Should Christians get into prepping / How to prepare for the return of Jesus?

Preparing for the Lord’s Return in Light of End Times Teaching

So let's open up to Matthew chapter 24, and tonight we're gonna look at some of the different ways that people prepare for the end times. Or the question, how should I, how should we prepare for the return of Christ?

I mean, this is application. We went through the Revelation series to get the information, but how do we internalize it? How do we respond? How should we, or how can we prepare for the Lord's return? I think the Bible has something to say about this.

Now, if you believe that the Lord's return is drawing near, which I do believe that. I am convinced that the Bible teaches the doctrine of imminency, that the Lord could return at any time. If you believe that, it's gonna have, it should have some effect on your life.

However, there are Christians more of the, and I'm not putting anyone down. I'm just saying this is how it plays out. People of the post-millennial variety. If you think the end times are always 1 ,000 years away, then it's probably out of sight, out of mind.

And typically when you're a millennial, yeah, you don't really expect it to happen at any time. So it's kind of out of sight, out of mind. But for churches like ours that are pre-millennial, and we think that the return of Christ is imminent, it should have some impact in how we live.

What Prepping Is and Why Some Christians Do It

Now, who has heard of prepping? Prepping. Now, I'm not talking about like in a kitchen, like the prep cook or something like that.

Noomsday.

Yeah, prepping. Okay, let me read this definition. The practice, it's the practice of making active preparations for a possible catastrophic disaster or emergency. And certainly the tribulation would be that, right?

Typically, prepping is done by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies. Okay, so you remember I've talked about that group back in the 1800s that thought the return of Christ was imminent. Remember in 1843, they sold all their possessions and they waited on top of a mountain.

And then when Jesus didn't come back, they set another day, 1844, same thing, and Jesus didn't return. Well, it had an impact on them. And that's the problem with setting dates. But obviously, we don't wanna go overboard.

But there are some real ways that people prepare. So prepping, and the reason I'm bringing this up, this is becoming somewhat common for Christians that are post-trib. You know, they think that the rapture happens at the end of the tribulation.

So there's a lot of Christians who think that, hey, I'm gonna have to try to survive the tribulation period. So because of that, a lot of Christians are now getting into prepping. So they have a bunch of extra stuff on hand just in case, you know, the time comes in their lifetime.

On the other hand, you probably run into more people that are not post-trib, they're pre-trib, right? This church, I would consider myself pre-tribulation. So I believe that the rapture happens, what?

Pre is before, right? We believe the rapture happens before the tribulation. Sometimes, the accusation against us, since we believe that the rapture's gonna happen before, and it could happen at any time, sometimes people have accused us of just sort of giving up.

You know, we think we're gonna get raptured out of here next week, so we don't really plan for the future, we don't really build anything because we have this escapist mentality. We're just gonna get taken out, so you know, what's the point?

And you know, sometimes, you've probably felt like this. The world is getting so crazy, life can be so difficult, and you're like, Lord, just come back today so I don't have to deal with it anymore. Who's had that type of feeling?

All right, somebody has.

Larry.

So do folks that believe in the post-trib and are prepping, do they believe what scripture says about the tribulation and things that happen in it, like when, you know, the water supply is ruined and turned to blood and a third of mankind is killed and then great kale falls later on and kills another third?

Yeah, I think they do believe that. And because all the water is gonna be, you know, polluted, that's why you gotta stock it up in your basement, see? So they do actually believe that. Now, we might think that that's, you know, I don't know what you think, but you might think it's silly to think that you could survive the great tribulation.

I mean, people are gonna survive, so, you know, that's how some people approach this. They wanna get into prepping. Some people do kind of give up. Like, yeah, I'm just ready to go tomorrow. And they don't plan for the future.

And I think that is unfortunate, although I get the temptation. But either way, you know, for us who are pre-trib, even if we don't have to go through the tribulation, we realize there could be a disaster, right?

War could break out, there could be a natural disaster. We might find ourselves living in difficult times, whether it's the tribulation or not. So I just wanna tonight talk about how we can apply some of these teachings, you know, how to prepare for the return of the Lord.

On this side, you know, the post-trib people, some of them are getting into prepping. And the reaction for some people is to fight. You know, some of them, they have rifles, they have ammunition, you know?

Hey, if I find myself in the tribulation, I'm gonna fight back. Now, you could argue, is that the Christian thing to do? Some people say it is, some people say it's not. I mentioned post-millennial people.

