Did you know that there are
8,352 Bible verses related to prophecy? I recently read that
Billy Graham has found 380 references to the Second Coming in
the scriptures! And my wife has informed me that, according to
Max Lucado, 23 of the 27 books in the New Testament refer to
Christ's return. It must be important!
Here are some other things you
might not know about end-times prophecy: Did you know that,
despite the popularity of the pre-tribulation rapture teaching,
there is only one verse (Rev. 3:10) in the entire Bible that
even appears to say we might be raptured before the 70th Week of
Daniel (what most call the seven-year Tribulation)?
Did you know that most people
think we will be raptured before Daniel's 70th Week because the
Bible says we are not destined for God's wrath, but for
salvation; and yet there is not one verse in the Bible that says
the entire 70th Week of Daniel is God's wrath? (In fact, there
are many passages that say something quite different, therefore
setting aside the need for the Church to be raptured pre-tribulationally.)
And did you know that, while
almost all of us believe that the rapture will come like a thief
in the night and take us by surprise, Jesus and Paul tell us
that it will not surprise the believer, that we will know when
the time is near, and that it will surprise only the
nonbeliever?
I'm sure you've heard that
Christ could come at any moment because nothing has to happen
before His return. And yet, there is not one passage that says
this! In fact, there are many scriptures that tell us there are
certain events that must happen first.
I understand that these
statements may be difficult to swallow, and at first might sound
like false teachings for many, but have patience, a desire for
truth, and read ahead to find firsthand that the majority isn't
always right.
Who Are You Listening
To?
Think about the people of
Israel who were living at the time of Christ. Who were they
listening to as their spiritual authorities? For many, it was
the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of that
time, and very few dared to question their authority. The truth
had been deformed to the point that it had become so complicated
that many just relied on the leaders for scriptural answers.
Many great people at that time
had scriptural assumptions and expected the Messiah to come in a
certain way at His First Coming. They "knew" He would come as a
government ruler, world leader, and earthly king. When Jesus
came as a carpenter, humble servant, and final sacrifice upon
the cross for our sin, many turned away in unbelief.
We now know these men and
women to be the majority of the nation of Israel, who seemed to
truly believe in the one and only God, until of course, He came
in humble human form. Spiritual blindness, coupled with the fact
that they misinterpreted the scriptures, caused them to believe
that He would come as an earthly king. Although nothing happens
outside of God's control, this scriptural confusion played a
role in the denial of Christ by the Jewish nation.
It is my opinion that history
has been repeated. I am in no way suggesting that the Christian
leaders of our time are duplicates of the Pharisees. I believe
many are godly men who truly have good intentions, but they are
well-known figures who are very rarely questioned or have their
teachings disputed. Their authority is quite often strong enough
to be accepted as faultless. I also believe that many prophecy
teachers have made the Second Coming so complicated that it's
hard to understand. Making matters worse, many of us listen to
these teachers rather than search the Bible for our own answers,
especially when it concerns the Second Coming. Even if we have
studied His return in the Bible, we usually use one of their
books to aid us.
Now, just as it was two
thousand years ago, many great people are once again expecting
Jesus to return in a particular way. The majority of us, as
American Christians, are confident that He will come to rapture
us before the persecution by the coming world leader known as
the Antichrist.
In His last sermon, as
recorded in Matthew, Jesus gave us the parable of the wise and
foolish virgins awaiting the bridegroom. The unprepared virgins
left to get more oil for their failing lamps, only to be caught
off guard and left behind, for the bridegroom returned and
welcomed the virgins who were ready and waiting into the wedding
banquet.
What if Christ's return
doesn't happen when we think it will, or in the way we are
expecting it to happen? Will we be prepared to enter the
Kingdom, or will some of us have the door shut, just like the
unprepared virgins? Will a portion of the Church repeat history
and respond to Christ’s Second Coming in the same way that the
people of Israel responded to His First Coming almost two
thousand years ago?
It's All About Grace
What I've learned in my
prophecy studies is that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ has
everything to do with grace. The moment Jesus said, "It is
finished," dropped His head, and gave up His spirit, the price
for every sin that every man, woman, and child has committed was
paid on that terrifying, yet glorifying day.
