Now if you would, turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 4, and what I want to preach about tonight is the day of the Lord, and we just read about it in Isaiah 13, being prophesied, and there were some immediate prophecies for the near future that God gave to his eye, and then there were some that were basically talking about the latter days and the day of the Lord, and that's what I want to talk about tonight, but we're going to start on 1 Thessalonians 4, we're going to study this subject tonight.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse number 13, but before we read verse 13, let me explain to you some principles about studying the Bible.
Here's a good rule of thumb for studying the Bible. If there's something that you're being taught in church, or somebody's trying to teach you something, and it's something that somebody has to teach you because you wouldn't figure it out from reading it on your own, it's probably not right.
Because, you see, the Bible is a book that's meant to be understood. God's not trying to deceive, God's not trying to make it difficult.
And so, really, the Bible's meant to be understood, and if somebody has to explain to you some complicated interpretation of the Bible, it's probably not true.
Because if it's not the clear teaching that you can just read and see what it says, and understand it, really with the faith of a child, then it's probably a false doctrine.
There's actually a scientific principle, I forget the name of this principle, but when you learn about science, and maybe somebody knows what it's called, but there's a scientific principle that says that when you're studying science and you're looking for an explanation to something,
if one explanation is very simple, and the other one is extremely complicated, it's usually the simple explanation that's right. Does anybody know what it's called?
Occam's razor, thank you very much. And so that makes sense, because God is not trying to write the Bible in such a way where we need a man to interpret it for us.
The Bible says, ye need not that any man teach you, 1 John chapter 2, he said, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him.
You see, the Holy Spirit ought to be our teacher. 90% of what we learn from the Bible should be from our own personal Bible study, and maybe the other 10% we're getting in church.
Because we should be searching the scripture daily whether these things are so that we're hearing in church, and not just relying on a man.
But if it's something that has to be taught to you by a man, kind of like we talked about this morning where the Galatians got into false doctrine, Paul said, this persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? Somebody came in and taught you this and confused you with all this false doctrine.
You see, the Bible means what it says, and it says what it means. And if you go into it that way, and you take it literally, whatever possible, and just read it for what it says, it's very easy to understand.
Now, let's begin reading this in verse number 13. The Bible reads in 1 Thessalonians 4.13,
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
Now, here Paul is talking to them about loved ones that have died. And he says, I don't want you to sorrow like those that have no hope about those that are asleep in Jesus.
And that's what the Bible refers to as those who died. They didn't really die because they're alive in heaven.
So he says that they're asleep. Their body's sleeping in the grave, their soul and spirit are alive and well in heaven.
And if you look at the last verse of the chapter, in verse 18, he says, Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
So the context of this passage is that they've had lost, I mean, saved loved ones that have gone on to be with the Lord.
They miss their loved one. They wish they could see them again. And he explains to them, I don't want you to sorrow like you have no hope.
I want to comfort you with these words about your loved one that has gone on to be with the Lord.
Here's the comfort that he gives. He says in verse 14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them.
So basically the comfort here is that you will see your loved one again. If they were saved and they are asleep in Jesus, he says, you will see them again.
You don't have to mourn like those who have no hope. He said, If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
There he brings them up again, those who have gone on to be with the Lord. He says, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Now you notice there that in verse 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, they all mention those who are asleep in Jesus or the dead in Christ. Every single verse.
That's the subject. That's what he's referring to. That's the comfort that you're going to see them again.
The comfort is not that somehow this is an escape from any kind of persecution that you're going to go through in your life or tribulation.
Go back to chapter 3. It says in chapter 3, verse 4,
For verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and ye know.
So believers have always gone through tribulation. They've always gone through trials and persecution and troubles.
And this is not saying that we're going to escape that. This is just explaining that when Jesus Christ comes back in the clouds, the trumpet's going to sound,
and basically the dead in Christ will rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.
This is what's known as the rapture. It's really going to happen. A real event, Jesus Christ's second coming, is a literal, real event that's coming someday.
But let's not stop reading in verse 18. Let's read chapter 5, verse 1, because the thought is continued.
You see, the word at the beginning of verse 1 in chapter 5, who can tell me what part of speech that word is but?
That is a conjunction. A conjunction joins two phrases or two clauses or two sentences together.
And here we have a conjunction, which shows that we're not starting a brand new thought.
We're picking up right where we left off and saying,
But of the times and the seasons, brethren. The times and the seasons of what?
Of what we just read about. Of Jesus Christ coming in the clouds. Of the trumpet sounding.
See, you just have to read the Bible just the way it reads, just for what it says.
He says, But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Now, if we just read this for what it says, then basically we would equate the day of the Lord with what we just read about.
Because otherwise he'd say, Well, of the times and the seasons, brethren, of Jesus coming in the clouds and the trumpet sounding,
ye have no need that I write unto you because of...
And he's just going to talk about a totally different event?
Because the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night?
Now, if that were a totally different event, would it make any sense for him to say,
Because the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the light, you have no need for me to write unto you the times and seasons of the rapture.
Obviously, the rapture and the day of the Lord are going to happen at the same time,
or else he wouldn't connect them with a conjunction and say,
That's why you don't need me to tell you about the times and the seasons.
