Introduction:
What is the Rapture? - The rapture is the future event when Jesus Christ descends from heaven to gather his people, those who died and those living, to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, to receive their glorified bodies and be kept from God's vengeance & judgment on unbelievers in the 7-year period known as the Tribulation (see Revelation 6-19).
Reasons to Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture:
- It's the most Straightforward understanding of the biblical language.
Revelation 3:10 - I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 - For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ...
- We never see the Church in the tribulation in Revelation!
- God has a track record of Removing His people before He judges the wicked.
It's Going to Get Worse: How to Survive the Tribulation (Matthew 24:15-28):
- Watch for the Abomination . (Matthew 24:15)
- Be ready to Run . (Matthew 24:16-22)
Revelation 6:9 - I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God...
Revelation 12:11 - ...they loved not their lives even unto death.
Revelation 13:7 - Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.
Revelation 17:6 - And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
Revelation 16:10 - The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.
- Don't be Fooled . (Matthew 24:23-26)
- Keep your eyes to the Skies . (Matthew 24:27-28)
Revelation 1:7 - Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:08-01:11
We're going through this series, Intentional Hope.
01:13-01:15
Get intentional, that's our theme of the year.
01:16-01:18
This series is Intentional Hope.
01:18-01:22
What are we waiting for?
01:23-01:30
So for these next two months, we are looking at Matthew 24 and 25, the Olivet Discourse.
01:30-01:37
And this is Jesus laying out the events that lead to his second coming.
01:38-01:42
So what are we waiting for?
01:45-01:46
Matthew 24, are you there?
01:46-01:47
If you're still turning there.
01:51-01:54
Do you ever know somebody that's a story topper?
01:56-01:57
Do you know what I'm talking about?
01:58-02:39
That no matter what you have going on, they're going to come right over the top because theirs is a lot bigger or worse whatever. You know what I'm talking about? The storytopper? I worked with a storytopper in the 90s and his favorite phrase was, "You think that's bad?" And it didn't matter what you said. It just didn't matter. He's like, "Hey Jeff, how are you doing?" "Oh yeah, I'm kind of dragging today. I'm tired." "Oh, you think that's bad?" "I haven't slept in six days." I'm like, "Well, sorry to hear that. I guess I'm I'm just tired because I've been working a lot.
02:39-02:40
You think that's bad?
02:42-02:44
I put in 220 hours last week.
02:48-02:52
Okay, well, I've had to work a lot.
02:52-02:57
I've had to get as many hours as I could because I've just been kind of broke.
02:57-03:00
And, oh, you think that's bad?
03:01-03:03
I got 7 cents in my bank account.
03:05-03:08
And it just gets to the point with the story toppers that like, okay, you win.
03:09-03:10
Is that what you want?
03:10-03:11
You win.
03:12-03:23
Well, we're looking at a passage today that even my coworker from Walmart in the nineties, even he couldn't top this one.
03:23-03:24
Look at verse 21.
03:25-03:26
Quick preview here.
03:27-03:49
Jesus says, "For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be." Jesus is saying, "Here's something that's so bad.
03:51-04:00
It can't be topped." And he's talking about the tribulation in this chunk that we're looking at today.
04:02-04:17
Just as a quick review, remember we saw last week, the disciples said, "What's going to be the sign of the close of the age?" And Jesus gives the events, the signs leading to his second coming.
04:17-04:18
And we saw them last week, right?
04:19-04:24
Verses four through 14, deception, wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution.
04:25-04:28
Jesus said, "Those are birth pains." Right? You know how birth pains work.
04:29-04:35
They get closer together and they get more intense, closer together, more intense, closer together, more intense.
04:36-04:37
And then the baby comes.
04:38-04:43
And Jesus said, that's what's going to happen globally until he returns.
04:43-04:46
These events are gonna get closer together and more intense.
04:46-04:48
But look at verse 15, it's a shift.
04:49-04:55
Jesus says, so when you see, Jesus here is, there's a shift.
