In the Old Testament we have words regarding the coming of the Lord to the earth. Even Daniel spoke of that. One of his visions, he saw that coming. But there is an aspect of our Lord's coming that was not revealed in the Old Testament. That He would come to the earth and would reign was revealed. But the fact that He would have a prior coming before that one to reign was not expressly stated in the Old Testament. That is why the Apostle Paul refers to it as a mystery.
He says in 1 Corinthians 15, Behold, I show you a mystery. In other words, it is a truth that God had not revealed to prior generations, but which He has now disclosed to us in this age so that we might know of it. So that it might be our blessed hope that is the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 the Apostle gives us a long paragraph regarding that coming of Christ.
It is there said that He will come and we will be caught up together with them in the clouds. It is that idea of being seized or snatched away that gives us the thought for this word rapture that we use to describe this first coming of our Savior at the end of the age. It is His coming for His own when He will seize or snatch away those who belong to Him.
Now as I said a couple of weeks ago when we first talked about this subject, there are some who understand the coming of Christ for the church to occur essentially at the same time as His second coming. They believe that His coming for the church will take place after the tribulation, this time of judgment that we have looked at now for several weeks as we have studied Daniel on Sunday mornings.
There are others who believe that the coming of the Lord for His church will occur at the midpoint of the tribulation after three and one half years, but before the great tribulation, at last three and one half years of intensified suffering in the world. The position however that I believe is most consistent with the literal interpretation of the Bible is that our Lord is coming before the seven year period even begins.
And so I wanted to address this theme that we address every couple of years in our church as to why we believe Jesus must come before the tribulation period. Let me just review with you some of the things that we said the last time we were together around this theme.
In the first place, the relationship of the church to the wrath of God would argue that our Lord must come before the tribulation period for the tribulation is a time when God's wrath will officially be poured out upon the earth and the church has already been delivered from the wrath of God. Our appointment, our destiny is not to wrath, but to salvation. Then we talked about the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
We saw that the Holy Spirit in his present restraining ministry must be taken out of the way first and then the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, can be revealed and he can perform his wicked works. And my argument is that the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way in his restraining ministry at the same time that the church is removed. For it is the presence of the church, God's people right now in the world that restrains evil.
The Holy Spirit uses us as salt and light, as a hindrance to the progress, the plans of evil. One day we'll be taken out of the world, snatched away to be with our Lord and then the man of lawlessness can come full force. Satan's plans for him can be fulfilled. Then we saw that the tribulation is a time that is primarily Jewish in nature. None of the Old Testament or the New Testament passages that talk about the tribulation mention the church in relationship to it.
The tribulation has to do with Israel, God's Old Testament people. It is called a time of Jacob's trouble in Jeremiah 30. It is the fulfillment of the 70th week of Daniel as we have seen in Daniel 9, 27. It is that final period of seven years that God laid out for his people Israel. And therefore we believe the church must be taken out of the way for God to fulfill his plan for Israel in the tribulation period.
And then we looked at the fact that it's a principle of God's judgment, justice rather, to deliver his own before judgment. We suggested that that was the case with Noah, that it was the case with Lot and with Rahab. When God is going to pour out his wrath upon a people, that it is his principle to deliver his own before that time of judgment.
Then we closed with the last time with saying that it is those of us who believe that his coming is before the tribulation who can honestly say we believe in the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who believe that there are certain things that have to come to pass yet before he can come, whether it be three and a half years of the tribulation or seven years of the tribulation, cannot honestly say that the Lord could come tonight.
They can't honestly say that because there are things that must yet happen before he can come according to their scheme of things. We believe the Bible teaches that Jesus may come at any moment. There is nothing that could hinder him from returning this very evening if in fact that is the time that God has appointed. And so it is what is called the pre-tribulational rapture view that allows for the imminency of Christ's return.
Now tonight I want to go on and talk about three or four other arguments, reasons why Jesus must come before the tribulation. Would you turn with me in your Bible to John chapter 14. The evening before Jesus went to the cross he was with his disciples in the upper room and in a lengthy discourse there recorded only by the apostle John, Jesus had some comforting words for his disciples. You are familiar with them. Verse 2 says, In my father's house are many dwelling places.
