Anticipating the Rapture: Knowing Truth, Encouraging Others, Living Holy
Sept. 23, 2026
Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer
Guest: Dr. Carl Broggi
Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 9/23/26. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.
Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.
Sam Rohrer:
Hello and welcome to Stand in the Gap today. And it’s our bimonthly focus here today on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. And today we’re going to be joined again by returning guest Dr. Carl Brogi. He’s the senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, and he hosts his own radio ministry entitled Search the Scriptures. And they have a website at searchthescriptures.org. A lot of information there and I’ll give that again throughout the program. Now, today’s program is entitled Anticipating the Rapture: Knowing Truth, Encouraging Others, Living Holy. So I give a little bit of an insight in where we’re going to be going here because while the subject of the rapture has generated considerable debate and speculation, confusion in some cases, and on our own day, our day right now, increasing levels of scoffing and ridicule, the apostle Paul approached the subject very differently.
In one Thessalonians chapter four and five, you recognize that passage, I’m sure, but if not, you have your Bibles, get it out and open up and look along with us. But Paul addressed the rapture not to simply satisfy curiosity about future events, but also to establish a certainty concerning God’s bigger plan of redemption and to encourage believers then facing questions and concerns and even grief and has application today. Now, in fact, Paul begins this section by saying, “I would not have you to be ignorant or uninformed, brethren.” And some believers in Thessalonica obviously were troubled over what would happen to Christians who had died before Christ returned. And Paul’s answer was not sentiment or speculation, but doctrinal truth rooted right in the promises of Jesus Christ himself. So before we discuss the practical implications of this event, we must, I think, first establish its reality.
For instance, is the rapture a literal future event? Is it clearly taught in scripture? And why did Paul consider it so important that believers understand it? So a few of those questions we’ll deal with. And with that, Dr. Carl Baroghi, thanks for being with me. Welcome back again.
Carl Broggi:
Sam, a pleasure to be with you. And my, you’re addressing a critical issue because the rapture just is under attack, I think because Israel’s under attack in terms of people’s perspective on the role that she plays. So it’s a good topic you have for us today.
Sam Rohrer:
And those two are connected, Israel and the rapture, although that’s not going to be a heavy focus here, you can bring it in wherever you would like because it’s there. But let’s go here. Why did the apostle Paul consider a proper understanding of the rapture so important that he devoted actually significant teaching to it here, not only in one Thessalonians chapter four and five, but also in one Corinthians 15 and elsewhere. So why is a proper understanding so important?
Carl Broggi:
Well, it’s important to him because it answers a lot of basic questions that we have as Christians about death, about resurrection, the Lord’s return and our future with him. And of course he planted, we know from Acts 17, the church at Thessalonica. And in Acts 17 in verse four, it says that there were Jewish people who came to faith and God-fearing Greeks along with some leading women. And so when you think of Gentiles, there’s just raw pagan Gentiles. There’s proselytes. Those are Gentiles who have gone through the whole process of becoming a Jew, religiously speaking. Then there’s God-fearing Greeks. And so what that tells me by the makeup, you’ve got a Jew and Gentile church, largely Greek, but they believed in the doctrine of the resurrection. So this was not some new doctrine for them. Their question doesn’t concern whether or not God will raise people from the dead.
Their question concerns what’s the order? And Paul had been in Thessalonica for a relatively short period of time, which tells me among other things why prophecy was important to him because he was there a short time yet he taught them all about prophecy and he’ll remind them of that. And so their question is what happens to some of our loved ones who’ve already died, Paul, since you’ve been here? And so that’s how he starts in verse 13. We don’t want you to be uninformed, ignorant that King James says. It’s the word, the verb. We get our word agnostic from it, literally a no nothing. We don’t want you to be a know nothing. An ignoramus about those who are asleep, of course, referring not to the spirit within the body, but the body itself. Those who’ve died, you could say, so that we don’t have to grieve like the rest.
And so that’s what he’s trying to help them because their question is if some of our loved ones has died, when are they going to be raised? Are they going to miss the coming kingdom? When will God take them up? And that’s what he wants to address with them.
