What are the four major prophesied triumphant events that born again children of God can look forward to with confidence?
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the evil that is abounding in the world? Do you sometimes wonder if righteousness is going to be extinguished and evil and is going to triumph? Well, I have incredibly good news for you. The Word of God promises that one day soon those of us who are Christians will witness complete victory over the evil forces of this world! For the details about that great victory, read on.
We live in a world that is full of gloomy news. Each night the television news is full of stories about murders, rapes, child abuse, political corruption, revolutions, plagues, and even natural disasters. As we are assaulted by all this bad news, it’s easy for us to become discouraged and depressed. The result is that we live in a world that desperately needs hope. And I am pleased to say that God’s Word provides it.
I want to present you with a summary of that hope. And, I’m going to do so by presenting some of the highlights from a presentation I made in Lamb & Lion Ministries’ 2011 Bible Conference. My presentation was titled, “The Promise of Victory.”
The Best of Times
In his great novel about the French Revolution called, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens began the story with some of the most memorable words in all English literature. Here is what he wrote:
“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness. It was the epic of belief. It was the epic of incredulity. It was the season of light. It was the season of darkness. It was a spring of hope. It was the winter of despair.”
These words have never been truer than they are today. Everywhere we look in every direction, the world seems literally to be falling apart. We are racked by wars and rumors of wars. Immorality and violence are rampant. Our money is being devalued and debased. Our educational systems have been hijacked by Humanist and by Atheists. Our political systems are grid locked by value wars and corruption. All of nature seems to be reeling out of control producing one calamity after another.
And our churches are being destroyed by rampant apostasy. True Christianity is under attack from all sides and Christians are being marginalized as nothing in the world but a bunch of intolerant bigots.
Yet, despite all this economic, social and political chaos, I would say it is also the best of times because all of these developments are a fulfillment of End Time Bible prophecies that point to the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said society would be as immoral and as violent as in the days of Noah. And, He said that when we see that immorality and violence developing that we are to look up and we are to be watchful because our redemption will be drawing near.
Those of us who have committed our lives to Jesus may see all that is dear to us literally disintegrate before our very eyes, but we are going to win in the end. We may suffer terrible persecution, but we are going to win in the end. We may see the collapse of the dollar and the fall of the United States as a world power, but we are going to win in the end.
How can I be so confident? Because the Bible promises ultimate victory, and I know for certain that the Bible is true.
Our Promised Victory
What is our promised victory? Let me summarize it for you very quickly.
We are promised that at any moment right now we will be taken out of this world in what is called the Rapture of the Church.
We are promised that God will then pour out His wrath on wicked world leaders who currently thumb their noses at Him.
We are promised that Jesus will then return to reign over all the world in majesty and glory from Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the world will be flooded with peace, righteousness and justice as the waters cover the sea.
We are promised that we will ultimately be given an eternal home on a New Earth that has been refreshed and refurbished and perfected as the original earth was. And, we are promised that we will live eternally on that New Earth in glorified, immortal bodies in the presence of our Creator and our Savior.
Again, how could I be certain of these promises? Because the Bible tells me so, and the Bible can be trusted as the infallible Word of God. And, how do I know that? Because it is the only book in the world that has fulfilled promises.
I don’t know if you ever thought about that or not. There is not one fulfilled prophecy in the Koran. There is not one fulfilled prophecy in the Hindu Vedas. There is not one fulfilled prophecy in the sayings of Buddha or Confucius. There is not one fulfilled prophecy in the Book of Mormon.
The Bible is the only book in the world that contains fulfilled promises, and not just prophecies about the Messiah, but prophecies about cities and towns, and nations and individuals. The only one is the Bible!
The Bible contains 109 prophecies about the First Coming of Jesus, and every one of which were literally and precisely fulfilled. Because they were literally and precisely fulfilled, we can be absolutely confident that all the prophecies about the Messiah’s return and triumph will be precisely and literally fulfilled.
Let’s take a quick look an overview at God’s Plan for the ages. There are four major prophesied triumphant events that we can see on the horizon that we as born again children of God can look forward to with confidence. One is the Rapture. Then comes the Second Coming, then the Millennium, and then Heaven.
In the second segment of our study on God’s promises of victory, we’ll look at the first — the Rapture.