Rescued & Caught up
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Over the past week we have been looking at some key issues which we need to grasp in order to properly Understand Prophecy - that is, what God has revealed to us about what is yet to come.
Last week, we were looking at the topic, The Day of the Lord.
Our discussion today flows right out of that topic, so let’s review for a moment.
What is the Day of the Lord?
What is a part of the Day of the Lord?
Who is acting upon whom?
Why is this happening?
When is the Day of the Lord?
What is the Day of the Lord?
What characterizes The Day of the Lord? It is judgment and wrath. Darkness and gloom. There has been no time like it before. It is that bad.
What is a part of the Day of the Lord?
It begins with the revealing of the man of lawlessness, the anti-christ, the one who will make a covenant with Israel for 7 years.
The wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb as described from Revelation 6 on is a part of this.
The return of Christ to the earth to destroy the armies of the world that have gathered to destroy Israel, and to establish His kingdom.
His earthly kingdom in which He reigns with a rod of iron.
The final rebellion, and the Great White throne judgment, and the destruction of the current heavens and earth.
All of this is included in the Day of the Lord from the verses we looked at last week.
Now we will get into more detail later about what some of these things are later. Our goal right now is to understand what the Day of the Lord is.
Who is acting upon whom?
God is the One pouring out His wrath upon Israel and the nations. Later, God will restore Israel, but still pour out His wrath upon the nations.
Why is this happening?
Because of the sin and arrogance of man.
When is the Day of the Lord?
Sometime soon.
Only the Lord know when.
That is the Day of the Lord.
Last week, we closed with these verses:
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
We should know what the Day of the Lord is, and that it is coming soon. We should know and be warning others. We should be teaching our children and our friends and neighbors. We do not want them to be a part of the Day of the Lord.
But what about us? Paul says to encourage one another and build each other up. Where is the encouragement in the Day of the Lord? In the Day of the Lord there is no encouragement for those going through it. It is awful.
But for us, those who believe in Jesus—those who are trusting that He is our only savior, the One who died for our sins, and rose again to give us new life in Him—are not appointed, or put in the position of suffering that wrath!
Look at verse 9 again.
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God did not appoint us to suffer wrath.
God did not appoint us to suffer wrath.
The us here is referring to believers.
The word appoint is used elsewhere when Paul speaks of God appointing him to be a minister of the gospel. An appointment is when you are put into a specific role, or position.
This verse says God did not appoint us to suffer wrath. Why won’t we suffer wrath?
Well, why is the wrath coming?
Sin and arrogance of man.
What did Jesus do for us?
and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
I am using the New American Standard here because they use the word Propitiation. Some of your bibles will say atoning sacrifice. I like the word propitiation. It means He was the full satisfaction to God for our sins.
John writes it again in chapter 4.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
He is the propitiation for our sin.
Sin brings God’s wrath upon us. Jesus died to take the punishment, the wrath of God for our sin. In doing so, He satisfied God’s wrath. Therefore, those who believe are saved from God’s wrath, while those who do not believe still have God’s wrath on them, because they have not received what Jesus did for them.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Back to 1 Thessalonians.
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God did not appoint, or put us into the role of suffering wrath. Why, because we have been put into the position of having received salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ! He satisfied God’s wrath for us. So, we do will not be a part of the Day of the Lord, when God pours out His wrath on the world of men who have not received His offer of salvation.
Paul wrote about this earlier in 1 Thessalonians.
Turn to chapter 1 if you will.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to encourage them, and let them know about his love and concern for them. He also wrote to encourage them regarding questions they had.
Apparently they knew that the Day of the Lord was coming. He wrote in the portion we already read that they knew about this, and should not be unaware.
Paul also wrote in chapter 1, verse 10, after speaking of how they were saved and had a great testimony in all the area around them,
for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
The Thessalonians were serving God, and waiting for Jesus.
Why were they waiting?
Because all through the New Testament, the believers were
Waiting for Jesus’ Imminent return
Waiting for Jesus’ Imminent return
The word, ‘imminent’ does not occur in the bible. Imminent just means it could happen at any moment.
Why do we call it imminent?
Because the bible makes it clear that we should be waiting because it could happen at any moment!
You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Believers have always had the mindset of waiting for the Lord. He could come at any time for us, and we want to be found waiting for Him!
Why are we waiting for Him to come? What will He do?
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
He is coming to rescue us from the coming wrath.
He is coming to rescue us from the coming wrath.
We know the wrath is coming. The Day of the Lord is coming.
But we also know that Jesus is coming to rescue us from that outpouring of wrath.
The word rescue here means to rescue by drawing to oneself.
There are other words that could be used for rescue, which would mean to either to take out of danger, or to preserve from danger or destruction. The Holy Spirit chose to have Paul use this word for rescuing by drawing to oneself.
It is like my friend Pastor Bob rescuing his son Nate… story
He rescued him by pulling him to himself.
Jesus is going to rescue us from the wrath that this coming by pulling us to Himself.
We have not been appointed to suffer wrath, so Jesus will rescue us by pulling us to Himself. Where is He? Heaven.
What is He doing there?
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
This is exactly the expression a Jewish man would used with his betrothed. In their culture, a marriage agreement was made. Then, the husband would go and prepare a place for the new couple to live. Then, after a year or so, he would come back to take his wife to be with him, and the wedding would be consummated in their home.
Jesus has gone to prepare a place for those who believe in Him. Believers are called the bride of Christ. We are betrothed to Jesus.