Sam Rohrer:
Excellent. All right. Now I’m going to ask you to do an impossible thing here and that’s a little bit of an apologetic, a brief, a concise biblical apologetic for the reality. Let’s put it that way. The reality of a literal harpazo, Greek word catching away of believers referred to here. What would you point to as the strongest biblical evidence? And why is this event specifically connected to the church of Christ church, his bride and connecting to it as well, when of the rapture? When would this take place? Tie that together if you don’t mind.
Carl Broggi:
Well, he says, “We who are alive and remain will be caught up.” And so those words caught up in the King James and the MES in most translation is the Greek word harpazo. Now the Latin translation that was used from Jerome since about the fourth century for nearly a thousand years gave us a lot of theological terms that we use to this day. And so in the Latin, it’s the word for rapture that comes directly into English. And so you’ll meet people today who say, “Well, the rapture’s not taught in the Bible.” Well, maybe not in the English Bible. I don’t care what you call it, the rapture, the catching up, it’s taught. And so it’s really ignorance to say, “I don’t believe in a rapture,” because then you’re saying, “I don’t believe that God is going to catch me up someday and take me into heaven.” Now you might differ on the timing of that and the circumstances around it, but the Bible teaches a rapture that we’re going to meet the Lord in the air.
And if someone would stop and pause, and this word harpazo, we got our word harpoon from it. It has the idea of being snatched away. In fact, it’s used Sam in Acts eight of Philip who has been preaching to an Ethiopian eunuch and he’s immediately, Acts 8:39, snatched up and he’s moved 30 miles to a different location. Well, we’re going to be snatched up. Paul will say, “In the twinkling of an eye,” that’s faster than you can blink. And he’s going to take us to heaven because this is what Jesus promised for the church. The New Testament identifies the body of Christ, the church as his bride in Ephesians five and other places. And so at the rapture, Jesus comes for his own. And that’s the promise in John 14, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, where you Jesus in heaven, where I am, you may be also.” So he’s coming to take his bride out of the coming tribulation period because the tribulation period is a time of wrath.
And in a number of passages, one Thessalonians one, one Thessalonians five, it says, “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation.” So the wrath of God and the tribulation is not for the church, but it will be used of God for other reasons, which I know we’ll probably want to discuss.
Sam Rohrer:
All right. Excellent. Dr. Carl Berroggi, ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. Our theme today is anticipating the rapture, knowing truth, encouraging others, living holy. Those are things that it should cause us to do and we will talk about that. But I hope that you are, if you are a true believer, that you are anticipating the return of Christ. We’ll continue further in just a moment. Well, if you’re just joining me today here, we’re beginning segment two. If you did not join us the last segment, here’s the theme, anticipating the rapture. Are you anticipating the rapture? And that’s a question I’ll just throw out there. We’re going to look at several things, knowing truth, encouraging others, living holy. These are things that fall out and come out of how anticipating the rapture biblically should cause us to respond. And my special guest today, Dr. Carl Brogi, who’s with me at least once a month on this program are looking at this.
And so I’m posing a number of things to him today. He has a website at searchthescriptures.org where he has sermons and teaching and a number of things there that I know a number of you have gone to and listened to because you’ve told me that. So I just put that out there and I’ll give that again. Last segment we talked about the reality of the rapture. In this segment, moving to the purpose. As we concluded in that last segment, the rapture is not some theological invention and it’s not merely a topic for prophetic debate. It’s a biblical promise rooted in the words of Christ and clearly explained by the apostle Paul in a couple of places, including here in one Thessalonians chapter four and five. Yet once we’ve established the reality of the rapture, the why of the rapture becomes even more logical question to ask.
And along with that is this, why did God reveal this doctrinal truth? After all, scripture does not contain prophecy simply to satisfy curiosity about the future. God always reveals truth with a purpose. In this passage, one Thessalonians chapter 4:13 through 18, the Apostle Paul gives one of the most detailed descriptions of the rapture found anywhere in scripture, but he does so, I’m going to say within a pastoral context because he’s writing to believers at that time who were grieving, some were uncertain, others in need of assurance. His goal was not speculation, but confidence. And Dr. Carl Berogi mentioned those things in the last segment. And in fact, Jesus in the upper room, in his discourse found in John chapter 14, Paul’s teaching in one Thessalonians and Corinthians, all of these go together because in that the promise of Christ coming for his church is consistently connected to these thoughts, hope, preparation, expectation.
