Tony Evans- The Rapture of the Church

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Do you know Your answer could be sitting right next
to you, but you'll never know it until God is
ready to reveal it. God, then if you'll come back home,
you'll see I haven't gone anywhere. So you draw near
to him and he will draw dear to you that
he's the one that's never led. If you walk in
the spirit, or walk by means of the.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Spirit, he will open up the hole for you to
get through it.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
The snake is gonna try to stare, stump up. The
snake is gonna try to get you away from God.
There is a serpent in the God in your job.
Keep in mind sometimes he brings a little something that's
a little cue to let you know, keep on going,
keep on trusting, because I hear you.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
The next event.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
On God's prophetic calendar is the rapture. That is the
next thing that's going to happen. The word rapture means
to seize, grasp, or grab, and it refers to Christ's
coming to retrieve his church believers who have accepted him

(01:21):
as savior. That is the next event on the prophetic calendar.
So that is the event I want to explain to
you today about the rapture. The imminent return of Christ
for his people. Jesus had told his disciples, I'm leaving.

(01:45):
He's getting ready down the cross, rise in the dead,
and as sind back to heaven. And he told him
you can't come with me now, but don't worry. I'm
gonna come get you. I'm gonna come get you. If
the disciples heard this, they were traumatized because for three
years Jesus had been their leader, their teacher, their provider.

(02:09):
He had been their guide, he had been their help,
he'd been their deliverer.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
He had been their whole world for three.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Years, and now he says, I'm leaving and I'm coming back.
In fact, here's what he told them in John chapter fourteen,
verses one to three. Saint John fourteen one to three
says this, do not let your heart be troubled. Because

(02:36):
they were troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it
were not so, I would have told you, for I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you to myself. That where I am

(02:59):
there you may be also that is the first specific
reference to the rapture. I'm coming to receive you back
to me during this interim, I am preparing a place.
That word prepared doesn't mean to like construct something. It
means to make preparation for something. And I am going

(03:23):
to come again.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Now.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Our dilemma is he didn't say when. All he said
was I'm coming back to receive you to me. But
I gotta leave now, and so they were troubled. They
were troubled because Jesus was not physically there.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
So they had to live on a.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Promise to understand this event and how it affects you
and me, which, by the time I'm finished today, your
world should change.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Let me show you why.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
For Thessalonians, chapter fourth, Paul gives detailed explanation for this event,
called the catching up or the rapture. He begins in
verse thirteen of first Stesssalonians four. He says, but we

(04:25):
do not want you to be uninformed, brethren. I we
don't want you not to understand this. We don't want
you to be unclear about this. So Paul is saying,
let me explain this to you. Don't be uninformed. Now,

(04:45):
let me give you the reasons why this event that
he's getting ready to explain is going to happen. He
tells you the first reason in verse thirteen. I don't
want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep
you and I would say, people who have died. The
biblical word that Jesus has introduced is the word sleep.

(05:10):
Why does he use the word sleep because for a Christian,
when you die, it's naptime.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Okay, But I'll explain that at the moment.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
He says, I don't want you to be uninformed about
those who've died or are asleep. Now, the reason he
has to say this is Jesus had promised to come back.
So they're waiting for Jesus to come back. While they're
waiting for Jesus to come back, some of their loved
ones die who are Christians.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
And so they're concerned.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
Well, wait a minute, if we're waiting for Jesus to
come back and some of our folks have died, will
they miss his return because they're not alive like we are.
Well that leads to another question. Suppose I die, am
I going to miss out on the rapture? So the

(06:04):
question was are folks who died missing out on this promise.
Paul says, I don't want you to be uninformed about that.
So one of the reasons he discusses the rapture is
to inform them about how this thing will work with
folk who already dead. Another reason, which you'll see later
on in the scripture I'll give you, is because flesh

