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1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - What Is The Rapture, And Did It Already Happen? · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Hi, Faith for listeners, Good morning, and welcome to the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Explain podcast on this absolutely lovely morning, and I
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  Speaker 1: am so thankful that you are here to discuss the
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  Speaker 1: Bible with me. We're going to be talking about the
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  Speaker 1: rapture today. Finally, we're actually going to discuss the rapture.
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  Speaker 1: I've been telling you guys about this for days, and
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  Speaker 1: now the passage is here. We're gonna get into what
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  Speaker 1: the rapture is and whether the rapture already took place
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  Speaker 1: or is going to take place. Stay tuned for a
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  Speaker 1: great discussion. Okay, even though we're reading only five verses today,
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  Speaker 1: I know this is going to be a really long
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  Speaker 1: episode just based upon how much I want to talk about.
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  Speaker 1: So let's read first Thessalonians four and jump right in,
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  Speaker 1: starting in verse thirteen and finishing in verse eighteen. As usual,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading today from the web. But we don't
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  Speaker 1: want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have
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  Speaker 1: fallen asleep, so that you don't grieve like the rest
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  Speaker 1: who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died
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  Speaker 1: and rose again, even so God will bring with him
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  Speaker 1: those who have fallen asleep. In Jesus. For this we
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  Speaker 1: tell you by the word of the Lord, that we
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  Speaker 1: who are alive, who are left until the coming of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, will in no way proceed those who have
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  Speaker 1: fallen asleep, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven
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  Speaker 1: with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
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  Speaker 1: with God's trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first.
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  Speaker 1: Then we who are alive who are left, will be
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  Speaker 1: caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
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  Speaker 1: the Lord in the air. So we will be with
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  Speaker 1: the Lord forever. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.
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  Speaker 1: All right, So this right here, this is the portion
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  Speaker 1: that we've all been waiting for. This is the one
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  Speaker 1: that talks about the rapture. The word rapture comes from
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  Speaker 1: the word raptus, which means to be caught up. And
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  Speaker 1: that is what Paul says right here. He says, we
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  Speaker 1: are going to be caught up to meet God in
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  Speaker 1: the air. And what's really interesting, this is the only
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  Speaker 1: verse in the Bible actually that talks about the rapture. Now,
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  Speaker 1: there are other passages of scripture that we'll talk about
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  Speaker 1: today that allude to the rapture. But first, Thessalonians chapter
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  Speaker 1: four thirteen through eighteen is really the only place that
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  Speaker 1: the rapture is stated specifically, meaning that Christians are going
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  Speaker 1: to be caught up to meet God in the air.
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  Speaker 1: So that is what the rapture is. For those of
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  Speaker 1: you who have been living under a rock and have
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  Speaker 1: not heard the rapture craze that has been going on
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  Speaker 1: for the past several decades, this is what the rapture is,
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  Speaker 1: you know. The rapture craze I feel like got pretty
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  Speaker 1: mainstream after the Left Behind series came out. Man, I
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  Speaker 1: should not have read those books. I read those books
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  Speaker 1: at too young of an age, and they really messed
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  Speaker 1: me up. I'm not gonna lie. I was pretty freaked
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  Speaker 1: out after reading those books. And I'm actually not the
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  Speaker 1: only person I know who was like deeply scarred from
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  Speaker 1: the Left Behind series. I know a handful of other
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  Speaker 1: people that said the same thing, that they were like
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  Speaker 1: horrified after reading those books. But I'm not fully blaming
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  Speaker 1: the Left Behind series, but I think too many people
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  Speaker 1: made it out to be as if it was like
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  Speaker 1: gospel truth when it certainly was not. There could be
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  Speaker 1: some truth in them, I don't know, but for the
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  Speaker 1: most part, it is a work of fiction. So let's
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  Speaker 1: get into what the rapture actually is. Starting in verse thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: Paul says, we don't want you to be ignorant, brothers
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  Speaker 1: concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don't
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  Speaker 1: grieve like the rest who have no hope. So first
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  Speaker 1: and foremost, Paul says that those who have died who
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  Speaker 1: are Christians have actually just fallen asleep. And he specifically
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  Speaker 1: uses that verbiage because think about sleeping. You know, it's
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  Speaker 1: a temporary state. It is something that you do for
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  Speaker 1: several hours every night and then you wake up in
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  Speaker 1: the morning. It is temporary. And I think that's why
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  Speaker 1: Paul uses the verbiage here that they have fallen asleep,
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  Speaker 1: not that they have died, because death is so final.
