Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
your presence lord nothing better than the holy presence of god your peace lord your love for us lord when you manifest yourself lord in our midst in our hearts when you are the lord when you show up lord you're always there god but when you truly bring forth god your presence and your power and we can feel your anointing we can feel your glory and your your hand upon us and your smile uh over us lord there's nothing better lord than your presence nothing better in this world or nothing better than your holy awesome presence jesus we love you we thank you for your precious blood that allows us to experience the presence in the holy of holies we thank you lord god that we don't serve a dead dry empty distant god but lord that we can draw near because of the blood of jesus we can draw near lord with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience we can draw near and worship you in spirit and in truth and together and lord you promised you would manifest yourself and lord you do it lord i sent you here today and lord i worship you and i thank you for all of your goodness for every time you've manifested yourself in my life and i know lord that everyone here is grateful and thankful for every single moment second that you have touched them and they have experienced your presence thank you holy spirit thank you holy spirit of truth thank you jesus thank you jesus praise you and worship you just take another moment just worship him in your own words just thank him just bless him thank you lord bless you mighty god king of kings and lord of lords the only way the only truth the only life jesus jesus christ of nazareth god who came in the flesh we worship
and adore and magnify and exalt you lord thank you for all of your goodness thank you that this song jesus really i mean it's for all of us but when we were singing it we just kept coming to mind all right gang are you ready are you ready for this um yes amen well we're going to go into this on the rapture this morning and we're going to teach it because um even though since we've been meeting as a church and having bible studies and different things and even though i even in the last end time series i did last year or even i guess it started in 2009 i never addressed this i alluded to it but i never addressed it in detail and i really felt strongly that as we did the bible prophecy thing last week that i needed to address this subject and you know kevin and i spent a lot of time working together so we've spent a lot a lot of time talking about this um andrea came to um the um the youth bible study and we talked about it some there in the friday night bible study so they'll be more familiar with it but i don't i i really think you guys never really got to hear or or i never got to get into it so that you guys could hear it so i wanted you guys to get it and and it's not and some of this is going to be repetitious for others but bottom line i think it's good to get it down in you and be able to understand it and be able to share with people why you believe what you believe and maybe you don't believe that what i believe about the rapture and when it's going to take place you know but that's up to you to decide after you see all the evidence anyway so we're talking about the rapture this morning so let's just uh get into it here we're going to look at these six passages very quickly just to give the background on it so go ahead and turn to first thessalonians 4 13. first thessalonians 4 13 we're going to read a few scriptures to just establish the doctrine of the rapture in the bible i mean i there are actually some christians who do not believe in the rapture they're uh a millennial uh they just believe that revelation was a is a spiritual thing it's a they spiritualize the whole thing they believe that yes jesus is coming back one day but the church is going to gradually
take over society and culture and improve everything and save everything and and make the kingdom and that jesus is just going to come back and everything's going to be okay that's called kingdom now theology or dominion theology it's pretty much what the catholic church believes um i also happen to know that it's what rick joyner and morningstar believes and a lot of a lot of charismatics are getting into that what they call kingdom now or dominion theology i believe it's a complete error because there's too many prophecies and scriptures that tell us that things are not going to get better in the end that the church is not going to get better in the end as a whole that there's going to be a great falling away a great apostasy that there's going to be more deception that that there's going to be a degeneration of the society to the point that they are the majority are worshiping the antichrist the beast the false prophet taking the mark of the beast we are not headed to better days until jesus comes back and that is that is the fallacy really in the whole dominion now kingdom theology so believe it or not there are those who who teach that there is not going to be a rapture of the church now i want to say this out front because people get caught up in in terms the term rapture is not in the bible okay people just now call it that but if you want to be biblical if you want to get technical we're going to read it it's called the catching away of the saints our gathering together to him um meeting the lord in the air the the resurrection the first resurrection i mean it's there's several names for it but it's just been called the rapture for so long most people understand that term but anyway we're gonna start first thessalonians chapter four um it's believed by most bible scholars and we can pretty well be sure that first thessalonians and sec first thessalonians in particular was one of the first new testament books written time-wise okay so let's start reading paul was writing to this church and verse 13. we'll start there he said but i would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep or dead that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so them which sleep in jesus will god bring with him for this we say unto you by the word of the lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord wherefore comfort one another with these words so this was the first time in the new testament that the mystery of the rapture or the catching away of the saints of meeting the lord in the air this was the first time that it was revealed or taught to the church they didn't even know about this okay this is where paul talked about he went into the desert of arabia and god gave him revelations and that the gospel he preached was not from man but it was by direct revelation from god and so that's why he says very strongly here i am saying this to you by the word of the lord all right so this is a strong he's making it clear to them this is a revelation from god this is what's going to happen just for the sake of what we're going to get into a little bit later i want you to really remember what he says in verse 16 about it he says the lord himself will descend from heaven now this is this is not the second coming of jesus at armageddon but it is part of the second coming and this is what a lot of people don't understand the word perusia that's used about the second coming or the coming of our lord is a word that means an event that begins with multiple things happening it's not a one-time thing so the jesus descending from heaven and then calling up with the great sound of a trumpet calling forth his people up to meet him in the air is something that's going to happen near the second coming and i'm going to prove that but that is not what we term the second coming of jesus at armageddon to do something else he's coming at armageddon to destroy the armies of the world that follow the antichrist and and set up his kingdom from that point on but he says here the lord will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and the trump of god and then he goes and the dead in christ will rise first and then we which are alive and remain uh will be called up to meet the lord in the air so that's the main scripture go to first corinthians 15 yes okay when a person when the what he's talking about there when he says the dead in christ will rise first what he's talking about is when a person dies now before the rapture before the second coming if they're born again they're walking with jesus their body goes into the grave but their spirit and soul go to heaven when the resurrection take place god's promise that we will be redeemed both spirit soul and body and that there will be a resurrection of the body and so what happens is is that the bodies come out of the grave and they're given a new body and we'll see that in a second i'll turn to that scripture where he says when we see him
