Well, the purpose of last week's sermon on the reality of the rapture was to show that the rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4 is a different event than the second coming of Christ or the second advent described in other passages. Now the comparison chart I handed out last week should have helped with that. If you didn't get a copy, I think there's still some extra copies next to the faith box, as well as those on the Day of the Lord. You can pick those up. That should help clear up some of the confusion that's often there. You've got to remember the Second Coming is preceded by many signs on both the earth and in the heavens. It will include Messiah returning from heaven, riding a horse, coming with angels, his holy ones, the armies of heaven. He will physically touch down on the Mount of Olives, which will split in two. His angels will then separate the elect from the ungodly, and this will be followed by the Millennial Kingdom. The rapture, in contrast to that, is going to happen suddenly and unexpectedly when Jesus appears, the shout, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. The saints, both dead and alive, are going to be transformed to receive their glorified bodies, will then meet the Lord, be caught up together, that's where the word rapture comes from, be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air and will always be with Him. It is our belief that this is going to be followed by the 70th week of the prophecy of Daniel 9, commonly referred to as the Tribulation or as the time of Jacob's troubles. Now this morning I'm going to be focusing on the doctrine of eminence. Now we'll get to the purpose of the rapture at a later sermon. I was actually going to try and get both done, but there's just too much here. So we're going to take our time. We're going to go look at the passages to deal with this. Now the term imminent self has an origin in a compound Latin term, which referred to something that was hanging over something and appearing as if it's about to fall. And so it has the idea of impending threat. Shakespeare actually used it that way in an intending evil or a danger. Milton of near judgment or death. Think of the sword in Machilis, you know. standing there with a sharp sword hanging over your head that's just held by a hair. Okay, that is the impending nature of what is to come out in this Word. So, imminence is the potential for an event to happen immediately, but not necessarily immediately. There is no certain amount of time before it could happen, and therefore no date for it can be set. It's something that could happen soon, but does not have to happen soon. So, eminence by its nature is accompanied by an expectation for that event to take place. Now, in Christian eschatology, eminence refers to belief that Jesus could come now, but does not have to come now. There's nothing that must take place before he comes, though many things could take place before he returns for his church. Eminence was the universal hope of the early church according to church history. Now the question that we have is not what did early church history has, it's well, what does the scriptures actually say? Was the early church correct in having this hope? Now the idea of judgment of the Lord being eminent actually is nothing new because it occurs quite often in the Hebrew scriptures. Especially those dealing with the coming day of the Lord. and it included a statement that it is near. Remember the phrase Day of the Lord or Day of Yahweh is something that is used many times and it can refer to different events. Sometimes Day of Yahweh was something that was going to be a long time in the future. Other times it was something imminent. Sometimes it was something that was both near but then would jump to something far in the future. But in all of it was the idea that when it says it's near is that there's nothing that must happen before it begins. And so it would be proper to call it as something that was near. Now here are some examples of Old Testament prophecies which includes this element of eminence within it. I'm going to try and we'll keep up with the slides here with where I'm at in the scriptures. We're going to be jumping all over the place, okay? First is Isaiah 13, 6. That particular verse says, "...whale for the day of Yahweh is near, it will come as destruction from the Almighty." Now the particular context here is part of Isaiah's oracle concerning Babylon and it's given a couple hundred years before the events actually described in the prophecy occur. And yet the day of Yahweh was near because the fulfillment of the prophecy is presented as something that could start at any time within the passage. Another one, Ezekiel 30, verse 3. This verse says, Now that verse is part of a particular prophecy about the coming destruction of Egypt. It's not dated in the text but it could be no more than six years earlier than its fulfillment because Ezekiel begins his prophetic ministry in 593 BC and Babylon destroys Egypt in 587 BC. The book of Joel begins with describing a current devastating locust plague. And that leads to a call to the nation to repent. And then it jumps to warnings of a Day of Yahweh, which will include judgments more severe, which will then be followed by restoration and blessing. We have this idea of nearness several times in Joel. In Joel 1.15, it's a transitional verse from talking about the current plague of locusts. And then to consider the future, quote, So the locust plague is bad, but you better repent because something worse will be coming in the future. Joel 2.1, also in a context that goes from the current invasion of locusts to a future intervention by Yahweh, states this, So again, it's a prophecy in which it's calling the people to return to Yahweh, to repent from the evil that was there and now follow Yahweh with all their hearts, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. It's in verse 12. Then in Joel 3, 14, there's an eschatological