If it were not so, I would have told you, for 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, but where I am there you may be also. Now frankly I apply this text to believers who are taken in death. I think it's a wonderful promise for those who have died in Christ. Those of us who are left behind understand that when that believer dies the Lord has in a sense received that one to himself.
But the fact is that John 14.3 has something more in view than the death of a believer. When Jesus says I will come again and receive you to myself, but where I am there you may be also, he really has in mind a doctrine that has not yet been fully revealed. And it won't be until the writings of the apostle Paul. But it is this doctrine of his rapture of the church. When he will come again and receive his own to himself that we might be with him.
Now this text indicates to us that immediately after our Lord comes and receives us to himself, we are going to journey with him to heaven, not back to the earth. He says I have gone to prepare a place for you, I am going to come and receive you to myself, but where I am there you may be also. The implication being that he is going to take us back to that place that he has prepared for us during this age.
Now if one takes the position that some do, then our Lord is going to catch away the church, go up into the air and then immediately come right back to the earth to establish his kingdom. What a strange journey that would seem to be. How unnecessary. Why does the Lord go through all of that motion if that's all that's intended for us simply to go up into the air as we are changed and transformed and then come back directly to the earth.
The point is that our Lord says that he is going to come and receive us to himself and take us home to the place that he has prepared for us. That's not to say we are never going to come back to the earth. Because I believe that we will and indeed that we will reign with Christ upon the earth and his kingdom. But the point is that immediately after the rapture our journey does not reverse itself back to the earth. But our Lord says back to the place that he has prepared for us.
First Thessalonians 4 says that we will be with the Lord forever. Now it's true if he's coming back to the earth immediately we will come back with him. The point is that he is coming to take us up into the air to meet him there and then we are going to journey back to heaven together with him as one large body. His bride, his people, those called out in this age of grace. And we will be there during the time that the judgments are poured out upon the earth in the tribulation.
Another reason that I believe Jesus must come back before the tribulation is because this view allows time for the judgment seat of Christ to occur. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 for a moment and notice these rather terrifying words of the Apostle Paul. At least he found them terrifying and we are foolish if we don't. He says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Therefore knowing the fear, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. And so the Apostle says that there is a time coming when all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The picture here as you probably know is of the Bema seat in the city of Corinth. It was a platform that was elevated in the city and if you go to see the ruins of Corinth you can still see the Bema there constructed in ancient Corinth.
When they would have their games, their Olympics if you please, in the city of Corinth, afterwards those who had won the games would come before the Bema, it was called, this seat that was elevated. And there they would receive their reward or their award for winning the race or the event. Their award normally was a wreath of green, some kind of a garland that was placed upon their head and indicated that they are the ones who deserve the prize.
So the Apostle writing to people very familiar with that whole concept there in Corinth says that all of us are going to appear before the Bema of Christ and there we are going to receive from Him what we have done in our bodies. This is not going to be an accounting for our sins, thank God those have been accounted for already at the cross. But this is an accounting of our service, what we have done for Christ, whether those things be worthwhile or worth less. It will be exposed at that point.
And he says all of us are going to appear, the idea is we are going to be manifested as we really are. The truth about us will then be known. Now the encouraging thing that the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 is that then every one of us will receive his reward from the Lord. And so the Lord is going to find something to praise every one of His children for. But the Apostle raises the possibility here of suffering loss at that judgment seat.
It seems to indicate that in some respect we may know what we might have had had we been faithful. I have no doubt that there will be tears for many of us at the judgment seat of Christ when we see what we have suffered loss of. But thank God that there will be reward at the judgment seat and it will be given to those who have served the Lord in a faithful way.
Now what I'm saying is that those who take the position that Jesus is coming before the tribulation have time to allow for this event to occur. If our Lord is coming at the end of the tribulation, He is coming back immediately to the earth and will establish His kingdom. And while there are some earthly judgments that take place after that, this judgment seems to take place in the heavens. And I believe the best timing for it is immediately after the rapture.
