The Rapture of the Church – Sermon from The Best of Tony Evans 2021

You’ve probably read, watched or heard of the popular book series, Left Behind, that introduced many people to the realities of the biblical rapture. But to understand this event and how it will affect you, it’s also important to realize why. Join Tony Evans in this detailed look at the next event on the prophetic calendar—the return of Christ for His people.

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

do you know your answer could be sitting

right next to you but you’ll never know

it

until god is ready to reveal it

god says if you come back home you’ll

see

i haven’t gone anywhere

so you draw near to him and he will draw

near to you because he’s the one who’s

never left if you walk in the spirit or

walk by means of the spirit he will open

up the hole for you to get through

the snake is going to try to stare stuff

up the snake is gonna try to get you

away from god there is a serpent in the

garden and your job keep him out

sometimes he brings a little something

that’s a little cute to let you know

keep on going keep on trusting because i

hear you

[Music]

the next event

on god’s prophetic calendar is the

rapture

that is the next thing that’s going to

happen

the word rapture means to seize grasp or

grab

and it refers to christ coming to

retrieve

his

church believers who have accepted him

as savior that is the next event

on the prophetic calendar

so that is the event i want to explain

to you today

about the rapture the imminent return of

christ

for his

people

jesus had told

his disciples

i’m i’m leaving

he’s getting down on the cross rise from

the dead and the sin back to heaven and

he told him you can’t come with me now

but don’t worry i’m gonna come get you

i’m gonna come get you

when the disciples heard this they were

traumatized

because for three years

jesus had been their leader their

teacher their provider

he had been their guide he’d been their

help he’d been their deliverer he’d been

their whole world for three years and

now he says i’m leaving

and um

i’m coming back

in fact here’s what he told them in john

chapter 14 verses 1 3.

saint john 14 1-3 says this do not let

your heart be troubled because they were

they were 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

that is the first specific

reference to the rapture i’m coming to

receive you

back to me

during this interim i am preparing a

place that word prepare

doesn’t mean to like construct something

it means to make preparation for

something

and i am going to come again now

our dilemma is he didn’t say when

all he said was i’m coming back

to receive you to me

but i got to leave now

and so they were troubled they were

troubled because jesus was not

physically there

so they had to live on a promise

to understand this event and how it

affects you

and me

which by the time i’m finished today

your world should change

let me show you why

first thessalonians chapter 4

paul gives detailed explanation for this

event

called

the catching up

or the rapture

he begins in verse

13 of first thessalonians 4.

he says

but we do not want you to be uninformed

brethren

i

we don’t want you not to understand this

we don’t want you to be unclear about

this

so

paul is saying let me explain this to

you don’t be uninformed

now let me give you the reasons

why

this event that he’s getting ready to

explain

is going to happen

he tells you the first reason in verse

13 i don’t want you to be uninformed

about those who are asleep

you and i would say people who’ve died

the biblical word that jesus has

introduced is the word sleep why does he

use the word sleep

because for a christian when you die

it’s nap time

okay but i’ll explain that in a moment

he says

i don’t want you to be uninformed about

those who’ve died or are asleep

now the reason he has to say this is

jesus had promised to come back so

they’re waiting for jesus to come back

while they’re waiting for jesus to come

back some of their loved ones die who

are christians

and so they’re concerned well wait a

minute if we’re waiting for jesus to

come back

and some of our folks have died

will they miss his return

because they’re not alive like we are

well that leads to another question

suppose i die

am i gonna miss out on the rapture

so

the question was

are folks who died missing out on this

promise

paul says i don’t want you to be

uninformed about that so one of the

reasons he discusses the rapture is to

inform them about how this thing will

work with focal already dead

another reason which you’ll see later on

in the scripture i’ll give you

is because flesh and blood cannot

inherit the kingdom of heaven

first corinthians 15 50.

