The Last Days – Part 3 – Background to the Rapture

We want to see what’s going on here and it’s a key point in understanding the end times correctly.

In this episode, we want to see how all this relates to this strange event that’s know today as the Rapture of the Church.

For those listening who are unfamiliar with doctrine as it’s preached in most churches today, the Gospels, along with what’s known as the Hebrew epistles and  the books of Hebrews, James, 1^st peter, 2^nd Peter, 1^st John, 2^nd  John, 3^rd John, Jude and including the Book of Revelation, are preached as if all that’s written in them is speaking to the church, the Body of Christ, today and the sayings are doctrines that the church must follow.

It’s assumed that Jesus’s words that He spoke during His earthly ministry were to the church today and so were the words of His disciples who followed Him at this time.

However, when we really look at these words, we find big differences to what’s preached in the epistles of Paul.

Why?

The key is context! Who is speaking, to whom are they speaking and what’s the age or dispensation that the writings refer to.

When we grasp this and look at scripture from this viewpoint, we clearly see that there’re no contradictions or disagreements, just different groups of people in different dispensations.

Is the scripture we’re studying speaking to the nation of Israel and where the context is the Old Testament law and the prophets or is it speaking to us, you and in the Body of Christ today. This is critical if we’re ever to understand the end ties and in fact the whole bible.

We know from our study in Matthew that Jesus said in Matthew 5:17,

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

And then in Matthew 15:24, Jesus said,

“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

The more we read of Jesus during His ministry the more we see that His ministry was to Israel to fulfill prophecy and the law. He came to bring in the long-prophesied Kingdom of heaven.

We don’t see the church of today come on the scene until after the continued rejection of Jesus as the Messiah by Israel. The last rejection was at the stoning of Stephen, described in the Book of Acts in chapter 7.

Stephen was a disciple who went about preaching to the Jews about Christ and had great miracles and signs occurring to confirm that what he was saying was from God.

But again, the Jews rejected his message and stoned him to death just as they had rejected Jesus and put Him to death on the cross.

The stoning of Stephen was a sort of final statement by Israel after they’ve had numerous chances to receive the One who was sent to redeem them.

A person was at that stoning who would become one of the most important figures of the Bible.

His name was Saul who violently persecuted the young Church. Jesus Himself would intervene in the life of this man.

One day as he was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Church again, Jesus appeared to him, and he was converted and believed in Jesus as the Christ. His name would be changed to Paul, and he would preach the truth and reality of Christ like no other person then or since.

He would preach the Gospel of grace to Jew and Gentile alike, but his ministry was specifically to the gentiles. He would write 13 epistles, or letters, that are the foundational doctrine of the Church today, the Body of Christ.

Paul, unlike all the other New Testament writers, is preaching from the context of a new dispensation, revealed to him by Jesus, that became an interlude to God’s great prophetic timeline after Israel repeatedly rejected their Messiah. This interlude is known as the dispensation of Grace which has lasted now for 2000 years.

After the stoning of Stephen, God then turns from Israel and rejects them. But it’s critical to see that God hasn’t rejected them forever.

God’s timeline of great and wonderful promises to Israel was put on hold and salvation would now be offered in a different way, and to a different group. Salvation would be offered through grace by faith in the completed work by Christ in His death burial and resurrection, and this new group would be a new creature called the Body of Christ. One spiritual body, made up of individuals from every nation including individuals from Israel.

This was a hugely radical and massive change to the way God had dealt with mankind since Abraham, which was always through Israel and the law.

Salvation had always been through faith plus the keeping of the law. Now, in this new dispensation, Israel is completely bypassed, and salvation is by Grace alone, through faith, without the works of the law. This interlude to God’s prophetic timeline was never spoken of in prophecy. God had kept it secret from the foundation of the world but after Israel’s rejection and their resulting fall, it was revealed to this man Paul.

No wonder the Jews and their leadership persecuted Paul so persistently and so cruelly. It was something most Jews simply could never accept.

God’s set the nation of Israel aside because of rejection of the Messiah.

