Rapture and Revelation

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This is Today With Derek Prince. The internationally recognized Bible teacher and author presents to you Keys To Successful Living.

On yesterday’s program Derek Prince shared with us about the signs of Christ’s coming and the end of the age as outlined in Matthew 24. He goes on today in his theme ‘At the End of Time’ to continue sharing about the events following the return of Jesus. Join him now as he teaches at a conference in New Zealand and listen at the end of today’s program for our address and this week’s special offer.

Derek Prince:

The word rapture comes from a Latin word which means ‘to seize something forcibly.’ And in the Greek it’s used of a thief entering a house and stealing something. It’s used of a wolf coming amongst sheep and taking a sheep from the flock. It basically indicates a sudden, forceful grab. That’s what the rapture will be like. Jesus will grab us, He’ll reach down and take us suddenly, forcefully. There’s just one difference between Jesus and the thief, do you know what that is? The thief takes what doesn’t belong to him, Jesus will only take those who belong to Him, those who are His at His coming.

“. . . then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up.”

And Paul says elsewhere we’ll be changed in a moment, in the blink of an eye. This is very exciting to me. If you don’t get excited, well, that’s your problem. Here we are, we’re sitting in this meeting, looking at one another. Warren is looking at my wife and he blinks. Suddenly she’s totally changed, she’s a glorious, gorgeous, shining creature. He’s changed, too. She looks at him in amazement. It doesn’t take a long time.

In a moment, the twinkling of an eye, we shall be totally transformed. Do you believe God can do that? I do. I think it’s exciting. If you don’t get excited I don’t really know what’s wrong with you. The rapture is followed by the judgment of Christians. Some Christians don’t realize it but we will be the first to be judged. Peter said judgment must begin at the house of God. What is the house of God? The church. 2 Corinthians chapter 5:10. Now, we’ll probably come back to this when we speak about eternal judgment but let’s look here for a moment. 2 Corinthians 5:10:

“For we [as Christians] must all [all Christians] appear before the judgment seat of Christ . . .”

The word translated appear means actually to be made manifest. I think it’s a very frightening word. Everything about us will be totally known, there’ll be no secrets. We’ll all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment seat in Greek is bema, it’s what a Roman official sat on when he conducted judgment. That’s what Pontius Pilate sat on when he judged Jesus. There’s a different scene, there’s a great white throne for the judgment of the remainders. This is the judgment of Christians. And please bear in mind, Romans 8:1:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

It is not a judgment of condemnation; it is a judgment to assess the quality of our service and to give the appropriate rewards. Paul says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ:

“. . . that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

And notice there are only two categories, good or bad. John says in the first epistle all unrighteousness is sin. Anything that is not righteous is sinful. It’s like if somebody asked you to illustrate the word crooked. The way I would do it is this; I’d show them a straight line and say anything that deviates from that line is crooked. It may deviate by one degree or it may deviate by ninety degrees but it’s crooked.

And that’s how it is it with righteousness. Anything that is unrighteous is sinful. Anything that is not good is bad. There’s no middle ground. This is a deception of the enemy which he has foisted upon the church, ‘Well, I’m not doing what’s right but I’m not really doing what’s bad.’ That’s not possible. It’s one or the other.

This is the judgment seat of Christ. Then we come to the overthrow of the antichrist and his forces. Now, in 1 John chapter 4 John speaks about antichrist in three ways: the spirit of antichrist, many antichrists and the antichrist.

“The spirit of antichrist is the spirit that operates through every antichrist.”

The many antichrists have been here since the second century A.D. One of the most significant was Bar Kochba who claimed to be the messiah and led the Jewish people in the final revolt against Rome which was utterly suppressed and the whole nation was either killed or taken into captivity. There was another one called Sabbatai Zevi in the 17th century who claimed to be the messiah and said he would take the Jewish people back to the Middle East and plant them in their land. He went to the Middle East, was arrested by the Turks and converted to Islam. So that was a disappointment. The Jewish encyclopedia records about forty false messiahs that have come to the Jewish people since the time of Jesus. Jesus said, ‘Many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the messiah,’ and will deceive many.’ So there have been many antichrists and a lot of antichrists in the church, we don’t need to be too specific about that.

