The Pre-Tribulation Rapture, Part 1

Transcript

GR 1522
03-15-09
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture, Part 1
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Revelation together and we've worked our way through the first five chapters. And as we come to chapter 6 we come to the prophetic portion of the book, events that will transpire on this earth at a yet future time. And I want to take a little bit of time and put things in their proper perspective and setting so that we're all together on this. I understand this will be review for many of you, perhaps most of you, but I always like to approach it thinking of a person who has not had the opportunity to go through this material before. So I don't want to just pass over things, assuming we've all done it together. You should have received a chart when you came in and if it looks like its familiar it's because it is basically the same one I've been giving you for thirty years. It will put things in their proper perspective.

We come to Revelation 6 and following, we will be interpreting it the same way we interpret all other portions of the Bible, we will be interpreting it literally, in the historical, grammatical context in which it is found. There will be symbolism used but those symbols will be interpreted literally. God did not give us the book of Revelation so that everyone could have their own idea of what it means. Remember we read at the end of the book, if you add anything to the prophecies of this book you come under judgment; if you take anything away you come under judgment. God expects and requires us to understand what He has said here. It's not given to be some hidden mystery that creates confusion, but it's given to be understood.

So why is there so much difference on prophetic matters? Why are there so many views on interpreting Revelation? Basically because people use different hermeneutical principles. Instead of interpreting the Bible historically grammatically, they add other things. And so it enables them to come up with their own ideas and inventions. And it moves away from the clarity of scripture.

The book of Revelation is the completion, if you will, of God's prophetic revelation. It is consistent with what we find throughout the Old Testament. So as we move through we will find hundreds of references to the Old Testament as we have noted, and there will be no changes in the prophecies given in the Old Testament. There may be added material, further clarification, but what the Old Testament prophecies meant they will still mean. And what the book of Revelation does is help clarify things by the new material that it will be giving.

A literal interpretation of prophecy leads to a premillennial understanding of the return of Christ. If you have that chart before you it starts out on the left, we're not going into the details of all the resurrections, with the crucifixion of Christ. Following that in Acts 2 with His resurrection and ascension, the ascension occurring in Acts 1, the church started. So basically we have the church age from the time of the cross, 50 days after, to the first stage of the Second Coming. That is the church age, the period of time in which we live. Then we'll have a seven-year period called the tribulation, or the 70th week of Daniel that we'll be talking about. Then you have the second stage as I've called it on this chart, the return of Christ to earth, the second phase of the Second Coming. We are premillennial because you see we believe that Christ returns to earth pre-1000 years. The millennium is 1000 years, it is called that, 1000 years, six times in the opening part of Revelation 20. So if you are premillennial you believe Christ is returning to earth before the thousand-year kingdom. If you are postmillennial you believe Christ will be returning to earth after the 1000-year millennium. If you are a-millennial, meaning no literal millennium, you just believe we are living in the kingdom now because you take it figuratively, it's a kingdom in the heart with Christ ruling from the heavens. We are premillennial, that's what a literal interpretation, a historical grammatical interpretation of prophecy brings you to.

A literal interpretation of prophecy also makes a clear distinction between Israel and the church. Israel is always Israel, Israel never means anything else other than Israel in the Old Testament or in the New Testament. The church is not called Israel in the Bible. We want to be clear on this. Literal interpretation of the Bible causes you to understand Israel is Israel, the church is the church. They are distinct entities.

The Bible indicates that there is a seven-year period preceding the return of Christ to establish His kingdom on earth. That's what you have in this chart divided into two 3½ year segments. This will be the subject of the book of Revelation, that seven-year period, from chapter 6 to chapter 19, chapter 19 being the return of Christ to earth to establish His kingdom, which is talked about as we begin chapter 20. That is the 70th week of Daniel, we'll be explaining the reason for that, the week being a seven-year week and not a seven-day week. The Bible calls it 70 sevens, but there is a total of 490 years in God's program for Israel. This is the last seven years of that 490-year period. So just what we need now is these seven years will conclude with the return of Christ to earth to establish His kingdom.

