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His accusations: The devil is a liar and he falsely accuses the saints of God. Revelation 12:10 "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."
He is the adversary: He is the enemy of God and every Christian. Satan is hates God and seeks to destroy all who are identified with him. 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"
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He is incarcerated: He will be locked up for 1,000 years. He will be in the bottomless pit which and his demons hate. The demons know who Jesus is and they are afraid of his power. Luke 8:28 "When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not."
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He is ineffective: He will cause no trouble during that thousand years. He will have no power or influence over anyone.
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The Position of Christians (Revelation 20:4-6)
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The over comers: Those who were faithful until death. They were martyrs put to death by the antichrist and now they will rule with Christ during the millennium while their enemies suffer their just punishment. They died during the tribulation less than 7 years of waiting for justice. Then they rule with Christ for 1,000 years and will live forever in heaven in eternity future.
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The opportunity: The saints will have the privilege to serve with Jesus and work under his authority. They will rule with him.
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The Parole of the Charlton (Revelation 20:7)
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The time of the millennium is over: A thousand years is a long time. It is hard for us to comprehend being on earth for that long of a time. Yet it will pass quickly as all time seems to. However there will come a point in eternity future will time will no longer be an issue for we will live forever in heaven with a glorified body.
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The tempter of man's last opportunity: Satan is set free from the bottomless pit for one last time. This is a part of the plan of God and his way is always best. There will be millions of people born during the millennium. In fact I believe the population of the earth will be over a billion people by the end of the millennium. With people living longer, no abortions or murder this will all contribute to a population explosion. Plus I believe people will have larger families not the small ones see for the most part in our modern society. These people will have to chose between Jesus and Satan. Sadly many will be unsaved and will choose the devil.
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The Pride of the Citizens (Revelation 20:8-9)
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The recruits: Satan will go out and deceive people all over the world. He will try to gather an Army for his last stand against the God of heaven. The sad thing is that people will follow him. they cannot blame the environment or their upbringing, but their own wicked heart. This army I believe will number well over 100 million and could be close to 1 billion people. Why I think the army will be so big.
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The population explosion: People will have many children and have large families once again. There will be no abortion and the will encourage, not discourage having a lot of children.
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The pure environment: There will be an abundance of clean air, pure drinking water and healthy food to eat. There will be no pollution or environmental disasters. This will be a healthy and prosperous society.
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The prolonged ending: I believe mankind will live much longer than today. Life span's reaching from the age of Abraham to possibly before the flood as well. (Isaiah 65:17-25)
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The peaceful earth: There will not be one single war during this period. No tragic loss of life due to conflict between man.
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The rebellion: This army which will be "as the sand of the sea" will rebel against the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was the perfect leader and they enjoyed the best opportunities and living conditions any group of people ever had on this earth. It just goes to show how wicked the human heart can be. Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
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The retribution: They will lose this war before the fight begins.
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The size: I believe this army could possibly be 1 billion people. I think the majority of people will be deceived by Satan and I think the population will exceed a billion people. The conditions to produce this population explosion will be ripe during the millennium.
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The strategy: To surround the city of Jerusalem and to destroy it. Satan is so decieved and those that follow him to think that they can defeat the Lord Jesus Christ. It is amazing what lengths man will go to try to get from under his authority and be their own god.
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The scorching: The enemy will be destroyed by fire from heaven by God himself. This will be the last rebellion by Satan and his followers. God will be victorious and he will be glorified. All those who used their freewill to follow the devil will regret it for all eternity.
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The Punishment of the Charlatan (Revelation 20:10)
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He is exposed: As the one who deceived the world. He will no longer hide behind his lies and false cover. Everyone will know him for who he is and what he has done.
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He is expelled: From the presence of God and cast into the lake of fire where he will be for all eternity. He will be in the place that was specially designed for him. Matthew 25:41 "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"
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He is enslaved: He will receive just punishment. After 6,000 years of enslaving people he will receive his eternal punishment. I believe the dead sea gives us some insight as to one aspect of hell and how people there will suffer. The Dead Sea is filled with water so rich in mineral content that it supports the human body. You could not sink while floating on it. In old times oil would sometimes bubble up to the surface and solidify into a tar-like substance that some chopped into blocks and towed to the shore for sale. It was so prevalent on the water’s surface that the Romans called the Dead Sea “Lake Asphaltus” our word for it is asphalt. Occasionally lightning would strike the surface setting the solidified tar aflame. When that happened they called it “The Lake of Fire.” Think about it you are in deep water and if you head is above water you can breath. Since the surface is on fire you want to sink to escape the fire. Then you realize there is no escape.
