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Second Thessalonians chapter 2. So I'm continuing on from Sunday's sermon. Okay, so I'm asking you to take your minds back four days ago, try to refresh your minds as to what I preached, because I don't want to cover it all again, right? I'm just building, these are the leftovers from Sunday. I did have leftovers, so we're just building on from what we've learnt. I will cover some of the things again just to refresh our memories, but not in too much detail. So the title of tonight's sermon is Our Gathering Together Unto Him. Our Gathering Together Unto Him. Now we get the title of that sermon, that message here in chapter 2 verse 1. Now we beseech you brethren, so Paul is writing to the Thessalonians church, I beseech you brethren, pay attention brethren, he's saying, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him. Now do you see how Paul again associates the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with the gathering together unto Him. Gathering together unto Jesus Christ. Okay, so the gathering, Matthew 24, remember people say it's not for us, it talks about the gathering. Second Thessalonians chapter 2 talks about the gathering, and it's called the coming of the Lord, and it's being written to the Thessalonian church, right? To the New Testament church believers. Verse number 2, that ye, and pay attention, let's read this slowly, why is Paul saying, pay attention, why is he saying this? Verse number 2, that ye be not soon shaken in mind. I don't want you to be shaken in mind, I want you to be focused, right? I want you to be stable, I want you to be established, or be troubled. I don't want you to be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us. So I don't want you to be deceived, I don't want you to be shaken, I don't want you to be troubled. Even if some spirit comes to you, or some word, some epistle, something that looks like the Bible comes to you, or a letter as from us, if it has my own name on it, I don't want you to be troubled. Why? As that the day of Christ is at hand, okay? He doesn't want people to be troubled thinking that the day of Christ is at hand. Now what does it mean? What does it, what does this mean? First of all, day of Christ, immediately we should recognize, going back to verse number 1, that the day of Christ is the gathering together, is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should recognize that, and I'll prove that to you in a minute, that is true. But the trouble is, people were saying that the day of Christ, that the rapture they were saying was at hand. That was the problem. That was what Paul says, don't be troubled by that, okay? Don't be deceived, don't be shaken. What does it mean to be at hand? If I say something's at hand, what am I saying? I'm saying that it's close, right? It's nearby, right? That it can happen soon. That it can be imminent at any moment. That's what at hand means. Don't be troubled by that, okay? Now what are you gonna find across 99% of independent fundamental Baptist churches? That the day of Christ is at hand. That's what they're teaching. The day of Christ is at hand. They're teaching that it's imminent. It can happen at any moment. Paul says, don't be troubled by that. Don't, don't be fooled by that, right? That's not, that's why I'm writing this to you. So you pay attention, he's saying, right? Don't be fooled. Don't be thinking that the day of Christ is at hand. Now let me just prove to you that the day of Christ is a reference to the rapture. It's the same thing, because some people want to say to you that it's not. Let me just show you a couple of verses. I'll just read to you 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 7. You don't need to turn there. I'll just read it out to you. 1st Corinthians chapter 1, 7 to 8 says, So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, pay attention now, to the coming, waiting for that, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so what's the end as far as a believer is concerned? The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? He says, I want you to be blameless for that day, right? It'll be very embarrassing for Christians if we're worldly, we don't care about the things of God, and Christ comes back. We're gonna be ashamed of ourselves if we haven't been serving the Lord. Now we're going to heaven if you're saved, amen, but you're going to be ashamed that He's coming, and Paul is encouraging people, hey, you know, wait, wait for the coming of the Lord, which is the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1 verse 5 and 6 also the same thing. This is what Paul says to the Philippian church, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. So what's the fellowship in the gospel? The gospel is what saves us, right? So he's saying to the Philippian church, from the time of our fellowship together in the gospel from the first day. So the first day you were saved until now, so until the time that he's writing this, from the time that was saved till now when the time was writing this, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you, when was that good work when you got saved, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. What's the day of Jesus Christ? The rapture, right? God's going to continue to work for us until He's coming back. That's the promise that Paul says to the Philippian church, from the time you were saved till now Christ will continue working till the day of Jesus Christ in your life, okay? So we can see that the day of Jesus Christ and His coming are one and the same thing, okay? We have further evidence from that from other passages. But back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 3, again Paul continues this concept. He says, let no man deceive you, okay? Because they were being troubled, right? They were being troubled. People telling, hey, the day of Christ can happen at any moment. It's around the corner. It's so soon. He says, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come. What day? That day shall not come. What day? We just finished reading about the day of Christ. What is the day of Christ? The gathering of the believers, the rapture, the resurrection, right? For that day shall not come, except they come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Now first of all, the falling