1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,760 Thank you. Thank you so much. I hope especially those of you who are newer amongst us since 2 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:18,500 the warmth and sincerity of our welcome. I'd like to really thank Wendy Truax for her ministry 3 00:00:18,500 --> 00:00:23,000 at the piano today and tonight especially since she was all alone over there helping 4 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,860 us with our congregational singing. Thank you, Wendy. 5 00:00:26,860 --> 00:00:34,160 This has been some day, I'll tell you. This morning as I was preaching in the first service, 6 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:40,480 talking about the infinite and the impossible, there was a spider up here on the pulpit that 7 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:46,760 traversed from this side across here all the way to this side. He went back and forth at 8 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:52,000 least three times. Down over the side, did any of you see him who sit down here on this 9 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,760 side? I could just see all of your eyes following the spider all over the pulpit. I properly 10 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:03,960 disposed of him the moment I said amen in the benediction after the first service. I 11 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:11,960 gave him a ritualistic burial about a half an hour ago. 12 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:20,440 So what a day. Well, this evening we are going to have a prophetic overview of things to 13 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:27,200 come. This is in preparation of the Minnesota Prophecy Conference which will begin two weeks 14 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:34,200 from today in five churches throughout the Twin Cities area including our own. Next Sunday 15 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:39,080 we'll have some more details as far as the topics are concerned and we'll review again 16 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:44,520 the speakers who will be here. Dr. Lehmann Strauss will be with us that first Sunday 17 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:50,240 morning on the 15th. Dr. Strauss is an old friend of mine. I've known him for a number 18 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:56,680 of years now. I suppose that Dr. Strauss must be in his mid-seventies. He pastored back 19 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,920 in Pennsylvania as well as in the Detroit area for a number of years and since the early 20 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:07,440 1960s has been traveling full-time as a Bible teacher representing the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:13,480 Dr. Strauss is going to bring along his wife Elsie who had a stroke I think two years ago. 22 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:19,280 She is paralyzed on her left side. You'll be able to meet her, a wonderful Christian 23 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:25,760 lady and yet she is with her husband as much as possible in his travels. Lehmann and Elsie 24 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,640 Strauss are his special people. He has written a number of books. How many of you have books 25 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:34,220 by Dr. Strauss? Well, there are some of you that do. You'll become better acquainted with 26 00:02:34,220 --> 00:02:38,480 him in this conference. He has written a book on prayer called The Sense and Nonsense of 27 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,960 Prayer that I think is one of the finest, most practical books on prayer that you'll 28 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,700 find anywhere. And then Sunday evening, two weeks from tonight, Dr. John Walvard will be 29 00:02:47,700 --> 00:02:53,360 speaking for his first message. He'll be here twice with us in the conference. Dr. Walvard 30 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:59,080 is the president of Dallas Theological Seminary and he has been the president since about 31 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:05,880 forever. It's been a long time. I think perhaps, well some of you Dallas grads, how long has 32 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:13,680 it been? Do any of you know? It's been at least 25 years I think that he's been the 33 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:19,280 president of Dallas Theological Seminary, articulate spokesman for the scriptures and 34 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,680 for the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have a great week to look forward to. And because we're 35 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:29,040 going to be discussing some ideas and terms that may be unfamiliar, especially to those 36 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,040 of you who are newer amongst us, I thought it might be helpful before we get to that 37 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:40,880 week to review the scheme of things as we understand them from what the Bible teaches. 38 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,280 I would like to say at the start that there are those who disagree with us on some of 39 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,760 the minor points of what I'm going to talk about tonight. And that is fine. There is 40 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:58,760 room for disagreement on some of these secondary issues. And we're happy to discuss those with 41 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:06,400 others who may disagree with us. Obviously we believe and we teach what we believe to 42 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,200 be right. And if we were to be convinced otherwise, we would teach otherwise. What I'm going to 43 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:17,000 share with you tonight is the teaching of Grace Church, Roseville. And so you'll know 44 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,560 where we're coming from at least. We may have some in our church who would disagree with 45 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:26,200 us on the fine points of what I'm going to say, but I think all of us would agree on 46 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:33,700 the major things that we'll talk about. You will notice, can you all see that all right? 47 00:04:33,700 --> 00:04:37,520 I tried to keep the lights low enough this evening that you might be able to see the 48 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:45,600 screen. You poor people right down here in the front. Do I do a fair job hiding it? Can 49 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:52,200 I do better? As you will notice, the title of the chart up there is the Pre-Millennial 50 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:58,320 Scheme of World Events. You will notice this word first of all, pre-millennial. We'll talk 51 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:04,200 about the millennium and define the idea tonight, but it's just good for you to know right now 52 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:10,200 that there are other schemes of future events. There would be another position called the 53 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:16,040 All-Millennial Scheme of World Events. There may still be a few people around who believe 54 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:23,480 in a post-millennial scheme of world events. They're pretty much overboard now because 55 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:28,240 world events have completely disproved their particular theory, which is that the world 56 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,920 will get better and better and better than Jesus will come, and the world just isn't 57 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:36,280 getting better and better and better. It was very popular until World War I, and then after 58 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:43,600 that it kind of went downhill fast. The position that we adhere to is pre-millennialism, and 59 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:49,640 you'll see what that means as we work through our chart tonight. It is important to understand 60 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:54,800 that prophetic revelation, like all other revelation, is progressive. And so there is 61 00:05:54,800 --> 00:06:01,080 no single passage in the New Testament or Old Testament which delineates the scheme 62 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:06,760 of things that we're going to present to you. What we have to do is take the whole and study 63 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:12,360 it and then draw from that the outline or scheme of things as best we understand them 64 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:17,760 to be. So there is no single passage in the New Testament that says this and this and 65 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:23,760 this and this will happen in that order and so on. Prophetic revelation is progressive. 