And it reminds believers that history is moving according to not our plan, but God’s plan and that Christ has not forgotten his bride. So if you’re a believer in this age, you’re a part of the church, we’re part of the bride. So beyond the details of the event itself, what does the rapture reveal about God’s character, his promises and his purpose for the church? And how should that understanding shape the way we view both the present and the future? So Carl, as you examine passages such as what you referenced in the last segment, John 14, I did again here, verses one through three in particular and they’re here in one Thessalonians four and one Corinthians 15, what would you identify as God’s primary purpose in revealing the reality of the rapture to his bride, us, the church?
Carl Broggi:
Well, first and foremost, I would say he’s shouting, “I love you. I care about you.” Every heartache, every persecution, every struggle you face in this life is not forever. That this earth is, the scriptures say is not our home. Our citizenship Paul will write is in heaven. And the rapture reminds us of that very truth that he’s coming back for us to take us to his home, his house. He’s got a room prepared for us in that place. The old King James has a mansion, which in the 17th century made a room within a large house. Today it carries a different connotation, but when you go to your parents’ home when you’re a child and you’ve been away, you come to a house that’s warm and loving and kind and accepting. And that’s what the father’s house is going to be for us in the rapture.
And so among other reasons, he’s shouting, “Look, I love you. I care about you. I want to give you a hope.” In Paul’s letter to Titus, he said, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly and righteously and godly in the present age.” And then he says, “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus.” So he mentions in this paragraph two appearings. The first appearing, the grace of God has appeared when Jesus came, died, was buried and was raised again. And those who receive that grace are saved. And then in verse 13, he looks to a future appearing when Jesus will come. It’s called the blessed hope. And then in between, he mentions this present age because God wants us to live holy and righteously in this age.
And really, Jesus reminds us of this every time we celebrate the Lord’s table. He said, “This cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.” So on the one hand, when we celebrate the Lord’s table, we’re looking back at his first coming when he died and he bought us with a prize. On the other hand, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you’re proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes. So where to be looking ahead to his appearing, his catching up of the rapture. So it’s a different event. Another reason is because God has one way of salvation by grace through faith, but he’s functioning through two separate entities. One is called the church and one is called Israel. And so the return of Christ really comes in two parts and the rapture, he comes for his church.
He takes us to heaven where he is, and it’s not a prophetically driven event. It could happen at any time. The Bible speaks of a sense of an imminent return. Whereas the second coming, we come back with him. And so in Revelation four, a door is open. You never see the church again, not once until chapter 19 when we come back. And so what’s unfolding on the earth is not for us, his bride. He’s not going to beat us up during that time. It’s designed the hardship to bring people to faith who have never heard the gospel, but also to wake up Israel that they might embrace Jesus as the Messiah. So he comes for his church and the rapture, he comes with his church at the second coming. And the rapture he takes us to heaven. At the second coming, he brings us to earth.
The rapture is non-prophetic. It could happen at any moment where the second coming is prophecy driven. So there are two distinct events and it’s called the blessed hope. In other words, he’s not saying, “Hey, listen, you have to first go through the great tribulation period, then I’ll come for you.” That’s the way some people think. That’s no blessed hope to me. That would be terrifying when you read the details of the future tribulation period. No, this is a catching up of his church to carry us to heaven.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. Let’s follow up on that. Not a lot of time, but in the sense of the bride, church is the bride of Christ. Christ is growing the church. That’s the time that we’re in. If we’re the bride, he’s the groom. And of course we know that’s the case. What’s going to happen when he comes back for us and takes the bride home, what happens immediately after that? That’s part of the hope too.
Carl Broggi:
Yeah. I’m actually covering that in a series I’m doing on my new podcast. What happens is the judgment of the just, the judgment seat of Christ, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And during that time, God evaluates our service. Has nothing to do with getting into heaven. We’re saved by grace through faith, but there is a future judgment as saved people, whether or not we habitually yielded to that grace that God might minister in and through us. And at the judgment seat of Christ, he’ll look at the things that we’ve done, like how we served God’s people, how we treated unbelievers, how we used our spiritual gifts in the local church, how we used the money that God entrusted to us, et cetera, the things we’ve done. He’ll even reward us for the things that we’ve attempted to do. And he’ll also evaluate at the judgment of the just, for believers only, the motivation of why we did what we did.
