11-11-2018 Weekly Message
Meditations on this week: Psalm 96:1-13
Text: Matthew 24:1-14
The title of the book: The sound doctrine of the End Time
When the apostle Paul had finished all his ministry and was at the time of his return to the Lord, he left a word of warning to Timothy, a spiritual son and pastor, bearing witness to what would happen at the end time. His last request was also given to us on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ appearing in the air (the Rapture) and on him who is coming to the earth to judge the world and to establish millennial kingdom in Zion. One of the most important words foretold that the time will come when Christians cannot endure sound doctrine of the last days. Today I want you to be able to understand what the sound doctrine of the last days is searching through the words.
The building of the temple at that time was no longer a temple of God. Only the body of Jesus that the Holy Spirit dwelled within was the only temple. There was God’s presence in the temple that Solomon built, but in the Zerubbabel temple, built after the temple was destroyed and burned by Babylon, was no longer the temple of God without the presence of the Lord. The disciples of Jesus did not know this, and they tried to show Jesus the beautiful image of the temple they believed to be a temple, Jesus said to them: ” See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.“ (Matthew 24: 2).
Afterwards the disciples went to the Lord quietly and asked Jesus of three questions. First, when will this happen (when the temple collapses), second, the sign of the Lord’s coming (when he appears in the air), and third, the signs of the end of the world (Jesus’ return at the end of the Great Tribulation).
Jesus answered them from the fall of the temple through the Great Tribulation. First he said that the time of suffering will come. He spoke of the deceitfulness of those who speak themselves as Christ, the rumors of war and war, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and famine, plagues and earthquakes in many places. And when the tribulation comes, they will be handed over to suffering and will be hated by all nations for this own name. He also said that only those who endure till the end of the Great Tribulation period will be saved. These words speak of the great tribulation of the Jews and Gentiles who do not believe in Jesus Christ. He also spoke of the end of the world and said that during the Great Tribulation period the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all nations. This is the last gospel to believe in Jesus Christ before the end of the world, when he will come to the earth and set up the kingdom when the tribulation is over.
The temple collapsed without leaving a stone on a stone, which was already accomplished by General Titus, Roman general in AD70. Jesus spoke in details about what would happen during the Great Tribulation. All of these things are recorded in detail in the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials that Apostle John showed (revelation chapters 6-18). He also spoke beforehand about his appearing in the air and bringing up his bride, the church of God, into heaven:
” Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. “(Matthew 24: 40-43). )
The Lord said that when he saw Israel’s coming back to the kingdom through a figurative parable as to when the day of the rapture would be, everything would be done in a generation. The Lord said that before the day of His appearance in the air, as in Noah’s time, people would eat, and drink, marry and married to in peace. One day suddenly a rapture would take place. He also spoke of the beginning of the Great Tribulation when he saw the Antichrist appear when he spoke of the sign of the Great Tribulation: When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25Behold, I have told you before. “(Matthew 24: 15-22)
That’s right. The rapture is not happening during the tribulation, but when people are marry, married to, and doing daily things normally, The Lord Jesus himself said that it would happen suddenly.
After the Ascension of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit once again spoke specifically about the Rapture and the Tribulation through the apostles. The apostle Paul testified about what the world would be like when the rapture is to happen:
” But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, “(1 Thess 5: 1-9)
That’s right! The resurrected Jesus said to John the Apostle that the reborn church of God (the Church of Philadelphia) is married to Christ as a pure virgin (2 Corinthians 11: 2) ” I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name….. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. “(Revelation 3: 8-11)
The Apostle Paul made clear witness to the saints of the Thessalonian Church that were shaken by the time of the rapture to be before the rapture occurred. This is what we are seeing at the end of our lives:
” Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:“(2 Thessalonians 2: 1-9)
Satan has given his spirit to many people for the past two thousand years, to make them antichrists to appear to seduce and persecute God’s people and children. The mystery of iniquity has been to be active until the final Antichrist appeares before the Great Tribulation. The Apostle John testified about this: ” Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. “(1 John 4: 1-3)
Through all these words, we must know when this is the time that we are living, understanding how close it is when Christ comes, and how much we should wake up, pray, and purify ourselves. Most denominations and churches in the world today are already in apostate, abandoning the doctrines of salvation only by faith in Jesus Christ’s blood, and unifying all religions under the Roman Catholic Pope, who will become false prophets, It is preparing the way for the Antichrist to come. The whole world is near to the end of almost everything deceiving with false peace saying, “Peace, and safety” united with the Antichrist. Therefore, we have to live cleansing ourselves by the words of God putting the whole armor of God, awakening and praying, rejoice always in the hope, live a life of giving thanks for all things, and our whole spirit, soul and body should be prepared to be blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ appears.