Ready and Waiting: The Biblical Hope of the Rapture

• The Rapture and Resurrection [00:07:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the rapture as the catching away of the living and the simultaneous resurrection of dead believers, emphasizing that both groups will be united with the Lord.
• Timing of the Rapture [00:09:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines four primary eschatological views on the timing of the rapture: pre-trib, mid-trib, pre-wrath, and post-trib, before arguing for the pre-trib position.
• Exemption from Divine Wrath [00:12:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that while believers face earthly trials, they are exempt from the 'tribulation with a capital T' (God's wrath), which he identifies as the entire seven-year period starting with the first seal judgment.
• Bible Prophecy and Love for Scripture [00:04:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares an anecdote about Dr. Walvoord to establish that loving Bible prophecy is a natural consequence of loving the Bible, given the volume of prophetic content in Scripture.
• Exemption from Wrath [00:12:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that believers are exempt from the 'tribulation with a capital T' (the seven-year wrath of God), citing 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and Revelation 3:10 to support the view that believers will be removed from this period rather than protected through it.
• Imminency of the Rapture [00:19:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines imminency as the belief that Jesus could come at any moment, arguing that only the pre-tribulation view allows for this certainty, contrasting it with mid-trib and post-trib views which require specific prophetic events to occur first.
• Practical Application of Rapture Doctrine [00:24:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines four daily influences of believing in the rapture: calming troubled hearts (John 14), controlling serving hearts (1 Cor 15), comforting sorrowing hearts (1 Thess 4), and motivating holy living.
• Calming Influence / Anxiety [00:24:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that belief in the rapture should prevent hearts from being troubled, citing John 14:1-3 where Jesus commands believers not to let their hearts be troubled because He is preparing a place for them.
• Serving Influence / Labor [00:25:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the rapture to steadfast service, citing 1 Corinthians 15:58 to argue that knowing labor is not in vain should motivate believers to abound in the work of the Lord.
• Comforting Influence / Grief [00:25:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses how the rapture provides comfort to those grieving, referencing 1 Thessalonians 4:18 and the common experience of reading these verses at funerals.
• Cleansing Influence / Purity [00:25:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that the rapture is a 'purifying hope,' citing 1 John 3:3 to explain that fixing hope on Christ leads to self-purification and affects daily behavior.

• Sermon Illustration [00:03:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor presents a humorous 'Top Ten' list of signs of obsession with Bible prophecy, including using left-behind books as devotionals, believing church fathers refers to Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye, refusing tax refunds due to the number 666, and leaving a convertible top down for the rapture.
• Sermon Illustration [00:04:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts asking Dr. Walvoord why he loved Bible prophecy so much, and Walvoord's answer: 'I love Bible prophecy because I love the Bible,' noting that much of the Bible is prophecy.
• Sermon Illustration [00:09:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a 'facelift' and 'airlift' to describe the transformation of believers' bodies at the rapture, stating they will receive new, immortal bodies as they are caught up.
• Sermon Illustration [00:10:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the post-tribulation view as a 'yo-yo view,' where believers go up to meet Jesus and then do a quick U-turn to come back down to earth with Him.
• Sermon Illustration [00:17:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > Dr. Ryrie's analogy of a teacher giving an exam: keeping students 'from the exam' means they are not present for it (pre-trib), whereas giving them the answers means they are present but spared the trial (post-trib).
• Sermon Illustration [00:20:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor's personal experience with earthquakes in California and Oklahoma, using the anticipation of the 'big one' in California to illustrate the certainty but uncertainty of timing regarding the rapture.
• Sermon Illustration [00:22:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse's parody of the hymn 'Jesus May Come Today,' changing the lyrics to 'Jesus Can't Come Today' to illustrate the lack of imminency in mid-trib and post-trib views.
