The Truth About the Rapture

You've all heard of the rapture, the idea that someday, just no one knows the day or the hour of the time, someday what's going to happen is everything is going to stop as all Christians disappear. Cars will crash and planes will fall from the air and just horrible things will happen all over the globe as Christians disappear. And they're taken away to go into heaven to be with God, and we know according to what people believe, who believe in the rapture, that that is the beginning, then, of the tribulation. What happens after the rapture? I actually have a picture here I want to show you. That's it. I read someone describe what it would be like to be in the rapture, and they said, can you imagine being at a funeral and everybody's mourning, and suddenly half the people simply disappear, including the corpse, and all that's left is their clothes. And people then realize, oh, the time has come.

Well, we've been preparing. We're actually working on a Beyond Today program where we're going to talk about the rapture. We've actually postponed it to another time. But I thought I would go ahead and take some of that information and talk about it today, because we are coming up to the Holy Days. I know we haven't finished the fruits of the Spirit yet, but we will get through that as we get closer to the Holy Days. I want to talk a little bit about the Holy Days.

The rapture, and what that means, as what most evangelicals mean by the rapture, is a belief that does not measure up with what we believe about the Feast of Trumpets.

Now, the rapture comes in a lot of different forms, a lot of different ways that it is explained. But here's the basic concept. The basic concept of the rapture is that Jesus Christ comes. His Second Coming is in two parts.

Now, there's variations of this, but this is the basic idea. He comes the first time in secret to take the church and to resurrect the dead to go up into heaven. And then, depending on which rapture concept you buy into, three and a half years, seven years, sometimes a few months, but whatever time period, then he comes back visibly and the world sees him coming back. And there's a secret coming in which this change takes place, and then there's a visible coming. And these are two different events.

Now, it is important to understand whether that's true or not, if we're going to understand what God is doing, and also in understanding our place and what God's going to do with us, and what God's going to do with the church as we approach the coming tribulation, which I think most of us believe is going to happen sometime in our lifetime. What is God going to do with the church? Now, there are actually three different beliefs in the rapture. Let me show this slide. It basically covers the three different concepts of the rapture. The first one is what amelianists or post-milleniists believe, and this was actually the most common belief in Christianity until a little over 100 years ago.

This is what most people believed, and that is that Jesus Christ comes back at the end of the thousand years.

It's interesting that in 1000 AD there was a massive movement in Europe to prepare for Christ's Second Coming, because the thousand years were sober. When He didn't come in 1000 AD, they said, well, we got it off. He died in 31 AD, so they moved it to 31 AD, and He was going to come back. There was this massive movement, in fact. It's one of the reasons that propelled the first crusade, because they had to go grab and take the Jerusalem from the Antichrist, which was the Muslims.

They had to take it from the Antichrist and have it prepared for Christ's return, even though it was now close to 1100. They really were off now by a long shot, but it still was driving people, this belief that He had to come back. This was the most common belief. In 1844, the Adventist movement in the United States, which spawned the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which the Church of God Seventh-Day came out of.

This was very popular among Baptists and Methodists. They believed Jesus Christ was coming back in 1844, and it is estimated that the 100,000 people, when you consider the population of the United States in 1844, there was a lot of people, 100,000 people dressed in white and came out one night and waited to be taken up into heaven.

Now, you think, well, how did they come to that conclusion? Because they had put figures together, and the millennium somehow it ended.

Now, during the 1800s, they began to believe, people began to look at the Bible and say, you know what? The whole post-millennial belief, which was based on the fact, a belief that it came from Catholicism, that the Church had to reign for a thousand years and prepare for the return of Jesus Christ.

So that's why he came after the thousand years. The Church had to reign for a thousand years. Christ reigned on the earth through His Church. You can understand why the Pope gained so much power. If Christ is reigning on the earth through His Church, preparing for Christ's Second Coming, then who is reigning in His death? And that's why the whole papacy formed in the way that it did.

In the 1800s, Protestants began to say, wait a minute, wait a minute, we got this all wrong. And then you had the dispensational premillennialist come on. Now, there's a term you need to really learn, right? There's a test afterwards. Basically, this belief is that Christ comes before the Millennium to set up the kingdom on the earth. Now, you have to understand, in 1844, very few people in Christianity, any place in the world believed that.

A few did, but very few. Now, the entire evangelical and almost all mainstream Protestants believed that. But that wasn't common back then. But then people began to say, okay, we had this wrong. We have to figure out Christ does come back before. But there were now left with a couple of problems. You have the tribulation. How do you put all those things together? How do you put together the four horsemen? And how do those events fit together? And there was a Scripture that bothered people, and that is in Revelation 3. So let's go to Revelation 3. I want to show you how this formed and why it formed.

