Pretribulation Rapture - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 · Vern Peterman · Mar 22, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 12
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492612832776

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay. Alright, the handout, the first couple of pages have color in them and the idea is to bring out some distinctions that I think you'll find will be valuable and important. On the first page, we've got a diagram there, kind of towards the top. It shows the church age, that's the age that we're in now, a pre-tribulation rapture, which is the end of the church age. Then it shows a tribulation period. It doesn't spell that out, but that's a seven-year tribulation period. And then the second coming of Christ, which begins the millennium. In that tribulation period, there are a few different views shown.

One is, other rapture views are the mid-tribulation, And the post-tribulation view and then within the last couple of decades the pre-raft view has been made more prominent. Particularly by a fellow by the name of Marv Rosenthal. So all these other rapture views. How many of you have heard of these different various rapture views? Mid-trib, post-trib, late-trib, all that. Okay.

What I intend to go through here is to show that I don't believe there's any valid basis for the other attributes at all. I'm quite biased in that way. I don't think there's any validity to them at all. You have to ignore a great deal of scripture and ignore what is abundant and consistent evidence in order to reach those conclusions.

The church that I grew up in, a lot of good things could have been said for it, could be said for it. But the one thing that they were not clear on is this very issue here. And one reason was because various staff members held different views. So the way to resolve that is just don't talk about it, right? That's what they did. And I think that was a mistake.

Now, we have here this quote, an important one, from 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18. Let's read through it. It's in the middle of page one there. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope." So get from that, it's important that you have hope. The Lord wants you to have hope. Do you know that? You're supposed to.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. By the way, that means died. It's Paul's terminology. 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 not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." So guess what? This teaching here involves hope and it also involves comfort. What happens if you don't have that teaching? No hope, no comfort, right? Is that the way the Lord wants you to be? No. So it's really important.

One of the things that's underscored on the bottom part of that first page is this. You may hear somebody say, the Bible never uses the word rapture. And you know what? Explicitly, they are correct. It is in the original Greek, the Greek word there is harpazo. It comes through the Latin, then into English with the word rapture. The original is what you see in the third to the last line, caught up together, that word caught up. That's the word that is harpazo, which comes across in the English rapture. So that's the source of the word. So if someone says it's not in the New Testament, well, okay, it is in the Greek translated caught up. Now, so what we want to do is I want to have you look at the second page. It's a color sheet. It's a chart in kind of landscape format.

And the particular point here that's really valuable to take a look at is a consistent pattern of words and phrases in Revelation confirming a pre-tribulation rapture. The tribulation is begun from the heavenlies, that's chapters 4 and 5, and begins on earth and goes from chapter 6 through chapter 19. All those chapters 6-19 address the tribulation period. What we'll show is that there is a consistent pattern of words and phrases in the Book of Revelation such that, I'll make this statement, every single chapter of the Book of Revelation from chapter 1 to chapter 19 gives evidence for a pre-tribulation rapture.

Okay? Every single chapter. At least once. Often many times in a chapter. And so that, as we'll step our way through it, is abundantly clear. And let's move on to page three. Keep this colored sheet out where you can look at it, because we're going to step through the terms there.

The church or the churches are brought up seventeen times in those first three chapters of the book of Revelation, but not once in that the word church or churches is never used again from chapters four through chapters nineteen. It never shows up again. Is that clear, folks? So that's point one. is where does the word or the name church show up?

And it shows up abundantly in those first three chapters and then it's not like it shows up once in a while. It completely stops after chapter 3. It completely stops, never to show up, not even once in the rest of chapters 4 through 19, which would include the time of Tribulation. The next is reference to Israel. All of a sudden Israel, which is not mentioned in the first three chapters, shows up in the chapter 4 through 19 section, specifically chapters 7 and 12. And we give the references there.

The one reference to the sons of Israel in Revelation 2.14 is not about the church but about the people of Israel when they're being led astray by Balaam.

