Thank you, John. I appreciated the many who could commiserate with me over the broken
mirror that I talked about this morning. If you add up all the years that the broken mirrors
amount to in our church, I wonder if we may be in the tribulation already. I don't know.
But this afternoon, there was a young man over northwestern that topped the broken mirror,
I'll guarantee you. I was coming after the wedding, I slipped out and went out a side
entrance at the chapel there at northwestern and went downstairs so that I could go to
the receiving line without going through the whole crowd. And as I was doing that, going
down the steps, echoing coming up from the steps was, shall we say language that is not
often heard, I'm sure, at northwestern college. And as I went on down and saw what was taking
place, there was a young man who had slipped out of the wedding during the early part of
the recessional and he had gone down to ring the bell at Nazareth Hall. How many of you
ever heard it ring? I'd never heard it before today. I've had a number of weddings over
there. Well, here he is dressed up and he's a very dapper young guy dressed up in his
sharpest clothes, about 21 years of age. And he is standing there with his rope that goes
all the way up to the belfry in Nazareth Hall and he is covered with bat dung. Now tell
me if that doesn't beat a broken mirror. I'll take a broken mirror any day over that story.
So Nazareth Hall has bats in its belfry, we know. We know that to be a fact. Well, somehow
that seems to tie into the tribulation, which we're going to be talking about tonight. We
want to talk about the end of this age. And the subject that we have is a broad one. We
have to focus. We can't be too broad in our comments. We'd be here too long this evening.
Well let's just remind ourselves that this age is going to end with a period of seven
years that relate back to our study in the book of Daniel. Do you recall that in the
ninth chapter of Daniel he was given understanding about the future of his people. The angel
told him that there would be 70 weeks of years or 70 times 7 or 490 years for his people.
And that at the end of that 490 years there would be six different things that would have
been accomplished including the bringing in of righteousness and the anointing of the
most holy one, which we understand to refer to the reign of Messiah. The bringing in of
righteousness to the earth through his reign. And we have seen that God has fulfilled 483
of those years. God's clock stopped ticking with the presentation of the Messiah, most
likely the day when he entered into the city of Jerusalem, what we call Palm Sunday. And
the God's clock has been holding now for almost 2000 years waiting to finish the final
seven year period. Well that final seven years which is decreed for Israel is yet to be fulfilled
and it is that period which is generally termed by Bible teachers as the tribulation. Now
we have to keep in mind that Jesus told us in John 14 and we are told in other places
that in this world we are going to have tribulation. The word tribulation means pressure, it's
stress. It's the kind of pressure and tribulation that comes upon us because we are different
than the world. The world hated Jesus and as it hated him it hates those of us who belong
to him and that presents a natural pressure, a tribulation that is always on the believer
in this world. That's a general kind of tribulation that we have more or less throughout our whole
lifetime. But there is a time coming which is termed as the tribulation and half of which
is called the great tribulation. In this sense the tribulation is the period of judgment
when God is going to pour out upon the Christ rejecting world judgment and wrath because
of its rejection of the Savior. It's turning to the lie. During the last half of that seven
year period or for a period of three and a half years there will be what is called great
tribulation. That is the suffering, the wrath, the judgment poured out by God upon the earth
will grow exceedingly intense during that period of time. The first three and a half
will be bad enough. There will be war and famine and disease and martyrdom and physical
disturbances in the skies and upon the earth. All of those will increase and intensify as
the seven years plays out so that the last half of it is called the great tribulation.
Now the specific question that we want to address this evening is this. When does the
coming of Christ occur in relation to the tribulation? To answer that question we need
to keep in mind that the coming of Christ, the second coming of Christ is going to take
place in two phases. There is said to be a time when he will come for his people. That
is described for us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 through 18. A marvelous paragraph
giving us the detail of the coming of Christ and that the dead in Christ will rise first
and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. It is that idea of being caught up or seized or snatched away
that gives us the basis for the word that we use to describe this coming of Christ,
the rapture. That comes from Latin but it is a Latin word describing the Greek there
that means to seize or to snatch away. That is the first phase of the second coming of
Jesus Christ. The second phase is the time when he will return to earth and establish
his kingdom. The first phase will occur secretly to the world. That is the world will not see
him. Believers will see him, will hear him, will hear the sound of the trumpet that we
sung about this evening and be caught up to be with him. But the world at large will not
see him. Now obviously they will know something has happened but they will not see the Savior.