we will be like him and what we'll receive is a brand new resurrection body remember jesus didn't rise spiritually from the dead he rose both spiritually and physically from the dead but his body that he has he said come touch me he said it's flesh and bone he said but that body was supernatural it could walk through walls even though it was physical and solid it's it's just a different body that's on a different plane with god that we're going to get so it's our resurrection body and paul talks about that matter of fact first corinthians 15 if you read the whole chapter the whole thing he's talking about is both the spiritual body and the physical body but how that the physical body will be raised and and put on immortality as well as the spirit so that's what's going to happen with the dead in christ basically they get their bodies back except they're going to get new bodies like the one jesus has he was the as as the gospel as as paul and some of the other writers called him the first fruits from the dead he's the the first example of what kind of body like like for instance moses it says died and was buried and that god hid his body but um we see moses appearing with jesus on the mount of transfiguration well that was moses spirit and soul appearing there but at the rapture moses body is coming up out of wherever it's buried and will be joined with his spirit and soul and moses will be given a physical body again so did that answer your question all right good deal all right first corinthians 15 and like i said he covers all that in first corinthians 15 but i'm not going to read the whole thing it's a lot in that chapter but go down to verse 51. and this is where paul again teaching it reveals this to the corinthians so you know one thing paul said in second corinthians he said in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established so to establish doctrine you don't just pick one verse but you you go to all of them and then that's how you get your your doctrine on it but anyway first uh first corinthians 15 51 he says behold i show you a mystery we shall not all sleep or die but we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptable and he's talking about the body must put on incorruption an incorruptible body and this mortal must put on immortality so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory o death where is your sting o grave where is your victory and the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but he says but thanks be to god which gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ therefore
my beloved brethren be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord so there he talks about i'll show you a mystery in the moment the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet again he talks about a trumpet sounding he says at the last trump he said this dead bodies the dead in christ are going to rise up and receive what was what was corruptible is going to receive an incorruptible body what was what was um mortal is going to receive an immor immortal body body so that's your second reference let's go to the gospel of john this is the first place in the gospels that jesus we see jesus mentioning the rapture okay john chapter 5 verse 26 everybody get there john 5 26 and this is what jesus says here he said for as the father has life in himself so he hath given to the son to have life in himself and hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the son of man marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth and they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation so here's jesus explaining there's coming a day that they're going to hear my voice the people in the graves are going to hear my voice and they're going to come forth some are going to come forth that have done good that have obeyed jesus been born again walked with him known him he said they will be resurrected to life everlasting life of course and it says they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation so there's where jesus talked about it now let's go to a couple of old testament references just to show that it's in both testaments god did mention it in the old testament go to daniel chapter 12. everybody knows that daniel is is a book primarily about end time prophecy not just about it of course but the majority of it's about end time prophecy and daniel 12 is where he actually mentions and talks about the great tribulation that's going to come on at the end of the world so daniel 12 1-2 let's read those i'll let you get there
daniel 12 1-2 and see what's good about this and paul we don't know we don't have a record of this but but we know that you know paul could have been challenged by jews and and and christians alike to say okay you're giving us this mystery this revelation of the dead being raised up and given an incorruptible body and a rapture of the church is this where where is this in the scripture and this is where he could have turned to in daniel 12 and it says speaking of the end he says and at that time shall michael stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book and of course that's the book of life and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt so that's one of the verses there that talks about it in the old testament go to isaiah 26 isaiah 26. and this one of course this is a lot of end time prophecy in the book of isaiah recently i re-read a lot of it was just kind of blown away as a bunch of it started jumping out at me and i was just reading this one day and this jumped out i said well there's the rapture right there god talking about the rapture in the context of talking about the last days and what was going to be happening in the last days um isaiah 26 we're going to go down to verse 17 and and the reason that verse 17 i want to start their significance jesus said in matthew 24 that we're going to read in a minute that the the end times would be when it began it would be the beginning of birth pains or like a woman starting her travail and her labor until it came to pass well it's interesting he says there's something like a woman with child that draws near the time of her delivery is in pain and cries out in her pains so have we been in thy side o lord we have been with child we have been in pain we have as it were brought forth when we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen thy dead men and this is in verse 19 thy dead men shall live together with my dead body they shall arise awaken saying ye that dwell in the dust for thy do is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead so here god says and isaiah says my body is going to come out of the grave and he talks about it being being a time
