Biblical Reasons for the Rapture

We are going to be just like Him And that is so crucial That's why that wonderful hymn by Philip Brooks, when he penned it this way, the hope and fears of all the years are met in thee, that is Christ, tonight The hope and fears of all the years have been met in Jesus Christ, our Lord It was Edward Mote who said these words, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name When darkness seems to veil His face, I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil

His oath, His covenant in blood, support me in the whelming flood When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay Paul was saying, Colossians 1, that Christ in you is the hope of glory That's why the return of Christ is so important Because if Jesus is our hope, then we anticipate His appearing We want to see Him When we see Him, we then will become like Him And that is the anchor for our soul That's what moves us from day to day

Now this becomes so crucial for all of us to grasp because what this does is help us understand when we go through difficulties, no matter what they may be or what causes them, there is one anchor that we hold dear, that we never let go, that causes us to rejoice because hope gives joy It's that which causes us to live because hope gives life And it's all about Jesus Christ So tonight I want to talk to you about the rapture of the church, the translation of the church into glory by looking at three points with you

The promise of the rapture, the plan of the rapture, and the particulars of the rapture Okay? Three things The promise, the plan, and the particulars If you have your Bible, turn with me to John chapter 13 John chapter 13 Say, well, wait a minute. I thought it's John chapter 14 Well, you're ahead of me So let's back up just a second We want to begin in John chapter 13 because this is the beginning of this evening, the night before the crucifixion And you got to remember where the disciples are They become extremely troubled They become bewildered They become anxious They become afraid

And there's one thing that Jesus will do that will give them hope And that centers around his return to come and get them and take them home But remember John chapter 13 It's a place that tells us about something that was predetermined by God They go to a place called the upper room Remember what Christ said way back in Luke chapter 22 when he said these words? He says in verse 7, then came the first day of unleavened bread in which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed He sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat it

And they said to him, where do you want us to prepare it? He said to them, behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water Follow him into the house that he enters And you shall say to the owner of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? He will show you a large furnished upper room Prepare it there And they departed and found everything just as he had told them And they prepared the Passover Now that's very important

Why? Because John chapter 13 and this evening and this place called the upper room was predetermined in the mind of God He had mapped it all out You can go to Israel today and go to the exact same location where this room is It's not the same room, but it's the exact same location Question is, how do you know that? We know that because archaeology has proved it In the courtroom, because the upper room in Israel today is above King David's sepulcher David's not buried there He's buried on Mount Zion Okay But anyway, David's sepulcher is there

In the courtyard of David's sepulcher, they have done some excavation And in excavating, they have come across pottery, which had three symbols on it The symbol of the menorah connected to the star of David, connected to the ichthys, which was first century proof of Messianic Jews That symbol found on pottery in excavation proves there were Messianic Jews in that location at that time They've also uncovered an oil lamp And we know that the first pastor of the first church was not Peter, sad for Rome, but it was James

And we know what James 5 talks about with the oil lamp and the anointing of oil And so we begin to put pieces together And we realize that the location of the upper room in Jerusalem today, or outside of Jerusalem, is the same location, the same vicinity as this place This was a predetermined place, all by God And yet, you must understand, this was not only a night of predetermination, it was a night of great affection by our Lord

It says in chapter 13, verse number 1, now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come, that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end This was a night of great affection Not only was it a night of predetermination, it was a night of great affection because our Lord who loved them, He loved them all, He loved them completely, es telos, which means completely and perfectly, all the way to the end There's something about the love of God that goes way beyond anything that we can comprehend

And our Lord, on this night, was going to demonstrate the deepest of all affection for these men Love to our Lord was not some theological abstract It was something that He put into practice on a regular basis because He is love and He would demonstrate that affection But this place, this upper room, was not only a place of predetermination and a place of affection, it was a place of humiliation Humiliation Luke's account says that after they had had their supper and the Lord had transformed that cup, there began an argument among the men as to which was the greatest in the kingdom

The third time that argument would ensue with these infamous individuals and they would begin to argue Think about that On the eve of the crucifixion, when our Lord was going to die for His men, when He was going to die on a cross and excruciating death, all these men could think about was themselves They were probably the most narcissistic group of individuals you'd ever meet They loved themselves and they wanted to be great They wanted to be the best in the kingdom