Because this concept crops up from time to time, even in our church. We have to understand why we don't believe this in this way. We are what they call historical pre-millennialists. You never knew that, did you? You are an historical pre-millennialist. It's a term used for what we believe, which we're not the only people to believe that.

Revelation 3 verse 7. They began to realize as they looked at Revelation that the seven churches of Revelation 3 and 4 are not just about the seven churches that existed in 100 A.D. That these churches have an importance throughout history and a prophetic importance. And they began to realize that these seven churches represent seven different kind of churches that exist at any time. But they also represent seven church eras. And that began to be taught in much of what eventually became evangelical Protestantism.

And as they began to realize that, they came to this church, the message of the church of Philadelphia. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things says, He who is holy, He who is true, He has the key of David, He opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens.

And now He works. See, I have sent before you an open door that no one can shut, for you have a little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name. Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews or not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and know that I have loved you. And because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial that shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

So they looked at that and said, that has to be the Great Tribulation, which I agree. That's what that Scripture looks at, because what is the Great Tribulation, or the Great Trial, the Great Test that comes on the whole world in which God has evolved, what we know is the Tribulation. And they said, okay, the church, or at least part of the church, has to be protected during the Tribulation. How does that happen? And this is what began to form the whole rapture concept. God's got to do something with those people, with the Christians who are alive at the end times, so they don't have to go through the Tribulation.

And what does He do with them? They basically took three Scriptures. There's actually a fourth one, but because that one is so ambiguous in its explanation, they've removed that from their core teaching. There's basically three Scriptures that are used. So let's look at these three Scriptures. The first one is in 2 Thessalonians 2. And verse 1, Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you. This is one of the main verses that is used by the people who believe in the premillennial rapture.

Now, what do we believe? If we went back to the other slide, you don't have to go back there, but if we went to this slide that I showed, the historical premillennialist believed that Jesus Christ returns, the change of the church and the resurrection happened at His return.

There is no secret. There is no two parts to His coming. There's one part. He comes, and at His coming, now you can put together all the events of the seventh last trumpet, because there's a lot of events in that last last trumpet. You can put that together in terms of, okay, He's coming, and these events happen.

And one of those events is the resurrection of the dead and the changing of the church. Now, that's what we believe. That happens then. There is no secret coming. Now, this is important because if there is a secret coming, we're in trouble. So, it's important for us to know why we don't believe in the secret coming, right? Because, according to people who believe in the rapture, if you don't believe in the rapture, you don't get raptured. So, we need to understand why we don't believe it.

See, here they say, see, this is the gathering together. Before the tribulation, or doing the tribulation, depending on which rapture theory you believe in, Christ has to gather His people together and to produce in order to protect them from the tribulation, or from part of it. So, you understand the dilemma. You understand why they came up with this. This wasn't come up with just out of craziness. These people were dealing with a problem, and this is how they dealt with it.

Now, the next couple of verses really is central to part of what they believe, plus the next two passages we'll go through.

Let's look at verse 3.

Now, the rest of this chapter, he talks about what that day is, what that time is he's talking about. He's talking about the great antichrist and the beast power that forms, and he talks about how the whole world is the same. So, he's talking about the tribulation. So, the people who saw and understood that there was going to be this tribulation before Christ's return, they looked at this and they said, ah, this is what He does. There's a falling away.

And they said, the word falling away there means people are raptured away.

They say, well, how in the world did they come to that conclusion? People who believe in the rapture believe that the word there is depart, or departure. So, you take verse 1. Now, you have to understand this is called Isagesus. It's reading into something a conclusion you've already come to. Verse 1 says there's a gathering, ah, that happens before the tribulation. The problem is, verse 1 doesn't say that. It just says there's a gathering. Verse 3 is, ah, we know what this gathering is. It's the falling away, or the departure. That means everybody in this Christian departs and goes to heaven before the Antichrist comes on the scene. There's the proof. Well, the problem is, you could translate the word departure there, or falling away is departure. You could. In fact, in some of the oldest biblical translations, it is translated departure. The thing is, departure from what? They say, what's departing from the earth? To go to heaven. The word that, the great word there is apostasia.

Now, do you know any English word that is like apostasia? Because they're the same word, basically. The English word is just spelled a little different, pronounced a little different. It's called apostasy. So, there's an apostasy first. Now, apostasy can mean a departure, but it's a departure from what? Vines New Testament Greek dictionary says that apostasia means a defection, a revolt, or an apostasy. You say, well, how can it mean apostasy? Well, because the word, whatever the word means in English, is exactly what the word means in Greek. And so, some translations say there must be a revolt first. The singer, Slexicon, says a falling away, a defection, or an apostasy. The theological dictionary of the New Testament, and this is a very interesting concept. This is volume one of a ten-volume set, a dictionary of Greek words. It says this, that the word means to remove oneself or to resign or desist from something.

