The Rapture of the Church

So we just finished singing about glory. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 13. I have been thinking a little bit about the rapture and also the glorious return of our Lord Jesus.

It is kind of sad to report that there's a lot of confusion out there when it comes to the return of the Lord Jesus. There would be some people that would deny the rapture, the truth of the rapture, and there would be some people that would confuse it with the return of the Lord to the earth to set up his kingdom. So just a word of warning to the younger people that are starting to look into these things.

The internet has made available to you and I so many voices, but we have to come to the word of God and we have to be able to clearly defend what we believe. So the reason I say that, it's not just intelligence that will preserve you. I could take you to a man, an older man, in assembly fellowship right now, an elder.

He can read Hebrew, he can read Greek. He denies the literal millennial reign of Christ. That should scare us.

That should shock us. Found out what book he was reading. From a man that would come from the reform theology side of things.

And that man would try to tell his readers that we are presently living the book of Revelation out. I mean, once you start down that road, you can spiritualize anything, you can make everything figurative, but we have to come to the scriptures. So when it comes to the rapture, in contrast to the return of the Lord Jesus to set up his kingdom, one has to do with his church, his bride.

The other has to do with the physical earth, the nation of Israel, and he's coming to the earth. In between those two events, the word of God has at least seven years. Now, you're probably going to meet people, go to school with people, and they're gonna tell you that, well, these are the same thing.

There would be people that would teach today that the rapture, the receiving of the church, and the setting up of the kingdom happens all at the end of the seven-year tribulation. Then there are gonna be some people that are gonna back up that rapture, and they're gonna say, called mid-trib, the church is gonna be taken midpoint out of the seven-year tribulation. What does the Bible teach? The Bible teaches that the church is taken before the seven-year tribulation commences, and it is a very distinct event from the return of the Lord Jesus to set up his kingdom on this earth.

So that is just the point that we're going to prove from the word of God. So it might be a little technical for a Sunday afternoon, but maybe it will keep your brain engaged, and it might keep you moving along with me. So let's just look at a few verses.

Matthew chapter 13, I want you to notice what is said here by the Lord Jesus. Verse number 28, now, of course, this is the parable of the wheat and the tares, and there's a lot of truth there, and this is still ongoing, but I want you to notice verse number 28, after there has been this discovery of tares that are in amongst the wheat. Matthew 13, verse 28, and he said unto them, an enemy hath done this.

The servant said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? Now, that's referring to the tares. So those that are having their little pen and their paper, that word gather, we're gonna get it a number of times in the next couple of verses. It's gonna sound all the same to us, but in the Greek language, there's two distinct words that are used.

One particular word is gonna be linked with the tares, the fake, the sinners. There's gonna be another word used, gather, which is linked with the good seed, the children of God. Just interesting, you can take that home and you can do a little research on that.

Verse number 29, but he said, nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, same word that we used in verse 28, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together, there's that word again from verse 28, 29, gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them. But gather, very different word, the wheat.

Into my barn, there's something full of security there. Now, keep on reading, let's go over to verse 39, because now the Lord Jesus gives us more information as to this whole meaning. Look at what we have in verse number 38.

The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, the end of the age.

Oh, that should be a clue. We're not looking at the rapture, which I will hope to prove as we move through this. But that phrase should jump off the page.

Matthew is the gospel that's written to the Jews. It's all about the kingdom, very earthly, in his outlook, just lodge these things in your brain. Notice, linked with the end of the world, the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

Just notice that, the emphasis placed upon the angels. Let's keep reading verse number 40. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in, here it comes again, the end of this age, the end of this world.

The son of man, notice that title. That's a very significant title in the word of God. The first time you run into that, linked with the Lord Jesus, is Daniel chapter seven.

And Daniel gets this vision of one like unto the son of man moving into the presence of the ancient of days, a reference to God the Father. And the ancient of days, we're told, he sees this in the vision, literally hands a dominion, a kingdom, over to the son of man. And then it's linked with the clouds of heaven.

