Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The secret of the mystery, part 196. The rapture will be the end of the age of no prophecy, part 6.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
The Mystery Of The Doctrine Of The Rapture.
Point 1. Definition. While Rapture is defined as the act of being transported, or the state of being rapt or carried out of oneself, “Rapture” is used here in a technical theological sense for the resurrection of the Royal Family of God.
It is the second phase of the first resurrection following the resurrection of Christ.
The first resurrection is pictured as a battalion pass-in-review, and is divided into four levels, 1CO 15:20-24.
a. Alpha Company: the resurrection of Christ at the end of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, for He is “the first fruits of them that slept.”
Mat 28; Mar 16; Luk 24; Joh 20-21; ACT 2:31-34.
b. Bravo Company: the resurrection of the Royal Family of God also known as the Rapture at the end of the great power experiment of the Church-age, JOH 14:1-3; PHI 3:20-21; 1CO 15:51-57; 1TH 4:13-18; 1JO 3:1-2.
c. Charlie Company: the resurrection of the Old Testament believers and Tribulational martyrs at the end of the Tribulation and the Second Advent, DAN 12:13; ISA 26:19-20; MAT 24:31;
REV 20:4.
d. Delta Company: the resurrection of the Millennial saints at the end of the Millennium.
a. For believers only: resurrection to eternal life. The resurrection body is eternal and permanent, superior to that of angelic creatures, DAN 12:2; JOH 5:24-29; 1CO 15:20-22;
REV 20:6,13.
b. For unbelievers only: resurrection and cast into the lake of fire forever, MAT 25:41;
1CO 15:24; REV 20:5-15.
Point 2. Twenty-six principles that establish the Biblical position of a pre-tribulational Rapture of the church.
This movement (the belief that there is no rapture) falls under many titles, Dominion Theology, Reconstructionism, Covenant Theology; it is made up of Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, many Calvinists, Pentecostals, and even some Protestants.
Most of them also hold to Postmillennialism which is the belief that we are in the Millennium now and therefore, as the church, we should be taking over the world.
Whether you believe in a Rapture or not is very important because these two conflicting views, Rapture or no Rapture, impact the way believers are involved in this present society.
When believers do not believe in the Rapture, and think that we are now in the kingdom of God on earth, they get involved in trying to improve the world in which they live.
This is known as Christian reconstructionism.
A pre-millennialist, which is what we are, believes that TLJC will intervene with the Rapture and the Tribulational judgment which will destroy the current society, and then the Lord will institute Millennial conditions.
They believe that their job is to rebuild our apostate civilization into the kingdom of God, Christianize the world, and so pave the way for the Lord to come back.
It contributes greatly to Satan’s plan to try to counterfeit the Millennium and get individuals to help him clean up the world and try to be like God.
Here is this world that the Bible describes as anti-God, and here are all these Christians sidetracked, minus doctrine, trying to clean up the “devils” world.
1CO 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
John Darby, a minister who was part of the Church of England, clearly made a distinction between the Rapture and the Second Coming and Israel and the Church.
His anti-Semitism was especially revealed in his pamphlet entitled Concerning the Jews and Their Lies (1542), which was filled with lies about Jews.
Luther advised the Germans to burn down the homes of Jews, to close their synagogues and schools, to confiscate their wealth, to enroll their men and women to forced labor, and to give all Jews a choice between Christianity and having their tongues torn out, (Durant’s book on the Reformation, pg 727).
The Council of Vienne, the 15th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church (1311-12), brought together by Pope Clement V, forbade all intercourse between Christians and Jews.
The Council of Zamora (1313) ruled that the Jews must be kept in strict subjection and servitude.
The Council of Basel (1431-33) renewed canonical decrees forbidding Christians to associate with Jews and instructed secular authorities to confine the Jews in separate quarters, compel them to wear a distinguishing badge, and ensure their attendance at sermons aimed to convert them.
Pope Eugenius IV added that Jews should be ineligible for any public office, could not inherit property from Christians, must build no more synagogues, and must stay in their homes, behind closed doors and windows, in Passion Week (a wise provision against Christian violence). In a later bill Eugenius ordered that any Italian Jew found reading Talmudic literature should suffer confiscation of his property.
Pope Nicholas V commissioned St. John of Capistrano (1447) to see to it that every clause of this repressive legislation should be enforced, and authorized him to seize the property of any Jewish physician who treated a Christian.
Satan is trying to finish and wipe out this truth because then he can get all those Christians involved in Dominion Theology or Reconstructionism, or Covenant Theology to help clean up his world!
There have been many different objects used for money, such as barter, slaves, gunpowder, oxen, elephants, cattle, stones, wool, barley, wheat, even timber.
DAN 12:4 Keep this prophecy a secret; seal it up so that it will not be understood until the end times, when travel and education shall be vastly increased! - TLB
DAN 12:4 But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. - NIV
Concealed - verb catham = to keep secret, closed up, hidden, shut out.
Sealed up - verb chatham = to seal up, to lock up, to close up.
Grace Bible Church
Pastor/Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday,
March 4, 2007
He found that God never mixes Israel and the Church.
Then he began to see in a fresh new light something that people had read over and over and never really related it to prophecy, and that is that the church had always been a mystery before it was created.
The mystery was the fact that God was going to have a period in human history where He would deal with the Gentiles and not the Jews. The Lord revealed both mysteries – the Lord’s Supper and the Rapture – on the same evening.
Paul instructs us to celebrate t he Lord’s Supper until the day of the Rapture.
The bread speaks of the impeccable humanity of Christ, which was given as a sacrifice for the sins of the entire human race. The wine speaks of our Lord’s spiritual death on the cross. The Lord’s Supper has us look back in time to that fantastic event by which our Lord purchased His Bride, the Church.
The Rapture has us look forward to His return when He shall claim His Bride, the Church.
At the Lord’s Supper, the bride consummates the engagement by drinking the cup.
At the Rapture, the bride consummates the marriage when the Groom returns for her.
The Lord’s Supper and the Rapture represent two key tests of occupation with Christ.
Just as the Jews were to celebrate the Passover meal with anticipation of deliverance and flight, the Church is instructed to observe the Lord’s Supper with the Rapture in mind.
Eating the bread and drinking the cup looks back at the Person of Christ; it looks at the present and our union with Him; and it looks to the future, to the Rapture.