The root word actually comes from to remove. So departure can be a translation, but we still have the question, departure from what? The New American Standard Bible, lexicon, says, in the majority of occasions, the word means that the person doesn't actually depart from something. It means they stay where they are and they refuse to go. You say, well, how can they come to that conclusion? Well, apo in Greek means away. Stasis means to stand.

You stand away from something. Apostasy is apostasis. That's the root.

So it literally means that you are refusing to do something.

So to mean it means you depart and go to heaven, it actually would mean that you're refusing to go to heaven.

What does Webster's Dictionary say? If you look up a word in Greek and it says, English is apostasy. English word equivalent is apostasy. Okay, well, let's look at what the English word means. It means an abandoning of what you once believed in.

So the whole basis, and this is the basis of the rapture concept, as Second Thessalonians do, the whole basis of their use of the word. Can it be translated departure? Yes. But you have to say departure from what? And there's nothing in those verses that says departure and go to heaven.

It all has to do with departure from the truth.

And in the context, it's obvious it's departure from the truth. So that basis for an entire doctrine falls apart. Okay? A basis for a doctrine falls apart. But that's a little complicated to go through that. Okay, let's go through the two main scriptures that are used to describe. Okay, these are the scriptures used to describe the rapture.

I know you said, well, why are we going through the rapture? I don't believe in the rapture. Understand, the rapture appears over and over again in our church in different forms. So we have to understand why it doesn't add up, because it's going to always... Someone always comes along with a new theory in which Christ comes secretly. He has two parts to His coming, and it happens all the time. About every five years, there are certain things that come through the church. And one of them is, Christ comes in two parts.

So we have to say, is that true? Well, the easiest thing is, let's go back to the original concept. This one falls apart. So let's look at 1 Thessalonians 4, because this is the main number one passage used to say, this describes this gathering. This describes the gathering. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13. I read this at every funeral that I do. I do not want you to be ignorant, rather, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. Now, we know that death is described in the New Testament as a state of sleep. It's unconsciousness. So he says, we don't want you... Paul says, we don't want you to be ignorant about people who have died, because Jesus will bring them with Him when He comes. 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 by no means precede those who are asleep. So those who are alive when Jesus comes will not precede those who have already died. Important point. When is this event taking place when Jesus comes? Now, you have to have already concluded there's two comings and read something into this that's not there. He comes. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. That is the number one passage used to prove the rapture. See? This is the gathering together. It's secret in that nobody knows it's going to happen, and it suddenly happens, and everybody's raptured, and then everybody looks around and says, where did the Christians go? And the Christians are taking some place to escape the tribulation so that when... and then Jesus brings them back with Him. The other passage isn't 1 Corinthians. Now let's go to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter. And verse 50. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50. Now I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, Paul says, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Not all Christians will die. There will be Christians alive when this event takes place. But we shall all be changed. In the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, for the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Now let's look at what we just read, and comparing these two passages. We can look at this slide. What is the time period of 1 Thessalonians 4? What does it state exactly? You know, is it before the Tribulation or after the Tribulation? Where is Christ? He's in the clouds. He's visible. Christ is visible. Who is gathered? The dead and the saints who are alive. Who is raised first? The dead. What is heard? The voice of an archangel or trumpet. That's not pretty secret, for one thing. Christ is visible, and there's lots of noise involved in this. Now, 1 Corinthians 15. These people believe in the rapture, believe these are describing the same two events.

What is the time period, the last trumpet? What is the last trumpet? Now, the only way that makes sense, the explanation for this, is the last trumpet for the church. I'm not even sure what that means, but that's the explanation. We do know from the book of Revelation that the events of Revelation are seven trumpets, and there is a last trumpet. Right? So, the last trumpet, in any connection, if you're going to use it to any direct connection to the Scripture, which the rapture people says you cannot. You cannot apply this to any direct connection in the Scripture. But there is a direct connection in the Scripture. The last trumpet is the seventh trumpet. It's an actual event. What happened at the last trumpet? The seventh trumpet. There are no more trumpets at the seventh trumpet. It's the last one. What happens? Jesus Christ returns. So, we do have a time period for this one. 1 Corinthians 15 is talking about the visible return of Jesus Christ at the end of the tribulation. This can't be before the tribulation, because the last trumpet is at the end of the tribulation. Where is Christ? It doesn't say it directly. Who has gathered the dead and done the saints? Who has raised first the dead and what has heard the last trumpet? Why is Paul so specific to say, it's the last trumpet? So, you know exactly when the event takes place. So, as you can see, I can't look at these two. We've gone through the three major scriptures that are used to prove that this gathering takes place before the tribulation, and I can't find any substance to it. 2 Corinthians 2 does not say there's a gathering before the tribulation. It does say there's a falling away from the truth before the tribulation.