Because you know that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Now, that's very simple to understand. Let's keep reading.
He says in verse 3,
For when they shall say...
He didn't say when we say or when believers say. He said,
When they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
So, they are the ones that are going to get all the destruction and travail.
Not us. They are.
Watch what he says next.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
So, Jesus is not coming as a thief in the night if you're a believer.
It will not catch you off guard. You will not be surprised.
The unbeliever will be surprised, because they're going to say,
Peace and safety, and then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
We are all the children of light and the children of the day.
He said, We are not of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love,
and for an helmet the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Very simple to understand this passage, right?
The trumpet's going to sound, Jesus Christ comes in the clouds.
That is known as the day of the Lord, and the same day,
sudden destruction comes upon those who are not saved, who are not believers.
So basically, God pours out His wrath the same day that Jesus Christ comes in the clouds
and removes us in the rapture up into the clouds.
Go back to Isaiah 13.
Because you see, the day of the Lord is a subject that's mentioned throughout the Bible many, many times.
The Old Testament is filled with references to the day of the Lord, the book of Isaiah especially.
This is one of my favorites, but it's all throughout the Bible.
And when we went through Isaiah week by week, we saw many, many different times.
But look at Isaiah 13, and look at verse 9.
The Bible says,
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with wrath,
you notice God's wrath mentioned,
and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Watch verse 10.
For the stars of heaven and the consolations thereof shall not give their light.
The sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity,
and I will cause the arrogance of the prophecies, and I will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
So notice that when the day of the Lord comes, and God's wrath and destruction comes,
notice he said the sun and the moon will be darkened, the stars will not give their light,
and then he says in verse number 13,
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place,
in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
Look at Joel.
Short book toward the end of the Old Testament.
The book of Joel.
One of the minor prophets.
Ezekiel, Daniel are big books that you're familiar with.
And there's some of the smaller books.
Hosea, Joel.
So just a few books after Daniel.
Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel.
Look at Joel chapter 2.
Joel chapter number 2, and you'll see the exact same thing taught.
The Bible's very consistent.
It says in verse number 30,
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood and fire and pillows of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood
before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
Now that's pretty clear, isn't it?
Before the great and terrible day of the Lord come,
the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.
And watch the next verse.
That whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
as the Lord hath said,
and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
So notice that the day of the Lord is associated with the sun and moon being darkened first.
Then the day of the Lord comes,
and then there's deliverance for those who've called upon the name of the Lord.
Look, if you would, at Matthew 24.
Matthew chapter 24.
First book in the New Testament, Matthew.
Matthew 24.
See how consistent the Bible is?
Look at Matthew 24.
You see, the day of the Lord is always associated with the sun and moon being darkened.
Look at Matthew 24, 29.
The Bible reads,
immediately after the tribulation of those days.
Now, can somebody tell me,
is there anything hard to understand about the phrase that I just read?
It's pretty simple, isn't it?
Immediately after.
That means right after.
Okay, does it mean before?
Does it mean during?
No, it says immediately after the tribulation of those days.
The sun shall the sun be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light.
Does this sound familiar?
And the stars shall fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven,
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds.
Does that sound familiar?
1 Thessalonians 4.
With power and great glory,
and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet.
You remember the sound of the trumpet?
He says,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds
from one end of heaven to the other.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree.
Remember the stars of heaven would fall to the earth like figs from a fig tree?
He said,
when his branch is yet tender and put forth leaves,
ye know that summer is not.
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,
know that it is near even at the doors.
You see,
we are not in darkness that that day should overtake us as a thief.
When we see these things come to pass,
we'll know that it's near even at the doors.
He says,
verily I say unto you,
this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.
He's explaining that at the beginning of the chapter
when he starts to describe the tribulation,
and the brother delivering up the brother to death,
and all the false Christs saying,
I'm Jesus Christ.
He said,
it's all going to happen in one generation,
is what he's saying.
He's not saying that the people he's talking to would not pass.
He's saying from the time that these things begin to come to pass,
that generation will not pass.
A lot of people teach that the events of Revelation
took place over the course of a thousand years during the middle ages,
or that it's some ongoing thing throughout the history of the world.
No.
He said this is happening in one generation.
This is a short term thing that's going to happen.
When these things begin to come to pass,
he said it's coming.
Jesus Christ is coming.
And you'll see these things come to pass.
He says in verse number 35,
heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away,
but of that day and hour knoweth no man.
Of what day and hour?
Of Jesus coming in the clouds, of the day of the Lord.
He said,
knoweth no man,
know not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only.
But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
For as the days of Noah,
they were before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage
until the day that Noah entered into the ark.
Basically, that's your peace and safety.
They think everything's fine.
He says,
and knew not until the flood came and took them all away,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
Then shall two be in the field,
the one shall be taken and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill,
the one shall be taken and the other left.
Watch therefore, for you know not what hour
your Lord doth come.
You don't know the day or the hour,
but you do know the times and the seasons,
because when you begin to see these things come to pass,
you'll know that it is nigh even at the doors.
