The Departure of the Church

Transcript

GRM 1119
1/26/2014
The Departure of the Church
1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5
Gil Rugh

We've been talking about prophetic matters and let me just read you a portion from a couple of articles. Sometimes the church turns away from serious consideration of prophetic matters without a consideration of what this means for its conduct and practice. One person who has written about the state of the evangelical church thinks that it's a good thing that there is not an emphasis on the details of prophetic matters. And his observation is, as he moves among leaders in the evangelical world today, I hear surprisingly little conversation relating to pre-millennialism or post-millennialism or amillennialism, even less about pre-tribulation or mid-tribulation or post-tribulation rapture. These eschatological issues once high on the agendas of many conservative church leaders do not seem to be that important today. Just not concerned to search through the Scripture and what it says about Christ's coming back to earth, about the kingdom.

But the interesting thing in this article, preceding this he says, things are going well for the kingdom of God. The advance of God's kingdom is unstoppable. Now wait a minute, I thought we weren't giving any consideration. I mean, if you are amillennial, that is different than being pre-millennial or post-millennial. And churches and church leaders aren't talking and teaching about these things. And he thinks that's a good thing. But things are going well for the kingdom of God, the advance of God's kingdom is unstoppable. Do you know what he has done? He has clearly, firmly taken a position on prophetic matters. How do you take such a position without thoroughly examining the details of Scripture. His view is, we're in the kingdom and the kingdom is growing and great things are happening in the kingdom, and it's going to get better. Sounds post-millennial, that it's just going to grow and get better and better. But he said, it's good they are not talking about these things. And often the church doesn't pay attention to these details but begins to function in a certain way. Do you know what it means if we are in the kingdom? We should be doing kingdom things.

Another article was written on what this person calls a see change, a paradigm shift in understanding conversion, redemption and how the church functions and so on. And he says, the global church has reinforced the growing recognition that authentic religious experience is not merely personal and subjective, it also does and must find expression in the tangible, including the pursuit of peace and justice and identification with the poor. That's what the church is to be focused on, not on personal individual salvation but as John Stott sadly said, there are two parts to our ministry in the world—the gospel and social action. And one is not more important than the other.

If we're in the kingdom we ought to be doing kingdom things, so we ought to be making the world a better place, we ought to be implementing social justice, we ought to be bringing about moral reform and change. Pretty soon the church without considering the theology which is foundational to such action, gets involved in it. And if we're in the kingdom, in the kingdom there shouldn't be sickness. We should be seeing miracles occurring. And so you have supposed demonstration of spiritual gifts. Power evangelism promoted by John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Movement was based upon the fact, we are in the kingdom and kingdom things ought to be happening. It didn't keep him from dying of cancer in his early 60s. That won't be going on in the millennium. Someone who dies not making 100 will be thought to be an accursed person. So we pick up these ideas and the church begins to practice. Just look around what is promoted in churches, evangelical churches. What do they talk about? Well, with this program they helped to correct social injustices; this program and what they are involved in that is helping the poor; this that is going to make a difference in society.

Well, we're on the outside of that kind of thinking. First we have to come to the Scripture. Why don't you put that 70 week chart up, if you would, on the big screens. This is the unfolding of what we've been talking about, the framework. This is the church age, the brown portion, the church age. That is something that was not revealed in the Old Testament. There is no direct revelation regarding the church in the Old Testament. The first coming of Christ, you see that with the arrow coming down to earth, was after the 69 weeks of Daniel. We can't go back into that. Then you had Christ crucified, then He ascended back to heaven, Acts 1. In Acts 2 the church began. The church is a period of time when God is focusing on the world, particularly Gentiles. That will culminate with the rapture of the church. You see the red arrow coming down and turning around. Christ comes down in the air and believers from the church age, just from that highlighted brown area, will be caught up to meet Christ in the air, and be taken to His Father's house. Then there will be the 70th week of Daniel, that seven-year period also known as the tribulation or the Day of the Lord. Then Christ will return to earth and His kingdom will be established. There will be no kingdom until Christ returns to earth. We are not in the kingdom. And taking things that God has said to Israel and talking about the kingdom and they think, that's the work we are doing. How many times do you hear people say, we're advancing the kingdom, we're doing kingdom work. That's not what we are doing.