Now do you remember the crucifixion? Just prior to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, and there was the high priest, there was a number of trials before the religious element, and then there was three different trials before the political pilot inherits. But over here on the religious side, there was a moment when the high priest was getting so frustrated with the silence of this one. And all of a sudden he blurted out, I adjure thee by the living God, tell us who you are.

Are you the Christ, the son of God? How did the Lord respond? He quoted Daniel seven. You will see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven. What was the effect upon the high priest? He just got so enraged, he grabbed onto the collar of his priestly robes and he went, he just ripped it.

What does the book of Leviticus teach us? When a high priest did that, he was finished. Done, your office is done. What did God do when the Lord Jesus Christ did his finish? He took the veil in the temple and he just rip, tore the thing down.

God was finished with the priest and God was finished with the building linked with the old covenant. Now you're looking at Christ that's gonna bring in a far better thing. See dear child of God, I'm itching right now to get into the kingdom program.

I know you've had your Bible studies the last two years in Mount Sterling on the kingdom. And our brother William mentioned this, I believe it was yesterday. You and I are losing sight of the kingdom and the glorious future.

Get ahold of it, it'll keep you out of the world. It'll help you set your priorities right. Don't live for this world, live for that age that is coming.

I'm off on a tangent here now. So coming back here, verse number 40. So shall it be in the end of this world, the son of man shall send forth his angels.

Notice that, the son of man is sending forth his angels. Earlier we read that the angels are the reapers. Just keep all of these phrases in mind.

Shall send forth his angels and they, not the son of man, the angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Look at verse 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels and cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world, the end of the age, the angels shall come forth and sever, separate the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.

There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. So when we start to put this all together, it's very simple to see based on what we've been reading, we're looking at the end of an age and at the end of this age, there's going to be then the setting up of a kingdom. There's going to be the son of man is going to be the key figure that is before us.

Linked with the son of man are these angels that are being sent out to do what? Separate good from the bad. I'm just building this case for you because I hope in a minute you're gonna see aha, this event that we're talking about is very different from the event of the rapture. Very different.

So in your mind, I want you to put over just rapture, return. They are very separate events and that's what we're trying to prove from the Bible. Go to Matthew 24.

Once again, we're in the gospel of Matthew. It's all about the kingdom. Look what the Lord Jesus taught in Matthew 24, verse number 27.

A very similar for those that when you're doing your study, it's very interesting when you're reading through the gospel of Matthew. Any gospel, it's nice to be aware of where you are, what you're reading, the setting. When you start to read Matthew 24 in verse one, you can just put something in your brain.

The rapture has happened. The church is gone and what you're gonna read in 24 and 25 is all in the earth scene. Actually, Matthew 24 is gonna take you through, chronologically, through the seven years of tribulation.

And right in the middle, verse number 19, verse number 15, you have the abomination of desolation set up. Go to Revelation, go to Daniel, and you will find that that's where the devil puts an image in the temple. So that's just helping you with the background of this little chapter.

Look at verse number 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming, want you to notice that word, coming. Here's another one, of the Son of Man.

Read that back in Matthew 13. Coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Look at verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear. We just read that, verse 27.

For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth unto the west, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man. I believe the sign is the Son of Man himself in a blaze of light and glory. 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.

Like you must be sitting there going, man, this phrase is coming up over. Son of Man, Son of Man, Son of Man. When you're reading through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do you understand, dear child of God, the number one expression that the Lord Jesus used for himself? Son of Man.

It's over 80 times. The Lord Jesus on this earth was very aware of his coming kingdom. He never lost sight of it.

This is something prefigured way back in the Old Testament. And the Lord Jesus knew all about it. And that's why he kept bringing up that lovely title of himself, the Son of Man.

Look at verse number 30. And then shall appear, 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 he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.

See how it's lining up with Matthew 13. Just keep that before you. And they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Wow, what a, I've often tried to imagine this. Look what just happened here last week. I don't know whether you folks here, I don't think you folks were in the path of the solar eclipse.

Up in PEI, we were just a little bit to the east. And as you moved a little bit more west, toward Montreal, you got right in the actual blackness. But it got pretty dark.