66 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,760 We take the study of the whole and then we pull back from that and look and see what 67 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:36,040 it says. You'll notice the first item on the scheme that we have is the church age. 68 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:45,060 I'd like you to turn with me to the book of Ephesians in the third chapter. Some of 69 00:06:45,060 --> 00:06:53,640 you may have editions of the Bible that have notes at the top of the page, titles or summary 70 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:59,760 statements of what's on that page. That was especially popular years ago. And you may 71 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:07,560 have in there something like in the Song of Solomon, for example, God loves the church. 72 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:14,000 Or in the book of Isaiah, you might have the church in the wilderness. The facts are that 73 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:20,880 the church did not exist in the Old Testament. The Old Testament does not mention the church 74 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:34,000 at all. It was not revealed then. The church is what is called a mystery. Mystery. Now 75 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,440 what does that mean? Well, we'll find a definition for it right here in Ephesians 3. 76 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:44,640 Paul says, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, 77 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:50,040 if indeed you've heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, 78 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:55,160 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery. So Paul is saying, I have 79 00:07:55,160 --> 00:08:01,400 received a revelation from God. And the content of it can be described in those two words, 80 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:07,520 the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And then he says, and by referring to this when 81 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:14,360 you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations 82 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:21,040 was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles 83 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:27,640 and prophets in the Spirit. So there he defines what a mystery is in this New Testament sense. 84 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:33,440 It is some truth that has not been revealed in previous generations, but which has now 85 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:41,480 been revealed by God in this age. Now he says, to be specific, this mystery that he's talking 86 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:48,720 about, the mystery of Christ, is this, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members 87 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:57,240 of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. In the 88 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:07,240 Old Testament, God dealt with whom? With the Jews, with Israel. Those were His chosen people. 89 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:13,720 That nation was the focus of His dealings on the earth. In this age, God is no longer 90 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:20,920 dealing with Israel as a nation, but God is dealing with all men, women everywhere, whether 91 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:29,840 Jew or Gentile. Now, whether one is Jewish or one is Gentile by his ancestry, he can 92 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:36,800 be related to Jesus Christ through faith and made a partaker of the body. Now he calls 93 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:43,000 it the Church a little bit later on here in the text. He says in verse 8, To me, the very 94 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:50,360 least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches 95 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:56,680 of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages 96 00:09:56,680 --> 00:10:03,200 has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that the manifold wisdom of God might 97 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:09,640 now be made known through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 98 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:15,800 There he's talking about spiritual beings. He is saying that God is making manifest to 99 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:25,480 these spiritual beings His wisdom through the Church. So the term is used. It's used 100 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:30,880 elsewhere of course in Ephesians. So we're introduced here to this very term, the Church 101 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:37,600 Age in this age in which we live now, an age which began with Pentecost, which we'll let 102 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:44,240 the cross represent here, an age which began when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost 103 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:49,520 and dwelt believers, and which will conclude on the day of the rapture, which we'll talk 104 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:55,360 about in just a moment. All believers who have been saved during this age, there's some 105 00:10:55,360 --> 00:11:04,720 2,000 years now, have been incorporated into the Church, the body of Jesus Christ. Now 106 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,240 I think you understand that when we use the term Church, often we're referring to a local 107 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:17,080 fellowship of people. But in this sense, the term Church is not used in a local manner, 108 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,840 but he's speaking about all of those who've been called out during this age to belong 109 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:28,840 to God. And one of the distinguishing marks of believers in this age is the presence of 110 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:36,360 the Holy Spirit in us. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit did not indwell all believers. 111 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:42,680 He came upon certain believers for periods of time to accomplish certain purposes, but 112 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:49,240 He did not automatically indwell all believers. And I personally am of the opinion that that 113 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:55,040 same thing may be true in the tribulation period once the Church has been taken out. 114 00:11:55,040 --> 00:12:03,200 However, in this age, the Holy Spirit of God indwells every person who believes in the 115 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:09,760 Lord Jesus Christ. Now He has to, for a reason. And that is that He indwells us so that He 116 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:16,400 might unite us to this spiritual body of people. The Holy Spirit is putting us together as 117 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:22,240 a body. He is building the Church, the body of Jesus Christ. It's still being built today 118 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:29,080 around the world. Most of the Church is in heaven. Some of us are still on the earth. 119 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:35,400 But until that day of the Rapture, the Church is going to be gathered together. 120 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:41,040 Now let's talk about the term Rapture for a moment. What does that mean? Now before 121 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:45,720 you turn to your concordance and find out how many times the word Rapture is used in 122 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:52,240 the Bible, let me forewarn you that it's not used at all. You say, then how can we believe 123 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:57,760 in a doctrine, the word of which is not even used in the Bible? Well, let me ask you this. 124 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:07,320 Do you believe in the Trinity? Look it up in the concordance. It's not there either. 