[EDITOR’S NOTE: My pastor, Pat Kleitz preached this sermon a couple of weeks back. It provides a nice explanation of where we are on God’s timeline. It will take a few installments to cover the whole thing. But it will provide a nice primer on End Times events, [Rob P.] ]
In this series, we’ll cover the background that will help you understand the timing of what happens from now until God creates a New Heaven and new earth and we live FORE’VER. You will know where you are so you can know where you are going…. what’s ahead for you. If you know, then you can prepare yourself.
The End of the Age will bring a New Heaven and a New Earth. The Earth will be like the Garden of Eden. There are steps we have to go through to get there. Prophecies that must be fulfilled and events that still have to unfold, and you will see every one of them… you are a key player in these events. This is part of the answer to the question: ‘What on earth am I hear for?’ The answer: To to usher in the return of the King and the end of the ages..to live forever in the NEW HEAVEN and the NEW Earth. Because you are an eternal being …you are meant to live forever with Christ as his bride. Here is a fact. You are personally headed somewhere. Your life is moving in a direction…. You are on a PATH …a ROAD… walking in a direction. There are signs along the way… “This is the way walk in it.”
Proverbs 6:23 – For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life.
2 Peter 1:19 – We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
Psalm 19:8 – The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
TWO ROADS TO WALK
Matthew 7:13–14 (NLT) – “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
In the Old Testament, the Prophet Isaiah talked about it. And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there. (Isaiah 35:8) (NLT)
THE RAPTURE – The Next Great Event
[EDITOR: The Rapture is the instant transformation and catching up of all Christians, both dead and alive, to meet Christ in the air, clearing the way for God’s righteous judgment on the Earth.]
John 14:1–4 (NIV84) – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 (NLT) – For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.
Why the Rapture? Why take the church out of this world?
1Thessalonians 1:9–10 (NLT) – for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. 10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment. (the coming wrath)
1Thessalonians 5:9–11 (NIV84) – For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
How it will happen?
1 Corinthians 15:51–55 (NLT) – But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, (twinkling of an eye) when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The Rapture of the Church will set the stage for the next great event, the 7 years of Tribulation. That is divided into two parts. The “beginning of sorrows” & The Great Tribulation. And that will be our jumping off point for next time.
Leave a Reply