This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day three together of our look through Revelation chapter 10. In fact,
yesterday and today we're taking a little break, a little perspective gathering
break to focus on where we are in this whole picture of what God is doing. We're
looking together at four end time events.

Today we looked at three of them, which are found in the book of Revelation. We
looked at the tribulation, which we're in the middle of studying right now. We
looked at the visible return of Christ, and we looked at the millennium.

Today I'd like us to focus together on the one major end time event that is not
found in the book of Revelation. It is known by the name of the rapture. The
rapture, that name actually comes from a Latin word used in 1 Thessalonians 4.

17, a verse we're going to look at in a few minutes. The original Greek word is
translated "caught up" in English. That's what it means.

It means to be caught up. The rapture is when Jesus gathers all believers to be
with him, giving each of us resurrected a glorified body. Now that's different
from the visible return of Jesus, in which everybody will see him and he's going
to judge the nations, he's going to establish his kingdom.

Many see the rapture as an event hidden to all but believers and occurring years
before Jesus' visible return. Others, some see the rapture and Jesus' visible
return as happening simultaneously. Even as all see him, Christians are raptured
to be with him.

Although there is some question about the exact time of the rapture, the
questions about exactly when it should happen should not detract from the
assurance that that it will happen. Now this event is not spoken of in
Revelation. Why?

Well there are many believers who think that that is because it's already
happened when the events that we hear about in the book of Revelation begin to
unfold. Others think that it's just not mentioned here because it's mentioned
elsewhere, because the purpose of Revelation is different than telling this. But
it certainly is mentioned in the Bible, it's taught in the Bible.

First Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 13 to 18 gives a very detailed description
of what's going to happen when the Lord raptures his church. The believers in
this town by the name of Thessalonica were worried. They felt that somehow those
in their church who'd already died were not going to get to be in heaven with
the Lord.

Or they thought that maybe they'd gotten cheated out of having a resurrected
body, that unless you were here when Jesus returned, you wouldn't be with him
forever. So Paul writes to calm their concerned hearts and explains to them the
order of how God will do things. Listen to what's going to happen.

First Thessalonians 4, 16 to 18, "For the Lord himself will come down from
heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet
call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are
still alive and who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with
these words. " So you see what happens, he just walks through these events with
us, one, two, three, four.

First he says the Lord descends. The Lord descends out of heaven, in the clouds,
on God's conditions. Unexpectedly you get the feel even here.

And in Matthew chapter 24, 37, you also get that same feel. The Lord descends.
And second, the dead in Christ rise.

Now this is talking about those who are believers who've already died, who are
in graves. Their physical bodies will come out of the grave in order to be
reunited with their spirit with the Lord in the air. We'll talk about that in
just a minute.

First Thessalonians 15 talks about the resurrection of our bodies. It says in
verses 42 to 43, "So will be with the resurrection of the dead, a body that is
sown perishable, it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised
in glory.

It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. " A believer's body, those who
have died before Jesus Christ returns, comes out of the ground to become a
resurrected body that then meets, I believe, the believer's spirit who is coming
with the Lord in the air. Remember, when we die, our spirit immediately goes to
be with the Lord.

I don't know what we look like in this spirit body. The Bible doesn't tell us.
But I know we're in his presence.

And I know he knows us personally there. And we know each other even. So there's
this sense of our spirit and our body, our resurrected body, are somehow, I
almost get this picture of they're reunited in the air.

Can you imagine that? Every believer is involved in the rapture. If you die
before his return, your spirit immediately goes to be in the presence of the
Lord.

And when Jesus returns, your spirit will come with him in the air, your body
will rise out of the ground, and bam, the spirit and the body will reunite in
midair. That is what I call a thrill ride. That is what I call an experience of
joy.

That's the second thing that happens. But we're not done yet. Third, we who are
alive are caught up with them.

Verse Thessalonians 4 says, "We are still alive and left will be caught up
together with them. " That is our most familiar picture of the rapture. Those
believers who are walking around the earth at the time that Jesus returns will
somehow immediately have their earthly bodies transformed into resurrected
bodies.