125 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:15,120 You see, we have sometimes fashioned words to describe a truth which the Bible teaches. 126 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:21,240 The Bible may not use that precise word itself, but the teaching is there and we use this 127 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,200 word to describe that teaching. Thus we have the word Trinity, or really I think better 128 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:31,600 tri-unity of God. Now the word Rapture likewise is not found in the New Testament, but it's 129 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:37,320 a word that does describe something the New Testament certainly teaches. And the key passage 130 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:46,280 without doubt is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I'll explain in a moment how we get the word 131 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:53,240 Rapture, but first let's read what the apostle Paul says beginning with verse 15. 132 00:13:53,240 --> 00:14:01,080 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, this is 1 Thessalonians 4, 15, that 133 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:08,360 we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have 134 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:16,160 fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 135 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:22,840 the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then 136 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:28,360 we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet 137 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:34,480 the Lord in the air. Now the event that is described in these verses is what we call 138 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:44,160 the Rapture. You will notice that verb caught up in verse 17. The word Rapture comes from 139 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:53,240 the Latin verb that is used here. Obviously the New Testament was written in Greek, but 140 00:14:53,240 --> 00:15:00,800 like many English words, this one comes from the Latin. It means exactly the same thing 141 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:06,240 as this word caught up in the Greek. It means to seize or to snatch. That's simply what 142 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:13,840 the Rapture is. It is the seizing or the snatching away of the church. Thus you see the arrow 143 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:19,200 comes down and then curves back up indicating that the Lord Jesus Christ will come into 144 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:25,560 the atmosphere of the world as described here, but he will not come to the earth. He will 145 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:32,480 not descend to the Mount of Olives. He will simply come into the atmosphere of the world 146 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:38,600 and will manifest himself to his people. Now how all of that will take place we are not 147 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:44,840 told, but we are told this, that with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet 148 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:52,520 of God he will give a shout and his people, whether dead or alive, that is those who have 149 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:58,760 been saved during this age and who are part of the church, will be caught up to meet him 150 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:05,600 in the air. From other texts we know that that will involve a complete change of our 151 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:12,720 bodies so that the bodies that we have now will be changed and made like his body of 152 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:18,960 glory. We will be with the Lord, it says here, from that point and forever. So that is the 153 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:27,720 Rapture of the church. Now this term, or this event rather, is also called the Day of Jesus 154 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:35,040 Christ or the Day of Christ Jesus or the Day of Christ. All of those terms are used in 155 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,560 the New Testament synonymously with this event, the Rapture. 156 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:44,320 Let's just look at an example or two and turn just back a few pages to Philippians chapter 157 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:53,880 1. Now you need to notice the wording of this because there is a very similar phrase we 158 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:59,520 are going to talk about in a moment. The similarity in the phrase is confused to some people. 159 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:05,000 Notice in verse 6 he says, Philippians 1, for I am confident of this very thing, that 160 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:14,200 he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the Day of Christ Jesus. So the Apostle 161 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:19,080 Paul is saying, I am confident that God is going to continue working in you until that 162 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:24,040 day of the Rapture, the Day of Christ Jesus. And then in verse 10 he says, so that you 163 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:30,040 may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until 164 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:36,760 the Day of Christ. So he is praying for them here that they might approve things excellent 165 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:41,600 in order that on the Day of the Rapture when they are caught up to be with the Lord they 166 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,800 may be found sincere and blameless. 167 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:52,400 And then again in chapter 2 verse 16 he says, holding fast the word of life so that in the 168 00:17:52,400 --> 00:18:01,280 Day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. And 169 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:06,520 so the Apostle is looking forward to the Day of Christ, the Rapture, when he will appear 170 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:14,600 before the Lord and receive his reward and because of the work that he has done be rewarded. 171 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:20,880 And in that day be able to glory not in himself but in the people that he has led to Christ 172 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,280 and founded in the church in Philippi. 173 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:29,880 Now this term is not used but the event is mentioned once again in Philippians. It might 174 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:35,720 be good to look at that in chapter 3 verse 20. He says, our citizenship is in heaven 175 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:42,040 from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform 176 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:50,340 the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. And so he's talking 177 00:18:50,340 --> 00:18:57,240 about the instantaneous process that will take place, that change, that metamorphosis 178 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:04,880 that will occur at that moment when Jesus calls us out of this world to be with Himself. 179 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:13,640 That is the Rapture of the church. And at that point the church will be completed. There 180 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:19,360 will still be people saved in the tribulation period but at that point the church of Jesus 181 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:27,040 Christ will be completed. No more people will be made a part of this elect body, the church. 