section of the prophecy and it's describing God's judgments and a future blessing for Israel. And yet, it also is described as near, saying this, So again, the Day of Yahweh presented as, in all these passages, something near because nothing is presented within those prophecies as something that is necessary to happen before that day begins. It could begin at any time. The events described in the prophecies are things that are going to happen as a consequence of the day of the Lord coming and are part of the day of the Lord, but nothing in it is a precursor to it. Zephaniah chapter 1. Similar to Joel, it includes both an imminent warning and then points to an eschatological fulfillment. He pronounces the Lord's judgment on Judah and the surrounding nation and then concludes with prophecies of a future blessing on Israel. Chapter 1, verse 7 warns this, So the time to seek Yahweh is when? Now! Don't wait! Okay? Once again, nothing required for that day to begin. It could start soon, therefore it is near. So now is the time to repent. Not when you start seeing things happen. Now. Obadiah is similar. An intimate warning and then point to a greater eschatological fulfillment. Obadiah pronounces the Lord's judgment on Edom because of its gloating over the destruction of Israel. Then in verse 15, the prophet expands the warning to all nations. That's still true, by the way, and nations should heed it. The book concludes with the promised restoration of Israel, and like the previous passage, nothing presented impedes the beginning of the Day of Yahweh. So it's near. Now these various Old Testament prophecies give us an understanding of this concept of imminence and prophecy. It's something that is said to be near. It's happening quickly with a call to be prepared and take action now. That's a common element in all of it. You need to be prepared for it. Don't wait. Now. Now is the time. Yet, it might be something that is not going to happen for a long time to come. Something in the distant future. So again, imminency in prophecy means something could happen soon, for nothing is presented that must happen before it can begin. And so there needs to be an immediate response to it, but it does not have to begin soon. Okay? Well, let's turn our attention to the Greek Scriptures, the New Testament, and the concern that there would be an expectation of Jesus to be present, appear, to come back, to fulfill the promises that he's made to his church. Now these verses characteristically include calls to be prepared and ready for it. And that's gonna be part of the application always. Like I had said a few weeks ago in the sermon on the practical aspect or reason for prophecy to begin with is it's this constant call. Are you ready? You need to be ready now. Don't wait. Be ready now. Now, what promises, in specific, really are we looking at that Jesus has promised to his church? Well, the first one I'm going to mention is the rapture, which we saw last week in our study of 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15, 51 and 52. That those who are asleep in Jesus, those who have died, are going to be resurrected. And those Christians who are alive and remain are going to have their physical bodies transformed into glorified resurrection bodies. They will be immortal. They will be incorruptible. Very different than what we got now, right? And I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to that. And the older I get, the more I look forward to that. This body isn't what it used to be. And it's not getting better. Sorry. And if you're over 20, yeah, it's probably downhill from here. I'm sorry to tell you that. These are the best years, so use them wisely. Yeah, that's right, John. So, we are looking forward to that. And that's going to happen according to 1 Corinthians 15, in the twinkling of an eye. Extremely fast, we're completely changed. These glorified bodies, then as they grew, both dead and those alive remaining, now transform, meet the Lord in the air, and so we are ever with the Lord. Now the second promise I want to look at, John, and we're going to look at some of these passages a little more. John chapter 14. Jesus is going to comfort his disciples. He says this. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. So he's preparing disciples for his coming crucifixion. and then his resurrection ascension to heaven. He is going to be going away. But there are two essential promises within this passage. The first is that Jesus is leaving, but he's doing so to go prepare a place for his disciples. And that surely he is going to return for them to take them there. The second part of it is where he's taking us. It's to the Father's house. It's to bring us back into the proper relationship with the Father, to be in His very presence. In fact, Jesus is the only means to come before the Father. He is the way, the truth, and life, and no man comes to the Father except through Him. Only by God's grace and the power of His Spirit can humans be made spiritually alive and have faith in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ, be redeemed from their sins, forgiven, justified, adopted into God's family. Now later in John 14, Jesus is going to promise the Holy Spirit to come, since he's not going to be here, the Holy Spirit will come and indwell them and be their advocate so that we're not left alone. And that's still true for us today. