Pastor Wrinkles Corner: To Be Caught Up

Let’s Review:

1. What does it mean when I say Jesus is Savior?

2. What does it mean when I say Jesus is Healer?

3. What does it mean when I say Jesus is the baptizer?

4. What does it mean when I say Jesus is the soon and coming king?

Tonight we are going to talk about _____________ more of Paul’s letters 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. These were letters written to the church in the Greek city of __________________.

In Your groups:

1. Paul said other churches talked about the Thessalonians in this way “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” 1 Thess. 1,9,10

What’s and idol? Why did the Thessalonians need to turn from them in order to get to God? Do we have idols today?

2.  1st Thessalonians 2: 19 says, “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?”

Paul also writes in 1st Thess. 3: 13 “May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”

What coming of Jesus do you think Paul is talking about in these verses? What do you think that is going to look like?

Now Come together

Tonight we are speaking about the ______________ coming of Christ which the Bible speaks about in many places. Every ______________  but the very last in Thessalonians has a reference to this time in history.

You have already read three of them. Let’s look at the others.

“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 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.” I Thess. 4:16,17

“for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” I Thess. 5:2,3

 

“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” 2 Thess. 1: 6,7

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness [fn] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.” 2 Thess 2:1-3

The church has given many names to the events described in these chapters: The _______________, the ______________ coming, the tribulation, the _____________ of the Lord.

These chapters do not refer to one event but a _____________ in history which is yet to happen. You see the verses we just read are about the _____________ of the world as we know it.

Do you think the world will come to an end?

How do you think it will happen?

The Bible says that first there will be removal from the ___________ of all God’s faithful ______________. This is called the Rapture of the church. see I Thess. 4

Then there will be a _______________ in which an evil _____________ will take over the earth and deceive the ______________. See 2 Thess. 2:1-3

Then Jesus will return to _______________ with all his _____________.

We will learn more about the second _____________ when we study _______________. For now we see that when Jesus _____________ he will judge the wicked with ____________.

To escape this judgment you must be part of the ______________. How do you make sure you are part of the rapture?

Let’s go back to question 1 you answered in your groups and look at that.

You must turn from your idols and turn to Jesus! What are your idols?

 

Coming To Terms With Terms

     I realized yesterday as I was writing that I was using some words which may be unfamiliar to some of my readers. I want to be clear; So today I want to spend just a few moments explaining some of those words.

   In my explanation of the “Tribulation” period which is to come upon the Earth, as described in Isaiah, I used two words in particular which may need some defining.

Dispensation- This is simply an age of mankind. The Bible seems to divide the world into periods of time in which God deals with mankind in certain ways according to new amounts of understanding He is unfolding to our race. So there is the dispensation: from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to David, from David to Christ, from Christ to the present day and on until the Tribulation. Our current dispensation some Theologians call the Age of Grace or the Church Age. The next age or dispensation is the Thousand Year reign leading into eternity. Our current age will end with an event called the rapture

Rapture- Also called the Blessed hope or in Greek “parousia kyrios”  (the coming of the Lord). The Bible teaches that at the end of this dispensation (which we have called the Age of Grace or Church Age) the Lord Jesus will come again to Earth to collect the church into Heaven. Paul says it this way:

     “And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died. I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 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 and remain with him forever.” I Thess. 4:13-17 NLT

    Paul indicates that this event which the church world has come to call the rapture will take place just before the “Tribulation” which Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah 24.

   Again Paul writes: “for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night….But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness….But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” I THess. 5: 2-10 NIV

     So those who are born again will not be here for the events of Isaiah 24. We shall already be in Heaven. Scripture indicates that at the end of the Tribulation period we shall return with Christ at the point of the Battle of Armageddon (see Rev. 19:14) to rule and reign with Him during the Thousand Year Reign.

Hope this helps JE