And for how many minutes, all eyes were looking up. We trust you had your welding glasses on. I did.

We want everybody to keep your eyesight. Do you understand the significance of that? When you read your Bible and people try to tell you that when the Lord Jesus died, it was an eclipse. Totally wrong.

The longest eclipse known to humanity is seven and a half minutes. The Lord Jesus on the cross, God put the sun out for three hours. Total blackness.

A tremendous chill fell upon this earth. As the son of God offered himself a sacrifice for sin. Do you know what God's gonna do the second time he comes? You go through the book of Revelation and God literally strikes the sun.

Starts to turn the light down. God sends darkness into the kingdom of the man of sin. This world from corner to corner will be full of chaos, destruction, blackness, darkness.

It's almost as if God has his hand on the dimmer switch and he's just turning everything down into absolute darkness. Revelation 19, heaven opens. And all of a sudden, the only time in the New Testament, you get four hallelujahs all together.

The only place you find it in the New Testament. You ever been in a theater? Well, we got to explain that. We don't want you going to theaters but I would encourage you to go see Handel's Messiah.

I went, it's a beautiful thing. It'll just move you. Tremendous, taking you right through the life of the Lord Jesus from eternity, right through his life, right off into the glorious kingdom.

Do you know what happens just before the show begins? The lights are dimmed. You hear the background music start. All of a sudden, the curtain opens and then out comes the song.

What a moment when this earth is just enveloped in darkness. Heaven opens, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. And the rider on the white horse steps over the battlement.

Down into this world he comes. There'll just be a blaze of light. God tells us every eye will just swing heavenward.

Nobody will miss it. Oh, when the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the Asses Colt. Do you remember what Matthew 21 tells us? Who is this? Who is this? Oh, this is the carpenter from Nazareth.

That was the first time he came. The second time when he comes, nobody's gonna say, who's this? The son of man, tremendous to think of. We're gonna be just behind him.

Dear child of God, are you a little tiny bit excited? Like, or is Christianity just, oh man, how much more time we gotta listen to this guy? Like honestly, what are we living for? Like what's it all about? You'll have no trouble in that day figuring out what it's all about. It'll be so clear and so obvious. And as soon as the son of man, just in a blaze of glory, just breaks forth onto this world, right down to the earth, he will come.

He will just dispatch his angels out into the four corners. And there'll be such a mixture of false and true. And as we read in Matthew 13 and Matthew 24, there'll just be a sifting, a dividing.

We could read in Matthew 25, sheep and goats, just before the millennial reign is set up, nations will be judged. Sheep and goats will be separated. And what a moment, at the commencement of the millennial reign, there will not be one sinner standing on this earth.

All the redeemed that have just walked right out of the seven-year tribulation. The Old Testament saints resurrected. And on this earth will commence 1,000 years of a glorious kingdom.

Tremendous to think of. All right, let's keep reading now. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter one.

Which will just summarize this for us. And I'm getting to a grammatical point here. It's always good to pay attention to grammar.

The interesting thing about 1 and 2 Thessalonians is these believers were under incredible persecution. People had died. That's really the backdrop of 1 Thessalonians chapter four.

We're going to 2 Thessalonians one. And someone had written a letter. We can see that in chapter two.

And they were being told that you're actually in the day of the Lord. You're actually missed, you missed the rapture. You're right in the day of the Lord, the judgment.

And what the spirit of God is going to do is he's going to divide out these things. And what a calm it brings. You know, one of the reasons why I'm speaking on this, I see some of my friends from Rose Isle.

I was up there for two weeks on prophecy. And there's a lot of individuals there that have come out of reformed theology, which would deny what we're trying to prove here today. And a young girl, she was 13 or 14, went up to my wife and gave her a little note to pass to me.

So I read the note, very touching. You know what she said? I always thought that the church would go through the tribulation. And I was so scared of that.

And she said, you proved from the Bible that the church will not go through the tribulation. Oh, she said, what a piece. What a joy just to know that.

Not based on my words, but based upon the word of God. So that, just keep that in mind, dear child of God. Now look at how this is all summarized for us here.