What we want to talk about this evening is the matter of the rapture of the church. We are not only premillennial in our church, we are pre-tribulational. And this seven-year period is called the tribulation. So if you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, you believe that pre, before the tribulation the church will be raptured, removed from the earth, caught up to meet Christ in the air. And that's what I want to talk with you about this evening. First we want to talk about the fact of the rapture. You know if you go to a concordance, you go home and say I want to learn more about the rapture of the church, and you look up the word rapture, it doesn't appear. So you say, why isn't it in my concordance. Because the word rapture doesn't appear in our English Bibles. So some people say, well then it's not a biblical teaching. It has become a theological term to convey a biblical truth.

We'll go to I Thessalonians 4:13, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, referring to believers who have died, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. The rest would be unbelievers who are without hope in the world. And when a loved one dies they are crushed with grief in their unbelief because they will never see them again. But we don't have that kind of hopeless despair in our grief. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. We talked about this in our previous study today, we depart at death from this body to be present with the Lord. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord. The word translated caught up is where we get the concept rapture. The Greek word is harpazo. Now when the Bible was translated into Latin, the Latin word they used is the word we get the English word rapture from. So that's how rapture came to be the word that we use, because the Latin word to be caught up or caught away became an English word. Because of its use in the passage, it got carried over into English and we talk about the rapture. You could talk about the harpazo of the church. You say you don't believe in the rapture, do you believe in the harpazo, the catching up, the being caught up. It means to carry off, to snatch or catch away. So you have here we will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air.

That's the concept. The Lord comes down in the clouds with those who have died and left their bodies that have been put in the grave, and when they left their bodies, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, II Corinthians 5. When a believer dies, he as a person leaves his body. At death that's what happens to everybody. The body without the spirit is dead. A person dies when their spirit leaves their body. Now if they are a believer, their spirit leaves and goes into the presence of the Lord in heaven; for the unbeliever, they depart and go into hades, the place of suffering and torment.

Now at the return of Christ at the rapture, He descends in the air with those who have been with Him, their bodies are in the grave. Their bodies are called to life and are resurrected, and they move back into those glorified, resurrected bodies. That's why he says in verse 15, I say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. If the rapture would occur now, we are alive and remain here on earth. But we have loved ones who have died. Well we are told in verse 16, the dead in Christ will rise first. So just before we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, the bodies will come out of the graves or wherever they are, and those people who have been in glory will move back into those bodies now that have been resurrected and glorified. Verse 17, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up, raptured, carried away together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So that's what we're talking about with the rapture of the church.

This word caught up, harpazo. Look at a couple of references, a couple meaning three. Acts 8. Now these are not all talking about the rapture of the church, but I want you to see how the word is used, this Greek word harpazo is how you would transliterate it over into English. It is used fourteen times in the New Testament. So I've selected these references to give an idea of how it is used. In Acts 8:39 Philip has baptized the Ethiopian eunuch after leading him to Christ through explaining to him Isaiah 53. Verse 39, when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away and the eunuch no longer saw him. But Philip found himself at Azotus. So you see the Spirit of the Lord just bodily removed him and carried him away. And he is immediately in another place, just disappeared from before the Ethiopian eunuch.

Look in II Corinthians 12. Paul is talking about the revelations and visions that God had given him. Leading up to this he has been defending his apostleship. In the Corinthian church there was a battle and debate going on whether Paul was a genuine apostle. And he has been defending his apostleship. So he says I'll go on and tell you about visions and revelations of the Lord that I received. Verse 2, I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago, he's talking about himself, whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I do not know, God knows. In this particular experience Paul does not know whether God transported him to heaven bodily to see what he saw, or whether it just happened in his spirit that he was brought there to see these things. Such a man was caught up to the third heaven. There is our word again, harpazo, or if we were to use the common word, raptured up to the third heaven. Now we're not talking about the rapture of the church there obviously, but you see the concept of the word. He is caught up immediately into heaven. Continuing, I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know. God knows. He keeps reminding us, I don't know whether that was actually a bodily catching up to heaven or just a spiritual. He was caught up into Paradise. So he really repeats himself. There is our word again, caught up into Paradise. And he heard things and was told things that he wasn't allowed to record because it was not God's intention to reveal them to us through Paul. Then he goes on to talk about.

