The Watchman’s Call

Dr. Andy Woods: We want to bring you back to our final installment here on The Watchman's Call, covering this series that we have been engaged in entitled One Second After the Rapture. What is in store for humanity one second after the Rapture? Well, first we talked about what's in store for the believer. It's very good news: a reunion, a resurrection, and a potential reward above and beyond salvation.

But what about for the unsaved world left behind? What's in store for them? We've seen seven of eight things. A perverted explanation for the missing people will be offered. There will be a huge change in God's program as the rules of the Holy Spirit will change, and there will be a trajectory from the church as God's instrument back to national Israel. There will be number three, an identification of the Antichrist. Everyone will know exactly who he is. Number four, there will be maximum global governance. Number five, one-world religion. Number six, a signs and wonders movement that will be satanic in nature. And then number seven, we speculated and postulated last time that one second after the Rapture will spell the immediate demise of the United States of America, potentially explaining why the United States of America is not found in the pages of Bible prophecy.

On our list of eight, let me take you to a final issue that the unbelieving world will experience one second after the Rapture. The world for the very first time will become a candidate for God's wrath. Now right now, the world is not a candidate for God's wrath because God's church is in the world, and God has promised the church an exemption from divine wrath. Now when I talk like this, I sometimes get pushback from people and they're saying, "Well, if we're not appointed unto wrath as Christians, then why are Christians suffering today all over the world?"

And the truth of the matter is Christians suffer greatly today, some even to the point of martyrdom, but that's not to be confused with divine wrath. There are all kinds of things that we are candidates for as Christians. Number one, we're candidates for the ordinary trials of life. Jesus told us in John 16, verse 33, that we are to take hope in our circumstances because He has overcome the world. Yet in the world, we will face tribulations. We are also candidates for man's wrath. Second Timothy 3, verse 12, Paul writes to Timothy and he says all who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

We're certainly candidates for Satan's wrath. Ephesians 6, verses 11 and 12, says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of this dark world. That, by the way, is why we must put on the full armor of God. We're under Satan's wrath constantly. And we're also candidates for the world's wrath. John 15, verses 18 and 19, there Jesus told us, "Do not marvel that the world hates you. Long before it hated you, it hated me. And if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but I have called you out of the world, and this is why the world hates you."

So what I am teaching here is not an easy life. It's not escapism. Christians go through trials, man's wrath, Satan's wrath, the world's wrath frequently. However, there is a form of wrath that we are exempted from, and that's divine wrath. That promise is made to the Christian over and over again in the New Testament. Let me give you a few examples. First Thessalonians 5, verse 9, says, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." First Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 10, is also another verse which tells us that we will be delivered, rescued from the wrath to come.

Romans chapter 5 and verse 9 says, "Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him." Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 says, "Therefore there now is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus." Can life get difficult for the Christian? Of course it can. But as difficult as life is, we are exempted from divine wrath. That is a promise that is made to us over and over again in the New Testament.

So my point is the wrath of God as we understand it, the wrath of God as we know it, cannot be poured out as long as the church is in the world because the church is exempted from God's wrath. Now what is the tribulation period? The tribulation period is a manifestation of the wrath of God. It's a very serious time period where Jesus in heaven is opening a seven-sealed scroll. And as He is opening that seven-sealed scroll, Revelation 5 He receives the scroll, Revelation 6 He begins to peel back the seals on this seven-sealed scroll. Every time He pulls back a seal, God's wrath comes to the planet.

The seventh seal will unleash the trumpet judgments, seven of them, which will manifest God's wrath on the earth. And the seventh trumpet will unleash the bowl judgments, which will manifest God's wrath upon the earth. And as this is happening, humanity is suffering greatly, not so much under the trials of life or man's wrath or Satan's wrath or the world's wrath, but God's wrath. And if people in that time period suffer under man's wrath and Satan's wrath and the world's wrath, which does happen, you have to understand that it's Jesus causing those things through the opening of the seven-sealed scroll in Revelation chapters 5 and 6.

So the events of the seven-year tribulation period are a description of the wrath of the Lamb. And how can the church be present during this time period when we have been promised over and over again that we are spared from God's wrath? Is the tribulation period a time of divine wrath? You bet it is. You'll find references to it in Revelation 6, verses 16 and 17; Revelation 11, verse 18; Revelation 15, verse 1 and verse 7; Revelation 16, verse 1 and verse 19.

And so severe is this time of wrath that by the time you get out of Revelation chapter 6, 25% of the world's population, caused by Jesus opening the seven-sealed scroll, will be wiped off the face of the earth. Revelation 6 and verse 8 says, "I looked and behold an ashen horse, and he who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, famine, and with pestilence, and by wild beasts of the earth."