You see, many people will try to twist the Bible.
Now, be logical, my friend.
If you start reading the Bible
and you start to read the New Testament,
what's the first book you're probably going to read
when you start reading the New Testament?
The book of Matthew.
Now, when I was 12 years old,
I decided that I wanted to read the whole New Testament
when I was 12.
And I picked up the New Testament.
I started reading the book of Matthew.
And I got to Matthew 24,
and I read it as a 12-year-old boy,
and I said, you know what?
I always thought that that was wrong,
what they taught me at Christian school and in church,
that Jesus could come at any moment.
Everybody's going to disappear.
Nobody's going to know what happened.
Everybody's going to be saying, where is everybody?
I said, you know, I knew that wasn't right.
Something didn't set well with me.
And I read this, and I said, it's not true.
It says after the tribulation.
It says the sun and moon are going to be darkened,
and I don't think people are going to be wondering
what happened because the sun and moon were darkened,
and they saw Jesus coming in the clouds.
They'll know what happened.
They won't be saying, where is everybody?
They'll be saying to the mountains and rocks,
fall on us and hide us from the face of the Lamb,
or from the face of him that sits on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb.
For the great day of his wrath is come,
and you shall be able to stand.
That's what they're going to be saying.
But you see, we've been deceived,
and this is the first chapter you read
as you're reading the New Testament
that goes into the second coming, goes into the rapture.
Now, many people will say, well, Pastor Anderson,
you need to realize that Matthew 24 is talking to the Jews.
That's what they'll say.
Now, first of all, I believe that every promise in the book is mine,
every chapter, every verse, every line.
I don't know what Jews this is written to.
Are you believing Jews?
Or saved Christians?
Because I thought that in Christ there's neither Jew nor Gentile,
so I didn't know that that was a big deal.
But they say it's talking to the Jews.
Well, flip over if you would to Revelation chapter 6.
Keep your finger there.
Look at Revelation chapter 6.
You see, you've got to just learn how to read the Bible
and just read it for yourself
and not let people twist it around on you.
I mean, if it's clear, it's clear.
Look at Revelation chapter 6, and the Bible goes through this.
It says in verse 1,
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,
and I heard as the word the noise of thunder,
one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
And I saw him behold a white horse,
and he that sat on him had a bow,
and a crown was given unto him,
and he went forth conquering and to conquer.
And when he had opened the second seal,
I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
And there went out another horse that was red,
and power was given to him that sat there on,
to take peace from the earth,
and that they should kill one another,
and there was given unto him a great sword.
So when the first horseman comes,
you have a man riding on a white horse,
he has a bow in his hand,
and a crown upon his head,
and he goes forth conquering and to conquer.
That is the antichrist, the imposter of Jesus Christ.
Jesus will come on a white horse.
This man comes on a white horse to conquer the world.
The second horse comes out, and there's all kinds of warfare.
And it's basically World War III.
You know, men are killing each other.
There's no peace in the earth.
The third seal is in verse 5.
And when he had opened the third seal,
I heard the third beast say, Come and see.
And I beheld a low black horse,
and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say,
A measure of wheat for a penny,
and three measures of barley for a penny,
and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
You see, three measures of barley for a penny,
or a measure of wheat for a penny,
what you have to understand is that in the Bible,
the penny is not our penny today.
You know, the penny in the Bible is a monetary unit
that we see in Matthew chapter 22.
Jesus tells a parable about people working a 12-hour day
and receiving a penny at the end of it,
and that was a day's wages,
and it was considered a legitimate wage.
So today, if you went to this place down here
that's like a day laborer place right here,
because that's basically what the story was about.
And Jesus is telling a story about a man
who hires some day laborers.
They work a 12-hour day.
He pays them a penny.
And they were happy with it until they saw someone else
that they felt like was getting a better deal.
And so how much would you get
if you went and signed up over here as a day laborer?
You know, what, 50 bucks, 100 bucks, 150 bucks?
Somewhere around there.
Do you want to pay 100 bucks for a measure of wheat?
Think about that now.
100 bucks for a measure of wheat,
or three measures of barley.
That's pretty expensive.
This is famine being described here,
where food is in short supply,
and supply and demand has caused food prices
to be extremely expensive.
So this is a time of wars, famine, conquest.
Look at the fourth seal.
It says in verse number 7,
And when he had opened the fourth seal,
I heard the voice of the fourth beast say,
Come and see.
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse.
And his name that sat on him was Death,
and Hell followed with him.
And power was given unto them
over the fourth part of the earth,
to kill with sword and with hunger,
and we've already really seen that in the last two seals,
and with death and with the beasts of the earth.
And when he had opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar the souls.
Now notice he did not see their bodies.
He saw their souls,
because the moment that the believer dies,
his body goes to the grave.
We bury the body.
We see the body if it's an open casket funeral.
The soul goes to heaven.
Later the body will be resurrected
at the first resurrection, also known as the rapture.
So he saw the souls of them that were slain
for the word of God
and for the testimony which they held.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood
on them that dwell in the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them,
and it was said unto them
that they should rest yet for a little season,
so it's coming, retribution is coming,
until their fellow servants also and their brethren,
that should be killed as they were,
should be fulfilled.