One more passage, Revelation 12:5. And here you have the picture of coming conflict that is going to take place in heaven between the devil and his angels and Michael and the unfallen angels. And he is unfolding the birth of Christ. The woman, chapter 12 opens up, refers to Israel. We won't get into the detail until we get here. Down at the end of verse 4 you have the dragon ready to attack the child that is to be born to this woman, Israel, referring to Christ, who was Jew of course. Verse 5, she gave birth to a Son, a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God and His throne. What happened to Christ? He is caught up to heaven. We saw that in Acts 1 with the ascension. He's caught up to heaven and the throne of God.

So it gives you an idea of the use of the word harpazo, caught up. Again, when the Bible was translated into Latin in the days of Jerome, they used the Latin word which was carried over into English, transliterated over into English as rapture. The concept is clearly biblical.

I Thessalonians 4 is not the only place that talks about the rapture. Come to John 14. This is Jesus' last night with His disciples, He is giving them instruction, preparing Him for His impending death and events that will follow. Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also. Now this is a change in what Israel has been looking for up to this point. The promises to Israel have been for a kingdom on this earth. Now Jesus is promising that He will prepare them a place in glory, then come and get them and take them to be with Him in the place He has prepared for them. That's different than telling them I will come and establish the kingdom and you can rule and reign with Me. That will happen, but that's not what is going to be the next event. So the rapture of the church here at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation, I think this passage is referring to that because the promise given here now no longer focuses on establishing a kingdom. You know this is where the disciples' minds are fixed because they have the Old Testament prophecies. The Old Testament prophecies are not being changed, they are not being undermined, they are not being reinterpreted. We are getting new information that in no way changes the Old Testament prophecies about a coming kingdom. But now we're going to find out there is going to be a period of some 2000 years between the first coming of Christ and the Second Coming to earth. I say 2000 years because it has been about that long, so until He comes to establish His kingdom. The Old Testament didn't make that clear. Remember Peter said that, the Old Testament prophets couldn't sort out how the Messiah could come and suffer and die and rule and reign in glory, because the Old Testament never said those events will be separated by many, many years. There will be two comings to earth.

So here now we're being told that He's going to prepare a special place. He's not talking about a kingdom on earth now, but a place He is preparing in heaven that they will come and be with Him. Sounds like I Thessalonians 4 where the dead in Christ will be raised, they'll meet Christ in the air, then we'll be caught up with them and so shall we ever be with the Lord. He's not talking now about coming back and having the kingdom. So now we have new information, new material not revealed before. And the full revelation of this period of time we call the church age would await the coming of the Apostle Paul on the scene. In Ephesians 2-3 Paul says that the mystery of the church was made known through him. This is new material that was most fully revealed through the Apostle Paul. Until then it wasn't clearly revealed. And you don't find it anywhere in the Old Testament. And basically you don't find it in the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—except for a couple of references. But the concept of the church awaits fuller unfolding.

Turn to I Corinthians 15:50. This chapter is all about the resurrection of the body and the bodily resurrection is an essential part of the gospel. Not only the bodily resurrection of Christ, but the bodily resurrection of every believer. He says in verse 50, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. We think, how are we going to have an earthly kingdom on this earth. And if you take the Old Testament prophecies literally, people would be having children in the kingdom on the earth and so on. Now it says flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God and the perishable doesn't inherit the imperishable. But he's talking to the church here. Not one person who is part of the church will go into the kingdom in a physical body that has not been glorified, in a physical body that could be subject to death and perishing. Not one person in the church. So keep in mind who he is addressing here, he is addressing the church. Behold I tell you a mystery. A mystery, not something difficult to understand, but something that could not be known without revelation from God. Here is new material, something that has not been before revealed. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. We're not all going to die, but we are all going to experience bodily transformation. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. Same thing as I Thessalonians 4. The dead in Christ raised, imperishable, and we will be changed. And the order is the same, first the dead in Christ and then we who are alive are caught up and undergo the change. That will happen in a moment, we get the English word atom from that word. That's the smallest particle of time, quicker than you can bat your eye.