away, I'm not going to spend time on this, but that's about, that's apostasy, okay? That's where people fall away from the truth. The truth is available to people and they fall away from that, okay? They turn their backs from the truth and they turn their backs against God. That is apostasy. That is the falling away. We can have discussions about that all day long, but the other key thing, not only does that have to happen before the day of Christ comes, but also, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. What does perdition mean? Damnation. This son of damnation. This antichrist that is who it is, the beast. Now what does this person do? So the day of Christ cannot come till the falling away and this son of perdition is revealed, okay? This man of sin, the son of perdition. What does he do? Who opposeth, okay, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Do you guys remember when that takes place from Sunday's sermon? Remember the abomination of desolation. Remember that happens in the middle of the seven week period, three and a half years, right? The antichrist comes. We read this in Daniel. He exalts himself above the God of gods. He makes himself out to be God and he blasphemes against God. That is his revealing. That is his revealing. We know that the day of Christ, the rapture cannot come till the antichrist reveals himself, okay? And that revealing isn't just, I think, you know, I think, what's the American president's name right now? Trump. You know, it's not, ah, Trump's the antichrist. No, it's when some guy like a Trump, like a big politician or a big warlord or someone who knows, puts himself up and says, I am God. That's the revealing, all right? That's the revealing. So pay attention to that. That's what Paul is reaffirming, which lines up perfectly with what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24, right? He says the abomination of desolation must happen, then there's great tribulation, and then the sun and moon go dark, the stars fall from heaven, and the coming of Christ happens. Now, I just want to bring that to your thought because, again, I'm trying to reinforce this idea that these teachings are for the New Testament Church. This was a teaching given to the Thessalonians. They weren't unsaved Jews, okay? They were saved Jews and saved Gentiles in this church, okay? They were part of the New Testament Church. Now turn to Revelation chapter 1, sorry, Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 6, because now what I want to do, we already saw that Revelation 1, 7, the coming in Revelation 1, 7, and the coming in Matthew 24, and the coming in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, are all the one coming of Christ. We saw all the similarities between those passages, right? Christ coming in the clouds, but now I want to take one step further. I want to show you the similarities between Matthew 24 and Revelation chapter 6, okay? Because this is where John, okay, I don't know if you know this, but in the Gospels you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the teaching of the Mount of Olives. They all record that. The only one that doesn't record it is John, but yet where does he record it himself? He wrote the book of Revelation as well as the book of John. So he records the teaching from a different perspective. If you guys know the book of Revelation, he was caught up into the Spirit, into heaven. He was given this prophetic vision by God. He was taken into the future, if you will, and saw these events come to pass. And then we get to Revelation chapter 6, okay? Before I read Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 5 is about this scroll that nobody can open, right? It's got these seven seals, and John starts to weep because nobody can open it, right? And then comes a lamb. He takes it from the one on the throne, and the lamb has the ability, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, has the ability to unravel this scroll. He has the ability to unlock these seals, and now Christ comes. He takes this book and begins to show this book, begins to read from this book. Now before I start reading this, the pre-treat believers will tell you that the scroll, this scroll is Christ pouring out his wrath on the world. They teach that this is the tribulation period, and Christ is bringing the tribulation upon the world. Now all Christ is doing is loosening these scrolls, and I'm assuming reading it, right, showing what's taking place. Then John looks and sees, yeah, these things are taking place on the earth. The difference through the scroll, and then, you know, you've got the trumpets and you've got the vials, if you guys know the book of Revelation. I'm not going to go into the trumpets and the vials in any great detail. The difference between that is you've got Christ doing this, but the trumpets being blown and the vials being poured are all done by angels, okay? Not only are they done by angels, but something is being expelled, whether that's the sound of the trumpet or if it's the vials being poured out. Something's being expelled onto the earth. Here the seals are just being opened and revealed to us through Christ, and I'll show you as we read through this that Christ is not the one pouring out his wrath at this point in time, okay? Now actually what I need you to do is keep your finger in Revelation chapter 6 and turn to Matthew 24. I need you to go back and forth, okay? So Matthew 24, keep one finger in Revelation 6 and go to Matthew chapter 24, and just we'll flick through that a bit. I'll give you a second to get to Matthew 24. Okay, Matthew 24, go back to Revelation chapter 6. Let's read the first two verses. Revelation chapter 6 verse 1. So you've got the Lamb, you've got Jesus Christ with this scroll. And I saw the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, come and see. And I saw, and 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. So once this first seal is unlocked and revealed, we see this white horse. Now you guys might be familiar with the term the horseman of Revelation or the horseman of the apocalypse, okay? This is what it's referring to. There are these four horsemen and four horses that transpire with these seals, the first four seals being loosened. But the first horse is a white horse, and there's a person sitting on that 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. So