of great rejoicing now awake and sing and he says come my people enter thou into the chambers and shut the doors about you and hide yourself as it were a little moment until the indignation be overpassed and so he's talking about when the rapture take place there's still some terrible things going on over the earth it'll be a short little time and then just wait it'll be done he says for behold the lord comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also should disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain so very clear he's talking about the end when god comes to punish the earth now turn to matthew 24 we're going to read just these verses real quick just to show that the rapture is also spoken of in matthew 24. all right matthew 24 we're going to read it verse 29 y'all with me all right verse 29 and this of course the whole chapter in context the disciples asked jesus what will be the sign of your coming at the end of the world he said these the beginning of sorrows he gives a chronological order and we'll deal more with that in a minute but it gets down to verse 29 and he says immediately after the tribulation of those days did he say before or after okay immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened the moon shall not give her light the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and look at verse 31 and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other so very clearly the son of man will see the lord where in the clouds he says there will be a sound of a trumpet sound familiar and that he will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other now believe it or not there's an argument out there among theologians who are trying to prove the pre-trib rapture that this is not the rapture of the church that this is some second secret rapture that's mentioned nowhere else in the scripture of jews after the tribulation or people that got saved after the first rapture no joke i i laugh sometimes if they make this stuff up and they say the reason they believe that is because it says the word elect and so that's meaning the jews well i'm sorry but over and over and over again in the new testament i see paul i see the apostle john referring to the church to christians as the elect
so their argument does not stand plus the rapture of the church within the context of all the events of the end times wouldn't you agree with me that it's one of the most serious it's one of the the most awesome and huge events and in matthew 24 jesus goes through all the things the major things that are going to happen leading up to the rapture in the second coming and but yet he doesn't mention that there's a rapture then there's another rapture no this is the rapture in matthew 24. and the reason that they have to try to twist this and change this is because if you simply read matthew 24 in context and take it as it is written you do not have a pre-tribulation rapture you do not have it till after sometime after the midpoint okay minimum but we'll we're going to look at that in more detail i want you to just look at this this slide here about the big picture of prophecy because we need to we need to establish one thing real quick and this is for people who may not know anything about this where do we get there's going to be a last seven years where do we where do we get that and and how do we come at that um one of the things the main thing is we go back to daniel so let's go back to daniel chapter nine the last seven years another term used for it in eschatology is uh the 70th week of daniel now there's a reason for that and i hope you can see this i know again i wish the screen was bigger but i'll just share it with you as best i can but daniel go to daniel chapter nine and we're going to start reading from verse let's see we're going to go to verse 20 and and read a few verses here okay and what he says and while i was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people israel and presenting my supplication before the lord my god for the holy mountain of my god yea while i was speaking in prayer the man gabriel whom i had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation or evening sacrifice and he informed me and talked with me and said o daniel i am now come forth to give you skill and understanding at the beginning of your supplication the commandment came forth and i am come to show you for you are greatly beloved therefore understand the matter and consider the vision seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish
the transgression to make an end of sins to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build jerusalem unto messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and three score in two weeks or 69 weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in troubles times and after three score and two weeks shall messiah be cut off but not for himself for the people of the prince shall come and shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with the flood and unto the end of the war desolations are determined and that's speaking of after jesus was crucified 40 about 40 years later when titus came in and destroyed jerusalem burned it to the ground destroyed the temple destroyed everything and the jews were dispersed all right so that's what he's talking about and it says and then he says this he says and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease and an over spreading of an abomination he shall make desolate even until the consummation to be determined shall be poured out upon the desolate now i know that sounds very confusing and i'll get to that in a second but let me explain 70 weeks here it's not 70 weeks normal weeks it's 70 weeks of years it's 7 70 periods of seven years so 490 years the bible many times used weeks of years or weeks of days so um we know that it's weeks of years because here's what's interesting and that's what this little blue part there you can't see it so i'm going to show you but when it says they're the persian empire at the time the the king of persia gave the decree to nehemiah to go and rebuild jerusalem and rebuild the walls from that time to the day that jesus walked into jerusalem the very day he walked into jerusalem when they were waving the palm branches one week seven days from when he would be crucified or cut off as it says was exactly 483 years exactly 483 years is 69 of the 70 weeks okay that leaves one week left over now why did god leave one week left over one seven year period left over because god does things like that it's just one of those what you call prophetic gaps all right that god sometimes goes okay
this is going to happen to this point then he keeps telling you things and you see that thing happen and then there's years and years and years you know hundreds or even thousands of years before the rest of it happens there's just sometimes prophetic gaps even though it might be verse eight and verse nine but between verse eight and verse nine is two thousand years okay there's just like i said prevented prophetic gaps sometimes there's also what you call um dual dual fulfillments of prophecies i'll give you an example god said out of egypt i have called my son to one of the prophets i think it was amos well he was speaking about when he called in context he was speaking about when he called israel out of egypt right well later on you remember when jesus was a boy to escape herod's attempts on his life god had joseph and mary take jesus to egypt and he lived there for many years well finally when it was time god spoke to joseph again and said bring my son out of egypt so there was a dual fulfillment of a prophecy i've called my son out of egypt or a word so anyway just giving an example of that um some people have said that this talks about the abomination of desolation talks about antiochus epiphanes uh the greek what happened in you know the the mid second century bc when the this greek guy went into jerusalem went into the temple and desecrated the altar by by sacrificing a pig and um and that did happen okay the he did make you know he was an abomination he was a he was a small type or figure of the antichrist but we know that daniel is referring to another abomination of desolation that will stand in another temple because jesus refers to it in about 32 33 a.d and this event happened in one 60-something bc you go what i'm saying so we know jesus is saying yes antiochus epiphanes did that but there's going to be somebody else come and do it in another temple okay everybody with me was that too hard to follow okay if i get my wife warned me she said sometimes you know this stuff but sometimes you you assume you assume too much okay but i also bring out some of these things because i know some of the arguments that i know people who will listen to this message or this uh the audio of this message will in their heads what they're going to be thinking and so i go ahead and answer it before they ask it all right so that just gives you a little picture of that right there we'll go on to the next one um there it is again the daniel 70th week kind of breaks down the tribulation period i'm not going to go through all
