The Rapture and the Return

Difference: the Rapture & the Return (Revelation)

DIFFERECE BETWEEN THE RAPTURE AND RETURN (THE REVELATION)------------- ------------RAPTURE----------------------RETURN----------------------- 1. Christ comes for His own 1 Thes. 4:13-18/ 1. Christ comes with His own 1 Thes. 3:13 Jude 14 2. Christ comes in the air 1Thes. 4:17/ 2. Christ come to the earth Zech. 14:4, Acts 1:11 3. He claims His bride 1Thes. 4:17/ 3. He comes with His bride Rev 19:6-14 4. Removal of believers 1 Thess. 4:17/ 4. Removal of unbelievers Matt. 24:36-41 5. Only His own see Him 1 Thess. 4:13-18/ 5. Every eye shall see Him Rev. 1:7 6. Tribulation begins 2 Thess. 1:6-9/ 6. Millennial kingdom begins Rev. 20:1-7 7. Only unsaved enter tribulation 1 Thess. 1:10; 5-9/ 7. Only saved enter millennium Rev. 6:12-17 8. Saved:delivered from wrath 1 Thes. 1:10; 5:9/ 8. Unsaved experience wrath Rev. 6:12-17 9. No signs precede rapture-1 Thess. 5:1-3/ 9. Signs precede second coming Luke 21:11,15 10. Focus: Lord and Church-1 Thess. 4:13-18/ 10. Focus: Israel and Kingdom Matt. 24:14 It is vital to understand these differences to understand much of prophecy. Details later. Next we look at the tribulation, the Holy Spirit being taken out of the world as well as believers, the antichrist, and much more. God said to Israel, "Prepare to meet your God" Amos 4:12. We are to prepare to meet Jesus. How? worship, Word, work, witness. Be faithful until death. Father, give us wisdom to understand prophecy as the men of Issachar and be able to know what Your people ought to do. In Jesus name And I love YOU, all because Jesus died for our sins, paid our debt in full and rose again so we can believe and receive Him. Have YOU? Winners of March drawings. Sandy in NY; Frank in AL; Steve in OK; Joe in Philippines, Steve in NC; Bill in PA. Go to http://sumnerwemp.injesus.com (save this) click on message Archives to get past emails.    "The mighty angel broke the seal, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it as to say, 'Now look who's in charge around here.'"  -  Vance Havner

Look what Prophecy can do for You

Look what God did today

"Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest" John 4:35.

A month ago we went looking at carpet for our patio. Today we went to place an order. It is amazing how we finally ended up at a little Mom and Pop's carpet dealer. It was obvious to us that God led us there.

The owners daughter
Penny's mother and father started the business and were now passed on. She has been through so many heartbreaks. After we finished our ordering, I gave her a tract. Then gently I asked if she knew for sure she was going to heaven. She did not.

The gospel cube
As I presented the gospel through the cube tears began flowing from her eyes. When I showed Christ dying on the cross for our sins, God broke her heart and then opened her eyes to understand He loved her and Christ died for her sins, paid her debt in full and rose again. By now she was bawling

She prayed to receive the Lord Jesus When I asked if she understood it and did it make sense, she responded positively. She bowed her head and prayed out loud to receive the Lord Jesus. When we finished, her face was beaming and the tears were flowing now from the joy in her heart. She got up and she and my wife and I hugged and rejoiced together for several minutes.

For thirty minutes
We went over how to grow spiritually. She drank it in and cried all the time, with the joy of the Lord in her heart. She thanked us over and over for telling her how to be saved.

O dear people. Prophecy about the future of us in heaven the lost in hell ought to compel us to share the gospel. God wants all of us to have this great joy of leading people to Christ. I just had to share with you what God did today.

And I love you, all because the Lord Jesus suffered and died for our sins, paid our debt in full and rose again so we can be forgiven and go to heaven, sumner. Do you believe in that alone for your salvation? Believe and pray to receive Him as your Savior right now. "He that has the Son, has life"

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Matt 9:37

The Rapture of the Dead Believers

"The dead shall be raised." 1 Cor. 15:52.

The dead in Christ
"For you are dust, And to dust you shall return" Gen. 3:19. It matters not whether the dust be in a grave or scattered to the wind, "The dead shall be raised." These are "the dead in Christ" 1 Thes. 4:16. More on this later. "For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised" vs 17. "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept" vs 20. Yes, because He lives, we shall live also.

My redeemer lives
Job said it so beautifully, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God" Job 19:25,26. "If a man die, will he live again?" asks Job (14:14). Yes indeed, in heaven or hell. The choice is yours. You will be in the resurrection of the just or the unjust Acts 24:15. More on the unjust later.

No more dying
"But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 1 Cor. 15:54, 55. We do not sorrow as those who have no hope 1 Thes. 4:13. The hardest thing to do in this world is preach the funeral of an unsaved person. I have had to do it. It is horrible. There is no hope. The is why we must give the gospel to "every person."

I preached my own father's funeral. It was not hard for I had knelt with him four years earlier when at 85 years of age he believed God that Christ died for his sins and rose again and prayed to receive the Lord Jesus as his Savior too. I wept at his funeral but not with sorrow but with joy for I knew that my father was filled with more joy at that moment than he had ever known before.
I preached the gospel and over thirty people prayed to receive the Lord Jesus that day. A funeral is the best place of all to preach the gospel, give them a chance, right there, to receive the Lord Jesus in their hearts and see people saved. Don't give up on your loved ones. I prayed for my dad for 35 years before he received the Lord Jesus. It was worth it all.
 

Prayer:  Father, You are so wonderful to give us this blessed hope and assurance that we and our loved ones shall be raised to die no more and live with You forever. Thank You, in Jesus name.

And I love you, all because the Lord Jesus suffered and died for our sins, paid our debt in full and rose again so we can be forgiven and go to heaven, sumner. Do you believe in that alone for your salvation? Believe and pray to receive Him as your Savior right now. "He that has the Son, has life" 1 John 5:12.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us" Eph. 3:20. GET IN ON IT!