182 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,800 Only a certain number whom God has chosen according to the New Testament are going to 183 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:37,200 be a part of that body of Jesus Christ. And once that body is completed there will be 184 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:42,080 nothing to keep us any longer in the world. I believe the only thing that keeps the Lord 185 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,880 Jesus Christ from coming now and taking us out is the fact that there are still some 186 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,960 who must yet believe in the Lord Jesus Christ be saved added to the church. I believe the 187 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:58,560 moment the body is completed, when that last individual known only to God trusts the Lord 188 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:04,800 Jesus Christ, there will be immediate movement in heaven to remove the church from this earthly 189 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:05,800 scene. 190 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:18,600 Now following that will be an event that the Apostle Paul mentioned in chapter 2 or suggested 191 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:23,800 in chapter 2 but which he mentions in other places. You'll notice our chart says the 192 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:32,400 saints with Christ in heaven. The first thing that is going to occur there will be the judgment 193 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:38,640 seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 for a moment. We'll 194 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:46,800 just pick out one verse that deals with this subject. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 195 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:53,520 10. The Apostle Paul is here dealing with our being pleasing to the Lord on that day 196 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:59,620 when we are present with him, at home with him. And he says in verse 10, for we must 197 00:20:59,620 --> 00:21:07,720 all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds 198 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:12,600 in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 199 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:18,120 And when he says we must all appear, he is not talking about all people of the world 200 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:24,320 of all ages. He is talking about we believers, we who are in the church in this age, we who 201 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:30,920 are in Christ. He is talking about the church. And he says that we must appear before our 202 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:38,560 Lord at this judgment. It is not a judgment to determine whether we enter heaven or have 203 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:43,820 to go to hell. Thank God that determination was made back at the cross when Jesus died 204 00:21:43,820 --> 00:21:50,120 for us. He took our hell for us. We who belong to the Lord Jesus, we who are in Christ through 205 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:58,320 faith in him, never have to worry about hell. Jesus took our hell for us. 206 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:06,480 You say, then what is this judgment for? Well, this judgment is for rewards. It is a judgment 207 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,980 which will determine the faithfulness of our works for the Lord Jesus Christ during our 208 00:22:10,980 --> 00:22:16,640 lifetime upon the earth. You say, well, I would think that God would give us our reward 209 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:21,840 the moment we get to heaven. Well, I would remind you that when we get to heaven there 210 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:30,360 are no more moments in the first place. To be in his presence is to be in eternity. Those 211 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:37,160 who have been with the Lord now, let's say 2,000 years, have not been there any longer 212 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:43,480 than those who went to be with the Lord this afternoon. That is hard for us to imagine 213 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:50,120 being in our space-time dimension where we are, but there is no time in heaven. The fact 214 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:56,400 is that the saints who are now with the Lord have not yet been judged for their works upon 215 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:04,880 the earth. Down here where there is progression of events and the impacts of our lives fall 216 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:12,440 out not only in our own generation but hopefully in generations to come, God is waiting for 217 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:18,040 all of those things to happen so that when we do finally get to be with the Lord that 218 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:26,280 the full measurement of our lives can be determined. The full worth or, sadly, the full worthlessness 219 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:33,280 of our lives may be determined. We will receive reward or suffer loss there according to how 220 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:38,960 we have lived for the Christ now. So that is the judgment seat of Christ. Only the believers 221 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:44,320 of this age, the church age, will be at the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. 222 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,960 You say, won't that take a long time? That is millions of people. Well, I remind you 223 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:55,440 again that there is no time in the presence of the Lord. So it is not going to take a 224 00:23:55,440 --> 00:24:00,560 long time. No. You say, how is it going to happen? I don't know, but it is an individual 225 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:11,280 judgment. That will then lead us to the next event which takes place in heaven, and that 226 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:17,860 is the marriage supper of the Lamb. I'm not going to go into detail about that, but following 227 00:24:17,860 --> 00:24:26,160 that time of our examination before the Lord we will enter into our marital relationship 228 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:37,120 with Him. We will become, in reality, the blessed and glorious bride of the Lord Jesus 229 00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:47,320 Christ. Well, it looks like we just lost our bulb. 230 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:52,320 What did I tell you about this age? Sam, could I get your help? I see you over there. There 231 00:24:52,320 --> 00:25:04,600 is an overhead in room 101. We should have prayed, shouldn't we? This is one of those 232 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:09,760 impossible situations. We should have prayed about it first. It must be a little warm here 233 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:15,040 because of this rather confined area. I better talk quicker or else I'll blow my warm breath 234 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:20,760 out that way. Maybe that would help too. All right, so that is the judgment seat of 235 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:30,120 the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, on the earth there will be some other things taking place. Following 236 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:39,000 the rapture of the church will come on the earth what is called the tribulation. In the 237 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:45,680 world right now we have tribulation or affliction, but this will be a period of time that is 238 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:53,280 referred to as the tribulation. You'll notice it lasts seven years. That is mentioned not 239 00:25:53,280 --> 00:26:00,200 only in the book of the Revelation, but it's mentioned as well in Daniel. That period of 240 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:09,440 time is divided into two sections each three and a half years or 42 months or 1,260 days. 241 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:14,400 Technically the last half of it is called the great tribulation because the suffering 242 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:22,240 upon the earth will be greatly intensified during the last part of the tribulation period. 243 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:29,560 This begins what is called the day of the Lord. That is the similar phrase to the day 244 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:35,920 of Christ that I mentioned earlier. But you need to distinguish the day of the Lord from 245 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:42,680 the day of Jesus Christ. The day of the Lord is a deeply meaningful prophetic term that 246 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:49,440 is used way back in the Old Testament. It embraces both a time of judgment when God 247 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:58,240 will deal with the wickedness of the earth along with a time of blessing when God will 248 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:04,880 pour out his blessing upon the earth. We'll come back to this in a moment. 