Those who have been blessed to
have God reveal this mystery of grace to us have experienced the
sanctifying work of His Spirit in our lives. The moment we
raised Christ up in our hearts and said, "I am no longer the god
of my life — You are," we died with Him. We became dead to sin
and alive to Christ, and our walk in grace began.
Jesus, and this grace that He
has freely given and lovingly lavished upon us, is our focal
point. Our desires, and even our good deeds, are not to be our
primary focus. Jesus Christ was crucified, arose, and supplied
us with grace in abundance. This is where our eyes are to look,
no matter how good or bad our lives appear to be. Once we have
our hearts set in Christ's direction, then and only then can we
correctly live and distribute the greatest commandment (love) by
the power of God's Spirit rather than by our own efforts.
As we struggle to grasp grace,
we stumble and fall, crawl and groan, always seeking to climb
back to the throne of grace we had seemingly seen so clearly
before. Each time we make it back to our Master's feet, we are
even more thankful for what He accomplished on the cross because
our understanding of our shortcomings, and His grace is
broadened and clarified.
As life continues, and if it
does so in accordance with His desires, our hearts become even
more grateful for His sacrifice and grace as we work out our
salvation with fear and trembling (Eph. 6:5). Just as Jesus was
raised on the third day, we were raised from spiritual death to
spiritual life once we believed in Him. Paul tells us that
because Christ was raised, we will also be physically raised
before the end comes (1 Cor. 15:12-19).
The moment we are caught up in
the air to be with our Lord at the Second Coming will be the
first time we will fully know Jesus and His grace. Every step we
have taken in this life to understand and know Him will dim in
comparison to the grace we will be shown on that day. Jesus and
His grace will be known more clearly than anything we have ever
seen with our physical or spiritual eyes during our journeys on
this earth.
Imagine the moment we come
face to face with Christ. I believe our lives will flash through
our hearts and minds like a split-second, speed-of-light slide
show. Everything we have ever done will be remembered. The evil
thoughts and actions we committed against our fellow man and
against God, and our infinite unworthiness, will be made known
in their spiritual entirety. As quickly as this happens,
however, we will be overcome by grace. Every evil thought and
deed we just viewed will be covered by the blood of the Son and
fall away from us, never to be experienced again. For the first
time, we will know what it means to be pure. For the first time,
we will feel what itís like to be truly holy. For the first
time, we will truly understand what the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit did for us on the day of the ultimate sacrifice.
We will feast with God at the
great wedding banquet in celebration, for we will be Christ's
bride and He our groom. From this moment on, we will live with
Him, and He with us, forever. We will drink the water of life
and He will wipe away every tear and take away all mourning and
every ounce of pain.
We will enter the Lord's realm
clothed in the righteousness of God and walk the streets of gold
alongside the river of the water of life under God's glory, for
we will no longer need a lamp or the light of the sun because He
will be our light. The sting of sin that brought the curse of
death will be abolished, and we will praise Him for all
eternity!
Are You Ready?
Therefore, as Peter has
exhorted us, let us prepare our minds for action. Let us be
self-controlled, and set our hope fully on the grace to be given
us when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:13). Study with me
and see God's sovereignty and grace, and the beauty of His plan.
This is much more than a look at future events. It is a journey
into an area of God's heart and mind, which is fully applicable
to our everyday walk with Him.
Although I don't believe the
timing of the rapture to be the most important issue in
Christendom, it should not be thought of as unimportant. Dive in
and swim deep to discover the amazing, step-by-step guideposts
God has given us. He has done this to prepare us so that we will
be ready when He comes and so we will know Him better. I think
you'll be surprised and eternally blessed.
By the way, I am not
advocating the mid- or post-tribulation rapture theories either,
for in my opinion, they also contain deficiencies. And I am
certainly not a preterist who believes that Christ returned in
AD 70. We will not give the timing of the rapture a name in this
study. We will simply look at what the Bible says about this
issue to show that there is no validity to a pre-tribulation
rapture theory. The teaching that the Church will escape from
the future suffering is man-made and purely mythical. The final
generation of Christ-followers, whether it be us or others, will
not avoid the persecution associated with the Antichrist.
I've written these pages with
the intention of giving you a fairly in-depth Bible study.
Please read along with your Bible, but if time is an issue or if
you are already studying something else, feel free to just read
the coming pages. I have attempted to make it an enjoyable read,
even if you don't study along.
Things
May Be Different Than You Think