• Sermon Illustration [00:26:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > A humorous anecdote about a blind date where a young man arrives two hours late, only to find the young lady already in her pajamas with makeup off, watching TV with her dog. He asks, 'I'm two hours late, and you're still not ready yet?' The pastor uses this to illustrate the need for spiritual readiness and purity while awaiting Christ's return.

• Pastoral Charge [00:27:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor prays for the congregation to be spiritually prepared, pure, motivated, and energized to serve as vessels for the Lord while waiting for His return.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:24] Dr. Mark Hitchcock is our chapel speaker today. He's a graduate of Oklahoma State University, holds a law degree from Oklahoma City University, and a THM and a PhD both from Dallas Seminary. Mark has been serving as senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, since October 1992. He has also served as an adjunct professor here in Bible Exposition at DTS.
[00:01:00] He's the author of several books on Bible prophecy and related topics, including The Complete Book of Bible Prophecy and Iran, the Coming Crisis.
[00:01:15] He and a co-author or editor, Phil Raleigh, who is also here with us in chapel today, have been involved in revising and editing works by Dr. John Wolvard.
[00:01:30] and the commentary on Revelation is out and available in the bookstore at a very nice discount for you. And the commentary on 1 Thessalonians has just come out, although the book center doesn't have a copy of it yet, but you can look for it. Revelation, Daniel, 1 Thessalonians,
[00:01:55] key books like that that Dr. Wolvard authored are now being made available to a new generation of Bible students through Phil Raleigh and Mark Hitchcock. Mark and his wife Cheryl have two sons, Justin and Samuel, and I'd like you to join with me in providing a warm welcome to Dr. Mark Hitchcock.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:02:28] Well, it's great to be here. I want to thank Dr. Grasmick for that kind introduction and for giving me the opportunity to be here this morning. I love this seminary and all that it's done for me throughout my entire life, and it's a great honor and a privilege to be here
[00:02:43] together with you this morning. As we acknowledge the release of the updated Walvard commentaries, I thought I would spend our time together this morning addressing Dr.
[00:02:54] Walvard's favorite topic, which is the topic of the rapture. Maybe I should say more specifically the pre-trib rapture. Before we begin, though, I thought I'd share one of these top ten lists with you. It's the top ten ways to know if you're obsessed with Bible prophecy. Number ten is you
[00:03:10] use the left-behind books as devotional reading. Number nine, you get goosebumps when you hear a trumpet. Number eight, you believe the term church fathers refers to Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye.
[00:03:25] Number seven, you believe there's an original Greek and Hebrew text with Schofield's notes.
[00:03:31] Number six, you can name more signs of the times than you can commandments.
[00:03:36] I like this one.
[00:03:36] Number five, you refuse a tax refund check because the amount comes to $666.
[00:03:43] Number four, barcode scanners make you nervous.
[00:03:47] Number three, you talk your church into adapting the 60s pop song Up, Up and Away as a Christian hymn.
[00:03:54] Number two, I love this one, you never buy green bananas.
[00:03:57] That would be a good pre-trib, right?
[00:03:59] Jesus can come at any time.
[00:04:01] And the number one way to know if you're obsessed with Bible prophecy is you always leave the top down on your convertible in case the rapture happens.
[00:04:10] Well, I'm not obsessed with Bible prophecy, but I do believe it's critical for us, especially at this time in history, to understand the template of the future.
[00:04:19] One time I asked Dr. Walvoord why he loved Bible prophecy so much.
[00:04:23] Now, I like his answer.
[00:04:24] He says, I love Bible prophecy because I love the Bible.
[00:04:28] He said, so much of the Bible is prophecy.
[00:04:29] If you love the Bible, you have to love Bible prophecy.
[00:04:33] And I like that because that's how I feel.
[00:04:35] I love Bible prophecy because I love the Bible.
[00:04:38] And in honor of Dr. Walvoord here this morning and his love for the Bible and his love for Bible prophecy, I want to bring a message I've titled, When Will the Believing Be Leaving?
