Rev 22:20
“Come,
Lord Jesus!” Rev 22:20
1
August 13, 2016
Table of Contents - SPEAKER BIO . . .. .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. ... . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 2 - SCHEDULE . . . . . .. . .. . .. . . ..... . . . .. . .. . . .. . .. .... . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 3 - REVELATION 6-22 OVERVIEW . . .... . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 5 - 7 CHURCHES OF REVELATION . . . .. . . .. . .. . . ..6 - SESSION NOTES . . . . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . ..8 - TRIBULATION JUDGMENTS . . . . . ... . .. . . ..... . . . .. 17
- EVIDENCES OF PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE . . . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . ... . .. . . .. . .. . . ...18 - HELPFUL RESOURCES . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . ..23 - DEDICATION . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. .. .. . . .. . .. . . ..25 1
Guest Speaker
Greg Peterson Greg was born and raised in the mountain state of Colorado. Desiring to be in full-time ministry, Greg attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago where he received his B.A. in Bible/Theology and met his wife, Michelle. After a 2-year pastoral internship in Virginia, they moved to California for Greg to study pastoral ministry at The Master’s Seminary. After receiving his Masters of Divinity, Greg went on to get his Masters of Theology with an emphasis in End Time’s Studies. Currently, Greg is the Pastor of Student Ministry at Fellowship Bible Church in Springdale, Arkansas. Greg loves watching & playing all kinds of sports (especially American Football and volleyball). He enjoys a good book, spending time2doing pretty much anything with this wifey, and would love to watch more rugby.
Schedule
Session #1 – “Seeing the Blueprints” (Reasons to be Excited about Studying Revelation)
- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - Session #2 – “Laying the Foundation” (How to Study Revelation)
- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - Session #3 – “Building” (An Overview of Revelation, pt. 1)
- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - Session #4 – “Building” (An Overview of Revelation, pt. 2)
- - - - - - Questions & Finish - - - - - 3
“Those who ignore Revelation deprive themselves of a rich treasure of divine truth.”
- John MacArthur
4
5
6
7
Session #1 Notes
8
9
Session #2 Notes
10
11
Session #3 Notes
12
13
Session #4 Notes
14
15
“The Book of Revelation is the final and definitive assemblage of God’s prophecies of the future, incorporating and explicating all those other prophecies of both Old and New Testaments that are yet to be fulfilled. It is therefore a tremendously important book for every Christian to study and master.”
- Henry M. Morris
16
17
Evidences for a Pre-Tribulation Rapture The Bible describes the Rapture and the Second Coming as different events Rapture Second Coming John 14:1-4 Zech 14 1 Cor 15:51-58 Matt 24:29-31 1 Thess 4:13-18 Mark 13:24-27 Rev 3:10 Luke 21:25-27 Rev 19 Believers meet Christ in the air. Christ returns to the Mount of Olives to meet believers on the earth. Mount of Olives unchanged. Mount of Olives is divided, forming a valley east of Jerusalem. Living Believers obtain glorified Living believers remain in their bodies. earthly bodies. Believers go to Heaven.
Depicted as deliverance from wrath. No signs precede it.
Believers stay on earth & glorified believers come from Heaven. World is judged and righteousness established. Depicted as deliverance for those who endured wrath. Many signs precede it.
Revealed only in the NT.
Revealed in both OT and NT.
Focus is only the saved.
Focus is on both saved and not.
Satan remains free.
Satan is bound.
Unjudged world left.
18
The Rapture is described as occurring at any time Jesus’ arrival will come when nobody expects
Jesus’ Second Coming is preceded by many events
Matt 24:36, 42-44, 50 Matt 25:13 Luke 12:35-48 1 Thess 4:18 Titus 2:13 1 John 2:28; 3:2-3
- Rise of Antichrist (Rev 12; Zech 13:7-9) - A treaty with Israel (Dan 9:27) - Rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple (Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:3-4) - Plagues/Judgments destroying much of the world’s population (Rev 6-18)
The Tribulation Period is not for the church The church is told to expect Acts 20:29-30; 1 Thess 1:4; trials, temptations, and 2:13-14; 2 Thess 1:4; 1 Peter (all); persecution from false teachers. 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1-3; Jude 4 The Church is told to prepare for entering or enduring the Never tribulation of Daniel’s 70 th Week. The Tribulation has a definite Israel-focused character.