So it's a historical statement. So all of a sudden you have Israel show up and then the next thing is that peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, which is a phrase that comes out of, in variations, the Old Testament, This is a reference to the Gentiles. Why do we say it's a reference to the Gentiles? Why would that, peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, why would that be a reference to the Gentiles?

Yeah, it's everybody that's not a Jew. You've got all kinds of nations, not the nation, okay? You've got all kinds of nations, and that word nations is translated from ethnos, ethnic, all the ethnic groups. And it's in a plural form. So you have all the ethnic groups, and then you've got Jews. And so what it is, it's a redundancy of statement about the Gentiles. It's not the people, it's peoples.

The nations is the way that the Gentiles are referred to quite often in both the Old and New Testament. And then the tongues, the languages that go along with the nations and peoples. So what you have is from chapters 4 through 19, no longer any reference to the church, not even once, but references to Israel and the Gentiles. All of a sudden, Now the church is out of the picture, but Israel and Gentiles are recognized separately as a separate group and not as a unified group. The next one, a very important one, and it's the bottom half of page three, is reference to wrath. Multiple references in the New Testament, starting with Romans 5, 9, and 10. Much more than having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved. Notice, what's the tense? We shall be, future tense, right?

Saved from the wrath of God through Him. Through whom? Through Christ, right? We shall be saved by His light. That's the end of that reference. 1 Thessalonians 1, 9, and 10. ends up focusing on Christ Jesus in verse 10. That is, Jesus who rescues us from the wrath, what's the tense? To come. It's in the future.

And then in chapter 5, towards the end of that same book, 1 Thessalonians, for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So are believers in the church going to be subject to God's wrath? Multiple times, no. The word wrath, however, appears ten times in the book of Revelation starting in chapter 6 after the church is no longer mentioned, right? And ending in chapter 19. From one end to the other, the tribulation period. Chapter 6 is when the tribulation period begins on earth. Chapter 19 is when it ends. Wrath is spread all throughout. during the same chapters where the Church is not mentioned once.

So the pattern of words is crystal clear. It's not like there's a slight variation or some exceptions. It's just absolute, complete demarcation between those two. Let's take a look at page four there. There's another phrase or set of phrases that pops up. You'll see it on the chart, about the middle of the chart. Either the phrase dwell on the earth or simply on the earth. And those two phrases show up in chapters 6 through 19. And so you see them there.

The only way that that is referred to in the messages to the churches is in Revelation 3.10, where it's a promise to the churches to keep us from that hour of testing.

And then, remember as we studied through the messages to the churches, the appeal to repent, several of the churches were were appealed to by the Lord Jesus Christ to repent. And so when we step into the chapters where there's the tribulation period, however, all we see there is a statement, they did not repent. There's no appeal to repent, it's just a statement, they didn't. There was no repentance. At the end of the messages, yeah, Mike? I was listening to McAuley the other day, and he said that believe and repent go together. Yes. But you can't separate them. That's right. Believing and repenting are part of the same meaning. And to repent, as we went through before, is not having some sort of an emotional trauma or something of that sort, or feeling really bad.

Repenting is changing your mind so as to believe. Isn't repentance the result of believing? Repentance, well, let's put it this way. If a person repents biblically, they will believe. I think that's probably a good way to put it. If a person repents, that is, changes their mind. That's the original meaning of the word. If a person changes their mind biblically, it will result in their believing.

Anyway, at the end of each of the messages to the churches, what does it say? He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Same set of words at the end of each of the messages to the churches. But in the middle of the book of Revelation, what do you find? If anyone has an ear. And it's not what the Spirit says to the churches. If anyone has an ear. So a contrast between those two.

The next one on the list here is the 24 elders. We're going to be studying that next Sunday morning and so there's a lot involved in that that we are not going to address here this morning. It's in Revelation 4, 1-4 that we'll broach that subject. But, and I believe this is the case, if the 24 elders will be taken up as representative of the church and the heavenlies, and their presence is only in the chapters 4 through 19, then that's further evidence of a prefabrication rapture. Some of the things you look at, what is the church promised in chapters 2 and 3?