Think about that. By the time you get to Revelation 6, verse 8, 25% of the world's population is wiped out, leaving three-quarters of the population. And then you get to Revelation 9. By the time you get outside of Revelation 9, we learn that of that remaining three-quarters, half of that group will be eliminated. It says this in Revelation chapter 9 and verse 15: "And the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released so that they would kill one-third of humanity."

I mean, think of a piece of pie. You divide it into quarters. Take one quarter away, and that's what Revelation 6 is talking about, leaving three-quarters. And then Revelation 9, verse 15, talks about a third of that group is destroyed. So take away another quarter, and how much of the pie remains? Half. And so by the time you get to the end of Revelation chapter 9, 50% of the human race will be completely and totally wiped out, caused by Jesus Himself in judgment, opening this seven-sealed scroll.

Here's a description of some of it in Revelation 6, verses 16 and 17. It says they said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the sight of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath," which is the Greek word orge, "of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" Romans chapter 2 and verse 5 describes this time period. It says, "Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

What a scary time this will be. No wonder it's described this way by Jesus in Matthew 24, verse 21: "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will." And no wonder it's described this way in Joel chapter 2 and verse 2. It says, "A day of darkness, a day of gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people. There has never been anything like it, nor will there be any again after it to the years of many generations."

This time period is described this way in Daniel 12 and verse 1: "Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise, and there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time. And at that time, your people, everyone whose name who is found written in the book will be rescued." Now that's a rescue operation for national Israel, but not the church.

So my point is everything changes one second after the Rapture. Right now, God's wrath, as wicked as this world has become, His wrath cannot be poured out on this planet because there's an entity living in the earth, living on the earth, which He tells us is not subjected to His coming wrath. But the moment that body, through the Rapture, the church, is taken away is the moment the world moves into a brand-new state in the sense that she now becomes a candidate for the any-moment manifestation of God's wrath.

God's wrath can't happen while the church is here. But once the church is gone and God has kept His promise that the church will be exempted from His wrath, then as we like to say, Katie bar the door, the wrath of God is coming upon this world as a tsunami. It's very similar to what we read about in the book of Genesis chapter 19, where there was a man named Lot. And this man Lot, as far as we can tell, truly was a believer. And the reason we know he was a believer is because when you go over to Second Peter 2, verses 7 through 9, he's called righteous Lot, a righteous man with a righteous soul. He's called godly.

And you look at this guy's life and he was anything but godly. I mean, he's the one that took his daughters and offered them sexually to a sodomite crowd. This is a man who is drunk with his daughters and in an incestuous relationship with them at the end of Genesis 19. And from those unholy unions came the Moabites and the Ammonites who became perennial enemies of Israel. This is a man who pitched his tent towards Sodom. This is a man who when he spoke up about spiritual things, his own relatives laughed at him because he didn't have a lifestyle that reflected his position and his profession.

And yet, Second Peter 2 calls him righteous three times, and godly. So what do you do with a guy like that? Well, he was someone that was saved, but his lifestyle did not match his profession or his position. And so, using modern-day vernacular, we might call Lot by the name a carnal Christian, a backslidden Christian. So when God came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, the destroying angel came to do that. This is what the destroying angel said to Lot in Genesis 19, verse 22. He said to Lot, "Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there."

Therefore, the name of the town was called Zoar. You'll notice that this angel that came to destroy the wicked city of Sodom and Gomorrah—and they were wicked to the absolute core—the angel himself says not, "I will not," but "I cannot do anything until you're taken out of the city." And so until Lot as a believer, as backslidden as he was, was removed, the wrath of God could not fall on Sodom and Gomorrah. But once Lot was out of the city, Sodom and Gomorrah became a candidate for the eminent overflowing wrath of God.

That in essence is the type of situation or scenario the world is in now. The world is very wicked, and yet God's wrath can't happen. The seven-sealed scroll can't be opened as long as the church is here because God has made certain commitments to the church that we are not candidates for His wrath. But one second after the Rapture, after the church has been removed, God's promise to the church and promises to the church having been fulfilled, then the world moves into this very scary, precarious situation where she becomes a candidate for God's wrath.

It's kind of interesting that in the flood story, God did not bring the flood until Noah and his wife, Noah's three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, and their respective wives were tucked safely and securely in the ark. But once the ark door was closed and God's people were protected, then the floodwaters manifested themselves in the form of God's wrath on planet Earth. And this entire world, the Bible tells us, was underwater. Eight only were saved from that in the ark.