For this perishable must put on the imperishable, this mortal must put on immortality. And that's when the ultimate victory comes because the ultimate conclusion of our salvation is the glorification of the body. And that then ought to encourage us to be, verse 58, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Turn over to one more passage, Philippians 3:20, 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 there we get an idea, what will our glorified, resurrected bodies be like? They'll be like the body that Christ had when He was raised from the dead. It was the same body, had the same scars, the nail prints, the wound in the side. But it was no longer subject to death, pain, perishing. How could this happen? By the exertion of the power that He has, even to subject all things to Himself. We say, I don't know how that could be. And you know we have people who have died, Paul has been dead almost 2000 years. His body is long gone, turned to dust, eaten by the worms. How in the world are you going to bring that back together? Well you understand we're talking about what the power of God could do. So the fact that I can't grasp how it could come about doesn't surprise me, because this is something that takes the power of the sovereign who has everything in subjection to Him. When He calls that body back, it will be back that quickly.

So you see what we're talking about here, what is the hope, what is our anticipation? The transformation of the body. What was the promise and the hope throughout the Old Testament for the nation Israel, through the gospels, right down to Acts 1? What do the disciples want to know from Christ? Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? I mean, it's all about the kingdom. Now the focus, there is a mystery that has been revealed, for the church we are looking for resurrection and transformation. We will be part of the kingdom. But we have a glorious event before the establishing of the kingdom, and that is the rapture of the church.

I take it that there is a clear distinction in the Bible between the Second Coming of Christ to earth and the event of the rapture. Turn to Revelation 19. Some day we will get to this chapter, Lord willing. This is the return of Christ to earth to establish His kingdom. Verse 7, let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready, given her to clothe herself in fine linen bright and clean. Fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. The bride of Christ is with Him, prepared, ready to return to earth for the marriage supper of the Lamb which follows the marriage ceremony. We'll be talking about that when we get to this chapter. Already clothed, rewarded for their righteous deeds. Then he says, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Verse 11, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, on His head are many diadems, and on the description. Verse 14, the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen white and clean were following Him on white horses. We are told in verses 7-8 that we are part of that group, we are the bride, the church is the bride of Christ.

He comes down to trod the winepress of the wrath of God, the destruction on the earth. And that leads us right into chapter 20, and you have the 1000-year millennium set down, because that chapter opens up, the millennium being the thousand years. So you see this is an event here, Christ is returning to earth and we are already with Him as He leaves heaven to come to earth. So the events we've talked about, being caught up to meet Him in the air and being taken to the place He has prepared for us, that has already occurred. Now He is coming at this time to earth to establish His kingdom.

Come back to Matthew 13. Christ is giving in Matthew 13 the parables of the kingdom. This is truth about the kingdom, it is not a mystery form of the kingdom, this is added material about the kingdom. The same kingdom as the Old Testament talks about. Verses 24-30 you have the parable of the tares among the wheat where a man sowed good seed in his field. While men were sleeping his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. So you have the wheat come up and the tares come up and the wheat and the tares can look a lot alike. And so the landowner said, how could we get tares? And they say, verse 28, an enemy came in and sowed it. They would do this in those days, they would try to ruin someone's crop. Should we root up the tares? He says, no, because you might root up the wheat while you are at it. Verse 30, allow both to grow to harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, first gather up the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up. Gather the wheat into my barn.

You come down to the explanation of that, verse 36, then He left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples said, explain to us the parable of the tares in the field. He said, the One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world. As for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, the tares are the sons of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, the reapers are the angels. You see where we have come now, we are at the end of the age. Israel, the disciples, none of them have any concept of the church. That's not been revealed yet. They're talking about when we will have the establishing of the kingdom, you see where we are going.

So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, all those who commit lawlessness and throw them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. You see what happens here. When Christ comes to earth at the Second Coming to earth to establish His kingdom, He sends the angels out and there is a harvesting of the unbelievers, the tares. They are gathered up and sentenced to hell. Matthew 25, the judgment there, depart from Me, cursed ones, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Then the righteous will shine in the kingdom. The righteous aren't taken away. The wicked are taken away, the righteous are left to go into the kingdom.