1 Corinthians 4 does not say that there's a gathering before the tribulation. It just says that there's a resurrection, and the only time period is given is that there's a shout of an archangel on the trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15 tells us exactly which trumpet. And so now we have this last trumpet, and we know from Revelation that there are seven trumpets. This is why we always talk about the resurrection of the dead and the return of Jesus Christ and the whole series of events that happened during the last trumpet on the Feast of Trumpets.

Because the Feast of Trumpets tells us and gives us a reference point for 1 Corinthians 15. It's the time of the trumpets. So it's called the Feast of Trumpets. Even in the Jewish world that does not believe in Revelation understands that the Feast of Trumpets has to do with judgment. It has to do with judgment.

Now, let's look at two other verses, or two other passages, about the second coming of Christ. That people who believe in the rapture says these two passages are about the second stage. 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians are about the first stage of His coming, and then these two are about the second stage, and they separate these into two different events. Matthew 24.

In verse 21 He talks about the Great Tribulation. So here we have the Olivet Prophecy where Jesus Christ is talking about all these events that are going to happen before His return. And in verse 21 He talks about the Great Tribulation. Verse 29 says, With a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

Visible coming of Jesus Christ in the clouds to gather the elect. Now, according to those who believe in the evangelical rapture, or premillennialist rapture, they believe that this is describing the second part of His coming.

And then there's another place in Revelation 11 that they say describes the second part of His coming. Revelation 11. I know going through the rapture isn't as exciting as some other subjects, but we need to know these things. We need to know them. Revelation 11, verse 15.

Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken great power and reigned.

The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you should reward your service, the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. So the seventh trumpet fell, and what is declared in heaven, now is the time to judge the dead and reward the saints.

So the saints are now going to be rewarded. Of course, I have a question. If you're already in heaven, haven't you received your reward? But that's... Now, we know from Revelation 19, it describes then Christ's coming. The whole world sees His coming. All the nations of the earth gather, armies gather to fight Him. By the way, His coming doesn't happen in, you know, like ten minutes.

Boom! You know, there's the sound of the trumpet, and ten minutes later, Jesus Christ is on the Mount of Olives. Remember, there are seven last vials to be poured out during this time. In fact, in one place in Revelation, it says, the days of the seventh trumpet. There's a little series of events that happen here. There's this blast of the trumpet, and all these events happen.

But it starts with, people see Christ coming, and they see His coming. You think about, just logically, if the armies gather to fight Him, why do they gather to fight Him? They've got to see Him coming. And so they all come together. We used to have a chart back years ago. Oh, forty years ago, we used to have a chart that everybody had. Remember, you tore it out and put it in your Bible. I used to have it in my Bible so I could flip it out. It went through all these events, and how they all went together.

And so, all these things fit together now. There's the seventh trumpet, and the saints are being rewarded, and Christ is returning. And at the end of those events, He stands on the Mount of Olives. And so, the people who believe in the rapture say, well, this is the second part of His coming. I want to look at the next slide, slide number four. So let's look at these two scriptures. Matthew 24 is after the tribulation. Whereas Christ is in the clouds. Who has gathered the elect? Who is raised first? It doesn't say. And what will be heard of trumpet? Revelation 11, Revelation 19, time period is the seventh trumpet, the last trumpet.

Whereas Christ, He is visible in heaven, descending to earth in the clouds. Who has gathered the dead is judged, the saints are rewarded. Who is raised first? It doesn't say. And it is the seventh trumpet. So let's put these four scriptures together now. Let's show the next slide. Now look at the events in these four scriptures. They are not describing two separate events. They are describing the same event. First Thessalonians 4, where Christ is in the clouds, is no different than Revelation, where He is visible in heaven and is standing to earth.

Or Matthew 24, where He is in the clouds. And yet, to put together the concept of the rapture and the way it is taught in evangelical Christianity, you have to make First Thessalonians and Matthew 24 two different events. You have to make First Corinthians 15 and Revelation two different events. You have to make the last trumpet and the seventh trumpet two different things. But you can look at all this and see that they are describing the same event.

Since they are describing the same event, we now can come to the conclusion that the historical pre-millennialists are right. That the resurrection of the dead and the change of the people who are on earth, the Christians on earth, happens at the seventh trump, the visible return of Jesus Christ. And it doesn't happen in two parts. Now, the problem we now have is what the entire issue that started the formation of the rapture doctrine. I should ask at this point any questions?