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer. So those who have faith in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a proper expectation for being raptured at Jesus' return And it's an imminent expectation. It could happen at any time. The body will be changed. I'll be with Christ forever. That's a hopeful thing, isn't it? That's a good thing to look forward to. It's an encouraging thing. Now, the question then is, is this really imminent? Or is it something off in the future? Is it something I can believe can happen anytime or is it something that I should be looking for other things to happen and then I'll know it's getting close? But what does the scripture say? Well, we turn to what the apostles have written to see their own statements about it. I'll begin with passages in which an apostle expresses an expectation of Jesus' return within his own lifetime or that to whom he is writing. Paul makes four statements of this nature and John records three. First John, chapter 2, verse 28. Apostle wrote, So a statement to encourage the Christians to be abiding in Christ so they'll be found practicing righteousness. So that when Jesus appears, they're not going to be put to shame. Because if they are not practicing righteousness and Jesus appears, they're going to be put to shame, right? It's sort of like if parents, if you're giving your kids a charge, it's what I want you to do while I'm gone, and you come home and the kids are doing it, they're going to be happy to see you, right? And the kids are going to be happy to see you because they've been doing right, you're going to be happy with them. But if they've not been doing that, do they want to see you come home? No. The car pulls in the driveway and they're panicked. Alright, we don't want to be panicked when Jesus comes. We want to be walking in righteousness doing what he wants us to do. So that he is pleased with us and we're happy to see him. But notice that John uses here the first person plural, we, to include himself as possibly being present when Jesus becomes visible. I'll quickly add a comment from John 21-23. There became a common idea within the early church that John would not die until Jesus returned. Now, John doesn't himself have that assurance, but here he acknowledges it is a possibility. In Revelation 2-25, John records the Lord saying to the church at Thyatira, Nevertheless, what you have, hold fast until I come." Only reasonable that in obedience to that command that the church there would be present at Jesus' return. Similar statement is made the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3.11. So again, only reasonable for them to take that command to mean they were still to be doing what Jesus had asked them at His coming. So those in both churches were given a reasonable expectation they could still be alive when Jesus returns. Now Paul makes four statements which show a reasonable expectation that Jesus' return could have occurred within his own lifetime. Or that of those whom he is writing. For example, 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 14. Paul tells Timothy, you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. which he will bring about at the proper time, he who is blessed and the only sovereign, the king of king and lord of lords." So while acknowledging the appearance of the Lord would occur at the proper time, whatever that is, and that's unknown to him, he also indicates an expectation. Timothy could be alive when that happens. And then we've looked at 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, and 1 Corinthians 15, 52 in the past. And in both those passages, Paul includes the first plural pronoun, we. He has an expectation that he could be present himself and those to whom he is writing could be present and alive and remaining when Jesus returns. In 1 Corinthians 4, it's directly tied to the rapture. So, he didn't see the rapture as something way off in the distant future. He saw it as something within his own lifetime. Now, it's common in the scriptures to find references for the Lord being near, being at hand, coming quickly, and it's always used as a motivation for righteous conduct and living. Paul does this in Philippians 4, 5 concerning them, saying, Now that verse is sandwiched in. The verse before it is rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Positive command. All circumstances. Puts this in the middle, the Lord is near, I should be rejoicing. And then behind it is prayer. Be anxious for nothing but everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The Lord is near, that gives me a motivation both to rejoice in the present, but also to pray. The Lord is near, in proximity of time. The word near here actually, though it can refer to something close at hand and have a spatial proximity, it's close at arm's reach. In the New Testament, it's always used in relationship to sequence of time. It's near in time to happen. And that's in keeping with its use in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures that I pointed out earlier about the day of the Lord. Near there would be using the same Greek word in its translation. Look over at James chapter five. James 5, starting in verse 7. James uses the verb form of the same word. He says, Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until he gets the early and late rains. You too be patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door. Now, an interesting thing in this particular passage is that the verb for being at hand and the verb for standing at the door are perfect indicatives. Meaning, these are actions that are described as being complete before James even wrote and they remain in that same state. In other words, what James is saying here, Jesus drew near before James wrote and he's still near. The judge was standing at the door before James wrote and he's still at the door. Notice as well that James uses the proximity of the Lord's return as a motivation to be patient and righteous in your living. Don't lose heart. He's near. Jesus' statement in Revelation that I'm coming quickly is used in a similar way. In Revelation 2.16, it's used to motivate the church at Pergamon to repent. I'm coming quickly. In Revelation 3.11, it's used to motivate a steadfastness of the church in Philadelphia. In Revelation 22.7, it's used to enhance the blessing of those who read and heed the words of the prophecy of this book. In Revelation 22, 12, it encourages the righteous because his reward is with him, while also warning the unrighteous that he will, quote, render