04:55-05:02
He's moving from general events that we saw last week and that we're watching on the news, have you noticed?
05:03-05:08
He's moving from the general events to very specific events.
05:09-05:16
And in this passage we're looking at today, Jesus is specifically talking about the tribulation.
05:17-05:19
So let's talk about the tribulation.
05:19-05:20
What is that?
05:22-05:29
Well, the tribulation is a future period, it's coming, of seven years.
05:31-05:39
If you go to Daniel chapter nine, we're not gonna do that today, I'm gonna give you the short version, but I encourage you to read it and reread it.
05:39-05:47
But Daniel chapter nine, Daniel prophesies 70 weeks of years.
05:49-05:53
And each day in this prophecy represents one year.
05:54-05:58
So one week would represent how many years?
05:59-06:00
Seven, right.
06:02-06:03
So do the math here.
06:04-06:05
Like, oh, math is hard.
06:06-06:12
But from the decree of the Persian King, Artaxerxes, he made this decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
06:12-06:14
This is all prophesied in Daniel nine.
06:14-06:17
But he made this decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
06:18-06:25
And then there were going to be 69 weeks, Daniel says, until an anointed one is cut off.
06:28-06:29
Well, what happened in history?
06:29-06:37
Well, the decree was made to rebuild Jerusalem and that's, there's 69 weeks, that's 483 years.
06:37-06:45
Do you know what happened exactly 483 years after the decree was made to rebuild Jerusalem?
06:47-06:53
It was prophesied that an anointed one would be cut off, and it takes you to the exact moment that Jesus Christ was crucified.
06:56-07:00
So this 483 years, the 69 weeks was fulfilled exactly.
07:01-07:10
But the 70th week, this one more period of seven years was to be beyond the other 69 weeks.
07:11-07:13
Like, well, where's the 70th week?
07:15-07:17
It's in the last book in your Bible.
07:19-07:23
Those seven years are fully described in the book of Revelation.
07:25-07:29
And those seven years are often called the Tribulation.
07:29-07:35
And Jesus in this passage is giving us the short version, the CliffsNotes version.
07:38-07:39
Do you guys know what CliffsNotes are?
07:40-07:41
Okay, some of you do.
07:41-07:43
All right, do they still have CliffsNotes?
07:43-07:44
Is that still a thing?
07:44-07:50
OK, sometimes I throw a reference out and it's just like, you know, never heard of it.
07:50-07:51
All right.
07:52-07:53
Jesus is giving the Kip Snow's version.
07:54-07:57
I guarantee you the Second Service will have no idea what that is.
07:59-08:01
There's a reason that you're up early in here.
08:07-08:08
Oh, wait, this one's being recorded.
08:10-08:11
I love them too.
08:11-08:13
And they have strengths that you don't.
08:13-08:14
(congregation laughing)
08:17-08:31
Well, before we get into this, you know, I'm always asked, always asked, and people always want reminded when we talk about the tribulation, is the church going to be here for the tribulation?
08:33-08:35
And the answer is no, we are not.
08:37-08:39
The church is going to be raptured.
08:40-08:42
You're like, what's the rapture?
08:42-08:44
Well, we're gonna spend a few moments talking about that.
08:45-08:56
Jesus doesn't address that because that's not really in the context of the questions that he's answering his disciples, but we find this all throughout the rest of the New Testament.
08:56-09:00
So I'm gonna give you the CliffsNotes version of this.
09:01-09:02
All right, so what is the rapture?
09:02-09:38
The rapture is the future event when Jesus Christ descends from heaven to gather his people, those who died and those alive at the time, to be caught up together, to meet the Lord in the air, to receive their glorified bodies, and to be kept from God's vengeance and judgment on unbelievers in the seven-year period known as the tribulation, as covered in Revelation chapter six through chapter 19.
09:39-09:50
So Christ is going to remove his church, the saved, before the tribulation.