You can do something good, but if you did it for a self-centered motivation as first Corinthians chapter four indicates, then it will be nothing as chapter three indicates, but would he and stumble the judgment seat? So he’s preparing us. We’ll be married in heaven and he’ll dress us in the righteous deeds of the saints, a different robe. It’s a wedding gown, so to speak. And then we’ll come back to earth at the second coming and we’ll celebrate the marriage supper of the lamb with Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and New Covenant saints before we enter into the thousand year reign of the Messiah. So it’s a great future he has for us.
Sam Rohrer:
God, we could build this out so much further. Only about a minute and a half left. Make the connection about the truth about God’s plan for the church. You mentioned it Israel and this doctrine of the rapture. How are these related? Put that in the context.
Carl Broggi:
So it reminds us among other things that nothing can separate us from the love of God that’s in Christ Jesus. And we see that in a number of ways. In the rapture, we are immediately removed or at death, absent from the body present with the Lord. It’s an unbroken eternal relationship. So when God uses the word eternal, he means forever. And when he made an eternal covenant with Israel, he means the same thing. And so when the rapture happens, shortly after the great tribulation happens and God will keep his promises to Israel, they’ll look on him whom they have pierced. He’ll bring 144,000 converted Jewish men to preach the gospel to the world. Scores of Gentiles from every tribe, tongue and nation will be saved because God’s heart is for the loss. He cares about souls. The son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
And so when God makes an eternal promise for Israel, he makes the same for the church. And so if God will keep his promises to the Jew, you can know that he’ll keep his promise to you.
Sam Rohrer:
That’s excellent, excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you are already encouraged and though you may have known maybe everything that’s been heard so far, I have found news like this and biblical truth needs to be heard again and again and revisited because our minds need to be transformed and renewed by the word of God. That’s part of the purpose for today. Now when we come back, we’re going to talk about the response to the rapture. What should it cause us to do? Well, as we’ve discussed thus far here today in our focusing on the rapture and the title I’ve framed this with is anticipating the rapture. And part of the title is Knowing Truth, Encouraging Others, Living Holy. Now, so far we’ve dealt with primarily the reality of the rapture, the purpose of the rapture, and that bears down more on knowing the truth aspect of it.
This segment, we’re going to shift a little bit to some other things that anticipating the rapture should cause us to do. And the Apostle Paul is very, very clear about it and we’ll talk about that in a segment. But thus far we’ve looked at that aspect of it because the rapture is a real event. It’s not some symbolism. It is real. It is true. And it is yet to happen, but it will happen. How do we know that? Well, because it’s rooted right in the very promises of Christ and we have the purposes for of which we’ve talked about some, but perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of the Apostle Paul’s teaching, particularly there in verse Thessalonians chapter four and five, is the response that he wanted this doctrine, this truth to actually produce in the lives of the believers then. And I’m going to say us now, because after describing the catching away, the word rapture or harpazo caught away of the saints, you’re referring to there in one Thessalonians 4:16 and 17, the Apostle Paul concludes with these simple but powerful words.
He says, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” In other words, the doctrine of the rapture was not given to create anxiety or foster speculation or generate division among believers. To the contrary, it was intended to provide hope and comfort and confidence and encouragement. Yet today, I find that many Christians, professing Christians, approach prophecy with uncertainty or even fear, and that ought not happen. Some fear world events, others fear tribulation or persecution or judgment. Still, others avoid prophecy altogether because it seems, well, too controversial or perhaps too difficult to understand. But the apostle Paul presents the return of Christ for his church, us, you, if you are a true believer, as one of the greatest sources of encouragement available to a believer. And for the child of God, the rapture reminds us that history is not spiraling out of control, that death is not the end, and that our future is secured by Christ’s promises.
The blessed hope concept that Dr. Broggi mentioned the other segment goes right to that. It should strengthen every weary believer and inspire confident living regardless of the challenges that confront us in this age. So Dr. Broggi, why do you think Paul concludes this entire section by instructing believers to comfort one another with these words? And what specifically these words, what specifically was referring to? What kind of comfort was he actually speaking about?