to every man according to what he has done, unquote. That does not mean he weighs the balances. You have one sin, balance is already weighed, you're in trouble, because it only takes one, right? And we all have a lot more than one. Okay? We need the righteousness of Christ to tip the balance the other way so God sees us in his righteousness. Now, I need to point out a couple things about these statements in Revelation and of the Lord that he's coming quickly. First, all of them occur in either the introduction or in the conclusion of the book. Chapters 4 through chapter 22, verse 5 record the vision that John is given by the Lord. So these sections are those given to the church with instructions of what they are to do now. You're not waiting for these other events that are going to come to happen. You need to do this now. Long before any event takes place. Second, the Greek for the phrase coming quickly. Erkamai Taku is a futuristic present middle indicative meaning much more than soon. It actually has the idea of swiftly, all at once, before you could be aware and make preparations. That's how fast it will come. And that matches the warnings given that Jesus' return is going to be sudden, unexpected, like a thief as Jesus warned the church in Ephesus in Revelation 3. Jesus' return, like a thief, is used in 1 Thessalonians 5, 2 and 2 Peter 3, 10. It's described in the coming of the day of the Lord. It comes quickly, unexpectedly. Jesus warns in Matthew 24, 43 to be alert and ready for his coming because you do not know the day on which it will come or the hour at which he'll arrive. Because that's just like what a thief would do, right? If you knew the thief was coming, you'd be prepared for him. Then there's a lot of verses that express the idea of waiting with anticipation. In fact, there's three different Greek word groups used by the Apostle Paul in his writings that have an anticipation that we are to have waiting for Jesus' return to us. We're gonna look at each of these word groups and the particular passage in which it is used. Don't worry, you don't have to know Greek. I will do that for you, okay? The first one is apodechamide and it's cognates. Now it's a compound word that comes actually from three words that are joined together, okay? If you're gonna give this a very literal word meaning, it would be from, out of, to receive. And so from that came a general meaning of to wait eagerly or expectantly for a future event. And contacts would determine the specific event on which you're to be eagerly awaiting, what's being expected. And Paul used it multiple times to refer to Jesus' return and what it would bring and so it expressed an intense yearning for the Lord's coming or an expectation of the end. Now we're gonna use, or go through what Paul says, and I'm gonna go in chronological order of the books he wrote. So you can see any historical development here as well. We start with Galatians chapter five. Galatians five. Here Paul is admonishing the Judaizers who wanted Christians to be obligated to follow the law of Moses. And he rebukes them strongly and then points them back to the gospel of grace in verses 4-6 saying this, For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. Now, salvation from sin comes by God's grace through faith in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. If you add human works of righteousness, it removes grace and justification by faith which God would impute or credit as righteousness to the sinner. You've destroyed that. You're earning it. Or at least you're striving to. God grants a position of righteousness before Him to the believer at salvation. We're told that in Romans 10, 10. But getting total righteousness, actually living in righteousness, being completely righteous, no more sin, that does not happen until we get our glorified bodies. As long as you're here in the body you currently have, you're going to struggle with sin. Once you get your glorified body, that is done away with. So this waiting for the hope of righteousness is waiting for that to happen. And when does that happen? At the rapture. That's when we get our glorified bodies, right? So there's a hope, a confidence assurance this is going to happen when this event occurs. And that righteousness is one that can only be received by God's grace. It can never be earned by works of the law. That's why he reprimanded them so strongly. They're actually destroying the gospel. Over in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 7, that's the next one, but we're gonna start at verse 4. And this is in Paul's opening statement, Corinthians, basically telling him, this is why I'm writing you. This is what this is about. He says, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. Verse 7, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm to you to the end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." So, the specific event being eagerly awaited here is the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which Paul then ties directly to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation here, apocalypto, refers to something hidden being unveiled. So, it's disclosed, it's revealed, it's now made known. The event at which that will happen for Christians is when? when Jesus revealed in the clouds of heaven at the rapture. That's when we will see him as he is and become like him, 1 John 3 tells us. The next passage, Romans chapter 8. He makes three references here and that's the passage we read earlier in the service. Here Paul uses apodexamai three times, twice as indicative verb and once as a participle. Look at starting at verse 18. The anxious longing of creation waits eagerly, that's the first usage, waiting eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Not only this, but also we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons. The redemption of our body, for in hope that we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for one