Which shows us that the affection that Christ had for them and the humiliation that He demonstrates on this night goes way beyond anything you and I could ever imagine Because the Bible says that Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments and taking a towel He girded Himself about He began to wash the disciples' feet They're having an argument about who's the greatest and Jesus girds Himself with a slave's apron

That's why Peter would say in 1 Peter 5 that we are to clothe ourselves in humility because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble The word to be clothed is the word that means to tie in a knot It's used of an apron When you put an apron around you, you tie it in a knot Peter was thinking of the eve of the crucifixion and what his Lord did And our Lord began to wash their feet and Peter said, What are you doing? He says, Peter, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me He said, Well, then throw the whole thing on me then Clean me up He says, No, you don't need a bath, Peter

You just need a cleansing And it was a night of humiliation It was a night of affection But it was a night of predetermination by our God It was a night of instruction. A night of instruction Listen to what He says John 13 verse number 15, For I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them This became a night of instruction

And all through John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, there would be this infamous instruction by our God to help us men understand one primary principle And the instruction is this Not that you got to go around washing people's feet Some people believe that That's not what the example was The example simply was that when adversity is present, and it was, humility must be uppermost and primary in your thinking And that's exactly the example Christ set He was about to embark on the greatest tragedy known to man And yet He laid aside His own self And He ministered to His men

That was the instruction they needed to get That's why the night was so important. A night of predetermination. A night of affection. A night of humiliation. A night of instruction It was a night of declaration Because it was here in verses 34 and 35 where He says, A new commandment I give unto you. A new commandment that I give unto you, He says And He says it this way Even as I have loved you, that you also love one another By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another You say, wait a minute, that's not a new commandment That's the same commandment

No, it's new It's new Because no longer is loving somebody else as yourself sufficient Now you must love them as Christ loves them You see that? It's the same commandment, but a different twist No longer do you love somebody as you love yourself That's not going to work You've got to love somebody as I have loved you So it became a night of great declaration to help these people understand the significance of the instruction that evening It was also a night of transformation

Back to Luke 22, we know that He took that third cup and transformed it, that cup of redemption, and transformed it into the new covenant which was in His blood It was a night of transformation But it was also a night of prediction. A night of prediction This is not in your notes, by the way In case you're looking for the outline, it's not there This is all introduction to what I want to tell you And why am I doing this? You'll see in a moment It was a night of prediction Look at verse 21

When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit and testified and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray me What? You've got to be kidding me Verse 22, the disciples began looking at one another at a loss to know of which one He was speaking And then it says in verse 33, Little children, I am with you a little while longer You shall seek me And as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, where I am going, you cannot come So not only was it a night of prediction about a betrayal, it also now became a night, listen carefully, of great confusion for the disciples

You're going to go someplace that we can't go? That wasn't their concept of the Messiah The Messiah was going to come and He was going to restore His kingdom and He was going to reign from Jerusalem And you mean to tell me you're going to go someplace we cannot go? That makes no sense to us And it was said, we said by Peter in verse 36, Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, where are you going? I mean, he had no idea where the Lord was going Where are you going? And Jesus answered, where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me later

And Peter said to Him, Lord, why can I not follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you Lord, why can't I go now? Where are you going? See, they had no concept of what was going to happen With the crucifixion of our Lord, His ascension into glory is coming again And so, this night of predetermination, all in the plan of God, the providence of God, this night of affection, where our Lord would demonstrate His love in the most practical, thorough way This night of humiliation, where He would bow down and wash the feet of His men

This night of declaration, where He would describe to them the greatest loving action The new commandment I give is that you love as I have loved you This night of instruction, where He says, if you follow this example, you will be blessed Blessing comes when you follow the example I have given you this evening This night of transformation, this night of prediction, where He predicted His betrayal This night of confusion Now, here's what I want to get to Became the night of consolation It became the night of consolation

You got to put yourself in the sandals of the apostles and try to figure all that's going on this evening and how it is they viewed their Messiah And Jesus knowing of their confusion, and Jesus knowing of the prediction that He's given about the betrayal, and they have no idea They have not the foggiest idea it's Judas They think it's them Is it me? Is it I? Is it I? Who is it, Lord? They have no idea But how can somebody betray you? We've left everything to follow you We have given up everything, Lord

This is the promise of the rapture, of the translation of the church. I just gave you the elements that lead up to the promise It's John chapter 13 When you come to John chapter 14, you have ... I'm sorry, I gave you the events that lead up to the promise Now, the elements specifically of that promise And it comes in the form of a consolation Listen to what Jesus says, verse 1 of chapter 14 Let not your heart be troubled