[00:04:48] And I want to focus our thoughts on 1 Thessalonians and what it tells us about the truth and the timing of the rapture.
[00:04:56] If you'll turn to 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 to 18, this very familiar text tells us about the truth of this future event, the next great event on God's prophetic calendar we know as the rapture.
[00:05:12] In chapter 4, verse 13, he says, but we don't not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep.
[00:05:19] It seems that what Paul's writing to here, when Paul's writing the Thessalonian letters, he's down in Corinth, it's his second missionary journey.
[00:05:26] And he's, of course, gone through the area of Macedonia, gone through Thessalonica, probably spent about six to eight weeks of time there.
[00:05:36] Of course, run out of town and ended up finally down in Corinth, and he's writing back now to these believers.
[00:05:41] And evidently, when Paul was there with the believers, he taught them a great deal about prophecy.
[00:05:47] And I think that's important for us to think about for a moment, because Paul wasn't like so many today who avoid the subject of prophecy.
[00:05:54] In fact, these believers that Paul is writing back to, he'd only been with them for six or eight weeks.
[00:06:01] And yet when you read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, you realize Paul had taught them about the rapture, the day of the Lord, the second coming of Christ, the man of lawlessness, the man of sin, the removal of the restrainer.
[00:06:14] I always like to say most people could go to church for decades nowadays and never hear about any of those topics.
[00:06:20] Yet these were new believers, and Paul taught them these truths.
[00:06:24] And evidently what happened when Paul left, some of the believers there had died, and they were wondering, well, what's going to happen to those who die before the rapture takes place?
[00:06:34] Are they going to be disadvantaged or at some kind of second-class citizens when this event occurs?
[00:06:39] So Paul writes these words to clarify this issue in their minds.
[00:06:44] He says, we don't want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that is those who've died, that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
[00:06:53] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
[00:07:01] For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
[00:07:09] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God.
[00:07:15] The dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
[00:07:22] Therefore, comfort one another with these words.
[00:07:27] Now, I want to just briefly describe the rapture.
[00:07:29] The rapture, technically speaking, is the catching away of those who are alive when Christ comes.
[00:07:35] But the resurrection of the dead is going to happen at the same time, so we speak of really the resurrection and the rapture.
[00:07:42] We almost put those together, but remember, technically speaking, the rapture has to do with those who are alive.
[00:07:48] But when the Lord comes to catch up those who are alive, there's also going to be a resurrection of the bodies of dead church-age believers.
[00:07:57] And I think it applies to church-age believers because he says the dead in Christ will rise.
[00:08:03] Old Testament saints are not in Christ through the baptizing work of the Spirit.
[00:08:07] So I believe they will be resurrected at the second coming of Christ.
[00:08:12] But those who've died during this church age, their bodies will be raised.
[00:08:16] and he says the dead in Christ are going to rise first. So he wants us to know the dead in Christ are not going to be at any disadvantage when the rapture takes place. They're going to be raised
[00:08:26] first. And of course, what's going to happen is Christ is going to bring with Him their spirit that has gone to be with the Lord at death. Their bodies will be raised immortal, imperishable, incorruptible bodies will be rejoined with their spirits to live with the Lord forever.
[00:08:43] Now, the Lord slows the game film down for us here.
[00:08:47] All of this is going to happen, 1 Corinthians 15 tells us, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.
[00:08:54] But He slows it down here for us so that we can see it frame by frame.
[00:09:00] The dead in Christ are going to rise first.
[00:09:03] Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
[00:09:09] So there's going to be a resurrection of the dead.
[00:09:12] then there's going to be a rapture of the living when we, according to 1 Corinthians 15, we will be changed. I like to say that those who are alive at the rapture are going to get an airlift
[00:09:23] accompanied by a facelift all at the same time. We're going to receive those new bodies as we are caught up to be with the Lord. Now, that's the truth of the rapture. That's what the rapture is,
[00:09:33] and the truth of it is certain. Someday, this great event is going to occur. No one who believes the Bible can deny that this event will take place. But the question then is, when's it going
[00:09:46] to happen? And there are four main views on the timing of the rapture, four primary views today.