In the second coming every eye will see him. His sign will appear in the heavens and he
will be seen coming with the hosts of his angels and he will destroy the armies of the
earth gathered to do battle at Armageddon and will then establish his royal kingdom
headquartered in Jerusalem. To more directly focus our question we want to talk tonight
about that first phase of Christ's second coming. When does that occur is the question
in relation to the tribulation. Now there are commonly three positions that are taken
by people who love God, love the Lord Jesus Christ, love the Bible like you and me. Godly
people differ on this. The three common positions are that the Savior will come at the end of
the tribulation. That he will at that point catch up his people to be with him in the
skies and then will immediately return to the earth to establish his kingdom. That is
sometimes called post-tribulationalism. The second position is that the Savior will come
in the middle of the seven years just before the great tribulation begins, the last half
of the seven years. It's called obviously mid-tribulationalism. Then there is a third
position, the one that I adhere to, which we teach at our church although we don't
demand that everybody who comes here agree with this, but it is the position that Jesus
Christ is coming before the tribulation begins, before the seven years. Obviously this would
be called pre-tribulationalism. Tonight I want to talk about why I believe Jesus must
come before the tribulation. I have enough reasons to keep us here well past our time
so we'll just go as long as we can and then we'll stop. The first reason that I believe
Jesus must come before the tribulation is this, the relationship between the church
and the wrath of God. Would you turn please in your Bible to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1
and look at the last two verses in that chapter. 1 Thessalonians is an epistle by Paul to the
believers of Thessalonica and at the end of every chapter he talks about the coming of
Christ. In verse 9 of the first chapter he says,
For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you
turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. You
notice that last phrase, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. You need to keep
in mind that the tribulation period is not just merely a time of suffering on the earth
because of man's sin. It is a time of suffering because God is going to supernaturally pour
out judgments upon the earth. It is a time of his expressed wrath upon mankind because
of its unbelief and rebellion against him. In Revelation chapter 6 and verse 17, the
picture is given there of the tribulation having begun and people suffering under it
and they speak about hiding us from the wrath of him who sits upon the throne. They recognize
that this is a supernatural judgment come upon them and they speak of it as wrath.
Those of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and who are therefore a part of his
called out body of this age, the church, have already been delivered from the wrath of God.
We are in a perpetual state of being delivered from God's wrath. I am convinced that the
New Testament teaches that never will the wrath of God touch the church because his
wrath has already fallen upon the Savior for our sins and on our behalf. There is no double
jeopardy with God. God has already judged our sin in Christ. Because of that, he will
not allow his wrath to come upon us. Tribulation in a general sense, yes. Suffering, yes. But
not his wrath that he pours out upon Christ's rejectors.