249 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:10,720 The day of the Lord is a very broad term. It includes both judgment and blessing. The 250 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:18,440 judgment portion of that is called the tribulation. Thanks Sam. If we get too much of this, we'll 251 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:27,760 switch our overheads. During this time of the tribulation, there will be upon the earth 252 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:32,560 one particular leader who will come to the front. At least this seems to be true in the 253 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:42,160 western world. He is called in the Bible the Antichrist or the lawless one. 254 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:48,160 Would you take your Bible and turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 where we have one of the key passages 255 00:27:48,160 --> 00:28:04,600 regarding this figure. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Beginning in verse 3, the apostle says, 256 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:12,320 let no one in any way deceive you for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first. 257 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:17,800 Now what will not come? He's talking about the day of the Lord. He says it will not come 258 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:24,200 unless the apostasy comes first. That is the falling away from the truth. And the man of 259 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:33,000 lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every 260 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:40,720 so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying 261 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:50,720 himself as being God. And so there is this one whom we may call the puppet of Satan who 262 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:58,480 is also called the beast in the first half of Revelation chapter 13 who arises to become 263 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:09,960 the political and eventually the religious leader of the western world. This Antichrist 264 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:17,080 will be very vicious against all who believe in the Lord. His particular wrath will be 265 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:24,040 expressed toward the Jews, the nation of Israel. During the tribulation period, Israel will 266 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:31,280 go through the most difficult time of persecution that it has ever known until this point. Even 267 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:40,600 worse, I am sorry to say, than the time of Hitler's reign in Europe in World War II. 268 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:46,120 The Jewish nation will be persecuted, but on the other hand, God will divinely watch 269 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:53,800 over his people. Antichrist will in the first three and a half year period seem to be a 270 00:29:53,800 --> 00:30:00,320 figure of peace on the surface. And many will allow him to become their ruler because he 271 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:08,960 seems to have all the answers for world peace. That is the person that our world today is 272 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:16,520 hungering for. Somebody who can bring the fractured world together, who can put down 273 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:23,960 the terrorism, who can put down the war, and who can bring about a peace for mankind. Well, 274 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:32,920 that person will come. That person will be Satan's man, the lawless one, the Antichrist. 275 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:38,720 Then during the last three and a half years, his true colors will be revealed. He will 276 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:44,560 no longer even appear to be a man of peace, but a wicked man of war. He will oppress the 277 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:54,040 Christians, and as I say, especially the Jewish people. 278 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:58,440 If you want to read more about him and more about the Tribulation period, you can do that 279 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:05,720 by reading chapters 6 through 19 of the book of the Revelation. You will find that the 280 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:11,840 word tribulation is used in that text. It's used also in Matthew 24, so this is a Bible 281 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:18,880 word. The tribulation is the period of judgment that will conclude the age in which we now 282 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:27,720 live. As you look back through the history of the world, you can delineate ages, certain 283 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:34,760 administrations of God in the world. It is interesting that every one of those ended 284 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:40,580 with the judgment of God of some sort. This age will be no different. The judgment of 285 00:31:40,580 --> 00:31:47,560 God will fall upon the world, and it will be catastrophic. It will be something like 286 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:56,800 the day of the flood when the world as it is will cease to be because of the judgment 287 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:04,000 that will come. During this period of tribulation, over half of the world will die because of 288 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,520 the plagues that God will pour out upon the world. Over half of the population of the 289 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:18,240 earth will be killed through those plagues. Antichrist will bring great pressure upon 290 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:24,000 the Jews, and it would seem that right toward the end of the seven-year period, he will 291 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:31,640 surround the city of Jerusalem and seek to absolutely annihilate the Jews. And it will 292 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:39,120 be at that very moment when the sign of the Son of Man will be seen in heaven. And the 293 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:46,080 heavens will be rolled back like a scroll. The Lord Jesus Christ and His army will burst 294 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:52,240 through the sky and enter into this world. And at that point, the Lord Jesus Christ will 295 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,160 come back to the earth. And thus you see the arrow that comes all the way down to this 296 00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:02,440 line indicating that He is coming back with His saints to the world to destroy the powers 297 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:11,600 of the Antichrist and to bring to an end this time of terrible tribulation. That will occur 298 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,000 with the Battle of Armageddon. 299 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,320 Let's go on to the book of Revelation for a moment. We've mentioned the return of the 300 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:34,760 Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 1 of Revelation. Jesus is seen by the Apostle John, but in 301 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:39,480 His introduction to that vision, these are His words in verse 7. 302 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:45,760 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced 303 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:52,520 Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him, even so, amen. 304 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:57,040 He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him. That is not describing the rapture. 