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal,
and lo, there was a great earthquake.
So far we have wars, famines,
and Christians being killed
and slain with a sword for their faith.
He says, when he had opened the sixth seal,
and behold, there was a great earthquake,
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
does that sound familiar,
and the moon became as blood,
the exact wording of Isaiah 13
with the day of the Lord,
and the stars of heaven fell onto the earth,
even as a fig tree,
cast at their untimely figs
when she had shaken a mighty wind,
and the heaven departed as a scroll
when it is rolled together.
That's straight out of Isaiah 13.
He said, and every mountain and island
were moved out of their places,
and the kings of the earth,
and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains,
and the mighty men,
and every bondman, and every freeman,
hid themselves in the dens,
and in the rocks of the mountains,
and set in the mountains of the rocks,
fall on us,
and hide us from the face of Him
that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb,
for the great day of His wrath,
notice the next two words,
is come.
See the present tense there?
Is come.
If it said has come,
like all modern Bibles change it to,
the NIV changes it to has come,
I believe even the New King James changed it.
I'll have to look it up.
But if it said has come,
you could say, well, that was a while back.
It had already come a while back.
But if you said the great day of the wrath is come,
it means it just came.
It means it's here now.
It has just arrived.
I'm going to look it up in the New King James,
because the New King James changes so many things,
I'd be surprised if it's not changed.
Let me take a quick look here.
Yeah, here we go.
For the great day of His wrath has come,
to make it a little easier for you to understand,
as always.
And so, it's very clear in the Bible
that the great day of the wrath is come.
That's why they're talking about it right now.
The day of His wrath is come.
You see, God's wrath comes
not until after the sixth seal is open
and the sun and moon are dark.
That means that God's wrath did not come previously.
The souls that were under the altar at the fifth seal
were waiting, saying,
when will God avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Which means He wasn't already doing it.
I mean, otherwise God would have said,
I'm already doing it.
Can't you see what I'm doing?
Think about it. I mean, just use logic.
They're saying, when are you going to pay these people back, God?
Which means that it hadn't happened yet.
And He said, you need to wait a little season
and then it's going to happen.
Then the sixth seal is open, the sun and moon are darkened.
That's when they start hiding in the rocks,
saying the great day of His wrath has come
and who shall be able to stand?
Go to chapter 7, verse 1.
See, you have to understand,
the chapter divisions in the Bible make it very easy
to navigate the Bible
and to help punctuate the Bible,
but you can't just stop reading because the chapter's over.
Well, that's it.
You know, the Bible flows into the next chapter in many cases.
What's the first word of chapter 7?
What part of the speech?
That's a conjunction.
And, and after these things,
I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth
that the wind should not blow on the earth,
nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
And I saw another angel ascending from the east,
having the seal of the living God.
And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels,
to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
saying, hurt not the earth,
neither the sea nor the trees,
till we have sealed the servants of our God and their foreheads.
So, it's clear that the earth and the sea
have not been harmed by God's angels yet.
Right? He said, don't do it yet.
Therefore, God has not been pouring out His wrath on the earth
as far as turning water into blood.
He said, hurt not the sea, yet.
Hurt not the trees, yet.
There have been any locusts.
There have been any plagues from God.
He said, until we've sealed the servants of our God and their foreheads.
And I heard the number of them which were sealed,
and they were sealed in 144,000 of all the tribes of the Children of Israel.
Then he goes through the tribes, 12,000 from each tribe,
beginning with Judah and with Benjamin.
Now, these 144,000 Jews that are sealed
are followed by something else that's mentioned in verse 9.
After this, I beheld, and lo, a great multitude,
which no man could number,
of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes and palms in their hands,
and cried with a loud voice, saying,
Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne,
and about the elders and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their face, and worshipped God, saying, Amen.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might
be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.
Watch verse 13.
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,
What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence can they?
Now, the word whence, who knows what the word whence means?
From where?
From where? That's what the word whence means.
Whither means to where.
Thanks means from there.
Thither means to there.
These are just old words in English, we don't use them much anymore.
But when it says, whence can they,
he's saying, Where did they come from?
Now, this multitude, it says in verse number 9,
it says, After this I beheld in low a great multitude.
And then a guy says, Where did they come from?
Okay, it's clear that they just got there.
That's why he's saying, Where did these people come from?
Okay, they just arrived.
Which makes sense, because the sun and moon were just darkened.
Jesus Christ was seen by the nations of the earth.
Right out, the great day of his wrath has come.
Heard not the earth, nor the trees.
The servants of God are sealed, these special 144,000.
Then, all of a sudden, a great multitude appears in heaven.
Okay, that's the rapture.
That's why no man can number, because the Bible numbers multitudes up to 102 million.
10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, that's 102 million.
This is a pretty big crowd, if no man can number it.
And it's of all kindreds, all nations, all people, all tongues.
This is a big group, because it's every believer who's ever lived, okay.
And it says here, What are these which are red and white robes?
And whence came they?
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
He said, Don't ask me, you tell me.
He said to me, that's right, I was just kidding, I do know there.