Deut 4:30; Jer 30:7; Ezek 20:37; Dan 9:24-27; 12:1; Zech 13:8-9; Matt 24:15-20
Further reading? See Michael A. Rydelnik, “Israel: Why the Church Must Be Raptured Before the Tribulation,” in Evidence for the Rapture, edited by John F. Hart. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015. 255-76. 19
John 14:1-3, 1 Thess 4:13-18 & Rev 3:10 only makes sense as Pre-Tribulation John 14:1-3 Context: the Upper Room Discourse is eschatological as Ps 118 would have just been sung prior to Jesus’ teaching.
Jesus’ departure to prepare a place is clearly Heaven.
Jesus’ returning is to take home His children, which must be Heaven.
1 Thess 4:13-18 Context: the church was grieving because they fear their dead loved ones will miss the rapture.
Rev 3:10 Context: the church was facing intense hostility from unbelieving Jews, so Jesus promises, as reward for their obedience in the midst of persecution, complete removal from the ultimate test. A literal “I will keep you from understanding of this the hour of trial” = passage can only lead necessitates complete to a pre-trib rapture. removal from the time-period (“hour”). Two groups present: “the hour of trial that (1) dead believers is coming on the risen; (2) still alive whole world” = believers. No literally, “that is unbelievers in view. about to come,” pointing to imminent expectation that fits the promise in v. 11, “I am coming soon.” 20
John 14:1-3 1 Thess 4:13-18 Rev 3:10 If neither of these are Alive believers will The purpose of “the true, then this passage be “caught up” or hour” is “to try” or cannot make “seized suddenly,” reveal the lack of logical/biblical sense pointing to an event spiritual quality of and Jesus was being of transformation (cf. unbelieving intentionally devious. 1 Cor 15:51-52) humanity. The picture is of a v. 13, “to the bridegroom coming churches” = points to to retrieve His bride a universal church (cf. John 14:1-3) promise. If not pre-trib, then If not pre-trib, then the details are there is a unnecessary and contradiction with misleading. Rev 6:9-11 & 7:14 where Christians are slain. Revelation never speaks about the church during the tribulation (an argument about silence) Argument from silence = drawing a conclusion based on the absence of information. This is a logical fallacy. Argument about silence = intentional absence of an object to emphasize the thing in question as actually being absent. - God is not mentioned in Esther to show His absence in the lives of Jews still living in Persia post-Exile. - The church is not mentioned in Revelation to show they are absent and not a part of the tribulation time period. 21
The church has believed in the pre-tribulation, imminent return of Jesus Christ for 2,000 yrs (note: all conservative Bible scholars agree)
Early Church Barnabas (ca. 100-105AD) Papias (ca. 60-130AD) Justin Martyr (ca. 110-195AD) To read these church fathers Irenaeus (ca. 120-202AD) original writings, see Tertullian (ca. 145-220AD) James F. Stitzinger, “The Hippolytus (ca. 185-236AD) Rapture in Twenty Centuries of Cyprian (ca. 200-250AD) Biblical Interpretation,” MSJ 13, no. 2 (Fall 2002): 149-171. Lactantius (ca. 260-330AD) (www.tms.edu/m/msj13.2.pdf) Ephraem of Nisibis (ca. 306-373AD) Martin Erdmann, The Millennial Abbot Ceolfrid (ca. 609-716AD) Controversy in the Early Medieval & Beyond Church. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Brother Dolcino (ca. 1304AD) Stock, 2005. Joseph Mede (ca. 1586-1638AD) Paul Benware, Understanding Increase Mather (ca. 1639-1723AD) End Times Prophecy. Revised Peter Jurieu (ca. 1687AD) edition. Chicago: Moody Philip Doddridge (ca. 1738AD) Publishers, 2006. Pgs 245-48. John Gill (ca. 1748AD) James McKnight (ca. 1763AD) Thomas Scott (ca. 1752AD) Morgan Edwards (ca. 1722-1795AD) William Witherby (ca. 1818AD) John Darby (ca. 1830AD) 22
HELPFUL RESOURCES Books Book of Revelation Couch, Mal, ed. A Bible Handbook to Revelation. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2001. MacArthur, John. Because the Time is Near. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007. Walvoord, John. Revelation. Revised and edited by Philip E. Rawley & Mark Hitchcock. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2011. Wilson, Mark. Charts on the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007. End Times – General Benware, Paul N. Understanding End Times Prophecy. Revised Edition. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2006. Hays, J. Daniel and J. Scott Duvall and C. Marvin Pate. An A-toZ Guide to Biblical Prophecy and the End Times. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007. House, H. Wayne and Randall Price. Charts of Bible Prophecy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. Jones, Timothy Paul. Rose Guide to End-Times Prophecy. Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing, 2011. Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come. Findlay, OH: Dunham Publishing, 1958. Rhodes, Ron. The End Times 23 in Chronological Order. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2012.
