Pretribulation Rapture 1 Thes, 4:13-18

This morning we'll be wanting to take an overview look at a midpoint because we've been through three chapters and we're going to be taking a look at 19 more here. We'll be not focusing on a particular passage but looking at several in order to get that overview. I want to preface that though as we've continued on here talking about some of the different trends and impacts that we see from the September 11th event, and so I want to continue on with that.

Something that I was noticing, March of last year, there was an American journalist who went to a school in Pakistan. This school was the school where a lot of the, a number of the Taliban had gone to school for their training in their earlier years. And when America began bombing over in Afghanistan, they closed the school down to send all the boys over to fight. So you can tell the inclinations of this particular school. Now the journalists, American journalists who went over there, went to meet with the headmaster of the school.

And the headmaster, not recognizing the ethnic background of the journalists, said, the only enemy that Islam and Christianity have is the Jews. The Jews are using America to fight Islam. Now the name of the journalist was, his last name was Goldberg, if that gives you any idea.

But one of the things that that points out, now that things are kind of tending to get developed and focused in Afghanistan, we're seeing a lot of eruption over in Israel. And ultimately that's going to be the focus. One of the things that is happening, and this is a scene that a lot of you may have seen, but there's reasons for pointing it out the way I have here.

This is the Dome of the Rock. This is the dome that was built some centuries after Christ. The Moslems claim that it's their third holiest site. They see the rock that that covers. as being the place where Abraham offered up, not Isaac, but Ishmael. And a claim is made that Muhammad went there, but actually, historically, we know that he never did. Over here is the Jewish Wailing Wall.

This is a foundation retaining wall to kind of the edge of the temple area, and it is all that is left still constructed of the temple that was there during the time of Christ that was destroyed in 70 AD. Right next to it here, a smaller spire, is a Christian church. I'd be inclined more maybe to call it a church of Christendom.

But here all in this very tight area is extreme concern and ultimately that is where the focus will be and this headmaster of the school there in Pakistan that was teaching the Taliban, was really bringing focus on that very issue. Ultimately, the big issue in the world is going to center around the Jews, it's going to center around Israel, and it's going to center around this little piece of real estate that you see right in front of you here. And that's a trend that we're going to see continuing, and this event of September 11th, they're going to continue to point right back at it.

The scripture passage that comes to mind that kind of focuses this is Zechariah 12, 2 and 3, and then in chapters 14, 3 and 4, these focus on Israel, and especially Jerusalem as being a heavy stone. It is the place where ultimately all these battles are going to focus.

Let me read those two passages. Zechariah 12, 2 and 3, Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around. And when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples.

And isn't it becoming that now already? But much more so. All who lift it will be severely injured, and the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. And then in chapter 14, verses 3 and 4, then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when He fights in the day of battle.

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, this is the coming of Christ, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. We'll look into that more later, but I just think that's an interesting preface, that there's a focus on Jerusalem, there's a focus on Israel, and there's a focus on the Jews, God's chosen people. and the land which He gave to them.

So we'll be looking at that in the months ahead. Now, what we want to do is shift now to our Revelation 119 view. Revelation 119 is the verse that says this, and we read it some weeks ago. Our Lord told to John, Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. This verse presents for us a divinely directed three-part outline for the book of Revelation, as John was told to write it. This morning we'll be taking a Revelation 119 overview. We're at an important juncture. Rather than, as we've been doing in recent weeks, focusing on a specific text, we'll be looking at a number of different texts.

But it's important for us to do so, I think, in order that we get and maintain the right perspective. So that's the reason. It's also important because we're at a real turning point. We've been through seven weeks in a row, ending last week, talking about the seven churches. And while each of those churches had a difference, there was kind of a pattern. We're now going to shift the scenery. We're going to shift the time such that kind of keeping oriented in the middle of that shift is important.

So that's another reason. There's another reason, and that is, up till now, only portions of what we've been studying have been prophetic. That is, looking ahead to things in the future. That is about to change. We're going to be looking ahead, and the great majority of what we'll be seeing from here on out will be looking ahead into the future. So there's going to be a radical change in character from that standpoint.

