The New Testament
Book of Revelation
What must take place before the Rapture?
Damascus Friends Church • 8:30 am Sunday School Hour Elective Class
December 2001 ~ January, February 2002
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Test your Christ’s 2nd Coming IQ Which of the events listed below must take place before the Rapture of the church? See Sheet 6 for description of the Rapture. Check your answer/s ¨ The church making the world better ¨ 7 year tribulation period ¨ Opening the seven sealed scroll ¨ Anti-christ revealed S ¨ War [population cut S ¨ Famine 25% by war, S ¨ Death death, plague] S ¨ 1st group of tribulation martyrs S ¨ Cosmic disturbances S ¨ Silence in heaven ½ hour S ¨ Jews restored to God ¨ Sealing of the 144,000 Jews ¨ _ of trees burnt up - hail/blood T ¨ _ of sealife and ships hit by meteor T ¨ _ earth’s water supply hit by comet T ¨ _ heat/light from sun cut off T ¨ Demons torment people 5 months T ¨ 200 million demons loosed on earthT ¨ 2 witnesses sent by God ¨ Satan ejected from access to heaven ¨ 2 witnesses martyred ¨ Anti-christ image set up in temple ¨ Mark of the beast ¨ Earthquake swallows anti-christ army ¨ 2 witnesses resurrected/ascend ¨ Angel preaching everlasting gospel ¨ Worshipers of anti-christ get boils T V ¨ Sea becomes blood, kills all sea life V ¨ Rivers/fountains turned into blood V ¨ Anti-christ worshipers scorched V ¨ Anti-christ kingdom in darkness V ¨ Mobilization for Armageddon V ¨ Battle of Armageddon V ¨ Fall of Babylon, the great harlot ¨ Satan - bottomless pit for 1000 years ¨ Millennium - 1000 years of peace ¨ Battle of Gog and Magog ¨ Satan - the lake of fire forever ¨ Great white throne judgement ¨ New heaven and new earth ¨ All of the above ¨ None of the above S = Seal, T = Trumpet, V = Vial |
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What the Bible says The Lord Jesus Christ No one knows the day or hour. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn’t know. Only the Father knows. When the Son of Man appears, things will be just as they were when Noah lived. People were eating, drinking, and getting married right up to the day that the flood came and Noah went into the big boat. ¼ So be on your guard! Homeowners never know when a thief is coming ¼ –Matthew 24:36-43†
I am coming soon. So hold firmly to what you have, and no one will take away the crown you will be given as your reward. –Revelation 3:11†
The Apostle Paul Always be gentle with others. The Lord will soon be here. –Philippians 4:5†
Not everyone of us will die, but we will all be changed. It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so that we will never die again. –1 Corinthians 15:51-52†
Titus, assistant to Apostle Paul We are filled with hope, as we wait for the glorious return of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. –Titus 2:13†
The Apostle James Be patient until the Lord returns. Think of farmers who wait patiently for the spring and summer rains to make their valuable crops grow. Be patient like those farmers, don’t give up. The Lord will soon be here! James 5:7-8†
The Apostle Peter ¼ in the last days some people won’t think about anything except their own selfish desire. They will make fun of you and say, "Didn’t your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have all died¼ " –2 Peter 3:4† † Contemporary English Version [CEV],American Bible Society, New York, ©1995. .
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What Scholars say An incentive to holy living The date of Christ’s coming is concealed. When he shall come, no man can tell. Watch for him, and be always ready, that you may not be ashamed at his coming. Act as if Jesus would come during the action in which you are engaged; and if you would not wish to be caught in that act by his coming, let it not be your act. Charles H. Spurgeon, 12 Sermons on the Second Coming of Christ, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1976, p134
The early Apostles Everywhere is the promised Apocalypse of the Lord Jesus represented as close at hand, liable to occur at any time. The impression thus made upon the early Christians was, that Christ might come at any day or hour, even in their own lifetime. ¼ The Bible tells of nothing between us and that day. Joseph A. Seiss, The Apocalypse, ©1865, Henderson & Company, Toronto, 1901, Eighth Edition, Lecture 52, Vol III, p475, 478
Like a sentry on duty As Christ has now appeared [virgin birth], no other attitude is possible for believers but to await in keen vigilance His second coming. Heinrich Quistorp, Calvin’s Doctrine of the Last Things, translated by Harold Knight, John Knox Press, Richmond, VA, 1955, p110.
The imminent coming of Christ The concept of the imminent coming of Christ involves the following principles: Christ could come at any moment. Other things may happen before His coming, but nothing else must happen before it takes place. If something else must happen before Christ’s coming can take place, then his coming is not imminent. We conclude that the pre-tribulation rapture view is the only view of the rapture ¼that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before his return. Renald Showers, Maranatha, A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church, The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., New Jersey, 1995, p149. |