And we rise also to meet the Lord in the air. Can you imagine? Can you imagine
all of us together there?

In fact, that's the fourth thing that happens. Fourth, we meet the Lord in the
air. And we will be with the Lord forever.

What a reunion. What a place of joy. I don't know if you've been to one of your
high school reunions, your tenth or twentieth or thirtieth high school reunion.

Have you noticed that those reunions often don't match their hype? You see
people who once had long hair who now have no hair, and the guy who was the wide
receiver on the football team is now just wide. The brightest person in the
class is the dullest person at the party.

It just doesn't match the hype sometimes that we give to it. But this reunion,
can you imagine it? People with broken bodies who now have resurrected bodies,
family members who see each other as they rise to meet Jesus.

Seeing people from your past who you never would have dreamed would have become
believers. And you see them and you realize what's happened with them. United
with people from your church, people from all over your city, all over our
nation, all over this world, and most important, Jesus Christ right there at the
center of this reunion without even knowing you.

I can tell you the most exciting experience in your life. It hasn't happened
yet. You're looking forward to your greatest experiences and this is one of
them.

And when we begin to look into this rapture and what's going to happen, and we
compare it to the events that we talked about yesterday, that's when the
difference in timing comes in. The question many people ask is what's the
difference in timing of the rapture of the church and the visible return of
Jesus Christ to judge the nations and the time of tribulation that we're
studying right now. Some regard this time of tribulation as occurring and then
the visible return of Christ and the rapture occur at the same time.

Others see an order. Others see an order as to when the rapture will occur first
and then later the visible return of Christ will happen. In fact, amongst those
who see an order, there are three general ideas of what this order might be.

You might have heard these ideas. The pre-tribulation rapture, the
mid-tribulation rapture, and the post-tribulation rapture. It's pretty obvious
what they mean.

The pre-tribulation rapture is the rapture will occur right before the
tribulation begins, any of these events that we're studying together right now.
The mid-tribulation rapture, the rapture occurs three and a half years or
halfway into the time of tribulation. The post-tribulation rapture, it occurs at
the end of the seven-year tribulation at the same time as Jesus' visible return.

Now let me just ask you, apart from all the theological talk about this, what
should these different views say to you on a personal basis? It should say two
things. First of all, rejoice.

Rejoice if God takes you out of the tribulation of those last days. You rejoice
in the protection of the Father. But secondly, don't be surprised and don't lose
faith if God somehow chooses to leave us as witnesses during these last days.

Here's my very untheological way of looking at this because I want it to happen
as soon as possible. So I believe that it's going to happen as soon as possible.
I'm looking forward to a pre-tribulation rapture.

And if we're all still around when this tribulation begins, I'm going to
immediately move to believing in a mid-tribulation rapture. And if we're all
still here three and a half years into this time of tribulation, I'm going to
immediately move to a post-tribulation view because the truth is I know that
Jesus is going to rapture his church. The book of Thessalonians tells us without
a doubt he's going to do this.

I can hang on to that truth. I want you to understand some of these details
about Jesus' second coming. That's why we've taken a few days to focus on this.

However, my one warning is the warning we started with, and that is that you
don't become so involved in the details that you miss the big picture. You tell
an older Christian that Jesus is coming again, and they say, "Well, is that pre,
post, or mid-tribulation? " You tell a new believer that Jesus Christ is coming,
and they just look up.

Where? When? How soon?

Never lose, never lose that spirit, anticipation, waiting for his return. Jesus
Christ, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come soon.

Come soon to rescue your church. Come soon to do away with evil. Come soon to
fulfill your promise.

Come soon, Jesus Christ, so that we can be with you where you are. Come soon so
that your glory can be seen. We ask this, Jesus, in your name, amen.

Tomorrow we're going to focus together on verses five to seven. God tells us in
these verses that there is finally going to be no more delay.