Now, we are dealing with understanding Bible prophecy. We're continuing those studies tonight, understanding Bible prophecy, and been praying about what we should cover in this meeting as we have another, what, seven sessions, counting this one, and we certainly can't cover our whole textbook, what is left there. But I want to deal with the rapture next. and probably spend a couple sessions tonight on the rapture. It's absolutely fundamental doctrine. It's under great attack, under great attack on many sides. But this is the next major event on God's prophetic calendar, the rapture of New Testament believers. And in my estimation, the doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture is a fundamental of the New Testament faith. I can't ever answer every question that can be raised on this issue or any other issue. But the major things, there's enough clear scripture to settle the timing of the rapture. I mean, there's going to be a rapture that's very clear. It's described in detail in two major passages. But the timing the timing, but there's enough clear scripture to settle the matter, and I'm convinced it's an essential doctrine. Among other things, it necessitates, it is necessitated by a clearly taught doctrine of the imminency of Christ's return, clearly taught, and by the doctrine of the distinction between the church and Israel, and by a proper interpretation of Daniel's 70th week, which we didn't really apply and get into, but all of this is based on a normal, literal, a consistent, normal, literal interpretation of Scripture. And if you're going to interpret the Scripture in a normal, literal way and be consistent, you're going to come out with a pre-tribulational rapture. Charles Ryrie said, if plain or normal interpretation is the only valid hermeneutical principle, and if it is consistently applied, it will cause one to be a dispensationalist. And a part of that is pre-tribulational rapture. As basic as one believes normal interpretation to be, as basic as he believes it to be, and as consistently as he uses it in interpreting scripture, consistency, to that extent he will of necessity become a dispensationalist. I consider this a fundamental of the faith, and I consider it more and more a fundamental of the faith, and more and more. I can't speak for others, but I personally have never had a ministry relationship with a preacher who denies the pre-tribulation or rapture. I have no intention of having such a relationship today. I don't consider such preachers unsaved necessarily just because of that, but I do consider this very important. And if a man doesn't hold to it, I won't preach at his church. I will not preach together with him in a conference. I will not participate in the ordination of such a man, if I know, if I'm informed properly. I will not allow such a man to preach in our church. And I will not recommend that anyone join his church. It's always been my position. There's nothing new here. A preacher has the right to test his doctrine by God's Word and to reexamine things. Have that right. Yeah, but if you change your doctrine, I've got a right to separate from you too. There was a time when the pre-tribulational rapture was not clear in the 1800s even, until especially the 1800s. And a literal interpretation of prophecy has been recovered and emphasized. And at first the emphasis was on pre-millennialism as opposed to post-millennialism or a-millennialism. But soon in the last half of the 1800s, soon the timing of the rapture came to the fore and it was settled in the hearts of the majority of Biblicist people in that time. And whether they were non-denominational fundamentalists or they were fundamental Baptists, everybody settled that, and majority came to that conclusion. And it was great light upon the times, and it helped God's people understand Israel and expect Israel to return when it looked impossible for Israel to return. And even Charles Spurgeon, back in the last half of the 1800s, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, they had a huge conference. Everything they did was huge. And on prophecy, and it was especially emphasizing Israel. We want to see Israel back in the land, back in the land. It looked impossible. The Ottomans owned that land, and a large amount of money had been offered to the head of the Ottoman Empire. Large amount of money. Usually money speaks, but he said for no amount of money are the Jews going back. All right, so it looked pretty impossible. And they had this conference, and Charles Spurgeon preached on Ezekiel 37, the drive-ons, and he interpreted it as a two-stage return, Charles Spurgeon. And it was a movement that exploded. It was the light of God coming upon God's people at that time and understanding prophecy properly. Well, I'm not going to go backwards here. A lot of people are going backwards. I don't want to go backwards. The doctrine of the pre-tribulational rapture was the predominant view. We've written a lot about this history. the predominant