Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
First in the clouds of the air which is called the Rapture, and then when He steps back on the earth which we call the Second Coming or the Second Advent.
It is an event that is really brought out in two passages, 1TH 4:13-18, and 1CO 15:51-58.
The next event in this series that he is coming back is understanding what is known as the rapture of the Church and then after that what is known as the Big Genuflex.
The pre-Tribulational view, and the post-Tribulational view.
There are also those who do not believe in a rapture of the church who are classified as A millennial and Postmillennial theology.
Our job is to clean up the world, which I personally believe is one of Satan's greatest counterfeit deceptions. There are a few different views of the Rapture and I am not going to spend any time on them but tell you what I believe which is known as pre-Tribulational rapture theology, and why I believe it.
The main view is that TLJC will remove His church before the great Tribulation, REV 3:10.
The church will return with Christ at His Second coming to establish the Millennial reign of Christ.
There is a time coming on this earth which is called "Satan's time of desperation"
It involves not only people but angelic creatures as well.
It is a great period of wrath on this earth, both from God and from Satan, ZEP 1:14-18.
It is a time of great judgment on the earth like never before, REV 6:16-17.
REV 6:16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;
REV 6:17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"
It is said to be a great time of indignation, ISA 26:20-21.
The hour of testing, REV 3:10.
Destruction, Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Darkness, Joel 2:2 A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, {So} there is a great and mighty people; There has never been {anything} like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations. Desolation, DAN 9:27.
Punishment, ISA 24:20-21.
If the church is destined to endure the persecutions of the Tribulation, it is hopeless to proclaim the coming of the Lord as an imminent hope.
It should be recognized that Christ cannot come until these predicted sorrows have been accomplished, which is not true.
If Christ will come for His church before the predicted time of trouble, Christians can regard His coming as an imminent daily expectation.
Because of a theological event known as the rapture, the church, the body of Christ will not go through this period.
Since the church or royal family of God is the first spiritual building to be completed, it is resurrected after our Lord.
It is the second phase of the first resurrection following the resurrection of Christ.
Titus 2:13 calls the rapture or the appearing of TLJC, "our blessed hope (makarios elpis) or happy guarantee"
Titus 2:13">TIT 2:13 looking for the blessed hope [makarios elpis - happy guarantee] and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus;
You utilize +H, You operate in virtue‑love.
Prin-All believers can have confidence, hope and a guarantee with regard to the rapture.
The confidence is the fact that we have been delivered from the wrath to come.
1CO 15:57 "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
JOH 14:1-3; 1CO 15:51-52; 2TH 2:1; PHI 3:20-21; 1TH 4:13-18; 2CO 5:1-9; 1CO 1:8.
2TH 2:1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him,
Because the Church and Israel are two distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan, one has to be taken away while the other is dealt with.
1TH 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, TLJC will remove the church from this world when that terrible Tribulational period comes is found under the principle of mystery doctrine.
Passages in the New Testament such as EPH 3:1-6; COL 1:25-27; ROM 16:25-26, which all make it crystal clear that the church was a mystery and was not known in the Old Testament.
The church, therefore, could not have been in view in the Old Testament prophecy concerning the Tribulational period which is to come upon the whole earth.
REV 3:10; ISA 34:2; 24:1,4-5, 16-21 and, many other passages make it very clear as well.
JER 30:7 says this period is particularly called the time of Jacob's trouble and Jacob refers to Israel.
DAN 9:24 "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression,
In GEN 29:26-27, and DAN 9:24, one week is equivalent to 7 years.
So, 70 times 7 equals 490.
They have had 69 weeks already, i.e., 483 years.
The Church has nothing to do with the prophecy of the Tribulation period since the Church did not have its existence until after the death of Christ, EPH 5:25-26, after the resurrection of Christ, ROM 4:25; COL 3:1-3, and after the ascension of Christ, EPH 1:19-20.
Since the church had no part in the first 69 weeks which are related only to God's program for Israel, then it can have no part in the 70th week which is again related to God's program for Israel.
1TH 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.