There's an idea called Christian nationalism, where, you know, we're gonna take our country back. And there's people talking about how Christians should take up arms. Maybe you don't know anyone like that, but that type of talk is now becoming more common.

On our side, I would say that mainly, we prepare by being ready ourselves. Like, I need to make sure I'm right with God, and I want to evangelize, I wanna see other people get saved. So as the return of Christ is drawing near, evangelism would be probably our, the thing that we would stress the most.

We don't wanna give up, though. So as far as this issue about prepping, we're gonna look at some verses in Matthew 24. I think it's probably a Christian liberty issue of how to prepare. You can decide for yourself how you approach that, but there are some definite teachings of the Bible that we wanna look at.

Signs of the End Times in Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians 2

So look at Matthew 24. We're gonna begin in verse four. Jesus is answering a question about the end of the age, or as some people would put it, the end of the world. What will be the signs that precede His coming and the end of the age?

So here's what Jesus said. He said, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and they will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All of these are what?

Birth pangs.

Yeah, birth pangs or the beginning of sorrows. So some translations will say, yeah, birth pangs or labor pains. So the idea is that some time is going to pass. So when someone's going into labor, what happens with the contractions?

More severe and stronger and more frequent.

Yeah, they grow, the contractions grow in frequency and intensity. So what Jesus is saying that these things, war, pestilence, disease, all this stuff, it's gonna grow with frequency and intensity. So that's the sign that Jesus is about to come back when you see these things growing in that way.

There's also another sign of the end times based on 2 Thessalonians chapter two. The apostle Paul talks about how before Jesus returns, there's going to be what? A great falling away from faith. So we have to ask, do we see these signs?

What do you think?

Yes.

All right, have we seen a great falling away from faith?

Yes.

Are wars, pestilence, disease, natural, are these things increasing?

Yes.

I think most people would say, yes, they are.

Marcus.

And again, in verse six where it says, but the end is not yet. The end is at the end of the tribulation, I believe, not the rapture, because some of this is gonna be happening during or during the tribulation.

I don't think that the rapture is the end. The end is the end of the tribulation.

Sure, okay.

So I think we're definitely seeing the falling away from faith. These other things, you can make the argument that the 20th century saw a massive increase in warfare. It was the bloodiest century the world has ever seen, right?

Not just with two world wars, but many other smaller conflicts. So more people died from warfare and even disease and all that in the 20th century. So I think you could argue, yeah, these things are increasing.

Frequency and intensity. Just an article that was written last year in the Washington Post. The headline said, a historic rise in global conflict deaths suggests a violent new era. Of course, we've seen the war in Ukraine with Russia and Israel.

Also in the book of Daniel, chapter 12, verse four, in the context of the last days, the Lord says to the prophet Daniel, he said, but you, Daniel, shut up these words and seal the book until the time of the end.

Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase. So this is, some people see this as another sign that towards the end, knowledge will increase. Well, again, without a doubt, the 20th century saw knowledge increasing like no other century.

And just in the last 20 to, well, 10 years, really, that cell phone you have in your pocket, more information is available to you than 99 .9 of people throughout world history. So I think you could point to all these things and say, yeah, there's a real reason why.

And then the restoration of the nation of Israel in 1949. There are real reasons why people think that Christ's return is really at the door. All right, look at what Jesus says in Matthew 24, verse 14.

Here's another evidence, potentially. He says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all, or to all nations, and then the end will come. So this has been understood by many people to mean that as soon as the gospel reaches every nation, then the end will come, okay?

So the end times will start once the gospel has been spread around the world. Back in 1650, had the gospel spread to every nation?

No.

In 1850, had the gospel spread to every, no. But in the 20th century, again, that's when it happened. And you could say that the gospel, how many nations are on Earth right now? Who knows?

Over 200, I think.

Yeah, I looked it up, and according to the UN, depending on how they classify what makes a nation, anywhere from 192 to like 208, they're not exactly sure. But yeah, it looks like the gospel has reached every nation and people group.

Maybe there's one or two tribes, a few places that it hasn't reached, but we're almost there. So again, just recently, all these things are kind of lining up as signs that yes, the end, the return of Christ is drawing near.

One final argument that by itself, this is not proof, but I've always found this convincing myself, that God works in spans of 2 ,000 years. From Adam to Abraham was about 2 ,000 years. From Abraham to Jesus was about 2 ,000 years.