09:51-09:59
And I know throughout church history, ideas become popular, and then they become unpopular.
10:00-10:04
And I don't think this is the popular view now, but I think it's the biblical view.
10:04-10:08
So I just want to just take a couple moments here on your outline.
10:09-10:10
There's many reasons.
10:10-10:17
There are many reasons that I believe that the church is going to be raptured out of the world before the tribulation.
10:17-10:19
I just want to give you a few of them.
10:19-10:19
All right.
10:21-10:23
So reasons I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture.
10:25-10:30
Letter A, it's the most straightforward understanding of the biblical language.
10:32-10:35
You're like, "What biblical language?" Look at Revelation 3 10.
10:35-10:37
This is what Jesus says to the church in Philadelphia.
10:38-10:40
Look at all these words here.
10:40-11:01
Jesus says, "I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth." Breaking that down, look at that phrase, the hour of trial that is coming.
11:01-11:08
Hour of trial, that's a definite period of time that is coming, it means it's yet future.
11:10-11:24
But you know, a lot of people debate the phrase where it says, "I will keep you from." Some people believe that that phrase means that Jesus is going to preserve his church through the tribulation.
11:24-11:27
But there's a couple problems with that view.
11:27-11:29
And one problem is the wording itself.
11:29-11:38
This phrase, keep you from, literally in the Greek means keep you out of or away from.
11:38-11:47
If Jesus wanted to say, I'm going to keep you through the tribulation, he could have used those words, but those aren't the words that he chose to use.
11:47-11:55
He used the words, I'm going to take you out from, away from this hour of trial.
11:57-12:03
But there's another problem with that view of Jesus preserving the church through the tribulation.
12:03-12:11
The other problem is this, followers of Christ during the tribulation will not be preserved.
12:12-12:13
They will be slaughtered.
12:13-12:14
We're gonna talk about that.
12:16-12:19
You see it in Revelation chapter six, Revelation chapter seven.
12:19-12:28
We'll talk about that more in a couple of minutes, but believers will be slaughtered.
12:29-12:44
during the tribulation. But notice also in this Revelation 310 it says that this hour of trial is coming on the whole world. It's on the whole world. It's global.
12:44-12:48
That's how we know this is a future event because that has not happened yet.
12:48-12:57
There has not been a global event like is being described in the book of of Revelation.
12:59-13:04
And then it says to try again, specific phrasing, those who dwell on the earth.
13:04-13:14
We saw this a few years ago, we went through the book of Revelation, but that phrase, those who dwell on the earth, that's a phrase used throughout the book of Revelation to describe unsaved people.
13:15-13:17
You see that over and over and over again in Revelation.
13:18-13:20
That phrase is never used to describe saved people.
13:20-13:23
That phrase is always attached to the unsaved.
13:23-13:40
And this verse is saying here, Revelation 3.10, that the purpose of the rapture and the believers, or the, excuse me, the unbelievers who are going to be staying on the earth to face the tribulation, they're going to be tested.
13:41-13:52
The unbelievers who are not raptured out are going to be tested, and they're either going to pass the test by repenting, or they're going to fail the test by refusing to repent.
13:53-13:54
And there are many examples of both of them.
13:56-13:58
those responses in the book of Revelation.
13:58-14:00
So what am I saying?
14:00-14:10
I'm saying this, I believe that Revelation 3.10 means exactly what it appears to me.
14:11-14:17
That Jesus promises to keep his church out of the future time of testing that's going to come on unbelievers.
14:19-14:20
That's what it says.
14:21-14:28
Oh, there's another verse too, just very quickly, that tells me that the church isn't gonna be here during the tribulation.
14:29-14:33
And that's 1 Thessalonians 5 9.
14:33-14:46
It says, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, some people, when they read that verse, they think wrath, they think hell, but that verse is not talking about hell.
14:47-14:57
Because if you go to verse two in that chapter, the context of the whole chapter is the day of the Lord, the tribulation, the judgment on unbelievers on the earth.