In the last chapter of this book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, there is another statement, verse
9, that says, for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through
our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live
together with him. That awake or asleep doesn't refer to what some people do in church, one
or the other, but it's referring metaphorically to being alive or dead. And he says whether
we are awake or asleep, it makes no difference. The Savior is coming and we will live together
with him. That is the context of salvation in verse 9. It's not merely salvation from
sin, but it's salvation from the grave and from the world. And he says that God has destined
us not for wrath, but for salvation. That wrath is further defined, I think, in the
context here as judgment at the end of the age by verse 3. He says, while they are saying
peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like birth pangs upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. And so in the context here, he is talking
about destruction from God. He is talking about God's judgment upon the earth. And
it will come, he says, when men are saying peace and safety has finally arrived. The
golden age has dawned. The new age has begun. Mankind has begun his utopia. Nothing more
now to fear. Peace and safety throughout the world. And then from God comes destruction
and judgment upon the earth. And it will come suddenly, just like travail upon a woman who
is with child. And they shall not escape, says Paul. Now in that same context as he
is talking about wrath and judgment, he says God has not appointed us to wrath. And so
I believe that one reason the church must be taken out of the world before the tribulation
is because of the relationship between the church and the wrath of God. The two have
nothing to do with each other. That is by the grace of God, of course. It's not because
we deserve that, but it's because God in his goodness has reached down and through
Christ saved us from the wrath we deserve. Let me go on to a second reason I believe
that Jesus must come before the tribulation period, not only because of what the tribulation
is and the relation of the church to it, but because of the relationship between the Holy
Spirit and the main character of the tribulation period. That is the man of lawlessness, the
Antichrist. We're going to look in more detail at the Antichrist in our study of the
last part of Daniel 11 next week. But for tonight would you turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
just over a page or two from where we are and look in the second chapter. Let me begin
reading in verse 3 where it says, Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come
unless the apostasy comes first, that is the day of the Lord. And the man of lawlessness
is revealed the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God
or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself
as being God. Now what we're talking about here really is the future abomination of desolations.
Remember that phrase from this morning? It is that future time when the Antichrist, the
future Antiochus the fourth, will establish in the temple in Jerusalem a new image of
himself. The next time it won't be the image of Zeus or Jupiter as it was back in the days
of Antiochus. But it will be an image of Antichrist himself which will be given the appearance
of life by the deceptive miracles of Satan according to what is said in the book of Revelation.
And Antichrist will demand just as Antiochus did that the Jews worship him and that all
the earth worship him there in the temple in Jerusalem. That is the man of lawlessness.
Verse 6 goes on to say, And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he
may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains
will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed
whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance
of his coming. That is the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with
all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deception of wickedness for those
who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
Now there is a certain relationship that is drawn up here between what is called the restrainer
and this man of lawlessness, the Antichrist. And the apostle indicates that the spirit
or the mystery of lawlessness or Antichrist was already at work in the first century.
The apostle John says the same thing a few years later as he writes the book of 1 John.
The spirit of Antichrist has been at work in the world for 2,000 years. But the personification
of Antichrist has not been revealed. He has not come and he cannot come. He is being restrained.
Even if Satan tonight wanted to present Antichrist to the world he could not do so because that
whole thing is restrained supernaturally by God so it cannot come yet.
The question is what is it that restrains? Well Bible teachers give several answers to
this. It seems to me the best one is that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. And particularly
the Holy Spirit as he dwells in the church, the body of believers. You are a restraint
in this society. I don't recall the exact figures but there have been polls that have
been conducted which have gotten to the point of the effect of people like you in society
and what a difference it makes. Your presence in the world is a restraint upon evil. That
is one reason that you face pressure out there and tribulation. Because your very presence
in that office or in that neighborhood, your very presence there, your life, your words
causes evil to shrink back and not do all that it would if you were not there.
Now Paul says here that there is a day coming when the restrainer will be taken out of the
way. And all of these plans that Satan has for Antichrist's coming will then be allowed
to proceed. I believe that the taking away of the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, is identical
with the taking out of the world of the church. That it is the removal of God's people in
one dramatic instant when millions of people around the world will disappear and the righteous
and godly influence of God's people is no longer here. That when that instant comes
it's going to be like a gush of lawlessness that will go throughout the world. Now it
is pent up, it is held back like a dike on a flooding river. But one day that dike is
going to be removed. The restrainer will be gone as the Holy Spirit is removed in the
lives of believers as believers go home to be with Christ. And then there will be a flooding
of lawlessness throughout the world and that Antichrist that Satan is preparing even now
will be revealed. That's another reason I believe that Jesus must come before the tribulation
for when he comes he will then remove us and the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit
allowing the Antichrist, the main figure of the last seven years of this age, to be revealed.
