May 28, 2006
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The
Blessed Hope
Titus
2:11-14
I remember sitting in an auditorium listening to a woman who was supposed
to be an expert on the second coming of Jesus Christ. She had charts and a very large painting of Jesus returning
to the earth. She was explaining
how the church (the believers and followers of Jesus) would be “raptured”
out of the world, and everyone else would be left to endure the Great
Tribulation that was to come on all the earth.
She talked about the shock and terror of the unbelievers as they
witnessed their family members and neighbors flying through the sky while they
were left behind. Then she calmed
the concerns of some by saying, “Don’t worry, if you are driving your car,
the Lord will give you time to pull over and get out before he takes you up.” I thought it was hilarious at the time, and still think so.
That was several years ago, but evidently the idea is still around,
because I keep seeing bumper stickers that say, “In case of rapture, this car
will be abandoned.”
I preached about The Di Vinci Code
recently, because it is a book of fiction that is being taken as a historical
reality, and the movie version was just released last week.
But there is another book, or series of books, that are equally
entertaining and fictitious, with more than one movie to compliment the series.
The authors have made millions of dollars, just as Dan Brown has. The series is called Left
Behind. The underlying ideas in
the books come from the same school of thought as the woman I first mentioned.
The idea is that God is going to judge the earth and bring about a time
of testing and tribulation, but before he does, he will whisk true believers
away to heaven. This is the secret
rapture of the church, and when the tribulation is over, Jesus will return again
to bring the world to a close. So
actually, there are three comings: Jesus’ original appearance on earth at his
birth, his appearing at the rapture (or taking the church out of the world to
heaven), and then a third appearing at the final judgment.
This is a doctrine that has gained wide acceptance in the church, and
many in this room today probably believe this is the way things will happen. But let’s take a look at the historical and biblical
origins of this doctrine.
If this is true, and there are many who teach this today, then it is a
theory completely unknown to the early church Fathers, the scholastics of the
Middle Ages, the Reformers and all believers until the 1830's — less than 200
years ago. It all began with a
young Scottish woman who was a prophetess in the Catholic Apostolic Sect.
Her name was Margaret McDonald, and she claimed to have a special
revelation that a select group of believers would be caught up to meet Christ
before the days of the Antichrist. A
young man named John Darby began to be a student of hers, and in 1830 he
published her theory. Darby was a leader of the Plymouth Brethren, and the father
of a theological system called “Dispensationalism.”
Margaret McDonald had said that only a select group of believers would be
taken at the rapture, but Darby expanded this to include all believers.
He spent much of his time speaking, traveling, and writing about this new
theory, which was very controversial at the time.
But the idea of a rapture of the church really became popularized when C.
I. Scofield published his Scofield
Reference Bible in 1909. Which
means that less than 100 years ago most Bible believing Christians knew nothing
about a pre-tribulational rapture. But
it was not long until Scofield’s notes promoting Dispensationalism, and the
pre-tribulational rapture in particular, became nearly equal with Scripture for
many. In recent years Hal Lindsey
has published several books like The Late
Great Planet Earth making the theory even more widely known and accepted.
More recently, the Left Behind series has continued the stir.
Many people assume that Christians have always believed this, and are
surprised to know that belief in a rapture of the church prior to the
tribulation is a very recent development in Christian history.
The Bible is very clear about the reality of the second coming of Jesus
Christ. You will remember that
after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the disciples stood there with
their mouths open as they watched Jesus rise into heaven before them.
But two angels suddenly appeared and said to them: “Men of Galilee, 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” (Acts 1:11).
And we could cite many more verses regarding what the Bible says about
the Second Coming. But the rapture
(that is, the taking up of the church before the Great Tribulation) has very
little, if any, biblical support.
Two main passages are mainly cited by those who teach a pre-tribulational
rapture. The first is Revelation
3:10, where Jesus is speaking to the church of Philadelphia and says, “Since
you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour
of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on
the earth.” But this verse says
nothing about a rapture or taking believers out of the world. He simply promises to keep them from being adversely affected
or harmed by the coming events.
The second Scripture that people point to in support of a rapture is 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17, which says, “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.”
This verse does refer to the second coming of Christ, but it is
describing his coming just prior to the great Judgment.
It really says nothing about Christ coming only for the church prior to
the end of the world.
Why is it important to talk about this?
First of all, because there is no clear teaching in Scripture at all
concerning a secret coming of Christ where the church will be removed prior to
the final judgment and escape persecution.
If this was true, why would the book of Revelation say concerning the
difficulties of the last days: “This calls for patient endurance on the part
of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus”
(Revelation 14:12). Secondly,
because I believe Satan could easily use this teaching to discourage sincere
Christians in a time of persecution and trial.
Recent events indicate a growing animosity toward Christians all around
the world. What happens to the
church in America if persecution comes and we have been believing all along that
God will spare us from any and all harm? Would
we be ready to face the stress and danger of those days?
How can we tell the church in China, the Sudan, India and other parts of
the world that it is not God’s will for them to suffer persecution?
It is interesting that this is a particularly American doctrine.