In other words, He says, stop having troubled hearts. I thought the word trouble is a word for fear and anxiousness and bewilderment, because they had no idea what was happening They didn't get it You're going someplace? Where are you going? I want to go too You can't go How come I can't go? They had no idea And this whole betrayal thing, Jesus says, stop having troubled hearts. I got news for you If you are troubled to see me, Christ says to you, stop it He didn't say, oh, you know, I'm so sorry Those around you say, it's going to be okay He didn't say that He said, stop it

That's why the Bible says, don't be anxious Stop being anxious He says, stop having troubled heart Why do you have troubled heart? And it all centers around our hope and our belief in what Jesus says So He says these words, you believe in God, believe also in me It was also a night of affirmation because He affirms His deity, because He is God in the flesh And that would help them gain perspective on the providential plan of God, because He was God, is God, and is working out the plan of God You believe in God, believe also in me, because I, I is God, you know, that's who I am

But stop having troubled hearts He says, listen, in my Father's house are many dwelling places Listen, forget about the notion about going to heaven and living in a mansion someplace That's not what the Bible teaches The Bible teaches that in my Father's house, there's only one house in heaven, by the way, just one And there are many dwelling places in that house Now if you're Jewish and, and you have a home and your son or your daughter gets married, they build onto the house And then when the next one gets married, they just build another wing on, and then they, they build on another wing

So it encompasses the courtyard That's important. I'm glad I'm not Jewish. I'll be having Drew live with me forever But, sorry, babe You know, it's, it's that, that's, so when the Bible says in my Father's house are many dwelling places, he's talking about the realm of the Father's house Now, now how do we know how big the Father's house is? That's simple Revelation 21 tells you that It tells you that simply it is approximately 1,500 miles cubed Okay? Which holds somewhere between 2.2 million to 2.5 million people. I'm sorry. I'm sorry More than that

It holds 100 billion people. I mean, it's 2.2 square miles Okay? That's a lot of space But you're not going to need that much space because the Bible says that narrow is a gate and few, few will be able to find it So the bottom line is it's definitely big enough And, and he says in my Father's house are, are many dwelling places And then he says this He says, for it were not so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you Now he goes to prepare a place He's not constructing a place He's furnishing the place He's making it just right for you in his Father's house

And then verse three, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again He didn't say, I'm going to send Michael to come get you or Gabriel or a band of angels He says, I will come again. I'm coming back to get you and take you to my Father's house He personally is going to come back and receive us unto himself Now listen carefully At the rapture of the church, the rapture of the church, the church goes to heaven Okay? At the return of Christ, those in heaven come to earth That's important That's important

Because we are going to his Father's house, because he has furnished a place for us And it says, Thomas says to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going How do we know the way? Where are you going? They had no idea what Christ was saying How do we know the way? And Christ would say, I am that way. I am that truth. I am that light The only way to get to my Father is through me Their confusion was profound And yet Jesus says, stop being in trouble. I'm going to go away And I'm going to come again And when I come again, I'm going to receive you unto myself

So that where I am, you will be also And you will never be outside the presence of Christ ever again You'll be with him in heaven You'll be with him when he comes back again You'll be with him during his millennial reign on this earth You'll be with him in the new heavens and the new earth forever and ever and ever Never again to be away from him Christ announces an entirely different hope for the church than he did for Israel For Israel, he offered them a kingdom on earth For the church, he offers them a place in his Father's house in heaven Now let's know something

Listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you There is nothing that's going to happen that you can look to that will tell you how near this time is Because there is nothing prophesied to happen before the imminent return of Christ Let me give you an example You listen to TV preachers or read books and say, well, all these earthquakes that are happening are a sign of the end times No, they're not They're not Because that would mean that there are certain things that are going to happen before the rapture of the church

Matthew 24 and Mark 13 talk about earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars that are going to take place after the rapture of the church We believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ Meaning there is nothing that has to happen There is no prophecy to be fulfilled before Jesus comes to claim his own and take them out of this world When he takes them out, now you have the fulfillment of Matthew 24 Now you have the fulfillment of Mark 13 Now you have the fulfillment of Revelation 6 through 19 And as you go through the seven seals in Revelation, they parallel exactly Matthew chapter 24