this person that's been revealed is the Antichrist. Look at Matthew 24 verse 5. I just want to show you a few similarities. Matthew 24 verse 5. Remember the disciples came to Jesus and asked them, hey tell us about your second coming. Tell us about the end, right? Tell us about the end of the world. Jesus says to them in verse 5, for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many. Now Revelation chapter 19, guess who else comes on a white horse? Very clearly Lord Jesus Christ comes on a white horse. Who do we have coming on a white horse when that first seal is revealed? Jesus Christ. If we compare these passages, false Christs. Okay remember I told you these false Christs, there's accumulation too. The Antichrist, the one that exalts himself above all gods. He comes right on this white horse, he has authority, he has power, and he goes forth conquering the nations. Okay he's taking over. Now whether that's in war or just you know remember what it said in Daniel that he shall confirm a covenant with many. Whether that's just him making, because a covenant just means an agreement. So whether that means he's making all these peace agreements and all these confederations together, joining the world together, that's what he's doing. He's conquering the world. Okay at this point it may not yet be by war but we'll see shortly that it is by warfare. Revelation chapter 6 verse 3, Revelation chapter 6 verse 3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say come and see. And there went out another horse, so this is the second 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 now this, instead of a white horse we have a red horse and the one that's on this horse has the power to what? Take peace from the earth right? Peace now. At first the conquering, that's what I'm saying, the conquering in the first seal was probably a peaceful you know agreement between nations. Now he's conquering with a sword. Peace has been removed and people are killing one another and unto this one on the horse was given him a great sword. What's the sword? It's a weapon of warfare right? It's a weapon of killing, of fighting, of war. This second horse, the second horseman represents warfare on the world. Go back to Matthew 24. Matthew 24 verse 6. Because after Christ said there'll be false Christs, what's the next thing that he said in verse number 6? Matthew 24 verse 6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Do you see how these things come together? Matthew 24 and Revelation chapter 6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled for these things must come to past but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. You can see world warfare right? It's not just local wars. It says nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom right? And then we have back to Revelation chapter 6 verse 4. And power was given him that sat there on to take peace from the earth. This is why many people believe this is a world war because peace is taken from the whole earth. Nations against nations, kingdoms against kingdom. Many people are resisting the Antichrist from taking power and so he has to take you know take control of that through warfare rather than by peaceful means. Back to Revelation chapter 6 verse 5. Verse 5. And when he had opened the third seal I heard the third beast say come and see and behold lo a black horse. Now the third horse is a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. Okay so these balances these things to weigh. 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. See that thou hurt not the oil and the wine. Now what is that about? What is that about? We get a bit more clarity when we go back to Matthew 24. Look at verse 7. So we did read in verse 7 we read for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines. That's the next thing that Jesus says. There shall be famines. Now why is this why does this link back to Revelation chapter 6? It's because a penny back in those days a penny was your day's wage. Okay someone that worked a full-time job approximately you'd receive a penny for your for your efforts. Let's say today it's $150 a day or something like that maybe for a full day's wage. With $150 Australian dollars you will be able to buy a measure of wheat. A small amount of wheat right. Now with two days of work I can probably provide for my my family of 12 right. Well we're not 12 yet. Well I guess Christina feeds for herself and the baby. I guess it is it's 12 yeah. I'm losing track of that. Yeah it will be 12. You know I can probably feed my family let's say on a day's wage probably for half a week approximately roughly like that right. But this will be just for a small amount of wheat. What's that that's not going to get through you know for a larger family anyway that's not going to provide much. Also that same penny that same day's wage will be able to provide for free measures of barley. So you get a bit more barley than you do wheats. So wheat to make not to make bread okay a loaf of bread let's say a loaf of bread what does that cost two dollars three dollars four dollars you know if you get the good stuff five dollars it's gonna cost you $150 day's wage to get that piece of that bread. Why? Because there's famine on the earth right. There's famine on the earth people and money loses its value when it can't cannot purchase what it needs to purchase right. This hyperinflation the the the value of your money has deteriorated to the fact that it can only buy a bit of wheat. There's famines on the earth you can see that correlation there with Revelation chapter 6 and Matthew 24. Now look at verse number 6 in Revelation 6 sorry verse 7. Revelation 6 verse 7. And when he had opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth beast say come and see and lo and behold a pale horse. Now before I keep reading when you when you see someone that is pale what do you think about that person like if I'm up here and you see my face I like my face loses color you're gonna think I'm sick right you're gonna think there's something wrong with you right. I remember many times that I've gone to work you know my old workplace not feeling the best people say to me Kevin you look pale you don't look yourself you know you've lost color in your face. That's the same idea this pale horse brings sickness and lo 