14:58-14:59
That's the context.
14:59-15:02
And that's the wrath that he's talking about here.
15:02-15:05
Like you're not meant to experience God's wrath.
15:06-15:07
On the earth.
15:11-15:12
That's the wrath we're not destined for, so.
15:14-15:17
Letter A, it's the most straightforward understanding of biblical language.
15:18-15:25
Another reason I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture is this letter B, we never see the church in the tribulation in the book of Revelation.
15:26-15:36
I find that so interesting for people that think that the church is going to be here during the tribulation, because when you read Revelation, like chapter six through 19, it's describing the tribulation.
15:36-15:38
You don't see the church mentioned anywhere.
15:38-15:44
Not one time, not a passing comment, not a hyph, not a hyph, not a sniff, not a what have, nothing.
15:45-15:49
There's no mention whatsoever of the church during the tribulation.
15:50-15:56
And when you read Revelation, Revelation 2 and 3 is all about the church, right?
15:56-15:57
The church, the church, the church, the church.
15:57-16:00
I think in the first three chapters, the church is mentioned like 19 times.
16:01-16:08
And then all of a sudden you get to Revelation 6 and the tribulation is described and you don't see not one mention of the church.
16:10-16:13
You never see the church during a tribulation in Revelation.
16:15-16:27
And then the third reason that I believe that the rapture is going to happen before the tribulation is this, letter C.
16:27-16:33
God has a track record of removing his people before he judges the wicked.
16:35-16:36
Do a little Bible study.
16:37-16:46
Every time God is going to judge the wicked on the earth, the first thing he does is get his people out of there.
16:48-16:50
That's consistent throughout scripture.
16:50-16:52
Like remember the story of Noah?
16:53-16:54
It's like the whole story, right?
16:55-16:59
God's going to judge the earth with a flood, but what's the first thing he does?
17:00-17:04
He makes provision to get his people out of there, right?
17:04-17:07
What about Sodom and Gomorrah?
17:08-17:14
God says, "Hey, it's going to rain." And not like the rain we've had here, it's going to be a much hotter rain.
17:15-17:22
So Lot, "My people get out of there." God's removing his people before judgment.
17:22-17:24
What about Israel and Egypt during the plagues?
17:25-17:26
What did God do?
17:26-17:27
Separated his people.
17:28-17:29
This is gonna happen to Egypt.
17:29-17:30
This is not gonna happen to my people.
17:31-17:33
What about Israel through the wilderness?
17:33-17:36
There was rebellions like the Khoras rebellion.
17:36-17:37
What did God say?
17:37-17:39
Hey, get away from them, move.
17:39-17:41
I'm gonna judge them, not you.
17:42-17:49
God just has this track record that when he brings judgment on unbelievers, The first thing he does is remove his people.
17:53-17:53
Consistent.
17:55-17:56
Oh, P.S.
17:56-17:58
This is, I gotta say this.
17:59-18:05
Many of the arguments that I've heard against the pre-tribulation rapture really don't have much substance.
18:07-18:16
One of the biggest ones I've heard when you talk about a pre-trib rapture, one of the biggest arguments I've heard is people say this, Well, you know, the word rapture is not even in the Bible.
18:17-18:21
You believe in a rapture and the word rapture, it's not even in there.
18:22-18:23
You're right, it's not.
18:25-18:26
It's not.
18:27-18:28
You know why?
18:29-18:31
Because rapture is a Latin word.
18:33-18:41
And actually we have a word in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, harpazo, and it means the exact same thing as rapture.
18:42-18:45
Both words mean carry away, okay?
18:45-18:47
So the word rapture comes from a Latin word.
18:48-18:49
That's why it's not in the Bible.
18:50-18:57
But it means the same thing as the word used in 1 Thessalonians 4, 17.
18:58-19:03
Another argument I've heard against the rapture before the tribulation is this.
19:03-19:09
People have said, "Why would the church be exempt from suffering during a tribulation?" Have you ever heard that one?
