5 October
2014
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Thessalonians
4:13-18
1
Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)
13
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to
grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We
believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring
with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who
are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have
fallen asleep.
16
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first.
17
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever.
18
Therefore encourage each other with these words.
-- now flip over to 1 Corinthians 15:50-54
1
Corinthians 15:50-54 (NIV)
50 I
declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable.
51
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be
changed--
52 in
a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal
with immortality.
54
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has
been swallowed up in victory."
-- when I was living in Tennessee in 1995,
I was browsing in a Christian bookstore for something new to read when I
stumbled across a book called Left Behind
that had just been published -- the cover had actually attracted my attention
-- so I picked it up and read the publisher's summary teaser on the back cover
-- the book was supposed to be a fast-paced thriller about the events of the
Book of Revelation, a subject that had always intrigued me since I had read Hal
Lindsey's seminal work The Late Great
Planet Earth
-- growing up, no one talked about the
Book of Revelation -- it was the one book in the Bible that no one in the
church mentioned -- it was a mystery to us -- with scary beasts and fearsome
creatures and horrific accounts of the suffering on earth in the last days --
no one understood it, so no one talked about it -- no one preached about it --
and certainly, no one wrote about it, even though it was a message to us from
Jesus Himself about what was going to happen on earth at the end of time
-- and now here was this fiction book that
offered to explain the Book of Revelation in a fictional manner while being
true to the Bible's message -- so I left the store with the book Left Behind in a paper bag
-- I had no idea at the time what a
journey I was beginning with this book -- it took about a year or so, but all
of a sudden, the Left Behind series
took off and captured the attention of an entire nation -- the books became
extremely popular, with three of the books in the series making it to number 1
on the New York Times Best-Seller's List, absolutely unheard of for a Christian
book -- it had never happened before
-- in the early 2000's these books were
all anyone talked about in church or in evangelical circles -- the series just
became so popular and so controversial that everyone was reading them and
talking about them and either loving them or rebuking them
-- three low-budget movies starring Kirk
Cameron were made, but didn't do well at the box office -- and several spin-off
series were written for teens and other target audiences
-- regardless of what you thought about
the message of the books, the Left Behind
series was a phenomenal success and continues to impact our country today
-- just this weekend, a new movie based on
the series and starring Nicholas Cage was released at the box office -- so
since the teachings captured in the Left
Behind series and movie will probably be the topic of discussion at the
water cooler once again, I thought it might be fitting to talk this morning
about the seminal event of the movie and the book -- the rapture of the church
which ushers in the events of the Book of Revelation
-- now before we really get started, let
me make sure you understand that this is one of the most controversial subjects
in the church today -- the teachings offered by Tim LaHaye, one of the authors
of the Left Behind series, and others
such as Hal Lindsey -- which offer a literal understanding and interpretation
of the events of the Book of Revelation -- are not accepted by all Christians
-- some in the church reject these
interpretations as misguided and incorrect -- some of these who disagree with
the teachings of Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey say the Book of Revelation is not a
prophetic book, but instead a coded picture of the events occurring in Rome
during the Apostle John's lifetime -- in other words, they contend the events
of the Book of Revelation have already occurred and are not future events
-- others believe the Book of Revelation
is simply a picture of the grand sweep of history, showing the rise and fall of
nations and the advent of the Christian faith through the symbols and messages
given by John in this book
-- finally, others see the Book of
Revelation as simply an allegory of our spiritual lives -- a story or an
illustration given by John to describe our struggles with good and evil in our
lives which should not be taken literally
-- I believe in a literal understanding of
all Scripture, including the Book of Revelation, which puts me into the
literal, fundamentalist camp -- as a scientist, I was taught the principle of
Occam's razor, which says the simplest explanation with the fewest assumptions
is usually correct -- applying this to biblical interpretation, this means when
you read the Bible, you accept the message that has been given as literally and
as faithfully as possible, which is the direction the Left Behind series takes with the events of the Book of Revelation
-- so this morning, we're going to talk
about the rapture of the church with that understanding -- and even if you fall
into one of the other camps when it comes to interpreting the Book of
Revelation, at least you'll have an understanding of the literal,
fundamentalist position so you can speak to it at the water cooler or at school
tomorrow when the topic of the Nicholas Cage Left Behind movie comes up
II. What is the
rapture?