this but in the book of daniel it talks about two periods of of 1260 days which you know it breaks it down for you 1260 days 1290 days for a total of 13 um you know and then it just breaks it down but you you you divide it in half their days and it comes down to a seven year period okay and this is how it shows you it breaks it down a covenant will be signed to kick that off with israel between probably someone in the european union or possibly the pope uh there's a lot involved there but we'll get into that later but i just wanted you to see the 70th week of daniel is this week that's broken up into two three and a half year periods making a total of seven and then so that's where it comes from the book of daniel and of course what's interesting is in the book of revelation we've seen the antichrist has been around for a while in revelation 13 and then it says at the point in revelation 13 it says he has 42 months to continue which is three and a half years so we know that even in the book of revelation it's broken down to boom here's the middle we got this much time left okay so just wanted to make that just let y'all know that where do you know where do we get this last seven year period now some people call it the 70th week of daniel some people call it the tribulation period some people call it the great tribulation um one of the reasons that people believe pre-trib i'm just going to throw this out there to you one of the reasons they believe that there's a pre-trib rapture is because they automatically assume that the entire seven year period is god's wrath being poured out okay that is an assumption and that's why i believe it and they believe that the entire period is god's wrath being poured out so therefore god promised in first thessalonians 5 that god would not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation so they used that verse though assuming that the entire seven years is god's wrath but i'm gonna show you that it's not okay and um and give you the five and in here this is we're just gonna get into it the five i'm gonna give you five biblical proofs why the rapture of the church will not happen at the beginning of the last seven years or the 70th week of daniel or the great tribulation whatever you want to call it okay let's go to it and we're to just leave this up for a minute here this is going to be up for a few minutes but the five biggest reasons why the rapture of the church does not take place and i'm going to repeat myself but i want you to go to matthew 24 again the first [Music] huge reason that the rapture cannot happen
or the first biblical proof that it will not happen at the beginning of the of the tribulation period is because jesus made it clear in matthew 24. matthew 24 is is a chronological breakdown the end time events and just for anybody that might be a little thick headed chronological means in time sequence order okay there is a beginning there is a middle there is an end all right and jesus goes through this so a simple reading of matthew 24 pinpoints when the rapture takes place okay let's look at it let's start reading matthew 24 verse 1 and jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came to him and for to show him the buildings of the temple and jesus said to them see you not all these things verily i send you there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down so jesus prophesied the destruction of jerusalem and the temple and as he sat upon the mount of olives the disciples came unto him privately saying tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world so they ask very specific what when will these things be what will be the sign of your coming the end of the world and jesus said unto them take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying i am christ and shall deceive many and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars and see that you be not trouble for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet for nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places all these are the beginning of sorrows so jesus even tells us by saying these things are the beginning of the end so he gives us a beginning and not only does he give us a hint to how this is going to play out here he gives us this this picture when he says these are the beginning of sorrows well in the greek that means birth pains or like a woman going through labor now we have some women in here that's gone through labor right it starts out what slow doesn't it and then speeds up and intensifies near the end right at first you have a contraction and they may be not that bad five minutes apart right but as you move in time they get to where what they're three minutes apart the two minutes apart and they're much more intense painful until the excruciating end right
everybody with me so the picture jesus gives is you're going to have things happen spaced out then toward the end they're going to be boom boom boom boom okay now the book of revelation spells out there's going to be what seven seals that are opened then seven trumpets that are blown and then seven vials of wrath that are poured out now traditional pre-trib teaching has assumed that these things are distributed equally over the seven years meaning you go in order seven seals seven trumpets seven bowls but that that happens over the entire it takes the entire seven years for that to unfold okay not the way it breaks down because the if we go by the model of childbirth the first seven seals ought to take ought to be slower in how they come about and then the trumpets a little faster and then the last seven contractions will be very close together boom boom boom boom boom right just giving you the model okay but jesus said the beginning of sorrows so also i'm just going to bring this out here when jesus says the beginning that means here's what happens first it's interesting the very next verse he starts out with the word then what does then mean after that or next in line right everybody nod at me grin give me a lutheran nod all right okay here we go let's keep reading y'all aren't bored are you all right come on don't be bored with me stay with me it's going to get worse then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and they shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another and many false prophets shall rise and deceive many and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold and it's in this context of the last days the beginning of sorrows the beginning of this tribulation it's in this context that he says but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved meaning you're going to have to endure some tests some trials some deceivers some persecution you're going to have to endure to the end to be saved not fall away right and he says and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come