Now there is a third reason that I believe that Jesus must come before the tribulation
period and that is this, that the tribulation is Jewish in its very nature. The seventh
or seventieth week of Daniel's prophecy does not deal with the church. It only deals indirectly
with the Gentile nations. It is the final week of the seventy that deals with Daniel's
people. It is important in interpreting the Bible to make a distinction between Daniel's
people, the Jews and Israel, and God's people in this age which are both Jew and Gentile
together in one body, the church. If one does not make that distinction then he has led
to a quagmire of confusion in interpreting the Bible. I believe it's a basic distinction
that must be made and God himself seems to make it, for example even in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10 verse 32. It speaks about three groups in the world. It talks about the church
and the Gentiles and the Jews. And in our world today those same three groupings exist.
Billions of Gentiles throughout the earth, a few million Jews and a few million who are
part of the church of Jesus Christ. So as God sees the world, he not only sees saved
and unsaved, that's one division, but we can also say that he sees the distinction
of Jew and Gentile and the church. Now the last seven years of this age, the tribulation
period is a time that is Jewish in its focus. It is the fulfillment not only of Daniel
9.27, but it is the fulfillment of other prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments that relate
to Israel. One of them is in Jeremiah chapter 30 verses 4 through 11. I'm not going to
take time to read it, but you may want to note it because it is a time that is said
to be Jacob's trouble. Jacob of course being the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The time of Jacob's trouble is foreseen by Jeremiah the prophet. It is the time of the
end. It is a time that the Jews have not yet experienced. It is the time that is called
elsewhere, the 70th week of Daniel or the tribulation. And as you look in the book of
the Revelation, in those chapters of Revelation, that is the last book of the New Testament
that deal with the tribulation upon the earth, chapters 4 through 19, you will find reference
to the Jewish people. It is made very clear for example in chapter 12 where Israel is
symbolized by a woman who gives birth to a male child who is Christ. The focus of God's
people on the earth in the tribulation period is not the church, it is Israel. Now why is
that? Well the logical reason is that the church is not here in the tribulation period.
It is interesting to note that in chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the book of Revelation the
word church is used several times as our Lord dictates seven letters to the seven churches
of Asia Minor, to the church at Smyrna. The word church is used, but when you get past
chapter 3 and you begin chapter 4, no longer is the church mentioned. And it reverts back
to the emphasis upon the Jews. There are saved people who are mentioned, Gentiles, great
multitudes of them who are saved in the tribulation period, but the church is not mentioned. I
was talking with a friend of mine who takes the position of post-tribulationalism about
this a couple of weeks ago in a group, and we pointed this out to him that the church
is not mentioned upon the earth in the tribulation period, and he pointed out rightly so that
it is not mentioned in heaven either. And that is true. However, there are some individuals
in heaven that we believe symbolize the church, the 24 elders. Now the question might come
to mind, well why is it called the church upon the earth and then the term is not used
in heaven, but we believe that these 24 elders who are seen there symbolize the church. And
the answer to that may be difficult to find, but for myself I believe that it is that the
nature of the believer changes once we get to heaven. Here on the earth we are those
who are called out from other people, but that won't be true there. We will be the
people. And so we will not be the called out ones in the sense that we are a remnant among
many others, and therefore the church, the called out ones. Once we arrive in heaven,
we are the church. We are the 24 elders who are around Christ's throne. And so the very
nature of what we are and our identity is somewhat changed after the rapture. Well my
main point here is this, that the tribulation period, this time of judgment upon the earth,
focuses on the Jewish people and not upon the church. It is not mentioned in reference
to the tribulation. Another reason that I believe that Jesus must come before the tribulation
period is a basic principle that God seems to follow in his word, and that is the principle
of his justice to deliver his own before judgment comes. I'm not taking time to discuss the
ways that God always does that, but just think with me regarding the fact that when God is
pouring out his judgment upon the earth or upon a people in particular, he delivers his
own. For example Noah, who lived in the time before the flood and of course through the
flood, before God poured out his wrath upon the earth as it was in those days, he provided
for Noah's protection and delivered him from that wrath. He went into the ark and the wrath
came upon the earth. You think too of Lot, who was taken out of Sodom before God poured
the fire and brimstone upon the cities of the plain. In fact it seems as though that
the angel had to get Lot out of the city before the judgment could come. So we see the same
principle. We see it also in Rahab, the city of Jericho. She was delivered. The city was
destroyed. The people were destroyed, but not Rahab, who had become a believer in the
God of the Israelites. It seems to me perfectly consistent then before God officially pours
out his wrath upon the earth, that he will likewise deliver his own before that time
of judgment.
