The End Times
Part 4 – The Rapture
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 24:27-35
The Rapture
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.’ (Isaiah 13 – Destruction of Babylon)
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ (Isaiah 13 – Destruction of Babylon)
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, 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.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
INTRODUCTION
The disciples ask Jesus, when will the end come, and Jesus explains to them that no one but the Father in Heaven knows. He then proceeds to tell them what the end will look like, and what will take place.
I believe the reason Jesus did so, was to instruct us, and keep us from falling into traps set by false prophets.
Many have been deceived in years past, by many who claim to be Jesus, or know where Jesus is, or is going to be.
These false prophets have used the Lord to manipulate people for their own evil desires.
Jesus begins by telling the Disciples, “Watch out that no one deceives you…”
This speaks of two things. First, even those closest to Jesus can be deceived, and secondly, there are people out there trying to deceive God’s children.
Jesus says not to fear when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, this has to take place.
This is the “beginning” of the birth pains.
After this, believers will be persecuted, and put to death. They will be hated by all nations because of Christ.
This is taking place RIGHT NOW!
There are many believers around the world being put to death because of Christ, and many who are hated because of Him.
It is during this time many false prophets will rise, and are rising.
This, Jesus says, is the beginning of the End.
Then we will witness the anti-Christ the Prophet Daniel spoke of come into power. He will actually stand in the temple and claim to be Christ Himself.
The Prophecy in Daniel 8 Jesus is referring to was written over 500 years before the birth of Jesus, and spoke of the birth of Jesus, His crucifixion, and the rise of the anti-christ.
2/3rds of the prophecy have already come to pass, next is the Abomination.
Let’s see what Jesus says will take place when the anti-Christ comes into power.
I. IMMEDIATELY AFTER DISTRESS
a. vs 29 “Immediately after the distress of those days…”
i. After the signs, the persecution, the false messiahs and Christ’s appearing everywhere, the anti-christ standing in the temple and proclaiming to be the Christ, the End will begin.
ii. This is the start of what we call the tribulation.
iii. A time like no other the earth has ever seen, or will ever see again.
b. It is at this time, immediately after the distress (tribulation), that the second coming will take place.
c. “‘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.’
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
i. Jesus is quoting Isaiah 8, where the prophet is speaking of the destruction of Babylon.
ii. How does the sun become darkened? Debris in the sky.
iii. Why does the moon not give light at night? Because the sky is so full of debris the light cannot penetrate it.
iv. How do stars fall from the sky? Perhaps it’s a metaphor because they cannot be seen, or its debris which follows an asteroid?
1. In Revelation 13, when the end is described, an asteroid named ‘wormwood’ hits the earth, destroying land, killing millions and poisoning the waters of the earth. An asteroid strike of this magnitude would most definitely cloud the sky of the entire earth, blot out the night sky, and darken even the sun.
II. THE RAPTURE
a. I had a man tell me once that he did not believe in the rapture because the word rapture never appears in the scripture.
i. To which I responded, “I guess you’ll be walking home then, because car is not in there either.”
ii. The word Bible is not in the Bible, yet we have one, can hold it and read it. Sometimes we use a word to describe a collection of thoughts and ideas, to simplify things in a complicated world.
iii. I guess if you don’t like the word rapture, you could always just say, “At the beginning of that great and terrible day when the persecution of saints has reached its zenith and the anti-Christ stands in the temple and claims to be the messiah, and Jesus appears in the clouds with the angels to gather God’s people.” But it is so much easier to say rapture.
b. vs 30 “THEN will appear the SIGN of the Son of Man”
i. The SIGN will be as Jesus says, unquestionable.
1. There will be no doubt in anyone’s mind WHO it is.
2. Jesus will appear in the clouds with angels, and in a blink of an eye, the angels will gather all of God’s people.
a. I Corinthians 15:52 “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
ii. When Jesus does appear for the Rapture, we will be taken before we know what’s going on, and the ones left behind will look up and see the sign of the Son of Man in the sky.
iii. “And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”
1. Many will weep because they knew just enough about the Lord to know what is taking place, and they were not included.
2. Some will weep because when the TRUE Christ reveals Himself, they will see that they had been fooled by the anti-Christ.
3. Whatever their reason, all of the people left on earth will mourn when they see Jesus come.
III. LESSON FROM THE FIG TREE
a. Jesus, wanting the disciples to understand what He was telling them about the end, used parables, or stories, to help describe what was going to take place.
b. Vs 32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree:”
i. We do not know the day, nor hour, but Jesus tells us the signs to watch for.
ii. “As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.”
c. Is the rapture at the door?
i. Are there wars and rumors of wars?
ii. Is kingdom against kingdom and nation against nation?
iii. Are natural disasters and famines taking place that overshadow past events?
iv. Are Christians hated because of Christ?
v. Are Christians being persecuted and put to death around the world right now?
d. The only sign left is for the anti-christ to claim to be the Lord, and the rapture to take place.
e. YES, it is at the door!
f. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
i. Generation should have been translated “nation”
ii. Jesus is saying that God’s children will continue to exist until this takes place. God’s people will NOT die out.
iii. Heaven and earth WILL pass away (we’ve examined the scriptures speaking of the judgment, and how during the second judgment, while God is judging those who do not belong to the Kingdom of God, the earth will be destroyed and made new. We also know from the same scriptures that God will also make a new heaven at this time.
CONCLUSION
Jesus explains what signs will reveal the coming of the end. He tells us in the scripture what to look for, and what will take place.
Next week we will continue with Jesus explaining what the rapture itself will be like.