[00:09:54] The first one, of course, is the pre-trib view that we're going to be caught up before the tribulation period, before that coming 70th week of Daniel. There's the mid-trib view. They usually equate the rapture with the trumpet in Revelation 11, that we're going to be caught up at the
[00:10:08] midpoint of the tribulation. A more recent view by Robert Van Kampen or Marv Rosenthal is called the pre-wrath rapture. And it's kind of a three-quarters rapture view, about five and a half years through the tribulation is when the rapture will occur. And then, of course, there's
[00:10:24] the post-trib view that I like to call kind of the yo-yo view of the rapture. We're going to be caught up to meet Jesus as He's coming at His second coming, go up and meet Him and do a quick
[00:10:33] U-turn and come right back down to the earth with Him at that point in time. Now, there's no silver bullet, I don't believe, that proves the pre-trib rapture. But that's not to say that there
[00:10:45] aren't solid arguments for this view. There are many arguments for pre-trib rapture we could mention this morning. In fact, back in 1957, Dr. Walvoord wrote an article in Bibsack called Fifty Arguments for Pre-Tribulationism. So if you want to read every argument you could ever think
[00:11:02] of, you can look at that article. But I want to just give four simple arguments from 1 Thessalonians, and then some application for our lives.
[00:11:13] One of the arguments I would give, a simple one, is the order of events in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5.
[00:11:18] When you look at 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 to 18, we just read, that describes for us this future event known as the rapture, this future event that's going to end the church age.
[00:11:30] Well, notice the next topic beginning in chapter 5, verse 1.
[00:11:33] Now, as to the times and the epics, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know full well the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While
[00:11:44] they're saying peace and safety, destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman, and they will, and we could say it literally, they will by no means escape. So to me, this is a
[00:11:56] very straightforward, simple point. The sequence of events here favors the pre-trib rapture. You have the rapture in 4.13-18, then you have the day of the Lord in 5.1-6. To me, that sequence signals for us this idea of a pre-trib rapture. Another argument I would give from Thessalonians
[00:12:15] is exemption from wrath, exemption from divine wrath. Now, this is interesting because all the views of the timing of the rapture agree that we are exempt from wrath. The question, though, is when does the wrath start and how are we protected from the wrath? Post-tribbers would say that the
[00:12:35] wrath really is pretty much concentrated at the end, and we're going to be preserved through that wrath on earth. The other three views, pre-trib and mid-trib and pre-wrath, all believe we're going to be taken out when the wrath begins. There's just a different view on when the wrath
[00:12:52] starts. Pre-tribbers obviously think the whole seven years is God's wrath. Mid-tribbers believe it's the last half and the pre-wrath believe it's about the last one-fourth. So are we going to be protected through it or are we going to be removed from it? And when does the wrath start? Now we
[00:13:10] don't have time to look at this obviously in detail this morning, but I believe the entire seven-year tribulation or 70th week of Daniel is the wrath of God. God's wrath, I believe, starts with the first seal judgment in Revelation chapter 6. The Lamb is the one who opens these
[00:13:27] seals. They're not just the wrath of man or the wrath of Satan, as some would say, but they are the wrath of God. They're brought forth by the Lamb Himself. So, I see the entire seven-year
[00:13:38] period as the wrath of God. And 1 Thessalonians 1.10 says that we are exempt from this wrath.
[00:13:45] Now, we're not exempt from the troubles and the trials of life. We all know that.