These are they which came out of great tribulation,
and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.
And He that sitteth on the throne should dwell among them.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more,
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Chapter 8 begins with the word, and, when He had opened the seventh seal.
So we see a chronology here, from the sixth seal to the seventh seal.
And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Interestingly, God gives us that time, just a half hour.
Same day, just a half hour.
He says, And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer.
And there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth.
So this is fire raining down from heaven.
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves the sound.
The first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the earth.
And the third part of the trees was burnt up and all green grass was burnt up.
There's your hurting of the trees.
Look at the second trumpet.
It says, And the second angel sounded and as it were a great mountain burning with fire.
Now the word as it were is important here.
Whenever the Bible says as it were, we would say in our modern vernacular as if it were.
It's basically using a metaphor. It's not a literal mountain that was thrown in.
It says it was as it were a mountain burning with fire.
Just so that you know the term there.
He said as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea.
There's your hurting of the sea mentioned.
And the third part of the sea became blood. So one third of the sea becomes blood.
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died.
And the third part of the ships were destroyed.
The third angel sounds. The fresh water is poisoned and becomes wormwood.
I'll just blow through it for the sake of time.
The fourth angel sounds. The sun and moon and stars are smitten.
And they're only shining at certain times in the day.
But look at verse 13.
And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice,
Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound.
And then the last three trumpets are even worse.
Much worse than the first four.
It just gets worse. I mean God is pouring out his wrath in an extreme way.
You see the Bible is very clear.
Turn back if you would now because we saw here in Revelation 6 the tribulation described.
The famines, the wars, the pestilence, the beasts of the earth, the anti-Christ, people being slain for the word of God.
We saw all that. Then we saw the trumpet sound, the sun and moon darkened, and all these different things.
A multitude appears in heaven.
Same day, half hour goes by, God pours out his wrath.
Go back to Matthew 24 if you would with that in mind.
Now remember our dispensational Zionist friends who are trying to tell us,
Oh yeah, that's talking to the Jews in Matthew 24.
Why don't we just humor them for a minute?
I know it's silly. I know it's ridiculous.
I know it doesn't make any sense to say that it's talking to Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Goldblum and Richard Dreyfus and all these other Jews that don't believe in Christ.
Or even if it's talking about Jews that believe in Christ.
Let's humor them, shall we?
And say it's talking about the Jews.
Okay, does that really change the fact that in verse 29, look at Matthew 24.
Let's put on our dispensational glasses on.
Our Zionism, Jew worshiping glasses for a second.
Let's put those on for a minute and let's read it.
Verse 29.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon should not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
No matter who this is talking to, my friend, even if it's talking to the Jews, it doesn't change the fact that the sun and moon aren't darkened until after the tribulation.
And it doesn't change the fact that God's wrath is not poured out until after the sun and moon are darkened in Revelation 6, 7, and 8.
And so whether or not it's talking to the Jews or the Gentiles or whoever they're trying to say, it doesn't change the fact that God's wrath does not come until after the tribulation.
And yet they try to mix the two and say, well, believers won't go through the tribulation because God wouldn't pour out His wrath on His own people.
Wait a minute, folks. It doesn't matter how you read this.
You can't change the fact that the sun and moon are darkened after the tribulation and that the sun and moon are darkened before God pours out His wrath because He says,
Hurting off the earth, neither the trees. When the sun and moon are darkened, they say the great David's wrath is come and who shall be able to stand.
It doesn't change a thing. It's the same thing. Flip over to Luke chapter 17.
Now in Matthew 24, as I said, if you picked up the New Testament and began reading it, that's the first chapter you're going to get up to that really goes into in detail the second coming of Jesus Christ.
You find that in Matthew 24. But if you wanted to find the first time that Jesus mentions the second coming chronologically, it would be Luke 17.
Even though Luke 17 comes later in your Bible reading, Luke 17 is before Matthew 24 chronologically because Luke 17 is before Luke 21 and Luke 21 matches up with Matthew 24 in the timeline of Jesus' ministry on the earth.
So Luke 17 is the first time he pretty much introduces this concept to his disciples as reported in the Bible.
It says in verse number 22,
And He said unto His disciples, The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it.
And they shall say to you, See here, or see there, Go not after them, nor follow them.
For as the lightning that lighteth out of the one part under heaven shineth under the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in His day.
This is the day of Christ, also known as the day of the Lord.
He says, So shall the Son of Man be in His day.
But first must He suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.
They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.
But the same day, watch this now, the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed, just as Lot left Sodom the same day fire and brimstone were poured out upon the city.
The same day that the angels of God come and receive us out of this earth, the same day fire and brimstone will come down from heaven.
That's what it says.
You see, many people will say, Well, it'll be like it was in the days of Lot.
That means everybody will be a homosexual, because everybody in Sodom was pretty much a homo.
But that's not what he said.
He said it's going to be like the days of Lot in the sense that, just as God pulled his people out right before fire and brimstone rained down from heaven,
the same thing will happen in the day of the coming of the Son of Man. Half hour later, fire and brimstone from heaven.
Just like Noah, Noah got into the ark the same day that it began to rain.
