The Watchman’s Call

Guest (Male): Standing at the intersection of the word and the world, there is a clear sound for uncertain times. Welcome to The Watchman’s Call. Join us as we stand on the ramparts of Scripture to examine the intersection of biblical prophecy and modern culture. The headlines are changing, but the blueprint has already been written. Listen as Pastor Andy Woods uncovers the prophetic significance of the world we live in. The Watchman’s Call starts now.

Dr. Andy Woods: We're dealing with the subject of the rapture: truth or fiction? Is the rapture really something found in the Bible? We've discovered that it is a doctrine found in the Bible, and the Bible has an awful lot to say about it. We're basing our study off of two areas of Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Thus far in this series, we've developed about eight truths concerning the rapture from those areas of the Bible. We've seen it's an important doctrine. It's distinct from the Second Advent. It will involve the catching away of all living believers. It will be a reunion. It will be a resurrection. It will be an exemption from death for an entire generation of Christians. It will be instantaneous. We saw last time in 1 Corinthians 15:51 that it's a mystery. It's part of Church Age truth, which also was a mystery, meaning something in the past hidden but now unveiled. The rapture is simply how the Church Age is going to end. It started with a miracle in Acts 2, and it will end with this miraculous occurrence called the rapture.

Let's take us, if we could, to a ninth area describing and defining the rapture. Number nine: the rapture is imminent. What does that mean? It means any moment, signless. There is no prophetic sign or series of signs which has to happen first before the rapture can occur. It could occur in the next split second. It could occur before this broadcast is over.

Paul, over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 15, says, "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we..." Paul thought this could happen in his lifetime. "We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep." Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I believe it's verse 51, he says, "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will be changed."

When Paul describes the rapture, he never lays out a series of signs that has to manifest itself before the rapture can occur. It is not something that is near; that's not the way to describe it. It's something that's next. Remember those Velcro plastic balls that we used to enjoy with our kids or maybe in our own youth? You could throw them up on the ceiling and they would stick there, and they could come down at any minute, but you just didn't know when. That's what the rapture is. Any minute it could fall off the ceiling and come back to the floor. That's how the Lord has set up the rapture. It is something that is signless.

When this doctrine of the rapture is described, it's never described as being preceded by a bunch of prophetic signs. James chapter 5, verse 8 says, "You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near." Some translations say "at hand." Notice 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 10, that we have read before. It says, "And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." We're not waiting for the wrath to come; we're waiting for Jesus to come from heaven to rescue us from that coming wrath.

Notice, if you will, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 7. Paul writes, "So that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul, in the book of Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20, says, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." You see, we're not focused on the Antichrist. We're not focused on the tribulation period. We're not focused on the mark of the beast. We know those things are coming, but we're focused squarely on the rapture, which is something that is signless. This is what we mean by imminency.

Wayne Brindle, in an academic article, defines imminency as follows: "Four criteria may be suggested, any one of which indicates imminence. Number one: the passage speaks of Christ's return at any moment. Number two: the passage speaks of Christ's return as near, without stating any signs that must precede His coming. Number three: the passage speaks of Christ's return as something that gives believers hope and encouragement without indicating that these believers will suffer tribulation. Number four: the passage speaks of Christ's return as giving hope without relating it to God's judgment of unbelievers." All of those passages that I read earlier fit those criteria for imminence. 1 Corinthians 15:51, 1 Thessalonians 4:15, James 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Corinthians 1:7, and Philippians 3:20.

Now, Jesus, as I have indicated before, revealed the doctrine of the rapture for the very first time in John 14, verses 1 through 3. Notice how Jesus portrays this coming of Christ in such a way that it's the next event on the prophetic horizon. No signs will precede it. Again, He says, "Do not let your heart be 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. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

He doesn't say, "I'm coming for you, but first Israel has to be born as a nation, second the temple has to be desecrated, third the mark of the beast system has to be in full swing, fourth the seals and the trumpets and most of the bowls have to elapse, fifth Armageddon has to occur." Jesus never talks that way. What He talks about is His any-moment appearing, which will be the event of the rapture. If all of that is true, I'm not looking for the Antichrist; I'm looking for Jesus Christ.

As one man put it, I'm not looking for the undertaker; I'm looking for the upper-taker. This will change your perspective as a Christian. I was on one program not long ago where the host made this statement: he said, "I love the smell of Armageddon in the morning." Well, I don't. I'm not looking for Armageddon first; I'm looking for Jesus first before the events of Armageddon transpire.

I'm looking at a book right now. I've got it on my PowerPoint here. The title of it is *First the Antichrist*. That's the title of the book, *First the Antichrist*. I can't think of a title of a book that I'm more opposed to than that one. The Bible doesn't teach first the Antichrist. What it teaches is first Jesus Christ and then the Antichrist.