view of the Bible Conference prophetic movement of the last half of the 19th century, the Bible Institute movement, the revivalist movement. Those are all good words. The fundamentalist movement. Now, there were problems with fundamentalism as a interdenominational deal and all that. But the fighting part of it was good. The separation part of it was good. And so in that sense, I'm a fundamentalist and enjoy what they did. But in the fundamental Baptist movement of the last half of the 20th century, it was a fundamental Baptist movement. And souls were saved all over the world. had a great revivalist aspect to it, had some real problems, but doesn't everything. We touch, really. These movements, these movements encompass all the major Biblicist movements of the last century and a half. Well, that's my crowd. Biblicist people, that's my crowd. And they all, the mass majority had come to terms with the timing of the rapture. I'm convinced that this was a fulfillment of Daniel 12.4. Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book. Seal the book. Even to the time of the end, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. And that's our times. Knowledge increased, not wisdom, but knowledge. People running to and fro? Jet airplanes? Sounds like jet airplanes to me. But here in the same context, shut up the words and seal the book till the time of the end. There will be a sealing of the prophecies. And I believe we see that in history. And then unlocking of that seal. There's just no doubt about it that in the 1800s that happened. talking about the rapture. And, but it's under attack today on many sides. It's under attack from theological modernism. It's under attack from New Evangelicalism, from the emerging church, from Reformed Calvinism, Independent Baptist start thinking he's kind of scholarly guy and little intellectual. He goes toward reform theology. Because for the most part, that's where people that do any thinking happen to be. For the most part. It's happening. And with that package, you're not going to be pre-tribulational rapture. Even from a few voices among non-denominational fundamentalism, Bible churches, and fundamental Baptists, we know some of those voices. I've studied this thing of the rapture quite a bit. People talk about the research. Well, I'll talk about mine a little bit. And I've examined the timing of the rapture multiple times in my Christian life, beginning with Bible college training in 1974 to 1977. And I didn't go to Bible college to accept whatever I was taught, definitely didn't do that. I was taught a biblical testing mindset by the man that led me to Christ, and he was Pentecostal. They said, that's something. I didn't learn that from independent Baptists. I learned that from a Pentecostal, and the whole theme of our conversation the four or so days we spent together was authority. What is the authority? Is it gonna be my heart? What is it? And he kept hammering, no, here, here, this is the word of God. And that was his theme with me. And we went into a bookstore in Alabama. We were traveling from Hollywood, Florida to Mexico and back to Daytona Beach, Florida. And all along the way, we were having this Bible study. And we went into a bookstore in Alabama, northern Gulf of Mexico there, and he bought me a King James Bible and a Strong's Concordance. That was the library I had starting off my Christian life. I wasn't saved yet. We were traveling together. But he was saying, here it is, here it is, I'll buy you one. And there's a strong concordance to help you out. But he said, look at all those books. And he said, there's great danger here. And you've got to study the Bible, and you've got to test everything in the Bible. I wasn't saved yet, but I was getting this. And that concept was how I started off my Christian life the first day. There's danger out here. There's heresy out here. There's false teaching. There's all kinds of churches, but they're not all right. And how can I know which one's right? Well, I can, but I've got to study this book and I've got to test everything by this book. Testing mindset. I had that from day one. So a year later, when I went to the Bible college up at Tennessee Temple, I had that in my mind that I'm going to test this outfit too. and a one-year-old in the Lord, but I'd done a lot of studying, done a lot of studying, and I'm gonna test Lee Roberson. Nobody tests Lee Roberson in those days, but I was testing him. And I'm gonna test Bruce Slack here, my teachers, whatever. I went there to test with them. I didn't go there with the critical spirit. I went there to learn. I wanted to learn. I wanted help. But I didn't just go there gullibly to just take whatever was given to me and give unquestioning loyalty to a man. No. I thank the Lord for that man that taught me this, taught me to be a Berean, Acts 17, 11, taught me that, taught me to prove all things, hold fast that which is good. And as best I know how, and as best I knew how, I was trying to do that. And I wanted God to lead me, and I didn't want to be deceived. I would pray a lot, especially in those early years, God, if in some way I am deceiving myself, show me. I don't want to be deceived. And you can deceive yourself. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And you can deceive yourself, and I would cry out to the Lord for help and guidance, like the psalmist in Psalm 139, 23, and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And as soon as I was taught the normal little world method of interpretation at Bible college, as soon as I was, it resonated deeply with me. I knew this was true, resonating. What resonates with you? It was like a key that unlocked a puzzle. The prophecies became clear. Things started fitting together. And that literal method of interpretation naturally leads to a clear distinction between the church and Israel and a pre-tribulational rapture. Yes, it does. From that time, I've made prophecy a major part of study, a major study. The first Bible course that I wrote and I put together in the early 1980s, our first little Bible institute and the first church we were starting, it was a course on Bible prophecy, early 1980s. An enlarged edition of that was published in the Way of Life Encyclopedia in first edition 1993. And then a further enlargement of that course was published in 2002 as part of the Advanced Bible Study Series. And then in 2013, we published a 500-page book, The Future According to Bible Prophecy. and then a 600-page book, multimedia course, Jews and Fighter Jets, but it's prophecy, Israel, past, present, and future. And now in 2024, I've done a lot of new research. This is a greatly expanded course on understanding Bible prophecy. I'm saying I have studied this quite a bit. I'm not saying I had to puff myself up. The Lord knows. I am nothing, and I know that I am nothing, and you could study something 10,000 hours and be wrong, let alone 80 hours. Yeah, sure, I know, but I have done this study, and I've done the study, and I want to help people. My youngest son wrote today, what would I pray for you, Dad? Pray that I'll be a blessing to people. Blessing. and all this study. It'd be a blessing and a help in these days. And through the years, I have re-evaluated the timing of the prophecy and things. I've gone back and I said, could it be that I missed it? And I've re-evaluated, and each time I've done that, I've looked at different men, different books, not just going back through the same or different ones, but representing the various positions, and always coming back out of that just newly renewed in my conviction that, yeah, the normal litter method's right. It's absolutely 100% right. The pre-tribulational rapture is absolutely right. I've put hundreds of hours into that research. To study a subject for me for 40 hours a week is typical. That's just typical kind of study I do for 50 years. And to put just four weeks into that subject would be 160 hours. Definitely studied a lot on this issue. And every time I've come away with ever stronger conviction about the stand that we have. And I am increasingly convinced that our millennial, post-millennial, mid-tribulational, pre-wrath, and post-tribulation views are indefensible. That's my position. That's what I believe. Well, the imminency of Christ's return, this is a major aspect of this thing. God's people are to live in expectation of the Lord's return at any moment. Now this is crystal clear. Even this is denied, but the devil's going to deny things and make you think you're crazy. But I don't have to believe a word of it. I don't have to believe evolution. Nothing evolved. That's what I believe. I don't have to believe Calvinism. I'm a zero-point Calvinist, just a Biblicist. And I don't have to believe any of these other views of prophecy. Don't have to. The fact is the Bible clearly teaches that God's people are to live in expectation of the Lord's coming at any moment. That's what imminency means. Any time, it can be any time. I just want us to go through the major verses that teach that. And the references are in your notes, but the verses themselves are not. But Romans 13, 12. Romans 13, 12. This is so fundamental to the whole issue. Romans 13, 12. The night is far spent. Okay, don't lollygag around. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Well, there's your hand, that's pretty clear. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. At hand, that's perfect tense, which describes an action, or more correctly, a process that took place in the past that results of which continue to the present. That's the description of perfect tense in Greek. So, what? At hand. Well, it's been at hand since the beginning and it's still at hand. Philippians 3.19. Philippians 3.19. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look is present tense in Greek. Present tense is beautiful, but it's a continual action kind of thing, from which we're looking for the Savior. It's an active thing. It's a continual thing. It's not a once in a while thing. It's perfect tense. It's present tense, continual action. It's the middle voice indicating it's something I'm doing myself, among other things. It's not being done to me or for me. It's by me. It's something I've got to be doing. I've got to be doing. And then Philippians 4, 5. Philippians 4, 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." At hand. Now that is a predicate, which quote, makes an assertion about the subject. I think this is very powerful. And at hand, a predicate, which makes an assertion about the subject. So it's modifying the subject. So right here, The Lord, it's a very strong statement, the Lord. Well, the Lord's a lot of things, but one thing he is, is he's at hand. Lord is not exactly in the Greek, it's added, should be added, but you could say Lord at hand. It's just a strong emphasis of the immanency of this thing. Strong emphasis, 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10. 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10, passages on the imminency of the coming of Christ. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols, To serve the living and true God. That's what you did if you got saved. That's repentance. Perfect definition. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Wait is present tense, indicating continuous action. To wait for his Son. way for a son. 1 Thessalonians 5, 4-9, 1 Thessalonians 5, 4-9, For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as the thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, they, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. not we, but they. You don't want to be a part of they. But ye, brethren, ye, here's a different group, are not in darkness that they should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's four simple lessons from that passage. Number one, the day of the Lord will overtake the world as a thief, will. Number two, the day of the Lord will not overtake God's redeemed as a thief, it will not. Number three, and we've already noticed the they and the ye, the they and the we, two different groups, Number three, we are to watch. Watch, therefore. Watch. Again, that's present, active, present, continual action. Be watching. And then number four, we're not appointed to wrath. We are not appointed to wrath. Titus 2.13. Titus 2.13. Titus 2.13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, being the same person. Titus 2.13. And so we see that we're to be looking for the appearing of Christ. That's what we're looking for. And this is the blessed hope. not Antichrist, not things in the day of the Lord, the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ is our blessed hope. James 5, 9, James 5, 9, grudge not one against another brethren. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Standeth, and that's that perfect tense which describes an action, or more correctly, a process. that took place in the past, the results of which have continued to the present. So the judge has been standing at the door all along and he's still standing at the door. And when he's going to open the door is unknown. But it's like he's there. Of course, you know, we know that's a simile, but it's it's like he's just standing there at the door. 2,000 years? Yeah, he wants, from the beginning, he's wanted his people to live in expectation. Now he has always known when he's coming, but this is how we're to live. This is supposed to have a dramatic effect upon the Christian life. Each one of these passages indicate that. Grudge not against one another, brethren. That's a big problem in churches. Well, why shouldn't I do that? Because the Lord could be here any moment. the judgment seat of Christ, I Peter 4, 7, just these major passages that deal with the imminency and the ex-, the continual expectation of Christ's coming. I Peter 4, 7, But the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. Watch is imperative mood. It's a Watch. Military. Imperative. Do it. Hebrews 9, 28. We're supposed to be soldiers of Christ. Need to understand some military things. Not the raunchy side, but the disciplinary side. The fighting side. Where are we? Hebrews 9, 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation, unto them that look for him." That's a great Greek word. I'm not any Greek scholar or even a Hebrew scholar. My youngest son pretty much so, but not me, but I can do word studies and they're magnificent. I have great tools. Great tools today for that. This word is epikdichomai. And the last part of that, the ekdichomai, means to expect to be about to be received from any quarter. That's what that means. It's like this expectation of something coming, maybe a danger, but in this case, Christ. It's that expectation, expectation to be about to be received from any quarter. That's vine. But the word is preceded by apo, which is an intensive, which makes this whole thing intensive, but anyway, makes this whole concept more intensive. You see that? This is a powerful kind of thing. It's supposed to