Premillennialism Blaising, Craig A. “Premillennialism,” in Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond, edited by Darrell L. Bock. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999. 157-227. Cambell, Donald K. and Jeffery L. Townsend, eds. The Coming Millennial Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997. MacArthur, John and Richard Mayhue, eds. Christ’s Prophetic Plans. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012. Vlach, Michael J. Premillennialism. Los Angeles: Theological Studies Press, 2015. Waymeyer, Matthew. Revelation 20 and the Millennial Debate. The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 2004. Rapture Issues Blaising, Craig. “A Case for the Pretribulation Rapture,” in Three Views on the Rapture, edited by Alan Hultberg. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010. Hart, John F. Evidence for the Rapture. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015. Websites www.gotquestions.com www.theologicalstudies.org www.blueletterbible.com 24
DEDICATION To Nelspruit Bible Church, Nelspruit, South Africa You are well shepherded by pastor Richard, who I know loves His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and who seeks to love you with the needed nourishment from God’s Word, and to give tender care and compassion to his sheep.
25
Lord Jesus!” Rev 22:20
1
August 13, 2016
Table of Contents - SPEAKER BIO . . .. .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. ... . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 2 - SCHEDULE . . . . . .. . .. . .. . . ..... . . . .. . .. . . .. . .. .... . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 3 - REVELATION 6-22 OVERVIEW . . .... . .. . . .. . .. . . .. 5 - 7 CHURCHES OF REVELATION . . . .. . . .. . .. . . ..6 - SESSION NOTES . . . . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . ..8 - TRIBULATION JUDGMENTS . . . . . ... . .. . . ..... . . . .. 17
- EVIDENCES OF PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE . . . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . ... . .. . . .. . .. . . ...18 - HELPFUL RESOURCES . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . ..23 - DEDICATION . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .. .. .. . . .. . .. . . ..25 1
Guest Speaker
Greg Peterson Greg was born and raised in the mountain state of Colorado. Desiring to be in full-time ministry, Greg attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago where he received his B.A. in Bible/Theology and met his wife, Michelle. After a 2-year pastoral internship in Virginia, they moved to California for Greg to study pastoral ministry at The Master’s Seminary. After receiving his Masters of Divinity, Greg went on to get his Masters of Theology with an emphasis in End Time’s Studies. Currently, Greg is the Pastor of Student Ministry at Fellowship Bible Church in Springdale, Arkansas. Greg loves watching & playing all kinds of sports (especially American Football and volleyball). He enjoys a good book, spending time2doing pretty much anything with this wifey, and would love to watch more rugby.
Schedule
Session #1 – “Seeing the Blueprints” (Reasons to be Excited about Studying Revelation)
- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - Session #2 – “Laying the Foundation” (How to Study Revelation)
- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - Session #3 – “Building” (An Overview of Revelation, pt. 1)
- - - - - - Questions & Break - - - - - Session #4 – “Building” (An Overview of Revelation, pt. 2)
- - - - - - Questions & Finish - - - - - 3
“Those who ignore Revelation deprive themselves of a rich treasure of divine truth.”