Some time back, Sometime back we had an overhead that looked like this, and in fact there was a handout, I think it was the first one, that looked similar to this. And I don't expect you to read everything on here, especially to turn your head sideways, right? But one of the reasons I want to put it here, and boy I have to be careful what phrase I use, the folks in my earlier class heard me say something different. I want to put it up here so you can see these first two columns in red, those are the chapters we've been through so far.

We've been through some real substance here, but we've also got these 19 chapters left to go. And that's kind of the sweep. What we've done is we've had the things which John has seen, and we've been through the things which are. That is, those are the things which were current at the time John was writing. That is, the seven churches. We're now going to be shifting in the future, and so everything will be, and the things which will be hereafter. Everything else with very minor exception is going to be of that character. The things which will be hereafter. Now, you have on your handout something similar to what you see on this overhead here.

And what I want to do is to kind of step us through it because As we begin looking at details, it's going to be important that we keep this big picture in mind. Take this thing, put it under your pillow at night, let it soak in, and we're going to be looking at details in this, but we don't want to lose, at any time, the big picture. Let's step through it so that we can see what we're going to be walking through here. The place of things described in Revelation and elsewhere in the New Testament in terms of these major events, we're going to have this picture in front of us. The first happened here. This starts with an event we're memorializing or commemorating now, and that's this Christmas time.

This is the time when the Holy Spirit intervened. Mary became with child. Mary and Joseph went down to Bethlehem, had Christ there. Christ grew in wisdom and stature, and he had a ministry in Israel for a period of about three years, and it was focused on Israel. At the end of that time, he was killed, he died, he was buried, resurrected, ascended and seated. during that time.

That all took place here. To think of it, we talk about the identification truths, the fact that we are identified with Christ in those five ways. Those took place in a short period of time historically, didn't they? And that was back here. Now, right after that, and that's this little red arrow, and you see that on your handout as well, this little red triangle, that is the time that we just went through. That's the period of the seven churches.

It is also the time when John wrote out the book of Revelation as he's being told to write it. And eventually we'll find a place in the future, John was writing and the Lord told him, don't write this. There were some things he told him not to write. But in great part what we have here is we've got what John was told to write, including the messages to the seven churches, and that took place about here, around 96 AD. Okay? Then, One of the things that took place after that is the church age. That has rolled on for the centuries. We are still now in the middle of the church age.

What we're beginning to see is the beginning of things winding up, wrapping up towards this time of the seven year tribulation. Something we looked at a couple weeks back, seeing how Israel was being gathered back into their land. in huge numbers. We see things being prepared, set up, and that's really what a lot of the events of the last few months have been directing themselves to. Setting things up for this time to come. We're not going to be seeing these events after this time of the rapture, but things are being set up for it.

Now, at some point, and it could be our next breath, at some point The Lord will take the church up, both those who have died in Christ, as well as those who are living in Christ, to be with Him. We call that the rapture. It's not a word immediately from Scripture, although as we'll see next week, there is a word in Scripture that is basically the equivalent, actually two words.

That time of the rapture will be followed by, and it won't be immediately necessarily, It will be followed by a seven-year period of tribulation. That period of tribulation will be a time like Earth has never seen before, nor will ever see again. It will be a time such that those who live into that time will either die during that time, and many will wish they could. It will be an awful time, and that will consume, frankly, a good deal of the book of Revelation as we proceed through it. Then, at the very end of that time, will come the second coming of Christ. This was the first. This is the second. The second coming of Christ will be at the end of that time, and it will be a fulfillment.

Remember, this time of year, people are frequently quoting passages out of Scripture. There's one that's quoted frequently, and it's not fully understood, but this is Luke chapter 1. The angel, Gabriel, is talking to Mary. And he says this, the angel said to her, do not be afraid. This is in verse 30. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. Which is, in the original, Yeshua, it would mean Savior. That was fulfilled here. That was fulfilled at the first coming. He goes right into the next sentence and says this, "...and he will be great and called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end." That part will be fulfilled here.

Beginning here at the second coming, continuing on through the millennium and into eternity. That's the second part of what the angel told Mary. I imagine for Mary, a young Jewish girl, that must have been absolutely stunning words to hear. Following the time of a thousand years, which we call here the millennium, following that time of a thousand years in which Christ will reign on earth, the Lord will bring about a new heaven and earth, and from there we see this is eternity continuing on. Now, let's take another look at this aspect of Revelation. This is a chart you've seen before, and there is a copy, for those of you who may have trouble seeing the overhead especially, on your handout.