now here's what's interesting this chapter has what 49 plus verses in it right but really dealing with these end time events we come up to about 31 verses well at verse 15 what's what's half of 30 15. so at 15 we would be maybe about halfway through well guess what we get a hint here that we're halfway through because jesus said in verse 15 when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by daniel the prophet stand in the holy place whoso readeth let him understand when you see the abomination of desolation he's talking about when you see the antichrist stand in that rebuilt jewish temple and declare himself to be god he said when you see that happen no what that you bet that that rough time's coming well guess what what do we see we're going to turn to it in a second but in second thessalonians paul talks about the man of sin standing in the temple declaring himself to be god speaking blasphemies and then working great signs and and miracles through demonic power okay guess what revelation 13 talks about the antichrist when he reveals himself we're gonna get i'm gonna turn there in a second but he talks about the antichrist when he reveals himself is when he steps into that temple and he blasphemes god and he blasphemes everything and it says that's when he launches the persecution against the church and that's when the false prophet begins doing great miracles okay so here we got jesus saying to christians when you see the antichrist well guess what folks we've heard of no rapture talked about yet and jesus is talking about if you're in this time when these things begin and you're living when you see the antichrist let me tell you something if we weren't here we couldn't see him right but still we're at the point where the antichrist steps into the temple and declares himself to be god causes the sacrifice to cease daniel what we just read a minute ago daniel 26 i mean daniel 9 26 what did he say he said he will cause the oblation or the sacrifice to cease in the middle of the week very clearly the jews are going to rebuild their temple that's going to be
part of the peace agreement they're going to rebuild their temple on mount moriah there in jerusalem the temple mount they're going to reinstitute the sacrifices they're already planning this there's already several institutions in israel that have getting everything ready to re-establish the priesthood with dna now testing they've been able to dna dna identify people who are descendants of the priest and they are going to have a temple and they are going to reinstitute the animal sacrifices and the antichrist when he decides that he's had enough of the jews worshiping their god and for some time he's going to convince many of them to a degree that he is their messiah but when he steps into the temple and causes the sacrifice to cease and sets up his image it tells us when that happens in daniel in the middle of the week revelation 13 we know is when that happens because it says he has 42 months to continue the word of god is clear when this happens so when he does this we know matthew 24 15 is the middle of the last seven years because of daniel 9 26 and because of revelation 13. are you with me all right we'll turn to that in a second so we're at the middle have we heard about a rapture yet all right so he tells them though he said when you see the antichrist stand in the temple and desecrate it then let him that is in judea flee into the mountains let him that is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes and woe unto them that are with child unto them that give suck in those days but pray that your flight be not in the winter neither on the sabbath day so he's talking about in judea when the antichrist declares that there's going to be a great persecution unleashed against the jews and against christians worldwide he said if you when you see that happening if you're in judea you better run we have a friend that's thinking he's moved to israel to be safe for the last days wrong place to be okay but anyway [Music] anyway we'll talk about that later here's also how we know that we're at a different point now look at verse 21. here we are past the middle and jesus said for then what's the end mean all right we're going in sequential order for then shall there be great tribulation such was not since the beginning of the world to this time no no she ever shall be and except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved but for the elect's sake those days
shall be shortened then what after this if any man shall say unto you lo here is christ or there believe it not that is when they're going to be declaring that the antichrist is the messiah he says for there shall arise false christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect what if the very elect's gone why the warning when does this happen when does the false christ and false prophets reveal themselves and start doing miracles big miracles that convince the world to follow them and worship the beast revelation 13 after when he has 42 months to continue all right you with me am i is any of this too complicated yet okay let's keep going and he says behold verse 25 behold i've told you before basically he said look i've warned you wherefore if they shall say unto you behold he is in the desert go not forth behold he is in secret chambers believe it not for as lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west so shall also the coming of the son of man be for wheresoever the carcass is there were the eagles be gathered together and of course that's a reference to armageddon but verse 29 he says immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the power the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn for they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other so when did the rapture take place after what the antichrist was in the temple and the false prophets started doing miracles right and here's what happened to me now i'm going to say this when i was first rededicated my life to the lord in 1987 and was baptized in the holy spirit and studying the bible the only thing i came across at the time in with preachers tv preachers preachers that i read about the pre-trib rapture thing was the most popular thing how lindsay's books jack van impe on tv i mean you know all the pentecostals pretty much almost everybody was pre-trib so that's all i heard so as a young believer that's all i believed right and i heard their justifications for it and i remember so that was i came back to the lord in the summer of 1987 well in the summer time period of 1989 i was fasting and i was fasting and the lord said i want you to fast for five days i want to show you something
so i fasted for five days and i don't know if it was on the fifth the fourth day of the fifth day i the lord spoke to me very clearly and he said read matthew 24. well it's something that i had read many times and i'm like okay lord well i'm very familiar with it i've read it many times matter of fact it was the first sermon i ever preached in the church was on matthew 24. and so um so i'm sitting there going okay so i so i read it and i'm sitting there and it was just me and the lord you know and he said read it again is it okay so i read it again i still didn't get it so i'm like okay and i'm sitting there thinking you know and the lord says just this point i mean like he's sitting next to me he says read it again i said okay read it again about the fifth time through the light came on when i got to verse 29 and it says immediately after the tribulation of those days and the rapture came after that and the lord said to me as plain as day he said i don't know how they got before out of when i said immediately after and from that point on my eyes were open all right i know i spent a lot of time on that but let's jump to the next thing what's the next big reason i've pointed this out to you that the rapture takes place after the sun goes dark the moon doesn't give off its light after the antichrist is in the temple which we know is at the midpoint showing you that well revelation 6 and 7 confirm matthew 24. go to revelation 6 and 7 real quick i know i gotta speed up or we'll be here all day so i'm gonna try to speed up revelation six and seven now just gonna say this you can check me out if you want to but revelation 6 and 7 and matthew 24 are parallel passages when you break down the seals and you break down what jesus said first look at how neat this works first thing jesus said take heed no man deceive you first see first seal the white horse the deceiver the antichrist spirit second thing jesus said there'll be wars and rumors of wars matthew 24 the second seal in revelation 6 the red horse of war the next thing jesus said matthew 24 there'll be famines and pestilences right the the black horse the third seal is the economic disturbance and the wheat problems and the money issues exactly parallel he says famine the the next thing jesus said in matthew 24 was what he said wars famine pestilences what's that going to be a lot of people going to die from that the fourth seal is it says the pale horse