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  Speaker 1: So Paul says, they're not dead in the way that
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  Speaker 1: we think of death. They have fallen asleep. This is
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  Speaker 1: a temporary status for them. And the reason Paul says
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  Speaker 1: all that to the Thessalonians is because it seems like
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  Speaker 1: the Thessalonians were concerned that they're loved ones who are
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  Speaker 1: Christians who died before them weren't going to experience the
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  Speaker 1: glory and majesty of Jesus's return and they were sad
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  Speaker 1: over that fact. They said, yeah, you know, my mom
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  Speaker 1: or my dad died before me. They were Christians, They're
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  Speaker 1: not going to experience the Messiah returning. So Paul says, no,
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  Speaker 1: don't think that they are going to experience Jesus's second
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  Speaker 1: coming as much as anybody who is alive when it happens.
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  Speaker 1: And Paul says, the reason he tells the Thessalonians these
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  Speaker 1: things is because he doesn't want them to grieve like
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  Speaker 1: the rest who have no hope. You know, death, like
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  Speaker 1: I said, is such a final thing. It is such
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  Speaker 1: a discouraging thing. You know, for anybody who is not
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  Speaker 1: a Christian, death is absolutely terrible because they have no
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  Speaker 1: hope that they're ever going to see their loved one again.
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  Speaker 1: And that's a very sad thing. But Christians don't have
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  Speaker 1: that same concern because we know that our loved ones
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  Speaker 1: who accepted Jesus as their savior, their death is a
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  Speaker 1: temporary thing. It is not going to last forever. They
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  Speaker 1: are in a sleep state, is what Paul says. And
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  Speaker 1: this certainly gives us hope. You know, I don't want
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  Speaker 1: my loved ones to die, but I have hope that
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to see them again. You know, my grandma
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  Speaker 1: who died, I know she was saved. I know that
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  Speaker 1: she believed in Jesus. I know I'm going to see
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  Speaker 1: her again someday. My friend Jeff, who is on the
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  Speaker 1: podcast last year in January, he died in February. I
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  Speaker 1: know that I'm going to see him again someday. And
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  Speaker 1: everybody else that I know we're Christians who died before me,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to see them again because we have a
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  Speaker 1: hope and an understanding that death is not the end,
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  Speaker 1: but it's actually, in a sense the beginning, especially when
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  Speaker 1: Jesus comes again, it's the beginning of a brand new
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  Speaker 1: life verse fourteen. For if we believe that Jesus died
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  Speaker 1: and rose again, even so God will bring with him
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  Speaker 1: those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. So if we
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  Speaker 1: believe in Jesus's death and resurrection, that Jesus was powerful
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  Speaker 1: enough to defeat death and rise again on the third day,
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  Speaker 1: then we have to also believe that God can do
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  Speaker 1: the same thing for our loved ones who believed in
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  Speaker 1: Jesus who died before us. God is that powerful, and
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  Speaker 1: if he can raise Jesus from the dead, then he
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  Speaker 1: can certainly raise our loved ones as well. But notice
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  Speaker 1: here that Paul does not call Jesus's death sleep as
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  Speaker 1: he did in verse thirteen, And that's because Jesus did
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  Speaker 1: not experience the temporary state of death. He fully died.
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  Speaker 1: He experienced death, and he did that specifically so that
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  Speaker 1: he could defeat and conquer death, so that for all
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  Speaker 1: of us we don't have to experience the finality of death.
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  Speaker 1: And that's Jesus showing his power as God that he
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  Speaker 1: can fully die, that he can experience the finality of death,
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  Speaker 1: but then conquer it and raise himself three days later.