It talks about be seated with me on my throne." It talks about having a crown to the church and talks about wearing a white robe. One of the things we're going to see about the 24 elders, as soon as they get there, what do you see? A crown, throne, and white robes. with the 24 elders immediately. And again, here's what's promised and then here it is showing up immediately as we open the heavenly scene there in Revelation chapter 4. Here are the 24 elders fulfilling the very things that were promised to the church by Christ.

Anyway, we will go into more detail, significant detail about that this next week. Now, some would ask the question, how come you don't have the rapture described in the book of Revelation? And here we need to point out something, and that is the Apostle Paul is the one who is given to explain certain things. And you'll see on the top of page 5 a listing of what some of those things are.

He is the one who explains how the Gentiles are a part of the church. You'll find it in other passages. For example, what's the historical book that talks about when the Gentiles were first given the gospel? Which book is that? Acts, right. The book of Acts talks about that, and that's in chapters 10 and 11 of the book of Acts. Here's Peter. He's in the house of Cornelius. He introduces the gospel. But Paul is the one who goes and explains how the Lord pulled this off.

Paul is the one who explains that truth, and we give you the reference there in Ephesians 3.6 as one of those places. The next one, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Only the Apostle Paul makes mention of that in Ephesians and 2 Corinthians. So we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. Only the Apostle Paul talks about that. Spiritual gifts are something that is made minimal reference to in any of the other New Testament books outside of the writings of Paul. How about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? That's another one of Paul's teachings.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Mysteries. These are things that were previously unknown but are now known and explained and revealed. And then the Church. The nature of the Church and its purpose are spelled out by Paul. The body of Christ, that's a term that only the Apostle Paul uses. The flesh, talking about the human, the sin nature, the human nature inherited from Adam. Galatians chapter 5 is kind of the capital chapter of that. And then finally, Paul is the one who really explains the rapture. We saw it in that 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18. passage. He is the one that explains it. And this is, by the way, not a complete list. There are others.

Paul is the one who explains that we've been identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. The other New Testament authors, including John and Peter, assume it, but only Paul explains it. If you read in John 17, our Lord is praying with the Father, and He doesn't explain that we've been identified with Christ. But He says, I in you, and you in me, and those kinds of words, it assumes that we've been identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. Peter writes, similar to what Paul writes in Romans chapter 6, he says, because of Christ we have died to sin and are alive to righteousness.

That's all he says. He doesn't explain it. Paul is the one given to explain it. So I submit to you that the rapture is one of those things again where Paul is given to explain it. But what we find, similar to the other things that we find in the writings outside of Paul, what we find is that the other authors assume it without explaining it. So that's why we don't see it here. So Paul explains the rapture in multiple passages. We started off with one of them.

About 70% of the book of Revelation is composed of Old Testament passages and John's focus after the message to the seven churches is directed towards various groups of people and not just those in the church. He writes to the people of Israel, he writes to the Gentiles, that is the non-Jews, and he writes to the Tribulation Saints. with all the horrific trials and martyrdom awaiting them, and to the lost." So John writes to different groups. He does not write to the church in these chapters on the tribulation. Does anybody here know any tribulation saints? That's a trick question. You might know someone who is going to be a tribulation saint.

Why would I say such a thing? And why would I put it that way? We might be the group of people who goes home to be with the Lord. Maybe even today. We might not finish this lesson. Don't worry about your stuff. It'll be here. Other people will pick it up.

If the Lord were to come today, right today, all the believers would be taken up. By the way, and their babies too. All the believers would be taken up. And so, we would be with the Lord. Now, what would that mean? Only unbelievers would be left on the earth. Only unbelievers left on the earth.

But, there will be those who become believers during this time of the tribulation, which could start any time after the Lord comes and takes the church to be with Him. those Tribulation Saints, those who during that seven-year period of Tribulation come to know the Lord, that's the Tribulation Saints we're talking about here. And they could be friends of yours. Could be relatives of yours. Could be people you've heard of, or maybe an acquaintance.