Bad theology always causes problems. It's important we be clear on this. It's not a good thing that this man can say that he doesn't hear any conversation going on about pre-trib. We are pre-trib; that means we believe Christ is coming at the rapture prior to the 70th week of Daniel or the tribulation, so coming pre-tribulation. Some say He is coming post-tribulation, when He comes to earth just before the thousand-year kingdom, He will call believers to meet Him in the air on His way down to earth and then we'll meet Him in the clouds and then we'll return to earth with Him. That's not correct, we're going to show why that can't be correct.

So we've been giving some reasons why Christ will come at the end of the church age and before the 70th week of Daniel. Why don't you put up the list of those reasons, at least the first page of it, we'll wait on the second. These are reasons for the pre-trib rapture. The first was the focus of the 70 weeks of Daniel. We talked about that and we've reviewed it. The 70 weeks pertain just to Israel and Jerusalem and don't include the church. We worked on the details of that. So that's the first reason why there must be a pre-trib rapture—so that the fullness of the Gentiles can be completed and thus God can resume His program with Israel to bring them to salvation.

The second reason we noted is the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church. We looked at various passages. Jesus promised that after His ascension to heaven He would send the Holy Spirit, and when the Holy Spirit came He would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Christ told His apostles in Acts 1, the disciples, that after His ascension and when He sent the Holy Spirit, they would be His witnesses in Judea and Samaria, in the uttermost parts of the world. That's new. Remember we looked in passages in the Gospels where Christ told His disciples, don't you go to the Samaritans, don't you go to the Gentiles. You only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and tell them the kingdom is being offered to them. So the ministry of the Holy Spirit during the church age is unique, and we'll have more to say about that in our study today.

The third reason for pre-trib rapture is the absence of the church in Revelation 6-18. In Revelation 1-3 we noted the word church is used 19 times, then in Revelation 4 John is caught up to heaven and the church is seen in heaven under the picture of the 24 elders. And it is seen several times in heaven, represented by the 24 elders. Then in Revelation 19 the bride of Christ returns to earth, the church, with Christ and the kingdom is established in Revelation 20. So the fact that the church is not mentioned in Rev 6-18, and that period of time in Revelation 6-18 is that period of time called the 70th week of Daniel, the tribulation.

The fourth reason, and this is where we were in our study when we left off, is the church is promised deliverance from God's wrath. That 70th week of Daniel is a time of God pouring out His wrath on the earth. Turn back to Isaiah, we'll look at just one passage for review, Isaiah 13. And in “Isaiah 13:6, Wail, for the Day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.” So that's the characteristic of that seven-year period following the rapture of the church. It's called the Day of the Lord, it's a day of destruction. All hands will fall limp, every man's heart will melt; they will be terrified. Pain and anguish will take hold of them; they will writhe like a woman in labor, that pain experienced by the woman during the time of labor. It's a picture of the agony and suffering.

“Isaiah 13:9, Behold the day of the Lord is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation, And He will exterminate its sinners from it.” There will be signs in the heavens. “Isaiah 13:11-12a, Thus I will punish the world for its iniquity, the wicked for their iniquity. I'll put an end to the arrogance of the proud, abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold.” We've noted that seven-year period, Jesus said, will be so terrible in its destruction, if He didn't come to earth at the end of that seven-year period, there wouldn't be a person who survives. Literally, the Bible says, billions of people will die in that seven-year period. It's a time of wrath, but the church is promised deliverance from God's wrath.

Come over to Revelation 3. And in Revelation 2-3 Christ addresses letters to seven different churches of the time. Those letters address situations in those churches and give promises to those churches. And they are used to represent Christ's church on earth. They were literal historical churches but they are selected because the letters addressed to them have importance for us right down to our day. And we have the letter to the church at Philadelphia in “Revelation 3:10, Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” This is not for the church, this is that time of judgment on the world, the whole world. But the church of Philadelphia, and I think the promise here along with other promises that follow that are at the end of each of these letters, encompass all those, not only at that particular local church, but down to us today. It's for the churches.

As you come down, the promise is given to the overcomers, Revelations 3:12. Who is he who overcomes but he who believes that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God, John wrote in his first epistle. You'll note if you come over to Revelation 6, as this seven-year period beings, “Revelations 6:15, And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich, and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.” They said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us, hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come. This is a period of God's wrath on an unbelieving world, a time of judgment. But the church is promised deliverance from wrath to come, the time of testing of the world.