of death and actually the word pale in the greek means green as in what someone looks like when they are sick so sickness and death said hell followed after that the fifth seal in revelation says i saw the fifth seal open and under it the all i saw under the altar the souls of them that had been slain the very next thing jesus says in matthew 24 is then they will deliver you up to be afflicted and they shall kill you you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake i'm just giving you a real quick you could read matthew 24 revelation 6 and 7 look at the seals parallel okay the sixth seal in revelation 6. let's go down and look at it let's see go down to verse 12. and i beheld and when he had opened the sixth seal lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth and the moon became blood and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth does that sound like something we just read what did matthew 24 say he said the sun went dark the stars fell from heaven there was you know doesn't mention the earthquake but it says those two things the sun going dark stars falling from heaven and look what he says stars fell unto the earth as the fig tree casted her untiedly figs and the heaven departed as a scroll that is rolled together in every mountain and island were moved and look at this verse 15 and the kings of the earth and great men and rich men and chief captains and mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks and said unto the mountains fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come who shall be able to stand and did it not say that in matthew 24 as well they will mourn because of him right so the sun goes dark here in red so the sixth seal happens now let's just let's get this down the sixth seal happens now matthew 24 we see the sun go dark and immediately he talks about the rapture the reason it's not immediately the next thing here is because it god pauses for a second he said i want to show you something that's going on in heaven and he shows you he said there's an angel sent forth revelation 7 that's going to go forth and seal the 144 000 jews okay he's going to put a mark on them they're going to be sealed he's going to use them in this time period between when we the church is gone and the end the very end okay but he seals them and protects him a jewish remnant okay 144 000. not going to read all of that but we're going to jump to verse 9. now remember matthew 24 sun goes dark moon doesn't give its light stars fall
from heaven then god sends his angels together his elect right rapture matthew 24 revelation 6 sun goes dark stars fall god says paul's a minute i'm doing something heaven and show you this and then look at verse 9. john who's already in heaven says this after this i beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kidrons and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hand and they cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our god which sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb and all the angels stood round about the throne and the elders and the four beasts and they fell and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped god saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our god forever and ever amen and look at verse 13 and one of the elders answered saying unto me what are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they are where did they come from remember john's already been in heaven from from chapter four five and six john's in heaven getting the revelation he's in heaven he's seen the 24 elders he's seen the people in heaven he's seen the angels all of a sudden there's a new multitude there he goes and then an elder leans over kind of i think he he knows but he's asking he asked where who what's this great mother where'd they come from here's i said to him sir you know and he said unto me these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb it is rapture a multitude appearing in heaven so revelation six and seven confirm it that's point two point number three let's back up for a moment go to second thessalonians chapter two y'all aren't bored yet are you this is called making your case now let's remember the context here who's paul writing to again thessalonians what did he write to him in first thessalonians he talked about what the rapture of the church right so they already knew about this they understood it but obviously some people came along teaching some error and got them all upset so paul answers their questions and deals with this problem here about the rapture and and let's read it second thessalonians 2
verse 1. he says now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our lord jesus christ and by our gathering together unto him now is there any confusion here about what he's talking about brethren i'm talking to you about the coming of our lord jesus christ and our christians me and you our gathering together unto him right so he's talking about i'm talking to you about the coming the second coming of jesus and what the rapture of the christians that i explained to you in first thessalonians 5. right here's what he says now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our lord jesus christ by our gathering together unto him that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of christ is at hand let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first that's the apostasy and the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition okay i've got to stop here before i read any further paul just told these people the coming of our lord jesus christ and our gathering together unto him the rapture will not happen do you see that don't be deceived by anybody to think it's going to happen before this before these two things happen he says there is a great apostasy a great falling into deception many christians falling away and the man of sin the son of perdition be revealed then paul tells us how he's revealed and when he's revealed okay this is how we will know who the antichrist is there's been all these speculations i can tell you this i don't know who he is or if he will be uh one of the leaders out of the eu if he'll be one of the popes if if i don't know nobody knows for sure okay but this is how we will know for sure alright he says here who opposes verse 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worship so that he as god sits in the temple of god showing himself that he is god do you see that he said when the man of sin no other way we can know the man of sin has revealed himself the