Same thing is down in verses 47-50 with the dragnet. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, gathering fish of every kind. When it was filled they threw it up on the beach, they sat down, gathered the good fish into containers, the bad they threw away. It will be at the end of the age, the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous. Just the opposite is going to go on at the rapture of the church where the righteous are removed. Here the wicked are removed and thrown into the furnace of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And what is left then? Those who go into the kingdom.

So what happens at the rapture? Christ comes down in the air, doesn't say He comes to earth. He descends in the clouds. The bodies of believers are glorified, first the bodies of believers who have died are caught up and those spirits move back into those bodies. Then believers who are alive, if the rapture would occur right now every believer in this auditorium would just bodily disappear, be gone, caught up, quicker than you can bat your eyes. In an atom of time we'd be gone, caught up to meet Christ in the air, to be taken to His Father's house where He has prepared a place for us. In the Second Coming of Christ to earth to establish His kingdom, Christ returns to earth in great glory. Every eye sees Him. Matthew 24 tells us, if they tell you Christ has returned, don't believe it because just like the lightning flashes across the sky, He's going to come in full display, like we saw in Revelation 19 with the heavens open and He comes out. At that time Christ destroys His enemies, removes them from the earth. And then believers are taken into the kingdom in their physical bodies. Details of this we'll get to. You'll note the distinction, there are two different events.

I want to look at some of the reasons why I believe that the Bible indicates that the rapture will occur before the tribulation. It is a different event but why do we believe it is before the tribulation? Some believe the rapture will occur in the middle, so on your chart it is divided into two 3½ -year segments. Some believe it will happen right in the middle. That is called the mid-tribulation rapture. Why? Because it happens in the middle of the tribulation. New view that has come out, pre-wrath rapture, is just a form of that. That puts it three-quarters of the way through the tribulation. The post-tribulation rapture believes that what will happen is when Christ is returning to earth to establish His kingdom, believers in the church will be caught up to meet Christ in the air, then will turn around and come back down with Him to establish His kingdom. That will have some real problems as far as that would make every believer have a glorified body going into the kingdom, which has some difficulties.

So I want to look at some of the scriptural reasons why I think the rapture will occur before the 70th week of Daniel, why I am pre-tribulational. I have just selected seven ........... I've mentioned to you before John Walvoord many years ago, and John Walvoord is with the Lord now, did a book called The Rapture Question. And at the end of that book, it's been republished in paperback, he listed fifty reasons for a pre-tribulation rapture. So we're just doing seven and we're not going to get all seven in probably.

The first reason why I believe the church is raptured pre-tribulation, before that seven-year period. It goes back to Daniel 9:24, the focus of the seventy weeks of Daniel. All seventy weeks, they are a unit. He's talking about the seventy weeks. Verse 24, seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city. Now again we'll talk about these matters later. The seventy weeks here are literally 70 sevens, and by comparing scripture with scripture it's clear we are talking about 70 seven-year periods. So seventy weeks of years, not seventy weeks of days. So 70 sevens have been decreed for your people, 490 years totally, and your holy city. Now you'll note all 70 weeks are for your people, Daniel. Who are his people? Not the Babylonians, even though he is in Babylon. The Jews, of course, everybody knows Daniel is a Jew. That's how the book of Daniel starts out in chapter 1 with his dietary restrictions and convictions. And your holy city. Everybody knows the holy city, Jerusalem. So these seventy weeks are for the Jews and Jerusalem, not for Babylon, not for the United States, not for Assyria, not for Greeks. For the Jews and Jerusalem.

And six things will be accomplished for the Jews and Jerusalem. To finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, to anoint the most holy place. And when you get done with those 490 years, you will be ready to go into the kingdom. That's the point. So he breaks it down. The command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem under the Messiah the Prince. So you can tell we're not talking about weeks of days because we're going to go all the way from the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince, to the coming of Christ. So there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. That's a total of sixty-nine weeks, seven plus sixty-two. Then note what he says, verse 26, after the sixty-two weeks which remember were after seven. Because in the preceding verse he says, seven weeks, then sixty-two weeks. Then after the sixty-two weeks or a total of sixty-nine weeks the Messiah will be cut off. You'll note here he doesn't say in the 70th week Messiah will be cut off. He doesn't say at the beginning of the 70th week. He says after the 69th week. And there have been extensive works done on this because you have to include leap years and so on. And you come up to basically just about the week before the crucifixion of Christ. We'll leave it there for now.