19:10-19:14
Well, why would the church be exempt from suffering in the tribulation?
19:14-19:15
Do you wanna know the answer to that?
19:17-19:22
Because Jesus said the church will be exempt from suffering in the tribulation.
19:22-19:24
That's why, that's good enough for me.
19:25-19:27
I mean, if our Lord said it, I'm okay with that, are you?
19:29-19:31
All right, all right, we'll go with that then.
19:32-19:52
So many people are going to come to Christ during the tribulation, but when the judgment starts, God's going to separate his people from judgment on sinners by removing his church before the tribulation so that the church will not be the object of his wrath.
19:54-20:00
The promise is meant for the church exactly as Jesus said it.
20:03-20:06
That was a sermon for the church.
20:08-20:23
But now we're gonna shift gears because there are people sitting here or streaming this or listening to this later who are listening to these words, but they've not received Christ.
20:25-20:29
And the rapture is going to occur and they're still gonna be here.
20:31-20:32
Like, so what about those people?
20:33-20:38
What about the people that are hearing this but aren't believers in Christ.
20:39-20:42
Well, that's what we have here in the text.
20:44-20:48
And what was the longest introduction to a sermon ever?
20:49-20:50
Here it is.
20:51-20:54
On your outline, it's going to get worse.
20:56-20:58
Jesus here gives us a survival guide.
20:59-21:07
If you're still here, and all of these horrible events are going down, What should you do?
21:08-21:09
Well, Jesus lays it out for you.
21:10-21:12
This is how to survive the tribulation.
21:14-21:22
All right, so for the rest of this message, I'm going to speak specifically to those of you that are hearing this, but have not received Christ personally.
21:23-21:33
Those of you who maybe are church goers or you're friends of members of the church here, but you have not personally bowed the knee to Jesus Christ.
21:33-21:38
You have not personally received the gift of salvation that he offers.
21:39-21:46
You have not personally embraced this love that God has for you, that he spared not his own son, but gave him up for you.
21:47-21:55
If you have not done that, then the rest of this message is for you, and I'm talking to you specifically, all right?
21:55-22:00
So you're like, okay, well, what happens if I'm here during the tribulation and I'm not raptured?
22:01-22:04
Jesus tells you, number one, watch for the abomination.
22:06-22:07
Look at verse 15.
22:07-22:08
Watch for the abomination.
22:09-22:14
Again, Jesus shifting from the general events to the specific events.
22:14-22:28
Jesus says, "So when you see "the abomination of desolation spoken of "by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place," let the reader understand.
22:29-22:30
Stop there for a second.
22:32-22:43
Step one, if you're still here, listen, you need to look for this sign that's going to take the tribulation from bad to worse.
22:43-22:48
And Jesus says the sign is the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.
22:49-22:51
Like what is that?
22:51-22:52
What does that mean?
22:52-22:53
Well, let's break it down.
22:53-22:57
Abomination, that's something that is repulsive to God.
22:57-22:59
Desolation, that word means ruin.
23:01-23:03
Like what's the holy place?
23:03-23:04
That refers to the temple.
23:07-23:14
And Jesus says, "Spoken of by the prophet Daniel." That's three times in Daniel, chapter seven, chapter nine, chapter 11.
23:17-23:32
Also note here that there's a parenthetical note in here for Matthew that says, "Let the reader understand." Matthew wrote this for future readers, which tells us it wasn't fulfilled in his day.
23:32-23:34
He was talking about something yet future.
23:36-23:38
But what is the abomination of desolation?
23:38-23:41
Well, this person has other names.
23:41-23:43
The Bible calls him the Antichrist.
23:43-23:45
The Bible calls him the beast.
23:46-23:48
The Bible calls him the lawless one.
23:50-23:58
He's a man who's going to be revealed soon, who's going to be demonically empowered.
23:59-24:02
Again, this church went through the books of Revelation.
24:02-24:06
We went through the book of 2 Thessalonians.
