People Get Ready, Jesus is Coming!
This is a sermon outline for the topic, ‘People Get Ready, Jesus is Coming!’ which we had to write last semester in one of my classes. Here is mine.
Introduction
I’m here to today to share with you my conviction from Scripture that we are living in the generation when Jesus will return to the earth to establish His kingdom of righteousness and peace. He is coming to remove Satan and all his influence from the planet forever. Many passages of Scripture, in both the Old and New Testament, point to this time period as the one in which these events will unfold. If it is true that the Bible gives us information about Jesus’ second coming and the events surrounding it, then it is extremely wise and prudent for believers to study it and seek the Holy Spirit for understanding.
I. Scripture gives recognizable prophetic signs to alert us when the time of Jesus’ second coming is near, and we can see many of these signs coming to pass in our generation.
A. Matt. 24:14-The completion of world evangelism is within sight for the first time in history.
1. Call2All is a network of the major missions organizations, evangelistic organizations, prayer movement, etc. who are predicting the task of taking the gospel to every nation, tribe and tongue will probably be completed in the next 10 years.
2. Since Jesus gave the great commission, the gospel has gone out from Jerusalem, seemingly in waves ever westward, and now the Lord has given the Chinese underground church a vision for what they call the Back to Jerusalem movement. They are seeking to take the Gospel from China to Jerusalem, which covers most of the 10/40 window where the majority of Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim unreached people groups live. And since they have suffered so much persecution from their own government for Jesus, they are unafraid to suffer and die in other countries.
B. There is a global prayer movement, right now.
1. Isaiah 62-give the Lord no rest, you who cry out night and day…-Across the earth, 24/7 houses of prayer are crying out to God, even in Jerusalem, which is a fulfillment of this prophecy.
2. Luke 18- As injustice and wickedness reach their fullness in the earth, God as the righteous Judge will release speedy justice for his elect who cry out to Him night and day. But the challenge many, including believers will face is to not become offended in their hearts when justice is delayed. God delays the release of justice in His desire to have mercy and that unjust (which is everyone) would turn from their sin and be saved.
3. Revelation 8 pictures a time at the end of the age when the bowls of incense (which are the prayers of the saints) will be full.
a. Believers’ prayers are what actually release God’s judgment on the antichrist kingdom, much like Moses prayed and God released the judgments on Pharaoh’s kingdom in Egypt.
C. Israel is in the land again, with control of Jerusalem and more Jews are believing in Jesus than ever before in history.
1. In Romans 11, Paul says a time is coming when all Israel will be saved.
2. Zechariah 12-14- This is an end-times passage that clearly describes Jesus’ second coming and millennial reign, and it prophecies that God will pour out on the “house of David a spirit of grace and supplication, and then they will look on Me whom they pierced, and they will mourn over Him as one mourns over an only son.” There are many similar passages, when taken at face value, that indicate God has a continuing plan and purpose for the nation of Israel, which is connected to Jesus’ second coming.
II. The Bible sets Jesus’ second coming in a context of unprecedented trouble and global conflict.
A. Parable of the wheat and the tares-righteousness and wickedness grow up together, indistinguishable until right before the end, when each comes to maturity
B. Zechariah 12-14- This passage describes what those familiar with the New Testament will clearly recognize as Jesus’ second coming. The passage describes the nations of the world coming against Jerusalem with the intention of destroying her, to which Jesus will come and destroy all those armies.
C. Jesus describes the time just before His second coming as the most terrible time in history, ever. He says things such as, ‘Men’s hearts will faint with fear’ and ‘Unless that time had been cut short by God, no flesh would survive. ’ Meaning all human beings would be physically killed if God didn’t limit that time.
III. The church needs to be prepared
A. The church will not be removed from the earth during the tribulation by a pre-Tribulation rapture.
1. The Bible sets the Rapture at the time of the final trumpet, or in Rev. 11, the Seventh Trumpet, which is Jesus’ second coming.