One day the Nation of Israel will come to the acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, their Messiah, but only a small remnant after an enormous amount of them will be slain during the horrific period known as the Great Tribulation.

So, what we see today is a lot of speculation and confusion relating to the end times and much of this comes from the mixing of scripture that relates to Israel and Israel’s program, such as Matthew chapter 24, with what God’s doing today in the Body of Christ.

So many things that Christians talk about today, especially about the end times, is the result of confusion due to the failure to divide the ages, the dispensations correctly and missing how God deals differently with mankind through those ages.

So, what do we mean when we say, “The End Times”?

Studying the last days, the end times is to study Christ’s return and that’s the major subject when it comes to end time events.

Christ came the first time. He was rejected by His people, He was crucified, buried, and rose again and ascended back to heaven, but before He did, He promised He would come again. Prophecy said He’d come back as well but the question is when.

The whole study of end time events revolves around Christ’s return and not just his return but his return to fulfill what God said he would in prophecy. That’s to bring in this glorious Kingdom on earth after putting down all sin and wicked dominion of nations by pouring out his wrath.

This is what separates Christianity from Judaism. Judaism completely rejects that Christ came the first time. Israel rejected Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah when he came the first time, and they still overwhelmingly reject Him today.

To them Jesus he was just another man, not the Messiah.

Christianity says Jesus was the Christ he was the Messiah. He left this earth after His resurrection, but he’s coming back one day, which we know from prophecy, infallible prophecy.

Amongst true Christians there’re different positions people take on when He’ll return but all Christians believe He will return.

If we don’t believe Christ will return it’d be hard to prove ourselves a Christian.

To know He’s going to return, that He’s coming back, is a foundation of Christianity.

But when will He return and fulfill these prophecies in Israel? When will he bring that Kingdom and will we as the Body of Christ be the focus of that Kingdom?

These questions cause so much speculation and confusion, but they shouldn’t because the Word of God’s very clear about these things.

We get into trouble when we deviate from that Word and we mean the whole counsel of God, into our own ideas or the ideas of others who speak their own ideas, instead of the Word.

This’s where we need to turn our attention back to the book of Acts and the Apostle Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost where he preached, as we showed last episode, from the prophet Joel.

We said when we started this episode that we’d look closer at this prophecy and also the “sister” prophecy of Micah 4, but before we do we need to focus for a bit on the book of Acts.

This book is usually seen as the beginning of the modern church and a recipe for the Church to follow but when we look closer at it, we find that’s not really the case.

Firstly, the book of Acts is a “descriptive” book, not a “prescriptive” book. This means that what it contains describes events that happened at that time, descriptive, but it’s not a prescription of the way the church is to operate today.

The book of Acts is really a book about a transition. It’s a transition between what should have happened after the resurrection and ascension of The Lord and what did happen after that event.

According to prophecy what should have happened was a period of God’s judgment and wrath against an unbelieving world after which time Christ would return and set up of the Kingdom.

But what was not spoken of in prophecy was a period of time that would slot in and delay that. This interlude which we’ve already talked about, was a direct result of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah. The interlude is what we know of from the last episodes as the mystery period or the dispensation of grace that’s so far lasted 2000 years. It’s called mystery because, as we said, it was kept secret by God up until Jesus personally revealed it to Paul.

Peter’s preaching from the prophet Joel’s day of the Lord prophecy in Joel chapter 2. In the first verse of this prophecy this is what the Lord says,

Joel 2:1

Blow the trumpet in Zion And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand.

Then in Joel 2:27 and 28 the Lord says,

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. 

And it shall come to pass afterward (after what? After the day of the Lord!) That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 

According to Peter and according to prophecy, these events were upon them, but this just didn’t happen. The terrible events spoken about earlier in the prophecy didn’t happen and they haven’t happened yet.

Peter preached this message before Israel’s last and final chances to repent or turn from their unbelief and rejection of the Messiah. This was the intended next step, if you like, after Israel had accepted the Messiah, but Israel continued to reject Him.