who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. So three times there's this idea of waiting eagerly for particular things. Now we, as Christians, are waiting for our adoption as sons. And while believers currently have received a spirit of adoption so that we can actually cry out to Father, Abba, Daddy, right? Romans 8, 15. The fullness of that adoption will not come until we're actually dwelling with the Father. That's when That's when the fullness of it is. We are sons who are now with Him. And in fact this ties it into the glory of redemption as well. Now interesting enough he also says creation itself also waits eagerly for the revealing of Son of God. Because that marks the beginning of events that culminates in its own restoration. Paul emphasizes the stating, the anxious longings of creation await eagerly. That's compounding it. Anxious longing here, apocardokia, means to watch with head erect and outstretched, okay? You know, what's going on? You know, that kind of thing? That's what creation's doing. It's waiting in suspense. Okay? I don't know about you, but if I'm craning my neck, I don't do that for a long time because I can't. But if something's immediate, I will do it for a little while. But creation's described to doing that now. It's longing for this. So the adoption of sons, when we're going to dwell with the Father, happens when? At the rapture. Right? That's when Jesus takes us to be with Him. So creation is looking for that as well, because that's the beginning of all the events that are eventually going to lead to its restoration. A lot of nasty stuff before that, but at the end, it's going to be good. Now, Paul also uses the same word, apodexamai, in Philippians 3.20, in a passage in which he warns about those who are enemies of the cross because their God is their appetite, their minds are set on earthly things, and their end is destruction. That's in verses 18 through 19. In contrast to them, Paul says this in verse 20, So you're going to have to be warned about the world. Follow Paul's example. Here's what we're doing and that includes an eager waiting for this transformation of our body. Now when is the body transformed from its current humble state to become conformed to the image of Christ? The rapture. You see a pattern here developing? Words also use Hebrews 9, 26, passage dealing with Jesus' singular manifesting of himself to put away sin by the sacrifice himself. Then the passage then continues, verse 27, Hebrews 9, 26. He says, Same word. We eagerly await Jesus' next appearance. That's Arao. You're going to be able to see him. And it will bring in the fullness of our salvation when our bodies are glorified and the fight against sin will end. When does that happen? Yeah, the rapture. Prosdekomenoi is the next word. It's also a compound word. The literal meaning of it, roots, putting it together, would be toward, to receive. And so it could be used in the sense of to receive someone or something or in expectation of that to await for something or someone. And that's the primary usage in the New Testament. I'm awaiting for someone or something. Now in the Gospels, the word is used to describe several people who are waiting for, longing for the kingdom or the arrival of Messiah. We're actually getting to that season, aren't we? We're going to be celebrating the arrival of Messiah. That'd be the first Advent. Now that included Joseph of Arimathea. We're told that in Mark 15, 43 that that was his waiting, was the kingdom of God to come. But then we're told in Luke 2, 25 and Luke 2, 38 about two people, Simeon and Anna. who were looking for the consolation of Israel. They were looking for Messiah to come. And in fact we're told that Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ. And that means it's an imminent thing for Simeon. He's not a young man. It could come at any time because he could die at any time. but he's not gonna die until he sees the Lord's Messiah. But once he sees him, he now said, recall the passage, now let your servant depart in peace. He was so grateful. There's a sense of urgency in the waiting that we see in its usage in Acts 23, 21. In this passage, Paul has been taken into custody because the people in the temple were trying to tear him apart. They were trying to kill him. And there was a group that had made a conspiracy together that they would not eat or drink until they got a promise from the Roman Ciliarch that he would send Paul back to the Sanhedrin and that's when they were going to murder him. It was on the way. And so here it talks about this awaiting and this urgency of expectation for him to make this promise. It's an eminent one. Because I don't know about you, I can't go all that long without eating or drinking. I get hungry, I get really thirsty. So there's an eminence to this, right? Then over in Luke 12, verse 36, There's an expectation expressed. Jesus actually gives this as a command. That's pretty imminent, right? You're going to have to be standing there watching and waiting. Now this passage is dealing with actually being ready for the coming of the Son of Man. He continues, look at verse 37, But be sure of this, if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. You too be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect." So again, there's an urgency in the waiting. This word is used in Titus, chapter 2. Titus 2, 13, but we're going to start in verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for, also translated as waiting for or awaiting, the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. So the event which we're looking for is what? The blessed hope and appearing of Jesus. Blessed hope is the resurrection of those who are asleep in Jesus and the transformation of those who are alive and remain to receive glorified bodies. That's our blessed hope. And when does it occur? At that point when Jesus appears And when does that occur? At the rapture. Okay? Appears in the clouds of the air. We are changed. We meet Him. Paul uses