Come back to 1 Thessalonians 1 and you'll note verse 9. Paul has received a report about the Thessalonians, how they received him when he came and brought the Gospel to them and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. True salvation turns the focus of a person, you don't continue in your paganism. They turn from the falseness of their former religious system and serve a living and true God. And note, and to wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from wrath to come. The wrath to come here is not primarily focusing on the wrath of hell, it's focusing on the wrath we've been reading about, the wrath that God is going to pour out on an unbelieving world.

How are we sure of that? Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 4. And remember verses 13-18 talk about the rapture of the church, that time when Christ will descend in the clouds and He'll call the dead in Christ, those believers from Acts 2 down to this period of time who have died. And their bodies will be raised and they will be reunited with their bodies. “1 Thessalonians 4:17, Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” This isn't focused on His coming to earth. When He comes to earth then He will gather people together and there will be judgment on the earth. But here there is the meeting in the air.

Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Now as to the times and epochs, brethren. This verse begins, now as, periden, an expression that turns our attention to something new but not different from what he has been talking about. So he has been talking about prophetic matters, he's going to continue to talk about future matters but not the rapture of the church. Concerning the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you, yourselves, know full well that, and here is our expression, the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. What is the Day of the Lord? That's the time of God's wrath, we read about it in Isaiah 13, the Day of the Lord. Here the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. People will be saying, you'll note he just doesn't say while we are saying, but while they are saying. It's what the unbeliever will be saying. Peace and safety. Then destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a woman with child. Remember we read that same analogy; they will writhe like a woman in labor. Same analogy Jesus used to describe this time in Matthew 24. Suddenly like labor pains they will not escape, note, but you brethren, are not in darkness that the day would overtake you like a thief. Now that doesn't mean the Day of the Lord will come on them, too, but they won't be surprised. The world won't escape but we will escape. The Day of the Lord is not going to overtake us like it is going to overtake the world.

That’s the promise of the rapture at the end of “1 Thessalonians 5-7, We are sons of light and sons of days. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober, For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.”

1Thessalonians 5:8, we are of the day, let us be sober, alert, be ready and so on. “1Thessalonians 5:9-10, for God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, so that whether we are awake or sleep, we'll live together with Him.” Where did that picture of awake or asleep come from? Well, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, when the Lord descends. Verse 15 talked about, we will not go before those who are asleep. So whether you have died or whether you are alive when Christ comes, you will be caught up to live together with Him. Then note, therefore, encourage one another. Sometimes our English Bibles translate the same Greek word differently just for variety, but it can make it confusing. You have in front of encourage, verse 11, a little 1 and in your margin it says, comfort. The point is it's the same exact word and expression, comfort one another as you had in 1 Thessalonians 4:18. And 1 Thessalonians 5:11, comfort one another, encourage one another. So they come to the same point.

He talks about the rapture of the church at the end of 1 Thessalonians 4 and he ends with, encourage one another. Now there is another area of prophecy I want to talk to you about that will follow the rapture, and that is the Day of the Lord that is coming on the earth. But you don't have to worry about that because you are not of the darkness. That day won't overtake you like it's going to overtake the world. The world can't escape, but we will escape. Why? Verse 9, God has not destined us for wrath. The Day of the Lord is a day of wrath, we read that in Isaiah 13. We could have spent the whole morning just looking at passages on that subject—the wrath of God. Revelation 6-18 unfolds it, billions of people literally are going to die on the earth when God pours out the fullness of His wrath on an unbelieving world. But God has not destined us for wrath, we are not of the night, of the darkness; we are of the day, the light. So God has not destined us for wrath. And that takes us back to 1 Thessalonians 1:10, He comes to rescue us from wrath to come.

That's the fourth reason for a pre-trib rapture. The church is promised deliverance from God's wrath.

The fifth reason, there must be a gap between the rapture and the Second Coming. There must be a gap between the rapture and the Second Coming. Why? Come back to Isaiah 65. The closing chapters of Isaiah have much to say about the kingdom that Christ will establish on the earth. Isaiah 65, he's talking about that kingdom. And “Isaiah 65:20, there will no longer be in it an infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of 100 and one who does not reach the age of 100 will be thought to be accursed.” Anyone who dies at 100, they are recognized in the kingdom to be under the curse of God. The end of verse 22, for as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of my people. My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands, they will not labor in vain or bear children for calamity. For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord and their descendants with them.