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
Or, as Paul wrote in Ephesians,
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
We are his bride. So, He is preparing a place for us, and He will come, as promised to take us to be with Him!
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Jesus is coming to rescue believers, His bride, by taking us to be with Him, so we will be saved from the coming wrath!
Saving His people from wrath that He pours out on sinful people is something God has done before, so it should not come as a surprise that this is what is going to happen with us.
Peter puts it this way,
if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless
(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—
if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
Do you remember how the angels made Lot leave? They could not pour out the wrath until Lot was safe.
When did the wrath get poured out in the days of Noah? Not until he was safely shut inside the ark. Once God shut Noah in the safety of the ark, the means of salvation God had provided for him and his family, then God poured out His wrath on the world. Leaving Noah here with his family to repopulate the world after the flood.
God knows, and has demonstrated how He removes His people so that they do not experience the outpouring of His wrath.
And, He has told us to wait for Jesus, who will come to rescue us from the coming wrath by drawing us to Himself.
Paul also talked about how that was going to take place in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Apparently the Thessalonians were confused about the resurrection, and how those who had died would be able to go with Jesus when He came for them.
So Paul explained that those who died will also go.
So what is going to happen according to this passage?
We will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
We will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
The wTord for caught up, is used for when someone takes something by force. It is not like taking something quietly, or cunningly, like a pickpocket. No, it is more like the action of a purse snatcher. The action isn’t hidden or stealthy. It is evident and violent.
There are other verses where this is used, which you will see in the homework. But one that I want to look at now is Acts 8:39
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
The context here is that Philip met an Ethiopian Eunuch who had been to Jerusalem and was on his way home. He was reading Isaiah. Philip asked if he understood it, and he did not. So Philip explained the passage was about Jesus, and shared the gospel with him. The man was saved and baptized. Then, suddenly, the Spirit snatched Philip away, and he appeared miles away in another city!
It was sudden. It was violent. It was not stealthy or cunning. Bam! Philip was gone.
That is the word here in 1 Thessalonians as well.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
We will be snatched away to meet the Lord in the air.
This is the hope the angels gave to the apostles. Acts 1:11.
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
He will come in the clouds, and we will be watching and waiting for it, then bam! We will be snatched away to meet Him in the air!
The fact that we are meeting Him when He comes in the clouds in the air is significant, because that is a distinguishing feature between his coming for his church, and His second coming to earth to destroy the armies of the nations and establish His kingdom.
For the church, He comes in the air.
For the second coming, He comes to the earth, to the Mount of Olives, specifically. We saw that in past weeks in Zechariah 14.
This coming in the air to snatch away His bride, the church, is what is commonly called the Rapture. When the Bible was translated into Latin, the Latin word in this verse was rapturo. Then, English borrowed that word, and we have Rapture.
We will be raptured or caught up with Him, and our bodies will be changed to be holy like Him.
Paul wrote about that in Philippians 3:20-21.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
And he also wrote about it in 1 Cor. 15:51-53.
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
Why do our bodies need to be changed? Because scripture shows us that sin is in us. It is a part of us. Jesus died, taking the penalty for our sin, and rose to conquer the power of sin.
When He comes, He will redeem our bodies, and change them to be holy and sinless like Him.
So, what have we seen today?
God did not appoint us to suffer wrath
We must be waiting for Jesus imminent return
He is coming to rescue us from wrath
We will be caught up to meet Him in the air
Why is this important for our understanding of prophecy? Because understanding what God is doing in the Day of the Lord (pouring out wrath), and what God is doing for us (rescuing us from wrath and catching us up to be with Him), will help us as we tie all the pieces together to see what is coming, which we will do, another week...
Application:
And how should that impact our lives today?
Well, like Paul told the Thessalonians, we need to encourage each other with these words.
However, I think that if we are truly believing and living like Jesus could return at any moment, it should change how we are living…
I like the way the Spirit had Paul write it to Titus.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
homework
Read 1 Thess 5:1-11. What does verse 9 tell us that should be an encouragement to us? What did God not appoint us for? Read John 5:24, and Romans 5:9-10. What do believers not face? Read Isaiah 13:11, 26:21. Why is wrath coming? What did Jesus do for us? 1 John 2:2; 4:10. What does propitiation mean? How does that impact us regarding the coming wrath?
Read Titus 2:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; James 5:8-9. What do these verses have in common? Think of how children wait for Christmas. How should we be waiting? What is so great about His coming?
Read 1 Thessalonians 1:10, and 2 Peter 2:5-9. God rescues His people. Did God rescue them before, after or during the outpouring of His wrath? Read Genesis if you need to review. Noah was saved by God closing the door of the ark, shutting him in, before the outpouring of the wrath. Lot had to be removed from the city before the outpouring of wrath. Notice that we are rescued from the wrath to come. Do we have to suffer any of the wrath to come in the Day of the Lord? Why not?
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. We will be caught up. Read these verses where that same word is used, and translated in English as snatched, attacks, take or other similar words. What does that tell you about what is going to happen? What will it be like? Jude 23; Matthew 13:19; John 10:12; Acts 8:39; Acts 23:10. Now, read what will happen to us when we are caught up with Him: Colossians 3:4; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. Why would our bodies need to be changed? Consider Romans 7:14-25.
Read 1 Thessalonians. There is a lot in there to encourage us, and give us clarity regarding being rescued and caught up. There is also a lot of practical application. How should we be living in light of all of this? How should we be living in light of the imminent return of Christ? If you want other ideas, check out 1 Peter 1:13- 2:3.