The End of the World: Future Events and You
The Rapture: What Is It? I Thessalonians 4:13-18
- THE RAPTURE IS OUR H______ . (I Thessalonians 4:13)
- We are not to be I__________ .
- There are others who have no hope. Compare Ephesians 2:12.
- The believer’s hope is a C___________ E_____________ !
- Job 19:25-27
- Proverbs 14:32
- I Corinthians 15:19-23
- Titus 2:13
- Hebrews 6:17-20
- THE RAPTURE IS THE COMING OF THE LORD JESUS F_____ U____ .
- The “Return of Christ” includes the Rapture: Jesus coming in the air for us…
- Later followed by the Revelation: Jesus returning to the earth W______ U____ !
- THE RAPTURE IS THE RESURRECTION OF D______ CHRISTIANS. (I Thessalonians 4:16)
- At the Rapture, all church-age believers will be R_____________ with new bodies like the body of the resurrected Jesus. (Philippians 3:20-21; I John 3:2, etc.)
- Notice that Paul is not talking about “soul sleep,” v. 14. See II Corinthians 5:6-8.
- THE RAPTURE IS THE C__________ A______ OF LIVING CHRISTIANS. (I Thessalonians 4:17)
- Compare the same original word in Acts 8:39; II Corinthians 12:2-4; Revelation 12:5
- The word indicates the forceful removal from one place to a different place.
- This catching away as seen from a different perspective: John 14:1-6
- Some deny the Rapture “because the word is not found in the Bible.”
The End of the World: Future Events and You
The Rapture: What Is It? I Thessalonians 4:13-18
- IT IS THE R_________ OF ALL CHRISTIANS WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH CHRIST. (I Thessalonians 4:17)
- This is to be our mutual C_________ , v. 18.
- How can we comfort one another with these words?
- Who especially needs this comfort? When?
- Will we know each other?
- II Samuel 12:22-23
- Matthew 8:11
- Matthew 17:1-4
- Matthew 27:51-53
- Luke 16:19-31
- I Thessalonians 2:19
- IT IS OUR D_____________ FROM THE W_______ TO COME. (I Thessalonians 1:10)
- This does not refer to H______ .
- There are already those suffering there.
- Unbelievers are already under this wrath:
- John 3:16-18; 3:36
- Romans 1:18, 32
- Ephesians 2:3; 5:6
- Colossians 3:6
- This clearly refers to our deliverance from the T____________ !
- It is a time of the worst T_________ ever! (Daniel 12:1)
- It is a day described in Zephaniah 1:14-18. And we are delivered from it!
- See the same deliverance in Romans 5:9.
- See the promise of II Peter 2:4-9.
- The event is yet F________ , but our deliverance from it is already accomplished, past tense!
- IT IS THE R_________ OF THE R____________ . (II Thessalonians 2:1-12)
- The “what” in v. 6 is a H____ in v. 7! It refers to the H______ S________ !
- He has a present-day ministry to the believers in Christ.
- He also has a present-day ministry to the unbelieving world: John 16:7-11
- He is right now restraining wickedness in the world.
- The spirit of antichrist is already hard at work, v.7
- I John 2:18
- I John 4:1-6
- This restraining authority has a geographical nature.
- Why will wickedness increase worldwide as the Rapture draws closer? (II Timothy 2:16-17, 3:1ff., 3:13; Luke 18:8b)
- This ministry began on the Day of Pentecost and will end at the Rapture, when He is “taken out of the way,” v. 7.
- Imagine a world without any power of God convicting man of sin or pointing toward goodness, truth or faith.
- Imagine a developed world with all of today’s technology but with the morals of the unreached heathen or of Noah’s day.
- Imagine the day when mankind finally gets exactly what he has always wanted: a W_______ without G_____ !