In the Twinkling of an Eye - Jesus

Christ's Return
Adrian Rogers
Love Worth Finding
In the Twinkling of an Eye "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed." I Corinthians 15:51-52.
Someone has said that the average person blinks somewhere between 10,000 to
20,000 times a day. In one of those times, Jesus could return! That is an awesome
thought.
In the twinkling of an eye, Jesus is going to step from His throne in glory at the
right hand of the Father in heaven and make His way back to this earth. First
Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
ever be with the Lord."
Christians refer to being caught up as the rapture. The Greek word for this is
harpagδsometha and it means a catching away. The picture of this coming
promise reminds me of a metal scrapyard near my childhood home. Now, what
does a scrap yard and the rapture have in common? Well, let me illustrate.
In that scrap yard, there was a great magnet on a crane that would pick up
metal. If you swung that magnet across the ground, not every piece of metal
would rise – only that which was made of iron. Why is that? Because the iron has
the same nature as the magnet.
In the same way, if you have the same nature as Jesus Christ, then when He
comes again, you’re going up whether you’re beneath the ground or on top of
the ground. Simply said, if you've been heaven-born you will be heaven-bound.

That sounds fantastic, but what assurance do I

have this will happen?
1 The Saving Work Of Our Lord
The second coming of Jesus Christ is necessary to fulfill the purpose of
God. The incarnation without the coronation would be like height without
depth and east without west. And our salvation without our glorification
is no salvation at all. His resurrection is the pledge of our resurrection.
2 The Sure Word Of Our Lord
 There are all kinds of prophets and psychics who think they know what’s
going to happen in the future, but they don’t know. The devil himself
doesn’t know. Only God knows the future. Jesus said, “But of that day and
hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only”
(Matthew 24:36). The key is He is coming – and the Word of God promises
that.

How can you tell that it is close?

Jesus said, “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into
the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:38-39).
Life will be going along as usual and then suddenly, Jesus is going to come. That’s
the reason Jesus said, " Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye
think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

Why is He coming again?

First of all, it is a rescue. Before God allows the great tribulation, He is going to
take His church out. Before God declares war on this world, He's going to call his
nationals home.

Second, it is for a reunion. All believers are going to be caught up

together to meet the Lord in the air. And the songwriter says we'll sing
and shout and dance about, the Lamb will dry our tears – we'll have a
grand homecoming week the first ten thousand years.