24:06-24:11
And if you're interested in more information, we covered a lot of this in those series and it's all on our website.
24:12-24:13
You can go and take a listen.
24:13-24:16
I'm just trying to give you the short version here because that's what our Lord did.
24:18-24:19
But who is the Antichrist?
24:19-24:21
Well, the short version is this.
24:22-24:24
He's Satan's version of Jesus.
24:27-24:29
He's this leader that's going to come on the scene.
24:29-24:30
He's going to be popular.
24:31-24:32
He's going to have authority.
24:32-24:38
He's even going to have the audacity to mimic the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
24:40-24:44
And he's going to be like worldwide popular.
24:46-24:58
The Bible says he's going to make a peace treaty with Israel But halfway through the tribulation, the Bible says he's going to show his true colors.
24:59-25:00
He's going to rule the world.
25:00-25:01
He's going to demand worship.
25:01-25:04
He's going to force people to receive his mark.
25:04-25:08
Whatever that mark is, you're not going to be able to buy or sell unless you have it.
25:09-25:12
And he's going to break his treaty with Israel.
25:14-25:18
That's what's being referred to here when it says he's standing in the holy place.
25:19-25:23
He's going to put his throne in the yet to be built temple.
25:23-25:26
And by the way, there's plans and furnishings.
25:26-25:28
Everything's ready to rebuild the temple.
25:28-25:29
It's coming people.
25:34-25:36
But then he's going to slaughter God's people.
25:37-25:43
Israel, people who come to faith in Jesus Christ during the tribulation.
25:45-25:47
If that's you, he's coming after you.
25:49-25:55
So step one in this little survival guide that Jesus gives us is to recognize this sign.
25:55-26:03
When you see this wicked leader setting up shop in God's temple, it's time.
26:03-26:04
It's time.
26:06-26:13
And you're like, "Time to what?" Number two, it's time to run.
26:16-26:17
Number two, be ready to run.
26:19-26:20
Look at verses 16 through 18.
26:22-26:26
It says, "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
26:27-26:45
Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak." When you see the temple defiled by this blasphemous man.
26:46-26:49
Jews, run.
26:51-26:54
People who come to Christ during the tribulation, run.
26:56-27:00
Because countless Jews and Christians are going to be slaughtered.
27:00-27:02
Revelation is so clear about that.
27:03-27:05
Here's a shotgun blast of verses.
27:05-27:13
Revelation 6 says, "I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of Christ.
27:14-27:17
Revelation 12, 11 says they loved not their lives, even unto death.
27:18-27:24
Revelation 13, 7 says, and it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.
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Revelation 17, 6, and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
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Over and over in Revelation, it's clear during the tribulation, if you're one of God's people, they're coming after you.
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That's not fear-mongering.
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That's what the Bible says.
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So listen, if you're still here after the rapture and you see the abomination of desolation, you see the blasphemous man setting up shop in God's temple, if you're still here, according to our Lord, listen, don't try to witness, don't try to stand your ground, don't try to appease them with cookies.
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Jesus says, "Get out of there." Verse 19, he says, "And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days." Notice here, our Lord singling out pregnant women, why?
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Because that's more than just about the running.
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There's prophecy in the Old Testament that would indicate that what's coming is another mass murder of infants.
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That's Satan's way, by the way.
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That's what he does.
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Is Satan loves to murder infants because they're helpless and they're innocent.
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Right? Like remember Moses day?
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What happened?
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Kill all the male Jewish babies, right?
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Oh, remember Jesus day?
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What happened?
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(pages rustling)
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Kill all the babies.
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Remember what's happening in our country right now?
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That's from Satan, kill all the babies.
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And I think that's what Jesus is pointing out here, that there's a very special attack that's going to be on the babies.
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Horrific, terrific people.
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Look at verse 20.
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Jesus says, "Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath," meaning nothing, just pray that nothing gets in your way.
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When it's time to run, you just pray that there's no obstacles.