Matthew 24 is about the return of the king back to earth It's the rapture of the church, the translation of the church into glory, which initiates the events of the return of Christ There's no return unless the church is translated out of here because he is going to save us from the hour of tribulation that's going to come on the entire world And so the rapture of the church inaugurates the events that center around the return of Christ His return is twofold He comes back to take his own so they can be with him in his father's house

And then he returns back to this earth some seven years later and we come back with him But don't think for one moment, please don't look at what is happening in the world and say, wow, it must be soon for Jesus to come back Because you can't determine the arrival of the master until the church is gone And then once they're gone, you have all kinds of signs in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Revelation 6 and 19 that tell you about the return of the king But until that time, the church is translated There's nothing on the earth you can point to and say, well, Jesus must soon be come

Because we believe in the imminent return of Christ, the doctrine of imminency He can return at any moment We don't know the day nor the hour he can come and take us home to be with him and then inaugurates everything that's going to happen in Revelation 6 and 19 But John 14 is that chapter of consolation for the believer Stop having troubled hearts. I'm going to go to my father's house and I'm going to prepare a place for you and I will come again. I will receive you unto myself that where I am there you will be also

This is the first place in Scripture of the translation of the church from earth to glory We know that Luke 9, the night of transfiguration was the first time Christ talked about his return, okay? His kingdom and all of its glory But before that happens, the glorious kingdom of our God on earth, there is a translation of the church into glory This is the promise of that translation This is the promise of that catching away at the church

This is the promise of the rapture of the church that Jesus says the reason you don't have a troubled heart, the reason you don't have to worry, the reason you don't have to be depressed is because there is a hope That hope is me. I'm coming again. I will take you out of this world. I will take you to my father's house and I have a special dwelling place specifically for you. I fashioned it just for you and nobody else And there you will be with me in my father's house and then you will be just like me That's the hope of the believer That's what moves us from day to day That's the promise

Let me give you the plan That's in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 Gotta go fast We're running out of time. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 This is the plan of the rapture Now the Thessalonian church, they were very rapture conscious Okay? The word rapture is just from the Latin word rapere which means to catch away The translation of the church The word used to catch away the church is harpazo in the Greek It's a term of violence and there's a reason there's a violent action at the rapture of the church and I'll explain that to you later But the bottom line is there's a catching away of the church

And if you read the book of Thessalonians, at the end of every chapter there's something about the return of Christ Paul was with them for three Sabbaths Three Sabbaths That's it And the Thessalonian believers just could not get enough of his teaching And the Bible says in chapter 1 verse number 10 that they had turned to God, verse 9, firm idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for a son from heaven whom he raised from the dead that is Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come They were waiting for the arrival of the Messiah

Remember now the return of the Lord to take away his saints is an imminent doctrine Imminency means there's nothing that precedes that event So nothing has to happen for Jesus Christ to come and take away his church Why is he waiting so long? Until that last person elected in eternity past in the church age is born again And as soon as that person is born again, we're out of here Whoever that person is, I don't know who they are, you know So if you just all go around and start sharing your faith with everybody, next thing you know you're going to share your faith

They're going to give their life to Christ and boom, you're gone Then you know that's the last guy, you know And so you have to understand that Paul knows they have a concern The concern is we're waiting for the translation of the church, but what about all the people who die? What are we going to do with the people who die? They're going to miss it They're not going to get to go with us to heaven Are they going to have a, is there going to be a second tier for them? Is there, is there going to be a lower level for those who have died? They didn't know

They had no idea because all they knew was that Jesus was going to return and take them home to be with you If you read the apostles, they believed that Jesus was coming that day It's been 2,000 years, but they believed it was, it was going to be that day And, and they had a hard time thinking that it wasn't imminent It wasn't going to be there because they believed it because that's what Jesus said And so here are these men, these women in this Thessalonian church Here they are We have a concern Those loved ones that we have committed our lives to, they're died They died

What's going to happen to them? And that's the correction that Paul gives in the plan of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 He says, but we do not want you to be uninformed brethren about those who are asleep, those who are dead Okay The brief answer to the question, does the Bible teach soul sleep? Of course not Of course not This is about the sleeping of the body, not the soul For when you die absent from the body, present with what? The Lord, right? You're going to go home and be with the Lord But what is your body? Your body's asleep It's dead