Carl Broggi:
So let me back up with it again. Their question is they knew the doctrine of the resurrection was true. What they didn’t understand was the timing. And so he begins, “We don’t want you to be uninformed, ignorant brothers, a term for brothers and sisters in Christ about those who are asleep.” That’s the metaphor God uses constantly describe death. Just like last night you laid down on your bed and you got up this morning. He’s going to affirm here there’s as much hope for the body as for the soul. So those who are dead, that you don’t grieve as the rest who have no hope. Now we grieve when we lose someone we deeply love, but we don’t have to grieve like those who have no hope. Now, a lot of unbelievers, even believers are ignorant as to what happens at death. I’ve been in funeral homes before and they said, “Oh, well, he’s become an angel.
He hasn’t become an angel. God made a fixed number of angels never to create anymore.” Or sometimes they’re describing a lost person who hated Jesus. Well, he’s in a better place. No, he’s not in a better place. He’s in the worst place he could ever be. But we don’t have to grieve like unbelievers who have no hope because here’s the reason. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him. That’s important. He’ll bring with him those who’ve fallen asleep. What does he mean by that? Well, it’s a first class conditional statement. Some would translate it sense if we believe, but Paul doesn’t say it that way because he’s not lecturing us. He wants us to think. He says, “Listen, if you believe that Jesus died and rose again and you stop, yeah, I believe that with all my heart.” Then you can know that God will bring with him the loved ones you’re asking me about, those who have fallen asleep.
Why? Because absent from the body is to be immediately present with the Lord. For me to live as Christ, to die is a gain. And so he’s covering this doctrine to underscore that there’s no unbroken fellowship with the Lord. So the moment I die, if I died today, the person inside this body would go home to be with Jesus. I wouldn’t be in my resurrected body. It appears there’s some kind of temporary body. Old Testament saints haven’t been resurrected, yet we see Moses and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration and they’re very recognizable, but they’re not in their resurrection body. That happens at the end of the tribulation, Daniel 12 for Old Testament saints. So he’ll bring with him from heaven departed spirits, those who’ve died. This is what we say to you by the word of the Lord. We just read it from John 14.
“If I go and prepare a place for you, I’ll come again and receive it myself. We say to this by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. “That’s the answer to their question. Your loved ones, you’re not going to go up before they do. How do we know? Because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. So God will bring our departed loved ones back from heaven. He’ll put it back in a body wherever the body is, whether it was destroyed, eaten by fish, buried in the ground, turned to dust. God will find it and he’ll immediately reconnect it and the body will come up in a translated body.
Why? Because this mortality must put on immortality. This perishable must inherit the imperishable. And so in the twinkling of an eye, he’s going to change us. And then we who are alive, there’ll be a generation of believers who will not see death. We’re going to be here for the catching up of the church. We who are alive and remain shall be caught up. There’s the word rapture. Don’t tell me you don’t believe in the rapture. When someone says that to you, they’re just spouting ignorance. If they believe in the catching up, then they’re affirming what the Latin Bible says, the rapture will be caught up. We’ll meet our loved ones in the clouds. They’ll be recognizable so we can comfort each other. This is our great promise. We’re going to be with each other. There’s no loss of fellowship. Eternal life is forever. At death, you’re home with Jesus.
And if we’re alive at the return, we meet them in the air. It’s a great, great promise.
Sam Rohrer:
It is a great promise and it is a blessed hope. And anyone, ladies and gentlemen, if you are not encouraged by what you just heard, well, you know maybe that relationship with Jesus Christ, it may not be there. And that we’ve talked about so much. There are so many who believe, who will stand before the Lord one day. Matthew 10 say, “But didn’t do all these things in your name?” And he says, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” Our foundational salvation in Christ needs to be made certain. But if it’s there, oh wow, what an anticipation. Carla, that leads me to this. Matthew 24, in other places, Jesus talks about a leading sign of the time in our times, these latter days, deception will be present. And certainly there is so much going on about discounting the rapture or however these things that we’re talking about, the reasons for the rapture, the timing of the rapture.
Why do we need to be so concerned about the deception around this and why do you think the wicked one would seek to deceive God’s people about the rapture?