305 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:03,600 It is rather describing His second advent or His return to the earth. You will recall 306 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:07,320 when He ascended back up into heaven from the Mount of Olives, two angels stood by the 307 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:11,800 crowd there, and they said, This same Jesus, which you have seen taken up from you into 308 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:16,800 heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go away. 309 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:22,800 What were they talking about? Not the rapture, because that had not been revealed yet. That 310 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:27,800 is another aspect of the mystery which the Apostle Paul revealed. It is called a mystery, 311 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,000 by the way, in 1 Corinthians 15. 312 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:36,000 No, they were talking about His return to the earth, when He will come back to the Mount 313 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:42,080 of Olives from where He left, and He will establish His reign. But in coming to the 314 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:46,840 Mount there will be this great battle of Armageddon that I had mentioned. Turn on into Revelation 315 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:51,960 to chapter 19. 316 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,760 I am not going to take the time to read all of these verses, but beginning in verse 11 317 00:34:55,760 --> 00:35:03,000 we have Christ coming out of the open heaven. He is coming upon a white horse as faithful 318 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:08,920 and true as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is coming with His army. You notice there 319 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:14,920 is a sharp sword that comes out of His mouth. He is not coming to save. He is coming to 320 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,960 judge the world, the ungodly, the people of the earth. 321 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:25,440 It says in verse 17, And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, 322 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:32,960 saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, Come, assemble for the great supper of God. 323 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:38,480 In order that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh 324 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:44,400 of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and those who sit on them, and the flesh of all 325 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,640 men, both free men and slaves, small and great. 326 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:55,160 So here is called an event, the great supper of God. It is not a supper for men. It is a 327 00:35:55,160 --> 00:36:01,160 supper for the birds of the air, to come and to consume the carcasses of those who will 328 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:06,840 fall in the battle that will take place when Jesus returns to the earth. 329 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:14,900 There is an earlier word in Revelation regarding this battle in chapter 16. The preparations 330 00:36:14,900 --> 00:36:20,520 are being made for this battle. The armies of the earth are coming together at a particular 331 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:26,300 point in Palestine. And it says in verse 14 that there are demons actually involved in 332 00:36:26,300 --> 00:36:33,000 gathering the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great 333 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:39,400 day of God the Almighty. And then in verse 16, and they gathered them together to the 334 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:46,080 place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon, Armageddon. 335 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:51,400 Literally that means the Mount of Megiddo. If you go to Israel today on a tour, they 336 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:57,880 will take you to the Mount of Megiddo. It is not a very imposing mount and yet it is 337 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:04,880 commanding in the sense that it's right at a critical point in a large valley, the valley 338 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:12,200 of Ezraelin. It is a valley that is very far across. When the Jews took over Palestine 339 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:17,400 through the agreement in the early part of this century, it was a large mosquito swamp. 340 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:23,960 That was about it. Today it is a fertile plain. The Jews have drained it. They have taken 341 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:30,880 the rocks out of it. And it is the breadbasket of Israel, that large plain of Ezraelin. On 342 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:37,120 that plain there have been some of the greatest battles of world history fought. Napoleon 343 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:44,680 stood on the Mount of Megiddo. Over 150 years ago he looked out and he said, what a great 344 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:51,040 place for the armies of the world to fight. Well I believe that he had some knowledge 345 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:55,560 of what he was saying. He was not ignorant of the Bible. In fact he was right because 346 00:37:55,560 --> 00:38:00,680 it is in that large valley where these armies will converge. They will come together to 347 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:05,960 come against Jerusalem. And then it will be at that moment that the Lord Jesus will come 348 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:13,000 on his white horse to destroy those armies. And the great supper of God will be called 349 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:19,400 and the birds will clean up the mess. In the Old Testament it suggests that the blood will 350 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:25,320 run from the valley. So great will be the carnage there as these human armies seek to 351 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:33,080 battle against an angelic army. That will be the second advent, the return of the Lord 352 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:38,140 Jesus Christ with his saints, the battle of Armageddon. All of that takes place at this 353 00:38:38,140 --> 00:38:43,960 point after the seven years of tribulation. So just to review, we are now living in the 354 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:50,040 church age. The next event on God's calendar is the rapture of the church. There are no 355 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:56,520 signs that need to be fulfilled as far as scripture is concerned before this takes place. 356 00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:03,320 This is an imminent event. I-M-M-I-N-E-N-T. What that means is that it can happen at any 357 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:09,920 moment. Nothing has to happen first. We are eagerly looking for the return, or I should 358 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:17,240 say technically the rapture of the church, his return for his people. We then will be 359 00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:23,120 in heaven and will come back with him to the earth at this point along with his angelic 360 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:29,520 army. On the earth the tribulation will be poured out, a time of terrible suffering, 361 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:34,920 but a time as I suggested earlier in which many people will be saved. During this time 362 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:42,200 144,000 Jews will be sealed, throughout the earth preaching the gospel and multitudes, 363 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:48,600 millions of people who haven't had the opportunity to hear in this age will hear the truth in 364 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:53,840 this age. Do you realize today that at least a quarter of the earth's population, over 365 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:59,580 a billion people, at least that many, have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel 366 00:39:59,580 --> 00:40:06,060 of Jesus Christ? I believe it is they especially who will be the objects of evangelization 367 00:40:06,060 --> 00:40:11,600 by God's evangelists during the tribulation period. I do believe that in 2 Thessalonians 368 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:17,040 2 that those who have heard in this age and who have rejected the truth, I mean knowing 369 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:21,680 the truth and who have rejected it, that they will not be able to believe in the tribulation 370 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:27,760 period but will be turned to the lie. I don't have time to go into that. The return of the 371 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:33,240 Lord Jesus Christ to the earth will bring about the millennium. Now you see this word 372 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:40,840 pre-millennial. This is where the word comes from. We believe in the personal, visible 373 00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:46,920 return of the Lord Jesus Christ before the millennium so that He then can reign upon 374 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:53,000 the earth for a thousand years. You say where in the world is that taught in the Bible? 