We're in a Bible study. Okay, any questions? You get this part. I hope when everybody is ashamed. I'm not going to say I don't get it. But I hope you get this part. The basic scripture about gathering in Thessalonians doesn't pan out in translation. And these four things are all talking about the same thing. So the resurrection does not take place before the seventh trumpet. The change of the church does not take place before the seventh trumpet. And we know those both things have to happen at the same time because remember, in 1 Thessalonians it says that those who are alive will not precede those who have died.

So there can't be a rapture without a resurrection of the dead. They both have to happen together. In fact, the dead actually are raised first. So they have to happen together. But this leads us to the original problem. Well, then how is the church protected during the tribulation?

Remember, that was what drove this formation of this teaching. The church has to be protected. We finally figured out that amillennialist or post-millennialism doesn't work. Remember, that's what had been taught for over a thousand years in mainstream Christianity that Jesus came back at the end of the millennium. And after enough failed prophecies and failed attempts for Jesus to come back, and he didn't, then okay, he comes back before the millennium. Now we have to change our whole way of thinking. But how is the church protected? The resurrection takes place either before or during the tribulation.

Okay, but we've been able to prove that that doesn't fit. Now, there's all kinds of other scriptures people will go to to build some kind of rapture concept. But remember, if we're going to deal with the resurrection, let's just go to the main scriptures that deal with the resurrection. The opposite scriptures do not allow us to go to that point. So, now we're dealt with... we still have... so that that means, how does the promise in Revelation 3, how does that happen?

How does that happen? How does part of the church get protected during the time of the tribulation? Revelation 12. I was asked recently, does the United Church of God still believe that the church is protected in a place during the tribulation? And the answer was, unless somebody's... Revelation 12 out of the Bible, yes, we still believe that. Revelation 12, verse 1. How you define verse 1... it tells you where you go with this passage. Now, a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and under her head a garland of twelve stars. Now, some commentators look at verse 1 of chapter 12, and they say, well, this is about Israel, and all the rest of this chapter describes what happened to the Jews in 70 AD. And so this is all basically history, a description of what happened. Of course, there's a whole lot of things in here that I just don't understand that seem to not happen in 70 AD. So the other explanation is that this woman is Mary, and so this is describing the Catholic Church. Now, that's an old explanation that was hung around for hundreds of years, and still exists in some commentaries. It's not as much belief today as it used to be. So then you have another explanation, and that is, well, it obviously has to do with Israel, so therefore, the rest of this chapter has to do with Messianic Jews. And they split the church into two parts. There's the Gentile Jews who get raptured, and the Messianic Jews who have to go through this. Now, you have two groups of people. Both believe in Jesus Christ. Both believe the same thing, and one group gets to go to heaven, and one group doesn't. I haven't figured that one out either, unless you just don't like Jews. So we look at verse 1, and we look at the Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, we know that Israel was referred to as a woman. We know later in Revelation there's a great false church that's referred to as a harlot, as a woman.

We also know it talks about twelve stars. It's interesting, if you go back to Genesis. Well, let's go back there. Genesis 37. We'll come right back to Revelation 12.

Joseph had a dream, remember? He got in trouble with his family when he told him the dream. Then verse 9 says he dreamed still another dream. And he told to his brothers and said, Look, I have dreamed another dream, and this time the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed to me. So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come bow down to the earth before you? They understood the meaning of this dream.

And this dream was that these twelve stars represented the twelve sons of Jacob.

So what we have here, of course there was eleven because Joseph was number twelve, remember? Of the stars here. So when we get to Revelation 12.1, there's no reason to look at this and say, Well, this is talking about Israel. It's talking about the woman. It's talking about the twelve tribes. Right? Verse 2.

Now, the dragon as a symbol of Satan is just accepted. That is universal. Everybody goes through Revelation 12 agrees. I don't care whether they're Catholic or Evangelical or Methodist or Anglican. The dragon is Satan, and he took a third of the angels with him. That's what that means. And the child is Jesus Christ. I mean, there's certain things we all agree with. I like to start with what we all agree with. Okay? Everybody agrees the dragon is Satan. Everybody agrees that it's Jesus Christ.

Okay, so we have Israel. Who did Jesus come through? This is the whole plan of God. This is an amazing chapter. You have Israel. Through Israel, he brings the Messiah. Satan, who drew a third of the angels to him, are now demons, wants to kill the Messiah. Remember what Herod did?

He wants to destroy what God's plan is. Verse 5, she bore... Who is the she here? The Catholic church version, I find interesting, because there was no church when Jesus was born. There wasn't a New Testament church yet. He came to found the New Testament church. So it just doesn't measure up. She has to be Israel. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God in his throne.

Once again, universal belief that this is about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came, he's going to rule the earth, he died, and he was resurrected. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days. Now we have an interesting problem, and this is where the explanation of this chapter always breaks down. Is the woman Israel? Well, what happened to Israel? Well, Israel never accepted the child. What do we do now? Where does this go? Israel was destroyed. It says she went into the wilderness, but you can't... What does this mean about Israel?