-- now, as I said, the seminal event of
the Left Behind movie revolves around
the rapture of the church -- so what is the rapture? -- you may have heard that
term before, but not really understood what it was talking about
-- basically, the rapture is a description
of the moment when Christ returns for His church -- at some point in the
future, Jesus will come back and call the church to come meet Him in the
clouds, leaving the unbelievers behind -- this is how the Left Behind book begins
-- the book opens with the unexplained
disappearance of passengers on an airliner -- the flight attendant notices
several passengers are missing from their seats, but their clothes are left
behind -- and neither she nor the pilot have any inkling as to why they have
disappeared -- when they finally land the plane and make their way into the
airport, they quickly learn these disappearances have occurred world-wide --
people just vanished into mid-air with no explanation at all -- this is Tim
LaHaye's idea of what the rapture is going to look like
-- now if you do a search in your Bible
for the word rapture, you're not
going to find it -- the word is not in the Bible, but it is a biblical term -- and
the idea -- the picture of the rapture -- is given to us here in 1
Thessalonians 4 and in other places in the Bible
-- let's look at this passage and see what
we can learn from Paul about the rapture and what happens to Christians at the
beginning of the events of the Book of Revelation
-- look back at 1 Thessalonians 4 and
let's see what Paul has to say about the rapture
-- look back at verse 13 with me
1
Thessalonians 4:13-15 (NIV)
13
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to
grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We
believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring
with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who
are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have
fallen asleep.
-- when Paul talks in this verse about the
believers who have fallen asleep, he's using a metaphor for death -- in other
words, Paul is talking about believers who have died -- there was a false teaching
going on in the church at Thessalonica at this time that said believers were
going to live until Christ returned -- so when some of the believers died, the
members of the church were confused and didn't understand what was happening --
some were even teaching that these people who died were not true believers and
were not saved and that's why they died -- so Paul addresses their concerns in
this passage
-- he tells them, I don't want you to be
ignorant of what happens when you die -- and I don't want you to grieve like
the rest of the world who has no hope -- death for a believer is not the end --
it is only the beginning
-- so real quick, let's address that
question -- what happens when you die? -- the Bible teaches that if you are a
believer in Christ -- if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and
put your trust in Him for your salvation and live in repentance and obedience
to His teachings -- then when you die, you will immediately go to be with the
Lord
-- Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8, to be
absent from the body is to be with Christ -- and when Jesus spoke to the thief
on the cross, He promised him he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day
-- so when a believer dies, their spirit goes immediately to be with the Lord
-- they're going to go to heaven before those of us who are still alive -- and,
when Jesus returns, He's going to bring these believers back with Him
-- for that reason, we should not grieve
like the rest of the world -- that's Paul's message to the church at Thessalonica
in these first three verses
-- he's telling the church, "Don't
worry about your loved ones who died in Christ -- they've already gone ahead --
they're already in heaven -- and when Jesus comes back, He's going to bring
them with Him"
-- verse 16
1
Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NIV)
16
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first.
17
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever.
-- and here we see the rapture of the
church -- at some point in the future -- and I want to say the very near future
-- Christ will return to earth to claim His church and take them from the earth
to be in heaven with Him
-- now there's two things that are going
to happen at the rapture -- first, the dead in Christ will rise -- now that can
be a little confusing -- I just told you when a believer in Christ dies, they
immediately go to heaven to be with the Lord -- and we just read in verse 14
that God will bring these believers with Jesus when He returns -- so if the
dead in Christ are already with Jesus, then why do we read here they rise
first?
-- hold your place here and turn over the
1 Corinthians 15:50
1
Corinthians 15:50-54 (NIV)
50 I
declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable.
51
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be
changed--
52 in
a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal
with immortality.
54
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has
been swallowed up in victory."