Food for Thought
3 Lessons from the Millennium
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The heart of God: He loves people and he wants them to choose to love him. He never desired a robotic love, but that the heart of man would desire intimate fellowship with their creator. This period of time is no different in that way from any other. The greatest thing we can do in the eyes of the Lord Jesus is to love him an with all are heart and put him first in our lives. Matthew 22:36-37 (36) "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? (37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Sadly some people exercise their freewill in the wrong way and go against God. Proverbs 1:29 "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:" Which way do you choose, to love him or the things of this world.? 1 John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
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The holiness of God: The bible tells us that Jesus will rule with a "rod of iron" because he is a holy God. Love does not seek to circumvent the Bible but to live it out to the glory of God. God wants us to live a holy life, the scripture makes that very clear. 1 Peter 1:15-16 (15) "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; (16) Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." Are you seeking to live like the Lord Jesus today and are you taking practical steps to do so?
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The honor of God: He will rule and reign from Jerusalem and he will be respected of all men. He will not be treated as he was the first time he came to earth as a baby. No disrespect to the Jesus will be allowed. John 5:22-23 (22) "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (23) That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him." It is important that each Christian give the Lord Jesus Christ the preeminent position in their life. Does Jesus sit on the throne of your heart today?
Lesson Nine The Pre-Tribulation Rapture
Text: I Thessalonians 4:13-18
(13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (15) 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. (16) 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: (17) 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. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Illustration: The word "maranatha" is a Syriac expression that means: "our Lord comes." It was used as a greeting in the early church. When believers gathered or parted, they didn't say "hello" or "goodbye" but "Maranatha!" If we had the same upward look today, it would revolutionize the church. O that God's people had a deepening awareness of the imminent return of the Savior!
While on a South Pole expedition, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them. Contemplating their narrow escape, the explorer said to his men, "It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!" They replied, "We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, 'The boss may come today.'"
The hymn writer Horatius Bonar exhorted us "to be ready for the last moment by being ready at every moment...so attending to every duty that, let Him come when He may, He finds the house in perfect order, awaiting His return." The trump may sound anytime. How important for us as Christians to be "packed and ready to go!" As you leave home today, don't say goodbye -- say "Maranatha!" Our Daily Bread.
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The Teaching of the Rapture
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The definition of the rapture: Is found in I Thessalonians 4:17 " 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. " The word "caught up" means to seize up with force or snatch away.
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The description of the rapture: The dead in Christ shall rise first and then those alive on the earth will be "caught up" with the Lord. This will all happen in very quickly. 1 Corinthians 15:52 "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." Do not confuse the "last trump" with the seventh trumpet of the Revelation judgments. "The "last trump" is not the same as the seventh trumpet of the Revelation judgments (cf. Rev. 11:5); rather, it is a military term. In the Roman army encampments, trumpets were sounded to cause the soldiers to wake up, to pack up gear, to fall into line, and to march away. The "last trump" for Christians thus is their call to come up into heaven." (The Gromacki Expository Series – Called to Be Saints: An Exposition of 1 Corinthians.)
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The Truth of the Rapture
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It is a literal event: This is not symbolic in any way. This event is a literal one and will happen and is clearly taught in scripture. Acts 1:9-11 (9) And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (10) And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; (11) Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Jesus spends time with the disciples teaching them after the resurrection. He is bodily taken from them and they see and they are clearly told he will literally return as we went. There is no other way to interpret that passage. He will literally return for his people.
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It is a plain fact: Jesus said it will happen. He made this clear in John 14:2 "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Again Jesus made it crystal clear in I Thessalonians 4:17 " Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:"
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It is a pictured fact: The apostle John was caught up into heaven in Revelation 4:1-2. (1) "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. (2) And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne." Enoch gives us a beautiful picture of the rapture in Genesis 5:24 "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
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It is a protested fact: There are some people out there who deny that the rapture exists. We will examine some of the more popular theories.
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The straw-man: A weak or sham argument set up to be easily refuted. The straw-man used is a girl named Margaret MacDonald a who supposedly got a demonic vision as a teenager in 1830 about the rapture. John Darby then supposedly got it from here and then infected the church. John L. Bray, a Southern Baptist evangelist, offered $500 to anyone who could prove that someone taught the rapture doctrine prior to MacDonald's 1830 vision. Ironically it was Bray was first proven wrong by himself and stated in a newsletter, "Then my own research indicated that it was Emmanuel Lacunza, a Jesuit Catholic priest, who in the 1812 book The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty, first taught this theory."
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The silent man: They claimed no one taught it before 1830 and then Bray said no one taught it before 1812 and made another $500 offer to anyone who could provide a documented statement earlier than Lacunza's 1812 writings. They needed to document that someone taught a two-stage coming of Christ separated by a stated period of time earlier than Lacunza's in 1812. Bray was forced to acknowledge the following: "Now I have the Photostat copies of a book published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1788 but written in 1742-1744 in England, which taught the pre-tribulation rapture before Lacunza." More recently even more sources have turned up and the late author Grant Jeffrey has done some excellent work in this area. "All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins." Pseudo-Ephraem's sermon On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World. [Grant Jeffrey found the statement in Paul J. Alexander, The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, by (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 2.10. The late Alexander found the sermon in C. P. Caspari, ed. Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang des Mittelaters, (Christiania, 1890), 208-20. This German work also contains Caspari's commentary on the sermon on pages 429-72.]