It's in the ground until there's a resurrection of that body Okay So it's not talking about a soul sleep It's talking about the body that's asleep The body's dead So Paul says, brethren, about those who have already died. I know that you're concerned so that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope See, that's a very important phrase If you're a believer and you know other believers who have died, you can't grieve like the world grieves Because the world has no hope They don't have Christ They're not looking for the appearing of the Messiah They don't have that But you, you have hope

So Paul says, I don't want you to grieve like the world who has no hope. I want you to understand what's going to happen with your loved ones who have died He tells them, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus Wow Think about that He says, look, I want to let you know something If they've already died, they're ahead of you Not behind you Because they're already in heaven And when Jesus returns, he's going to bring them with him Whoa With him

And then he says, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep, those who have died For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first You know, it's almost better to be dead than alive, because if you're dead, your soul's already in heaven and your body will be resurrected first And that soul and body will be reunited in the air

And those of us who remain shall be caught up together in the air with them And thus shall we ever be with the Lord So don't worry about those who have already died in Jesus, because they're already with the Lord in heaven And they will come with him when he returns And those who are dead in Christ, that is the church age saints, because the Old Testament saints are never said to be in Christ So these are church age saints only They will be raised because the Old Testament saints, according to Daniel 12.2, are raised at the end of the tribulation

So those who are in Jesus will come back with him They'll receive their bodies by a literal resurrection of their bodies And we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the air with them And all this is going to take place because there's going to be a shout from heaven. A shout What's Jesus going to say? Well, I don't know But it's going to be a loud shout And my sheep hear my voice and they follow me

So the only ones who are going to hear it are the sheep, the believers, right? Remember the story in Revelation chapter 11? Revelation 11 about the two witnesses, the guys who have fire that spews out of their mouth When someone comes to destroy them, they just burn them up Well, that's going to be a great scene And so during the tribulation, you have two witnesses, one like Moses, one like Elijah, and they're going to go around preaching the gospel And people are going to hate them and want to kill them And they're going to come after them

And every time they speak, fire just, whoa, right in their mouth and burns them up, incinerates them on the spot And they're going to preach the gospel But the Antichrist is going to kill them And God's going to allow that to happen And Revelation 11 is the single greatest celebration in the history of man Because the whole world celebrates their death The whole world does It's a worldwide celebration And this is bigger than any celebration you could ever imagine And their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three days And everybody's going to see it on satellite television

And they're all going to see those dead bodies And there's going to be a constant three-day celebration You know, they're dead They're gone No more conviction, no more fire out of the mouth We can do whatever we want And they're going to celebrate And they're going to have a heyday And then all of a sudden, there's going to be a voice from heaven Come up here That's what Revelation 11 says And lo and behold, one like a Moses, one like Elijah, just get up and rise up into glory And the Bible says in Revelation 11 that all the world's going to see it Now, talk about an incredible event

We're all going to watch it happen And the Antichrist is going to have to explain that away But there's going to be a shout, come up here And they're going to go Because my sheep hear my voice Is that what he's going to say? I don't know To Lazarus, he said, come forth, Lazarus Or Lazarus, come forth He had to qualify Lazarus because he said, come forth Everybody in the grave would have come forth So, he would have said, Lazarus, and Lazarus only, come forth And he came forth Because my sheep hear my voice And I know them and they know me And so, there's going to be a shout

And there is going to be the voice of the archangel Well, that simply is Michael, the archangel, the commander in chief, the general, the leader of the angels He's going to let out a shout of victory for the holy angels Because in Revelation 12, we know that heaven is still occupied by Satan We forget that But Revelation 12.10 says that he accuses the brethren day and night before the throne of God That's what Satan does People say, where's Satan? He's in hell No, he's not in hell He will be there one day He's not there Where is he? He's in heaven accusing the brethren day and night

It's in Revelation 12 that he is literally and geographically cast out of heaven forever Now, we know he was cast out when he fell way before Genesis chapter 3 Okay? But he still had access to God Remember Job when Satan presented himself before the throne of God? And God says, what have you been doing? Of course, God knew what he was doing And he said, I've been looking for the world, looking around the world for somebody to torment And the Lord offered up Job And so, we know that Satan has access to the throne of God And Revelation 12.10 says that they accuse the brethren day and night

But it's also Revelation 12 where Satan is finally cast out of heaven He's thrown to the earth And that is when the tribulation itself is, or why the tribulation itself is so evil It's because Satan himself dwells now on this earth and lives in this earth And therefore, Michael, the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, the trumpet was blown for people to come and to worship and to summon people to battle They're being summoned to worship, to worship God forever in heaven And so shall they ever be with the Lord

