“Endtimes and the Rapture”
2003 Hot Topics Series
I Thessalonians 4:16-18, Matthew 24:3-44 (read for congregation), I Corinthians 15:50-58
August 31, 2003
Purpose: In all the hoopla over the end-times and the rapture, Christians must focus on getting ready, realizing that we will KNOW when it happens beyond all shadow of doubt, focusing on getting others ready, while understanding that its God whose going to win in the end.
Introduction –
Jamie and her countdown to pre-school…(My daughter Jamie has been counting down the days until she begins preschool. Each day she starts her morning by announcing to whoever will hear how many days she has left.)
All Christians in the midst of a countdown…we’re waiting until Jesus comes again.
In Matthew 24, the disciples were no different than any Christian. They wanted to know how it all was going to happen. Jesus gave them the answer, but not necessarily the one they were looking for.
I. The first point I see Jesus making is that “It’s Good to Be Ready”
We live in a time when there are wars and rumors of wars…
where nations have risen up against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms.
We live in a time where many “new age” false prophets have come and spout their version of
the truth…they claim to be their own Christ, their own the Messiah, their own Savior…
We live in a time where these false christs and false prophets rise and show great signs and
wonders in order to deceive…
We live in a time when a large majority the earth’s population is experiencing famine and
poverty…
We live in a time when pestilences and earthquakes and natural disasters are seen on our
televisions as regularly as sitcoms…and it’s often hard to differentiate reality from
Hollywood…
We live in a time when many are offended, where many are betrayed, where many hate one
another….
We live in a time where lawlessness is taken less seriously, where love has grown cold, where
it seems that since the beginning of the world it has never been any worse than this…
We live in the time that we’ve been warned about…
when we’ve been told to “take heed so that we are no deceived,”
when we’ve been told to “See that we are not troubled, for these things must come to
pass…”
when we’ve been told to “endure to the end” and “witness to all the nations” the gospel
of the kingdom.
We live in a time when eventually the end will come…
But here me when I say…
Our parents lived in times such as these…
Their parents lived in times such as these…
Their parents lived in times such as these…
And we can back to John sitting on the island of Patmos after writing the book of Revelation
saying, “Surely the Lord is coming soon…” because he believed he lived in times such as these.
For generations, people have stood up and proclaimed that the end is near…
I say whether its near or not makes no difference (Paul said for me to die is gain, but to live is Christ.)As Christians we need to ready as if it were to happen today.
Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour…therefore, keep watch because you do not
know on what day your Lord will come.”
In fact, Jesus also said, “the Son of Man will come
at an hour that you do not expect him.” Matthew 24:36, 42, 44
We if live each day as if Christ were come in any moment, then we’re ready, and not before
then. It’s good to be ready.
II. His second point was that “We’re Going to KNOW When It Happens”
I think this is where many Christians get hung up…
A thickening stew of bad news – terrorism , war in the Middle East, nuclear fears, disease epidemics – has meant boom times for the end times. All you need to do is pick up one of the Left Behind books by Jenkins and LeHaye, or better yet, The Late Great Planet Earth, Hindsey’s book published in the 1970’s, or listen to the tele-evangelist prey on the fears of their listeners in order to solicit more funds to their ministries (even though the endtimes are coming so they shouldn’t necessarily need our money should they????), to see that there are a bunch of people dazed and confused when this topic is mentioned in and outside of our churches.
Have $6.66 ring up on the register on the way out of your grocery store and watch the cashier’s response. Or better yet, bring up the Apocalypse, and watch people’s eyes either grow bigger or glaze over.
Instead of focusing on the hope found in Jesus Christ, even Christians are finding themselves wondering about the lake of fire, the Great Tribulation, the mark of the beast, and wondering whether our credit cards are at the source of all evil.
What did Jesus say? He said “For as lightening comes from the east and is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” (Matthew 24:27, 29-31)
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen that yet. And I have a good suspicion that when it happens, more than you and I will know about it. Amen?
But Jesus knew we’d be questioning. That’s why he told his disciples, “Be watchful…”
“If someone says, there he is out in the desert, do not go…” v. 24:26
“Here he is in the inner rooms (of my home), don’t believe it…” v. 24:26
“Watch out that no one deceives you…” v. 24:4
“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars.., but do not be alarmed…” v. 24:6
I Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.”
Folks, if we find ourselves worried about when the rapture is going to take place, then we’ve missed the point entirely. Lewis and Clark, 200 years ago this week, wandered around the western country until they found the Pacific, but as Christians we don’t need to wander.
Instead of finding the anti-christ, we need to be the people following and making disciples of Jesus Christ.
We will know it’s happening because its happening, Jesus said not even the angels nor himself knew any more about the timing than that.
III. Jesus’s third point was that “Our Goal Is To Help Others Be Ready”
Forty years ago this week, Dr. Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave, what I believe to be the best, unplanned, completely unscripted, and inprompto speeches ever given. In the midst of his planned message, Dr. King heard one of this people yell, “Give ‘em your dream, Martin…give ‘em your dream.”
And with that Dr. Martin Luther King let the words pour out of heart as he told the masses at that march and the millions by television his dream that, in turn, became a nation’s dream.
As your pastor, I too have a dream. And while Dr. King’s focused on civil rights, mine focuses on the ministry of this church and the ministry of the United Methodist Church as a whole. Our discipline says that the local church is organized for one sole purpose, “…to make disciples of Jesus Christ.”