Why would there be tribulations? How would that happen? They'll be persecuted. Yeah, that's true. They'll be persecuted. They'll come to know the Lord because of witnessing during the tribulation. Yeah, there's going to be several different things going on. We'll be studying the details of it. But there are several different reasons why there will be tribulation saints. One of them is because there have been people that you've been talking to who haven't believed, even though they've heard the gospel.

And when all of a sudden, you tell them, hey, I'll be missing, and all of a sudden you are. You know? Funny, Holly Hill's just empty, you know? And so, first of all, there'll be people missing. and they'll look and they'll see things that we've left behind. I suppose for a while they might be able to listen to the Holly Hills website. I don't know.

So there will be things like that. There are also three other testimonies we'll be reading about during the tribulation period. One is there will be 144,000 Jewish males, unmarried, who will, by the 12 tribes, 12,000 by each tribe, will testify on the earth.

There will also be a gospel angel that you can hear from up at cloud level, who will go around giving the gospel from the clouds. Can you imagine that? Kind of, oh no, there's that angel again, you know, ruining our rock concert. So you got this gospel angel, and the other thing is in the middle of the tribulation, and actually the first half up to the middle, will be two witnesses testifying from Jerusalem.

So those who were here during the tribulation period will have all those testimonies, including anything that we've left behind, including the memory of people that they've talked to. And there will be people who come to the Lord during that period of time. And so even though it will be the time of God's wrath, it will be a time of God's amazing mercy and grace too.

There won't be any believers now left after the rapture. That's correct. We will all be taken out. We will all be taken out. So all the believers who become believers during the tribulation period will do so during that time. It's not because there will be 10% of us left or anything of that sort.

Yeah? The role of the Holy Spirit during that time reverts back to Old Testament times? I mean like, there will be like The things that are specific to us in the church, that are described of us in the church, that for example, that we are in Christ, that we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

Those will be things that will no longer be explicitly true of those who are in the tribulation period. So that's something else. They won't be like a part of the church that's separated. They'll be believers, but not a part of the group and having this particular advantages that we have. They'll always be birthed back. Pardon? They'll always be birthed back. Well, they will in fact go to heaven, but if they die, many will die, but they will not be a part of the church and they won't have the blessed hope that we have that Christ will come and take us to be with himself. And that's a seven-year tribulation, and after that comes Christ's thousand-year reign, right? That's correct. Then there's Christ's second coming. We will come with Him. We will come with Him. Because we will be with Him during the entire time.

I was having lunch with Kurt just a couple days ago, and we were talking about this study of Revelation. And I said, one of the things that really excites me about this book is because there are 150 verses in Revelation about the heavenly scene. More description of what it's going to be like in heaven than all the rest of the Bible combined.

That's what I like. Some people say, I love it. It's about prophecy. Yeah, that's there. But the really neat part is it's 150 verses of us with the Lord. That's cool. I get excited about that. That's what's neat. Us with the Lord. That gets described. And that's what's exciting. There's one other thing that to me, as I think about Revelation, is really exciting. Put yourself in the place of the Apostle John. The Apostle John, you know, a fisherman family, right? They're in northern Israel. He walked with the Lord. round Sea of Galilee. He was there in a boat when the Lord calmed the seas.

He was right there. He was there at the Last Supper. He was there at the cross. Christ even said, see, my mother, you take care of her now. In so many words. And there You start to see, here's John who has seen the Lord on planet Earth. He saw the Lord resurrected. So you start to put yourself in that situation and start thinking about John. Here he has seen the Lord. He was with the group that saw the Lord ascend into heaven. Now John gets to go up and have an advanced look, and be there in the heavenlies. He sees the Lord after the Lord is ascended and seated in the heavenlies. How must that have been for John? That must have been mind-boggling. How do you even begin to describe that? Well, that's the challenge that John had. You know, take a trip to heaven, now come back to earth and tell people what that's like. You had your hand up?

