Knowing the Future in View of God’s Word Part 5

It is good to be able to gather around the Word of God for another look at what is and will be in view of God’s Word.  When I was in Bible College at Faith, the study of things to come was so fascinating to me, I wrote my thesis paper on the subject.  As a matter of fact, the lessons we are studying is from this paper.  I hope it is informative to you.  We are living in a day of so many different teachings about things to come, no wonder so many people are confused on the subject.  Once again, I encourage you to look up these references stated, and to go back and read the other lessons if needed.  We will continue today where we left off last week.  If you remember we talked last week about Daniel and his vision of the seventy weeks. 

            The next scripture we must look at is in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5.  In these scriptures Paul is writing to the Thessalonica church to comfort them and reassure them that the rapture has not taken place.  In chapter one we see that the Church was going through a time of tribulation.  So much tribulation that they were beginning to think they were in the tribulation.  This could be the result of a letter they received.  Paul writes to them in chapter two explaining what must take place before the time of tribulation.  Paul is given them a chronological order to the time of tribulation.  Paul writes in verse one about the rapture or as he states “by our gathering together unto him” and then goes on to state the things that will be during the tribulation to show them that though they were experiencing tribulation, this was not the tribulation that would come.  First there must be the gathering together or rapture.  Wiersbe writes, “Paul appealed to them to “calm down” on the bases of the truth he had taught them in his first letter: the Lord would return and catch up His own to meet Him in the air.  This is “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and … our gathering together unto him” (Wiersbe, “Volume 2″ 196).

            The last set of scriptures to look at concerning the time of this event is found in Revelation 4:1-11.  John was instructed to write the Revelation of Jesus Christ with three main topics.  These are found in Revelation 1:19 where the Bible says “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter”. Three things to write about, things which thou hast seen, things which are, things which shall be hereafter. Clarence Larkin writes, “The “Key” to the Book is its “Three-fold division” Rev. 1:19″ (Larkin, “Revelation” 13).  John began to write of the things which God had revealed to him in chapter one.  In chapter two through chapter three he is writing of the things which are in the present to him.  This would be the seven churches which is the church age.  John was writing about seven different churches that had different situations.  John was not writing about seven different ages or times the church would be going through before the rapture of the Church.  If this were the case all seven ages would have to pass before the resurrection and rapture of the Church. In chapter four verse one the Bible said, “come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter” clearly John begins to write of the things which must be hereafter.  Also in this first verse we see that John is taken up.  Walvoord states in his book that this would be a far stretch of the scripture to say this was the rapture of the Church, but rather goes on to say “it is reasonable to conclude that the Rapture has taken place and that what John is seeing is a setting for events in heaven which will take place in heaven and earth in the period after the Rapture (Walvoord 544).  Weather this is the actual Rapture of the Church or not, you will see throughout chapter four and five the Church, which is represented by the four and twenty elders which is the number of the Church, and they are in heaven.  Notice the setting of this scene in these chapters.  They are around the Throne of God and not on earth.  This tells us they have been removed from the earth.  Notice further evidence of the representation of the Church by the four and twenty elders.  They were clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold, and in chapter five verse nine they sing a song of being redeemed.  From this point on we see no more mention of the Church until you come to chapter nineteen which is the end of the tribulation.  Then we are seen coming back with Christ to the earth.  To this McGee writes concerning Revelation 4:1, “These twenty-four elders stand for the total church from Pentecost to the Rapture.  Therefore, I can say categorically and dogmatically that here is the church in heaven” (McGee 930).

            The rapture of the Church is the second event that will take place in the timetable of the Word of God.  We can see that it is the Church that Paul was referring to in 1 Thessalonians, and we can further see that the event will take place from the earth to the clouds.  The Scriptures teach us that at this event Christ does not come to the earth but rather stops at the clouds.  We have stressed the fact that He does not come to the earth.  This point is important when determining the time as we will see later.  The Bible speaks of a time when He will come to the clouds to take the Church home.  This event is in two parts referred to as the resurrection and the rapture.  Then it talks of the time He will come to the earth to Judge and rule in the City of David.  To this we will refer to as the Second Coming or Revelation of Christ.  Jerry Vines said, “The Rapture takes place in the air; the Revelation occurs on the earth.  The Rapture is a catching away; the Revelation is an unveiling.  The Rapture brings bliss to the people of God; the Revelation brings judgment to the nations and their citizens who have rejected God.” (Vines 13).  We will take more time with this event of the second coming or Revelation of Christ as we approach this event in the scripture.  

 I pray that you have enjoined our Bible study this week and are looking forward to next week.  We pray to see you in church just as soon as possible. God bless you.

David Flood

Pastor

Pleasant Valley Baptist Church

Works Cited

Larkin, Clarence. Rightly Dividing The Word.  Glenside: Rev. Clarence Larkin EST,

1920.

The Book of Revelation.  Glenside: Rev. Clarence Larkin EST, 1919.

McGee, J. Vernon.  Thru The Bible. Volume 5. Nashville:  Thomas Nelson Publishers,

1983.

Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition CommentaryVolume 2. Wheaton: Victory

Books, 1994.

Vines, Jerry.  I Shall Return-Jesus. Wheaton: Victory Books, 1977

Walvoord, John F.  Every Prophecy of the Bible.  Colorado Springs:  Chariot Victor

Publishing, 1999.