REV 2:22 indicates clearly that the unsaved professing church will experience the Tribulational period, REV 2:18-22.
The professing church is composed of those who make a profession of faith in Christ.
Another Jesus....2CO 11:4
another spirit...2CO 11:4
another Gospel...GAL 1:6
another doctrine 1TI 4:1.
J. Dwight Pentecost on page 200 of his book "things to come" writes "Since the church is the body, of which Christ is the head (EPH 1:22; 5:23; COL 1:18),....the bride, of which He is the bridegroom, (1CO 11:2; EPH 5:23), the object of His love (EPH 5:25),
the branch of which He is the root and stem (JOH 15:5), the building, of which He is the foundation and cornerstone (1CO 3:9; Eph
2:19-22), there exists between the believer and the Lord a union and a unity.
The believer is no longer separated from Him, but brought into the closest oneness with Him. If the church is in the seventieth week or the
Tribulational period, she is subjected to the wrath, judgment, and indignation which characterizes the period, and because of her oneness with Christ, He, likewise, would be subjected to that same visitation.
This is impossible according to 1JO 4:17, for he cannot be brought into judgment again inasmuch as the church has been perfected and delivered from all judgment (ROM 8:1; JOH 5:24; 1JO 4:17).
If she is subjected to judgment again the promises of God would be of none effect and the death of Christ would be ineffectual. Who would dare to assert that the death of Christ could fail to accomplish its purpose?
While the members may be experimentally imperfect and need experimental cleansing, yet the church, which is His body, has a perfect standing in Christ and could not need such cleansing.
The nature of the testing in the seventieth week, as stated in Rev 3;10, is not to bring the individual to cleansing, but to reveal the degradation and need of the unregenerate heart. The nature of the church prevents such a testing."
Rev 13 makes it clear that all who are in the 70th week or the Tribulation period are brought into subjection to the beast and through him to Satan who gives the beast power.
If the church were in this period she would be subjected to Satan and Christ would either lose His place as head or because of His union with the Church, He would be also subjected to Satan's authority.
1. The Rapture.
2. The Big Genuflex.
3. The Judgment Seat of Christ.
4. The Second Coming.
Point 1. Definition. The Rapture is used in a technical theological sense for the resurrection of the royal family of God.
Since the Church or royal family of God is the first spiritual building to be completed, it is resurrected after our Lord. It is the second phase of the first resurrection following the resurrection of Christ.
Christ is resurrected, ascended, and seated at the right hand of the Father as part of the strategic victory of the angelic conflict.
God interrupted the Jewish Age with the Church Age to call out and provide a royal family of God.
Once the royal family of God is completed, the Church is resurrected as the body of Christ to become the bride of Christ.
The Church Age is that period of human history when the royal family of God is being formed on earth, EPH 1:22‑23, 2:16, 4:4‑5; COL 1:18, 24, 2:19.
When the royal family of God is completed, then the Rapture occurs, 1TH 4:16‑18; 1CO 15:51‑58.
During the conclusion of the Jewish Age, the bride is prepared in heaven by receiving a resurrection body exactly like that of the Lord.
Then comes the Big Genuflex and acknowledgment of Christ, PHI 2:9-11, ROM 14:11.
ROM 14:11 For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God."
Then comes the Judgment Seat of Christ, when all Church Age believers are evaluated and rewarded, 2CO 5:10.
Point 2. Biblical principles that establish the Biblical position of a pre-Tribulational rapture of the church.
(1) The great Tribulation is punishment for a Christ-rejecting world, and the nation of Israel, who rejected her Messiah, REV 6:12-17.
(2) The nature of the church, and the promises of Christ forbid the church from going through the great Tribulation.
COL 1:22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach‑‑
The promise of Christ HEB 13:5 "for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,"
(3) There must be an interval of time between the rapture and the Second Coming. (4) The scripture's which deal with the great tribulation have particular reference to the Jew, MAT 24:1-31; MAR 13:14; LUK 21:23-36.
The abomination of desolation has to do with Jerusalem and the Temple, DAN 11:31 "And forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation."
Why does it say the Sabbath? Because we are talking to the Jews not to Christians.