After we are caught up to be with the Lord in the air that it will be then that somewhere between earth and heaven there will be a time of examination for us and we will be called before the Lord and it says each one of us will be. And then we will be recompensed from the Lord, paid back from Him for our service.
And that service that we have done that no one has known about, of which we received no praise, that we might have thought was unimportant that our Lord has taken note of that and on that day He will commend and give an appropriate reward. The view that Jesus is coming back before the tribulation allows time for all of this to occur you see.
Let me say in the ninth place, where I have ten reasons here and this is number nine, that the position that Jesus is coming back before the tribulation allows for natural, let me put it a different way, for people in their natural bodies to enter into the kingdom.
You remember this morning we touched on the fact that there would be people who would live through the tribulation, who would not be in resurrection bodies because they were killed and martyred in the tribulation, but who would be protected by God and who would live through the tribulation and who would then enter into the kingdom in their natural bodies. That is because the kingdom will allow for a repopulation of the earth.
There will be some laws that presently are in action that will be suspended at that time. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 65 for example. Isaiah 65 and well let's look at verse 19 or 20. Let's start with 19. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people and there will be no longer heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. God is saying through Isaiah the prophet that there is a time of blessing coming for his people the Jews.
He says in verse 20, no longer will there be in it, in the nation, in the city of Jerusalem, an infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not live out his days. For the youth will die at the age of 100 and the one who does not reach the age of 100 shall be thought accursed. It indicates here that in that kingdom reign of Christ on the earth, longevity of life will again be the norm.
The kind of longevity that was known before the flood in the days of the patriarchs that were before the flood. Enoch and Noah and so on. That there will be a longevity of life and if a person dies even before 100 years of age what has he done wrong will be the thought. The idea seems to be that God will judge sin in the kingdom very severely. Our Lord will rule with a rod of iron and when sin appears he will immediately deal with it and it will often be by death.
It will be a righteous reign of our Lord. And one who is unrighteous will be cut off and so that if someone dies at 100 the question will be what was he cursed for? What was his judgment? It goes on to say, and they shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat.
For as the lifetime of a tree so shall be the days of my people and my chosen ones shall wear out the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity. They are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord and their descendants with them. And it will come to pass that before they call I will answer and while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox and thus shall be the serpent's food.
They shall do no evil or harm in all my holy mountains says the Lord. That is in all of the kingdom of our Lord there will be no harm. And so even the animals will become docile and tamed, domesticated and so that there will not be the kind of death from animals for example that there is today. The kingdom will have a different order about it and sin will be suppressed and subdued and when it arises as I said it will be dealt with very severely by the Lord.
The point is that because of the longevity of life in the first place that means people are in their natural bodies and not in resurrection bodies. And because it is longevity of life the population of the world during the millennium, the kingdom, will mushroom to be many billions undoubtedly by the end of the thousand year reign of our Lord.
Now here's the point, if the rapture occurs immediately before the millennial reign of Christ that means that all of the righteous are caught up to be with the Lord in resurrection bodies and there are no righteous people left in natural bodies to enter into the kingdom to repopulate the earth. Do you understand the logic of that?
You see the point is that there has to be a period of time between the rapture and the establishment of the kingdom to allow for a new group of people, of righteous people to be saved upon the earth. And the seven year period of tribulation allows for that. As I've said before and the scripture indicates many will be martyred during that time but many will not be.
And because they're saved during that seven year period and live until the kingdom they're the ones who will then bear children and have descendants and who will be responsible to repopulate the earth in that period of time. It is only this position that allows for that to take place. And then a final reason I believe that Jesus must come before the millennial reign of Christ is tied to a text in Matthew chapter 25 and I invite you to turn there with me.
This is often referred to as the judgment of the nations. Matthew chapter 25. We'll look at verse 31, but when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep and the goats and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. We'll skip on down to verse 41, then he will say also to those on his left, depart from me accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. And so you see when our Lord comes and sits upon his glorious throne he immediately enters into a judgment.