That's kind of the transition the world is in now. God's wrath can't come upon this earth until God's people are taken out of harm's way, whether it's depicted as Enoch being raptured to heaven before the flood or Noah and his family being placed in the ark before the flood or even a backslider like Lot being taken out of harm's way before fiery judgment hit Sodom and Gomorrah. But when you look at this pattern, you see that our world today is in the same situation.

God's wrath can't manifest itself as long as the people that He's promised an exemption from His wrath are on the earth. But that all changes one second after the Rapture. God's word is complete, His word is fulfilled, and the world moves into the wrath of God. So everything changes one second after the Rapture. A perverted explanation will be offered for the missing people. There'll be a change in God's program. The world will identify the Antichrist clearly, they'll know who he is. Global governance will move to fruition. One-world religion will move to fruition. There'll be a signs and wonders movement. The United States of America will decline rapidly, and God's wrath is now in a situation where it can come to planet Earth.

One second after the Rapture, what's in store for the unbeliever? Eight things that we just went through. What's in store for the believer? Resurrection, reunion, and potential reward. Let's move into our last part of this, third major question we want to ask and answer: So what? How does this affect our lives today? I conclude this series by leaving you with three quick things. Number one, live for Jesus Christ. Romans 13, verses 11 and 12 says this: "Do this knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from your sleep, for salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is almost gone, the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."

Given the lateness of the hour and the inevitable events that are coming upon the human race and the time of grace that we have been given today, let's not waste that time. Let's not squander that time on fleeting things, sinful things, narcissistic things, self-absorbing things. Let's take all of that time, effort, and energy necessary to pour into the wood, hay, and stubble, and let's pour it into gold, silver, and costly stones. Let's live for Jesus because we have a unique opportunity to do that now. And let's not waste our time.

The second application I would leave with you is now is the time to reach the lost. Jesus said in Mark 16, verse 15, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." We want people to be part of the believing who will be leaving. Unless you're believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the promise of the Rapture doesn't apply to you. You're left behind to face these horrific events that we have been describing. But once you believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are baptized or identified into the body of Christ automatically by divine power. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13, and all of God's wonderful promises now apply to you, not the least of which is the any-moment appearance of our Lord in the Rapture to take us to heaven where we will not experience one millimeter, one iota of the wrath of God.

Don't you want people around you, unsaved friends, family members, neighbors to be included in that promise? Don't you want them to be part of the believing that will be leaving? Well, if that's true and we all want that, that gives us a great incentive to proclaim the gospel, to reach the gospel so that people can believe it so as to be saved. Now is the time to be proclaiming the gospel.

And my third point of application is now is the time, if you haven't done so, to believe the gospel. You might be listening to this program and have never heard these truths, never heard these things, wondering is there any hope for you? Is there any way out? And there is a way out, which is the cross of Christ. Christ's final words on the cross 2,000 years ago were "tetelestai," which is translated "paid in full." It's actually in the perfect tense there in John 19, verse 30—a one-time action in the past with ongoing results.

Jesus paid the full penalty for all of our rebellion against God. He asks us, He commands us to be saved not by trusting in our own efforts, which are nothing more than filthy rags before God, according to Isaiah 64, verse 6. Don't trust in your own works to be saved, but trust exclusively in the work that Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. He did everything that needs to be done to bridge the gap between lost man and a holy God, and He commands us to receive as a free gift what He did for us 2,000 years ago, which means to believe the gospel.

John chapter 5, verse 24, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death unto life." We encourage everyone within the sound of my voice to place their trust in Christ and be part of the believing that will be leaving.

Well, this has been quite a study that we have had the privilege of experiencing, enjoying with you. Things of the future, things that the Bible testifies to, things that are coming upon the earth one second after the Rapture. The Rapture is a game-changer. How does it apply to us? Live for Christ, reach the lost, believe the gospel because something very significant and serious is coming upon the human race one second after the Rapture. A perverted explanation will be offered, there'll be a change in God's program, the Antichrist will be identified, global governance will reach fruition, there'll be a one-world religion, a signs and wonders movement, the demise of the United States of America, and God's wrath. But for the believer, it's very good news: there'll be a reunion, a resurrection, and a potential for reward. The Rapture is coming, and whether you fall on one side of the ledger or the other is completely determined by your response to the gospel. Our show is all about the gospel and evangelism and using prophecy as a mechanism to evangelize the lost. And so we hope, trust, and pray that many people within the sound of my voice, even as I am speaking, will be placing their personal trust and faith in Jesus Christ. Hope you enjoyed the series. We'll be back at you with a further series yet future. God bless you.