And from Jesus to today is about 2 ,000 years. And that's even more significant. Here's the argument. When you look at the seven days of creation, remembering that to the Lord one day is as 1 ,000 years and 1 ,000 years as a day, the Lord created the heavens and the earth.

He created everything and worked for six days. And then the seventh day was a day of rest. So the idea is that God has been working and the earth has seen war and death and destruction for 6 ,000 years.

And the earth is about 6 ,000 years old. So if Christ returns soon, the millennium will be like a Sabbath rest. So 1 ,000 years of rest on the earth. Can I say that the Bible clearly teaches this? Maybe not, but that would fit the pattern.

Okay, so if the Lord did it that way, that would make sense.

Yeah.

This is the year 5997 on the Hebrew calendar. Coincidence? And they could be off.

So for all those reasons and others, the point is, again, people have legitimate reasons to think that the coming of Christ is near. So if a person believes that, or whether they believe it or whether they think they're post-trib and they think there's some time, seven years before it happens, either way, we want to be prepared.

If I believe this and Christ may come back at any time, what am I supposed to do about it? Let's turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter five, because doctrine matters, right? Some people say theology shapes practice.

So what you believe will determine how you behave. So if you're pre-trib and you think Jesus might come back this evening, you know, yeah, you might not make preparations except for spiritual preparations.

You want to make sure you're right with God. You want to, you know, not wait before you tell your neighbor about Jesus because you don't want to see him left behind or whatever. That's sort of the typical pre-trib mindset.

So we're not prepping and planning to go through the tribulation, but we want to make sure that we did everything we could. We're ready for Jesus to return. Look at 1 Thessalonians five, one through six.

Paul writes, but concerning the times and seasons, brethren, speaking about the day of the Lord, you have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.

For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you brethren are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief.

You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, here's his conclusion, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. Now is Paul saying like literally don't sleep?

You know, when you go home tonight, stay awake all night and watch. That's not really the point, is it? What's he saying? You need to be ready. Like we need to actually be thinking about Jesus and his return all the time.

And you say, well, you know, you preach on this a lot. You talk about end times a lot. Well, I think we're supposed to. I think that's what he's saying. Again, there's other people who like literally never bring it up.

They never talk about it. They never preach on it. I think this would rebuke such an idea. So we're called to be ready. We're called to be sober. Same thing. Does that mean, hey, don't get drunk tonight?

Don't drink. Don't, I mean, well, he doesn't want you to do that either. But again, that's not really the point. The point is we're to be level-headed. You know, we're supposed to be wise in our dealings.

So we need to be ready for the Lord to return. And again, for the pre-trib mindset, this is hopefully what we're doing. And if you really believe that, if you really believe Jesus could come back like right now, you want to make sure that you've got everything settled spiritually.

Like you don't have all this time to waste. And even if you're not pre-trib, we all understand tomorrow's not guaranteed. So we really should have that attitude either way. However, the post-tribulational mindset is a little different.

So again, instead of the rapture happening this afternoon, a person who believes in a post-trib rapture happens at the end of the tribulation. For a person like that, the rapture is always at least seven years away.

Okay?

So Jesus coming back, same thing. Come back in the clouds and to earth. It's all one event to them. He comes back, takes everyone up, and just comes right back down. So in their mind, that is always at least seven years away.

You understand why.

Okay?

So what does that lead to? Well, again, it's becoming common for people who are post-trib to kind of have the mindset of a prepper. And a lot of Christians are getting into prepping. So this has been, who knows Christians that do this?

And they think that they're gonna live through the tribulation. Now, we're out in Leverett. Just because you don't know anyone who does it doesn't mean it's not happening.

I know Christians that do it, but not because.

Not because of that reason.

They just, whoa, we really don't know how much persecution we are gonna suffer as Christians. Christians all in the rest of the world are suffering. But why should we think that we're not gonna suffer at all?

I don't think that we're gonna. God has not appointed us unto wrath. And the tribulation is when his wrath is being poured out. That's what the day of the Lord is.

Yeah, so prepping could be as simple as buying a rifle or two, having your own garden, raising chickens, having plenty of ammo on hand, water source, canned food. And ever since 2020, you remember the first few, first of all, there was Y2K, remember back?

There's a lot of people who kind of stored up for that just in case they thought all the computers were gonna crash. And it's just becoming more common, especially since 2020. You remember the first few days of the panic.

You went into a store and the lines were a mile long. Food and items were scarce or sold out. And then you weren't even really supposed to leave your house anyway. So after that, and once Christians especially saw how the government was trying to shut down churches, but the liquor stores and pot shops were all open, I think that woke a lot of people up.