It is said that the nations are gathered before him and it says he will separate them from one another. Understand he is not separating nations from one another like the United States from Brazil and Russia from Lithuania, but rather he is saying when he says them, the individuals who live in the nations, the original language makes that very clear. So he will gather the nations of the world and then as individuals the peoples of the nations will be brought before him and he will separate them.
One group on his right which will enter into the kingdom and another group on his left which will at this time be cast into the eternal fire. The nations are the unrighteous. Now you say who are these people and why are they being judged? Well you will notice if you read the entire text that Jesus bases the judgment upon how these ones before him have treated the ones he calls my brethren. Jesus is undoubtedly talking here regarding the Jewish brethren of the tribulation period.
This is a judgment of Gentiles and the basis of their judgment is how they treated the Jews during the tribulation period. There will be those who will give them water to drink, who will take them in and hide them, who will clothe them, who will visit them in their prisons and be kind to them. The question is why will they do that? The answer is that they are Gentiles who believe in Christ.
They are Gentiles who have come to faith in the Lord perhaps through the Jewish evangelist which the Lord will send throughout the earth in the tribulation period. That's the 144,000 I referred to this morning. And because they have believed in the Christ they will show compassion and kindness to the Jewish people. That will be the evidence, the proof of their faith in him.
On the other hand, those Gentiles who have not had compassion upon Christ's brethren, the Jews, will be those who have not been saved and who by that have evidenced their lack of compassion, their disregard and we can say from other texts even their hatred for the Jewish people. So you see it's not a basis of works here so much as it is why they did the works that makes the difference. It's their faith.
But it's faith which is evidenced and based upon the evidence the Lord separates these Gentiles. And some he brings into the kingdom, those who have believed, and others he causes to depart from him into eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and those angels that chose to follow him. Now here's my point. There would be no need for this judgment at the second coming of Christ, and that's when it is according to verse 31, if the rapture immediately occurred before the second coming.
Because the righteous would have already been separated out from the nations. And by that event of the rapture, they would be caught up and be in resurrection bodies. They would not be out there among the nations of the world needing to be separated. The rapture would have already cared for that.
And so again the logic points to the fact that there has to be a period of time between the rapture and the second coming of Christ when this judgment takes place and when there are believers among the Gentiles who need to be called out so that they can then be brought into the kingdom and share in its glory. Now I certainly would not strongly attack someone who takes a different position than I do regarding the timing of the rapture.
I have some dear friends who believe that the rapture is going to occur one of the other times that we've talked about. And they certainly have a right to believe that and a right to be wrong, just as I have the same right.
But my point is that as we come to the scriptures and we open them up and we interpret them literally or normally, that it leads me to believe there can be no other position consistent with the whole of scripture than that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come for the church, the believers of this age, before the time of tribulation that will come.
Martha Snell Nicholson has written these words, sickened with slaughter and weary of war, torn by bereavement and pain, daily our eyes are searching the skies for signs of his coming again. Longing, we pray at dawning of day, Lord, will thou come before noon? In pouring him yet in the fading sunset, O blessed Lord Jesus, come soon. Precious the word the ear of faith heard. Behold, I come quickly, my bride. This longing of thine is not greater than mine, to have thee at last by my side.
As much as we long to see him, he longs to come to receive us. We must wait until it is the Father's time, but just as our hearts throb with a longing that we might see his face, so his heart wells up with anticipation of his bride being gathered together, caught away to be with himself. Just as a groom receives his bride with great joy and excitement and anticipation, so the Savior is waiting for that moment when he will be brought together with his bride ever to be with him.
One day we shall behold him face to face. Doris Anne is going to come and sing for us that song that Dottie Rambeau wrote, which means so much to so many of us. As she comes, let's bow together first in prayer and then listen to the words as she sings of this blessed truth. Lord Jesus, we love you. Our hearts long for that time when we will see you face to face. It causes us to be sobered, even a bit amazed, to consider that you also long for that day. But you do.
And you have said, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. Lord Jesus, I pray that we will not be caught up. In the affairs of life, the cares of this world, to the extent that we lose sight of the blessed hope. But keep it before us that we might be stimulated to godly living, be comforted in our sorrows, be purified in our walk. Amen.