- John MacArthur
4
5
6
7
Session #1 Notes
8
9
Session #2 Notes
10
11
Session #3 Notes
12
13
Session #4 Notes
14
15
“The Book of Revelation is the final and definitive assemblage of God’s prophecies of the future, incorporating and explicating all those other prophecies of both Old and New Testaments that are yet to be fulfilled. It is therefore a tremendously important book for every Christian to study and master.”
- Henry M. Morris
16
17
Evidences for a Pre-Tribulation Rapture The Bible describes the Rapture and the Second Coming as different events Rapture Second Coming John 14:1-4 Zech 14 1 Cor 15:51-58 Matt 24:29-31 1 Thess 4:13-18 Mark 13:24-27 Rev 3:10 Luke 21:25-27 Rev 19 Believers meet Christ in the air. Christ returns to the Mount of Olives to meet believers on the earth. Mount of Olives unchanged. Mount of Olives is divided, forming a valley east of Jerusalem. Living Believers obtain glorified Living believers remain in their bodies. earthly bodies. Believers go to Heaven.
Depicted as deliverance from wrath. No signs precede it.
Believers stay on earth & glorified believers come from Heaven. World is judged and righteousness established. Depicted as deliverance for those who endured wrath. Many signs precede it.
Revealed only in the NT.
Revealed in both OT and NT.
Focus is only the saved.
Focus is on both saved and not.
Satan remains free.
Satan is bound.
Unjudged world left.
18
The Rapture is described as occurring at any time Jesus’ arrival will come when nobody expects
Jesus’ Second Coming is preceded by many events
Matt 24:36, 42-44, 50 Matt 25:13 Luke 12:35-48 1 Thess 4:18 Titus 2:13 1 John 2:28; 3:2-3
- Rise of Antichrist (Rev 12; Zech 13:7-9) - A treaty with Israel (Dan 9:27) - Rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple (Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:3-4) - Plagues/Judgments destroying much of the world’s population (Rev 6-18)
The Tribulation Period is not for the church The church is told to expect Acts 20:29-30; 1 Thess 1:4; trials, temptations, and 2:13-14; 2 Thess 1:4; 1 Peter (all); persecution from false teachers. 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1-3; Jude 4 The Church is told to prepare for entering or enduring the Never tribulation of Daniel’s 70 th Week. The Tribulation has a definite Israel-focused character.
Deut 4:30; Jer 30:7; Ezek 20:37; Dan 9:24-27; 12:1; Zech 13:8-9; Matt 24:15-20
Further reading? See Michael A. Rydelnik, “Israel: Why the Church Must Be Raptured Before the Tribulation,” in Evidence for the Rapture, edited by John F. Hart. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015. 255-76. 19
John 14:1-3, 1 Thess 4:13-18 & Rev 3:10 only makes sense as Pre-Tribulation John 14:1-3 Context: the Upper Room Discourse is eschatological as Ps 118 would have just been sung prior to Jesus’ teaching.
Jesus’ departure to prepare a place is clearly Heaven.
Jesus’ returning is to take home His children, which must be Heaven.