[00:13:49] We're exempt not from tribulation with a small t, but I believe we will be exempt from the tribulation with a capital T. He says in 1 Thessalonians 1.10 that we are waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead. That is Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to
[00:14:07] come. Now, some would say, well, the wrath here is the wrath of hell. It's eternal wrath. Now, you could make that argument because in chapter 1, He has been talking about the salvation of the Thessalonians, their salvation from the penalty of their sins. But to me, in the overall context
[00:14:26] of the Thessalonian letters, it seems better here to see this as the coming wrath, the coming wrath of the day of the Lord. That's the way that I see this text. We see the same thing over in 1
[00:14:38] Thessalonians chapter 5. Notice 1 Thessalonians 5 again. Notice the change here in the pronouns as I read this. Now as to the times in the epics, brethren, you, that would be the believers, have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well the day of the
[00:14:57] Lord will come like a thief in the night, while they are saying, peace and safety. Then sudden destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman, and they will by no means escape. And then verse 4, but you, brethren, are not in the darkness that today should overtake
[00:15:17] you. It's interesting, back up in chapter 4, verse 17, Paul includes himself and other believers in the rapture, but he excludes believers here from the day of the Lord. See the same thing in chapter
[00:15:32] 5, verse 9, God has not destined us for wrath, but for the obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now again, some would argue the wrath here is the wrath of hell, but again, he's just been talking in 5, 1 through 8 about the day of the Lord, that future time
[00:15:49] of tribulation. So it makes sense to me that the wrath that we are not destined for here is the wrath of the coming tribulation. Revelation 3, 10 is another verse that supports this idea of exemption from wrath. Jesus Himself speaking to the church at Philadelphia
[00:16:07] said, because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the
[00:16:21] earth. Speaking of a time of worldwide wrath or testing that's coming upon the earth dwellers or those who dwell upon the earth. But notice what he says there. Jesus says in Revelation 3.10, he doesn't just say, I will keep you from the testing. He says, I will keep you from the time
[00:16:40] of the test. And the only way I know to be kept from the time of the test is to not be there.
[00:16:48] Dr. Ryrie, in his book that he's written on the rapture called, it's titled, Come Quickly, Lord Jesus. Dr. Ryrie said this, said, as a teacher, I frequently give exams. Let's suppose I announce an exam that will occur on such and such a day at the regular class time.
[00:17:04] Then suppose I say I want to make a promise to students whose grade average for the semester is an A. The promise is this, I will keep you from the exam.
[00:17:14] Now, I could keep my promise to those A students this way.
[00:17:18] I would tell them to come to the exam, pass out the exam to everyone, and give the A students a sheet containing the answers.
[00:17:25] They would take the exam and yet in reality be kept from the exam.
[00:17:29] They would live through the time but not suffer the trial.
[00:17:33] This is post-tribulationism, protection while enduring.
[00:17:38] But if I said to the class, I'm giving an exam next week, and I don't want to make a promise to all the A students, I will keep you from the hour of the exam, they would
[00:17:48] understand clearly that to be kept from the hour of the test exempts them from being present during that hour.
[00:17:55] This is pre-tribulationism, and this is the meaning of the promise in Revelation 3.10.
[00:18:00] And the promise came from the risen Savior, who Himself is the deliverer from the wrath to come.
[00:18:09] So, we see here in Thessalonians, the order of events, I think, supports pre-trib rapture.
[00:18:14] The exemption from wrath. A third point, and this is a very simple one, but in 1 Thessalonians 4.18, after talking about the rapture, He says, therefore, comfort one another with these words. Now, if you've got to go through half the
[00:18:28] tribulation or three-fourths of it or all of it, how comforting is the rapture really?
[00:18:32] How reassuring is it? I remember hearing Tim LaHaye say years ago that if we have to go through half of or three-fourths or all the tribulation period, the rapture won't be the blessed hope, it'll be the blasted hope. And that's really true when you stop and think about it. It's a comfort
[00:18:47] to these believers that they're going to see those who've died, but I believe also a comfort to them that they're going to be spared from that coming time of wrath. Well, one final point in
[00:18:58] favor of the pre-trib rapture is the idea of the doctrine of eminency.