375 00:40:53,000 --> 00:41:00,560 Well, we're right here at Revelation. Look in chapter 20. Let's begin with verse 1. 376 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:07,560 1. And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain 377 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:14,880 in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan. 378 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:21,800 So there's no mistaking who this individual is. And bound him for a thousand years. Notice 379 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:29,160 that. Is Satan bound today? Well, those who take the all-millennial position say yes, 380 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:36,560 Satan is bound today. I have a very hard time with that, but that's what they claim. We 381 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:41,520 believe that the Bible teaches this is a future event. That Satan is free today as the prince 382 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:46,520 of the power of the air to work his evil in the world within boundaries that God has said. 383 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:51,320 But that there's a future day coming when he will be bound. This angel also says, threw 384 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:56,520 him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he should not deceive 385 00:41:56,520 --> 00:42:02,160 the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. After these things, 386 00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:10,900 he must be released for a short time. And so Satan is going to be bound at this point. 387 00:42:10,900 --> 00:42:15,600 He will be put into the bottomless pit, unable to work his evil upon the earth any longer. 388 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:20,520 And then in verse four it says, and I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment 389 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:24,960 was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the 390 00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:29,480 testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God. And those who had not worshiped the 391 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:34,520 beast or his image and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. 392 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:39,640 All this refers to material covered in the revelation. And they came to life and reigned 393 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:46,760 with Christ for a thousand years. At this point, all of those who have died in Christ 394 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:53,680 in the church age will be resurrected. At this point, all other righteous people, those 395 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:59,640 who've died believing, whether in the Old Testament back here or those who've died 396 00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:05,060 in this period of time will be resurrected so that they will be able to enjoy the reign 397 00:43:05,060 --> 00:43:10,440 of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth. That is the resurrection that is mentioned here. 398 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:15,180 But he says in verse five, the rest of the dead, that is the wicked dead, the ungodly 399 00:43:15,180 --> 00:43:20,760 dead did not come to life until a thousand years were completed. And we'll see why in 400 00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:26,040 a moment. He says, blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. 401 00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:30,840 Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ 402 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:35,600 will reign with him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are completed, 403 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:41,120 Satan will be released from his prison. Now let me just talk briefly about this time of 404 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:47,160 the millennium. Obviously the word means a thousand years. We understand this to be a 405 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:53,800 literal thousand years, not symbolic, not to be spiritualized or allegorized away. We 406 00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:58,440 take it to be literal. During that thousand year reign of Christ, there will be peace 407 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:05,880 upon the earth. That will be true because righteousness will dominate, not ungodliness. 408 00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:13,000 The earth will experience a time of prosperity like it has not known since the fall of man. 409 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:17,320 And so these are great days that are coming, days prophesied in both the Old and New Testaments. 410 00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:22,760 You know in Isaiah 9 it says, his name shall be called wonderful. And it goes on to say, 411 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:27,880 and the government will be upon his shoulders. It goes on to say there too that he will reign 412 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:35,880 as David's son, as his seed. This is the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the millennium 413 00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:44,160 upon the earth. And then it says Satan will be released from his prison and will come 414 00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:50,520 out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. Gog and Magog, 415 00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:55,680 together them together for the war. That is the battle that is mentioned here in our chart. 416 00:44:55,680 --> 00:45:00,880 The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain 417 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:07,120 of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. What do you suppose 418 00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:14,600 that is? We understand it to be Jerusalem, right? And fire came down from heaven and 419 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:20,840 devoured them. You say what is taking place here? Well remember that there are some people 420 00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:26,440 who are resurrected to enter the millennium, but there are some believers, now listen closely, 421 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:30,440 some believers who will live through this time of tribulation, having been saved here 422 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:36,120 at some point. They will live on through the tribulation and will enter into the millennium 423 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:42,640 in their natural bodies. Not resurrection bodies, but natural bodies. And they will 424 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:47,360 have families. In other words, in this thousand year period, because of the peace, because 425 00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:54,040 of the prosperity, the population of the world will mushroom. So that the population of the 426 00:45:54,040 --> 00:46:09,760 world will probably become far greater than it is today at four plus billion people. Go 427 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:19,080 like that. These people who will be born during that time will have the opportunity themselves 428 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:25,360 to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who is reigning visibly on the earth or to reject 429 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:33,920 Him. They will not be able to reject Him openly, but in their hearts they can. They can pretend 430 00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:41,600 to follow Him. Why you say is Satan loosed to come out again after this thousand years? 