But the antichrist has not yet come. I personally believe his shadow has fallen across the stage of human history but he has not emerged. He will be the final embodiment of all that is evil and satanic. When he rules humanity, which he will for about three and a half years, that will be the worst period in human history. God will permit this because He says to the human race, ‘Well, you’ve made your choice. Now see what you’ve chosen. You’ve rejected me, you’ve rejected my Son, this is the alternative. Help yourself.’

Have you ever discovered that God doesn’t teach just in theory? No. You can say, ‘God, I really learned that principle.’ ‘That’s fine,’ God says, ‘now let’s see it worked out in your life.’ That’s going to be true of humanity. Humanity is going to get the most terrible lesson that humanity has ever had. You see, Pontius Pilate brought before the Jewish people two men, Jesus and Barabbas. Barabbas was a criminal, a violent

man, an agitator. He said, ‘Which of these will I release?’ And they said, ‘Give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus.’ At the end of this age the human race will do something similar. They’ll say, ‘We don’t want this Christ, give us the leader of our choice. This brilliant, talented, supernaturally empowered man, we want him.’ And you know what happened, the Jewish people got him. They also said to Pilate, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ It’s an amazing thing for Jewish people to say, and for nineteen centuries they’ve been ruled by the Caesars and the Barabbases have been turned loose on them. That’s really the essence of Jewish history. The same thing is going to happen to the human race. We’re going to get what we choose. Those of us who choose Jesus will be under His government. Those of us who reject Jesus will be under the government of the antichrist.

I have to go on. The overthrow of the antichrist, Revelation 19:19–21. This is where Jesus appears from heaven riding on a white horse. Do you believe there are horses in heaven? I do. Whether you do or not, that makes no difference to me!

“The One who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
Notice, Jesus makes war.
His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many diadems [royal crowns]. And then it says in verse 15:
Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule the nations with a scepter of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God. He has on His robe and on His thigh written: ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’
This is Jesus coming forth as God’s appointed ruler to deal with the wicked.
And then it says a little further on in that chapter, verses 19–21:
I saw the beast [the name of the antichrist] . . .”

It’s quite interesting, Revelation, the final book of the Bible, has two characters that are set in opposition to one another. One is the Lamb, the other is the beast. The Lamb is Jesus, the beast is the antichrist. The word ‘the Lamb’ occurs twenty-eight times in the book of Revelation. The beast occurs thirty-three times in reference to the antichrist. This is the end time conflict—between the beast and the Lamb. And you know who wins? The Lamb, that’s right. And that’s a lesson for us because we don’t win by violence, we don’t win by hatred, we don’t win by being tough, we win by laying our lives down like Jesus. You remember in the fifth chapter of Revelation John was weeping because no one was there to open the scroll? One of the elders said, ‘Don’t weep, it’s all right. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed.’ Bear in mind, dearly beloved, that Jesus still is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. You know what name we get from Judah? Jew. So He’s still a Jew. He didn’t become a Jew just for thirty-three years, He identified with the tribe of Judah for time and eternity. Bear in mind when you get mixed up with the Jews you’re getting mixed up with the brothers and sisters of Jesus. You’d better be careful.

Announcer:

Tomorrow Derek Prince will conclude his teaching ‘At the End of Time’ with his continued outline of the many events which will follow the return of Jesus, including the salvation of Israel, the establishment of Christ’s kingdom, the final rebellion of nations and the new heaven and earth.

This week’s message is available on audiocassette No.RC4167 and also on video. Our special offer this week is Prayers and Proclamations, which give particular Scriptures Derek and Ruth have proclaimed over the years to minister to them and build up their faith in many different situations. To receive your copy of ‘At the End of Time’ write today and include a contribution of $5.00 or more audiocassette RC4167 or $14.95 for the video teaching. Include a gift of any amount for the book Prayers and Proclamations.

Derek Prince also welcomes your letters and your prayer requests. Our mailing address is Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. That’s Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. You may also call us at 1-800-448-3261. That number again is 1-800-448-3261. In Canada write to Derek Prince Ministries, Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1. The Canadian address again is Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1, and please give us the call letters of this station when you write.

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