Then after the 69th week is concluded the Messiah is cut off. Now it doesn't say when the 70th week will start, but you'll note, there is an indicator here, a couple of indicators. One, the Messiah will be cut off after the 69th week. Secondly we're told about a prince who will come, a Roman prince because he is of the same people that will destroy Jerusalem. And everybody knows who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. He, verse 27, will make a firm covenant with the many, referring to the Jews, for one week. So you see we're told after the 69th week the Messiah will be cut off. What will mark the beginning of the 70th week? And there is an indication here even though there is no elaboration that there will be a gap in time. How long we don't know. Sometime after the 69th week and before the 70th week the Messiah will be cut off. And the prince that is going to come will make a firm covenant with the Jews for one week, one seven-year period. Now we know what will mark the beginning of the 70th week. So all seventy weeks pertain to the Jews, but there is going to be a gap in time between the 69th and 70th week. The 70th week is the period of time we have on the chart there, divided into two 3½ -year periods.

Now the focus of the 70th week is totally on the Jews and Jerusalem. The church did not begin until after the 69th week because Christ was crucified after the 69th week. The church began, it's not part of God's plan and program for Israel. For all seventy weeks the focus of God's program is the nation Israel. But you know what? In that gap it's not the nation Israel, it's the church, which is a unique entity.

So I think it is consistent to say the church will be removed before God resumes His plan for the nation Israel. Because with the church in existence as the bride of Christ, the focal point is the church and God's work in the church. It is the family of God, it is the pillar and support of the truth.

Come over to Romans 11. We're just highlighting some of these matters now, we will be back in these chapters numerous times for more details. Romans 9-11 are great chapters on God's plan and program for Israel. Romans 11 begins, I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! Me genoito. The King James says, God forbid. It gives you the firmness of it, even though it's not an exact translation. The word God does not appear. Me genoito, may it never be, such a thought is inconceivable. What does he mean, He rejected His people? Does that mean you and me, Gentiles? No. What does Paul say? I, too, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. We're talking about the Jews. This ought to settle it for all time. Is there a future for Israel? Yes, there is.

Come down to verse 25, for I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery. This whole matter of what God was going to do on putting Israel on a sidetrack, if you will, now make the church, comprised primarily of Gentiles with a few Jews, a remnant, as verse 5 talks about, the center of His plan and program in the world, the center of the disseminating of His Word and the message of His salvation. But verse 25, I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you may not be wise in your own estimation. Don't get a big head, Gentiles. A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Then all Israel will be saved, so all Israel will be saved. Verse 28 concludes here with the coming of the Messiah at the Second Coming to bring complete cleansing to the nation. From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, from the standpoint of election, choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts of the calling of God are irrevocable. God called Israel, you can't replace Israel with the church. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Not one jot, not one tittle will go unfulfilled exactly as God gave it.
So the mystery refers to the church age in which we live, it's a time when God is focusing on the Gentiles. The fullness of the Gentiles, this is the day of Gentile salvation. Doesn't mean no Jews are saved, but they are few, very few in comparison. The church is primarily comprised of Gentiles. By God's grace He saves a few Jews. It's a reminder and an evidence that He hasn't forgotten the nation, but He has placed them under judgment. They are scattered, we see a reassembling in the land but it is for the worst yet to come. But after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then we're ready to complete God's program with Israel. So all Israel will be saved. But first you have the fullness of the Gentiles, that completion of that aspect of God's plan. Now we have to go back, we have seven years left for God to deal with Israel.

So it would seem to me to create a conflict to have the church present when God's focus now returns to Israel. He didn't bring the church into existence until He broke off His program with Israel. Understand what I mean, broken off, God is not done with Israel. He is still working in Israel because even under judgment, the judgment they are experiencing is ultimately from the Lord as punishment for their unbelief. But He broke off the program, after the 69th week, and then when He removes the church, completed that program, the fullness has come in, then He'll bring about the completion of the program for Israel.