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. So there's this sickness to kill with with the sword and with hunger and with death and with the beast of the earth. People now are dying through various means through the sword we already know about that through through warfare with hunger why because there's the famines with death and with the beasts of the earth so you even have the animals going wild right there's not enough I'm assuming the animals don't have enough food for themselves and they're going the wild beasts are attacking human beings at this point in time and of course if you look back to Matthew 24 verse 7 Matthew 24 verse 7 we said and there shall be famines and pestilences what are pestilences sicknesses right deadly diseases taking place in this time which lines up with the pale horse because that is what it's representing right these pestilences these sickness plus is all that all this other death that's taking place what do you have when people are dying across the world you know they're probably not being buried it's a time of warfare that's where body starts to rot you know insects calm and spread all kinds of diseases all kind of you know things that's what's taking place during this period so you have these four horses these four horsemen right and then look at Matthew 24 verse 7 again Matthew 24 verse 7 and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places verse 8 and these are the beginning of sorrows patients that these are the beginning of sorrows if you remember back to Sunday that leads up all the way to the midpoint to the abomination of desolation when the Antichrist reveals himself so even though the Antichrist is active on the scene we don't know of him exactly we don't know who this is right this can be anybody but he's revealed at the time of the abomination of desolation when he exalts himself above God right because we have politicians we have kingdoms that have conquered kingdoms we have people raise up and bring peace in different parts of the world okay we can't always say well someone's doing that they must be the Antichrist no you only know that when he exalts himself above the God of gods but notice notice that all of this is called the beginning of sorrows why because a change takes place after the beginning of sorrows that's the great tribulation that's the exalts when the Antichrist exalts himself right and revelation chapter 6 follow suit with us because if you look at rev well sorry he's still in Matthew 24 Matthew 24 verse 9 it says there because after the beginning of sorrows it says this then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake okay so instead of this just affecting the whole world now they're persecuting you now they're afflicting you now they're killing you Christian okay this is what's going on so we would expect when we go back to Revelation chapter 6 that we're going to find the same thing take place right when the next seal is open go back to Revelation chapter 6 verse 9 Revelation chapter 6 verse 9 and when he had opened the fifth seal now are we going to see another horse here no we're not and when he had opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held you see that Christ says beginner sorrows that's done with then they're going to afflict you then they're going to kill you right what do we see in Revelation chapter 6 the beginning of sorrows was represented by those four horsemen that that analogies done away with now now there are these souls that were killed for Christ's name right well sorry what does it say there they were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held and what did Matthew 24 say why were they cured for my name's sake and these two things go together and then in Revelation chapter verse number 10 in Revelation chapter 6 and they cried so these souls that were killed are under this altar I'm trying to get this heavenly picture here I'm assuming it's a big altar right all these souls under this altar cried with a loud voice saying how long O Lord holy and true thus thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth let's pause here for a minute has Jesus Christ been pouring out his wrath on the on the earth at this point the pre-tribbers will say he has but what do these people what do these Saints say how long Oh Lord holy and true thus thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth they're saying hey how long till you start doing something on the earth they're praying to God when are you going to do this right they're asking him so has Christ been pouring out his wrath has God been pouring out his anger upon himself has he been destroying the earth not at this point in time right that's why they're asking how long how long more do we have to wait verse 11 and white robes were given unto every one of them it's interesting that these souls without a physical body are able to put on robes anyway and white robes were given unto one of them so every one of them and it was said unto them they should rest yet a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren should be cured as they were should be fulfilled so do you know the the idea here is given white robes of righteousness right and wait wait a little more just a little season there's a few more people that are going to die for the name of Christ okay once that's accomplished then then we're going to take care of business right so we see and the other thing is that's all we learn about in the fifth seal that's all we learn about these souls that are slain and some people that are saying well Christ you know Christ is pouring out his wrath he's doing all this well all that happens in the fifth seal is Saints being killed so you're going to tell me that Christ killed his own people you know is it is Christ is murdering his own people you know people preach it was pretty true to say to me because I believe we're going for the tribulation they say oh so are you saying you know Christ is gonna beat up on his wife is Christ of wife beat up I don't know if you've ever heard that well it's it's better to be beaten up than to be murdered but because if they're saying Christ is doing this then you're saying Christ is murdering his people all right I mean wouldn't you rather just be beaten up a little bit then then being murdered so you know that doesn't carry weight at all what they say but we can see Christ has not yet done anything to the earth he's not avenged the blood of his people just yet let's look at chapter verse 12 sorry Revelation 6 12 and be and I beheld and he opened the sixth seal now this is where it all gets really you know action-packed well it's been action-packed till now about this is where it gets really exciting and and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the Sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became his blood you guys remember that remember the Sun the moon the stars verse 13 and the stars of heaven fell onto the earth even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs when she's shaken of a mighty wind now what this is what I believe see how it says the fig tree cast off the figs like the figs are falling off the fig tree but it calls those figs untimely figs so they're not figs that are ripe just yet and I believe that ties in with Jesus saying you know that the days shall be shortened because he probably had a time set for all of this but because he shortens that time it's kind of this idea of the figs not yet being fully ripened and so they're untimely and they fall off that tree when she's shaken of a mighty wind and then verse 14 and the heaven departed as a scroll okay let's stop there so we have the Sun going dark we have the moon turn into blood and the stars fall from heaven right that lines up with Matthew 24 okay then as soon as that happens what are we to do remember Sunday where to lift up our heads for our redemption draweth night remember that we expect Christ to come Christ says he will come like that like lightning from the east to the west how it shines it says in verse number 14 and the heaven departed as a scroll we see that the sky it opens up like a scroll it rolls back like a scroll you know how scroll those old you know old times scrolls they were kind of together and then to read them they had to roll it open like that I don't know if you guys have seen videos of that they stay screw that's the same thing the sky just opens up the sky just opens up your parts of the scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places wow this earthquake not only we get more information here than Matthew 24 this massive earthquake just shakes the whole earth verse 15 now pay attention to this what were the people remember all the people what were they doing remember when we read about it they were mourning they were wailing remember that what do we find verse 15 and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man everyone hid themselves in the dance and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us pay attention to their words fall on us hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne who do they see when the heaven is departed as a scroll they see the face of the one that sitteth on the front they see Christ come every eye shall see him remember behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him they see Christ and they're so fearful they're praying to the mountains into the rocks they're probably going in bunkers on the ground what have you they're saying hide us they're talking to the to the environment as though that it's going to protect them from God Almighty from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and now look and from the wrath of the Lamb who's the Lamb Jesus Christ they know the wrath of the Lamb has come they know it's time for the earth to face its consequences for the great day of his wrath is come that's present tense the great day this day this say that we stand out the sun and the moon have gone dark the stars from up from heaven this day this day the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand you see that now we start the wrath of God right this very day is going to be the start the day where the sun and moon go dark and the heavens roll back that day will be the start of God's wrath now just to cover a couple of things very quickly if you look at Revelation chapter 6 just because I've had this argument being brought forth to me you see how it says the sun will be darkened as sackcloth of hair I think it says there and then it says the moon shall turn to blood let me have a look at that yeah the moon became as blood but I'm going to read to you Matthew 24 quickly I didn't have this in my notes but just in case you get asked this question let's have a look so it says he in Matthew 24 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her lights so some people have said to me Kevin these are different events you have the Sun going dark you have the moon going dark the stars from falling from heaven in Matthew 24 but in Revelation 6 says the moon turns to blood so it's a different event right now it's not I mean how many times are the stars fall from heaven both times the stars fall from heaven right but just because one says it goes dark it loses its light or goes dark and one says it turns to blood doesn't mean the different events it just means both things are happening like for example you know if I had a let's say these lights you know let's say these lights let's say that there's a power failure shorts out it turns one of them turns off and catches on fire you know you might go and say well the light caught on fire and then someone else might say well the light went out and then be like well hold on which story is true now these two different events yeah just saying two things are happening right the Sun sorry the moon turns red turns to blood and it also because it turns to blood it loses its light you know it goes dark so these things are one and the same don't let people make you think that they're different events anything like that it's fine I don't see a problem why that's the moon going to blood means that it has to keep shining right it just goes it turns to blood and it goes dark now I'm going to read to you Acts chapter 2 verse 20 Acts chapter 2 verse 20 the Bible reads the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord come okay the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come so the Sun and moon go dark first then we know the day of the Lord has his come right that comes first the Sun and moon so at this point in Revelation the Sun will go dark where now they're saying the wrath of God is is come it's come because it's the day of the Lord okay it's a day of the Lord if you know the Old Testament you