Running To Win

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The Bible gives tantalizing details about a heavenly kingdom beyond all description, a New Jerusalem with streets of gold. Today, a final chapter in what we believe and a peek through the mists of time into the timelessness of eternity. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.

Pastor Lutzer, many of us can barely handle this life. Give us a word of hope that one day our struggles will all make sense.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You know, Dave, one of the verses of scripture I frequently think about is in Romans chapter eight: the suffering of this present world is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. How marvelous it is that we will have an eternal future and we should contemplate it. And one of the things that we should do in this world is to invest in that future.

Let me ask you a question: are you blessed as a result of the ministry of Running to Win? Perhaps you have never connected with us, or perhaps you've been a friend to the ministry throughout many years. But I want to ask you, would you help us as we continue to get the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world? Investigate what it means to be an Endurance Partner. That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and with their gifts.

I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy so that you can write this down. You can go to rtwoffer.com. That’s rtwoffer.com, and when you're there, you click on the Endurance Partner button. Or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. I want to say this from my heart to yours: without your support, this ministry could not continue. So pray about the possibility of becoming an Endurance Partner and remember, eternity awaits us all.

The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is returning back from heaven to earth. No question about it. In the Old Testament, it was predicted. In the New Testament, it is predicted many, many times. We not only have the references of Jesus to his own return, but just think for a moment about how many times the scriptures affirm it.

Jesus is ascending into heaven, and the angels come and say to the disciples, "Why are you looking into heaven? This same Jesus who went into heaven is likewise going to come again." The Apostle Paul referred to it as the blessed hope and also the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It was Peter who said that we should live in such a way that our faith would be of benefit to God, in effect, that our faith would be like gold when Jesus Christ appears, because God loves to see faith in our hearts. And it was John who said that we should live in such a way that we will not be ashamed at his coming.

The return of Jesus Christ to earth. Now, the bottom line is that there are two different views, actually more than that, but two primary views held among Christians. Because when you look at the New Testament, it seems as if there are two future comings that are described.

There seems to be a reference to those who are going to be with Jesus, called the church, when Jesus comes for the church. And then after a period of time, there's going to be the great revelation of Jesus when his feet stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east. And when he comes in glory, it is then that the kingdom is going to be established.

Now, there are some people who do not divide these two comings. So let me explain to you the terminology and the division, and then we shall plunge into the scriptures. Pre-tribulationism says that Jesus will come before the tribulation to take up the church to heaven.

And then there will be that period of time when Antichrist shall arrive and when the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon the earth. And then there's the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, Matthew chapter 24, that is so wonderful. It is like the lightning that begins in the east and goes to the west.

That is the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. If you believe that scenario, you are what is called a pre-tribulationist, believing that Jesus comes before the tribulation to receive his saints and then a period of wrath and then the return in glory.

Now, there are some people who look at the Bible and they combine those two events. They put them together. They say that this is all one event. The rapture of the church and the glorious return is one event, and those folks are post-tribulational.

What do we mean by that? They believe that Jesus comes after the tribulation. He comes both to receive his saints, as we shall be studying today, and also with his saints simultaneously to set up the kingdom and to establish his rule upon the millennial earth. That is post-tribulationism. We will go through the tribulation and then Christ returns.

Here at the Moody Church, we've decided to not draw a line in the sand about these two views. We have pre-tribulationists among us, and that has usually been the position of many people in this particular era. But also there are post-tribulationists, and many of them love the Lord and many of them are very fine scholars. And so you can be a pre-trib or you can be a post-trib here at the Moody Church.

All that I need to do is to say, however, to the post-tribbers, someday you're going to be so glad that you were wrong, alright? And when we're snatched away to heaven, we'll say, "Na-na-na-na-na." I say to you, let's not divide over the coming of Jesus Christ. Rather, let us be united over the coming of Jesus Christ. Particularly, let us love his appearing.

Now, in the New Testament, there are several different words used for the return of Jesus. And by the way, without taking time to go into the various views, my message today will be assuming the pre-tribulational rapture. But there are different words that are used.

For example, Parousia, based on the Greek word. It means the appearing of a dignitary. Jesus will appear like a dignitary who's been gone and his presence then will be among us. Now, that word is used for both the first coming of Jesus in the rapture and then also the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. The word is used in the New Testament for both.

There's also the word Epiphany. Epiphany is the word that refers to the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom when he comes with his saints, as is given in the New Testament and it is used for that particular aspect of the coming of Jesus Christ.

The word rapture, you say where is it in the Bible? It isn't in the Bible as such. The idea is there, and at this point, I want you to see where it comes from. Would you take your Bibles and turn to First Thessalonians chapter four. First Thessalonians chapter four, and it is so critical today that you look at the text of scripture.