Verse number, chapter one, verse number seven. And to you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, notice, with his mighty angels.

There it is again. The linkage of the angels with the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished and so on.

I want you to turn back now to 1 Thessalonians chapter four. This is well known and I want you to see now, if you can see the difference. Look at verse number 14.

Chapter four, verse 14, 1 Thessalonians. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Paul by the Spirit of God would say, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord.

Notice, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. Which one is that? Is it the return or are we looking at the rapture? The same Greek word used for the coming of the Lord in judgment, same Greek word coming of the Lord in the rapture, the same word. Context is what's going to determine.

I'll show you that just a little later. Shall not prevent or go before them which are asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, in the clouds.

What was Matthew 13 all about? What was Matthew 24 all about? Coming to the earth. Here we have them coming to the clouds. What do we discover in Matthew 13, Matthew 24? Coming with the angels.

What do we have here? He's coming by himself. Matthew 13, Matthew 24, the angels are the ones that are gathering. What do we find here in 1 Thessalonians chapter four? The Lord Jesus himself is the one that is gathering.

Now if you've been paying attention, you should be sitting there going, amen. These are two different events, absolutely. How in the world can someone read their Bible and try to tell me that, no, it could happen at the end of the seven-year tribulation.

It could happen midpoint where the church is taken out of the church. No, the Bible, dear child of God, is crystal clear. This is understanding the Bible and letting light from this part of the Bible shine itself on this part of the Bible and it's not us in the gospel hall forcing an opinion upon the Bible.

It's allowing the Bible just to build truth, doctrine. It doesn't matter to me how educated a person is. I don't care if they can read Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and whatever.

I come to the Bible simply taken at face value. I want us all to get this in the 21st century. God hasn't given us a book of riddles.

He wants us to take it literally. Simple faith, common sense, allowing it to develop truth for me. Isn't that a marvelous thing? Now just look at the, for those, maybe you're sitting here, I need to sit down.

Look at verse, I know you know this, but there's a lot of younger people here today and it's good for us to go over these things. Verse 17, you could underline these four English words. Shall be caught up.

That is where we get the truth of the rapture from. And if we all want to learn a little bit of Greek today, harpazo, there it is, so we're all able to speak Greek now. When you take, because this is going to be a challenge.

This is what some people are going to do to you when you meet them at school. Well, you folks believe in the rapture, but it's not a Bible word. Exactly, it's not a Bible word.

So at least know enough of this to be able to agree with them. It's not, but then follow it up with this. Would you like to know where the word rapture comes from? Now that's when you're going to get the deer in the headlight look.

I didn't think you knew that. Well, when they took the Greek word harpazo, which is translate in our English Bible is, shall be caught up. And that Greek word is then coming into the Latin language.

Raptura, rapture. And it keeps moving just a little tiny bit through Latin. And then in the English, you end up with this word rapture.

We all know about this bird, the raptor, that comes down really quick and snatches away its prey. That's the picture of the Greek word. There's Philip in the desert preaching to the Ethiopian man and the spirit of God caught away Philip, caught away.

That's the same word. One minute, the man was there and the Ethiopian man looked around and where did he go? Just like that, the spirit of God just removed him out of the scene. I know, dinner got to you, right? They're all tired.

I feel sorry for you. I am anticipating the rapture in my lifetime. Man, it's still not an amen, Eddie.

You're a hard bunch. I know, I know, it's underneath your breath there. Dear brother and sister, this is what we have to get used to.

We have to expect this. Christ wants us living in the good of it. That's why Paul twice over says, we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together.

It's a marvelous truth. Now, look what happens. Verse number 18, with all of that, just follow the simple chronology of the Bible.

Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Now, sometimes when we have chapter divisions, all of a sudden in our brain, we think, oh, this is all disconnected. Look at chapter five, verse one.

Just imagine the number five is not there. He's just continuing on with his flow of chronology. But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord.

Now, if you're studying your Bible, I want you to study out the day of the Lord. Look at the amount of times it appears in the New Testament. It's only a few times.