And this is why some people say, well, this has to be the church. So it's either the Catholic Church or the Messianic Jews. That's the two major explanations. The Catholic Church or the Messianic Jews? No. It is the church, but it's neither of those groups. It is the true church of God. In the New Testament, Jesus said, I have come to be the bridegroom and prepare a bride for me. And He was talking about the church.

The emphasis changes with the child from Israel, physical Israel, to spiritual Israel. The emphasis changes. Now, the church is called spiritual Israel. In fact, if you go to Galatians 3, verse 26, Paul says, For you were all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. So the church is the spiritual descendants of Abraham.

Heirs to the promise. In fact, in Romans, chapter 2, Paul says, A real Jew is the one who obeys God. That's the real Jew. Now, this doesn't erase—I have to make this caveat— this doesn't erase all the prophecies about Judah and Israel. Physical Judah and physical Israel have prophecies that yet be fulfilled about them.

They will be restored when the Messiah comes. They will be restored. So we can't go down that path. Paul won't let us. He starts in Romans 2 saying, physical Jews are physical Jews, but the real Jews are the ones who follow God, no matter what their genetic makeup. But then later in the same book, he goes on and talks about how all of Israel will be saved, talking about physical Israel. So he won't let us go down the direction of Reformed theology, that you can just throw out all the Scriptures that promise Israel or Judah something and now apply them to the church.

You can't do that either. But in this sense, in Revelation 12, something's changed. Because the entire emphasis of the New Testament is, God says, I'm creating a group of people, a spiritual Israel, a spiritual Judah, to become my special people. Peter talked about it in 1 Peter. So that when my son comes, he has a people prepared for him to be resurrected and changed and be with him.

So what we have in Revelation 12 is a change in emphasis. The child is born, the child is gone. The Israel of God now, which is the spiritual Israel of God, disappears 1260 days. If you go back into prophecy, in Numbers it talks about it, and Ezekiel talks about how we can look at prophecy and understand that there is, in many prophecies, a day equals a year. We know the church disappeared for 1260 years. There's hardly any history about it. What's interesting is Israel and Judah disappeared during that time period, too. Everything disappeared for practical purposes. There were pockets of Jews who knew who they were.

Almost all of Israel lost their identity, and the Jews were scattered throughout the world without a homeland. The church founded by Jesus Christ just sort of disappeared as the state church took over the Roman Empire and what used to be the Roman Empire.

That began to change. 1260 years later, if you go from the point where you have a state church form in the early 300s, you come into the 1600s and 1700s when you have all kinds of things happening in England and in the United States where people were discovering the Sabbath, people were discovering that many of the teachings of Protestantism and Catholicism isn't biblical. You have this revival taking place. Then the church begins to come out of its place in the wilderness. Let's go back to Revelation 12 now.

And pick it up in verse 7.

There is a point now where we have a war breakout. It would be nice if John had been told to say, okay, this happens here and this happens there. This just all runs together. This huge historical overview in one chapter in which events are separated by millennia. And then here they are in all these events they're talked about. And war broke out in heaven and Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail. There was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Then he heard a loud voice saying, in heaven now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come. The accuser of our brother, who accused him before our God day and night, has been cast out. You know, this event is not talking about a past event. It's an event yet to come. And it didn't happen right after the 1260 years either. Because when this event happens, salvation in the kingdom of God is coming. And since the kingdom of God isn't here yet, then this event hasn't happened yet, or isn't coming yet. The tribulation hasn't started. Those events haven't started yet. That means there comes a time, folks, that we think, how bad can this get? Just understand, Satan and the demons are let loose in a way that they are not active yet. You think this world is evil now? So, we still wrestle with, well, if we could just change our country, we could save it. You and I can't save this world where it's going. And there's going to come a point where Satan tries to overcome God again, and he throws him out, and he's cast down to this earth, and Satan and the demons run rampant on the earth. You think there's any political power that can slow that down when that starts? You and I can't fix this. This is going to happen. Verse 11. Here's how we deal with that. Here's how you and I survive that. Here's how you and I live through that.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony that they did not love their lives to the death. Oh, I don't like that one. Let's just go on to verse 12.

Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, woe to the habitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil cast down to you, having great wrath, because he knows his time is short. He finally figures out what the prophecies say are actually going to happen. And he has a short time to destroy humanity. He can't have it, so he's going to destroy it. That's why in Matthew 24 it says, if Christ doesn't come back to what he does, there'll be no flesh saved alive. Satan and the demons are going to be cast down to the earth with one purpose in their minds. We have to destroy every human being. And that's why you and I can't fix it. You and I can't vote anybody into power. We can't join some group or some party or some organization and change this.