And one of the things that we brought up is that in contrast, Paul, when he was writing, wrote like a lawyer and a logician. through Romans, for example, go and ask these rhetorical questions and then proceed to answer each of those logically. John didn't write that way. The comparison we made some, actually months back now, the comparison would be John wrote like a musician. John wrote like a musician. He would go up and down and up and down and he would have these crescendos. And so that's what we see here.

He goes from earth to heaven to earth to heaven. Eight times through this cycle he proceeds. He starts off here on planet earth and then he goes into this heavenly crescendo back down to planet earth. That's where we've been with the seven churches, right? He's been discussing the earthly scene. One of the reasons why I want to take this overview is all of a sudden in chapter 4, we hit a radical shift. we'll be shifting back up into the heavenly scene after spending weeks looking at this earthly scene. And it's an entirely different panorama in front of us.

What's going to happen is he's going to take us to this heavenly scene, and we're going to see that for two chapters. And then he is going to descend into this incredible valley, deep, deep valley, and then proceed back into the heavenly scene. And we're going to see this sort of musical building and then dropping down and building again, these crescendos as we proceed through the book of Revelation.

Now, since we've already looked at the things that you have seen, that was Revelation chapter 1, we've already looked at the things which are in chapters 2 and 3, we're about to look at the things that will take place after these things in chapters 4 through 22. So we're at a pivotal place in our perspective in this prophetic masterpiece that John has put together by the Lord's direction. We have already looked at the things that you have seen in chapter 1, and we have seen that this book begins by John writing his personal certification of the truth of what he has written in this book. We have seen that this book is uniquely prefaced with a promised blessing to all who read it, We saw at the end of chapter 1 how Christ was portrayed in John's vision as the heavenly high priest.

Then we went after that to look at the seven churches and we went through pictures of a lot of the archaeological sites for each one of these churches and there's a reason for that. And one of my hopes in showing these pictures of these archaeological sites and presenting the historical and cultural backgrounds is that I want us to understand, among other things, I want us to see that John is writing about real world and real life.

He isn't writing about some dreamy, mysterious, mystical, wispy sort of thing that might ethereally be true. He's writing about real world, real time, real life, real people, real circumstances, isn't he? You saw that as it was an incredibly perfect match-up between the cultures and the histories of each of the cities where he wrote to the churches and the message that was given. It was a perfect weave, a prophetic masterpiece.

And I think one of the reasons for doing that very thing is to get us mentally prepared. Because there may be a tendency as we start looking ahead to kind of think this is all some sort of a dreamy, you know, thing that doesn't relate too well. That, I think John is trying to make clear, is anything but the case. He is trying to tell us here, the things that I've told you fit precisely into what the reality was at each of the churches. And what I am about to tell you, John's saying, is just as real. It's exactly fitted to the real world. Okay? It's not dreamy and wispy and cloudy and mysterious. Okay? It's real world.

And so as we proceed ahead looking through the things that we're going to see in the next chapters, these are just as real as the very cities and the churches in them that we've been studying over the last seven weeks. One of the things that we saw as we went through each of the descriptions of Christ of the seven churches is two things.

One is each of these descriptions would help believers to see overall more about who Christ is. And you notice every single letter was begun, every single message was begun with a description of who Christ is. That's the starting point. and it was on purpose. Furthermore, each of those descriptions of Christ was perfectly fitted to the needs and the character of that particular church. Fit beautifully in each case. And each of those things helps us better understand who Christ is. What a better starting point.

And I think that's an understanding that is important for us to have as we carry out. It is easy to get lost in, and frankly, many Christians do get lost in the earthly details of what's going to happen during the tribulation period. But the reality is, it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. The earthly details, though real, are secondary to Jesus Christ. See the contrast there? That's a part of what John is trying to get us to see here as he's writing as the Lord directs him. Ultimately, it's who Christ is that matters. And as we go through all these ups and downs, this musical crescendo and then reduction, as we go through those in the months ahead, we need to keep in mind that this is about Christ and about who He is. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The other thing that was consistent with each of the churches, because certainly each one of them things that were individual. Some of them had commendations. Some of them had warnings and rebukes. But one thing that was consistent with each of them is there was a promise to overcomers. And those overcomers were those who had placed their faith in Christ for salvation. And so each of these promises to the overcomers is something, because it was universal, we can take as well.