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  Speaker 1: That was Jesus showing his power as God that death
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  Speaker 1: is no longer final. And First Corinthians, chapter fifteen goes
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  Speaker 1: a lot more into depth with that, and we'll get
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  Speaker 1: into some of those verses in just a moment here,
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  Speaker 1: but continue in verse fourteen. If we believe that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: died and rose again, even so God will bring with
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  Speaker 1: him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this
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  Speaker 1: we tell you by the word of the Lord, that
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  Speaker 1: we who are alive, who are left until the coming
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord, will in no way precede those who've
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  Speaker 1: fallen asleep. That's another comfort for the Thessalonian Church and
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  Speaker 1: also for all of us reading this who has had
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  Speaker 1: a loved one die. They're actually going to experience all
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  Speaker 1: of this first before anybody who is alive does. They're
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  Speaker 1: going to experience it first, and that is a comfort
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  Speaker 1: to all of us that death is not final, and
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  Speaker 1: that it also means we're not going to miss out
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  Speaker 1: on something so amazing like Jesus's second coming. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to experience it whether we are alive or dead. Here's
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  Speaker 1: what it says in verse sixteen. For the Lord himself
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  Speaker 1: will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
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  Speaker 1: of the archangel and with God's trumpet. The dead in
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  Speaker 1: Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who
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  Speaker 1: are left will be caught up together with them in
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  Speaker 1: the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So
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  Speaker 1: we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, comfort one
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  Speaker 1: another with these words, and this really is a comfort.
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  Speaker 1: This is such a comfort because we know that our
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  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters in Christ who have died and we
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  Speaker 1: miss them so much, we're going to see them again.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to experience life with them once again. And
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter whether we die or whether we're alive.
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  Speaker 1: When Jesus comes back, all of us will see and
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  Speaker 1: experience the exact same thing. And this brings me to
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  Speaker 1: First Corinthians chapter fifteen fifty one through fifty eight, which
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  Speaker 1: ties perfectly into for Thessalonians four. This is Paul speaking,
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  Speaker 1: starting in verse fifty one. But hold, I tell you
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  Speaker 1: a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will
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  Speaker 1: all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of
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  Speaker 1: an eye at the last trumpet, For the trumpet will sound,
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  Speaker 1: and the dead will be raised, incorruptible, and we will
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  Speaker 1: be changed. For this perishable body must become imperishable, and
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  Speaker 1: this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable
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  Speaker 1: body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have
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  Speaker 1: put on immortality, then what is written will happen. Death
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  Speaker 1: is swallowed up in victory. Death. Where is your sting, Hades,
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  Speaker 1: where is your victory? The sting of death is sin,
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  Speaker 1: and the power of sin is the law. But thanks
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  Speaker 1: be to God who gives us victory through our Lord
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast immovable, always
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  Speaker 1: abounding in the Lord's work, because you know that your
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  Speaker 1: labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now, this
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  Speaker 1: passage I just read did not specifically say the rapture,
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  Speaker 1: did not specifically say that Christians will be caught up,
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  Speaker 1: but it's certainly to talking about the same thing. You can
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  Speaker 1: tell it's talking about the exact same thing. This is
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  Speaker 1: discussing Jesus's second coming and the rapture Christians being caught
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  Speaker 1: up to Jesus. Now, this brings me to the three
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  Speaker 1: most common beliefs among Christians about when the rapture is
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  Speaker 1: going to take place. The first belief is called preterism.
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  Speaker 1: That means that the rapture already happened. The second belief
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  Speaker 1: is that the rapture is going to happen. And the
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  Speaker 1: third belief is that the rapture is all gobbledegook and
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  Speaker 1: it's not going to happen. Ever, Jesus is going to
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  Speaker 1: come back, but the rapture is fake, that is not
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  Speaker 1: going to happen. I will address that belief first. It
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  Speaker 1: is very clear in scripture that a rapture of some
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  Speaker 1: sort is going to happen. It says right here in
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  Speaker 1: first Thessalonians that we will be caught up to meet Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: I doubt it will be depicted the way mainstream Christian
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  Speaker 1: media has depicted it, the way rapture predictors depict it,
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  Speaker 1: the way the Left Behind series have depicted it. I
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  Speaker 1: really highly doubt it's going to be like that. But
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  Speaker 1: you can't deny that a rapture of some sort is
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  Speaker 1: going to take place, that we will meet Jesus in
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  Speaker 1: the air. And it's not just people who are alive
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  Speaker 1: who will experience the rapture, but everybody, every single Christian,
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  Speaker 1: whether they are alive or dead, at the time of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is coming, they will experience a rapture of some
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  Speaker 1: sort that is laid out in scripture. So I can't
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  Speaker 1: get behind the belief that the rapture is fake because
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  Speaker 1: I think there's too much biblical evidence for it. But
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  Speaker 1: I can definitely get behind the idea that the rapture
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  Speaker 1: as it's depicted in Christian media is certainly fake. It's
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  Speaker 1: very clear in scripture that we are not going to
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  Speaker 1: know the day or the time. It's all so very
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  Speaker 1: clear in scripture that much of the prophecies will not
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  Speaker 1: be known until they happen. That's why Jesus in Matthew
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  Speaker 1: twenty four says that you have to discern the times,
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  Speaker 1: not look at the future prophecies, but discern the times
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  Speaker 1: that you are in right now. Are the prophecies that
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  Speaker 1: are discussed in Revelations starting to make sense? If so,
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  Speaker 1: you're probably getting closer and closer to Jesus's return. So
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  Speaker 1: that's my belief. On all of that. I do believe
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  Speaker 1: that the rapture is biblical. I don't believe that really
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  Speaker 1: anybody truly knows what it's going to look like now.