Well, I'm looking down my list here to pick out one more thing that I think would be important
to say. I think it's this. It is only the ones who believe in the coming of Christ before
the pre-tribulation who can honestly believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. That
is, that he may come at any moment. Even the apostle Paul in the first century had the
sense that Jesus could come in his own lifetime. There was about the church in the early part
of the age that sense that the coming of Christ may be at any moment. That is our position.
However, if you take the position that Jesus is going to come in the middle of the tribulation
or at the end of it, what? Well, you've either got three and a half or seven years
of things that must take place before he can return.
So it is those who believe that Jesus must come before the tribulation who can honestly
say Jesus may come tonight. There is nothing in the plan of God to forbid the Savior's
return, nothing whatsoever. There is no coming of Antichrist. There is no temple that has
to be built in Jerusalem. There is no positioning of certain powers in Europe or in Palestine
or in Russia that has to take place before he comes. There is nothing. The very next
thing that occurs on God's calendar really is the coming of Christ for the church. Once
that takes place, a lot of things happen very, very quickly.
But tonight we believe that Jesus may come. You say, what difference does all of this
make? Just what we're talking about. For if I truly believe that Jesus could come tonight,
that's going to change the way that I live. In Thessalonians, in the, well, we don't
have time to look at that, but let me just mention to you 1 John chapter 3, then we'll
close. 1 John chapter 3, would you just turn there quickly? In verse 2 it says, Beloved,
now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know
that when he appears, we shall be like him. What does John have in mind here? There's
no question. He has in mind the rapture. He says, we know that when he appears, we shall
be like him, as Paul says, changed. Because we shall see him just as he is. And everyone
who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. What difference does all
of this make? It makes a difference in the way that I live. Because if Jesus may come
tonight, then I want my life to be clean. I want my life to be pure. I want to be found
holy and blameless before him at his coming. Don't you? I want to be found faithful, as
we heard sung earlier in the service. So that when he appears, we'll not have to be ashamed,
but we may be confident before him at his coming. The Savior is coming again. I'd like
for us to sing about that just one more time today as we've emphasized this theme. And
I want us to ask ourselves this question, will Jesus find us watching? Let's turn to
257, the words of Fanny Crosby. And we will sing verses 1 and 4 of this old hymn of the
church. Let's stand together as we sing and ask ourselves this question, when he comes,
and it may be tonight, will he find me watching and prepared? Let's sing it together. 257
verses 1 and 4.
When Jesus comes to reward his servants, whether it be noon or night,
faithful to him will he find us watching with our lamps all trimmed and bright?
Oh, can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the soul's bright home? Say, will he find you and me still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come?
Verse 4 Blessed are those whom the Lord finds watching, in his glory they shall share.
If he shall come at the dawn or midnight, will he find us watching there? Oh, can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the soul's bright home?
Say, will he find you and me still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come?
Whether that be tonight or tomorrow with the rising of the sun or the noon day or if it be in God's providence ten years from now,
may he find us ready and watching. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for the blessed hope of the believer. We thank you that our hope is not the tribulation, but rather that it is the coming of the Savior,
who will snatch us away from this earth and take us to that home that he has prepared for us.
Thank you for delivering us from the wrath that is to come, for appointing us to salvation and not to judgment.
O God, we acknowledge to you humbly that that is your grace active in our behalf, for surely we deserve wrath, we deserve judgment in our sin.
But you have saved us and called us out as the church to be Christ's own bride. O, may we be faithful.
Lord, may our lamps be trimmed and burning brightly and witnessing in our community.
Lord, may we be alert and awake and watching for the Savior's return.
May that make a difference in the way that we live this week. In Jesus' name, amen. Good night.