And while I believe that studying the end-times and issues around the rapture is important and well-worth the Biblical study, it is my dream that one day our church, our denomination, and the churches in our community and beyond our community, for that matter, will put disciple-making ahead of anything else that they do.
Norman Geisler, noted author put it like this, “One of the problems with much of the anti-New Age material is that it endgenders more consciousness of the AntiChrist than it does Christ…We must be careful not to look for a demon on every doornob or a spook of apostasy in every closet. This creates unnecessary suspicion in believers” (The Infiltration of the New Age, 95) and non-believers alike.
David Jeremiah said in his book says, “If we are not careful we can dwell on the things that are going to happen in the end times and literally have our joy stolen from us. If Christ is our Lord and Savior, we do not need to linger on the darkness for “he who is in us is greater than he that is in the world.” (I John 4:4) (Invasion of Other Gods, 195).
I believe that people need to hear more about Christ than the Anti-Christ. I believe that people need to hear about the hope and the joy and the peace that Christ brings more than the fear, confusion, and helplessness that often comes from end time studies.
It’s good to be ready.
We’re going to know when it happens when it happens.
Our goal is to get other’s ready in the meantime.
IV. And the final point I see Jesus saying is that “God does win in the End”
In the struggle of interpreting Daniel, and in the often-mind blowing studies of Revelation and the other prophets, we can often get lost….
Personally, in my study, I believe that those who believe will be raptured and long gone before the Anti-Christ appears, and the tribulation begins…
I also believe that the Anti-Christ will one day appear, and lead the world through a time of peace, which will be built upon a series of lies and deceptions…
I also believe that one day, Jesus Christ himself, will come and judge humanity. And while the believers will be judged by what they were given and what they did with what they were given (Matthew 25), non-believers will be judged simply on their disbelief.
In either case, when it is all said and done, “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Unfortunately, for some, it may be too late.
If you want me to sum up all of my end-time and rapture theology from my Master’s degree perspective…I can give it to you in four simple words…
God wins. Satan loses.
The choice we have is simply what team are we going to be on.
Paul told the church at Corinth, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the moral with immortality…then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting.” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 15:51-57).
We have a victory in Christ that not even death can take from us!
It’s good to be ready, because we’re going to know when it happens when it happens.
Our goal is to get other’s ready, because we know that in the end God wins and Satan loses.
V. Conclusion
There is no doubt that we will need to live with some uncertainty. We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know if we’ll have the same jobs tomorrow. We don’t know what the crop in the field will yield until its harvested. We pray that this world will be safe for our children. We pray that our pensions and investments will stay safe and that our families will be healthy.
Where do you find yourself this morning?
Are you ready, are you looking forward to the day when your Savior takes you home? Don’t forget to bring others along with you on the journey.
Are you nervous, because you’re afraid that you may not be ready, that you haven’t completely
surrendered your life to Christ and his will for your life? Ask for the forgiveness that only Christ
can offer and the leadership that only the Holy Spirit can give.
Are you so wrapped up in the end-times stuff, that you’ve forgotten the love, grace, and mercy of
Christ as you search for the anti-Christ, try to count the days of the Millenium, or worry that the bar code on your cereal box may be that “mark” of the beast? Take comfort in Jesus’ words…those in Christ have already won. Satan and his forces will definitely lose.
While the world offers uncertainty, Jesus offers a hope in his certainty.
Today, we can set aside all fear and uncertainty about the end-times.
Today, we have the opportunity to look to the future trusting in the certain love of God.
Today, we can join in the prayer of the early Christians by saying, “Come, Lord Jesus Come.”
Today, we can take hold of the promise of Christ who said, “I will never leave you nor forsake
you…heaven and earth may pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Today, we don’t need to count down the days. Instead, we need to be ready as if Christ were coming this very moment and prepare others for that same possibility.
In all the hoopla over the end-times and the rapture, we as Christians must focus on getting ready, realizing that we will KNOW when it happens, we need to be focusing on getting others ready, while understanding that it is God whose going to win in the end.
This is Word that Jesus gave his disciples then, and indeed each and every one of us today.
Thanks be to God.
Will you join me in prayer?
Gracious Heavenly Father,
In your Word you promise that heaven will be a place where every tear will be wiped from our eyes, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away. (Revelation 21:4). Lord, help us to keep our sight clear of those things that may draw us away from your commission to “go and make disciples.” Help us to keep our sight clear, so that when that day arrives, the only thing in our hearts will be the unsurpassed joy in knowing that this is the day. Help us in our witness to others, so that they may see in us a sense of urgency mixed with a sense of your love, your mercy, and your grace for your Creation.
Lord, make this be the day. But if not today, we will continue singing the familiar Christmas carol, “Come thou, long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free. In whose name we pray…Amen.
#472- black books – “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, I’ll Be There”
Benediction
Hear these words from I Peter 1:8-9…
“Though you have not seen him, you love him;
Though you do not see him now, you believe in him,
and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Now let us go from this place, not with uncertainty or fear, but with the “inexpressible and glorious joy” of knowing that when we belong to Christ, our future is secure and our hope rests confidently in Christ’s return. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Sprit…Amen.
Note: If for any reason you did not find this sermon helpful, please let me know by contacting me at gb@clergy.net. Your input will help me personally and my congregation as I learn professionally.