(06:25):
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven one Corinthians, fifteen,
verse fifteen. It can't inherit the kingdom of heaven. In
other words, you can't go to heaven like you are
now because that environment does not fit your makeup flesh
and blood. So it is you can't function like you

(06:48):
are in heaven as flesh and blood. So a change
has got to occur. So that's why the raptures need it.
Another reason why this rapture is important is to remove
you before all hell breaks out breaks.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Loose on earth.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Okay, look at first Thessalonians chapter one, verse ten, and
to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from
the raft to come. Now, he's not talking about hell,
he's talking about the tribulation period. All hell is gonna

(07:37):
break loose on earth. In other words, no matter how
bad things are right now, you ain't seen nothing yet,
all hell's gonna break loose, and that's called the tribulation.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
So before all hell breaks loose raft.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
To come, He's going to come to retrieve his people
before the wrath breaks loose. There are numbers of illustrations
of this in the Bible. Remember, he retrieved the Lot
out of soda Mingomara before he rained down fire and

(08:12):
brimstone on side of Mingomara. He retrieved Noah and his
family into the Ark before he flooded the world. He
retrieved Rahab and her family into their house before the
walls of Jericho collapsed. In other words, he kept them
from the judgment to come by retrieving them. Well, that's

(08:37):
exactly what Jesus is going to do for all Christians,
all who make up his church. He will retrieve us
before the tribulation comes, when all hell breaks loose on earth.
So that's the concept of the rapture or the reasons
for it. He introduces a word in verse thirteen that

(09:02):
he's gonna speak and say something about a number of
times concerning those who are asleep because it gives another
reason why you need to know about the rapture. So
that verse thirteen, you do not grieve as those who
have no hope. It affects your emotional well being. See

(09:24):
that two kinds of grieving, hope less grieving and hopeful grieving.
Hopeless grieving is I'm never gonna see this person again.
Hopeful grieving is I am going to see this person again.
Both are grieving, but they're grieving differently. One is grieving
without hope, one is grieving with hope. So I want

(09:49):
you not to be hopeless in your sorrow when you
lose loved.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Ones who are part of the family of God.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
So he introduces us to the word sleep. That's Jesus's
word for what you and I call death. Wait a minute,
if you are asleep in our normal, everyday nomenclature of life,
that means you're not dead. You're in a new You're
in a you're in a temporary shift of state of consciousness.

(10:22):
You're not you're not dead, You're you're sleep. You're in
a position of death. But there has not been the
move to non existence. So keep that word in mind
as we as we as we go along, He says,

(10:42):
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so God will bring with him those who have
fallen asleep in Jesus. Now you ought to see a
little conflict there. We're talking about those who fall in

(11:02):
a sleep.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
He died. But then Jesus is bringing somebody with him
when he comes.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
So he's coming from heaven bringing somebody. And the somebody
he's bringing are those who fall in asleep. Well wait
a minute. The folks who fall in a sleep are
in the grave. But the folks he's bringing with him,
who are the folks who fall in asleep are coming
with him from heaven.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
So which is it? Am I in the grave? Or
am I in heaven?

Speaker 1 (11:40):
When God made Adam, he created a body. When he
created the body, the body did not function until he
breathed into the man the.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Breath of life.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
When he breathed into the man the breath of life,
Scripture says, and he became a living soul. In other words,
his body didn't become animated, active, functional until the soul.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Was deposited in it.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Apart from the soul, all you had was frame with
no animation.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
No life.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
When you expire, the life principle that God breaths in soul.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Slithers in some.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Invisible way out of the body, so the body can
no longer function because the soul has departed it, and
that soul, for the believer, goes immediately into the presence
of God at the time of the rapture when Jesus

(12:50):
Christ descends to seize believers, he is coming with you,
the you that left you when you went to sleep. Okay,
so he says, those who are living when Jesus returns,