Then you have that well-known verse that is mentioned back in Isaiah 11, the wolf and the lamb will graze together, the lion will eat straw like the ox and so on. There will be no evil or harm in all My holy mountain. Did you turn on the news today? We're not in the kingdom. I mean, we just ignore what the Scripture says and declare, we're in the kingdom and so we ought to be doing social justice, we ought to be doing social programs, we ought to be removing poverty, and this is what the church really ought to be doing. And the world says, wonderful, that's what we think the church ought to be doing, not just talking about details of future things. You'll note here what we are here for. People will die in the kingdom but only because of judgment. There will be no overt acts of sin tolerated in the kingdom when Christ is ruling on the earth.

Where were these people who were dying at 100 under the curse of God in the kingdom? We're talking about the rapture occurring here, this is the Day of the Lord, the time of wrath. Then Christ comes to earth to establish the kingdom, just before the thousand years. If people are caught up to meet Christ after the seven years, we meet Him in the air here, we go up and meet Him and turn around and come back down, everybody caught up to meet Him is transformed. Remember 1 Corinthians 15:52, we will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. We'll be glorified. No unbelievers are going into the kingdom, Matthew 25, among other passages. Well if all believers get glorified bodies here and only believers are going into the kingdom; that means only believers in glorified bodies go into the kingdom. Who is dying at 100 under the curse of God?

That's not the worst of it. Turn to Revelation 20. And again it's the book of Revelation that sorts things out from the Old Testament and puts it in order. Doesn't change anything, but the Old Testament didn't clarify because it didn't distinguish the first and Second Coming of Christ with clarity. And so we wait on the New Testament for the unfolding and then the book of Revelation spreads out the details of the 70th week of Daniel and following events. So you had the return of the Lord at the end of the seven-year tribulation in Revelation 19. Then in Revelation 20 you have the establishing of the kingdom, the first phase of that kingdom is 1000 years. We noted the repeated statement, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years. Down to “Revelations 20:7, And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison.” He was bound and imprisoned.

I don't know, I read a paper this week, Revelations 20:1-2, says at the beginning of the millennium, an angel came down from heaven having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon and bound him for a thousand years. The person says, we know you can't take the book of Revelation literally because Satan is a spirit being, an angel and so you couldn't put a chain on him. I don't even know what to say to thinking like that. In other words the God who created angels as spirit beings couldn't create a chain that would bind a spirit being.

Marilyn wishes I wouldn't read this stuff because then I get worked up. I mean, that's nonsense. If God wants to make a chain just like He made a hell in which angelic beings will reside for a thousand years in the flames of hell, it's not a problem for Him. I couldn't believe it. Well it says the dragon is bound with a chain and we know angels are spirit beings, so they can't be bound with chains.

“Revelations 20:7-8, And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for war;” Note the last part of “Revelations 20:8-9, the number of them is like the sand of the seashore, And they came up on the broad plain of the earthand surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, [The beloved city is Jerusalem.] and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.”

Put up the 70 weeks again. Now here we have Christ returning, He establishes His kingdom. Where the people come from is during that seven-year period after the rapture and before the Second Coming to earth. The Gospel is being proclaimed throughout the world. We have the two witnesses raised up in Revelation 11, we have the 144,000 Jews who are sealed and so on. So people hear the Gospel and are saved. The purpose of this period, that seven-year period is to #1, bring judgment on an unbelieving world; and #2, to bring discipline on the nation Israel so that by the time you get to the end of that seven-year period they are ready to bow in faith, believing that Jesus of Nazareth, the One whom they crucified is their Messiah/Savior and they turn in faith to Him. So Christ comes to earth and there is a judgment, Matthew 25, among the living when Christ returns. The unbelievers at His return are killed, believers who were saved during that seven-year period go on into the thousand years in their physical bodies. They will have families, they will have children. Satan is bound. It is a world without poverty, without sickness, without war, without crime, and without pain. So in the conception of children there will be pleasure but no suffering; in the birth of children there will be joy but no suffering, no pain. They will not bear children for calamity, we read in Isaiah. And there is going to be a population explosion like has never been seen.