Now, you might be asking yourself, well then, what do we do with all of these signs of the times? Haven't you, Pastor Andy, even on this broadcast talked about the signs of the times? Haven't you talked about the move in Israel to rebuild the temple and the red heifer and the sacrificial system? Haven't you talked about the mark of the beast technology that we see all around us? Haven't you talked about the New World Order? Are you now reversing yourself and saying those things aren't important? I'm not saying they're not important. What I'm saying is they're not our focus.

Let me give you an analogy that many Bible teachers have used that I think makes sense. When you see Santa Claus, Christmas tree lights, and you hear Christmas music on the radio, you know what you say? You say Thanksgiving is near because Thanksgiving occurs earlier on the calendar than Christmas, and the signs of Christmas indicate that Thanksgiving is coming even faster. That's how to understand rapture teaching. Yes, our world is being plunged into being set up for the Great Tribulation period, but because Jesus is coming back first, because Jesus is coming back next, we believe that His coming will precede the seven-year tribulation period. Therefore, we are focused on Him, not the tribulation period.

If I didn't believe in imminency, I would spend my life depressed, saying, "Wow, I'm going to be plunged into the seven-year tribulation period. Maybe I'll be martyred. Maybe I'll survive." But I don't think that way because I take very seriously this doctrine of imminency, that the next event on the prophetic horizon is the rapture of the church. As our world is being set up for the tribulation period, and there's a bunch of signs that have to happen before the Second Advent, don't get me wrong. But as our world is being set up for that scenario, imminency tells me that Jesus is coming back next. He's coming back first. Scripture informs me of all the other prophetic events, but that's not my focus.

What a motivation for godliness and holiness that is. 1 John 3:2 and 3 says, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

It's interesting. My parents used to, when I was younger—high school, teenage years—living at their home, they would put me in charge of their home and they would say, "Now, Andy, we're going to leave Friday and we're going to come back Sunday." So what do you think I did as a teenager between Friday and Sunday? Well, you have some friends over, let the place sort of deteriorate, and then Sunday morning rolls around, you get nervous, you tidy everything up, and Mom and Dad come back and everything is in apple-pie order.

Well, one day my parents did something different. They said, "We're leaving Friday and we can come back anytime between Friday evening and Sunday." Do you think that had a different impact on my stewardship of their home? You see, that's what imminency does. When you see the rapture as a signless event, not preceded by any sign that could happen in the next split second, it has a great impact on our personal holiness.

That's what 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3 says. I can't tell you how many times I've been in conversations with people and the conversation will get gossipy, and we'll start to go a direction that maybe we shouldn't go, and I just say, "You know what? I'm not going to be involved in this conversation because it would be embarrassing for Jesus to come back and find me in that conversation." So I'll stay away from it.

There have been other times where I've been channel surfing and I'm by myself. It's late at night and everyone's asleep, and something comes on the TV that maybe is involved in too much violence or other types of things, and I'll say, "You know what? I'm just going to not watch this because Jesus can come back and find me watching that program, and He says to me, 'Oh, this is how you've been spending your time,' and I would be embarrassed." So this imminency concept has a tremendous impact on our daily life.

It'll have a huge impact on your evangelism because you've got people in your family and people that work alongside of you that don't know Jesus, and you want them to be part of the believing, this leaving. So you'll share the gospel with them. If you don't share the gospel with them, then they're going to be left behind to experience the wrath of God. This is why I believe Satan has worked so hard to stamp out the doctrine of the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Very few churches will teach this.

The reason Satan hates it so much is he knows that if this toothpaste is let out of the toothpaste tube, so to speak, if this genie is let out of the bottle, it's going to have a natural motivator towards personal evangelism. It will have a natural stimulation on daily holy living. Satan doesn't want that in the church, and so he works overtime to raise up voices to attack over and over again the doctrine of the rapture, the any-moment appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of my great heroes in Christianity is the late Dr. Tim LaHaye. I've been involved in his study group going all the way back to 2001, and he would have people in the Dallas area give academic papers defending the rapture. Every year, as the leader of this group, before these papers were presented, he would get up behind the lectern and he would say, "Now, the reason we're defending this doctrine is because wherever the doctrine of the imminent return of Christ is taught, there's a natural stimulus for evangelism. There is a natural stimulus for daily living and holiness."

Notice what J. Dwight Pentecost writes in his wonderful book, *Prophecy for Today*. He says, "A short time ago, I took occasion to go through the New Testament to mark each reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and to observe the use made of that teaching about His coming. I was struck anew with the fact that almost without exception, when the coming of Christ is mentioned in the New Testament, it is followed by an exhortation to godliness and holy living."

I actually heard Dr. Pentecost say that in a class I took with him. At the time he said it, I didn't think it was true, but I've done my own research. I've done my own studying. You do your research and you do your own studying. You go through the New Testament and you mark every reference to the return of Christ, and what you're going to see is when the return of Christ is mentioned in Scripture, it is always connected with daily living like holiness, like patience under trial, personal evangelism, and these kinds of things. This is why Satan hates the doctrine of the imminent return of Christ and seeks to stamp it out.