If you forgot your Bible at home, you can see it there in the Bible in the pews, and it's on page 987 in that particular translation. So if you want to follow along with us, and I hope you do, First Thessalonians chapter four. The word rapture actually comes from verse 17 where it says, "Then we who are alive and who are left will be caught up together." The Latin word is *rapio*, from which we get rapture. We'll be caught up.

So even though the word rapture does not occur in the text as such, the word rapture is a very biblical concept. We shall be caught up. Now as I begin this exposition of First Thessalonians chapter four, beginning at verse 13, I need to tell you that what I'm going to be saying to you in terms of the sequence of events and the teachings that are here, they are believed both by post-tribulationists as well as pre-tribulationists.

So don't let the different views get in the way of the clear things that God through Paul is saying to us about the rapture of the church. This, by the way, is the 10th and last in a series of messages: What We Believe and the Difference It Should Make. And today we speak on: The Future That We Anticipate.

Now, before I read verse 13, let's have some background. When the Apostle Paul established a church, he always taught the people to look for the appearing of Jesus. That's very clear. That was right at the beginning of church planting. The return of Christ was on Paul's mind.

So he taught the people in Thessalonica that, but now time had elapsed and some of them had died. And of course, the Apostle Paul apparently, obviously, did not know that this period of time when Jesus would not return was going to be very, very long—at least 2,000 years so far.

But the people were looking for the appearing of Jesus and some of their number were dying, and so they had a question on their mind and it was this: will those who have died be at a disadvantage when Jesus comes? Will they miss out on something? That's what they were thinking.

So the Apostle Paul writes to clarify: no way are those who have died going to miss out on anything. Now let's look at the text. First Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13. "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers." And I need to pause and say here at the Moody Church, those of you who are listening by way of internet or radio, I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep.

In the New Testament, the word sleep is often used for death. It does not mean that the soul sleeps. It does mean that the body sleeps. But I think that the imagery is so beautiful. Here in the text, the imagery is of a mother who lulls her little baby to sleep.

She's fed the baby, she's talked to the baby, and now she lulls it to sleep. When you go to the funeral of a Christian and you see their bodies, remember they have been lulled to sleep by Jesus. Their soul has gone to heaven, but they themselves—the body—is sleeping until the day of resurrection.

And sleep is not fearful, is it? Last night we came home, I was speaking somewhere else and went to bed at about 11 o'clock and I had a good night of sleep. I did not fear to fall asleep, and neither need the Christian fear death.

So Paul says, "I don't want you to be ignorant concerning those who have died, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope." And the pagan world of the time had absolutely no hope whatever. In fact, they were so hopeless that when the plagues came, Cyprian, a church leader, said, "It is because of the plagues that the Christian church has advanced because we die differently than the unconverted."

The pagans used to say of the Christian, "They carry their dead as if in triumph. How can they die with so much hope?" So Paul says, "I'm writing to you so that you don't grieve as those who have no hope. Grieve, but not hopelessly." And then he says that since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

When Jesus returns, he will be bringing the souls of all those who have died with him. The people today who die in Christ do not yet have their permanent bodies. Now the soul takes on the characteristic of the body so that they can see and they can communicate and they can recognize one another.

All of that happens, but they do not have their permanent bodies. But God is going to bring them with him when Jesus returns. Now hang on to all of this. It's going to become very clear in a moment. And then he says because we will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Paul is saying those of us who are living, who are going to be translated—and when I use that word today, I'm not talking about a translation from one language into another. I'm speaking about a generation of people who will be living, who will not die, a generation of believers.

They will instantly be translated and have their glorified body. Now let's put it in sequence. Paul is saying that when Jesus comes, he's going to bring with him those who have died and we will not go ahead of those who have died.

In fact, those who have died go first, and then we follow after. So don't think for a moment that your loved one who has died is going to miss out on anything. In fact, they are going to be raised, their bodies will be raised and joined to their spirits, and that will happen first. And then we who are alive unto the coming of the Lord will be translated. The dead have no disadvantage at all.

All that by way of introduction. What I'd like to do now is to walk through the sequence that the Apostle Paul gives regarding these events. And if anything that I said was unclear, I think that when I am finished and as we walk through Paul's words, hopefully, everything will be clear. That's my goal. Clarity is always my goal.

I don't want to be like a politician who left a political rally in Chicago the other day and whispered to one of his aides, "I hope that in the excitement, I didn't happen to make myself clear about anything." Well, I want to be clear. Let's begin. Look at the sequence.

He says verse 16, and here we begin now. He says, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command." Step number one: the Lord descends. And now it is described: with a shout, with a cry of command. And the command is that the dead in Christ be raised.