Carl Broggi:
He wants us to live like people who are asleep. And Paul will deal with this in the next chapter, one Thessalonians five. He doesn’t want us to see what is actually happening right before our eyes. And Peter reminds us that in the last days, mockers are going to come. They’ll follow their own evil desires. Where is the promises of this coming? Things have always been the same since the beginning. They’re basically saying nothing has ever happened. God has never intervened before. Nothing is going to happen in the future. And Paul says, “Well, they actually forgot the great flood when God intervened, something the devil tries to deny in our day.” So the rapture peels back the deception. Look, Tucker Carlson had this guy, John Rich and JD Hall, and they’re saying, “Well, the rapture is a made up event. John Nelson Darby invented it in the 1800s.” I mean, that is just so far from the truth.
And I listened to these guys. I read JD Hall’s transcript and he’s supposed to be a theologian of sorts, unlike John Rich, who’s just a musician, though we’re all theologians, and there’s so much error. I mean, forget pre-tribulational Israel, the church, just statements that he makes like, “Well, the Isaiah says in the Torah.” Isaiah doesn’t say anything in the Torah. Isaiah is a book of itself, the is the first five books, statement after statement after statement that’s not even accurate. And Tucker Carlson puts them on like experts and people are listening to him. Look, I used to like Tucker Carlson. I would listen to him. I don’t know what’s happened to him, but he’s turned into this anti-Semite and some of these brothers like John Rich and JD Hall, they love the Lord. They’re real brothers, but their failure to recognize what God says about Israel feeds a vacuum for antisemitism.
And that’s what God says would happen at the end of time. The nations of the world will come against Israel.
Sam Rohrer:
All right, ladies and gentlemen, one thing for certain, anticipating the rapture because it is real. It is a promise by God. It’s a promise by Jesus Christ, the groom who says, “I’m going to take you out my bride.” That is a great deal of encouragement and it should be the opposite of fear, but there’s more. And that is living a life reflective of the rapture. That’s our next focus, holy living. It really should cause us to live differently in this age when there is so much increasing scoffing by those that are taking place. We’ll be back in just a moment.
Well, as we go into our final segment now, again, my guest today is no stranger. We’ve been actually doing Stand in the Gap Today programs together for many years. Dr. Carl Brogie, he’s the senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Has a website at searchthescriptures.org, which has sermons and a lot of different things on that site. And I would encourage you to visit that. Also, in this program here, which is focusing on the rapture, we’re going to be doing some additional programs on this theme because there are so many essential elements to properly understanding it. We’re just taking an approach here. We actually talked a little bit about the pre-tribulational aspect of the rapture back in March of this year, which you can find if you were to visit on our stand in the gap radio.com site or on our app. You can bring it up and with that, then you can get a transcript as well and read along with that as you listen to that program.
Very, very helpful. But that being the case, let’s move right into this as we conclude because as we’ve seen through today’s program, the doctrine, the truth of the rapture was given so believers would know the truth and find encouragement in God’s promises, comfort one another with these words. But the Apostle Paul does not end there. In fact, as he moves from the end of one Thessalonians chapter four into chapter five, he shifts from what believers should know about Christ’s coming to how believers should live in anticipation of his coming. Paul’s point is clear. Prophecy, the doctrine of the rapture and the Christ’s return is not merely intended to inform the mind, as in all biblical truth, but to transform the life. That’s why after describing the Lord’s return for his church, us the bride, he immediately tells believers to, he says this, “Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.” And he speaks of putting on the breastplate of faith and love and wearing as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
He connects all of those things. In other words, the certainty of Christ’s return should produce spiritual alertness, personal holiness and faithful service in all those who truly possess faith in Christ. At the same time, scripture warns us, as we’ve referred to just a little bit ago, that not everyone will receive these truths. Peter writes in the last days, “Their scoffers will mock the promise of Christ’s return.” I think we see that happening all around us today. And Jesus actually compares that period of time, I think this period of time, as to the days of Noah, when many, most obviously ignored God’s warning and simply carried on with life as usual, but that ought not be what we do. Dr. Broggi, why does Paul move immediately from teaching about the rapture in chapter four to a call for watchfulness and sobriety and holy living in chapter five?
And what’s the connection between prophecy and personal holiness? Put that together and then want to come back and ask you to then give the listeners an encouragement and a marching orders for what to do now based on this information. Just phase right into that if you don’t mind.