This prophecy of Joel has nothing to do with the Body of Christ in the dispensation of grace that was revealed quite some time after the events surrounding Peter’s message on that day of Pentecost. This prophecy relates to the tribulation period which definitely will come as prophesied, just not when Peter preached. If that prophecy had been fulfilled, then the tribulation and the horrors that go with it would have been over seven years after that day of Pentecost happening.

Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven would have been set up with Jesus’ return and He would have ruled over that Kingdom for 1000 years. So, in our time today, we’d be living in the regenerated earth where sin was completely eradicated and the New Jerusalem, this incredible city of God, would be already here. How different would everything be? Obviously, all this never happened.

Joel’s prophecy most definitely will come to pass and so will Micah 4 come to pass afterwards. Where Joel chapter 2 speaks of war and great destruction during the tribulation period, Micah 4 speaks of peace and of the days after the Kingdom is set up.

Jesus Himself knew that all this would be the outcome!

We see this in Luke 4:16 to 22 when Jesus read from the Book of Isaiah in the synagogue on the Sabath. Let’s read that passage,

So, He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place (which is Isaiah chapter 61 verses 1 and 2) where it was written: 

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED; TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” 

Then He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

So all bore witness to Him, and marvelled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 

Now what’s so remarkable about this event and what shows us that Jesus knew what would happen after His resurrection and ascension was the place in this prophecy that He stopped reading. It’s what He didn’t read that’s important.

You see Isaiah 61:1 reads just as Jesus read it,

 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD but notice something vital. After that sentence, To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD there’s a comma. Not a full stop, a comma. Jesus didn’t finish the sentence! He stopped before it was finished. What does Isaiah 61 verse 2 say after the comma?

And the day of vengeance of our God;

See what Jesus is saying? He’s left out “The day of vengeance of our God”. He knew that the day of vengeance would not be fulfilled at that time, and it wasn’t.

Peter was preaching prophecy correctly, and He’s preaching it to Jews, who knew those prophecies. But He didn’t know what Jesus did and what the Lord would, later reveal to Peter also, that the comma in Isaiah 61:2 would last for 2000 years.

What would replace this gap, this interlude in the dispensation of the law? We see Peter and the other 11 Apostles continuing to preach the law to Israel through the book of Acts up until the Apostle Paul’s ministry to the gentiles starts in earnest.

Then, through a series of debates and discussion which are all in the Book of Acts, Paul’s ministry grows and reaches the whole known world, Peter’s ministry to Israel, which is the gospel of the coming Kingdom, diminishes.

In fact, in Peter’s own epistle, of 2^nd Peter in chapter 3 verses 14 to 16, just before his death, he wrote this,

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 

So, to put all this in a nutshell, we have the book of Acts transitioning from the dispensation of the law that Jesus was under when He walked on earth in His ministry as Israel’s Messiah and the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world, all of which was clearly stated in prophecy from the foundation of the world.

Acts transitions from there to the dispensation of grace that was not prophesied but that God had kept secret from the foundation of the world until He revealed it through the Apostle Paul.

Now we should be able to see the reason for this dispensation of grace butting into prophecy as it were.

God’s great plan was that the Gentile nations would come to know God and His salvation, but it would be through the nation of priests that Israel would be after the time of God’s wrath and judgement on the world.

They would be a righteous nation through the shed blood of Christ and a holy nation knowing God intimately having His laws written on their hearts and minds through the new Covenant that they would be under. This is a long way from the reality of Israel as a nation today.

Now, because of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, salvation would come to the Gentiles and all individuals of the earth, including believing Jews, a different way as we’ve already pointed out.

All that would be required was to hear the Word of God, the Gospel of grace and respond to it by believing it. Nothing else would be required. No works of the law, no special signs, or rituals, no priests or organisations or acts of circumcision, nothing but simple and pure faith in the Word of God that shouts out to a world in turmoil that Jesus, Who was the Christ, God in the flesh came, was crucified, and buried and rose again the third day all according to scripture.

This incredible and wonderful dispensation of grace that we’re currently living in will end, and probably very soon.

How will it end?

Well, we know from prophecy that God’s original, prophesied timeline will begin again with the last stages of the dispensation of the law before the dispensation changes again to the millennial rule of Christ, The Kingdom.