And after a thousand years in that perfect environment you have billions of people that have lived in a perfect environment with a perfect King, without the influence of Satan in their life. And then Satan is released from his prison and goes out to deceive the peoples of the world and challenge and encourage them to follow him and a number like the sand of the seashore follows Satan to move to Jerusalem to try to dethrone Christ and set up Satan. Hard to believe. We think people's problem is they are poor, they live in a bad environment, they haven't had a good education, and on and on and on. None of that is the problem. And what the first thousand years does of the eternal kingdom is demonstrate that man at heart is totally corrupted. And they have lived in an enforced environment. They cannot express their sinful desires because they know they will immediately be cursed by Christ. So they'll know, somebody died at 100, he must have had sinful intentions. Nobody is going to be carrying out murder, rape, robbery in the kingdom, before they can do it the judgment will come. The King knows the hearts and thoughts. But so they don't express it, but given a chance they express it.

Who will be this multitude like the sand of the seashore who rebel against Christ at the end of a thousand years of His reign if everybody that went into the kingdom was in a glorified body? So there has to be a gap between the rapture when every believer of the time is resurrected and glorified and the establishing of the kingdom with people in physical bodies. Everybody going into the kingdom is a believer, going in in their physical body. But everyone who is born to these people during that thousand-year period is born with a sin nature, with a heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. And they will have to turn and place their faith in the Messiah who is ruling the earth and the death that paid the penalty for sin and submit to His reign. The unbeliever will submit externally, but in his heart he is seething. Demonstrates the sinfulness of man. So there has to be a gap between the rapture and the kingdom to allow for believers in physical bodies to go into the kingdom.

The sixth reason for the pre-trib rapture of the church is the departure in 2 Thessalonians 2-3. This is an important point. 2 Thessalonians 2. We saw in 1 Thessalonians 4-5, the end of chapter Paul talked about the rapture; then in chapter 5 he talked about the Day of the Lord, the tribulation, the 70th week of Daniel and assured believers that they are not destined for wrath but for obtaining salvation. So the Day of the Lord won't overtake them. The problem in Thessalonica is they were undergoing very difficult times—persecution, suffering. And they began to think, maybe we are in the Day of the Lord.

So you come to 2 Thessalonians and you're told this suffering is going on, there are persecutions. “2 Thessalonians 1:4-5, therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. And this is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment, so you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.” They are not in the kingdom, but they are anticipating a time when they will be. We have to get the order straight here.

Then you come down to “2 Thessalonians 2, Now we request of you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him.” It doesn't say at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to establish His kingdom, but our gathering together to Him. What was that? That was the rapture we read about in his first letter, 1 Thessalonians, at the end of chapter 4, when He comes in the air and we are called to meet Him in the air. We are gathered to Him. Now I want to request that you, “2 Thessalonians 2:2, not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us.” Now some evidently were writing false letters, claiming Paul had written them and saying, I want to explain. You are in the Day of the Lord, you are in the tribulation. That's why you are suffering so much. Paul said, don't believe it, don't get shaken by it, anything that would say that the Day, the end of verse 2, of the Lord has come. You ought to underline that, we're talking about the Day of the Lord. Don't let yourself be deluded into thinking the Day of the Lord has come.

Let no one deceive you for it will not come, the Day of the Lord, unless two things happen—the apostasy comes first and secondly the man of lawlessness is revealed, he can also be called the son of destruction. Now we read that word apostasy and we think immediately of how it has come to be used in English. Apostasy is a departure from the truth of the Word of God. That's how we would use it. We say he has apostasized, he has departed from the Word. But the word basically carries the idea of a departure. It's only used twice, the noun, in the New Testament; the other use is in Acts 21:21 when it talks about a departure from Moses. There they qualify the word departure, it was from Moses. In extra-biblical Greek the word is used to mean the noun of departure, a disappearance. Liddell and Scott'slexicon for some of those who use that material. The verb from which this noun comes, the action word, is used 15 times in the New Testament. I just want to look at a couple of references.