Let me take you to one final, if I may, doctrine or truth concerning the rapture. I'm not sure if I can cover this all in this session, but I can at least introduce it. Number 10: the rapture is a traditional doctrine now being recovered. Opponents of the rapture say, "Where is this doctrine taught in the church fathers? Where is this doctrine taught in the creeds and the confessions and the traditions of the church? Nobody ever believed this until John Nelson Darby advanced it in the 1830s."

Now, when people go this direction, you have to understand that they're involved in three logical fallacies. The first fallacy is the recency fallacy, which assumes something is true if it's old. Well, I can show you old truths that aren't truths and new things that are true. The second fallacy that is involved is the ad populum fallacy, which is the idea that something is true if the majority says it's true. Well, I can show you examples in the Bible where something is true and the majority rejects it. Look at the spies that spied out Canaan. They wanted to go in and subdue the giants and the majority said, "We're not going in." The two spies, Joshua and Caleb, said, "We are going in." The majority was against them. Who ended up being right and who ended up being wrong? Not the majority, but the minority.

Jesus Himself said in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, "Broad is the road that leads to destruction, many there are that go that way. Narrow is the road that leads to life, few there are which find it." Another logical fallacy that's used when people say, "Where is the doctrine of the rapture in the church fathers and the creeds and the confessions of the church?" is the genetic fallacy where you say something is true or not true based on the source from which it came.

A lot of people like to dig up dirt on Darby, on C.I. Scofield, and they try to say because these men are corrupted, because these men are tainted, what they taught concerning the rapture is erroneous. When the truth of the matter is, God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines. Let me let you in on a little secret here, folks: God doesn't use perfect people. You know why? There aren't any. When He wants to use a human vessel, other than Christ Himself obviously, He's got to use someone who is imperfect.

So you don't determine whether an idea is true or not true based on the character of the source from which it comes if they're drawing their material from the Scripture. If the material comes from the Scripture, then it doesn't matter who it comes from; it's true. So you have to understand that when people get into this subject of where is the rapture found in the fathers, the creeds, the confessions, the traditions of the church, they're using three logical fallacies: the recency fallacy, the ad populum fallacy, and the genetic fallacy.

Let me share this with you as well. This same argument was used against Martin Luther. Martin Luther, Protestant Reformation, 16th century, Diet of Worms with Dr. Eck, as Luther was trying to defend the doctrine of sola fide, salvation by faith alone. Eck would say, "Where is this doctrine in the monks and the popes and the papacy and the priests?" Therefore, this doctrine that you're teaching, sola fide, faith alone, is a false doctrine.

Luther would say, "meine Frau," which in German means "my wife," referring to the book of Galatians. He says, "I find this doctrine in the book of Galatians, which has become meine Frau, metaphorically my wife." He would say to Eck, who was trying to argue from church tradition, "Eck, I ask for the sun and he shows me his lanterns. I want proof from Scripture," and Eck adduces the church fathers.

So this argument that, boy, don't believe something is true because it's not found in church history, you have to understand that that same argument was advanced against Luther. Luther stood on Scripture. He called it sola scriptura, Scripture itself. He says it doesn't matter what the popes and the priests and the confessions taught on the doctrine of sola fide; it is true because it's found in the pages of Scripture, Galatians, meine Frau.

So when today the critics say, "How can you believe the rapture when no one ever taught this until John Nelson Darby, 1830?" as we're going to see, that's a false claim. But even if it's true, so what? If it's in the Scripture, it doesn't matter who taught it, when they taught it, when it was discovered, when it was uncovered. Sola scriptura. To blame Darby for the rapture is the equivalent of blaming the doctrine of salvation by faith alone on Luther. This is just a silly argument because Luther and Darby found their doctrines substantiated in the pages of God's word.

So what is the rapture? As I'll be showing you, it is a traditional doctrine now gradually being recovered. Something that was lost to church history but now it's been gradually restored. So it doesn't matter who taught it when. What matters is, do we find it in the pages of God's word?

I hope you're enjoying this series that we're doing on the rapture of the church. We've been looking at 10 realities concerning the rapture. We're on number 10: it's a traditional doctrine now in a state of recovery. The prior nine points we have already covered in this series, and number 10 is so significant and it's so important that we're going to wrap up our series in our next show together by spending just a little bit more time on number 10 as we're examining the question: what is the rapture? Rapture: truth or fiction? Thanks for listening. God bless you.

Guest (Male): You’ve been listening to The Watchman’s Call, exploring the intersection of prophecy and culture. This program is a ministry of Sugar Land Bible Church, a place where the Bible is taught and the times are discerned. Visit this Sunday in person or connect with them anytime at slbc.org. That’s slbc.org. Until next time, may the Lord give you a spirit of discernment in the week ahead.