be. And Vine said, look for is to await or expect eagerly. And Lidsky, to wait it out, to keep waiting, which is that present-temp part. But anyway, intensive, expecting, but really, really strongly expecting April. Intensifying that. And then Revelation 1-3, three passages of Revelation to conclude this survey. of the New Testament epistles and Revelation. Revelation 1, 3, blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Jesus said, readeth, and hear, and keep, or present tense, something to be doing, to be doing to be reading, to be hearing, to be keeping, and that'll keep you going. That'll keep you growing. Absolutely essential. Keep it going. Present tense. But the reason to be reading and hearing and keeping is because the Lord's coming is always at hand. The motivation is supposed to be that imminency of the coming of Christ. In all these passages that's emphasized, Revelation 2210, getting toward the end of the Bible, Revelation 2210, Revelation 2210, And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, Why not? For the time's at hand. Now, God told Daniel, seal, but not anymore. No sealing up. It's time. It's time for these things. When? Anytime. The time's at hand. It's right there. And then finally, almost the last verse of the New Testament, verse 20, he which testifieth these sayings saith, surely I come quickly, amen. And then John says, even so come, Lord Jesus. There's a lot there. We see that there's an imminency about these events. I come surely, I come quickly. And so he's creating this expectation of this is going to happen. Say, well, it's been 2,000 years. Yeah, but 1,000 years is one day to the Lord. That's nothing. It seems like a big deal to us. Quickly, but quickly asserting and creating an expectation. It's going to happen. It's not something way out there somewhere. This is going to happen. It's going to happen. I need to take this seriously. But then when John says, even so come Lord Jesus, we see that there's supposed to be an eagerness on the part of the believer for this. And you put this together, and that's what imminency means. And it's just repeated. It's repeated. And since it is imminent, this is just fundamental, good reasoning. Since it is imminent, it means we cannot see the Antichrist. Now, we know that even from Daniel 9, as we looked at, that when the Antichrist comes, there's only seven years left here of the calendar, prophetic calendar. We know that. It's that week. It's just seven years. When he pops on the scene, we know exactly what kind of man he's going to be, the Mr. Peace Man. And then in three and a half years, we know, boom, boom, boom, we have the timeline. exactly what's going to be happening right down the line through Revelation. Just boom, boom, boom, exactly what's going to happen, what's going to follow. And we know that. And so if the first part of that, which is the appearance of the Antichrist, were to precede the coming of Christ for his New Testament saints, then there is no expect, there's no imminency. I just wait. I'll watch Fox News and see what's happening over there. And then when he comes, that temple will start to be built and he'll say, okay, well, next is going to be no imminency. It's just, I don't know how anybody can refute that. You just gotta have a perverse spirit. No, really, it's just too simple. That's the only way you can have an imminency. And there's all kinds of wild-eyed ways of trying to get around this and make it imminent but not be imminent. That doesn't trick me a bit. No. It's imminent. That means I'm not going to see the Antichrist come, because if I would even see him start his program, if I were waiting for that, then I wouldn't know exactly when it's going to start, and I wouldn't need to pay much attention to it. The Bible's description of the rapture It's often been said that the word rapture does not appear in the Bible, but that's true for English, but it does appear in the Latin Bibles, indeed, that were widely used for 2,000 years. Rapturo, that's Latin, and that was the Latin translation for 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, called up. The Greek is harpezo, meaning deceased. translated, pluck out, John 10, and it's translated, caught away in Acts 8, 39 when the Spirit of God caught away Philip after de-, leading the Ethiopian unit of Christ, caught him away to Azotus. And, and then he started there and started preaching his way up the coast toward Caesarea Maritima where he lived. And his daughters were there. They were prophets. Was it seven daughters? They were prophetesses. I wonder if they got married. Marry a prophetess? I don't know. It doesn't matter. But you wonder about things like that. And so that was it. Caught away. And it's used in 2 Corinthians 12, 2 and 4, Paul being caught up to heaven. all caught up to heaven. Now, there's two major passages that describe the rapture. And what I believe we'll do is take a break and then deal with these, see how far we get with dealing these two major passages.