the dead in Christ, and the alive in Christ.

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The rapture, that word doesn't appear in the Bible. It's a Latin translation of this word right here, and verse 17, caught up, rapturo, same with the

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Spanish accent. So, this is

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God's calling his church home, dead or alive. Remember, dead believers, their souls are with the

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Lord right now. You know, Paul said, to depart and be with Christ is far better. To live is

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Christ, to die is gain. Paul said, to be absent from the body is to be present with the

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Lord. Jesus told the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. We know our loved ones who are believers are with the

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Lord right now, but their bodies are here. At the rapture, the dead in Christ, only the dead in Christ, and those who are still alive, will be caught up together with Jesus in the clouds, and they will always be with the

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Lord. Now, that's 1 Thessalonians.

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I want to compare that to Daniel 12 at the end. Daniel 12, I'll read verse 1 and 2, but Daniel 12, 1 and 2, and I think you'll be able to see the difference.

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Daniel 12, verses 1 and 2, at that time shall arise Michael, the great prince, who has charge of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such has never been since there was a nation until that time.

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But at that time, your people will be delivered, everyone whose name was found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

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Many who sleep in the ground will awake, some to everlasting life, some to everlasting contempt. In other words, heaven and hell.

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Now, notice in this one, even the lost are raised.

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So I think Daniel 12 is different than 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 is dead or alive, all saved people are called home.

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Daniel 12 is all lost and all saved people are resurrected.

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You may say, how are there saved people? How does that happen? How are there saved people? Well, because there's still a thousand or a thousand and seven years of history, and hence there's a lot of people get saved after the rapture.

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That's why we still have a resurrection of saved and unsaved people in Daniel 12. Because even though all the saved bodies are taken here at this rapture, there's still a thousand and seven years of history before the final resurrection.

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Hopefully that timeline helps a little bit. And then at this resurrection of the dead in judgment, that's also when the new heaven and new earth happens.

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So where's the second coming? Well, it's right here at the end of the great tribulation before the thousand year reign.

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Let's read about that in Revelation 19. Revelation 19, I believe is right there on this chart.

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So there's 1 Thessalonians 4, there's Revelation 19, there's Daniel 12 and Revelation 21, 20, 20, well, there's

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Revelation 20, there's the rest of 20 and 21, 22, so on and so forth. But Revelation 19 is right here.

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All right. I'm going to read in verse 11.

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Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

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His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, for he has a name written on it no one knows but himself.

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He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the word of God.

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And the armies of heaven are rained in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword which will strike down the nations, and he will rule with a rod of iron.

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He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written

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King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's called the word of God, dressed in righteousness, robe dipped in blood, so on and so forth,

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King of Kings, Lord of Lords, this is very clearly Jesus. So this is describing the second coming.

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So the rapture is back here, okay, and if you want to think of it as a timeline, Revelation 4 is when

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I think the church is raptured out, and Revelation particularly 6 through, goodness gracious, 18 is this tribulation.

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A thousand year reign is mentioned in Revelation, the second coming is Revelation 19, a thousand year reign is the beginning of Revelation 20, the rest of Revelation 20, 21, 22 are right here at the end with Daniel 12, new heavens, new earth, so on and so forth.

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Okay, so one more time, even though those are literal churches,

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Revelation 4 is when the rapture, Revelation 6 through 18 is this tribulation, most of the book of Revelation is seven years in my opinion,

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Revelation 19, second coming, Revelation 20, thousand year reign, the rest of Revelation 20, 21, 22 are here at the end, at the resurrection.

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Okay, so in summary, what is the rapture? The rapture is

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God calling up, taking out, snatching up of his church, dead and alive.

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Remember, when Jesus bought you with his blood, he paid for your mind, body, and soul, and he will get what he paid for.

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We believe in the resurrection, those who have died, even those who were cremated, or their ashes were cast in the ocean, or they were eaten by sharks and then diffused out.

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We believe in a God that's powerful enough to literally resurrect the bodies of his saints, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will all be changed.

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As 1 Corinthians 15 says, the mortal must put on immortal, and the corruptible will put on incorruptible, and we will be changed.

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It says in the same way as he was, just like when Jesus, see, there's a difference between raised from the dead and resurrected.

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A lot of people in the Bible were raised from the dead. Only one has been resurrected. Jesus was raised and resurrected.

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Resurrected entails getting the glorified body. So, the rapture is God's calling of his church, home, dead, and alive.

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I believe it's the next thing on the agenda. I can't predict when that will happen. It could happen tomorrow.

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It could happen in 500 years. I have no idea. But I know that a great tribulation will follow.

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Second coming, thousand -year reign, resurrection of the dead. Understand the resolution at the end of this tribulation.

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I don't want to get in a huge argument over a seven -year battle, but I would typically lean pre -trib, and just to give you a couple reasons why, and then we'll be done.

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John 14, 1 -2. Jesus is speaking to his disciples. Let not your hearts be troubled.

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Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you,

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I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so where I may be, you may be also.

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So I'm going to prepare a place for you. In my Father's house, there are many rooms.

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I will come again, and I will take you to myself. I don't believe, so like in the post -trib rapture, you have the saints coming up, and then jokingly, people call it rollercoaster theology because they come right back down to reign with Christ.

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Well, it says he's going to take us to himself. He's at the right hand of God in heaven.

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I believe that's where he'll be taking us to as well. Those of us who are alive, it is coming. Isaiah 28.

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This one's interesting. Isaiah. Actually, I may have just misspoke.

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It is, excuse me,

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Isaiah 26, 19. 26, 19. Your dead will live.

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Their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy. All right. Awake and sing for joy.

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So there are people being resurrected, but it seems like only those who can sing for joy. So this can't be the resurrection of Daniel 12, where there are some raised to eternal life, some to eternal contempt.

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For your due is the due of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. Come, my people, enter your chambers and shut the door behind you.

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Hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed. For behold, the

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Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth and their iniquity, and therefore disclose the bloodshed on it.

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And there'll be no more of it slain, no more cover of it slain. Come, my people, enter your chambers and shut the doors behind you.

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Hide yourselves for a little while. Seven years? Come, my people, enter your chambers, shut the door behind you.

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Hide yourselves for a little while while the fury has passed by. You know, you read that in conjunction with Revelation 4.

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As of this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. So there's a door that's open. And the first voice which

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I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. So it just fits nicely to me.

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I could be wrong, but it sure seems to me that that's what's happening here. Another interesting little snippet for you.

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Yeah, another little interesting snippet for you. The word church is used like, I don't want to lie,

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I think it's 23 times in Revelation. After chapter three, the word church is never used again until chapter 21.

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So from chapter six through 18 during the tribulation, the word church is never mentioned again, even though it's used like 18 times in the first three chapters talking about seven churches.

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Now, why would that be? I argue because the church is taken out of the world. But I do believe there will be saved people in the world because I believe people will get saved after that event.

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Lots of other things we could discuss, but I'm going to leave it there for now.

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In short, what is the rapture? The rapture is God's calling of his church home. I believe it happens before the second coming, whether it's right before, three and a half years before, or seven years before.

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I admit it's up for debate and it's a fun debate to have, but at any rate, the rapture is God's calling up of his church to come home with him before he returns to set up his reign.

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Love you guys very much. We will continue with our study of Revelation next week. I hope this is helpful.