431 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:46,280 It is so that he can gather together all of the false people upon the earth, those who 432 00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:52,240 have not believed truly on the Lord Jesus Christ, but who have only pretended to follow 433 00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:56,280 Him. And it says here that there will be a great number of people like that, like the 434 00:46:56,280 --> 00:47:03,760 sand of the seashore. He will gather them in one great final rebellion against God, 435 00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:08,680 and they will be supernaturally destroyed. Fire will come down from heaven and devour 436 00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:23,920 them, and that final rebellion will be put out. Now I need to make an adjustment here. 437 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:29,680 We will go on just to finish chapter 20. And the devil, it says, who deceived them was 438 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:35,760 thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. That's what's called on our chart eternal 439 00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:42,680 hell. The devil is actually the third inhabitant because it goes on to say that the beast, 440 00:47:42,680 --> 00:47:48,560 that's the Antichrist, and the false prophet are there also. They were put there before 441 00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:54,060 the thousand years when Jesus came back. Those two individuals are the first two to inhabit 442 00:47:54,060 --> 00:48:01,240 the lake of fire, the eternal hell. It would seem that they are there alone for the thousand 443 00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:09,720 year period. Then Satan is cast into the lake of fire after this final rebellion, and it 444 00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:15,320 says they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And then it says, and I 445 00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:22,980 saw a great white throne judgment, and that is what is mentioned here. I saw a great white 446 00:48:22,980 --> 00:48:28,000 throne rather, and him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, 447 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:32,680 and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead. Now these are the ungodly dead who 448 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:38,600 were not resurrected earlier obviously. He says, I saw the dead, the great and the small, 449 00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:42,560 standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which 450 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:45,960 is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the 451 00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:51,020 books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death 452 00:48:51,020 --> 00:48:55,580 and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and they were judged every one of them according 453 00:48:55,580 --> 00:49:01,360 to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second 454 00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:06,380 death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, 455 00:49:06,380 --> 00:49:12,160 he was thrown into the lake of fire. The great white throne judgment is a judgment 456 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:18,840 where no believer will be. Only the ungodly, only the lost, will be brought before the 457 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:24,960 Lord to be judged at this point. Do you say, why are they judged here, not earlier? Well, 458 00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:30,180 for the same reason that we're waiting until the rapture for our judgment. God is allowing 459 00:49:30,180 --> 00:49:34,800 all of the ungodliness and all of the evil influence to accumulate from every man's 460 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:40,680 life so that he will have a full measurement of all the wickedness of every person. And 461 00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:45,320 then according to what he sees the works of that life to be, that person will receive 462 00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:50,440 his level of punishment in the eternal hell in the lake of fire. 463 00:49:50,440 --> 00:50:00,280 A very awful and awesome thought. May I interject at this point that in the most recent edition 464 00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:09,540 of Moody Monthly Magazine, there is the most graphic description of hell I have ever read. 465 00:50:09,540 --> 00:50:16,760 Not a long article, a brief article by John Thomas, a writer from Florida. But he writes 466 00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:22,920 compassionately but forthrightly regarding hell and what it really is. He covered some 467 00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:26,780 things that I have never heard or thought about before. I would encourage you to get 468 00:50:26,780 --> 00:50:33,320 a hold of that magazine and to read that article. We cannot talk about this awful place lightly 469 00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:44,740 and casually. It is a place of eternal torment where the wicked and the evil angels and Satan 470 00:50:44,740 --> 00:50:51,680 will be forever and forever. And then following the great white throne judgment, as it says 471 00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:59,160 here, will come the new heavens and the new earth. That is described in Revelation 21 472 00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:03,840 and 22. And so we have covered a lot of ground here 473 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:09,480 tonight in this prophetic overview. I hope that it helps some of you who are newer to 474 00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:14,280 be able to place some of the terms you are going to hear in the Bible conference in a 475 00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:20,120 couple of weeks. The church age, the rapture, the tribulation, the millennium, the second 476 00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:24,720 coming of Christ, the battle of Armageddon, the new heaven and new earth, the great white 477 00:51:24,720 --> 00:51:32,120 throne judgment. You say, what good is it for us to study 478 00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:39,400 prophecy? Well, I think there are several advantages. In the first place, it is a great 479 00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:48,200 stimulus to us to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with expectation. It gives us a blessed hope 480 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:57,080 to anticipate His return. And standing before Him at last, trial and trouble all past, all 481 00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:01,560 of that makes everything that we may endure for Him now worthwhile. It will be worth it 482 00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:06,920 all when we see Jesus. That is one thing. Secondly, I think it is a great motivation 483 00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:14,720 for soul winning. When we begin to understand the awful future of those without Christ, 484 00:52:14,720 --> 00:52:21,640 surely it must do something to our hearts to provoke us to be faithful witnesses for 485 00:52:21,640 --> 00:52:29,840 our Lord to seek to win them to Christ. And third, the study of prophecy is a great 486 00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:37,080 purifier of our lives. He that has this hope in Him purifies Himself, says John, even as 487 00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:44,360 He the Lord is pure. It causes us to desire to live holy and godly lives in light of what 488 00:52:44,360 --> 00:52:50,280 is coming upon this world in which we live. So as we enter into this time of study in 489 00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:54,760 a couple of weeks, I hope you will find great profit in it. That you will be here for every 490 00:52:54,760 --> 00:53:00,280 service and that you will absorb the truth as it will be proclaimed by these gifted and 491 00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:08,660 dedicated men of God who are coming. I would like for us to close now by singing a hymn. 492 00:53:08,660 --> 00:53:17,800 It's one of the more contemporary popular numbers based upon the truth of Christ's coming, 493 00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:39,960 number 250. John Peterson wrote it, Jesus is coming again.