And that's why closely associated with those promises either before or after, closely associated with each of those was a statement. Remember it? He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. It's because it applies. It fits every single one of us. The promises. You'll eat from the tree of life, which was promised in the time to come. Not hurt by the second death. Okay? Hidden manna, given a white stone with a new name. You recall what that was? The hidden manna, particularly given a white stone with a new name. They would give a white stone to someone who had won an athletic event, and this was an invitation to a victory celebration. And they would write their name on that stone.

All of these are very relevant promises given to those who had overcome, those who had placed their faith in Christ for salvation. And they were all things that he wanted them to keep in mind. And one of the reasons I think these are given before going into this tribulation period that we're going to be reading about in the chapters ahead, is keep these in mind.

Remember what's promised for you. The tribulation isn't for you as believers, but this is. So remember that, all of you, he's saying. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. These promises are universal and to be kept in mind. And you know, the same thing applies to us. We will not be going through the tribulation, but we will be going through tribulations. We will be going through troubles.

And these same promises are ever the more valuable to us as we remember that the Lord has promised things assured, absolutely fixed and certain for those of us who are believers. The next thing that he talks about is the things which will be hereafter. The things that are to come. And that's what we're going to be focusing on in the weeks and months ahead if the Lord should leave us here that long.

And let me just preface that with I had this experience several years back. I called several pastors in Carson City where Nancy and I had spent 14 years of our life before taking a detour through Fort Worth to here. And as I called up these pastors, I said, what do you teach at your church about the future things, things to come? And what I heard on the other end of the phone just astounded me.

One pastor said, you know, we just teach everything and let people choose. We just kind of teach the whole works, you know, every possible view, and then let people pick. Another pastor I talked to said, well, actually I'm a pan-millennialist. I just believe that it'll all pan out in the end.

And I was shocked to hear this. And I thought, you know, there's got to be more certainty about what God's Word says, and there's got to be more content than what these guys are going on. So one of the things that you're likely to hear is those, actually some of these very same things I've heard, oh it doesn't matter, I don't know, who knows what that stuff is all about, I just want to trust Christ now. But I think there are a whole long list of reasons, and you've got some of them on the back side of your handout, but there are a whole long list of reasons why studying these verses, and the verses that relate to them, are important. And let's go through those. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 says, All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Now, one of the things that's fascinating to note is about, this is an overall figure now, about 28% of the Bible is prophecy. As a matter of fact, if you break it down book by book, this is just a sampling. I don't want to throw or place all the numbers up there, but this is a sampling, some Old and some New Testament, of the percentage of prophecy in each of these books. Now, that's a pretty significant percentage, and particularly in some.

In Revelation, we're looking at 95% of it is prophecy. Now, let's ask this question. If all of Scripture is profitable, isn't that just what we just read? If all of Scripture is profitable, what percentage of Bible prophecy is profitable? You get the point? If all of Scripture is profitable, who am I to say it's not?

Especially when I see how significant prophecy is in some of these books. It's huge. And it wasn't just the book of Revelation. A lot of people think, oh, that's the only one. Look at the percentages in some of the others. 2 Thessalonians, 40%. Some big numbers. Even the Gospels range somewhere around the 20% number. And some higher than that. But even the Gospels at that point in time, one in every five verses, to give it some kind of a statistic, is about things to come.

Now, that's significant. Who am I to say it's not profitable and throw it away? Now, if I really believe the people that say, no, we don't believe that prophecy stuff, or it doesn't matter, they're going to be highlighting with a black felt-tip marker. Because they're going to be going through Scripture and scratching out a whole bunch.

Now, Ephesians 4, 11 and 12 tells us that those who are shepherds of God's flock are called to equip the saints. So I ask you, isn't teaching prophecy part of equipping the saints? In Acts 20, Paul came to the elders at Ephesus and told them that he had given them the whole counsel of God. How are we to do anything less than the whole counsel? Next reason.