It rained judgment from God, first in the form of water.
God promised he would never destroy the earth by water. He said, Oh great, God, next time it will be by fire.
It didn't work, but he made that promise not to send another flood. He just didn't want to get worried every time it starts raining.
Oh, here we go again. What do we do now?
So, basically he gave that the sign of the rainbow, which basically is amazing how the most wicked and ungodly and filthy people in this world use the rainbow as their symbol.
Because I guess it's the symbol, nah, nah, nah, God's not going to destroy us again.
Oh, he'll destroy you, my friend. It's going to be with fire and brimstone from heaven.
But just like he did with Sodom and Gomorrah.
You see, the Bible is teaching it, and by the way, in Isaiah 13, did you notice that the day of the Lord was compared to Sodom and Gomorrah?
Read it again and in your own time I'm not going to turn back. When I read it at the beginning of the service, we mentioned Sodom.
He said it's going to be like when God overthrew Sodom with fire and brimstone.
That's what the day of the Lord is going to be like.
It's going to have similarities with that because he will be raining fire and brimstone.
You see the Bible, and then keep reading down here, this is a great passage.
It says, in that day, he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away.
And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife?
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left.
Two women shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken and the other left.
Does this sound like the rapture or is it just me?
Two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left.
And they answered and said unto them, Where, Lord?
And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.
You see, notice how he said in that day, and then a few verses later he said in that night.
He said, How can it be happening both day and night?
Because the earth is round and there are time zones.
And so when Jesus Christ returns, in some places it will be daytime.
Some places people will be grinding in the middle, it will be in the daytime.
Other places in the world it will be at night.
They'll be lying in bed, the one will be taken and the other left.
And so it's interesting that the Bible foresaw that, you know, back when a lot of people thought the world was flat.
God sees here that it can be day and night at the same time in different parts of the world.
But then it will be, it must need to be day and night in different places when any event happens.
And so that's in Luke 17, flip over to Mark 13 if you would, Mark chapter 13.
You see, the four gospels, I believe, are the heart and soul of the Bible.
Now, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, really furnished unto all good works.
Let me tell you something, everything before the four gospels is really pointing toward Jesus Christ,
and everything after is kind of looking back toward Jesus Christ.
Really, the crux of the Bible is Jesus Christ, the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection.
That's really the whole message.
And really the four gospels, I feel, and this is just my personal opinion, are the meat and potatoes of the Bible.
It's my favorite part of the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
I mean, that's where it's at right there, I believe.
I just see all these teachings in the four gospels of Jesus Christ on the second coming, and it's just so clear.
It seems like he just laid it out. I mean, he's Jesus.
You know, he's preaching it and laying it out for his disciples, for those that are on this earth.
And that's why I think it's silly to just ignore the four gospels when there's so many references to the second coming,
and they read Revelation and a commentary.
Read Revelation and the four gospels. That should be your commentary.
Let Jesus be your commentator for the book of Revelation.
Look at Mark 13.
It says in Mark chapter 13, and we're not going to read the whole thing just for sake of time.
I don't want to just go on and on with it.
But he says in verse 19,
For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
Remember, Matthew said the exact same statement, except instead of the word affliction, he used the word tribulation.
It says,
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen he hath shortened the days.
And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe it or not.
For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
So is it possible to seduce the elect? No.
If it were possible, they would, because they're so smooth, but they can't.
But take ye heed, behold, I foretold you all things.
But in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be dungen, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree.
When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near.
So ye in like manner when ye shall see these things.
When you shall see these things.
The sun and moon being darkened is what he's talking about.
He says, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.
But if that day and that hour knoweth no man, know not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son but the Father.
Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is.
Now, is it accurate to stand up and say, the rapture comes before the tribulation?
No, in fact it's a direct contradiction of the Bible.
Pre-tribulation rapture? No.
The imminent return of Christ, he could come at any moment.
He could come before the servant is even over.
And in fact, we're going to pass the plane again.
Because you don't need your money.
You don't need your house payment. You don't need to pay the car payment. He's coming.
Put your hand on the screen.
If you'll donate $777, God bless you.
Look, you cannot come by the end of this service.
Because first there's going to be tribulation unlike the world has ever seen.
Then people will be killed for the cause of Christ.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
If the devil's plan, the mystery of iniquity, the antichrist and the dragon
were able to carry out their plans and just keep going with it,
eventually all Christians would be killed is what he said.
But he said, for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened, and he that endureth to the end
is found in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, that he that endureth unto the end shall be saved.
If you can endure that tribulation, and by the way, he said there's no flesh to be saved.
He's not talking about you're saved like I got saved.
He's talking to people that are already saved, saying if you endure to the end of the tribulation,
you'll be delivered. You'll be saved by the rapture when Jesus Christ comes
and rescues you out of this and then pours out his wrath and puts down all these things.
Puts down the powers of darkness and begins to avenge the blood of those who died for Christ
and those who have been punished and persecuted by unbelievers.
You see, it's not accurate to say the rapture comes before the tribulation.
Now, is this accurate?
Mid-tribulation rapture.
I mean, is that accurate?