2. God’s pattern of leading His people throughout history has never been to remove them during times of trouble, but to guide and protect them in the midst of it, for instance, Israel in Goshen. They were protected from God’s wrath, but not Pharaoh’s or other Egyptians. Besides, we are not to be afraid of those who can kill the body. If we belong to Jesus, we shouldn’t fear death, because we will never die.
B. Jesus is coming for a bride who is equally yoked with Him, partnering with Him to bring justice to the earth. He wants a bride who is lovesick for Him, longing for Him to come.
C. Only a people who have been trained in meekness and humility through enduring trials are qualified to reign with Jesus.
1. Daniel 12-when the power of the holy people is completely shattered- the tribulation is the means by which all pride and self-reliance are purged from the people of God
IV. The church will come to maturity during the Tribulation, walking in the highest level of love for Jesus, righteousness, signs and wonders and martyrdom.
A. The final and highest revelation of the church is as a bride, spotless and pure, eager for her wedding.
B. The church will walk in the greatest expression of signs and wonders, the prophetic and receive dreams and visions.
1. The Joel 2 outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was a local fulfillment of the prophecy. The outpouring at the end of the age will be a global outpouring on the whole church.
C. The highest honor and form of identification with Jesus is martyrdom, and there will be many martyrs during the tribulation.
1. Many followers of Jesus around the world are already experiencing persecution and martyrdom. It is only in the West where the church is more concerned about its own material prosperity and comfort, rather than proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom, that the church faces relatively few persecutions from the larger culture.
2. The Apostles considered the highest privilege to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus, because through it they were able to identify with His suffering.
3. Persecution and suffering are a God-ordained furnace designed to produce the invaluable fruits of humility and meekness in believers, which are the currency of the age to come.
V. The focus of all the events of the tribulation, both good and bad, is the second coming of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom on the earth.
A. God is seated on the throne in Heaven, in complete control. Revelation 4 and 5 picture God seated on the throne and Jesus opening the seals, releasing the judgments. That means God is the one who is orchestrating the events of the tribulation.
B. Jesus’ kingdom of righteousness and peace will be established after His second coming.
1. Revelation 20-The saints who were formerly persecuted and oppressed rule with Jesus on the earth.
2. During this time, Jesus will renew the earth, which has been devastated by the combined rage of the antichrist, the rage of man and the judgments of God.
C. Eden will be restored. The ultimate goal of Jesus’ reign on the earth is to restore what was lost in Genesis 3, before which, Adam and Eve walked with God, face to face. Jesus will hand over a renewed and purified earth to the Father, so He can come and dwell with men in perfect relationship forever, just like at the beginning. (Rev. 21; 1 Corinthians 15:23-25)
Conclusion
In light of this great and terrible day that is coming, the people of God must respond accordingly. We must not continue going about our business as usual, naively assuming that tomorrow will always be the same as yesterday. Numerous times, the Bible exhorts us to be wise and sober in the use of our time, that we must be diligent and work while it is day, because night is surely coming when no man can work. We must give ourselves to studying the Bible, to understand what it actually teaches, rather than relying on our particular church’s teaching about a subject or our own emotional or humanistic idea of what God is like or what He does or does not do. We must give ourselves to prayer, fasting and evangelism so we can be vessels fit for the Lord’s use. This is Christianity 101. And we must begin now, because we do not know how much time remains to us. Even if we have decades before Jesus’ return, it takes years to develop this kind of lifestyle. And above all, we should long to hear from Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Amen
[Thanks, jealouslove, for your super great blog. Recently found this web item and wish to share it. Exciting times, right? Alan]
PRETRIB RAPTURE SECRECY
by Dave MacPherson
The word “secrecy” when applied to Christ’s return can refer to two different things: time and visibility. Before 1830 the only coming Christians looked for was the “every eye shall see him” second advent to earth – secret only in point of time.
Enter Margaret Macdonald in 1830. She saw “the one taken and the other left” before “THE WICKED” [Antichrist] will “be revealed” – and added that her pretrib rapture would not be “seen by the natural eye” but only by “those who have the light of God within.” Her rapture was doubly secret: at an unknown day and hour and also invisible to “outsiders.”