It is not as accepted in other places.
How do we tell Christians in other countries where they are being
tortured, losing their homes and laying down their lives for Christ, that Jesus
will spare the faithful from persecution and end-time suffering?
But it sells well in the United States where we think everything should
be easy and painless. We like
things that promise us comfort, and see no redemptive value in suffering.
What is the truth, and what does the Bible teach?
The Bible does teach that Jesus Christ is returning to earth.
The Scripture today encouraged Christians to: “wait for the blessed
hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”
(Titus 2:13). Jesus said, “In the
future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One
and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64).
When we take communion we often quote 1 Corinthians where it says, “For
whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death
until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Is
Jesus returning to the earth? Absolutely.
Is there a time of trial and trouble coming for the world, and
persecution for Christians? That is
the clear teaching of Scripture. And will the end of all things be the return of Christ, the
final judgment and the setting up of Christ’s Kingdom on earth?
As sure as we are sitting here!
But it is important not to accept a doctrine just because it appeals to
us, or because it is popular with many Christians.
The “health and wealth” gospel was popular with many Christians, and
it is most certainly unbiblical. We
want to be biblical Christians. I
would love to believe that we will all be taken out and spared from all trouble
and suffering; I just see no evidence in Scripture that we will be removed from
the earth and spared from these things. I
also see no evidence in history that God has taken his people out of the
presence of suffering and persecution — which many in other parts of the world
are going through at this very moment.
Let’s look at the purpose of the second appearing of Christ and the
final judgment. Why is this called
the “blessed hope”? It first
means: God is in control.
God will bring the world to a conclusion in his time and for his
purposes. The apostle Paul was
making his case before the Greek intellectuals and philosophers at the Athenian
Areopagus. As he stood before them,
he said: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of
heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he
himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the
whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where
they should live. God did this so
that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is
not far from each one of us. ‘For
in him we live and move and have our being.’
As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think
that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone — an image made by
man’s design and skill. In the
past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to
repent. For he has set a day when
he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.
He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead”
(Acts 17:24-31).
Just when it appeared that all was lost and Jesus was taking his last
breath on the cross, God was carrying out a plan to dramatically change the
world and the people in it. It is
the central point of history. God
has been patiently carrying out his plan from the beginning of time. There has not been a single moment in time when God was not
completely in control of history, patiently moving the world toward his
conclusion. And the marvelous thing
is that God is using our lives to bring this about, working with us and through
us. Peter wrote: “Since
everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of
God and speed its coming.
That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the
elements will melt in the heat. But
in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new
earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:11-13).
In the end, the Bible says, “At the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).
The end of the world is great news for Christians who have suffered in
this present world. For those who
have had enough of pain, failure, betrayal, injustice, fatigue, heartache, grief
and loss, the end of the present world system is very good news indeed.
Secondly, the Second Coming means that: There
will be final justice. Evil
will be answered. This is God’s
world, and he will see that things are made right.
The Bible speaks of this frightening reality: “For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him
for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians
5:10). No one is getting by with
anything. Paul gave hope to the
persecuted Christians of his day saying, “God is just: He will pay back
trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to
us as well. This will happen when
the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful
angels” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-7).
Third, this means: We have hope.
Evil cannot win. We serve a sovereign God who rules the universe and is in
charge of the world — no matter how things may appear. This is the God who cares for us and will deliver us and be
with us in the time of trial.
We are the children of the Creator of the universe.
We do not live in despair as those who believe that there is no loving
God at the center of the universe, and no purpose to life.
We are not helpless against the power of evil.
Jesus prayed to the Father about us saying, “My prayer is not that you
take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John
17:15). In a fallen world full of
injustice, pain and evil, Jesus promised: “When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the
people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the
King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the
world. . . . Then he will say to
those on his left, ‘Depart from
me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels” (Matthew 25:31-41).
Finally, it means: We have the
power to overcome. We do not do
this in our own strength and cunning, this power comes through the Spirit of
God. The Bible says, “Everyone born of God overcomes the world.
This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1
John 5:4). It goes on to say, “We
know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of
God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him” (1 John 5:18).
All this is from God, for Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so
that in me you may have peace. In
this world you will have trouble. But
take heart! I have overcome the
world” (John 16:33).
In the third century, Cyprian wrote to his friend, Donatus: “This seems
a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden under the shadow
of these vines. But if I climbed
some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what
I would see. Brigands on the high
road, pirates on the seas, in the amphitheaters men murdered to please the
applauding crowds, under all roofs, misery and selfishness.
It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world.
Yet in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people.
They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any
pleasure of this sinful life. They
are despised and persecuted, but they care not.
They have overcome the world. These
people, Donatus, are the Christians. . . and I am one of them.”
While trials are not things we want to think about, it is absolutely
vital that we are prepared. Maybe
it will never happen in our lifetime — may God let it be so!
But we cannot deceive ourselves into thinking that the biblical cautions
about persecution don’t apply to us. It
was Jesus who said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
Rodney
J. Buchanan
March
28, 2006
Mulberry
St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
Mulberry
Street United Methodist Church