[00:19:03] Now, we use the word eminency, we mean that Jesus could come at any time. Other prophetic events may happen before the rapture, but nothing must happen before the rapture. And eminency seems to be expressed in 1 Thessalonians 1.10, where He says, we are waiting for His Son from heaven.
[00:19:24] Now, like D. Edmund Hebert in his commentary on Thessalonians says, he translates that as, we're waiting up for His Son from heaven. It's like when you have kids who first get their driver's license. You're waiting for somebody you love to get home, and you're waiting up for
[00:19:38] them in the evening, waiting up for them to come, expecting them to come at any moment.
[00:19:42] That seems to be what's expressed here. Look at Titus 2.13. It says, we're looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Eminency carries the idea of the rapture being any moment. I remember asking Dr.
[00:20:00] Walvoord years ago, what's the simplest way to prove the pre-trib rapture to somebody?
[00:20:04] And he said, well, what I do is ask them, do you believe in the rapture? And if they say they do, then I say, do you believe that Jesus could come at any time? And if they say yes, then I tell them,
[00:20:13] then you have to be pre-trib. You think about it, that's true, because if you're mid-trib, he can't come for at least three and a half years. If you're pre-wrath, it's five and a half years.
[00:20:21] if you're post-trib, it's seven years. Only the believer in the pre-trib rapture can really believe that Jesus could come at any moment. I think it means the rapture's signless.
[00:20:33] There aren't any signs for the rapture. The signs in Scripture are signs of the second coming of Christ. They're not signs of the rapture. But again, like Dr. Walvoord used to say, if you can already see the signs of the second coming and the rapture hasn't taken place yet,
[00:20:46] then it certainly could be very soon. Another thing imminency means is the rapture is certain that it will occur, but it's uncertain as to when it will occur. I was out in California a few years
[00:20:58] ago and experienced my first earthquake out there. In fact, my second earthquake was in Oklahoma a few months ago. We had the largest earthquake in history in the state of Oklahoma. The same day we
[00:21:07] had floods. We had all kinds of things taking place. We had flooding going on, tornadoes.
[00:21:13] We had this earthquake that took place. I felt like we were just waiting for the locusts to come in and the water to turn to blood and some other things. But I'm sure some of you are from
[00:21:24] California, and imminency to me is like people in California waiting for the big one. They all know the big one is coming someday. That big earthquake's going to come. It's certain that it's going to
[00:21:35] happen, but it's uncertain as to when it's going to happen. And to me, it's the same way with the rapture. It could happen at any point in time. And what this means to me is only a person who's
[00:21:49] pre-trib can legitimately say, I believe that Jesus could come back today. There's an old parody I heard years ago, I love it. Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse, the pastor of 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, he took that old song, Jesus May Come Today, and made a parody out of it because
[00:22:08] he said if you're mid-trib or post-trib, you can't believe Jesus could return today.
[00:22:13] It's that old song, many of you may have sung it years ago, it says, Jesus may come today, Glad day, glad day, and I would see my friend.
[00:22:22] Trials and troubles would end if Jesus would come today.
[00:22:25] Glad day, glad day, is it the crowning day?
[00:22:28] I'll live for today and or anxious be.
[00:22:30] Jesus, my Lord, I soon shall see.
[00:22:33] Glad day, glad day, is it the crowning day?
[00:22:37] A barnhouse then would say, well, if you're pre-trib, if you're mid-trib or post-trib, then you have to sing that old song and say, Jesus can't come today.
[00:22:46] Sad day, sad day, and I won't see my friend.
[00:22:50] Trials and troubles won't end because Jesus can't come today.
[00:22:53] Sad day, sad day, today's not the crowning day.
[00:22:57] I won't live for today and anxious I'll be.
[00:23:01] The beast and the false prophet I soon shall see.
[00:23:04] Sad day, sad day, today's not the crowning day.