(13:12):
not only do you not have to worry about the
folks who've already died.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
They gonna beat you to the punch.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Because when the Lord comes for the rapture, the taking
away of the saints, he says, we who are alive,
if you were to come back in the next five minutes,
everybody in here who's alive will have to take second
place to the folks who've already died.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
We will not precede them.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
You're not gonna beat them to heaven even though they
are dead sleep and you're alive. Well, how is all
this gonna work? So he wants to give you some details.
He says, here's how this works. Verse sixteen. For the Lord,
He'll himself will descend from heaven with a shout. So

(14:06):
at the point of the rapture, Jesus is going to
leave heaven and there's going to be a shout. I
E get up. Okay, there's going to be a call,
a shout. So Jesus is himself, this sord this is

(14:27):
a personal appearance. He's going to come with a shout.
When he comes with the shout, it will be with
the voice of the archangel. Now the archangel is chief
angel in charge, and the dead in Christ will rise

(14:48):
first because remember, the living won't precede the dead. The
dead are gonna proceed the living because they're gonna rise first.
But wait a minute, I thought I was in heaven
because I'm coming back with him. So if I'm in
heaven coming back with him, exactly what's rising? Okay, Well,

(15:16):
you are going to be buried, but not your soul,
because your soul left sold left at the point of death.
You are going to be buried. When you are buried,
most of us will be put in a casket that's sealed, that's.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Under six feet a dirt.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
But there are other people who've died who don't get buried.
Some people died in the sea. Some people died and
their bodies weren't putting the casket, they were just buried
in the ground.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
You're gonna become worm food.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
So therefore, in order to get your soul coming down
it's new house to live in, there has got to
be a reconstruction of you.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
You have to be stitched back together. You have to
be you have to be.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Resurrected in some supernatural way, so your soul that's coming
back with Jesus has someplace to hang out. So while
you are coming back with Christ, because your soul went
to him, when you die, the dead in Christ shall rise. First,

(16:42):
that's not your soul. Now we're talking about your body.
You have to have a reconstructed body for your old
redeemed soul, a body that can live in heaven and
still function on earth. So when Jesus returns for the
Rapture and the Shout of God is made, there is

(17:06):
going to be a raising of reconstruction of your humanity
so that you and your soul can hook up again.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
So you got you coming and.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
A body rising, So the dead in Christ will be
resurrected with new spiritual glorified bodies.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
I'm gonna talk about that.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
In a second, but that's how you will be resurrected.
He talks about people I love the end the verse
fourteen who.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Fall asleep in Jesus.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
That's what he calls it for dying as a Christian
falling asleep in Jesus. So the assumption is that you
have accepted Christ. If that assumption is true, then when
you die, you will fall asleep in Jesus. He says,
the dead in Christ will rise first.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
That's rapture, caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Okay, Now, please notice where we're meeting the Lord.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
We're not meeting them on earth because it's not time
for him to come to earth yet, because we're going
to be moving back and forth from Heaven to Earth. Okay.
So there's a two location things. So you need a
body that can go in both places. You need to
be able to play offense and defense. You need to
be able to work both sides of the ball. You

(18:49):
need to be able to you need to be able
to hang out up there and be and chill down here.
You got so, so a lot of your time is
gonna be spent on earth, not in heaven. Okay, he says,
we will be caught up.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
To meet the Lord in the air.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Onee grind thence fifteen, and let's look at this jest
a little bit closer verse fifty one. Behold, I tell
you a mystery. I will tell you a mystery. We
will not all sleep, but we all will be changed.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
So everybody dead and alive.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
Are going to go through a metamorphosis, like a butterfly
emerging from a caterpillar. There will be a metapomorphosis, or
a change, he says, in the twinkling.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Of an eye.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
At the last trump or the trump will sound, the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For this perishable will put on imperishable, and this Lord
will put on immortality. Okay, everything wrong with you will change.

