Eternal life resides in Jesus and in Him alone. No one else! This is true now and will also be the case after Jesus removes His true church from the earth.
In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
What do people need the most? The answer remains the same as it’s always been: A clear understanding of the Gospel. By this I mean that people need Jesus, not the one that so many today create in their mind but but the One revealed on the pages of Scripture.
The events of 2020 have caused some dear saints to think that the tribulation has already started. Others may be wondering about the certainty of the pretribulation rapture as they watch violence, lawlessness, and violence overshadow our world.
My purpose in writing is to encourage believers to remain watchful as our world becomes a dark and foreboding place. Despite what we see, we can know Jesus is coming for us before the start of the seven-year tribulation.
Daniel saw a future manifestation of the fourth beast that still awaits fulfillment. All the other empires that the Lord revealed to His prophet flourished for a time and then faded away except for the final manifestation of the fourth one, which has not yet appeared.
However, it’s likely forming right before our eyes; It’s called the “Great Reset.”
One would think that with all the chaos in just the first six months of 2020 we would see a concentrated focus by pastors on biblical prophecy and warnings about what is to come, but such is not the case.
Why do we see such lack urgency in our churches as biblical signs of the coming tribulation explode around us like fireworks in the sky? Why do Christians, some of whom profess to believe in pretribulation rapture, flock to churches where they sadly hear no mention the Lord’s soon appearing or the imminent tribulation?
My heart ached this past Monday morning as I read about the chaos and lawlessness near the White House. I felt both anger and fear as I saw pictures of violence and deadly attacks on law enforcement in cities throughout the United States.
It was not until I read several Psalms and through about Jesus’ promises return that my heart began to settle down and my focus began to change from the rioters to my hope in Jesus.
Have you ever wondered during the past few months if the seven-year tribulation has already begun?
Although the tribulation has not yet started, we see the beginning of conditions we know will be much worse during this seven-year period. I believe this is God’s way of getting the attention of the world before His judgments begin. He’s also letting us know that His appearing is imminent.
Something clicked inside me the other evening as Ruth, my wife, and I read from the book Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge. As we took turns reading from his chapter, “Allowing for Transitions," a thought occurred to me on a completely different wavelength than that of the author.
What if our current COVID-19 experience is itself a time of transition for believers, the United States, and even the world?
Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, I have felt a wide range of emotions. At times anger has surged inside me as I have watched news accounts of many elected officials attempting to take advantage of the crisis for personal or political advantage.
The words of Psalm 46:10 have been my frequent place of refuge the many emotions stirring inside me; they have often restored peace and brought greatly needed reassurance to my soul. Like many of you.
Are you crazy!? I realize some of you might think so after reading my title. How can I be so sure of something so hotly debated within the church? Most Christians either say we cannot know anything for sure about the Lord’s return or they dismiss the rapture altogether.
In spite of all the dissension today, I know Jesus is coming for all His saints, for us, before the start of the tribulation.
I remember a scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation television series where Data is in his room watching water come to a boil in a flask. When someone walks in and asks what he is doing he explains that the old adage, “A watched pot never boils,” is just not true. As proof, he says that he has watched water come to a boil 23 times in a row without fail.
For those of us awaiting the imminent return of Jesus, there are days when we are tempted to wonder if a “watched for” Jesus never appears to take us home.
While I do not claim to have 20/20 vision for what lies ahead in the coming year, I believe it could very well be a tumultuous time that will bring the fulfillment of many biblical prophecies much closer if not to fruition.
I am not making predictions with what follows, but rather pointing to certain 2020 events that I believe will make 2020 highly significant in regard to biblical prophecy.
Waiting is difficult! Whether we’re waiting for cold symptoms to subside, a job offer, or a storm in our life to end, it’s never fun waiting (to say the least).
It’s also not easy waiting for Jesus to take us home to heaven as He promised in John 14:2-3. Yet I know so many of you, like me, have been waiting decades for His appearing.
The world is abuzz with the news that President Trump ordered a deadly and successful strike on Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian military general who was directly responsible for the killing of hundreds of American soldiers in the past couple decades.
As many in the world breathe a sigh of relief at the death of this tyrant, they also wonder what’s next for our world. Could there be a devastating world war, much worse than anything that has previously happened?
Jesus is coming for His saints, for us, before the start of this awful period in human history.
In the points below, I review the previous signposts that have led to our destination. I believe that combined they provide a solid scriptural foundation for placing the rapture before the start of the day of the Lord.
This brings us to our next signpost on the path to establishing a biblical basis for the pretribulation rapture: church history. The purpose of this signpost is not to justify our belief in the pretribulation rapture on the basis of history nor is it to convince those who reject it on this faulty basis.
Rather, my intent is to provide those who already believe in the rapture with evidence of a belief in it from church history.
Premillennialists regard the book of Revelation as future prophecy, the very thing it claims to be (22:18). As we have acknowledged from the beginning of this series, a discussion of where to place the rapture only makes sense within premillennialism, which maintains beliefs in a literal tribulation and a thousand year reign of Jesus on earth before the millennium.
This brings us to our next signpost on our way to establishing a biblical basis for a pretribulation rapture: Absence. The book of Revelation excludes the church from judgments of the tribulation.
When Jesus comes for His church, will He leave any true believer behind on the earth to endure the horrors of the tribulation?
Some say yes. They claim Jesus will only catch up believers who are watching for His appearing or those walking with Him at the time. In other words, the Lord will leave behind saints lacking in some way.
This teaching contradicts both the Gospel and God’s Word.
As we saw in our last signpost, the false report informing the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord had already begun put these new believers in a state of severe panic (see signpost #6). In response,
This brings us to the next word on our signposts: “Restrainer.” Why is this word so significant? A key event at the start of the tribulation, the revealing of the antichrist, cannot happen until God removes the Restrainer who is currently holding back his unveiling to the world.
No, you have not taken a wrong turn on our journey toward establishing a biblical basis for the pretribulation rapture. The word “panic,” our next signpost, confirms that the Thessalonian saints expected the Lord to come for them before the start of the day of the Lord,
First, let’s back up a bit and set the stage for Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians. With the ink scarcely dry on the parchment of the apostle’s first letter to them, false teachers forged a message to these new believers telling them the day of the Lord had already begun.
A news story about a burglar in Rochelle Park, New Jersey recently caught my attention. In the process of robbing a home, the thief woke up the couple who lived there. Not wanting the owners to catch him, the robber climbed out a window and fled from the scene of the crime.
Sticking with his escape plan, he ran down the street and quickly hopped into the backseat of a car. Unfortunately for him, he soon discovered he had gotten into a police car, which made his ensuing arrest rather easy.
In 1 Thessalonians 5;2, Paul compares the arrival of the day of the Lord to the surprise of discovering a intruder in one’s home. He likely had a more competent thief in mind than the bungling burglar in New Jersey.