Carl Broggi:
Let me read a couple verses. It says in chapter five, while they, lost people, are saying peace and safety, then destruction will suddenly come upon them like labor pains upon a woman with child and they, lost people will not escape. He’s talking about the day of the Lord that starts with the great tribulation period. And then when he comes to verse four, as you noted in your intro, there’s a shift in emphasis. He goes from them and they, but you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief. And so while they lost people of this world are blinded, we as believers are not to be. And he says, “For you are sons of light and sons of the day. We’re not of night nor of darkness. So then let us believers not sleep. Let us believers be alert and sober.” And he goes to a different word here for sleep, unlike the word that he used in chapter four for sleep and death.
He uses a Greek word that speaks of someone who’s spiritually lethargic, someone who’s spiritually insensitive. And his point is, is that’s the way unbelievers are, but that’s not the way believers are to be. We’re not to be insensitive. We’re to be awake. We’re to be in tune with what is happening with the events that are unfolding in our world. So he says, “Don’t you remember that while I was with you,” verse five, “I was telling you these things.” And so if we’re ever going to be spiritually speaking alert and sober, then we need to be taught prophecy. And sadly in our day, though, a third of the scripture is prophetic in nature. And when you look at the prophecy that has been fulfilled, the majority of prophecy is yet to be fulfilled. And if a pastor just opens the Bible and teaches the whole council of God, he’s going to hit time after time after time passages that speak about the return of Christ.
In almost every single passage in the New Testament, I can only think of one, that refers to Christ’s return either for the church or even at the Second Commune, there’s always an accompanying behavior as to how we should live. In other words, this is not just to draw some kind of a prophecy chart, it’s to change our behavior. It’s that we might be alert and sober and not dismayed and discouraged by the events of the day.
Sam Rohrer:
All right. And let’s go here then. Conclude with this. If a believer genuinely embraces the reality of Christ’s imminent return, what we’ve talked about the rapture, what practical differences should be evident in their priorities and relationships, whether it be an evangelism or stewardship or our daily walk with the Lord? Could you cite some things?
Carl Broggi:
It should definitely affect my priorities as you mentioned. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God in his righteousness. Paul will say to the church at Colosse, if you’ve been raised up with Christ and we have, keep seeking the things above. Set your mind on the things above, not simply on the things of earth. Don’t be a this life person only. If that’s what’s going to encompass your thinking 24 hours a day, your priorities are off. Prophecy should affect my relationships. I’ll be quick to forgive. I want to reconcile with other people. Paul will say, forgive each other how just like God in Christ has forgiven you. Sometimes people won’t forgive you in return, but as much as it depends upon you, Romans 12, I think it’s verse 18, be at peace with all men. In evangelism, if I understand the timeframe that Christ could come back today, there’ll be a greater urgency to tell people about the Lord Jesus.
There’s still opportunity. A time will come when there’ll be no opportunity. In my local church, I’ll use my spiritual gift. As each one has received a special gift, employ it as good stewards of the manifold grace of God and serving one another. There’s an assumption there that I’m a member of a New Testament church, that I’m engaged with God’s people, that I care about them. So you find the best church you can, you get involved, you pray for the past, you don’t criticize him. And if he hasn’t had much training, then vitamin supplement on the internet, but you serve. There’s no excuse not to be involved. And certainly in our stewardship, half of the parables that Jesus speaks of are associated with money because he knows that where your treasure is, there will your heart be. And so when we really understand the return of Christ, it doesn’t cause us to withdraw from life.
It really causes us to be very involved in life in making a difference while we can.
Sam Rohrer:
Indeed, indeed. We have just a little bit of time left. Would you close us in prayer please? It would be appropriate thing to do for sure.
Carl Broggi:
Our Father, we’re so thankful that the salvation that you began, you promised to complete, that you’ve not left us as orphans. You sent the spirit as a down payment for the future and that in a moment, one of these days you’ll come and catch us up. I pray today for someone who is listening, who’s not sure of salvation, help them to put their full confidence where you put their sin on the Lord Jesus to call upon him in faith to save them. We ask in his name. Amen.
Sam Rohrer:
Amen. Amen. Thank you, Dr. Carl Broggi. Again, his website, searchscriptures.org. And ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being with us and go back and revisit this program. It’s something that for a believer, this theme, it should encourage us and I hope that it has today. Consider sharing it with a friend. It would be helpful to them as well, I am sure. And Lord willing, we’ll see each other tomorrow right back here again on Stand in the Gap.
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