And people always say to me, you're mid-trib.
No. It didn't say in the middle of the tribulation.
It said after the tribulation of those days.
Stay with me. After.
After.
It's after. Not before, not during. It's after.
But you say, oh, people say this.
Well, why would Jesus come down in the clouds for the rapture and they call it the yo-yo effect?
I've heard people say this.
Because they said, why don't we go up in the clouds and come right back down on white horses?
Well, we're not going to come down on white horses until chapter 19.
Years will go by.
You say, well, how do you know that God's wrath will take years to carry out?
Because when the first trumpet sounds, all the grass is burned up.
Later on, you'll see the grass has regrown.
All you have to do is just read the Bible.
Read Revelation 8 and 9.
And then in chapter 9, there's grass again.
Because it's going on over the course of years, God's wrath and staging.
The one trumpet alone of the plague of the locust takes five months.
So we have a time frame going on.
And by the way, last time I played with a yo-yo, I didn't throw it up and then it came back down.
Usually with a yo-yo, I threw it down and then it came back up.
So I don't understand how that's a yo-yo anyway.
But no, it's not even going to be an upside down yo-yo.
Now, I know people do around the world and stuff.
Don't give me that.
The bottom line is that there's going to be several years between the rapture
and Jesus coming on a white horse at Armageddon with the saints.
No question about it.
But God's wrath is not until after the tribulation.
And that wrath takes years for God to pour out.
And as He destroys them, then destroy the earth is what He calls it.
Other people will say this.
They say, oh, it's like a yo-yo.
Other people will say this.
Well, Matthew 24 is not the rapture.
Now, it's funny that sometimes it's the rapture when they want it to be.
Like when they say Jesus could come at any moment and you say show me that in the Bible.
They say, well, yeah, no man knows the day or the hour, which is a verse from Matthew 24.
And then five minutes later, oh, Matthew 24 is not about the rapture.
But they pull it out when they want to to talk about how nobody knows the day or the hour,
even though it comes after the tribulation.
That's the part they didn't notice.
And this is what they'll say.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 4 real quick and close with this.
It's more of a Bible study tonight than a sermon.
You see, there are a lot of people today that just, to them, the book of Revelation is this foreboding book
that can't be understood.
It's so complicated.
And you know what?
I have had many people.
I literally have had at least ten people, at least ten, I'm not exaggerating, who have said to me independently,
when I used to be taught the pre-tribulation rapture, I never understood the book of Revelation.
I didn't even want to read it and study it because it would confuse me.
And then they said as soon as I learned the truth about this, they said now I love the book of Revelation.
It makes sense to me.
I can comprehend it.
It's clear.
I've had many people say that to me.
Because, see, the Bible is clear.
The Bible is simple.
But when you have a preconceived idea that's false, that little leaven will leaven the whole realm of the book of Revelation for you.
And you can't figure it out.
It doesn't make any sense.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 4.
There's another thing that people will say.
They'll say, well, you know, when the rapture takes place, the Lord himself is the one who comes and takes us out.
Whereas in Matthew 24, it says he'll send his angels to gather the elect.
So, totally different events, right?
Well, look at this. Hold on a second.
Let's read 1 Thessalonians 4.
It says in verse number 16,
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel.
So we know that the voice of the archangel is definitely there.
And the trump of God, and the dead in Christ, shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.
Now let me ask you something.
If we have a phrase, we're caught up together with them in the clouds.
This sentence is called, and let's put on our grammar.
You know, we're getting into really deep grammar right now.
When the subject of the sentence is not doing the action, but is receiving the action,
what do we call that sentence?
Passive transitive sentence. Is that right?
It's basically passive because the subject is receiving the action.
Well, the subject there is we.
We which are alive and remain aren't going to catch anything up.
We're going to be caught up.
Now, when we use a passive verb like that, basically somebody else is doing the action.
So basically we are being caught up by the angels.
You know, so what's their point?
Because Jesus Christ does not come down and catch us up.
We meet him in the clouds, which proves that he is not the one that is coming down and catching us up in the clouds.
Because we meet him there.
If he were the one that would catch us up, he'd be meeting us down here and bringing us up.
No, we are caught up by the angels to meet him in the air.
I mean, it's that simple.
We're caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Don't let people deceive you on this.
And it's not complicated.
And really, the sermon was about the second coming of Jesus Christ and about the rapture.
But you could apply these principles to studying the Bible.
It's just a good lesson in how to study the Bible.
I mean, really just quit studying the Bible and just start reading it.
It would probably be a good place to start.
Just read it.
And just read it for what it says.
Don't try to twist it.
Don't try to change it.
And don't have a preconceived idea.
Just read it.
Let God speak to you.
Let God show you the truth.
You say, who taught you that, Pastor Anderson?
Who got you into this?
Who got you messed up on this thing, this cake that you're on?
You know what?
It's been since I was 12.
And I just picked it up and read it.
And it's that simple.
It's that simple.
After that, I did more reading, I did more study, talked to other people, heard other sermons.
All it did was just reinforce what I saw when I was 12.
Because it's not that complicated.
And if it's complicated, it's probably not right.