know the day of the Lord is a time of wrath you know it's a time of darkness you know it's a time that people are worn it's spoken of so much in the Old Testament it's a time of God's wrath upon the world now I'm going to reach another passage you don't need to turn there first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 2 because I want to remember we talk about the day of Christ now it's all about the day of the Lord first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 2 for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night again Thessalonians now you know Thessalonians in the second Thessalonians talk about the day of Christ first Thessalonians talks about the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night and then verse 4 says by ye brethren are not in darkness that that that that day should overtake you as a thief so the day of the Lord okay so what does that mean this is what he means we're to look for the day of the Lord okay the same day that the day of the Lord begins which is the wrath of God is the same day as the day of Jesus Christ is the same day of as Christ the difference is when he talks about the day of Christ you'll notice in the Bible it's a very positive mention it's it's what we're looking for okay we're waiting for the Lord's come the day of the Lord Jesus Christ where he finishes that good work in us all very positive mentions about the day of Christ but to the unbelieving world so the world that's going to go for the wrath of God to them that is the day of the Lord which is a day of darkness day of wrath got they've got great anger and judgment okay now I'm not I'm not fully I've got to study up a little bit more I'm not sure if the day of the Lord is just that represents that one day but I have seen some other passages that it might be a longer period of time regardless whatever it is it begins on that day that same day that the Sun and the moon are darkened that's the day of Christ for the believers so we know Christ is coming the heavens rolled open right people saw Christ but then they know the wrath of God has come upon them the day of the Lord has come upon them now look at Revelation chapter 7 verse 1 Revelation chapter 7 verse 1 so we've had the six seals remember this scroll has seven seals okay we haven't opened the seventh seal just yet now all of these things we know this day of the sixth seal is the day when God's wrath starts okay but it hasn't started just yet in the reading of Revelation Revelation chapter 7 verse 1 and after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth and the wind should 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 so there are these four angels they've got this amazing power that they have the ability to control the earth the seas the winds okay that God's given these angels this power and other another angel comes and says to those four angels to whom he was given to hurt the earth and the sea saying verse 3 hurt not the earth don't hurt the earth neither the sea nor the trees till so they are to hurt the earth but not yet not till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads again I just want to show you this because Christ has still not yet poured out his wrath on the earth we know this day this very day they're talking about is the day is going to start but it's not commenced just yet the angels are told don't hurt the earth just yet okay and what are they waiting for for the 144,000 12,000 from every tribe of Israel to have this on their foreheads they're on the earth and we won't go into that right now because that that's just its own thing let's look at verse number nine verse number nine so after this 144,000 appear on the scene verse number nine and after this so after this happened again we're still on the same day of the Sun and Moon going dark of the heavens being opened and Christ appearing and after this I beheld and lo a great multitude a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds what's kindreds families and people and tongues all kind of languages stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands and cried of a loud voice saying salvation to our God which sit upon the throne and unto the lamb and all the angels stood round about the throne what a great vision all these people praising God and then the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne in their faces and worshiped God saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever amen what great worship to the God of gods all this host of heaven just praising God right and then verse 13 and one of the elders answered saying unto me what are these which are arrayed in white robes who are these people well who are these this great multitude right but then look at the next question and whence came they what does whence mean from where no this elder comes is where do they come from were they there all along no they just came out of nowhere right they whence came they whence from where thence from there hence from here just old English okay lessons there for you from whence where do they come from verse 14 and I said unto him so John says to this elder maybe to a put this pastor sir thou knowest they saying like you know like why are you asking me I I'm the one that's been caught up here in the spirit I'm the one that's good you know trying to contain everything that I can see he says you know you know where they came from and he said unto me what did he say unto them these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb where this great multitude come from the great tribulation being persecuted by the Antichrist this is why so many of them had died during the fifth seal and more were to die right the great tribulation had taken place we've read that in Matthew 24 they've come out of that the robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb you know this people say to you this isn't us Kevin this this isn't us this is some other group some other group in future tribulation period the tribulation saints they call them something that's never coined or termed in the Bible that's what they call them they're not it's not the church it's tribulation saints they're washed in the blood of the Lamb if you've been saved you've been washed in the blood of the Lamb verse 15 and I'm gonna prove to you that these people are is the New Testament Church okay I'm gonna prove