Jesus Christ Explains the Tribulation

and End Times
John Barnett
Discover the Book
In Luke 21 Jesus preaches a sermon about the End of the World. The end of the
world is easier to comprehend when we can compare it to the world around us.
That is what Jesus does. He points to things they knew and said amplify that,
multiply that-exponentially, then you will understand what is coming. Basically
Jesus describes a Global Final Holocaust-not merely of Jews and Christians-but of
humans!
Within that message is what amounts to a survival guide to believers who have
to exist during the Final Holocaust.
Although the believers He is addressing are Tribulation saints, Jewish believers,
and those saved through the ministry of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and the
Two Witnesses-the lessons have deep implications for us living in the days just
prior to those events.
For us today, Christ's words are a call for us to be ready for the onset of the worst
time in history. It will begin after the Church is raptured, but the climate of the
Tribulation is already here. Are you prepared to survive the storms before the
final storm?
Several years ago across the world, dignitaries marked the 60th Anniversary of
the liberation of the grisly death camp complex called Auschwitz.
Hitler's Holocaust, horrible as it was murdering over six million Jews alone—pales
when compared to the Final Holocaust. Briefly, here are the facts:
About 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz, of whom about 1.2 million were
Jewish. That means that 1/5th of the six million Jews exterminated by Hitler died
in this complex.
Other groups of people who died included Polish political prisoners, Soviet
prisoners of war, Gypsies, people with disabilities and prisoners of conscience or
religious faith.
The complex contained three camps and at least 36 sub-camps which were built
outside the town of Oswiecim, on an isolated 40 sq km site, between 1940 and
1942.
There is an incredible comparison that can be drawn from Auschwitz and the
Great Tribulation.
• Most scholars see the first half of the seven year final period of the earth's
history to be relatively normal. It is the second half that seems to have the
incredible destruction, demon armies and death. So in Bible terms, the Great
Tribulation lasts 3 ½ years or 42 months.
• Auschwitz opened its doors to death by gas chamber on September 3rd 1941.
The advance of the Soviet Army closed down the camp on January 27th 1945.
The death camp of the Holocaust was operating for 3 ½ years or 42 months.
• So the death camp at Auschwitz and the Great Tribulation last almost exactly
the same length of time. That is where the comparison stops. The Final Holocaust
is so terrifying, so deadly, so inescapable that God personally steps in to stop it
lest not one human be left alive!
In the Great Tribulation 2 ½ million die every day for 42 months. In Auschwitz less
than a thousand died each day. That means 2500x as many people die every day.
Or to put it in Auschwitz terms—the number of people that died every day at
Auschwitz will die every 30 seconds in the Great Tribulation! Or in other terms
living on earth will be like living in an Auschwitz death camp—and in death toll
there will be the equivalent of an Auschwitz Holocaust twice a day for 42 months!
A brief look through the pages of Revelation chapters six, eight, nine, and
sixteen--describe the living hell you can avoid if you are saved this morning. Here
are only a few of the dreadful disasters that take place during the Tribulation:
• One out of every two people will die (see Rev. 6:8 and onward), some through
the ravages of war, others by starvation, and amazingly many others by the
'beasts of the earth'. So, whether by death that comes instantly and thus less
dreaded or a slow and painful death that is lingering and agonizing-50 percent of
all people will die. The world's population was 6,415,574,176 yesterday, so that
means at least 3,207,500,000 will die. That amounts to just about eleven times
the current population of the United States-can you imagine that? And remember
that the population of the world is doubling every 39.5 years. So every day the
number of people who will die becomes larger and larger.
• One third of all vegetation will be burned up. All grass, every tree, everything
green will be destroyed (see Rev. 8:7).
• The sun and the moon will be darkened as nature goes into revolt (see Rev.
8:12).
• The gates of hell will open and hordes of locusts, the size of horses, will come
upon the earth. Those locusts will be allowed to sting men like scorpions and the
pain will last for five months. The Bible says men will beg God to let them die but
they will not die (see Rev. 9:3-6).
• There will be worldwide famine unlike anything the world has ever seen (see
Rev. 18:8).
• There will be a world war so bloody that the blood of those killed in battle will
flow for two hundred miles up to the bridle of a horse in the valley of Jezreel. This
will be the Battle of Armageddon (see Rev. 14:20).
• All told, during the Great Tribulation, as many as half of all the people on the
earth will be killed. Now do you see why God refers to the Rapture as a 'blessed
hope'? Because the Tribulation to come is so horrible!
But that means we are gone and will escape everything, right? Yes, exactly, we
will miss every part of the TRIBULATION, but we will probably go through some of
the worst days we have ever seen before it starts. And that is what Jesus is
pointing out to us in Luke 21 where we open in God's Word today.
In Luke 21 we see the end of everyone’s life as it was. Time stops. Life ends.
Nothing is the same again. Christ's Coming simply reveals what people have
been all the time. Paul tells us later that "each man's work will become manifest,
for the Day will disclose it" (1 Corinthians 3:13).
Remember what we have already learned from Luke 21:36.
36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape
all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
We can learn from Christ's description of the Age (Luke 21:8–19)
The dangers Jesus warned of are what His church has faced from the beginning.
There have always been deceiving teachers, persecution, and disasters. But what
He says is that each of these areas will increase and intensify as Christ's Coming
draws near.
There will be religious deception (Luke 21:8). "Be not deceived!" is Christ's
admonition to us, and we must take it to heart.
Luke 21:8 And He said: "Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come
in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time has drawn near.' Therefore do not
go after them.