Biblical prophecy validates our belief in the God of Scripture and challenges others to verify the truth. One of the very best evidences of the truth of Scripture is fulfilled prophecy. John Wolverine has stated there are about 10,000 prophecies in Scripture, if you break them down into individual little tiny parts. 10,000 individual identified prophecies, about half of those have been fulfilled. That leaves half, roughly, yet to be fulfilled. About 5,000 individual prophecies yet to be fulfilled. One of the things that becomes clear, here is just a sampling of a few out of these hundreds and hundreds of prophecies.

Jeremiah predicted that Babylonian captivity would last for 70 years. That was made decades before it was even begun to be fulfilled. Isaiah stated that the children of Israel would be sent home from Babylon by a man named Cyrus. That was written centuries before it was fulfilled.

Daniel predicted the precise order of four great Gentile empires. He declared those centuries ahead of time, centuries ahead of their fulfillment. The destruction of Babylon was foretold by a number of Hebrew prophets. An example is Isaiah 13. Almost all of them were declared centuries ahead of the actual fulfillment. The last example, and this is again only one of hundreds, in the New Testament, Jesus predicted the complete destruction of Jerusalem 40 years before it actually occurred.

Since God's prophets predicted beforehand what He did in Christ to save us from sin and to share His glory with us, doesn't it make good sense that the rest of what God predicted is exceedingly valuable as well? Remember we had this chart that showed the time frame? If the first coming mattered a whole bunch, doesn't the second coming matter too?

If we were to look at those prophecies, one of the places where we could focus is on the prophecies about the Messiah. There are, in the Old Testament, about 300 prophecies about Christ. Here I have a brief sampling of them, and the ones that are highlighted in yellow are the ones that are highlighted in the event of Christ's birth that we're looking at here in this season and we commemorate. This is just a small sampling. of the many little details about Christ that were foretold in the Old Testament.

This last week, a few of you know, I went to a conference in Dallas, and this conference was on the Pre-Tribulation Raptures. One of the attendees there was Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and he's a fascinating fellow. You talk to him and you quickly pick up, this fellow is Russian. He was an Orthodox Russian Jew as he was raised up, and he was planning on being a rabbi.

He began writing a book to show that Jesus was not the Messiah, using these Old Testament prophecies, saying, see, Jesus didn't fulfill it. Guess what happened? This man, destined to be a rabbi, destined to write the book which was to prove that Jesus was not the Messiah, ended up becoming convinced that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

As he looked at all 300 of these prophecies and he said, this is irrefutable. This, here is a man convinced against his will. But this, he says, I cannot argue against it. This, Jesus is indeed the Messiah. And all 300 of these prophecies were fulfilled to the finest detail to the satisfaction of this ultimate skeptic. The man who had every reason by reason of background and family and tradition to think otherwise, was convinced by the facts. Now, I ask you, if God made those predictions literally, and they were fulfilled literally, isn't that what we can expect of the predictions we're about to see in the rest of Revelation?

Case in point, where did the magi go? The wise men, as they're called. They didn't go to Bethlehem initially. They went to Jerusalem, figuring, hey, that's the capital city where the Jews are, right? They went to Herod. Herod asked the scribes, where is the Messiah to be born? And they said, no qualms about it. Bethlehem.

Look at Micah 5.2. And so that's where they went. And that's where they found him. every little detail, all 300 of the prophecies fulfilled to the letter, literally.

And that's what we're going to see as we look ahead to Revelation. We need to take that literal approach and say, what is it saying? And what is God communicating to us here? Because that is precisely what's going to happen. Now, the next thing is that God has made promises. One of the things that those in the Genesis class will be going through is the promises God made. And there are actually a number of them that go beyond the Genesis passage there. But God has made promises to the Jews.

And a great deal of what we call prophecy is actually just the outworking of what God's already promised. If he said he's going to do something, all that prophecy is is just writing out, this is what God said he's going to do. And our waiting for that to take place is simply assuming, on good grounds, that God is faithful to whatever he's promised, right? So a lot of folks will say, oh, forget the prophecy stuff.