And they're like, you know, this can happen. It's happening now. And they figure it's probably gonna happen again at some point. So it's good to be prepared. And even if you are post-trib, I think it's a good idea to be prepared.

People moved out of the cities, because if you're in a city, you're trapped. And you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24. We'll look at it in a moment. But you know, when the middle of the tribulation occurs and the abomination of desolation happens, he's like, leave, you know, just head to the mountains.

So you don't wanna be stuck in a city. People take it to, you know, there's the minor prepping, which some of you probably do. And that's good. Some people take it more seriously. There are people out there who have bomb shelters.

You know, they go through training exercises. They have enough weapons and ammo to arm a small army. And I think that type of thing is counterproductive for a Christian. This is just my opinion. I support a person's right to do that.

But you know, people like that tend to be a little paranoid, maybe, is not the right word. But here's the thing. If you do that, you might actually invite persecution. Because if you're really stocking up and storing up, people notice and you might end up on like a government watch list or something.

So you might actually invite persecution to your doorstep. Because some people think if they see you doing that and you're a Christian, they're gonna worry that you're in some sort of doomsday cult, right?

Because that's the thing. Who remembers David Koresh? Back, was it 90, 1995, something like that? They were a, the Branch Davidians were a spinoff of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And their teachings were heavy on end times, which isn't necessarily bad.

But they took it to the extreme. So they thought the end of the world was like right there. It's gonna happen soon. So they all lived together on a compound. They stockpiled weapons and they believed and were taught by their leader that they were gonna play a role leading up to the Battle of Armageddon.

So long story short, they ended up on a government watch list. The FBI came in and whether the government set fire to the place or whether they did it, it's still in question. But about 100 people died during that ordeal.

So taking it to the extreme, I think is dangerous. And I would just ask, where does faith fit into that? Don't we believe that, hey, I'm all for being prepared, doing what you can, but aren't we supposed to trust that God's gonna protect us?

I don't know. I think that takes it, yeah, it's a little dangerous.

Marcus.

Well, didn't David Koresh claim to be Christ and didn't like Sun Myung Moon and probably you could name others that have claimed to be Christ.

Yeah, he said he was the Lamb of God, which is Christ. I mean, in the book of Revelation, he is the Lamb, but I think he made a distinction between Christ and the Lamb, that the Lamb was gonna be a Christ-like figure to provoke the end times or something.

It doesn't matter. Obviously, none of it was true, but.

But that's one of the prophecies is many false Christs will arise.

Yeah, right.

Don't you know of some that have claimed to be?

Who are the false Christs that have arisen? So Koresh?

Sun Myung Moon, Moonies.

The Moonies, right, yep. They're another, the Moonies actually had a spinoff where they have an AR -15 church. So they get together in a building and to get into the church service, you have to bring your AR -15.

It's kind of a weird thing.

That's not the Massachusetts.

I don't think so. I don't know where they're out of, but. Obviously, a lot of false Christs have risen up, whether Jim Jones claimed to be Jesus or not, I thought he did. But there's always somebody and there's several people in the world right now who have massive followings who claim to be Jesus.

So again, that's on the rise as well. So yeah, being prepared for a natural disaster, I think is good. Prepping is good, but we need to leave room for faith and trusting in God that he's going to protect us and to provide.

Fleeing to the Mountains Instead of Fighting Back

So the idea that Christians are gonna fight back or fight against the armies of antichrist is misguided, I think, at best. So look at what Jesus says in Matthew 24, 15 through 16. I believe in the right to self-defense, but here's what Jesus says.

Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, so this is when in the middle of the tribulation, everybody knows what's going on. They recognize, yes, this is it. Jesus says in verse 16, let those who are in Judea grab their stock up on weapons and fight back.

Is that what he says?

No, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. So if you ever did, if a person did find themselves in the tribulation, I mean, fleeing is what you're told to do. Run, hide, go underground. That's what Christians typically have done throughout history.

And when this happens to Israel in Revelation 12, God prepares a special place for the Jews in the wilderness where he's going to protect them. And I believe that even in this age, before the end begins, I believe that God protects us.

So is prepping biblical? We're talking about prepping a little bit. Can you think of any biblical examples? I've only heard of one potential argument. Who can guess what it is?

Joseph.