antichrist until that happens when that happens we can say oop that's the guy right there all right he says there he said when he stands in the temple showing himself that he is god when he exalts himself and look just drop down to verse 8 i'm not going to read all this he said and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming even him whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause god shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness so he says the man of sin is going to be revealed when he stands in the temple declares himself to be god exalts himself as god and these demonic signs and wonders begin to happen to deceive the world all right go to revelation 13. revelation 13 verse 1. let's start reading he said and i stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and ten crowns upon his heads and the name of blasphemy and the beast which i saw was like unto a leopard in his feet whereas the feet of a bear in his mouth is the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority and i saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wandered after the beast and they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast saying who is like unto the beast and who is able to make war with him and there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy and power was given unto him to continue 42 months so this is where we know the antichrist is being revealed he has 42 months to continue and look what it says right after that it says at the three and a half year mark when he has 42 months that he opened his mouth and blasphemy against god to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven there it is the antichrist does not do this until he what stands in the temple of god declaring that he is god that is the blasphemy so he says right here he said he opened his mouth and blessed me against god to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle the temple and them that dwell in heaven and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and power
was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations this is when he unleashes the persecution the great persecution and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world if any man have an ear to hear let him hear and then he talks about he that leads into captivity shall go into captivity he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword here is the patient and faith of the saints and basically what god is saying to us and i i this is a hard one for me when this time comes you're not to pick up a weapon as a christian and kill somebody to save yourself if you have to face this okay just gonna put that out there because this is hard for me because if anybody came in this house at this point i'd drop them like a bad habit it came to hurt my family all right you understand but let's go on he said i beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon and he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causes the earth and them that which dwell therein to worship the beast whose deadly wound was healed now look at verse 13 and he this is the false prophet who assists the beast he doeth great wonder so that he makes fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and he deceives them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast and which had the wound by a sword and did live and he had power to give life to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and to cause as many as would not to uh and to cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed so if you don't worship the beast you'll be killed and then he causes all both small and great rich and poor to receive the mark in their right hands and so on so we see here clearly when did the antichrist begin to blaspheme god in the in the temple when he had 42 months to continue right paul said in second thessalonians the coming of our lord jesus christ our gathering together to him specifically the rapture will not happen until this man of sin is revealed so it has been taught clearly by paul by jesus no rapture until at least after the middle anyone confused about that or do you do you see it or is it just me do you see it clearly okay is it evident to you all right i'm gonna give you this one just real quick uh number four the prophetic shadow god gives prophetic shadows in the old testament or examples um bible theologians scholars teachers they call it types and shadows for
instance uh one of the things like the children coming out of egypt by the blood of the lamb that they put on the doorpost is a type or a shadow of us now being saved by the blood of the lamb right when you get saved you come out of egypt the world system out of a sinful lifestyle you come out of that by the blood of jesus okay so that's a prophetic uh example or a type or a shadow and hebrews talks a lot about those different types and shadows in the old testament that are now fulfilled in jesus okay the only example that we have of god raining down plagues and judgments like turning water to blood and and locust and these things very similar to what he says he's going to do in revelation when the plays about some of them are locusts some of them are going to be turning water to blood the seed of blood the only other time this happened was in egypt now let me ask you a question did god take his children out of egypt before all the plagues and judgments happened or after did not he protect them while he reigned down upon the egyptians right when did he take them out of egypt right before he completely destroyed the egyptian army right he takes them out they go into the wilderness the armies of the egyptians of pharaoh chase after them and then god destroys the army do you know that's the same picture we get god takes us out the rapture probably into the fifth or sixth year of the last seven years right after that the armies of the antichrist gather in israel at in the megiddo valley the battle of armageddon and that is where jesus returns to destroy them while he's got us safe and sound same picture also remember when moses first went to egypt and and you know the children of israel were in slavery they were in bondage and when he first went to tell pharaoh to let his people go what happened it got worse for them they got they were getting beaten more they were getting oppressed more they were getting attacked persecution became greater upon them before they got out am i right that is the prophetic picture okay the only picture we have from the old testament and god tends to follow his patterns
i'm just going to use that as one of my examples now i'm going to finish up here real quick the nail in the coffin the final now okay i want you to turn to luke i'm going to prove again that the rapture cannot be at the beginning because of something jesus said very clearly luke 17 jesus told us in luke 17 exactly what happens the same day his people leave the earth and it is confirmed in revelation seven and eight okay are you there luke 17 and i'm not there well i tell you what i love teaching the word when you really can just get into it and break it down luke 17 let's read something here we're going to start at verse 24. all right we're going to go to the next slide there luke 17 24 through 36 let's read it speaking of the coming of jesus for as the lightning that lighteth out of one part under heaven shineth even to the other part under heaven so shall also the son of man be in his day but first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation and as it was in the days of noah so shall it also be in the days when the son of man they did eat they drank they married wives they were given in marriage until the day that noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all so he gives up the day that noah entered the ark the day y'all stay with me the day right noah entered the ark the flood came destroyed everything but then he gives the example of lot and he says likewise also it was in the days of lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they build it look at verse 29 but the same day that lot went out of sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even thus shall it be in the day that the son of man is revealed okay please see this jesus said the day lot went out of sodom it rained fire and brimstone and so will it be the day the son of man is revealed so the day we go out if jesus is true and if we take his word literally then the same day that the rapture happens there should be a reigning of fire and