Acts 12:10, and here it is the angel has come to deliver Peter from his imprisonment so he opens the gates and they go out and Peter gets brought by the angel outside the prison. And then at the end of verse 10 we read, immediately the angel departed from him. Well that's the verb from which we get the noun that we have, departure, in Thessalonians. And you see what it means, he left him, he departed from him, disappeared from him, he left him. In 2 Corinthians 12, this is the only other reference on this we'll turn to, I'll give you one other. 2 Corinthians 12:8, Paul has a demonic being from Satan who is afflicting him so he has prayed to the Lord for deliverance. And so he says in verse 8, concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me, there is that verb, might depart from me. Another reference in the Gospels, Luke 4:13, he left him, he departed from him.

All of this, come back to 2 Thessalonians 2, when it says, let no one deceive you. It will not come unless the apostasy comes first. If we had translated that word the departure comes first, I think we might get a different view of it. Not that apostasy, we've just taken the Greek word apostia and transliterated it over with English letters and it's become an English word, apostasy, apostia. Means departure. But when he says the departure with a definite article here in verse 3, it will not come unless the departure comes first. What departure has he talked about? Well go back to verse 1, we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, which he elaborated on in his first letter in chapter 4, the closing verses. So I take it, it will not come unless the departure comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. The second thing that happens is the man of lawlessness will be revealed. How will he be revealed, the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, the little horn of Daniel 7? Remember Daniel 9? The prince that will come, he will sign an agreement with the many for one seven-year period.

What marks the beginning of this 70th week following the church age, following the rapture, is when this man signs an agreement with Israel. Now maybe it will happen simultaneously—the church is raptured at the same time he is signing a piece of paper, a contract guaranteeing a covenant with Israel and their security. Maybe it will happen a week later, two weeks later. It won't be a long time because the purpose of the rapture, we saw in Romans 11, was to bring to an end the fullness of the Gentiles, when the Spirit was ministering to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and return to God's program with Israel and bring them to the point when all Israel will be saved.

So two things have to happen, the departure for the believer, the coming of our Lord Jesus, verse 1, and our gathering together to Him, the rapture; and then the man of lawlessness is revealed. And he talks about this man of lawlessness and the abomination of desolation when this man takes his seat in the temple, declaring himself to be God. Jesus talked about that in Matthew 24, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place, in the temple, then flee to the mountains.

And Paul says, don't you remember, verse 5, when I was with you I was telling you these things. Verse 6, you know that what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. We're progressing toward this. They were progressing then, think about how much we've progressed now. Only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. Then that lawlessness one will be revealed. And you'll note verses 7-8 parallel verse 3, let no one deceive you, it will not come unless the departure comes first. Verse 7, He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. In a previous study we talked about the restrainer here has to be the Holy Spirit and His ministry in the world in its special way. He came in Acts 2 to accomplish, and will be brought to completion with the end of the fullness of the Gentiles, the end of the church age. Then He will be involved in the removal of the church from earth and that ministry He has had of salvation directed to the world. Now we can complete God's program, the last seven years, for the nation Israel and the man of lawlessness can sign his agreement with Israel that starts the last seven-year clock ticking. So there is an important passage here that lays out as clearly as could be done the order of events. You can't, he tells the Thessalonians you are not in the Day of the Lord. Don't get sidetracked, don't get all worked up, don't get worried, don't be deceived. You can't be in the Day of the Lord because if the Day of the Lord had begun, you wouldn't be here because God has not appointed you to wrath. Go back and read my first letter. But to obtain salvation.

So the Day of the Lord won't happen until the departure, our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air is the sixth reason for pre-trib rapture.

And the seventh, this isn't all there are. I mentioned John Walvoord's book, he lists 50 reasons at the end of his book for the pre-trib rapture, these are just seven. The imminent return of Christ for the church. The indication for the church is the Lord may return at any time. He doesn't tell us like He tells Israel. What did He tell Israel in Matthew 24? You better get ready and if you see the abomination of desolation you better run out into the desert regions to a safe hiding place. Throughout the Old Testament prophets they warned what's coming in the Day of the Lord. But for us there is none of that. We are looking for the return of Christ. That's a significantly different event.

Back up to 1 Thessalonians 1, we just read. What are we waiting for? Well, we are waiting for this time of God's wrath being poured out on the earth and hoping we don't die in it. Many believers are going to die in this seven-year period. But look, we are serving a living and true God and waiting for His Son from heaven who rescues us from wrath to come. Sure, we've always been in tribulation in one degree or another. Jesus assured them in His last night with them, in the world you have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. But that's different than the coming Day of the Lord, tribulation, the time of God's wrath in unprecedented form poured out on an unbelieving world. We are not of darkness, that day won't overtake us as a thief. It will overtake an unbelieving world that way but it won't overtake us.