Sometimes we used to say as children, "You're making so much noise, you'll probably raise the dead." Well, do I need to tell you that no matter how much noise we made, the dead remained dead? But when Jesus comes with that shout of command, he himself said, "All who are in the grave shall hear his voice, and some shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, and some shall come forth unto the resurrection of damnation."

When Jesus speaks, the dead are raised. Wow. He comes with a shout of command. The best illustration is Lazarus. Jesus is at the tomb of Lazarus and the Bible says he cries with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he who was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin.

Someone has said it is good that he named him because if he hadn't have named him, all the dead in Bethany would have arisen. When Jesus speaks, the dead arise. So he comes with the shout of command and with the voice of the archangel.

Who's the archangel? Gabriel. He's the only one referred to in the New Testament and in the Old Testament as the archangel. So Gabriel comes along and he is shouting as well, and I have no doubt that the whole hosts of angels are there because everything that Jesus did was accompanied by angels.

That's why we have so many angel stories at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The angels are coming too. The angels who told the shepherds that they should go to Bethlehem and gave glory to God. All of those angels, no question in my mind, are coming with Jesus, who gives the shout of command and the trumpet.

Trumpets were used to cause Israel to march. It's time for us to move on. The trumpet sounds, and when the trumpet sounds, what happens? But the dead now know it is time to move on. You've been dead long enough. Your body has disintegrated. It's time for God to recreate it and to put it together. Come! And the dead are raised. That’s step number one.

Dave McAllister: Well, my friend, you certainly are going to have to listen to Running to Win next time to find out what step number two is all about. We here rejoice in the fact that because of people just like you, this ministry goes around the world. We are in 50 different countries in seven different languages.

By the way, just yesterday, my wife and I were walking past a church and we decided to step in, try to meet some of the staff, which we were able to do. But in the process, someone who was working there said that he listens to Running to Win all the time and he had a younger man with him and said that everything that you teach us through Running to Win, I share with this younger man.

Well, it was just a pleasant reminder of the fact that the ministry of Running to Win impacts a lot of people. And it's because of people like you we can continue and to expand even into other countries and other languages.

Very quickly, would you consider becoming an Endurance Partner? That's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and with their gifts. Here's what you do: investigate it. Go to rtwoffer.com. Let me say that more slowly: go to rtwoffer.com and when you're there, you click on the Endurance Partner button.

Or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Consider becoming an Endurance Partner. It helps us to plan for the future and it's a reminder of the many people who stand with us. Go to rtwoffer.com, click on the Endurance Partner button.

It's time again for you to Ask Pastor Lutzer a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. The ordinance of baptism is our focus as we answer a question from Mary who asks, "Water baptism, should this be done at birth or is it something done when a person is mature enough to understand what it is he or she is doing?"

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Mary, you've asked an excellent question, and I don't need to tell you, do I, that it is a question that has divided the church throughout history and still does. So not everyone is going to be happy with my answer, but I need to answer it the way I believe God would want me to.

First of all, let me say that infant baptism arose in North Africa in the early centuries and soon it became the preferred means of baptism throughout all of Christendom because that infant baptism not only symbolized somehow the birth into God's family, but also it had huge nationalistic overtones and it was proof that Christianity was indeed engulfing the whole Roman Empire. That's a huge story that we can't get into.

But let me say this, that when you think of infant baptism, there are different interpretations of it. For example, Catholics and Lutherans believe that it is the means by which one becomes a child of God. "With this water, I make you a child of God," the priest or the minister may say. Whereas if you are baptized as an infant in a Presbyterian church or a Methodist church, that is more a sign of the covenant.

It's much closer to what we call today a dedication service, the dedication service of a child. But I need to say that as I look at the New Testament, it appears to me that baptism was always the believer responding to the work of God in his heart.

If salvation is something that takes place after you attain the age of accountability and you are older, it is then that baptism happened. And you can find this over and over again in the pages of the New Testament.

So we here at the Moody Church, and my conviction is, that one should be baptized upon profession of faith. Once you trust Christ as Savior and you know what you are doing, it is then that you announce to the world that you are dying to self, dying to sin, and you are alive unto Jesus Christ.

I hope this helps you, Mary. And if you've never been baptized, I hope you will be. And if you were baptized as an infant and you're not sure as to whether or not that baptism was really biblical and you want to be baptized as an adult, I encourage you to do that.

Dave McAllister: Thank you, Dr. Lutzer, and thank you, Mary, for that question. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website. You'll find that website at rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer, all one word, dot com. There, click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337.

You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. The return of Jesus to this earth will be the event of all time. The Bible says that every eye shall see him. When he comes, he'll take control and those who have loved and served him will be raised from the dead to greet him. Next time on Running to Win, don't miss the great climax to our series on what we believe. Running to Win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.