[00:23:09] Well, that's true, isn't it?
[00:23:11] I mean, really, if you hold any other view than pre-trib, you have to get up in the morning and say, Jesus can't come today because we're not even in the tribulation period so when will the believing
[00:23:21] be leaving well I think the answer to that is anytime we should be ready all the time because Jesus can come at any time we can get up in the morning we can look into the heavens and say
[00:23:33] perhaps today today might be the day that Jesus comes I remember hearing Dr. S. Lewis Johnson say years ago we need to live looking I love that statement we need to live looking we could be
[00:23:45] the generation that cheats death. We could be that generation that does an end run on the grave.
[00:23:51] And I'm afraid that this attitude of anticipation is missing from the lives of many believers today.
[00:23:58] And that's sad to me because believing in the rapture and believing it could happen any moment should dramatically impact how we live. It ought to translate into everyday life, should affect how we live each day. Every time I can find, at least all the main rapture passages,
[00:24:14] there's always practical application with the rapture. Let me just mention four of these briefly, four daily influences the rapture should have. The first one is it should have a calming influence on stirred hearts. In John 14, 1 to 3, Jesus said, don't let your hearts be troubled.
[00:24:33] There's a lot in this world today to get us anxious and troubled and stirred up.
[00:24:37] Jesus said, don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
[00:24:42] in my Father's house or many dwelling places.
[00:24:45] If it were not so, I would have told you.
[00:24:47] 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 to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
[00:24:57] The rapture has a controlling influence on serving hearts.
[00:25:02] After discussing the rapture in 1 Corinthians 15, the culmination is verse 58, where Paul writes, therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain.
[00:25:17] The rapture should motivate us and energize us to be working and serving the Lord, knowing that our labor isn't in vain.
[00:25:25] The rapture, as we saw here in 1 Thessalonians 4.18, should have a comforting influence on sorrowing hearts.
[00:25:32] It says, therefore, comfort one another with these words.
[00:25:35] And how many times have people stood out on some windswept cemetery somewhere, and placing the body of a loved one in the ground and read those words of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and received comfort and reassurance
[00:25:48] in the coming of the Lord.
[00:25:51] And the final aspect of the rapture that should have practical influence on our lives is it should have a cleansing influence on sinning hearts.
[00:25:59] The rapture is a purifying hope.
[00:26:02] In 1 John 3, 3, the Apostle John tells us, everyone who fixes his hope on him purifies himself, even as he himself is pure.
[00:26:12] If we really believe that Jesus could come back today, I can promise you, and I experienced this in my life, there's some things that you might do that you won't do if you believe Jesus could
[00:26:22] come back today. And there's some things that you will do that you might not have otherwise done if you really believe that Jesus could come back at any time. There's a story I heard about a young
[00:26:35] man and a young lady. They were set up on a blind date, and he was supposed to be there at seven o'clock to pick her up, and 7 o'clock came and went, and 8 o'clock came and went, so she figured
[00:26:43] she'd been stood up, and so she goes and puts on her pajamas and takes her makeup off and sits down on the sofa with some popcorn and her dog there to watch her favorite show on television. Well,
[00:26:55] about 9 o'clock, there's this loud knock on the door, and she opens the door up, and this young man looks surprised, and she looks surprised, and he says, I'm two hours late, and you're still not
[00:27:04] ready yet? Spoken like a man, truly, right? But may God help us to be prepared, to be pure, to be motivated, to be energized vessels that the Lord can use as we await His coming.
[00:27:23] Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank You this morning that we have a certain hope in this uncertain world in which we live. We thank You that our hope is in a person.
[00:27:36] we're not just waiting for an event. We're not just waiting for the rapture, but we're waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ. We will see Him face to face. We look forward to the day when our faith will become sight. Help us to live in light of that day. Father, I pray for
[00:27:59] all of us here today, all of my brothers and sisters in Christ here today. Help us to live looking. Fill us up with hope, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.