And then Paul says this, he says, 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 These now become the famous words of comforting somebody else The dead in Christ will rise first Why? Because their souls are going to come with the Messiah at the wrath of the church and they will be united at that resurrection And we, we now will be translated into glory and we'll meet them in the air And thus shall we ever be with the Lord This is your hope

It's the appearing of the Messiah that we will go home to be with him forever That's our hope That hope produces joy, real true joy, because that hope is a living hope It's not a dead hope It's a singular hope It's in Jesus Christ himself And we have the wonderful opportunity to experience that Let me give you the particulars real quick First Corinthians 15 This is the third chapter in the Bible that deals with this translation of the church

It says in verse number 50, Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable Behold, I tell you a mystery We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed What's the mystery? Is it the resurrection? No, because the Old Testament saints knew about the resurrection You can read about Job 19 So Old Testament saints knew about the resurrection The mystery, a phrase used 27 times in the New Testament, concealed in the Old Testament but now revealed in the New Testament

And the translation of the church into glory, where that which is perishable now becomes imperishable, and that which is corruptible now becomes incorruptible, was the mystery that now has been revealed in John 14 as a promise, in First Thessalonians 4 as a plan, and in First Corinthians 15 with the particulars And so he says simply, Behold, I tell you a mystery We shall not all sleep We shall all die We're not all going to die That's good news, right? Not everybody's going to die, but we'll all be changed Everybody will be changed who are in Christ

He says, In a moment, in the twink of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed For this perishable must put on imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality This is the makeup of our bodies It is, we must become imperishable We must become immortal And that happens when we are translated and receive our glorified bodies

Philippians 3 says this, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we look for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our lowly body, that it may be fashioned like His glorious body You want to know what your glorified body is going to be like? Look at Jesus's glorified body His was a spiritual body That is, He could appear and disappear at will He could go through doors

Can you imagine having a glorified body in the Millennial Kingdom and go through the doors of people's homes without them even knowing it? That's going to be quite an eye-opener for a lot of people in the Millennial Kingdom But that's the kind of body you're going to have You're going to have a physical body too That spiritual body, that glorified body, is still a physical body because Jesus, in His glorified body, He ate Remember that? In Luke chapter 24, He ate fish and honeycomb In Luke 24, He showed the disciples the scars in His hands

That spiritual body is also a physical body, but it's an incorruptible body It's an imperishable body He could speak, right? Christ could speak You'll be able to speak in your glorified body It was powerful How powerful? He could stand on a mountain and ascend into glory at will You'll be able to ascend and fly wherever you want to fly in an instant moment of time That's the glorified body you're going to have It's incorruptible It's imperishable And that's going to be the makeup of your body

And then He says, when's that going to happen? It's going to happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye What is the twinkling of an eye? It's not a blink of an eye, it's a twinkling of an eye The twinkling of the eye, listen carefully, is the time it takes light to go from the surface of your eye to the retina That's the twinkling of an eye Light travels at 186,000 miles per hour, seconds, seconds per second, okay? That's pretty fast. 186,000 miles per second

Now you think about that, and by the time light touches your eye, the surface of your eye, and hits the retina, that's how quick it is In a moment of time, nobody's going to see it It can't be seen by the human eye Just can't That's why nobody's going to know when you're gone You're there, you're gone Where'd you go? I don't know, where'd he go? He's gone How'd he just disappear? He's gone In the moment of twinkling of an eye, you will be translated into glory Folks, this is our hope This is our joy This is what we long for So Jesus can say, don't let your heart be troubled

Paul could say, comfort one another with these words And then he says, at the end of the chapter, be ye steadfast, be ye immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord Why? Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord Hey, listen, why can you be steadfast in your ministry? Why can you be immovable as a Christian? Why? Because you have a hope What's the hope? The hope is Jesus Christ He's your anchor The hope is appearing that He's going to come and take you back to be with Him And when He appears, you'll see Him, and you'll be like Him, for you'll see Him as He is

And that is your hope and my hope, and that's what causes great joy in the life of the believer Let me pray with you Father, thank You for our time together this evening Thank You for the joy You give to us through Your Word Our prayer, Lord, is that we would always look to our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord Thank You for Your Word that so clearly speaks to us May we be encouraged this evening May we be encouraged to believe in all that You've said Pray in Jesus' name Amen.