Because when that happens, it's beyond any of us. And it's getting closer and closer to that time all the time.

Now, when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. Both Israel and the church will be persecuted. Both the woman of Revelation 1 and the woman of Revelation 6. Both are going to be persecuted.

But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time for the presence of the serpent.

Now, there are still, at this point, people that will say, well, this has to be the Jews. Well, we're going to see in a minute that it goes beyond that. This isn't physical Israel. There has to be a change from Revelation 12.1, from Revelation 12.17. Because I know when I said there's a change in 6, probably some of you said, how does he get that? If it's talking about Israel here, why is he talking about the church here? Well, we'll get to that in a minute. We'll show you.

You have to read the whole chapter to understand it. Three times and times and half a time. We all know what three and a half years are, right? We all know time and time and half times. We all know the tribulation. So the question is that led people to the rapture conclusion, God protects his church during the tribulation. Here we have an explanation of what he does. But if you believe this is the Jews only, it leaves you out of it. So you've got to come up with another way to get saved out of the mess.

You see how they came to their conclusion. But this is the church. So now we have a place in the wilderness. I have no idea where that is. So don't ask me. Well, I have my theory of where it is. It has to be close to Jerusalem. But that's it. The rest of it is my theory. How are we going to get there? Two wings of an eagle. What's that mean? Two wings of an eagle. I know there's another place in the Bible that two wings of an eagle is used.

It's when Israel came out of Egypt and they walked. I just can't walk to Jerusalem unless you and I can learn to walk on water. I don't know, but I believe it. I believe it. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like the flood after the woman. She may cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, and the dragon has spewed out of his mouth.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring. Who is this woman in her offspring? In other words, the woman has... The church isn't singular. It's broken up into parts. And to make war with the rest of her offspring, who what? Who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. This can't be orthodox Jews. That's why there has to be a change in emphasis from verse 1 to verse 6.

Because we start with Israel bringing forth the child. The church didn't bring forth Jesus. Jesus didn't come from the church. He came from Israel. He was a Jew, right? So verse 1 has to be Israel. But why do we get to the end? It can't be Israel. Well, it is the spiritual Israel.

That's why there's the change in emphasis here. And we get to the end and we know, wait a minute. The woman at the end keeps the commandments and has the testimony of Jesus Christ. So then it's, well, those are the messianic Jews. They're not the messianic Jews.

Well, they could be. I mean, there could be messianic Jews in this. The point is, this is the church. This is spiritual Israel. And part of it is protected and part of it is not. Part of the church goes through the tribulation. And part of it does not. And God doesn't take us to heaven. He takes us to a physical place. And so now we don't need the rapture. It'd be a whole lot easier to be raptured. It'd be nice if that's the way God did it. Bang! You go to heaven and you get to watch the entire tribulation. I don't want to live in a wilderness someplace.

I mean, can't we live in like a nice hotel for three and a half years or something? With room service? We're going to live in a wilderness for three and a half years. Now we can't get along now. That's going to be an interesting time, isn't it?

So here we have the answer to the problem. We have the answer to the problem. The church is protected. Part of it. Part of it is not. And we don't have the rapture. We don't have to take those four major descriptions of the Bible. And we don't have the rapture. We don't have to take those four major descriptions of the resurrection and separate them into two events. They're one event. Now, there is another twist on this I just want to mention, and that is, Jesus doesn't come to rapture people, but there's still two parts to His coming. There's a secret part and a public part.

A secret part and an invisible part. So it's not the rapture, but it still separates Christ's coming into two parts. The Jehovah Witnesses have done that. You know, Jesus comes on earth, and is on earth secret someplace for a while. You know, they claimed that Jesus was going to come back in 1874. And when He didn't, they said He came secretly. And then He had Him come again in 1914. I've never quite figured that out, because I've never studied the document entirely again.

According to Jehovah Witnesses, you realize Jesus Christ came, the first part of His coming has already happened. He's on earth someplace secretly. So the secret coming of Jesus Christ, that He's secret someplace on earth before the visible second coming, is something that actually is going to increase towards the time of the end. People are going to believe that. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, let's go to Matthew 24. Matthew 24. And verse 24. Once again, right in the middle here of the Olivet Prophecy, He talks about, in verse 21, the Tribulation. Verse 24 says, For false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

See, I have told you beforehand, He says, you be prepared for this. Therefore, if they say to you, look, He's in the desert. Do not go out. Or look, He's in the inner rooms. Do not believe it. In other words, towards the time of the end, more and more people are going to start to believe that there's a secret coming of Jesus someplace. They're going to tell you He's in the wilderness. They're going to tell you He's there. He's going to tell you... I mean, He said this, and it must be going to really increase.