Hey, God made a promise. And you know why God has prophecy in there? Because God cares about what He promised. If He promised something, He will fulfill it. If He promised something, He will do it. And He put prophecy in there to nail down so that everybody could see what He has promised and how He's going to fulfill it.

That's what prophecy is really all about. It's the last half of the story. Now, one of the things that all these promises are about, these promises are really about God's character. So that's really, as we talk about the fabric of scripture, what scripture is woven out of, what it's woven out of and what it's made of and what prophecy, biblical prophecy is about, is God's character, who God is. God is a God of truth. He tells the truth and He does not lie.

So when He tells us something is going to take place, it's going to take place. When He gives 300 prophecies about the Messiah's first coming, He doesn't say, well, two out of three ain't bad. And He's not going to do that about the things that He's prophesied are yet to come.

Because it has to do with God's very character. He's a God of truth. He's a God of faithfulness. What He says He will do, He's going to do. That's why it isn't just, do we care about prophecy? It is an indisputable fact God cares about it because He is faithful. He is going to be faithful to what He said.

It also has to do with God's grace, and we're going to see that as we go through it. The tribulation period is not all about just the awful things that are going to happen, and there will be awful things. We will also see multiple references to God's grace and mercy as he brings in 144,000 Jews to evangelize the world, as he brings in two witnesses who will speak in front of the whole world, as he brings about a gospel angel. We will see the evidences of God's grace and God's mercy even in the midst of the most horrible time in human history. We will see God's omniscience, the fact that he knows. We will see that God is omnipotent, the fact that he is all-powerful.

Four weeks ago, in fact four weeks ago today, a month ago today, in Colorado Springs, there was a convention called the Evangelical Theological Society. They had a vote there about a particular issue, and it's one I've brought up before among some of you. It's called open theism. Open theism is the idea that God is not all-knowing and He's not all-powerful. And frighteningly, you look on the plus and the minus, 71% voted against open theism. And what that means is that of those believers gathering there, 29% did not vote against it.

And it is amazing for me to think, you know, what do these people think? God is telling us what is going to take place. He does know the future, and He is all-powerful. How can He say this is going to happen if He's not capable of making it come about? If He is not on mission to know what's going to take place? Right?

It comes back to these promises. Is God capable of fulfilling these promises and carrying them out or not? God's very character is at issue here. And prophecy is a matter of God saying, this is who I am. It isn't just somebody trying to figure out, gee, I'd sure like to know what's going to happen in the future here on planet Earth. It's about who God is.

Prophecy reminds us that God's in charge. And I think that's an important thing, not just for looking in the future, it's important for now. When we have crazy things going on in our lives, when things look like they're coming apart at the seams, when mayhem is going on, and there are constantly some things going on in Christians' lives, when that's taking place, isn't it comforting to know that God's in charge? As these things come about that we read about, it will be comforting for us to know, in the midst of that, that God's in charge.

And there will be people who will go through the things that we'll read about, and it will be incredibly valuable for them to know God's in charge. And that is one of the values here. We can use that truth now. They will desperately need that truth then. The next thing, what we believe is going to happen in the future absolutely impacts what we do now. What you believe is about to take place in the future in your life is impacting what you decide to do now, isn't it?

If you were told with certainty that you were going to die 24 hours from now, would you do some things differently? Let's flip it around. If you were told with certainty you were not going to die until some 50 years from now, and you knew when that time was, would you do things differently then? You probably would, wouldn't you?

Those two contrasts, what we believe is going to happen in the future, definitely impacts us now. We can't just hold it off and say, well, whatever happens is going to happen, because it's real. If Bryce thought that eating bananas was going to double his speed on the track, you'd better believe he's going to be eating bananas, right? If Clark thought, or Peter thought, that eating bananas was going to double their speed on the bicycle, they'd be eating bananas, right? What one believes about the future will definitely impact what they do now, okay? Doesn't it make sense then to understand what God says is going to happen? because it's going to impact how you behave right now. Now, there's another reason.

Understanding biblical prophecy makes us able to warn others of what is coming so that they can call on the Saviors. We have both individually as well as as a church the opportunity to tell people about what's coming. there is an opportunity to warn them, but also to give them good news that you don't have to go through it. And what's more, there's abundant blessing, not just escape from what's coming. There's another aspect of it, too.

