THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH

SERIES: THE RETURN OF THE LORD

TEXT: MATTHEW 24:1-34

The Lord ascended to heaven. He is preparing a place for us- John 14:2-3. Will the Lord return?

Acts 1:9-11- Lord Jesus will return in the same manner as He went up.
1^st Thessalonians 4:16-17- The Lord will descend from heaven back to the earth.
Matthew 26:64- The Lord answered the high priest, “you will see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.”
Jude 1:14- Enoch said, “behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of His holy ones.”
Revelation 1:7 says, “behold He is coming with clouds and everything eye will see Him.”
Revelation 22:12 says, “behold I come quickly and my reward is with me…”

More about the end of the age.

THE RAPTURE- Matt. 24:7

The word “rapture” means “to be caught up.” The word itself does not appear in the Bible but to be “caught up” does. The Lord will give us signs of when the church on earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

Earthquakes: there will be Earthquakes in diverse places.

The recent earthquake appeared in Afghanistan (on 13/10/2023) that killed over 1,000 people. Another one occurred in Morocco (on 12/9/2023) and killed about 3,000 people. At the moment there are about 55 earthquakes per day in the world most, most of them minor.

Pestilences/diseases: ordinary diseases have always been there since creation but some unusual diseases will occur just before the rapture. The recent Covid 19 Pestilence and Ebola are perfect examples.
Famines: nearly 350 million points the world are experiencing extreme forms of hunger right now. Here in Kenya we experience this to the extent of people dying because of famine.
Wars: wars have increased. In the last 100 years there occurred 2 World wars. Other wars have occurred recently in Ukraine (still going on), Yemen, Afghanistan, DRC and right now between Israel and Gaza.

GOG/ MAGOG NUCLEAR WAR IN Ezekiel 38 and 39

Ezekiel 37 is a prophecy regarding the rebirth of the nation of Israel after many years of the nation in oblivion, from 70 A.D to 1947 a period of 1,877 years there was no nation on the earth called Israel. The prophetic fig tree (Matt. 24:32-35) had dried. The tree budded and became alive in 1948. The generation that started in 1948 will not pass before Jesus Christ returns.
Ezekiel 38 and 39 speaks of a great battle between Israel and several other countries- Ezekiel 38:5, 6. These nations are Iran (Persia) Ethiopia and put (Sudan), Turkey and others.
Ezekiel 38 and 39 war will also include nuclear bombs- Ezekiel 39:12-15.

CONCLUSION