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  Speaker 1: The second belief is that the rapture already happened. And
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  Speaker 1: this belief is called pratorism or preterism. I'm not really
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  Speaker 1: sure how to say it, but the word pratism comes
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  Speaker 1: from the Latin word pratur, which I believe means history.
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  Speaker 1: So in other words, this belief is that the rapture
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  Speaker 1: is history. It all already happened, it's not going to
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  Speaker 1: happen again. And all end times prophecies talked about in
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  Speaker 1: Daniel and Revelation in Matthew twenty four, all of those
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  Speaker 1: already happened and they're not going to happen again. So
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  Speaker 1: let's delve into that viewpoint a little bit more. Pratorists
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  Speaker 1: believe that the rapture happened during the Fall of Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: in eighty seventy. You know, when Rome went into Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: and completely ransacked it and destroyed the temple and killed
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  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of people, and there was a really
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  Speaker 1: nasty famine that happened in the city that also killed
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of people. Well, pratorists think that the rapture
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  Speaker 1: happened then that all of the End Times prophecies is
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  Speaker 1: referring to that exact moment in history when the Temple
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  Speaker 1: was destroyed. They also believed that the only people raptured
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  Speaker 1: were the one hundred and forty four thousand Jews talked
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  Speaker 1: about in the Book of Revelation. If you go to
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  Speaker 1: Revelation seven, verse one, here's what it says. After this,
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  Speaker 1: I saw four angels standing on the four corners of
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  Speaker 1: the earth, holding the four winds, so that no wind
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  Speaker 1: would blow on the earth, on the sea, or on
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  Speaker 1: any tree. I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise,
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  Speaker 1: having the seal of the Living God. He cried with
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  Speaker 1: a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it
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  Speaker 1: was given to him the earth and the sea, saying,
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  Speaker 1: don't harm the earth, sea, or trees until we have
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  Speaker 1: sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads.
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  Speaker 1: I heard the number of those who are sealed. One
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  Speaker 1: hundred and forty four thousand sealed out of every tribe
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  Speaker 1: of the children of Israel, of the tribe of Judah
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  Speaker 1: twelve thousand, Reuben twelve thousand, God twelve thousand, Asher twelve thousand,
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  Speaker 1: and so on. So the pratorist believes that those one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and forty four thousand were the ones who are
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  Speaker 1: raptured up out of Jerusalem and were taken to be
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  Speaker 1: with God in the air, and that Jesus did come
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  Speaker 1: back during that time, but it was kind of a
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  Speaker 1: spiritual comeback. Now, this is just kind of like the
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  Speaker 1: broad pratorist viewpoint. I do know that Pratorism kind of
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  Speaker 1: goes into like one hundred different like subsections, and there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of view about it, but I'm just talking
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  Speaker 1: about one of the most common ones right now. That
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  Speaker 1: Jesus did come back, some people were raptured at the
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  Speaker 1: fall of Jerusalem, but that Jesus's comeback was more of
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  Speaker 1: a spiritual one rather than a physical one, and they
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  Speaker 1: take a lot of these viewpoints. From Matthew chapter twenty four,
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  Speaker 1: this is the sermon that Jesus is speaking to his
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  Speaker 1: disciples about the end times prophecies. And here's what Jesus
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  Speaker 1: says in Matthew twenty four thirty four. Most certainly, I
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  Speaker 1: tell you, this generation will not pass away until all
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  Speaker 1: these things are accomplished. So the praterarist will say. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: from his own mouth said that his generation will be
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  Speaker 1: alive when all of these things take place. So it
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  Speaker 1: makes sense that all of these things took place during
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  Speaker 1: the fall of Jerusalem in eighty seventy. And I'm not
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  Speaker 1: gonna lie. When I first heard about praatism, I opened
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  Speaker 1: my brain to it, I did my research, I thought
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  Speaker 1: about it, and then I closed my brain to it
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  Speaker 1: pretty hard right after that. And here's why, because most
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  Speaker 1: of these things have not happened. Even in Matthew twenty four,
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  Speaker 1: when Jesus talks about the end of days, he discusses
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  Speaker 1: events that certainly did not happen during the Fall of Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: For example, Matthew twenty four, verse twenty nine, immediately after
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  Speaker 1: the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened,
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  Speaker 1: the moon will not give its light, the stars will
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  Speaker 1: fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens
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  Speaker 1: will be shaken. Then the sign of the Sun of
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  Speaker 1: Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes
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  Speaker 1: of the earth will mourn. They will see the Sun
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  Speaker 1: of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with
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  Speaker 1: power and great glory. But the problem is, if Jesus
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  Speaker 1: came back in seventy a d. None of those things happen.
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  Speaker 1: These things are not documented in our history books. We
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  Speaker 1: don't have any evidence of these crazy events happening in space.
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  Speaker 1: And don't you think that the Romans would have written
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  Speaker 1: all this down if they saw like the sign of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ in the air, would they have not have
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  Speaker 1: written all of this down? But it's not written down.
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  Speaker 1: So that's my first concern with all of this. The
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  Speaker 1: second concern is that when Jesus talks about this generation
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  Speaker 1: will not pass away until all these things are accomplished.
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  Speaker 1: The Greek word for generation, which is genea, can also
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  Speaker 1: be translated as race, and that would mean that humanity
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  Speaker 1: as a race is not going to pass away until
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  Speaker 1: these things take place. You know, there's so many beliefs
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  Speaker 1: swirling around that. You know, the end is going to come.
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  Speaker 1: All of humanity is going to be destroyed from you know,
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  Speaker 1: the sun flares and from pollution and all these other problems.
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  Speaker 1: You know, people are just going to die. We hear
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  Speaker 1: that all the time. It's fear mongering. But Jesus says, no,
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  Speaker 1: people are not going to die until all of these
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  Speaker 1: things take place. The Earth is going to continue on
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  Speaker 1: its natural orbit. Everything is going to primarily stay the same.
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  Speaker 1: The seasons will come, the seasons will go until Jesus returns.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: So the word jenea is not always translated as this generation,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: as the pratorist likes to say, but rather it can
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: be translated as broadly, humanity as a whole will not
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: pass away until Jesus comes again. So if that's the case,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Jesus was not saying that the rapture was going to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: take place in his generation for them to see, but
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: someday in the future. So that's the second problem with praderism.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: But the third problem you'll find in First Corinthians, chapter eleven,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: twenty three through twenty six. For I received from the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: and said, take and eat. This is my body which
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: is broken. For you do this in memory of me.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: this as often as you drink in memory of me.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: For as often as you eat this bread and drink
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: So my question is, if Jesus already came back, why
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: are we still doing communion at church? Why is it
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: this big secret thing. It does not seem secret to me,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: you know, when Paul talks about it in First Thessalonians
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and First Corinthians, it does not seem like it's going
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: to be secret. It seems like it's going to be
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: a intense event. It's clearly going to be a public
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: thing that everybody knows about. In fact, Jesus himself says,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: you're going to see me, You're going to see my
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: sign in the sky. We didn't see any of that happen,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: So I don't think it's going to be just this,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: you know, secret event that took place that none of
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: us really know about, and so the Church just continues
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: doing all this, you know, needless stuff like taking communion
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: or for that matter, waiting for Jesus like a scripture
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: tells us to. But the last couple concerns I have
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: about praatism is that when Paul wrote about the Rapture
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: in the passages we read today, in one Sessonians four
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and one Corinthians fifteen, both those letters were to non Jews.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: If the rapture was only for Jews, why would Paul
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: write about the Rapture to non Jews two gentile converts
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: of Christianity. If they weren't included in it, they would
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: have no reason to know or care about the Rapture.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: So that's another concern I have with praiorism. And then
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the final concern that I have is that the Book
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: of Revelation was likely written after the fall of Jerusalem,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: and if it was is that would obviously destroy the
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: pratorist viewpoint. So the pratorist also has to say that
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the Book of Revelation was written before the Fall of Jerusalem,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: And to their credit, we don't really know when the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Book of Revelation was written. You know, when John was
