Rapture! Are you ready?

GET READY!

John 15:1-3. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you, I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. YOU KNOW THE WAY TO THE PLACE WHERE I AM GOING.”

Eschatology = the study of the last things/end times
Eschatos = the last, or end.

Two Biblical Views of the “last things”
Apocalyptic in which God gives up on history and breaks in with a whole new order
Eschatological in which God moves history toward its ultimate consummation. Already but not yet.

A. The Second Coming is Imminent. Matt 26:64, John 14:2-3, Rev 22:20, Matthew 24: 1 Thes 4:14-18.
i. Jesus testified to his second coming. Matthew 24:30, 25:31, 24:3, 26:64.
ii. Other Scripture testifies, Acts 1:11, Phil 3:20 etc
iii. We have to remember that the time is not very clear as the coming. No one knows. Acts 1:7, Mark 13:32, 33, 35. Matt 24:36-44.
iv. We have to get ready. Triumphant and Glorious.
v. First stage: secret rapture of the saints & Second stage: coming with the saints to judge the world and set up Millennial kingdom. Rev 10:1-7 (1000 years of reign) i.e. coming for the saints, then coming with the saints with the great Tribulation in between. Matthew 24:39-41 Left Behind.
vi. The dead shall resurrect, and those alive and meet with Christ. Then there is the final judgment.

B. Rapture
i. 1 Thessa 4:14-17. 1 Cor 15:51. A thief in the night. During or after a period of great tribulation. Tribulation Matt 13:7, Matt 24:21-22. Pre, Mid and Post.

The Promise of the Second Coming
Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with promises of the second coming of Christ. There are 1,845 references in the Old Testament alone and a total of 17 books that give it prominence.
Of the 260 chapters in the entire New Testament, there are 318 references to Christ's second coming. That averages one out of every 30 verses. Furthermore, 23 of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. That leaves only four books that do not refer directly to the Second Coming. Interestingly, three of these four books are single-chapter letters which were written to specific persons on a particular subject.

C. There is no definitive, absolutely unquestionable plan of what will take place in the future and so we are only making educated guesses as to what will take place.

D. Contrasting trends in Eschatology.
i. Eschatomania which is extensive preoccupation of some conservative evangelicals with the endtimes, with their charts and graphs. Current political and social events, especially those relating to the nation of Israel, are identified with prophecies in scripture.
ii. Eschatophobia which is the fear or aversion of eschatology. So that they avoid the eschatomaniacs.
iii. I fall right in the middle.

C. MODERN ESCHATOLOGICAL TRENDS
i. Moral Eschatology/19th Century Liberalism. Preachers trying to reconcile the Bible with modern science. Liberal theologians are buying much into this. Where Jesus message is considered with high moral value and brotherhood of humanity is the center of all things. These rejected the second coming of Christ.
ii. Anti-Liberal Eschatology. Jesus message is thoroughly eschatological, futuristic and even apocalyptic. The Message of repent for the end is near. Albert Schweitzer is attributed to this.
iii. Realized Eschatology/C C. Dodd. Essential to Jesus message. We are in the last days. The bread has already been broken. The kingdom of God has come
iv. Existential Eschatology. It is all happening in the heart of the individual. Attributed to Rudolph Bultman.
v. Jurgen Moltman: Theology of Hope. Christianity has to offer hope in times of trouble. Christianity has to be on the front line in offering aid and helping people. The idea of Hope is authentically Christian. NO doubt. We are participants in creating hope and fulfilling the eschatological promise. It is not a passive thing before us.
vi. Dispensational Eschatology. John Nelson Darby, a Plymouth Brethren is the champion of this. Portrayal of seven dispensations. The present dispensation being the church age. It is almost literal in its interpretation of Scripture. This also seeks to identify the antichrist, the Beast, Time of Tribulation. Examples: Rome, Dometian, One of the early persecutions of the Church etc.

All Christians must stand for the truth and proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ. This is the hope that we have in him that we will be with him in eternity forever and ever. I don't have any charts or graphs to clearly give the time line, but I believe that JESUS IS COMING
1. Hope in this Life
2. Human cooperation with God’s desire to bring hope to the world
3. God is victorious in the end
4. Christians must be on the front line.