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Speaker: Rev. Shine Thomas
Posted on: 2010-11-21
Series: Revelation

Introduction

Scientific experts from around the world are predicting that in a matter of years all life on Earth could well come to an end. Some are saying it’ll be humans that would set it off because of nuclear wars and atomic explosions. Others believe that a natural phenomenon like sun storms, volcanoes, and the shifting of the earth’s magnetic field could be the cause. Some religious folk say it’ll be God himself who would press the stop button. The Mayans who are expert in predicting the future say the end of the world will be in 2012. Well what the world is thinking about now has been said thousands of years ago in the Bible.

This morning we are going to see the Biblical prophesy of the end times.

In order to understand the biblical prophesy about the end times we have to study Revelation along with the OT prophesies and the gospel according to Matthew. When we put these scriptures together we get the most comprehensive complete view of what God is going to do in future.

Revelation 1:1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. John opens and introduces that it is he who is giving the Revelation. The revelation means to pull back a veil where you are able to see the future. So God pulls back the veil to show us the future. In Revelation Ch. 1-3 John gives greetings to the 7 churches of Asia. Then the fourth chapter of Revelation begins where John sees an open door in heaven.

Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

We can find several facts here:

a. Heaven is a reality. If heaven is a reality then hell also is a reality. Many folks in present day world do not believe in heaven or hell. The Bible says heaven and hell are reality and we will spend eternity either in heaven or in hell.

b. The door of heaven is still open. It is a door of invitation. Jesus is the door. Jesus is the only way to heaven.

c. John is in heaven in Revelation 4.

Revelation Ch. 4 onwards God is taking John right into the future to the day when we are going to be in heaven with God. The process of us going to heaven is called the rapture. Rapture means caught up or caught away.

How does rapture take place?

1 Thessalonians 4:14, 16-17 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

a. Jesus is coming again.
b. Dead in Christ will rise first.
c. Then we who are alive will be caught up into the clouds to meet our Lord.
d. This is called the rapture.

Once we get to heaven we are going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Now there are 5 judgments mentioned in the end times. The first judgment happens immediately after the rapture and this is the judgment for the believer’s works. Your work and my work on earth will be judged by God. 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

After the rapture all of us are to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There will not be any unbelievers there. Paul says when we get to heaven there are going to be only 2 substances that we carry with us to heaven. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

When we stand in heaven we will bring along our deeds that we did on earth. All what we did for the Lord; the ministries, the giving, the good work will come up in heaven with us. The Bible describes our deeds as either gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay, and straw.

Now, God is a consuming fire. You bring wood, hay or stubble in the presence of God and it is burned up. You bring gold, silver, and precious stones into the consuming fire and it only is purified. I cannot know why you do what you do for the Lord. I am a human being and cannot know your motive for what you do. But when you get to heaven and get before God on judgment day, God is going to put your motive on display and if you served the Lord from a self-serving sense for what you got out of it, all that you will have is wood, hay, and straw and God will consume it. It will never remain in heaven. You will have a smell of smoke upon you, your soul will be saved but for the next million years people are going to be sniffing you because you are going to be smelling burnt.

Tribulation

While the judgment of the saints is going on in heaven, this world will go through a period of tribulation.

Tribulation – Means Great affliction, trial, distress, suffering.

Tribulation, trials, persecution has always been the part of mankind right from the time he came out of the Garden of Eden. All the present tribulation has been primarily man against man or man against the body of Christ, the church. But in the book of Matthew 24 there is a verse of scripture that relates to a type of persecution and trial that is different from all of these.

Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

This speaks of a time of great tribulation the world has never seen. This tribulation is brought forth by God upon the people of this earth where God’s wrath is released upon this earth.

Why does God send the Tribulation?

Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

The tribulation is for people who do not repent and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. God will give to every wicked person according to that which he has done in his body. God’s wrath is your choice. Do not ever get the idea that God puts it on some people and does not put on the others. If you choose to obey God, you are washed with the blood of Jesus, and he takes you to heaven before releasing his wrath upon the earth.