-- now we see what's going on -- when
someone dies, their spirit goes to heaven but their mortal, perishable body
stays behind -- that's what we bury -- that's what we see at funerals -- their
spirits are gone, but their bodies remain
-- but when Christ returns to call His
church home, He is preparing us for the new heaven and the new earth that will
be created at the end of the Book of Revelation -- and to live in the new
heaven and the new earth, we need a new body -- an imperishable, immortal body
-- we were not made to go through eternity as spirits, but as spirits within a
body
-- this is what Paul is talking about in
this passage in 1 Corinthians 15 -- when we read here in verse 52 that the dead
will be raised imperishable -- and when we read over in 1 Thessalonians 4 that
the dead in Christ will rise first -- what Paul is telling us is that the new
imperishable, immortal bodies of those who have died will rise to join with
their spirits in the clouds -- in other words, when Jesus comes back, we will
be given our new bodies -- those who have died will be given their bodies
first, and then those of us who are still alive, will be changed into our
immortal, imperishable bodies next -- in the twinkling of an eye -- that is the
second thing that happens during the rapture
-- go back to 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16
-- the dead in Christ rise first -- they are given their new bodies that join
together with their spirits in the clouds
-- then, verse 17, we who are still alive
and are left will be transformed and given our new bodies in the twinkling of
an eye and we will join them in the clouds as we meet the Lord and live with
Him forever
-- that is the rapture of the church -- at
that moment, every believer in Christ -- those who have already died and those
who are still alive -- will be in heaven with Jesus -- there will be no
believers left on earth -- the only people left on earth are those people who
do not believe in Jesus or have not made a personal decision to follow Jesus
and accept Him as their Lord and Savior -- these people are "left
behind"
-- so where does the term rapture come from? -- in verse 17 Paul
says that those who are alive will be "caught up" together with them
in the clouds -- the Greek word for caught up is harpazo, which literally means to snatch up, to claim for one's
self eagerly
-- when the Bible was translated into
Latin, the Greek word harpazo was
translated as raptus -- raptus became rapture in English -- so while the word rapture may not technically be in the Bible, it comes from this
passage and is a translation from the term "caught up" from Greek to
Latin to English
III. What does
this mean to us?
-- so let's bring this home and let's talk for a moment
as we close about what all this means to us
-- verse 18
1 Thessalonians 4:18 (NIV)
18 Therefore encourage each
other with these words.
-- Paul closes his comments about the rapture by telling
the Thessalonians to use his message to encourage each other -- they no longer
had to worry about what happened to their friends and family who died in Christ
-- they could take comfort and encouragement in the knowledge that their loved
ones were already with Jesus in heaven -- and they could take hope in the
promise of Christ that He was going to return for them, as well -- that one day
all believers, those who had died in Him and those who were still alive, were
going to go to live with Him forever
-- so the promise of eternal life -- of a new
imperishable, immortal body and everlasting life with God Himself -- this was
the promise that Paul said should encourage the church as they sought to live
out their faith in their homes and their communities
-- so the promise of the rapture is a source of
encouragement to us
-- it is also a source of purpose -- a source of mission
-- knowing the truth of God's word and His promise of everlasting life --
knowing that those who are not Christians are going to be left behind to face
the wrath of the Tribulation Period -- should spur us on to tell others the
good news of Jesus
-- one of the purposes of the church -- one of its
primary purposes -- is to tell others the good news of Christ's death and
resurrection and to point them to the cross of salvation -- unfortunately, not
many of us are doing that -- statistics show that the majority of Christians
today have never witnessed to anyone else about their faith or shared with
anyone else the plan of salvation
-- knowing the promise of God and the fate of those left
behind should make us want to share the good news of Christ and should be a
source of purpose in our lives
-- finally, knowing about the rapture is a source of
warning -- it's like a smoke alarm that wakes you up in the middle of the night
to let you know you're in a dangerous situation
-- the Bible teaches the rapture can happen at any moment
-- in the gospel of Luke, Luke 17:34-35, Jesus said, "on that night two
people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left -- Two women
will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left." --
when Jesus comes back, He is going to come like a thief in the night, when no
is expecting Him
-- Adrian Rogers once said there is nothing left on the
prophetic timetable before the coming of Christ and the rapture of the church
-- it could happen tomorrow -- it could happen today -- it could happen right
now, in the next several moments -- we don't know
-- the question is: "Are you rapture ready?" --
are you ready for the rapture? -- are you ready to be caught up with the Lord?
-- or are you one of those who are going to be left behind?
-- to be rapture ready means you have accepted Jesus as
your Lord and Savior -- it means you believe in Him as the Son of God -- you
trust in His atoning death on the cross of Calvary and have asked Him to
forgive you of your sins and to be your Lord and Savior and you are living a
life of repentance and obedience in Christ
-- if you have done that, you have no worries -- you are
ready for the rapture -- but, if you haven't, you might really want to put some
thought into your eternal destination -- because you're either in or you're out
-- and only you can make that choice
-- so let me close now with a word of prayer -- and let
me encourage you to spend some more time reading this passage and the passage
from 1 Corinthians 15 this week to give the Holy Spirit time to speak to your
heart
--
let's pray
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