Prophecy motivates us to godly living. There are about, there's at least, I should say, seven verses that I can think of that talk about living godly now because Christ is coming for us. And I have several of them listed here. Here's just one in Titus 2 that I'll read and we have on the screen.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, the church age, in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Because He's coming then, that impacts how I live now. Because He is coming in the future, my moment-by-moment walk with Christ can be different. It affects my perspective. It affects what I anticipate is going to happen. So I'll live godly now, because of what I anticipate is going to happen in the future. See, prophecy helps us gain the right perspectives and priorities. Instead of just living like we're saved, but otherwise just treading water until we go home to heaven, prophecy gives us a right sense of what is happening right now. It shows us what is of eternal value. There's another aspect of it. The study of prophecy gives us hope.

You know, people don't do too well without hope, do they? People don't do too well at all without hope. And the truth is that there are a great many people in the world who have given up hope, or are giving up hope, or are despairing of finding something that will give them hope.

Since God's Word lays out particularly what's in place and tells us who is our hope, we don't need to be like the world. That's one of the reasons why God goes and spells everything out here so that we're not despairing like the rest of the world. We're not stuck with the rest of the world's hopelessness. In Titus 2, excuse me, the next thing here is there is a promise of blessing.

We read earlier, and I think it's important to look at it, as we go through this book, we're going to read about some horrible things, but ultimately, there is a promise of blessing that will come out of this. Do you remember that kind of up-down chart that I showed you? It goes earthly scene, heavenly scene, earthly scene, heavenly scene. It ends on an upstroke. I want to tell you in advance, this story has a good ending. Don't you just hate stories with a bad ending? This story has a good ending. And so it's a good book. In the end, good things will happen.

Even if in the interim, some things will seem awful. I think that's important for us to take a look at. Our perspective is fixed by what we read. There's one more reason that I haven't told you. It hasn't been in writing either, so you need to write it on your handout. And this is something we've looked at before. There are five crowns and three rewards spoken of in the New Testament applicable to the church. In the middle of those three is the rapture lover's crown.

Isn't that interesting? The Lord offers a specific reward for those who are looking for his appearance. Looking for his appearance. Isn't that neat? This is a reward for the person who keeps fixed in their mental and emotional sights. The Lord is coming. The Lord is coming back for them. Looking for the Lord's return. And he says that's rewardable. He says that's a very good thing. He says, I definitely want to reward that. And so that's why here we have it highlighted.

Even aside from that, when will these rewards be given? They'll be given in the future, won't they? So in essence, although one of them is highlighted as specifically looking for the Lord's coming, all of them are done anticipating a future reward. That's a part of prophecy. So every one of the rewards is at least subtly or implicitly based on looking to the future and looking to what the Lord has prophesied for. Now, this will be given and the rest at what's called the Bema Seat Judgment or actually I prefer to call it the Bema Seat Evaluation.

Because there's no intent to condemn. It's what can I reward you for? Okay? These are all looking forward to that time, and we'll take a look at that. Something else. These are also an outworking of his promises, but they're just not promises to the Jews. They're promises to us. If these are given as rewards, then they're promised, right? Conditionally. Therefore, this is also just an outworking of God's promises. It's showing his faithfulness. Okay?

So if the Lord allows us to remain on earth that long, we'll proceed through this book. For however long He allows us to do that. But we're going to do it for all the right reasons. And as you saw in the back side of your handout and added to it a little bit, there's lots of good reasons for us to be doing what we're doing and looking ahead the way we're looking ahead here. And in all those, we'll be looking to Him.

Let's thank our Lord Jesus for the hope of His coming. Lord, we do give You great thanks. Lord, we have a hope that this world does not know. We have a perspective and a certainty that this world, apart from You, cannot have. And Lord, we indeed have this blessed hope of Your coming. And as we look at these verses and chapters in the months and weeks to come, should we wait that long? We just give you thanks that ultimately it does have a happy ending. And whether we read it or simply experience that happy ending, Lord, we give you thanks because it depends on your faithfulness, which we know we can count upon. In Jesus' name, Amen.