Yeah. The tribulation believers that come to believe during the tribulation, so when they die, would somebody else ask, aren't they in the presence of the Lord? Yes. Their soul. So they die, they're in the presence of the Lord. Yeah, they go to be with the Lord. And we're going to read about that. About those tribulation believers that do die. And they will indeed be in the heavenly seat. So will they come back with the saints? Yes. Of course, this is a leap ahead, but just to give us a picture. Here is the picture. Let me describe it.

You and I, whether we die first physically or whether we are alive at the time that the Lord Jesus Christ comes for his church. We are going to be taken up. That's this word harpazzo that you see on the first page. We're going to be caught up, taken up to be with the Lord. That will be before this tribulation period begins. Chapters 4 and 5 describe that scene that you and I will first see when we're in the heavenly scene there with the Lord. You and I will be there. We're going to be there. We're going to see what that's like. We'll be in heaven with the Lord.

Crowns, thrones, robes. The Bema judgment is not described in here, but again, the Apostle Paul describes it. The Apostle Paul describes it. But we will be with the Lord. will be with the Lord all during this time. Chapters 4 will be with the Lord. Chapter 19 will be with the Lord. During that time, which will be the time of the Tribulation, our focus will not be on the Tribulation. Our focus will be on the Lord. At the end of that period of time, we the church will come in new bodies, okay? We will come with the Lord down to this earth.

Along with us will come a great company of angels. Along with us will come all the Old Testament saints. Enoch, who walked with God. Noah, who walked with God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. By the way, Jesus mentions them by name. Okay? We'll be there. Jesus said that they will be there. They will be there. They will come.

All the believers of the Old Testament times. Remember, one time, Elijah is fearful because he says, I alone am left. And the Lord says, no, you think you're the only one left? I've got 7,000 who believe among these Jews here. They will all be included.

You've got all those who became believers during Christ's ministry on earth and afterwards, the time of the apostles. All those people who became believers, they'll be there. Ten waves of persecution of the Roman Empire. All the believers who died for everybody else's entertainment will be there. The tribulation saints will come with the Lord and with us so that it will appear to those people who are down on the earth that there is a great cloud coming. And so we'll come and be with the Lord and reign with Him.

That's the beginning of the millennium. That's what's called the Second Coming. It's interesting, a couple of years ago I sat down with a Jewish rabbi here locally and talked with him for a couple of hours. He's an Orthodox rabbi. And even he said, when Jesus, I don't know the way to put it, is when Messiah comes we'll ask him, is this your first or your second time? So we call this the second coming, as Christ came the first time.

Here is now the second coming when we and all the saints of all time up to that time will come with the Lord and a great company of angels as well. We'll be with the Lord during that entire thousand year reign. We'll be with Him. We will always be with the Lord. Yes.

So the rapture itself is not a coming? The rapture is only a coming to the extent that the Lord will come not down to the surface of the earth, but will come for his church, or step out of the heavenlies for us to take us with him to be in heaven. And the rapture is an event seven years prior to that millennium beginning, to that second coming. Yes.

The judgment would be immediately after we walk through heaven's gates, so to speak. And the judgment that we look forward to as Christians is not a judgment for condemnation. It's not to decide you're going to get in here. That's already been determined. The judgment, that Bema judgment, is an evaluation for how can I reward you.

We'll see at the very last chapter of Revelation, The Lord says, behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me. The Lord is eager to reward us. That's what he wants to do. He's eager to reward us. Pardon? No. The time, the beam of judgment, the time of reward is immediately when we're taken up to be with the Lord. Immediately. So it's not a one-time event like the White Throne Judgment? It is a one-time event when we all are taken to be with the Lord at this time of the Rapture.

But you're saying now the saints that died during the seven-year tribulation period, they go to heaven also. Yeah, but those are not a part of the Church, and that's after the Rapture. So they do not go through the Bema Judgment? No, the Bema Judgment occurs to be specifically for the Church.

So... those people? Any idea? They're taken up to be with the Lord during the tribulation period. We're actually going to hear from them. They are not given the specifics, at least for what's revealed, that we are. Because you would think that they would be most qualified for martyrs' crowns and things like that. Yeah, certainly the Lord is going to work with them in a way that's not only merciful but gracious. But the specifics about them are not given detail like we have. We're privileged to have the details that we do have.