Desperate to eliminate Margaret as the pretrib originator and the Irvingites as the first public teachers of pretrib, Darby defender Thomas Ice foolishly claims that they taught a secret POSTTRIB coming even though he knows that when Hal Lindsey teaches “one taken” etc. before the Antichrist “is revealed” Lindsey is expressing the kernel of the pretrib view – what MM and the Irvingites clearly taught before Darby did! Google “X-Raying Margaret” and “Edward Irving is Unnerving” to see why they are properly labeled “pretrib.”)
As early as June 1832, Irving’s journal taught that only “to those who are watching and praying…will Christ be manifested…as the morning star. To the rest of the church, and to the world, this first appearance will be…unintelligible.” (“Present State of Prophetic Knowledge” etc., p. 374)
Always trailing and “borrowing” quietly from the Irvingites who in turn had “borrowed” from Margaret, Darby in 1845 finally sounded like them when he wrote that “the bright and morning Star…is the sweet and blessed sign to them that watch…And such is Christ before He appears [at the final advent to earth]. The Sun will arise on the world….The star is before the [Sun], the joy of those who watch. The unwakeful world, who sleep in the night, see it not.” (“Thoughts on the Apocalypse,” p. 167)
And Lindsey’s “Late Great Planet Earth,” p. 143, says that “the second coming is said to be visible to the whole earth (Revelation 1:7). However, in the Rapture. only the Christians see Him – it’s a mystery, a secret.”
My bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” (available at online stores including Armageddon Books) has 300 pages of such documentation and proves that Margaret was the first to “see” a secret, pretrib rapture, that the Irvingites soon echoed her in their journal (which Darby admitted he avidly read), and that Darby was last on all of the crucial aspects of dispensationalism.
Shockingly, all of the earliest pretrib development rested solely on unclear OT and NT types and symbols and NOT on clear Biblical statements. Margaret’s rapture was inspired by Rev. 11′s “two witnesses.” And her “secret visibility” rested on the “types” of Stephen, Paul, and John – all of whom saw or heard what others couldn’t see or hear.
For 30 years Darby’s pretrib basis was the rapture of Rev. 12′s “man child” – actually his plagiarism of Irving’s usage of this “pretrib” symbol eight years earlier!
As I said at the start, the “second advent to earth” is secret in point of time with its unknown “day and hour,” as Christ stated. Pretribs assert that if Christ returns for the church after the tribulation, we could count down the days and figure out the actual date of His return – which would contradict Christ’s words.
But pretribs deliberately ignore the fact that Christ said that the tribulation days will be shortened – and He didn’t reveal the length of the shortening!
Our opponents also assume that the “watch” verses prove the “any-moment imminence” of Christ’s return. But do they? II Peter 3:12 says we are to be “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God” which all premills claim is at least 1000 years ahead of us and therefore hardly “imminent”! What’s the difference between “watching for” and “looking for”?
Another gimmick has pretribs saying “Would you want Jesus to return at any moment and find out you’re sinning?” But Jesus ALREADY knows all about us! And the Holy Spirit, who’s also God, is ALREADY here (Rom. 8:27)!
You have just learned a few of the many secrets that the Secret Rapture Gang has hidden for a long time. Evidently they have forgotten Luke 12:2′s warning that “there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed”!
PS – For the ultimate in uncovered secrets, see engines like Google and type in “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty.”
PPS – While evangelicals stay largely asleep while waiting for their 180-year-old rapture, the shmutzy-mouth subversives of the world (e.g., movie moguls at awards ceremonies) invent new ways to create and unite even more tailgating, boombox-blasting, four-headlights-blinding members of the FFA (Future Followers of the Antichrist). For some related insights note “backstabbing tirades by David Letterman (and Sandra Bernhard and Kathy Griffin)” which is found in a web item titled “David Letterman’s Hate, Etc.” (the new, updated version!). Also Google “Obama Supports Public Depravity” and “Obama Avoids Bible Verses.”