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Get out of there.
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And then he says, "Is it really gonna be that bad?
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For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
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There's never been a Holocaust like what's being described here, never in history.
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Not the Nazis, not Al-Qaeda, not ISIS.
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This is worse.
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This is the worst.
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Like, well, how bad is it?
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Zechariah 13, eight says, "In the whole world declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish and one third shall be left alive." According to Zechariah, two thirds of the Israelites will be slain.
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That's how bad it's going to be.
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Verse 22, Jesus says, "And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.
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But for the sake of the elect, Those days will be cut short.
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I read something this week that really got me thinking about this verse because like cut short, we know that the tribulation seven years, right?
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So it's not like God's going to, he already said that that's what it's gonna be.
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It's not like God's gonna say, you know what?
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We'll knock that down to two years.
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What does he mean cut short?
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I read this week one person suggested it means less sunlight, meaning the actual amount of time of daylight is going to be cut short.
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And that's based on Revelation 16.10.
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It says, "The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness." I'm not being dogmatic about this, but this is suggesting that maybe the amount of time during the day that there's sunlight, maybe that's been cut short so that as people are fleeing, they have darkness to help protect them.
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Regardless, regardless, especially those in Judea, be ready to run.
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Be ready to run. Number three, don't be fooled.
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Don't be fooled. Like, man, didn't we talk about deception last week?
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Yeah. And it's in the text we're talking about this week.
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But that's Satan's thing. Satan is constantly trying to deceive you.
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And here it is again. Look at verse 23. It says, And if anyone says to you, look, "Here's the Christ," or "There he is, do not believe it." What's going on here?
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Well, here's what's going on.
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If you're still here and you're listening to this message and okay, so the abomination of desolation, he's in the temple and you've run and you're hiding.
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What's the next thing you're waiting for?
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The return of the Lord, right?
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I'll spoiler alert.
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The return of the Lord, that's the next thing that's coming.
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So you're hiding and you're like, "Okay, all right, I know what I'm waiting on now.
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I know I'm waiting for the Lord to return." So what Jesus is talking about here is people are going to try to lure you out by saying, "Oh, he's here.
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We found the Lord, he's here, come out." It's a trap, it's a trap.
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You're hiding, you're watching people get slaughtered, you're vulnerable.
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They're gonna try to trap you.
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Jesus is saying, "Don't buy it.
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Don't buy it, don't listen.
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Look at verse 24.
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He says, "For false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elects." Says they're going to deceive through miracles.
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Like, "Hey, the Lord's here.
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You should, oh, this is definitely the Lord.
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You should see this amazing miracle that he can do." I've had people ask me, "Well, like with that, is it a real miracle or is it like a fake thing, like a sleight of hand thing?
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Which is it?" It doesn't matter because the end game is the same.
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It's the same point.
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And the point is deception.
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You can't fool the elect though.
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That's what Jesus is saying here.
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when he says, "To lead astray, if possible, even the elect." And some people are like, oh, does that mean like the elect can be fooled?
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No, that's actually the opposite of what Jesus is actually saying here.
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The elect can't be fooled, but people are gonna try to fool them.
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Verse 25, Jesus said, "See, I have told you beforehand." So, if they say to you, "Look, he's in the wilderness," do not go out.
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If they say, "Look, he's in the inner rooms," do not believe it.
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They're going to try to trap you.
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So Jesus says, "Don't be fooled.
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Don't be fooled." Like man.
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You're like, well, then how am I going to know, right?
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I mean, if there's people out there doing these miracles and tricking all these people, how am I going to know when the real Lord actually does show up?
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That's a great question.
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That's a really good question.
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Look at the next verse.
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For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the West, so will the coming.
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I'm sorry, so will be excuse me, coming of the son of man.
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Wherever the corpses, there are the vultures will gather.
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So number four. Keep your eyes to the skies.
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Jesus return.
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Listen, if you're if you miss the rapture and you're listening to this, you're like, well, how am I going to know?