For a lot of the Tribulation Saints, it'll just be a matter of keeping your skin on your back and keeping your head on your shoulders. For a lot of them, it's just, how do I get through this? So it's an entirely different thing. What we have is a good portion of the Book of Revelation is about that tribulation period. But still, as many chapters as there are dedicated to it, we in the Church have much more revealed to us about what's rewardable and what will happen.

What you find at the bottom of page 5 is a contrast between the Rapture and the Second Coming. which I think addresses part of what you're talking about. You've got the second coming, which is Christ coming with his saints to the earth, which includes us and all other saints of all time up to that time. But you have a contrast to that, the rapture in the first column. And so you'll see differences spelled out between each of those. Let's look at page six here. There are some examples of a rapture-like event even happening in the Old Testament. It's certainly not intended to be identical, but at least to say it's rapture-like.

Here's Enoch as we studied in Genesis chapter 5. Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah. And he had other sons and daughters, so all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.

And it even says there in Hebrews 11.5, by faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death. It was not found because God took him up, for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. The second event in the Old Testament is rapture-like, is with Elijah in 2 Kings 11. As they, and it is Elijah and Elisha, were going along and talking. Behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven."

Not the death, but just taken up. But now, neither one of them, it says that their body was left here but it was taken with them. So that's not the same kind of rapture and they're most likely not in the same place because they still have a fleshly body. We're not given all the details are we?

But you look at it and you say it's rapture-like. I'm certainly not saying it's identical, but it's just Old Testament instances. Do you think those could be the two witnesses? Do you believe that? Some think so. I personally am not sure we can identify exactly who they are, but there are some who feel that that's the case. There's another important point here.

The rapture is not about avoiding troubles in this life. Why would I say that? Scripture doesn't indicate that. Scripture doesn't say that the rapture is so you can get out of troubles here. Sorry folks, that's not what it's for. The rapture will have you avoid being subject to the wrath of God. It's going to come on the earth. But the rapture is not about us getting out of troubles. Are we going to have troubles here on this earth?

Yep. Okay. We will. Count on it. There will be trials and difficulties. Okay. So that's a certainty. So the Raptor is not about getting out of those troubles. Okay. Let's take a look at the very last couple of pages here. Our last page here. It's a part. Yes, that's if possible, but that's not the primary aim of the raptures, just to get out of trouble.

It is about where's my hope. It is about where's my hope. That's what the rapture is about. That's why scripture calls it the blessed hope, the definite article. The blessed hope. The Lord wants for us to have a definite and specific hope in our heart that looks for Him. That looks for Him. That's specifically what God has in mind. And that's one reason why I think the kind of wishy-washy-ness of the church I grew up in over in Palo Alto, California. It's kind of sad. I think scripture intends for us to have a specific hope. It is the blessed hope. It is a part of our spiritual blessings, if you will, because it is something that the Lord intends for us to have. You know, I'm going to go through all kinds of things here on the planet Earth, but someday, I hope it's today, I'm going to see Him.

Someday, as John also, the same author, puts it, we shall be like Him, for we'll see Him as He is. Have bodies like His. Hope you didn't bump yourself on the door coming in. If you had a body like Christ, that wouldn't happen. Someday, and I hope it's today, we're going to see him face to face.

And what's exciting is that as we step into the very next verses of the very next chapter, we get a glimpse of that. We get John's description of what that's like. Of what it's like to be there with the Lord in the heavenlies, in new bodies. And this is a wonderful thing. This is the kind of hope that the Lord has. And the thing is, I think Scripture leaves things clear enough that we can have that definite hope. And there are even indications of different kinds.

There's no reason for me to say, yeah, but I don't want the Lord to come yet because We don't need to have that. The Lord's taken care of all the different things. If I drop this piece of paper, that's okay. If I don't make it home to turn the game on or something like that, I'll probably be okay.