that to you maybe not just yet but a little later verse 15 therefore before the therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them praise God God will dwell among us right this isn't just some you know we go and preach the gospel people tell us I don't believe in God you know we can't we can't show them God right we can't produce God but at this point God will be with us dwelling with us we better see him in his fullness praise God what an amazing thing and look at this verse 16 and shall hunger no more neither thirst anymore neither shall the sunlight on them nor any heat that's such a good thing on the Sunshine Coast too much heat here no more of that for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto live in fountains of water pay attention now I want you to pay attention to these next words and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes all tears all your stress all your worries okay all your problems on the earth all your concerns all your suffering washed away wiped away God himself will wipe away those tears from your eyes nevermore to sorrow nevermore to mourn God will wipe away all tears from their eyes I want you to just retain that in your memory because we're going to cover that later on turn with me to Revelation chapter 8 Revelation chapter 8 verse 1 Revelation chapter 8 verse 1 have we opened the seventh seal yet no not yet we're still in the same day okay it's still the same day of the Sun and Moon being darkened and the rapture taking place verse number one and when he had opened the seventh seal okay so now the seventh seal is opened there was silence in heaven for about the space of half an hour silence just everything goes quiet people were praising God worshiping God God wiped all these tears now it goes quiet for half an hour it's kind of like this this calm before the storm right everything just goes quiet because we know what's gonna happen what's coming the wrath of God verse number two and I saw the seven angels which stood before God and to them were given seven trumpets remember this guys remember this the seventh seal is opened then what happens the seven angels get the seven trumpets okay because there are some people I don't know how people get this idea they say well seal one goes with trumpet number one seal two goes with trumpet number two they don't have the trumpets until the seventh seal is over okay that's what's been reviewed here in the seventh seal is that these seven angels received their trumpets and to them were given seven trumpets verse three and an angel and another angel came and stood at the altar from that altar where these souls that were slain were under he comes at same altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints so this incense I don't fully understand this picture guys but we see this angel coming to that throne remember what that throne was that the souls crying out when are you going to avenge us how long Lord how long do we have to wait but not only that all the prayers of the Saints the prayers of all Saints upon that altar was before the throne and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the Saints so these prayers it's like it's kind of like God's been reserving all these prayers okay and now it's time to answer these prayers this is these prayers come up to the Lord smoke of the incense which came the president saints ascended up before God out of the angels hand and the angel took the sense now look what he does he takes the sensor and filled it with fire from the altar so somehow these prayers of the Saints translates now into this fire in this altar and cast it into the earth and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake before they start blowing the trumpets God pulls out this the angel gets this fire cast it onto this earth and you have reacts all this this thundering lightning earthquakes verse number six and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound Wow silence then all of a sudden all these these voices I guess they're screaming on the I don't know screaming on the earth earthquakes it you know the earth is shaken and now the angels are about to sound the trumpets we're not going to go into the wrath of God you can read more about the trumpets there in verse number a chapter verse chapter 8 if you want in your own time but you know what this reminds me of it reminds me of Romans chapter 12 verse 19 and 20 I'll just read it to you where it says dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath so someone does wrong to us don't get revenge give it give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine and I will repay saith the Lord therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he first give him drink for in doings for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire on his head I like the similarities there right these people that are being persecuted God says look don't avenge yourself give the place to wrath right so you know do good to these people and these these these coals of fire will be heaped upon their head this reminds me of the altar you know all these prayers of the Saints you know they're not avenging themselves they're asking the Lord to avenge them and and it kind of it's this fire that this angel takes and cast it onto the earth it's kind of like it's it's sort of like God's just reserved that and now he's hearing all those prayers and it's it's like all right now's the time now we've got to sound the trumpets now we've got to pour out the wrath and destroy what there is such a scary thought for those that miss the rapture right you know this is why we need to preach the gospel and get people saved so they can be part of this great rejoicing so they can be part of the day of Christ rather than be part of the day of the Lord now we won't I won't be going into the to the wrath at this point in time or maybe it needs its own sermon at some point but the questions get asked what is the purpose of the rapture why do we have this resurrection what's the point of it turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 1st Corinthians chapter 15 we're done there with the book Revelation I just wanted to show you those similarities there Matthew 24 with Revelation chapter 6 what is the purpose of the rapture 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51 behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed okay now some will sleep pass away and die and others will be changed you know some people say I've heard people say I really want to make it to the rapture I really want to make it to the resurrection I hope I don't die before that even if you die you're making it in fact if you die you get to go first you get to experience the rapture first before those that are alive so don't worry every believer is going to experience the rapture even if you pass away before any of these events take place so we shall not all sleep but we all shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye remember I saw about this reference being about our bodies and not about the whole rapture event in the moment it took you and I at the last Trump now I won't cover that right now last Trump we can talk about that some other time for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed now look at this in verse 53 for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality what is corruptible what is this corruption it's talking about physical bodies our bodies that we have right now are corruptible bodies you know corruptible means it can decay its putrid you know it's wicked it's dishonest you know the sins that we commit are done in our flesh are done in this body you know it's a sinful nature it's corruptible but then we're gonna exchange that corruptible body this corruptible body for an incorruptible body what does it mean to be incorruptible cannot be tainted cannot decay it is perfect and without fault we're gonna get a perfect body resurrected body just like the one that Jesus Christ received when he was resurrected but also that and this mortal must put on immortality what does it mean to be mortal it means it's our bodies are perishable you know we're subject to death right when we talk about you know being mortal and some that's immortal says this model put on immortality it's an amazing thought we're gonna become immortal like physically I know we can't die spiritually because we're born again with children of God but our physical bodies we're gonna get these immortal bodies immortal means it cannot die it endures it's eternal it's a body which lasts forever it's gonna be tangible right heaven is not this this spiritual intangible world no it's physical new heavens and new earth we're gonna be preaching about that on Sunday physical physical bodies bodies that can work bodies that can eat and drink though it says we don't have to but it can do those things okay it can function like a body like a proper body now look at verse 54 so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory now don't ignore that that's important so many people read this passage and just ignore that when we receive our resurrected bodies that that is the point of the rapture to receive our resurrected bodies it's called the resurrection so the fullness of our salvation takes place not only only is our soul saved not only are we quickened in the spirit right now but we're going to receive these new bodies and that'll be the fullness of our salvation received at that point in time okay but when that takes place it says then shall be brought to pass the same which is written death is swallowed up in victory Oh death where is thy sting right Oh grave where is thy victory why why Oh death where is thy sting what's the sting of death it's because you know to die is not a nice thing you know that sting of death is gone where is it because we got immortal bodies it can never die anymore Oh grave where is thy victory why because these graves are going to be opened up and these bodies are going to be raised incorruptible no longer with those graves of passed away believers be holding on to those dead decaying bodies you know there's no victory anymore in the grave right resurrection takes place verse 16 the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law why is it saying that the sting of death is sin is because our new incorruptible immortal bodies cannot sin they will be sinless bodies without corruption right this is the point of the rapture this is the point of the resurrection and verse 57 but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ so what had the victory before the grave right no more the grave we have the victory we have the victory of the grave we're never going to die ever again we have perfect resurrected bodies now what shall it says it should be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory that's found in Isaiah 25 okay I'll read it to you Isaiah 25 verse 8 take reference of this very very important I've never heard anyone preach this it was in my own study time I went through this stuff I've never heard it preached before Isaiah 25 verse 8 and 9 and you know I'm not making this up okay because it's in the Bible do your own reading yourself Isaiah 25 verse 8 and 9 says this he will swallow up death in victory so when Paul is quoting that verse it's coming from Isaiah okay Isaiah 25 verse 8 he will swallow up death in victory and the Lord look at this and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces where did you read about that revelation chapter 7 the one that's supposedly not for the believer is 1st Corinthians 15 the rapture there is that for believers New Testament believers yes rights to the Corinthian Church it's to the church what is Paul quoting the Old Testament Isaiah where death is swallowed up in victory what is that event the wiping away of our tears why because when we read Revelation chapter 7 we see these great multitude being brought before the throne of God being raptured and guess what their tears are wiped away from all their faces so revelation 7 is about us you can prove that just comparing scriptures it's very clear and I'll just read verse number 9 in Isaiah 25 verse 9 and it shall be said in that day lo this is our God we have waited for him this is Old Testament what are we waiting for the rapture the resurrection we and Old Testament's calling this we have waited for him and he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation why are we glad and rejoicing because all the tears have been wiped off our face right all the sorrow is gone your pain is over your suffering is over your tears are over in exchange God gives you eternal gladness eternal rejoicing in his salvation and so shall we ever be with the Lord let's pray