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The End of the World: Future Events and You
The Rapture: What Is It?  I Thessalonians 4:13-18

  1. THE RAPTURE IS OUR H______  .  (I Thessalonians 4:13)
    1. We are not to be I__________  .
    2. There are others who have no hope.  Compare Ephesians 2:12.
    3. The believer’s hope is a C___________  E_____________  !
      1. Job 19:25-27
      2. Proverbs 14:32
      3. I Corinthians 15:19-23
      4. Titus 2:13
      5. Hebrews 6:17-20
  2. THE RAPTURE IS THE COMING OF THE LORD JESUS F_____  U____  .
    1. The “Return of Christ” includes the Rapture: Jesus coming in the air for us…
    2. Later followed by the Revelation: Jesus returning to the earth W______  U____  !
  3. THE RAPTURE IS THE RESURRECTION OF D______  CHRISTIANS.  (I Thessalonians 4:16)
    1. 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.)
    2. Notice that Paul is not talking about “soul sleep,” v. 14.  See II Corinthians 5:6-8.
  4. THE RAPTURE IS THE C__________  A______  OF LIVING CHRISTIANS.  (I Thessalonians 4:17)
    1. Compare the same original word in Acts 8:39; II Corinthians 12:2-4; Revelation 12:5
      1. The word indicates the forceful removal from one place to a different place.
      2. This catching away as seen from a different perspective: John 14:1-6
    2. 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

  1. IT IS THE R_________  OF ALL CHRISTIANS WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH CHRIST.  (I Thessalonians 4:17)
    1. This is to be our mutual C_________  , v. 18.
      1. How can we comfort one another with these words?
      2. Who especially needs this comfort?  When?
    2. Will we know each other?
      1. II Samuel 12:22-23
      2. Matthew 8:11
      3. Matthew 17:1-4
      4. Matthew 27:51-53
      5. Luke 16:19-31
      6. I Thessalonians 2:19
  2. IT IS OUR D_____________  FROM THE W_______  TO COME.  (I Thessalonians 1:10)
    1. This does not refer to H______  .
      1. There are already those suffering there.
      2. Unbelievers are already under this wrath:
        1. John 3:16-18; 3:36
        2. Romans 1:18, 32
        3. Ephesians 2:3; 5:6
        4. Colossians 3:6
      3. This clearly refers to our deliverance from the T____________ !
        1. It is a time of the worst T_________  ever!  (Daniel 12:1)
        2. It is a day described in Zephaniah 1:14-18.  And we are delivered from it!
        3. See the same deliverance in Romans 5:9.
        4. See the promise of II Peter 2:4-9.
      4. The event is yet F________  , but our deliverance from it is already accomplished, past tense!

  1. IT IS THE R_________  OF THE R____________  .  (II Thessalonians 2:1-12)
    1. The “what” in v. 6 is a H____  in v. 7!  It refers to the H______  S________  !
      1. He has a present-day ministry to the believers in Christ.
      2. He also has a present-day ministry to the unbelieving world:  John 16:7-11
        1. He is right now restraining wickedness in the world.
          1. The spirit of antichrist is already hard at work, v.7
            1. I John 2:18
            2. I John 4:1-6
          2. This restraining authority has a geographical nature.
        2. Why will wickedness increase worldwide as the Rapture draws closer?  (II Timothy 2:16-17, 3:1ff., 3:13; Luke 18:8b)
    2. This ministry began on the Day of Pentecost and will end at the Rapture, when He is “taken out of the way,” v. 7.
      1. Imagine a world without any power of God convicting man of sin or pointing toward goodness, truth or faith.
      2. Imagine a developed world with all of today’s technology but with the morals of the unreached heathen or of Noah’s day.
      3. Imagine the day when mankind finally gets exactly what he has always wanted: a W_______  without G_____ !