(20:13):
It will be a glorified body.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Well, well, I don't know about you, but I'd be
interested to know what that body's gonna be like.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Okay, John says.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
In First John Chapter two, First John Chapter three, Verses
two and three, he says, when we see him at
the rapture.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
We will be like him. Okay, we will be like him. Okay.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
So if I'm gonna be like him, then I need
to know what he'd like, so I'll know what i'll
be like when I'm like him. All right, So let's
rehearse Jesus' resurrection. When Jesus rolls from the dead with
a glorified body three days after crucifixion. When he stepped out,

(21:00):
he was the same person who died. Okay, he wasn't
another person, he says. This is Jesus, whom you've seen,
they say, is coming back again. So you won't become
somebody other than who you are. So that's the first thing.
So it's not like you're becoming you're meta, you're morphing

(21:22):
into something else because remember it's your soul that's entering
the body.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
So whoever you are is what you will be then.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
So this is a whole different realm coming at the
return of Christ, at the rapture, and this imperishable must
put on immortality, and it will happen, he says, in
the whole twinkling of an eye. Quickly the dead will
be sucked out of the grave, new bodies to meet

(21:54):
their souls redeemed souls. The souls will enter into the
new bodies for their glorified existence. The rapture is the
next event on the calendar before God re.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Enters his program for Israel. He's going to remove us out.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Before the wrath in order to recall his people, and
so he ends in First Thesalonians by saying in verse eighteen,
we will be with the Lord. Comfort one another with
these words. If you hold a magnet to something that

(22:39):
has iron feelings in it, it's gonna suck those feelings
to the magnet. Okay, you put a magnet near something
that has iron feelings in it, it'll suck it to
the magnet. When Jesus Christ comes back, his glory will
suck up the dead in Christ. Those who have the

(23:00):
spirit of Christ in them, they will be sucked up
in their new bodies to connect with their souls for
their new glorified existence. So why should any of this matter?
Number One, you should feel comfort to know when you're

(23:22):
dead you're not dead. You should feel just a little
bit better that when you're dead, you really having died,
because you've never been more alive than you are in
that second, Because to be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
And you are to.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Feel better and less fearful about death, knowing that the
thing you fear most is the thing you'll never experience.
So it ought to make you just feel a little
bit better about the uncertainty and the fear that comes
with death. Secondly, it ought to make you want a

(23:58):
witness so that you don't have loved ones who are
left behind. It ought to make you want to share
the gospel to make sure on that great getting up.
More than family and friends that you love and care
about are sucked up in the rapture, seized in the
rapture with you, and not left for the hell that's

(24:18):
gonna break loose on earth in the tribulation period. In
First John, chapter three, verses two and three, he says,
he that hath this hope purifies himself. He says, when
you know this good news, it ought to affect how
we live. My point is, you don't want to miss this.

(24:44):
You don't want to be left behind. You only left
behind having played church, You only left behind having been religious.
If you're here today and you don't know for certain
that your sins have been forgiven and that you have
received the gift of life. You got two things that

(25:07):
could happen. You could die or the rapture could occur.
Either one or bad news for you. So if I
were you, I would run to the cross where God
opens up his hands and says, whosoever will let him

(25:29):
come and drink from the water of life freely. He
offers eternal life to every man, every woman, every.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Young person who comes to the cross.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
As a sinner, recognizing they need a savior and trusting
Christ as their sin bearer for the forgiveness of.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Sins and the gift of eternal life.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Don't let another day go by, and for those who
already saved. If God never blesses you with a new house,
another new car, more clothes, better job, big a bank account,
all that's fine. But if he never gives you anything else,

(26:11):
you have a reason to praise him for your future.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
That he has planned for you. You've been lied to

(26:55):
so long that you've never become what you are created
to do.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
When you are displaying that I have dedicated all of
my life, I have put all that I am on
the altar to Jesus Christ. Now you're ready to turn
this culture in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ says,
I have died for you, I have risen from the
dead for you. I don't care what color you are.

(27:22):
I don't care what class you are. Him that color
to me, I will not reject.