There are things that we hope for and look forward to. There are reasonable things to have here. It's not our ultimate hope. But in the end, The hope is that I will see the Lord face-to-face and be with Him. And that's what we started off with. Encourage one another with these words. Forever we'll be with the Lord. And that's a hope we should have. And it's a hope we can be real clear about. We don't need to be mushy and wishy-washy and uncertain.

But instead we can call it the blessed hope that we'll see our Lord face-to-face. Now I have a question. Why would it matter that you have this blessed hope? As a Christian, why does it make a difference that you have this blessed hope? This hope that you'll see the Lord face to face, be taken to be with Him. Okay, our focus is in the right place. Good. Our focus is in the right place.

Why else would it matter? It's all that Christianity is about. It's about relationship with Christ. It's about relationship with Christ, yeah. It's centered on relationship with Christ. This is the ultimate, right? It's the ultimate in relationship with Christ.

I'm not distracted by my stomach growling or, you know, coffee break or why my feet are getting tired or any of that. Right? Why else? Why else would it matter? Yeah? Perhaps sometimes we need a little encouragement. Perhaps we need some encouragement. And he specifically says, encourage one another with these words. Good.

Why else? probably has something to do with the Holy Spirit and your walk with the Holy Spirit. Here is what Christ says in the Gospel of John. The Holy Spirit will direct our focus on Christ. So if that's the case, then the very ministry of the Holy Spirit is going to put our focus on Him. Which I think we started off with, that's where our focus ought to be, right? Yeah, wow. Which brings me, and maybe this will come later, but if that's the case and the Holy Spirit's taken out at rapture, what is it that guides the tribulation saints to salvation? I know you have the 144,000 Jehovah Witnesses and the two witnesses.

But without the Holy Spirit, how do they come to that? Well, I think the thing is, it is not that they don't have the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it's that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is different than it is now. Different than it is certainly with us. So they do have a ministry of the Spirit, but the ministry of the Spirit is not the same. What Scripture also tells us is that the Holy Spirit's ministry of restraining evil is taken out.

And that's alarming. Because right now you think, oh boy, there's all kinds of evil. Imagine if the evil is unrestrained. Yeah? Sometimes the promises seem a little difficult to believe and this It puts an end to that doubt. It puts an end to the doubt. It lays it out real clearly. When hope is fulfilled, then God's glory is fully revealed. Here's an interesting thing.

We are indeed to have hope, but there will be a time when hope is done. I mean, that may sound like an odd thing to say, but a hope hopes for something, right? When that hope is finally fulfilled, we don't need the hope anymore. So hope and faith are for here and now. There will be a time when hope will find its fulfillment.

How do we know that the Lord will come for us? By faith. Will there come a time when the faith has ended? Our hope is fulfilled, faith is ended, because we see the object of our faith face to face. So isn't that amazing when we think about hope and faith? They'll come to an end to it, but that's why Paul says, the greatest of these is love. Hope will have a fulfillment, faith will come to an end, because you'll see it face to face. But love will remain. Love will remain.

As I look at this and think about this, this hope that we have, this blessed hope, that's why I get excited about the book of Revelation. Is the prophecy cool? Yeah, it's okay, I guess. But it's this part of it that I get really excited about. Let me offer you one more reason why seeing the Lord face to face is the way it ought to be in my heart. And that's home. That's home. That's where we have our citizenship, isn't it? That's my heart's home. It's there with Him. When I go to be with Him, I'll be home. I'll be home. That's cool. That's really cool.

Lord, as we look at the subject and the passages that bear on it, we just thank you that it's not just something to study. Oh yeah, there's a lot to study. But Lord, this is deep stuff. And this is stuff that has all the capacity to grab our hearts and then some.

And we thank you that we can look forward to being home with you. There are places we have on this earth that we call home. And those can be pretty special places. But Lord, we long for the day when we'll be home with you. Home with you for good. Home with you with no yeah buts, no untils, but just home. And we just thank you for the blessed hope that we have that we would be face-to-face with you. In Jesus' name.