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7-16-2023 Sunday Sermon Message

Meditations of the Week: Psalm 91:1-16

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9

Word title: The times and the seasons of the Rapture according to the Bible

Apostle Paul testified about the times and seasons unto the Thessalonian church saints waiting for the rapture:

¶ But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. ¶ Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But 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 Thessalonians 5:1-9 KJV)

        The Day of the Lord in the Bible refers to the Second Coming of Christ, The Judgment Day. Also, the Day of the Lord is to inform us of times and seasons when the Rapture will be. If we go back seven years from the Day of the Lord, past the Great Tribulation period, we can also know the times and seasons of the Rapture.

        A child-bearing woman does not know the exact day she will give birth, but when she is about 9 months pregnant, she expects that the time is near when she will suddenly go into labor and give birth. But others have no way of knowing when.

        Similarly, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit know the times and seasons of the Rapture day and the Day of the Lord through the words of the Bible written by the Holy Spirit.

        Before examining the times and seasons of the rapture, it would be wise to first examine the words revealed in the Old Testament concerning the rapture of which the Bible speaks.

¶ And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. (Genesis 5:21-24 KJV)

       Enoch is an exceptional person who was raptured without experiencing death, and he is a model for blessed present day Christians who will be raptured avoiding death like Enoch as the times and seasons of the rapture are right in front of our eyes. But the Bible says everyone dies at least once. As the saying goes, there is no rule without exceptions. Blessed are those who are subject to the exceptions.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:27-28 KJV)

       Even in the prayer of King David, there is a prophecy about the rapture in the future:

Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. (Psalm 18:15-19 KJV)

        The prophet Micah also prophesied what would take place at the rapture in the future:

The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. (Micah 7:2 KJV)

       The Holy Spirit testified of the rapture through the apostles. The apostle Matthew testified that many Old Testament saints who had fallen asleep in Abraham’s bosom were raised from the grave and raptured at the resurrection of Jesus:

¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. (Matthew 27:50-54 KJV)

         The Apostle Paul testified that the Old Testament saints who have been resurrected and raptured with Jesus at this time are the first fruits of the resurrection:

¶ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22 KJV)

     Apostle Paul testified of Christians who will be resurrected and raptured with Christ in the future:

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:23-24 KJV)

         The apostle Paul testified how those who have received the Holy Spirit and belong to Christ, those who await the Rapture, should prepare themselves:

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24 KJV)

       Looking forward to the day of the Rapture, Jesus said to Martha:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25-26 KJV)

        The apostle Paul testified to the New Testament saints who belong to Christ in the Holy Spirit through the words of Jesus Christ about what would happen on the day of the Rapture:

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 KJV)

         Just as Christ cast away the sins of the world into the depths of hell and ascended to heaven upon his resurrection, the Apostle Paul also testified to the mystery of Christians who believed in Christ and received the Holy Spirit and are caught up to heaven like the Lord on the day of the Rapture:

¶ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 KJV)

      Then, we need to know what the Bible says about the times and the seasons of the rapture we hope for. We must remember that God’s timetable is tailored to Israel. He spoke about those times and the seasons through the prophet Hosea:

I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. ¶ Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 5:15-6:2 KJV)

      The prophet Hosea prophesied that after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, after His return to the right hand of the Heavenly Father, and two days (2,000 years) later, when the Israelites repent and cry out to God in the midst of the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s Trouble, He will forgive their sins, redeem them, and then on the third day they will live with Christ in the Millennial Kingdom.

     Although there is some controversy as to when Christ returned to His place. Given that Jesus was born in 4 BC, it is considered reasonable to place the time when the Lord ascended to the right hand of the heavenly throne at 30 AD. Many people who study the Bible now know the modern days are like the Days of Lot. With the gold standard currency and the New International Order that BRICS is currently working on. Considering that there is evidence that the 7-year covenant for world peace led by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) under the leadership of the United Nations is aiming for the target date of 2030, looking back 7 years, considering the possibility that the rapture could occur in 2023, we must wake up and pray in hope that such times and seasons has arrived.

        In addition, the majority of churches have united in religious integration (WCC, WEA, NCC), fallen away from Jesus, the only Christ, and committed the evil act of serving CHRISLAM as their own Christ. Now, after God’s regenerated Church is raptured and transported to heaven, the Antichrist will set up his kingdom all over the world (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8).

        The New Testament saints must now realize that the day of the rapture is very near, just as the Old Testament saints were resurrected and raptured to heaven 2,000 years ago. The Apostle Paul advised those who belong to Christ and are waiting for the rapture to live a life of crucifying their flesh with affections and desires (Galatians 5:24). By this, we can meet the Lord while living a pure life as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3)

Amen! Hallelujah!