You see, God wrote the Bible for you to understand it, not for Pastor Anderson to have to just break everything down to you.
When you go home tonight and you go to bed and you wake up tomorrow morning, pick up the Bible and read it.
And just read it for what it says.
It will make sense to you.
God will show you what it means.
You don't need any man to teach you.
Let the Bible teach you.
And do some serious Bible reading because our generation is ignorant of the Bible.
And that's why it's easy for them to sit in church week after week and shout, Amen.
I'm sorry, I've got to tell you this one thing.
I heard a sermon from a guy that I knew.
This was a guy that I knew from, you know, I used to go to church with him.
And he passes a church now.
And he's preaching about, you know, the rapture, the pre-tribulation rapture, right?
And since this guy was an old friend of mine, I thought, yeah, I'm just going to listen to him for kicks.
What are they saying, you know?
This pre-trib sermon, you know?
And I heard about it a lot.
Usually when I was in church, they didn't really go into it because it's so hard to explain.
They would just kind of, hey, it's a pre-trib.
They didn't really talk about it.
They would just kind of go on to the next point.
You don't believe me?
You're calling Jesus a liar.
Somebody say, Amen.
And then just kind of move on to the next point.
But this was a whole sermon about the rapture.
I said, man, I've got to hear this.
So I'm listening to the sermon and he's going through Matthew 24 of all places.
And I'm like, Matthew 24?
This is going to be good.
He's reading through it and this really disappointed me.
He started getting close to the scary verse 29, that after the tribulation verse, okay?
And here's what he said.
And you know, this just got me mad.
He got around 26, 27.
He started getting a little bit too close for comfort because what if, you know, you don't even want to get into verse 28
because what if somebody's eyes just kind of get ahead of the reader?
You know what I'm saying?
And what if they see that phrase immediately after the tribulation
because they're reading the little head of the pastor?
So you've got to keep a buffer zone.
A couple verses before and a couple verses after, okay?
So he gets within that buffer zone.
The little red light starts to come on.
And here's what he said.
And this disappointed me.
He said, well, we all know the rest of the story.
Let's skip down to verse 30, 35, I think it was.
We all know the story.
Let's skip to 35.
You know what?
You're a liar.
You're lying.
I mean, it'd be one thing to just, you know, be mixed up or whatever.
But to sit there and say, let's skip it because you know the story.
I mean, he could have just said jump down to verse 35.
That would have been one thing.
But to lie and say it's because we already know the story.
He jumps down to verse 35 and twists the Bible or whatever verse he jumped down to.
But this is the real funny.
I haven't gotten to the funny part yet.
That's not funny.
That's sad.
Let me get to the funny part.
He's preaching along.
And he accidentally, you know, and by the way, I've made a lot of silly mistakes while
I was preaching.
Like sometimes I'll mix up heaven and hell.
Who's heard me within the last two weeks make some real mess ups?
Why are all these hands going up?
I heard a little snippet of a sermon that I preached like a week and a half ago and
I said something totally off the wall.
Like I'll be saying that, you know, I don't know, like that if you're saved, you're
going to hell.
You know, everybody does it.
It's all right.
You know, you make a mistake, especially when you're standing up in front of people.
You freeze up.
You say the wrong thing.
And I've done it many times where I mixed up work.
Well, this pastor was having one of those kind of moments, okay?
And he accidentally for about five minutes kept calling the tribulation the rapture.
You know, he just had it in his head.
You know how you do.
So he's preaching and he says, we're going to miss the rapture.
Hey, this is what's funny.
A guy says, amen.
So a guy says, amen.
Now, when I was listening to this sermon, a lot of people are saying amen throughout
the sermon.
But he gets to this part and he got a little bit less amens when he says, we're going to
miss the rapture.
This guy's like, amen.
But then the pastor, you can tell, was thinking that wasn't enough amens.
So he said, I mean, come on.
We're going to miss the rapture, right?
And then you hear like five people say, amen.
So then he's going on for like five minutes talking about how we're going to miss the
rapture.
And then he's like, I'm pre-rapture.
He's like, I'm pre-rapture.
And then finally he figures it out.
He's like, oh, whoops, have I been saying rapture?
He's like, pre-rapture.
I guess that's if you die, you know, before it comes.
But that's what you're going to have before the rapture.
But just to show you, don't be a robot that says, amen.
You know, we're going to miss the rapture.
Amen.
At least when I say dumb things, it gets quiet, right?
Father, we love you and thank you for the Bible, dear God.
I thank you so much that I have the whole word of God.
I thank God that it's in my language, that somebody doesn't have to get up on a pulpit
and translate it to me.
And I have to be at the mercy of some priest or some preacher somewhere
that's going to interpret it for me.
I thank God that it's in my hand and that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate Bible teacher
living inside of me, leading me and guiding me into all truth.
Thank you so much for your promises, dear God.
Thank you that the Bible is written to me and that it's all profitable for doctrine
to me as the believer, as the man of God, for all instruction and righteousness
to be thoroughly furnished into all good works.
Help us all, dear God, to read it, love it, study it, eat, breathe and sleep your word.
And we love you and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.