The last stages of the dispensation of the law will be this dreadful period known as the last days, where God’s wrath and judgement will be rained down on this earth for seven years, the final week of Daniels seventy-week prophecy that has been on hold now for 2000 years.

We know that God could not start judging the world with His wrath while still offering grace. Grace is not judgement and judgment is not grace, so this dispensation must end first. God can’t bring judgement at the same time as grace. He’ll change His attitude. A rough example would be you and I trying to be angry and peaceful at the same instant. We can’t. We must stop being one in order to be the other.

The end of the dispensation of grace will be with the event popularly known as the Rapture of the Church. The Church, Christ’s Body on earth will be taken out so that the next phase, which is a completely different way of God dealing with mankind, can come into place.

And what’s so very important to understand about the ending of this dispensation of grace with the rapture is that there are no events that need to take place before this happens. Not one. It’s an imminent event. The word “imminent” refers to something that’s likely to occur very soon or a situation or event that’s about to happen, which means it could happen at any moment.

This makes the search for signs in the sky and in natural events a futile and even ridiculous pastime even though it’s incredibly popular today.

It’s only through this understanding of the difference between prophecy and mystery, as we call it, that we can clearly see all this unfolding. Without this division there’s a confusing mix of dispensations, a blending of what was prophesied for the nation of Israel and what was revealed through Paul about the Body of Christ, and chucking in judgement for good measure.

Let’s look closer at this mysterious event known as the Rapture, which you may or may not have heard about.

Christ will come back and take his church out of here before the time of trouble (the tribulation) that prophecy tells us will come on the earth as God judges the earth and pours out His wrath on unbelieving humanity before the kingdom comes, as we’ve seen this plainly from God’s Word.

The word rapture is not in our Bible unless we speak Latin and use the Latin Vulgate as our Bible.

Scripture calls it in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 the catching away or the snatching away.

In this passage, Paul’s trying to comfort the Thessalonian Christians, because they’re worried about their people, who were Christians, who’d died.

They’d died before this catching away had happened and they were concerned that this meant they wouldn’t be resurrected. You see Paul taught them about this catching away as part of their basic instructions as Christians. Many Bible scholars think that Paul himself probably thought, in the early stages of his ministry at least, that this catching away would happen in his lifetime.

Paul tells these people whose loved ones had died that their loved ones are with Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 to 18,

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, 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 shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these words. 

See the phrase, “we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together”. Caught up together is the phrase in the Bible that in the Latin translates to rapture.

So, the Bible clearly says there’ll be a catching away and we’re going to be caught up together with the Lord both those who have died in Christ and those still alive in Christ, where we’ll meet Him in the air and will be with him forever.

This event is impossible for anyone to believe except for us strange people who are absolutely convinced that God exists and is all powerful all knowing, omnipotent, and that He created all things from nothing but the power of His word. For those of us who believe that, this event, the catching away, as fantastic as it is, is very easy for such a One as our God.

Now meeting Christ in the air is important as it describes a completely different event than the many other passages in the Bible that talk about the Lord’s returning to the earth where he’s going to physically stand on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

For example, Zechariah 14:4 says this,

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

See, He’s coming back to the earth physically one day, whereas here, in this catching away, we’re getting caught up to the air.

Meeting Christ in the air is not the second coming. He doesn’t come physically to the earth in this great catching away. At His second coming He’ll actually set foot on the earth on the Mount of Olives from where he left 2000 years ago.

So, this catching away is obviously talking about a resurrection because it says the dead in Christ will rise. Well, that’s a resurrection from the dead but it’s not only a resurrection. What’s happening here is a vital and necessary change.

1 Corinthians 15:51 to 53 explains,

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (that’s die physically), but we shall all be changed—

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

There’s a lot of things in the Bible that you and I really don’t have to know to be saved. What we do need to know is Who Christ is and that He died for our sins, that He was buried and that He rose from the dead.

We need to know that Resurrection is real, that Christ rose from the dead and we will too.

It’s really not that hard to understand that God can change us even before we die.

