Hello again, friends…and welcome back!  Our study objectives are known now, so let’s build the framework upon which our study will hang.

 

Terms such as “last days,” “end times,” latter days,” and “time of the end” show up throughout Scripture.  Exactly what do these terms mean?  Are they all talking about the same time frame?  When will they occur?  Good questions!

 

You have embarked on a study to seek answers to these questions and others!  You may or may not have all the answers by the time you complete this study.  That is by design!  The objective is not to answer every question, but to launch you on a lifelong gaze through the lens of Scripture to pursue answers for yourself.

 

But let’s begin here…by looking at a roadmap of end times.

It may be helpful to refer back to this diagram at times, so let’s identify the five phases illustrated here.

1. Church Age.  Also known as “the time of the Gentiles,” this is our current time, and it will end at the rapture (when believers will be “snatched” from the earth to meet the Lord in the air).
2. Tribulation.  7-year period, with a division in the middle.  The first 3.5 years will be relatively calm, but God’s wrath will be poured out in full during the last 3.5 years.  Armageddon will mark the end of the Tribulation, and Christ’s Glorious Appearing will occur.  (ie – Jesus will physically return to earth)
3. Millennium.  Jesus will rule and reign upon the earth for 1000 years while Satan is bound.  At the end, Satan will be unbound for a short while.
4. Great White Throne Judgment.  Satan and all his followers will be judged and cast eternally into the lake of fire.
5. Eternal State.  Every person ever born will enter into the Eternal State…either with Satan in the lake of fire (hell), or with God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the New Heaven and New Earth.  Everyone has an eternal home and it’s all about location, location, location!

 

This is your GPS!  All end time prophetic events described in Scripture fit into one of the five phases illustrated in this diagram.  So, keep your GPS handy as you navigate through the rest of the study.  (You may want to bookmark this page, or print out the diagram to keep handy.)

 

Now, let’s focus on Jesus’ Second Coming in order to make a very clear distinction between the Rapture and the Glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

For some, the idea of Jesus’ Second Coming seems contradictory and confusing in Scripture.  However, 1 Corinthians 14:33 clearly says that God is not a God of confusion, so let’s see if we can bring clarity to this apparent confusion.

 

Read Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32.  What do those verses tell us about the time that Jesus will come again?

 

Now read Daniel 9:23-25 and Revelation 12:6.  Do these verses seem to indicate a number of days after which we can expect Jesus’ return?

 

So, which is it?  Is the day of Jesus’ return known or not?  In order to make sense of the seeming contradiction, one must understand that God is working within two prophetic programs:  one that is very specific to the Jews, His chosen people; and one that is specific to the body of Christ, the church (believers).  His return brings both together under His sovereignty.

 

Think of Jesus’ Second Coming as one event in two phases.  The first phase is spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.

 

Indeed, we are told that believers (those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ) will be taken up to meet Jesus in the air.  We call this the “Rapture.”   Rapture means “to take up,” or “to snatch away.”  This is the portion of the Second Coming that relates to the body of Christ, and is the first phase of the Second Coming.

 

The second phase, known as the Glorious Appearing, takes place roughly seven years later.  How do we know?  Because Scripture tells us!  In fact, the Bible calls this seven year period the “Tribulation,” and we will study this in more depth later.  For now, file this in your memory bank:

• The second phase of Jesus’ Second Coming has to do with God’s prophetic plan for the Jews, His chosen people.
• The timing was established while the Jews were in captivity in Babylon.
• The timing was revealed to the prophet Daniel and is recorded for us in Daniel 9:23-27.

 

So, though we DO NOT know the day or the hour of the Rapture, those left on earth WILL KNOW the timing of Jesus’ Glorious Appearing!  (More about that timing later this week.)

 

Okay gang, we’ve travelled a great distance today, so we’ll call it a day right here.  Great job today…see you tomorrow!