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How am I going to know when the Lord returns?
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Oh, oh, you you will know.
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"You will know for sure." You're like, "Well, how obvious is it gonna be?" Jesus uses two images here.
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And the first one is lightning.
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Lightning.
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I don't have to explain this, do I?
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Lightning lights up the whole sky, right?
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So like you're standing outside looking over here and then lightning happens over here.
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Hey, hey, there was lightning.
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And you're like, "Oh, I missed it." No, you didn't miss it because it lights up the whole sky.
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That's what Jesus is saying.
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It's obvious to everyone.
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That's what it says in Revelation 1, 7.
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It says, "Behold, he's coming with the clouds and every eye will see him." You don't worry about it.
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Is it Jesus?
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Is it not Jesus?
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Let me give you a little tip.
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If you're not sure, then it's not Jesus.
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Because when it is Jesus, you will be sure.
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He gives another image.
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There's lightning.
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Another image is the image of the scavenger.
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Jesus gives a little proverbial statement, "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." Jesus is saying that he's going to come as a vulture to a corpse.
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Do you get the picture?
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The picture is this.
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is dead, look up. You can see, oh, there's a vulture circling, there's something dead.
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I see it from the sky. When something's dead, look up. And when the world itself is dead, when this entire decaying planet is finally, because of the sin and wickedness and corruption and the evil that's going to be unleashed during the tribulation, when this world is finally dead, look up. Look up. When Jesus returns in judgment, when the world is corrupt and dead, from the skies will come our Lord." And you're like, "Man, that sounds horrific. According to Jesus, there's nothing worse." Like, "Man, that sounds awful." Go through the book of Revelation. It's way worse We're reading about it.
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But when these events are actually happening, you're actually seeing the bloodshed.
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It's way worse than you think it is.
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Here's the thing, my friends.
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You don't have to experience it.
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You don't have to.
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Jesus is going to take his people to heaven in the rapture before these terrible events take place.
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And I just wanna ask you as I close, are you one of his people?
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Because this passage describes the coming day of God's judgment, but today is the day of God's grace.
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Today is the day that you can turn from your sin.
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You can stop living for yourself and instead receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and allow Him to live through you.
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I'd like you to bow your heads with me as the worship team makes their way forward.
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I'd like you to bow your heads.
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You know, the Bible says it's God's kindness that leads us to repentance.
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And it is.
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It's realizing that though we all deserve even a thousand tribulations, God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die, to take our sin away.
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studied all that last month in pretty good detail.
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That is the kindness of God.
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Something else God uses to get our attention is prophecy like this that just lays out the reality.
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I love how the Lord doesn't sugarcoat it.
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He doesn't try to water it down.
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He tells us exactly how it is, hoping that that's going to get somebody's attention as we hope it got yours today.
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Father in heaven, we thank you for your grace.
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There's not a one of us that deserve anything, but not only have you taken our sin away, you promised to take us away.
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When you finally begin to close the curtain on this chapter of history on the earth.
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And Father, I know there are some people here that have not received you.
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And I pray, Father, that they would take a real hard look, because we're already seeing the birth pains.
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We're seeing these things already happen.
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We saw last night, again, Iran attacking Israel.
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This isn't conceptual.
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We're watching Your Word illustrated on the news.
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and far worse is coming.
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So Father, I pray for anyone here who has just been lukewarm or half interested, I pray that today's the day they come to themselves.
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Bow the knee to Jesus Christ.
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Become one of your people.
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Father, we thank you.
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We thank you for the truth of your word.
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And we thank you for your love in Christ.
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It's in Jesus' glorious name that we pray.
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Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 24:15-28
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What Biblical reasons do we have for believing Jesus will rapture His church before the Tribulation? Why will Jesus do this?
Why do you think Jesus tells people to run instead of telling them to witness to their attackers or fight back (Matt 24:16-22)?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
Want more eschatology teaching?
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through Revelation
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through 2 Thessalonians