Yes, Joseph in Egypt, because he prepped for seven years and he stored up food. And that was different because God revealed to him that he should do that. And I heard someone talking about this and like, you wouldn't want this happening because Joseph technically was a government official.

And would you want the government to take so much percentage of your stuff to set it aside for seven years for the, like you wouldn't trust the government to do that. So I just, I think that's probably not a great example.

So long story short, I think it's a, I think this is a Christian liberty issue. If people want to get into that, I think it's fine. Just, you know, don't take it overboard. And certainly doomsday cults are, they have their own problems.

But let's talk about, let's get off that subject for a moment and just get on to, you know, again, most of us are pre-trib. There might be somebody here who's not, but what should be our response? What should you do to prepare for the Lord's return?

You tell me what you think you should do.

Warn your friends.

Warn your friends.

Pray for your family.

Pray for your family.

Keep yourself right with the Lord.

Keep yourself right with God.

Yep.

Noah, Readiness, and Occupying Till Christ Comes

Yeah, I mean, this is what I would want to do. This is what you should expect. But again, even if we don't go into the tribulation, you could find yourself in the middle of a national emergency. So, but here's the thing.

When I read the Bible, I see how everything's gonna start. Life is gonna be going on as normal, and then everything is gonna change in a moment. And isn't this kind of what we're experiencing? You get up in the morning, you just, every day is kind of the same in some ways.

Life doesn't really, yeah, there's tragedies and things that change people's lives, but in the grand scheme of the world, things don't change that much, right? Except for now. Yeah, but one day things are gonna change like for good.

So this is what we see in Matthew 24. Look at verse 37. Jesus says, but as the days of Noah were, or as in the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage till the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.

So also will the coming of the son of man be. Then two men, and this is a debated passage, whether he's talking about the rapture or the second advent seven years later, but he says, then two men will be in the field.

One will be taken and the other, what? Left. Left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. So if you're familiar with the left behind novels, I mean, this is where they get the idea that Jesus is gonna come and people are gonna be raptured and then others are going to be left behind.

This is the passage they base that on.

Yeah, Marcus.

Well, the great commission says go and make disciples. To make a disciple, you need to be a disciple and what is a disciple? A disciple is a learner, but to be a disciple of Christ, what did Jesus, when he first chose his disciples, what did he say?

He said, follow me. We need to follow the Lord. Now, if that means that he's, you know, where do you want me to go today? This is why it's been particularly hard for me these days being unemployed. I don't always know where to go.

But he certainly does lead us and that's, he's gonna lead you in the right direction.

So Jesus is saying that, yeah, life's gonna go on. Then all of a sudden, at once, everything is gonna change. Now, whether the rapture is what changes the world forever, I mean, that's how I view it. If the rapture did happen tonight, I mean, that would change the world like nothing else ever could.

But here's the conclusion the Lord comes to in verse 42. Based on all of that, he says, watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. So the thing we see again and again is watch.

So this is why we need to think about and teach about and preach about and talk about the return of Christ. This is the next big thing that happens in Christian history. So either way, however you interpret that passage, Jesus seems to communicate the idea that things are gonna go down this way.

Yes, it's gonna be like the days of Noah, the people. Noah knew what was happening. Noah knew what was coming. Nobody else, even if they're told about it, they didn't believe it, right? They just thought, oh, the world's gonna go on like this forever.

Here's the parallel. As Christian, everyone in this room, you have that same knowledge that Noah had. You know what's gonna happen. Noah prepared. So he prepared by building a boat. We prepare by praying and staying right with God, staying in fellowship.

I don't know what happens if you get backslidden and then the rapture happens while you're backslidden. I don't buy into this idea that, well, you're gonna get left behind. I don't think so, but here's what I know for sure.

I don't wanna be backslidden when the Lord returns. So we know what's gonna happen. Even when we tell other people, they don't believe us. So it's like the same exact situation. So here's what we need to do.

Make sure we're right with God right now, number one. Number two, be ready. Constantly have this in your mind about Christ's return. And then number three, have a sense of urgency. Here's what Jesus said.

I'll close with this. He said in Luke 19, verse 13, he said, "'Occupy till I come.'". This is the parable of the minas, do business. Be busy with my work till I come. And you remember that one guy who got the mina and he didn't do anything with it.

He just wrapped it up and buried it in the sand. What did he say to him? You lazy and wicked servant. So in conclusion, when Jesus comes back, if it is soon, like soon, soon, I don't want that to be me.

I don't want him to say that about me. So occupy till I come.

Be ready. Amen.

Amen.