1 Thess 4:13-18 Context: the church was grieving because they fear their dead loved ones will miss the rapture.
Rev 3:10 Context: the church was facing intense hostility from unbelieving Jews, so Jesus promises, as reward for their obedience in the midst of persecution, complete removal from the ultimate test. A literal “I will keep you from understanding of this the hour of trial” = passage can only lead necessitates complete to a pre-trib rapture. removal from the time-period (“hour”). Two groups present: “the hour of trial that (1) dead believers is coming on the risen; (2) still alive whole world” = believers. No literally, “that is unbelievers in view. about to come,” pointing to imminent expectation that fits the promise in v. 11, “I am coming soon.” 20
John 14:1-3 1 Thess 4:13-18 Rev 3:10 If neither of these are Alive believers will The purpose of “the true, then this passage be “caught up” or hour” is “to try” or cannot make “seized suddenly,” reveal the lack of logical/biblical sense pointing to an event spiritual quality of and Jesus was being of transformation (cf. unbelieving intentionally devious. 1 Cor 15:51-52) humanity. The picture is of a v. 13, “to the bridegroom coming churches” = points to to retrieve His bride a universal church (cf. John 14:1-3) promise. If not pre-trib, then If not pre-trib, then the details are there is a unnecessary and contradiction with misleading. Rev 6:9-11 & 7:14 where Christians are slain. Revelation never speaks about the church during the tribulation (an argument about silence) Argument from silence = drawing a conclusion based on the absence of information. This is a logical fallacy. Argument about silence = intentional absence of an object to emphasize the thing in question as actually being absent. - God is not mentioned in Esther to show His absence in the lives of Jews still living in Persia post-Exile. - The church is not mentioned in Revelation to show they are absent and not a part of the tribulation time period. 21
The church has believed in the pre-tribulation, imminent return of Jesus Christ for 2,000 yrs (note: all conservative Bible scholars agree)
Early Church Barnabas (ca. 100-105AD) Papias (ca. 60-130AD) Justin Martyr (ca. 110-195AD) To read these church fathers Irenaeus (ca. 120-202AD) original writings, see Tertullian (ca. 145-220AD) James F. Stitzinger, “The Hippolytus (ca. 185-236AD) Rapture in Twenty Centuries of Cyprian (ca. 200-250AD) Biblical Interpretation,” MSJ 13, no. 2 (Fall 2002): 149-171. Lactantius (ca. 260-330AD) (www.tms.edu/m/msj13.2.pdf) Ephraem of Nisibis (ca. 306-373AD) Martin Erdmann, The Millennial Abbot Ceolfrid (ca. 609-716AD) Controversy in the Early Medieval & Beyond Church. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Brother Dolcino (ca. 1304AD) Stock, 2005. Joseph Mede (ca. 1586-1638AD) Paul Benware, Understanding Increase Mather (ca. 1639-1723AD) End Times Prophecy. Revised Peter Jurieu (ca. 1687AD) edition. Chicago: Moody Philip Doddridge (ca. 1738AD) Publishers, 2006. Pgs 245-48. John Gill (ca. 1748AD) James McKnight (ca. 1763AD) Thomas Scott (ca. 1752AD) Morgan Edwards (ca. 1722-1795AD) William Witherby (ca. 1818AD) John Darby (ca. 1830AD) 22
HELPFUL RESOURCES Books Book of Revelation Couch, Mal, ed. A Bible Handbook to Revelation. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2001. MacArthur, John. Because the Time is Near. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007. Walvoord, John. Revelation. Revised and edited by Philip E. Rawley & Mark Hitchcock. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2011. Wilson, Mark. Charts on the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007. End Times – General Benware, Paul N. Understanding End Times Prophecy. Revised Edition. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2006. Hays, J. Daniel and J. Scott Duvall and C. Marvin Pate. An A-toZ Guide to Biblical Prophecy and the End Times. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007. House, H. Wayne and Randall Price. Charts of Bible Prophecy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003. Jones, Timothy Paul. Rose Guide to End-Times Prophecy. Torrance, CA: Rose Publishing, 2011. Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come. Findlay, OH: Dunham Publishing, 1958. Rhodes, Ron. The End Times 23 in Chronological Order. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2012.
Premillennialism Blaising, Craig A. “Premillennialism,” in Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond, edited by Darrell L. Bock. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999. 157-227. Cambell, Donald K. and Jeffery L. Townsend, eds. The Coming Millennial Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997. MacArthur, John and Richard Mayhue, eds. Christ’s Prophetic Plans. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012. Vlach, Michael J. Premillennialism. Los Angeles: Theological Studies Press, 2015. Waymeyer, Matthew. Revelation 20 and the Millennial Debate. The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 2004. Rapture Issues Blaising, Craig. “A Case for the Pretribulation Rapture,” in Three Views on the Rapture, edited by Alan Hultberg. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010. Hart, John F. Evidence for the Rapture. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015. Websites www.gotquestions.com www.theologicalstudies.org www.blueletterbible.com 24
DEDICATION To Nelspruit Bible Church, Nelspruit, South Africa You are well shepherded by pastor Richard, who I know loves His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and who seeks to love you with the needed nourishment from God’s Word, and to give tender care and compassion to his sheep.
25