brimstone on the earth right do we see a place where that happens yes we do go to revelation 7. revelation 7. now we just read in revelation 7 right revelation 7 verses 9 through 17 where this great multitude appears in heaven remember that a minute ago look what happens right after this great multitude enters heaven and notice that it even gives us a time 30 minutes passes before something happens revelation 8 and when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour only a half an hour right and i saw the seven angels which stood before god and them that were given unto them seven trumpets and another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne and the smoke of the incense which came up with the prayers of the saints ascended up before god out of the angel's hand and the angel took the censer and filled it with what fire of the altar and cast it to the earth and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and a great earthquake and look here the seven trumpets were done with the seven seals we've got a multitude appearing in heaven out of the great tribulation there's 30 minutes of silence then an angel takes a sensor and fills it with fire and cast it to the earth but if there's any confusion the first trumpet sounds verse 7 and the first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up do you see that we have it confirmed luke 17 jesus says but like the days of lot the day that lot went out of sodom it rained fire and brimstone it's going to be just like that when the son of man is revealed so we do we see it again revelation 7 the multitude appears in heaven that's been raptured out of the tribulation the very next thing we see the seventh seal is just a moment of silence
before the wrath of god begins to come down on mankind a third part of the trees of the entire world are burned up and all the green grass is that a fire judgment now let me ask you a question if a third part of the trees on the whole earth are burned up and all the green grass how many of you know there's going to be some people who go in that this is the beginning of the wrath of god when the trumpets start going now here's here's my point if the rapture took place at the beginning of the seven of the last seven years if we were raptured for jesus to be true then immediately this fire judgment would have to happen not at the first trumpet but at the first seal not the way it goes down do you see that is that clear those are not my words or opinions we have no judgments like this recorded happening before or at the first seal being open so the pre-trib and i'm just going to say the pre-trib doctrine philosophy theology whatever you want to call it is completely bogus it always has been and frankly what a lot of people don't know is that it didn't even start being taught in church history until the 1800s so just a as a side note what's the second trumpet a great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea what's the third trumpet that's where the sea becomes blood one of those uh one of those judgments that happened in egypt the third part of the sea becomes blood third part of creatures in the sea die third part of ships are destroyed the third trumpet there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp this caused it to fall upon the third part of the rivers and the fountains of water and the third part of the waters became wormwood and many men died because the waters were made bitter the first three trumpets speak of fire
right falling upon the earth so sounds like there's no pre-trib rapture to me am i right and i'll just show y'all my last little picture the fourth trumpet the third part of the sun was smitten in the third part of the moon and the third part of the star so that the third part of them was darkened it ain't gonna be pretty once the trumpets judgments start blowing and i believe we leave here right before those things happen and because they are near the end they're going to happen quickly one of the the trumpet you get into the vials one of them it even tells us the the locust the plague of locusts only lasts for five months so the bible calls that day of judgment when god pours out his plagues his wrath on the earth it calls that the day of the lord well if he's calling a seven year period a week then if you break that down one year is one day right i believe really that the trumpets the trumpets and the and the bowls are poured out in that last year of the tribulation that's why one of them one of the judgments is only five months long but again we can't know every detail of how it's all going to play out but we have enough to know that we are going to see the antichrist his great persecution some are going to be martyred and some are going to make it to the rapture there is no way according to scripture that it happens at the beginning of the seven years no way i know they try real hard to use i mean one of their ways they try to prove pre-trib is the old jewish wedding ceremony that's just a jewish tradition it has nothing to do with scripture matter of fact we were warned not to pay attention to jewish traditions but scripture so why is this important and i'm going to close with this there are people out there and this annoys me to no end that say well it doesn't really matter you really shouldn't spend any time discussing this debating this we should just be ready to go well here's a problem i think that hey if we do go before it all happens glory be to god
you know one teaching that i would hope that i was wrong about right but i just can't believe it according to what i know about the scripture but the bottom line is this for those who do enter that last seven years whether you are a christian or not what you know about the word what you know about what's going to happen can determine your eternal destiny if you take the mark of the beast the scripture makes it clear in revelation that anyone who takes the mark of the beast and worships his image will be tormented with fire and brimstone in hell forever and ever it is one of the unforgivable sins if you take the mark and worship the beast so you can eat feed your family or avoid persecution or death if you compromise that is one compromise that will doom your soul to hell forever it is a serious serious matter and with all the screwed up christians who believe once saved always saved no matter how they live i'm telling you they're going to enter the the tribulation period thinking not knowing it not realizing how far we in until they are forced by the antichrist to either take the mark or starve or have to survive they're going to believe i'm eternally secure no matter what i do god understands and they're going to take the mark now if you believe in your head that you're not going to be here to see any of that do you prepare yourself for it do you preach this stuff do you teach this stuff do you warn people do you try to prepare people for what's coming no it causes complacency and indifference no i know what's coming and i'm going to prepare myself the best i can and i'm going to warn everybody i can and i'm going to preach these truths because i don't want them to go to hell and actually i believe when all these things start coming down we're going to have more evidence to be even a more powerful witness to people around us so that's why it's important it's not a you know well just be ready brother i'm a pan i'm a i've heard this for years i'm a pan uh tribulation just however it pans out really that's about stupid that's like saying you know what i i'm not going to worry about groceries or gas or you know we'll just see how it pans out pretty stupid huh all right
i know it's a little long but i hope it was clear let's pray father thank you lord for this time i pray that