the same word in Acts 24-15 in recounting the defense he gave to the Sanhedrin, the common hope, that he shared with all the other Pharisees for a future resurrection. So there's an eagerness, there's an anticipation, there's an urgency to it. Jude actually used this word as well, Jude 20 and 21. You, beloved, building yourselves up to the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. One final word on Ameno that we're gonna look at today is used in 1 Thessalonians 1 10. Now this word means to await one whose coming is known or foreseen. It describes waiting for someone you know is coming but you don't know exactly when. But it could be any time. That's the idea of the word. Now he uses this word in his commendation of the Thessalonians for the reception of the gospel as they turn from idols to serve the living and true God. Then he adds, Now we know from Paul's references in chapter 4, he's referring here to the rapture. We know from his reference in chapter 5 he's also referring to the day of the Lord when wrath of God comes and we are delivered from it. In fact he emphasizes that again in chapter 5 also saying the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Now that will bring up the purpose of the rapture which we will deal with next week. What needs to be noted in all these passages we've looked at is nothing is presented in any of them that must happen before the event described could happen. Even the events described in the Day of the Lord passages happen after the Day of the Lord begins. That is why the Day of the Lord can be described as being near, coming quickly, it's at the door, he's ready to come. And that is why we who are Christians are told to wait for, to wait eagerly, to long for the appearing of Jesus and the rapture that will come because of that, which then occurs and we receive our glorified bodies. That's our hope. We're looking forward to that. And so we will be with Him for eternity. We need to be ready for that. So the rapture is imminent. We're instructed to be longing for Jesus' return for His church with an eager anticipation. We're gonna be waiting, but it should not be a complacent waiting. I'll admit, one of the things that strikes me, and it's something that has changed over the generations, when I was little, it was common to hear preachers always referring to the coming of the Lord and aren't you ready? We had a friend that used to say, cheer up! You could die. She wasn't wanting to wait for the Lord to come. She's just ready to go meet him now. So that's the kind of anticipation we should have is what better could it be than I'm with Christ? So there's an anticipation for it. And that starts changing the way you live. It's a mindset that needs to be part of us. Tragically, even among those that claim to have the same kind of theology that we do, often you don't have that. They're looking for everything except Jesus to come. I had a fan, he was here, he actually held to a pre-wrath position. So he was looking for other events to occur, but he's also one of the few people I know that was actually looking for Christ to come as well. It didn't match his theology, but he was looking for Christ. Are we looking for Christ to come? Are we anticipating that? Are we living in the light of that? That is what enmity should do. He can return any moment like a thief in the night. When you're not expecting it, don't be complacent. It isn't that kind of all the way through. Don't be that way. Instead be repentant, be active, be pursuing holiness. That's the practical application. It's one that needs to be with us all the time. I'm anticipating this. I'm looking forward to it. And no, it's not an escape clause. Okay? It's not I'm looking forward just to get rid of everything. I don't want to deal with stuff. There's a lot of stuff I don't want to deal with. Okay? I'll admit that. It's okay if he comes now. Then I don't have to update the stuff on the computer. It's fine with me. I'm good. I don't have to do other things. I'm happy with that. But that's not what I'm looking forward to. I'm not looking forward to escaping. I'm looking forward to being with Christ. That's eminence. Are you looking forward to that? We need to be ready for persecution as I've dealt with the last couple years anyways. Period. I'm looking forward to Christ. Now all theological systems that seek to set some sort of relative timing of Jesus' return, either to the rapture or to the millennium, whatever they're going to do, they all have to deal with this question of these verses. They speak of an eminence. You must deal with it. Tragically, a lot of theological systems, they just skip it. They never addressed it all or they want to redefine it. Now you can take any one of these verses and you can try and redefine and say, well, maybe it's referring to something else. Can you take all of them? Can you take all the different things we're supposed to be anticipating and looking for and saying, oh, well, that's not till who knows when? You can't. You have to deal with all of them. You need to be consistent with it. We are those who, yes, we are to be aware of the signs of the times. But the next prophetic event that we're waiting, that we're looking for, is Jesus to appear in the clouds of the air and calling His church to meet Him there. And while we're waiting, we're to be pursuing holy lives in the service to our Lord Jesus Christ. So, Maranatha, our Lord come. Father, thank You for the promises of Your Word. And Father, the encouragement that is received that these are the things we are looking for. We're looking for a change in ourselves. We're looking to put away these bodies of sin and become completely righteous. We're looking to be in the presence of our Creator. Father, your love has come out to us in Christ. And we are so grateful for his promise that he is returning, even now, to preparing dwelling places for those that are his. And one day he will take us back to be in your home for eternity, forever.