Oh, lots in the Old Testament. I'm gonna stick just to the New Testament for a minute. Every place in the New Testament where you read the day of the Lord, it has nothing to do with Christians.

Now, you should be at least half awake when you're studying and go, oh, that's kind of interesting. Here's another interesting fact. Look at verse two.

So cometh as a thief. Take that word, look at every time it appears in the New Testament. Always in the setting of sinners.

Never believers. Never. So you've got this expression, day of the Lord.

Always the context of sinners. Thief, always the context of sinners. Look what Paul does by the Spirit of God.

Verse three, for when we shall, somebody says you read it wrong, I did. For when they shall say, peace and safety. What did Paul do in chapter four? We, which are alive and remain, twice over.

Look at what he does here. For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. See the chronology? He taught the truth of the rapture at the end of chapter four.

And then he starts to move into the day of the Lord, coming as a thief. No longer does he say, we, no, we're gone. They, those that are left on this earth.

One final point. There's a lot more there that we could go through, but it's just not on my mind. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians chapter two.

This is the technical point. This is where a little bit of grammar. It's an amazing thing.

I was a terrible grammar student. And, but when I got saved, I became very interested in grammar. And I have come to learn more grammar since being saved, since when I went through high school.

It's a good way to study your Bible, to learn your little bit of your grammar, your tenses, and so on and so forth, because it will help you with an understanding of the passage. One thing I'll say before I read the verse is this. This is one reason why I love the King James Bible or any Bible version that uses italicized words.

They're very important. What an italicized word is in our translation, the translators are doing us a favor because they were so concerned with taking this Greek word and translating it into this English word. Sometimes in doing that, they have to insert their own words just to help with the flow of the sentence.

Because it's not an easy thing just to go from here to here. It's just sometimes it's very, very difficult. But sometimes they will italicize a word and right away when you're reading it, you should go, ah, there's no equivalent Greek word here.

This is helping me with the flow of the sentence. Now, a lot of places in our translation, it's good. But here, I want you to notice this.

Look at verse number one, chapter two. Now we beseech you, brethren, by. I want that to jump off the page at you.

By the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and. See the second by is italicized? It's not there. Don't read it with the second by.

Let's back up and read it with that second by out of it. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him. What does it all mean? If the Spirit of God had used two bys, there would have been two events in this one verse.

The coming of our Lord, event number one, and our gathering together unto him. You know what the Spirit of God has done? He's connected them by using one by. They're the same event.

The coming of the Lord equals our gathering together unto him. That Greek word coming is going to appear again in this chapter. Look at verse number eight.

This is now taking us to the end of the seven-year tribulation. So the first one is that the first, right at the beginning, before the seven-year tribulation starts, look at verse eight. 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.

Same Greek word, coming. Verse one, coming. Verse eight, coming.

This is where some of these people say, see, Scott, they're the same thing. What did we find out from Matthew 13 and Matthew 24? When it comes to the earth, there's a brightness. There's a tremendous unfolding of glory.

There's not the Lord himself, but the angels are gathering and separating. What did we learn from 1 Thessalonians 4, the truth of the rapture? There's no light. It's very quiet.

The Lord doesn't come to the earth. He comes to the air. Do you remember, some people misunderstand this.

Do you remember Acts chapter one, when the Lord Jesus took his disciples out to the mount and they watched as he ascended? How many people were there? Just a handful. What did the angel say? This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go. That's a reference to the rapture, not the return to the earth.

It was a very private thing, unnoticed by the city of Jerusalem. What took place? Those people that were surrounding the Lord were all believers, and they watched their risen Lord ascend back up into heaven. And guess what? That very same one is gonna come.

Are you looking forward to it? Wouldn't it be a great thing from me walking from here to there, gone to heaven? Yeah, I might get an amen. Might even get a hallelujah out of one of you on the way up. Hallelujah! Even so come Lord Jesus.

May we be encouraged with this tremendous truth that is not a brethren doctrine. It's in the word of God. Right back to the first century, we read, given by the Spirit of God to the church.