A second reason. The first reason was the focus of the 70 weeks of Daniel. You see again we have to stay with a literal interpretation, stay with what it says, where it leads us. The second reason, the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church. Back in John 14:16, I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. Down in chapter 15 verse 26, when the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me. Here now Christ is promising that He is going to send the Holy Spirit to do a unique and special work that He has not done up until this point in time. And it will be a work done and accomplished through the church.

Back in chapter 16 verse 7, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you and He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin because they do not believe in Me. We can't expect the work of the Holy Spirit to take place if we're not preaching the biblical word on sin, can we. He convicts the world concerning sin. He convicts the world concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will no longer see Me. And concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When did the Holy Spirit come? When did Christ send Him? He ascends in Acts 1, He sends the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. And what do we have? The beginning of the church, the establishing of the church. So it's a unique ministry that the Holy Spirit carries on through the church.

Over in II Thessalonians 2. We will be back here when we proceed in our next study for reasons why a pre-trib rapture. In II Thessalonians 2 he is talking about this seven-year period and the man of lawlessness being revealed. In verse 3, the son of destruction, that is the prince who will come that we saw in Daniel 9, also identified as the little horn as we will see in Daniel 7. He's the one who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. And verse 6, you know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed. And I believe that the one restraining lawlessness is the Holy Spirit and would refer to the rapture of the church in His being removed. This precedes a point we will make later in our study next time. He is the One who can restrain lawlessness, who can hold it back. Some say it is human government, sometimes human government is an agent of lawlessness. You know, like Nazi Germany or Stalin Russia and those things, we have it in scales today. That doesn't restrain lawlessness and hold back the open outbreak of sin. But when the Holy Spirit steps out, not removed from the earth but removed in the ministry He has had through the church, then you are prepared for the seven years that are unlike anything the world has seen in its devastation and destruction and judgment.

So I take it we have the Holy Spirit being removed in His ministry through the church that began in Acts 2, and now we can complete the 70th week of Daniel because the restraint. So there has been a restraining influence that has held back lawlessness and sin for the last 2000 years because it was not God's intention yet that the 70th week of Daniel begin because He is building His church, the bride of Christ. But when that is complete, then that restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church can be removed and that will enable the 70th week of Daniel to begin and unfold. We'll be in that context, that the man of lawlessness will be revealed. He is the one who will sign the agreement with Israel for one week, one seven-year period that will come to a conclusion with the return of Christ to earth.

So that is our anticipation, that is our expectation, we as believers. The fact that the world may be getting worse, that it seems to be crumbling in many ways. If we are down near that first stage, first phase of the Second Coming, the rapture of the church, and if that were to occur tonight it wouldn't surprise us that the world seems to be unraveling in ways and moving toward events that the Bible tells us will be taking place during those seven years and particularly in the opening part of those seven years. That's why we as believers oughtn't to be wringing our hands in despair, but we ought to be saying, our redemption may be drawing very near, the time of our removal because it seems the Lord is preparing the way. There is nothing yet before the rapture of the church. We'll talk about that. But we sometimes talk about events we know the Bible says will take place, particularly during those first 3½ years. And we see things shaping up in the world that seem to be preparing the way for that. We as believers are like Paul, as we talked about this morning. No matter what happens, as bad as it is going to get, that's all right. We won't be here for the worst. The Lord has plans for us that we will be gathered in His presence.

We'll look at the rest of the reasons for our next study for a pre-tribulation rapture.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your truth. Thank you that you have given us your Word to understand. Lord, we never fully exhaust it and we're always learning. We thank you there is clarity there. We have the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. And Lord, as we diligently study, submitting ourselves to what you have said, taking it at face values and allowing it to mean what you said, not what we would like to change it to mean. Lord, there is clarity in your word, a building clarity as it becomes clearer and clearer. Thank you for the book of the Revelation as we anticipate moving into this awesome section of your Word. We would submit ourselves to your truth and desire that your Spirit will give us greater understanding, greater appreciation of what is ahead in your plan. And Lord, we eagerly look forward to the return of Christ to gather us to Himself in the air, that He might take us to the glory of your presence. May we live our lives for you this week in light of the imminent return of our Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen.