WHAT HAPPENS to the CHRISTIANS?
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse #3
Matthew 24:26-41
S-1745
Pray for Julie and me as we go to the Middle East to minister to missionaries there.
We have so much, they have so little: teaching, worship; security; heat…
Today we continue a four-Sunday emphasis on Jesus discussion concerning future events in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24. We call this series, “Fast Forward.”
Remember, Jesus leaving Temple for last time: Declared that Temple would be destroyed. Disciples were stunned.
They asked three questions.
:When will this (the destruction of the Temple) happen? (Romans in 70 a.d.)
What will be the sign of your coming? What will be the sign of the end of the age?
Matthew 24:27: For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Quick; “twinkling of an eye” from Paul (light from retina to lens)
Trying to take lightning picture at Cassim house. Couldn’t react fast enough. Had to leave the lens open. Can’t react fast enough when Jesus returns.
Matthew 24:29: “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
This obviously describes the horrors of the seals, trumpets and bowls of Revelation.
Matthew 24:30-31: “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
All nations of earth will mourn: Judgments of sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46)
Personal, individual application
Application for the nations. How a nation treated Israel will determine how they are welcomed—or—not into the millennial kingdom.
Where is the U.S. in prophecy?
Send angels for elect (Rapture?)
These all appear to occur at same time. In fact, a separation must occur.
Remember the Mountain Peak Principle. Events that appear to occur at the same time may well be separated by varying amounts of time. (Act Out this principle)
Matthew 24:36: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
The return will be quite unexpected. Great sin and debauchery, wars and killings, etc.
How is God feeling about all of this? He is grieving (Genesis 6 as in the days of Noah.).
Jewish Rabbinical Story. Angels watching the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. Look over at throne and God is weeping.
Matthew 24:40-44: Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
This event is commonly referred to as the Rapture—or the catching away of Christians into Heaven.
What is this? When does it occur?
Seems to occur at time of Second Coming. Again Christians endure all the persecutions until Christ returns (post tribulation).
Hope for Mountain Peak to be real.
This we know: People are taken out-caught up—disappearing in an instant will certainly cause fear and confusion among those who are not taken.
Here is a video that will give us some flavor of those awful times (Used with permission from the Left Behind Series.
VIDEO: Play video of the rapture
Matthew 24:42: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you think not.
Dr. Bob: ““Jesus said that He is going to return in an hour when we think not.” He looked around and surveyed our class and said, “I know that Jesus is going to come back sometime before 8:00 a.m., because if there’s anytime when I think not, it’s before 8:00 a.m.
PLEASE SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER
:“Let the Reader understand”—Daniel.
Review The Framework Of The Last Days Is Outlined By The Prophet Daniel.
Draw: The Multi-Metalic Man (Daniel 2:31-35)
(Describe the dream and the Interpretation.)
Golden Head
Silver Arms
Brass Belly and Thighs
Iron Legs
Feet and Toes of Iron Mixed with Clay
Rock Descends from the sky and hits the Man on his toes.
Man is crushed to fine powder which the wind blows away.
Rock grows into a Mountain which fills the earth.
Draw: The Seventy “Sevens” Prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27)
God has a 490 year (70 X 7 “sevens”) program for Israel.
The prophetic clock started on March 4, 444 b.c.. After 69 “sevens” (483 prophetic years) the Anointed One (the Christ) was to come. 483 years after the beginning date Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 32 a.d..
At that moment God’s prophetic time clock stopped. During our present generation we are now in a prophetic “time out.” There is still one “seven” year period to go.
The 70th “seven” described in Daniel 9:27 allows us to gaze into the future. All prophetic passages of the last days hang on this seven-year time period.
DANIEL 9:27: He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
Gematria: Who Is “HE?” The Anti-Christ?
Draw: Revelation 13 tells us that the number of his name is 666.
Jesus = 888
Ι=10 + η=8 + σ=200 + ο=70 + υ=400 + ς=200 = 888
Perfection = 777
Anti-Christ = 666 (Revelation 13)
Bartholomew =666
Roger (777) Not really. 100+70+3+5+100 = 278 (Humbling: I am really a sinner. I am closer to antichrist than I am to Jesus. Not close to perfection.
Tried Roger Barrier = 278 + 318 = 594 (2+1+100+100+10+5+100=318) Still not close to perfection.
Draw on blank slide: The prophetic clock will restart—the final seven years begin —the time out will be over—when the Antichrist makes a peace covenant with the nation of Israel.
In the middle of the “seven”: Stops sacrifice and offerings. Many see this as time of setting up or Abomination of Desolation in (desecrating image of Anti-christ in Temple.
Indicates Israel will have a Temple!
Seals, Trumpets and Blows of God’s wrath in the Book of Revelation will be poured out in judgment against the antichrist and his forces.
Son of Man returns with Armies of Heaven and defeats him. The Antichrist is cast into Hell.
Battle maps of Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation.
[map of Israel] Not amazed by the ’67 war, open Golan Heights, Syrians thought it was a trap.
[Draw on blank slide]Possible Time Schedule:
4 horses of Apocalypse (Revelation 6)
White horse: Peace treaty: 1st seal in first 3.5 years.
Red horse: war
Black horse: famine
Pale horse: death
Trumpets during next 3.5 years. begin at Abomination of Desolation. Read Revelation 8:6
The seven bowls are poured out. Read Revelation 16:1.
Christ returns after 1260 days.
Daniel 12:11-13 mentions 75 more days after return of Christ.
Daniel 12:11-13: “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.”
1290 days: for final wars.
1335 days: The extra 45 days will be necessary to judge the nations re how they treated the nation of Israel (Mathew 25: Jack next week.)
7.5 years no one enters the land—clean up nuclear waste.
“Blessed is the one who makes it for the entire 1335 days and is able to enter into the kingdom.”
WHERE WILL THE CHURCH BE DURING ALL OF THIS?
DRAW Parenthesis—
This is the Great Parenthesis or Church Age which occurs between Pentecost and the Rapture.
The plan is for Israel not for the church.
Apparently, Christ’s Second Coming Is In Two Stages: The Rapture And The Revelation.
RETURN COMPUTER SLIDES CONTROL TO TECH SUITE UPSTAIRS
1 Thessalonians 4:17: “…we will meet the Lord in the air.”
Zechariah 14: 4-5: His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 and Revelation 16:15: He will come in secret, as a “thief in the night.”
Revelation 1:7: “every eye will behold Him.”
Titus 2:13: the return of Christ is a time of blessing and hope.
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9: the return of Christ is a time of punishment and judgment.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and John 14:2-3: He will come “for” His saints.
Zechariah 14:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Revelation 19:11-16: He will come “with” His saints.
PLEASE SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER
The only way to reconcile these verses is to understand that Christ’s Second Coming is in two stages:
DRAW: The first stage occurs when Christ comes in the air, in secret, in great blessing and hope, for His saints to remove them to Heaven. This is called the Rapture, which means to catch away.
The second stage occurs at the end of the last seven-year period when Christ comes to the ground, with every eye on Him, with His saints, to bring judgment and punishment. This is called the Revelation.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul Carefully Laid Out The Events And The Order Of Events Of The Rapture Of The Church.
RETURN COMPUTER SLIDES CONTROL TO TECH SUITE UPSTAIRS
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18: Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
He shall return in the clouds with a shout! And with the blowing of the trumpet.
That shout will penetrate every grave, pierce to the deepest seas and be heard by every saint upon earth.
Read John 5:25: I tell you the truth, a time is coming … when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” It is Jesus Christ’s voice!
What will he shout?
With Lazarus in tomb: “Lazarus, come forth.” – If Christ hadn’t singled out Lazarus every grave in graveyard would have opened.
“Christians come forth!”
The Bodies of those who die outside of Christ stay in the tomb. Be raised up at the end of 1000 year reign of peace to be judged as fit only for Hell at Great White Throne.
Christian bodies all over the world. Majority in man-made graves. However, many Christians have gone down at sea; some burned to death; some lost in wild places of earth; some cremated; some died in deserts and bones left to scorch in heat; some torn to bits in explosions.
Doesn’t matter to Jesus. He knows everything and He knows where they are.
Spirits will come in the air with Christ and unite with their bodies to make a spiritual body fit for heaven.
Now remember, the earth still goes on. Christian people just disappear as far as earth is concerned. Enter time of horrible trials and persecution if left behind.
“When Does this rapture occur?”
Pre-Tribulation: Before the last seven-year period (Dwight Pentecost: Things To Come)
Mid-Tribulation: During the middle of the last seven years (Robert Van Kampen: The Sign)
Post-Tribulation: At the end of the seven-year period (George Eldon Ladd: A Theology Of The New Testament)
Pan-Tribulation: Everything will all pan out in the end.
Pre-tribulation: God has rescued His people from great trouble in the past. He will do so in the future.
Closed the door of the ark and Noah and his family were saved from the flood.
He opened the Red Sea to make a way of escape for Israel from the Egyptians.
Daniel 3 and fiery furnace: Daniel is absent. He misses the fire. Prefigure of deliverance in the Rapture.
Remember Some Of The Purposes Of Studying Prophecy.
1. Prophecy is a call to holy living.
2. Jesus expects us to be ready at any moment for His return. (“We are to plan as though He weren’t coming for a thousand years, but we are to live as if He were coming in the next ten minutes.”)
3. Fortunately, the return of Christ is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:11-13).
Titus 2:11-14: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
A father and a girl of ten years, both good swimmers, entered the water off a New Jersey seashore resort a few summers ago. When some distance from shore they became separated, and the father realized they were being carried out to sea by the tide.
He called out to his daughter:” Mary, I am going to shore for help. If you get tired, turn on your back; you can float all day on your back. I’ll come back for you.”
Before long many searchers in boats were scurrying over the face of the water hunting for one small girl. It was four hours before they found her, far from land.
She was calmly floating on her back. Cheers and tears of joy and relief greeted the rescuers with their precious burden as they came to land.
The child took it calmly. She said, “He said he would come for me, and that I could float all day, so I swam and floated, because I knew he would come.”
May such faith in our Heavenly Father sustain us in those hours in which we must swim and float and wait.