So we're waiting for the Son from heaven. It is not a pre-trib rapture, I am trying to prepare, store food, build ammunition, get better weapons, try to find a good hiding place and hole up, try to get through the tribulation. Now what I'm doing.

Look in Titus 2:13, it talks about what we are looking for as God's people. Looking for the blessed hope. That's why we talk about the rapture as the blessed hope. We're looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus who gave Himself for us to redeem us, purify us and so on. That's what we are looking for. How bad can the world get? You just turn on this week programs and what could happen and what mass disasters could take place and how quickly our country could be reduced to mass starvation and death and all of this. It could happen. I mean, there has been great suffering, 6 million Jews died under the rule of Hitler and many, many other people. But that wasn't the great tribulation.

One more passage on this, “Philippians 3:20-21, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” Now wait a minute, that's the glorification of the body. It doesn't say we are looking forward to a Savior to come to earth and establish the kingdom so we can be part of it. We will be part of the kingdom but in glorified bodies. Right now we are looking for the Savior from heaven who will call us to meet Him. It could happen today. If it would happen right now, every believer in this auditorium would be gone. It doesn't necessarily mean every person in this auditorium would be gone. The Lord knows the hearts. Every believer would immediately be gone and what would unfold next would be the signing of a covenant and the unfolding of the worst seven years the world has ever experienced.

Come over to Revelation 1. God intends us to understand and know these truths, that includes the book of Revelation, what pulls it all together. Look at “Revelation 1:3, Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed them, live in light of them.” How do I live in light of all these things that are going to happen on earth? While they shape my conduct, I recognize what God's plan is for the future, I live in light of it. I tell people of the awfulness coming, that there is a Savior. I realize I am not in the kingdom. I heed these things, I live in light of them. Special blessing promised on those who read this prophecy, who hear it, read it, and who put it into practice; they live in light of it. How could God say that if it is such a complicated book, I can't be sure what He said? Or I treat it like there are a lot of people who have different views so I guess I just won't pay a lot of attention to it. I don't want to miss the blessing. Genuine believers will take God's Word seriously.

Come to Revelation 22, the closing of God's revelation to man. “Revelation 22:6, the angel speaking, these words are faithful and true and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets sent His angel to show to His bond servants, it is for us, for His slaves, those who belong to Him, things which must soon take place.” And what is he saying? Behold, I am coming quickly, Christ says, blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. And someone has the audacity to write and say, I don't hear much talk about prophecy these days and concerned about the details of pre-mil, pre-trib, post-mil, post-trib, none of those things. As though that's a good thing, when the Lord of the church pronounces special blessing on those who live in light of these truths.

“Revelation 22:12, Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” So the gracious invitation, “Revelation 22:16, I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches.” The church better be absorbed with these things, we are required to study them. I would not want to stand before Christ and He'll say, Gil, why didn't you teach them? Well, there were so many different opinions, I just didn't think it was that important, that I would allow what men say to overrule what the Lord of the church says? Blessed. “Revelation 22:17, And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” Let the one who is thirsty, come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” And anyone who adds to this revelation or takes away from it will spend eternity in hell.

What a gracious God we have. It's a time of the fullness of the Gentiles, it's a time of salvation. So the Spirit of God and the bride indwelt by the Spirit invite people to come to Christ. Why would you reject His salvation? Why would you neglect what He has provided? You make a decision to face the awfulness of His wrath and say, when it happens I will realize it's true and then I'll believe. Don't deceive yourself. We are told today is the day of salvation. God does not say He'll give you tomorrow as an opportunity, He gives you this day, bringing you under His sound truth to believe in Him. And for those of us who have believed in Him, we want to enjoy the blessing of living in light of these great truths.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of your Word. How awesome it is that you are the God who has planned all things, has made known your plans for this world, for your people Israel and for those of us who are blessed to be part of the church of Jesus Christ in these days. Lord, these are precious truths. We just don't study them to satisfy our curiosity, our desire for more knowledge; but Lord we want to understand as fully and completely as possible so we can heed them and live in light of them. May the days of our lives be governed by the fact that you may come at any time and call the church to meet your Son in the air. We praise you for it. In Christ's name, amen.