The Sabbath is for the Jews only, EXO 31:16.
In LUK 13:6, the fig tree represents the nation of Israel, And He {began} telling this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it, and did not find any.
The Sabbath is used, MAT 24:20.
Jerusalem is trodden under, LUK 21:24.
The Kingdom of God is near and at hand, MAT 24:14.
The Church is never mentioned; Temple implied; abomination of desolation denoted.
(5) The Tribulation is mentioned as a gross time of darkness, evil, and sin, where none have faith. ISA 60:2; JER 13:16; LUK 18:8.
(6) Satan persecutes the women in the Tribulation (Israel). The church is not to come under condemnation. REV 12:1-4; ROM 5:9; 8:1;
1TH 1:10; 5:9; 1CO 15:55-57; 1TH 4:13-18.
(7) The Church is not of the world. JOH 17:14; PHI 3:20; 2TI 2:3-4. The church is a spiritual extension of Jesus Christ, with promises that are heavenly related. EPH 1:3; 2:6.
(8) Christ is preparing a home for His body the Church, and has promised to return and to take His bride back with Him, JOH 14:3; 1TH 4:13-17.
JOH 14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, {there} you may be also."
(9) The Church has been promised deliverance from the wrath to come. ROM 5:9; 1TH 1:10; 5:9; REV 3:10.
(10) The believer is told to watch, or have an attitude of anticipation for the Lord's coming.
If believer's are to go through the great Tribulation, they would be advised to watch for the signs of the prophecies of the coming of Jacob's trouble, ROM 8:23; 1CO 1:7; GAL 5:5. TIT 2:11-13.
Why would we in ROM 8:23 groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body?
1CO 1:7 await eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Titus 2:13">TIT 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus;
(11) God has always protected His people in unique fashion's in the face of judgment. Enoch before the flood; 2PE 2:6-8. Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah.
(12) The instructions by the apostle Paul never include any preparation or warning that the church will encounter the great Tribulation.
(13) If the Church goes through the Tribulation then the Jew's as well as the Gentiles of the Tribulation period would become part of the Church.
(14) The church at Thessalonica would not be concerned of any disadvantage of the dead in Christ if those who were alive had to go through the great Tribulation, 1TH 1:4.
(15) The message of the church is the message of the Gospel of grace, and peace which secured at the cross by Jesus the Christ. EPH 2:8-10.
The message of the great Tribulation is one of God's judgment. REV 7:4-8; 12:17; 19:10; MAT 24:14.
(16) The iniquity of the anti-Christ cannot be released until the Holy Spirit, the restrainer is removed with the Church. 2TH 2:3-7 (mystery of lawlessness).
(17) The church is called to pray for those in authority 1TI 2:2; if the church was on earth in the great Tribulation why would those who come through the great Tribulation pray for the destruction of those in authority? REV 6:10.
(18) Christ's return for His church is unconditional, and He returns to heaven, JOH 14:1-3.
The great tribulation is conditional, and based upon the abomination of desolation. MAT 24:15-16.
(19) Christ returns for His bride in the air and does not touch down upon the earth at the Rapture.
JOH 14:1-3; at the second coming He comes down to the earth.
(20) The bema seat judgment takes place after the Rapture.
This represents the divine production in the Spirit or in the flesh. 1CO 3:12-15.
(21) Time is needed for the bema seat, and the marriage of the Lamb, and His pure bride dressed in white, the church.
(22) The Rapture is a mystery and secret, the second coming is a world display of power. 1CO 15:51-52.
(23). The Rapture comes at a time of false peace and safety.
(24) After the Rapture (Rev 4) the day of the Lord begins with the opening of the first seal, Rev 5.
(25) The Church is never mentioned from Rev 4-19.
(26) The 144,00 Jews from Twelve Tribes; the two prophet's probably Elijah and Moses and the angel witness the gospel, REV 11:3.
The hope of the Church is the return of Christ at the Rapture, who will deliver them from the greatest outpouring of judgment in the history of the universe, TIT 2:11- 13; 1TH 1:10; 4:18; 5:11.