Paul mentions this resurrection, this rapture, other times in his epistles.

Look at Colossians 3:1 to 4,

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

See, if we’re saved by God’s grace, we have God’s resurrection promised to us, and Paul’s saying that we need to set our minds on these things, not on the things of this earth.

This’ll help us deal with all the hysteria and confusion relating to end time events and the circumstances unfolding on this earth.

We have a hope, a sure and certain hope, that we’ll live forever.

It’s guaranteed to us who trust the gospel and are saved by God’s grace. That’s the powerful message of Christianity.

Whether he comes after we die or before we die, we’ll be changed and we’ll be with him in glory.

That’s the powerful message of Romans 8 verses 10 and 11,

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

And Romans 8 verse 18,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

We know that this present world is suffering and so if you haven’t faced suffering in this life good for you, I guess, but a lot of people have and are. This whole life, this whole existence is about suffering and that’s why we need Christ to give us the hope of glory and He’s promised it to us whether we live or die and we know it’s true because he rose from the dead and he’s sitting in glory right now. He’s alive and this is the truth and the great hope of Christianity.

In Colossians 3 verses 3 and 4 Paul says after exhorting us again to not set our minds on the things of this earth,

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Paul’s talking here about the coming of the Lord for the church, those who’re saved. When He comes, we’ll appear with him in glory.

Look at Titus 2:13,

Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our hope is not in a temporal existence, in earthly material goods or some sort of financial or social position, but an everlasting existence. This’s how we can view the trials and afflictions we have now in this life as light and short.

Look at 2 Corinthians 4:16 to 18,

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

You’re say you’re suffering? You say I’ve had this pain for years? Well, how many years will you not have it?

We understand by knowledge of the truth that life is short and the affliction we have in this life is light compared to the weight of glory and eternity.

Our hope is in Christ, in his return and Him taking us up and getting us out of here and as we’ve said already, it’s an imminent event, meaning it could happen at any moment. No prophecy or sign will indicate it’s coming, making the search for signs in the sky and in natural events futile.

We’re Christ’s ambassadors while we’re here in a place that’s not our home because ambassadors don’t live in their home country.  They live in a foreign land. They long to go home but they’re doing a job. We don’t belong here, and we long to be in our home with the Lord.

Are we, the Church, the Body of Christ going through the tribulation that period of God’s wrath and judgment on earth? Are we going to live in the Kingdom on the earth?

In Romans 5:8 and 9 these great verses say,

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

The only wrath that the Bible talks about as being in the future is the wrath that God will pour out on an unbelieving world and an unbelieving Israel during this period known as the tribulation.

That’s exactly the wrath from which we, in the Body of Christ, will be saved from.

That’s the gospel of grace.

We’re members of the body of Christ if we trust the gospel. He’s not going to put his body through Wrath again, He’s already done that when He died.

Jesus, as the perfect Lamb of God, took upon Himself the sins of humanity as Isaiah 53 verse 6 beautifully expresses it,

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

When Jesus died on that cross, God the Father placed the sins of the world on Him. Then he rose from the dead and we’re now each a member of his body and we’re not appointed to wrath, as 1st Thessalonians 5:9 tells us,

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

And as we’ve just seen in Romans 5 verse 9 which says we’re saved from wrath through Him.

In 1st Thessalonians 1 we see it again, where Paul’s talking to the Thessalonian Christians about their position and in verse 10, he says,

And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

How so? The wrath Paul spoke of hasn’t even come yet. That wrath, the time of trouble, the tribulation where the wrath of God will come on the earth is still future.

How has he delivered us from it?

Well, He’s made us a part of his body as Ephesians 5 verse 30 says,

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.

We’re members of His body of which He, Jesus Christ, is the head.

We’re his members down here. He’s going to bring His body up before he returns to conquer the earth and tread out that winepress as Isaiah 63:3 says,

“I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes.

He’s going to bring his body up before this and in 1st Thessalonians 5: we’re told,

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another (Paul means by knowing these things), just as you also are doing.

Next time friends well look at the tribulation period and beyond and until then may the pace of God that passes all understanding be on you.