Being in heaven or to be left behind is your choice.
The Bible very clearly says God blesses those who choose to obey God and punishes who disobey him. Deuteronomy 30:19 I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

If we choose to obey God, God will bless us and save us. If we choose to disobey God we are going to have the consequences of that. The Bible speaks God’s wrath is a result of man’s choice.

In Genesis Ch. 2-3 God said to Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan seduced them to eat the fruit and God cursed the man and woman, drove them out of the Garden of Eden. Man chose God’s wrath.

Noah’s generation chose the wrath of God. God asked Noah to make an ark. Noah started making the ark and preached about the righteousness of God. People mocked and laughed at him. Finally when the boat was made God shut the door of the ark. The fountains of the deep and the widows of heaven were opened. The water started rising on the earth. People began to run to the ark and said we believe you now, we believe you now, open the ark but the door was already closed. The strongest of the strong ran to the mountains. All died and perished until the earth was buried in water. God said I am the judge of all the earth. I have power. The man who does not acknowledge me will experience the wrath of God.

Do not get the idea that you are stronger, greater, beyond the reach of God. The wrath came because people rejected God, God’s word, God’s man. Jesus Christ is the ark of our salvation, he is the only hope and the door of mercy is open today. If you come today you can be received but if rapture happens today, it is over and you can be in for the wrath or the tribulation of God. Think about that. Some of you have chosen to reject Jesus Christ. You have chosen to reject the word of God. The people outside have chosen to reject the gospel. The Bible says the wrath of God; tribulation is going to come upon them.

The purpose of Tribulation.

1. To demonstrate God’s hatred for Sin.

Isaiah 26:20-21 20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. 21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people.

God does not like sin. God hates sin and he is going to judge every sinner. Every liar is going to answer for every lie. Do you know there are people in this church who carry a Bible and sing but lie on a regular basis? You are not going to heaven.
Every adulterer is going to give an account to God.
Every gossiper and talebearer is going to given an account for their talks.
Every thief is going to give an account, murderer.
On the day of wrath everyone will have to answer for their sins and confess Jesus is Lord.

2. To bring the surviving Jews to Christ.

Israel is God’s chosen people and they are still his chosen people. You and I know the Messiah, Jesus Christ has already come, lived, died, rose again and gone to heaven. However the Jews never received him. John 1:11-12 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

Jesus came primarily for the Jews but they did not receive him. Instead we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. We became the body of Christ, the church. Even though the Jews rejected Jesus, God never rejects the Jews.

Romans 11:1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people.

Romans 11:25-27 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Therefore God has planned the tribulation to get Israel ready to accept the Messiah, Lord Jesus Christ.

3. To liberate creation from its bondage.

The very creation; the earth, the plants, the mountains, seas etc because of man’s sin has been subjected to the curse of God and has become "vain" or useless in regard to God’s original design of it. When man sinned God cursed the earth.

Genesis 3:17-19 “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

The earth is waiting for that curse to be lifted by God.

The earth is waiting for that curse to be lifted by God.

Romans 8:19-21 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

When God’s wrath is released against man’s sins in tribulation, it gives way for man’s sins to be punished and earth’s curse to be lifted. The tribulation will give way for God to restore earth back to its original glory.

4. To break the power of the nations.

Today the worldly nations like USA, Israel, Russia, India, China, Iran, Japan, Germany etc are very powerful. They do not need God. They have high economy, technology, science, military power. The Bible says during tribulation there will be such great wars, famines, pestilence, earthquakes. By the end of the tribulation period when it is time for Christ to appear the nations will be powerless before God.

Isaiah 24:21 In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.

Now let us see the time period of tribulation. Tribulation is 7 years, 2 periods of 3-1/2 years. The first period is called the tribulation. The second period is called the great tribulation because the suffering is greater. The first thing that happens in the tribulation following the rapture of the church is the appearance of the beast, the antichrist. In revelation 6 this is the man on the white horse.

Next week we are going to study the antichrist, its work and the world events in tribulation.

Conclusion

Heaven and hell is a reality. Tribulation is a reality. God does not want us to go to hell or go though tribulation. The door of heaven is still open and Jesus is the only way to heaven. For all those of who have not received Jesus as your saviour this is an opportunity to book your seats in heaven. For those who have accepted Christ and still living in sin this is your opportunity to be cleansed and be ready for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s pray.