But then He tells us, verse 27, For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. He says, you won't have to worry about a secret coming. You're going to see it. The whole world is going to see it. It's like lightning filling the sky. There's going to be a trumpet and blast. The whole world is going to see it, and everybody's going to say, let's get our armies together. We're being invaded from outer space.

He says, don't worry about a secret coming. I'm not going to come hide someplace. When I come, you're going to know it. So there are... there's no two parts to that coming. There's one part. So just like we shouldn't look for a rapture, we shouldn't look for Jesus to be someplace hiding on earth. And there's been people that do this all the time over the years. Jesus is someplace, so everybody goes and lives someplace, and, you know, gathers together and waits because this is where He is.

So when we look at the whole rapture concept, we have to realize the fatal flaw in it is that there's two comings of Jesus.

The fatal flaw is that the church must be changed, the resurrection must take place before the tribulation, in order to be protected.

No. Christ protects the church in the wilderness, physically protected in the wilderness. Part of it. Part of it is not. The change takes place at the visible second coming at the trumpet, the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet. And it's interesting, all four of those verses talk about a trumpet, don't they? All four of those are passages we went through.

So what does it matter?

Well, it matters. Let's go back to, or let's stay here in Matthew 24. We'll conclude verse 42.

Because remember, Matthew 24 and 25, that's all the all of that prophecy. All of this is a long prophecy. This is the longest prophecy given by Jesus Christ. And it's all about His second coming. And as an answer to the question, what will be the signs of your coming?

And He says in verse 42, Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. We don't know the exact moment He's coming, the exact time He's coming. Of course, in a reality, you and I walk out here and have a heart attack. If I have a heart attack walking down to this building today, Christ comes for me today. I need to be ready all the time. We need to be ready all the time. But He's talking directly here about that second coming. He says, Watch for that second coming, for you do not know the exact time. Now, once again, does that mean that there's a first part that comes where nobody knows about it? It's secret. No, remember, this is all about, all of Matthew 24 is about my visible coming. I mean, He already said, and don't think I'm coming secretly. He already said, don't believe that. He said, but still, when I do come, it's going to be a bit of a surprise unless you're really watching. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour when you do not expect. What is the point He's making? Be ready. You have to be ready. If you're saying, I'll get ready someday, it's too late. We have to be ready. We have to be ready when the four horsemen are poured out on the earth. We have to be ready when the persecution starts on the church. We have to be ready if we're fortunate enough to be taken to the place in the wilderness and give up everything, including maybe friends and family, and everything you have. We have to be ready spiritually for what's going to happen.

Verse 45 says, don't be people ready. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler of his household to give him food and do season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. But surely I say to you that you will make him ruler over all his goods. It's as if with people that will be ready. When this time comes, there will be people who are right with God, who are allowing Jesus Christ to be the head of the church. There are people who are living his way. There are people who are striving to have a right relationship with other Christians. There are people who are dedicated to preaching the gospel as we've been commanded to do. They will be ready! That's who we want to be.

He says, but, in verse 48, if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming, he's not coming back yet. We've got lots of time. I get more things I want to do. I want more money I want to make. I've got more fun I want to have. And begins to beat his fellow servants. Christians will begin to abuse other Christians and eat and drink with the drunkards, living lawless lifestyles. The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and an hour that he's not aware of. And will cut him in two and appoint him with a portion with a hypocrites, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of tea. That's a strong statement. Jesus Christ says, there will be some people who won't be ready, and because of that they will go to the lake of fire. You and I must remember, this is our day of salvation. You and I must remember, this is our time of judgment. There's no second chance, this is our chance. A wonderful, incredible calling given to us by God. It is our chance. But according to the prophecy from Jesus Christ Himself, there will be servants who will not be ready, and there will be servants who will be ready. This isn't about a secret coming, it's about being ready. It's about being ready. That's what His point is, and it's all in, you know, this whole thing is in the answer to the question about His coming, which He says will be visible, so don't look for a secret coming. When He gathers the elect, why would He need to gather the elect if they had already been taken to heaven? Of course, I guess the argument would be, well, these are the people who repent during the tribulation. The gathering of the elect happens at the end. So, we've gone through the rapture, just because we need to understand that this will come up, it will be discussed, there's always different ideas that come, and they're always put together from different directions, but many times, instead of trying to deal with the arguments, let's go right to the Scriptures about the resurrection, because that's where the core of the doctrine comes from. We go there, we know the truth. We know that, and now you know something about yourself you didn't know before. You are an historical, premillennialist. We believe that Jesus Christ, or that the church is saved physically during the tribulation, and that when Jesus Christ returns, that's when the change of the church and the resurrection take place to meet with Him in the clouds, come down with Him to help establish God's kingdom on this earth.