The word "Pseudo" (Greek for false) is a prefix attached by scholars to the name of a famous historical person or book of the Bible when one writes using that name. Pseudo-Ephraem claims that his sermon was written by Ephraem of Nisibis (306-73), considered to be the greatest figure in the history of the Syrian church. The writing of this sermon is placed between 373 and 627 which is before the advent of Islam and well before 1830. Though this statement itself does not prove the pretribulation rapture (the bible does that) it does prove it was believed and preached before 1830.
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The specific word is missing: The claim here is that the word "rapture" is not mentioned in the Bible. It is not and neither is the word "bible" but it is there and referred to as scripture and the Word of God among some of its titles. The doctrine is clearly taught in scripture. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 "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." If you want to call it the pre caught up departure before the tribulation that is fine with me. The teaching is clear.
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The stretched meaning: Concluding the phrase "the day of the Lord" and the rapture are the same. They ir misinterpret I Thessalonians 5:2 and a weak conclusion that the "Day of the Lord" and various other "days" of an end-time context refers to a 24 hour period that occurs at or near the end of the tribulation. In II Peter 3:10-13 you see the destruction of the earth and the new heaven and earth. When you study this out it is not all happening in one 24 hour day. In Joel 2:11-20 "the day of the Lord" reference talks about the defeat of the "northern army". This is a reference to Ezekiel 38 and 38 which looked at earlier in our study in lesson two and that is going to happen before the tribulation. Consider Hebrews 10:25 which clearly shows that this "day" is talking about a general period of time. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
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The surprise manipulation: They try to take apart the soon of the return of Jesus.
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The substitute mistake: The church for Israel and that is not rightly dividing the scripture. Taking the Olivet discourse in context it is for the Jew. It's focus is the tribulation period. In Matthew 24:8 "All these are the beginning of sorrows." which is clearly a term referring to the tribulation. Consider what the Lord is talking about here, prophecies for the Jews (v.15), Judea (v.16), and the Sabbath (v.20). There is no mention of the church in this discourse. See the chart on the last page of this chapter which makes it clear.
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It is a life changing event: Every person alive on earth will be affected by it and life will change drastically. Believers will be with the Lord and miss the tribulation and those left behind they will endure the closest thing to hell on earth in human history.
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The Timing of the Rapture (Before the tribulation)
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The Savior Speaks: Jesus gave his outline in Revelation 1:19.
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The past: "the things which thou hast seen" - he gives a description of the risen Lord of glory in chapter one.
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The present: "the things which are" - chapters 2 and 3 dealing with the churches.
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The predicted: "the things which shall be hereafter" - that is chapters 4 to 22. There is no mention of the church during the tribulation period.
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The Scripture Speaks: It can happen at any moment and we are looking for the rapture of the church, not the rupture of the church. We are not looking for the antichrist, but the Lord Jesus Christ.
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The comparison: Of Revelation 2:7 and 13:9: Revelation 2:7 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Revelation 13:9 " Re 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear." Please note there are two things missing in Revelation 13:9 and that is the church and the Spirit and you will not see them mentioned until the end of the tribulation.
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The compassion: The Bible clearly tells us that Christians are not appointed unto wrath. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." I Thessalonians 5:9
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The Testimony of the Rapture
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To deliver the church: from the judgment to come. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." I Thessalonians 5:9 Consider the example of Enoch taken before the flood and Lot who was rescued before Sodom was destroyed. Lot was not a model believer but he was saved and God delivered him.
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To deal with his chosen (Israel): The time known as Jacob's trouble will not involve the church. When the church is gone God will deal with the nation of Israel. Read carefully Romans 11:25 "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. The seventy week prophecy in Daniel is God dealing with the Jewish people.
Consider Daniel 9:24-27 (24) "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and 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. (25) Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. (26) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (27) And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." This period of 490 years refers to the Jews and can be divided into 3 periods. When Jesus died on the cross 69 weeks had been fulfilled and only 7 weeks (years) are left and that is the tribulation period.
The comparison: I Thessalonians and Matthew 24 & 25, they do not match.
Israel: Olivet Discourse
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Church: The Rapture
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False prophets abound
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The Pure Savior: Jesus
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Focus is on the nation states
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The Pure State: heaven
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Famine and massive hunger
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The Pure Supper: The marriage supper
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Fatal sickness and disease
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The Pure Specimen: no more sickness
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Fierce earthquakes and natural disasters
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The Pure Serenity: peace for all eternity
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