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: writing Revelation, he was addressing all of these different churches,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: like the Church of Smyrna, the Church of Philadelphia, all
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: of these churches. Many of those churches weren't really around
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: until after sixty five eighty. Now, granted, yes, John could
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: have written the Book of Revelation like in that five
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: year time period right before the fall of Jerusalem in
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: seventy eight, but when John talks to these churches, it
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: seems he is talking to well established churches, not brand
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: new churches that literally got their feet off the ground
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: a month prior. It seems he's discussing these events with
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: well established churches. So most scholars do believe that the
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Book of Revelation was written after the Fall of Jerusalem,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: most likely around ninety to ninety five eighty. So those
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: are my primary concerns about praterism. However, like I said before,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: I really don't know when the rapture is going to
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: take place. But I feel confident in my own study
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: that the rapture is yet to come, because there's so
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: much talked about in Matthew twenty four that has not
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: happened yet in Revelation that doesn't seem to have happened
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: yet in Daniel that also does not seem to have
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: happened yet. And plus on top of that, here's what
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Paul says in two Timothy sixteen through eighteen. Shun empty chatter,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: for it will go further in ungodliness, and those words
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: will consume like gang green, of whom Hymenus and Philatus,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: men who have aired concern the truth, saying that the
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: resurrection is already passed, and overthrowing the faith of some. However,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: God's firm foundation stands having this seal. The Lord knows
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: who are his, and let everyone who names the name
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. And here's what two
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Peter three eight through ten says. Don't forget this thing, beloved,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: the day of the Lord will come as a thief
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: in the night, in which the heavens will pass away
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: are in it will be burned up. I think those
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: two verses are very clear that we do not know
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: when the rapture is going to take place, that even
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: though it seems like God is acting very slowly, he
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: is doing things in his time period, and that a
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: thousand years to him seems like a day and a
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: day also seems like a thousand years to him, like
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: he is outside of time the way we understand it.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: He is doing things outside of his time in his
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: time the way that is best. And let's just say
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the rapture already took place, that the pratorists are all correct,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: that Jesus has already come again in seventy a d.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: I still think that we need to be watching and
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: waiting for Jesus even if we believe that he has
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: already come back, because that is what is worn to
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: us over and over and over again in the New Testament,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: that we need to be watching and waiting for Jesus's return.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: If Jesus already came back, then that means we wouldn't
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: have to watch and wait any longer, and that could
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: cause some people to get come to not wait on Jesus.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I personally would rather be safe than sorry and live
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: in a way that scripture tells us to live where
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: we are waiting for Jesus every single day because we
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: don't know when we're going to see him. We don't
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: know when he's going to return, and we need to
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: be ready to meet his face, whether it's through the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: temporary state of death or the second coming of the Messiah,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: we need to be ready. But, faithful listeners, we are
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: not done talking about the Rapture. We still have another
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: chapter to go in for Thessalonians, and Paul's going to
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: get a little bit more into when Jesus is going
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to come back and what we should do while we're
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: waiting on Jesus. So, faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: today's episode, and if you did, share it on your
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: social media platforms and tell people that the Bible Explain
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: podcast exists. But, faithful listeners, I am sorry that the
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: podcast episodes are all messed up as of right now.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: I am really really hoping that they get this problem
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: fixed soon. While you're waiting. If you wanted to listen
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: to the old episodes, make sure to go to my
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel or to my Rumble channel. Both of those
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: are linked in the description. And YouTube specifically has all
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: of my episodes organized by books and by seasons, so
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you can find any episode that you want over on
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: the YouTube channel. Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: rest of your day. Happy listening, and God bless