1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 - “For the Lord Himself will descend form heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  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.”

“Maranatha” is a Hebrew/Aramaic term meaning, “The Lord is coming soon.” God has called us to preach about the Rapture of the church. How do we define “The Rapture”? The meaning of “the Rapture” in the original language was “snatching up.” Biblically, it is the event described in the passage above, where Jesus suddenly snatches his faithful church out of this world to meet him in the air. We will go to heaven with him. Those faithful servants who are alive at the time will not face physical death, but will go directly to heaven with him. The world plunges into a period of terrible judgment known as the Great Tribulation, which lasts seven years. At the end of those seven years, Jesus returns again, with all the saints with him, to set up his Kingdom on earth. We call that event “the Second Coming,” because it will be the second time Christ actually lives and walks upon the earth – at the Rapture he does not actually reach the earth. Jesus lands on the Mount of Olives, north of Jerusalem, and enters the holy city, which will become his capital, the place from which he reigns on earth for 1000 years. This is the meaning of “The Rapture.”

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Revelation 5:1; 6; 8:1-2

(NIV) “Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals…“

(KJV) “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals…”

The Seven Seals are a series of events (mostly judgments) that have been slowly unfolding in approximately the last century in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ. Here we look briefly at the meaning of the Seven Seals in the Book of Revelation.

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Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 – “…Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them…”

We live in the last days before the Rapture, when the darkness in this world grows increasingly prevalent. We must remember our Creator (and Redeemer), Jesus Christ. We must do so through constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit now, in the days of our spiritual youth. We cannot allow ourselves to age spiritually and lose our blessing.

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Genesis 5:18-21 - “…When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah…”

These verses are part of the genealogy from Adam to Noah.  When people read the Bible, they might to temped to gloss over, or completely skip these kinds of details which are less interesting for them. Yet even in these parts of the Bible, the Lord wants to teach us about His Project of Salvation for humankind through Jesus Christ.  When we read this section of the genealogy, we find a theme repeated thhroughout: someone was born, lived for a time, but later on died. Enoch, the son of Jared, was one exception.

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Genesis 7:13 - On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 

Matthew 24:37-39 - As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

 Jesus said that the days before the Rapture would be similar to the days of Noah.  It comes on the world unexpectedly, when everyone is still making plans for the future (getting married) and celebrating.  Only Noah and his family knew what was coming; they had the revelation.

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Abraham saved Lot three times: first, he brings him from the land of Haran to the Promised Land; second, he rescues him when he was taken captive by the kings of the North; third, he intercedes for him when Sodom is about to be destroyed.  Through these three events, we see the operation of the Trinity in our own salvation.   continue

Genesis 41:15-24  -  Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”   

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Genesis 50:24-25 – Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and will take you up out of this land, to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place…” 

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Revelation 3:7-13 - ”To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:  These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.  What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.  I know your deeds.  See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.  I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars-I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.  Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.  I am coming soon.  Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.  Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.  Never again will he leave it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

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“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition…”- 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (New King James Version)

Many Christians today believe that an amazing, worldwide revival will occur in the Last Days, in which hundreds of millions – or even billions – of people will come to Christ.  The Bible, however, teaches that a terrible “failing away” or “apostasy” occurs in the Last Days instead.  “Apostasy” is the Greek word for “falling away.”   continue