it can’t inherit the kingdom of heaven

in other words you can’t go to heaven

like you are now

because that environment does not fit

your makeup

flesh and blood

so it is you can’t function like you are

in heaven as flesh and blood so a change

has got to occur

so that’s why the rapture is needed

another reason why this rapture is

important

is to

remove you

before all hell breaks out breaks loose

on earth

okay

look at first thessalonians chapter 1

verse 10

and to wait for his son from heaven

whom he raised from the dead that is

jesus

who rescues us from the wrath to come

now he’s not talking about hell

he’s talking about the tribulation

period

all hell is going to break loose on

earth in other words no matter how bad

things are right now you ain’t seen

nothing yet

all hell’s gonna break loose

and that’s called the tribulation

so before all hell breaks loose wrath to

come

he’s going to come to retrieve his

people

before the wrath breaks loose

there are numbers of illustrations of

this in the bible remember he retrieved

lot out of sodom and gomorrah before he

rained down

fire and brimstone on sodom and gomorrah

he retrieved noah and his family into

the ark before he flooded the world

he retrieved rahab and her family into

their house

before the walls of jericho collapsed in

other words he kept them from the

judgment to come

by retrieving them

well that’s exactly what jesus is going

to do for all christians all who make up

his church he will retrieve us before

the tribulation comes when all hell

breaks our breaks loose on earth

that’s the concept of the rapture or the

reasons for it

he introduces a word

in verse 13 that he’s going to speak and

say something about a number of times

concerning those who are asleep

because it gives another reason why you

need to know about the rapture

so that verse 13 you do not grieve as

those who have no hope

it affects your emotional well-being

see there are two kinds of grieving

hope less grieving and hopeful grieving

hopeless grieving

is i’m never gonna see this person again

hopeful grieving is i am going to see

this person again both are grieving

but they’re grieving differently

one is grieving without hope one is

grieving with hope

so

i want you not to be hopeless in your

sorrow

when you lose loved ones

who are part of the family of god

so

he introduces us to the word sleep

that’s jesus’s word for what you and i

call death

oh wait a minute

if you are asleep

in our normal everyday nomenclature of

life that means you’re not dead you’re

in a new you’re in a you’re in a

temporary shift of state of

consciousness

you’re not

you’re not dead you’re you’re asleep

you’re in a position of death

but there has not been the move to

non-existence

so keep that word in mind as we as we as

we go along

he says

for if we believe

that jesus died and rose again

even so god will bring with him

those who have fallen asleep in jesus

now you ought to see a little conflict

there

we’re talking about those who’ve fallen

asleep

i.e died

but then jesus is bringing somebody with

him when he comes

so he’s coming from heaven bringing

somebody

and the somebody he’s bringing are those

who’ve fallen asleep

well wait a minute

the folks who’ve fallen asleep

are in the grave

but the folks he’s bringing with him who

are the folks who’ve fallen asleep are

coming with him from heaven

so which is it

am i in the grave

or am i in heaven

when god made adam he created a body

when he created the body the body did

not function

until he breathed into the man the

breath of life

when he breathed into the man the breath

of life scripture says and he became a

living soul

in other words

his body didn’t become animated active

functional until the soul was deposited

in it

apart from the soul all you had was

frame

with no animation no life

when you

expire

the life principle that god breathes in

soul

slithers in some

invisible way

out of the body so the body can no

longer function because the soul has

departed it

and that soul for the believer

goes immediately into the presence of

god

at the time of the rapture

when jesus christ descends to seize

believers

he is coming

with you the you that left you when you

went to sleep

okay

so

he says

those who are living when jesus returns

not only do you not have to worry about

the folks who’ve already died

they gonna beat you to the punch

because when the lord comes for the

rapture the taking away of the saints

he says

we who are alive if he were to come back

in the next five minutes

everybody in here who’s alive

will have to take second place to the

folks who’ve already died

we will not precede them you’re not

going to beat them to heaven

even though

they are dead sleep and you’re alive

well how is all this going to work

so he wants to give you some details

he says here’s how this works

verse 16

for the lord himself

will descend from heaven

with a shout

so at the point of the rapture

jesus is going to leave heaven

and there’s going to be a shout

i.e

get up

okay there’s going to be a call a shout

so jesus is himself this so this is a

personal

appearance he’s going to come with a

shout

when he comes with the shout it will be

with the voice of the archangel

now the archangel is chief angel in

charge

and the dead in christ will rise first

because remember the living won’t

precede the dead the dead are going to

precede the living because they’re going

to rise first

but wait a minute

i thought i was in heaven

because i’m coming back with him

so if i’m in heaven coming back with him

exactly what’s rising

okay

well

you are going to be buried

but not your soul because your soul left

so left at the point of death

you are going to be buried

when you are buried

most of us will be put in a casket

that’s sealed

that’s under six feet of dirt

but there are other people who’ve died

who don’t get buried

some people died in the sea some people

died and their bodies weren’t put in the

casket they would just bury it in the

ground

you’re gonna become worm food

so therefore

in order to get

your soul

coming down

it’s new house to live in

there has got to be a reconstruction of

you

you have to be stitched back together

you have to be

you have to be

resurrected in some supernatural way so

your soul that’s coming back with jesus

has some place to hang out

so while you are coming back with christ

because your soul went to him when you

die

the dead in christ shall rise first

that’s not your soul now we’re talking

about your body

you have to have a reconstructed body

for your old redeemed soul

a body that can live in heaven and still

function on earth

so when jesus returns for the rapture

and the shout of god is made there is

going to be a raising of

reconstruction

of your humanity

so that you and your soul can hook up

again

so you got you coming and a body rising

so the dead in christ

will be resurrected

with

new spiritual glorified bodies

i’m going to talk about that in a second

but that’s how you will be

resurrected

he talks about people

i love the end of verse 14 who fall

asleep in jesus that’s what he calls it

for dying dying as a christian falling

asleep in jesus

so the assumption is that you have

accepted christ

if that assumption is true then when you

die you will fall asleep in jesus

he says

the dead in christ will rise first

then we who are alive

and remain

shall be caught up

that’s rapture

caught up together with them in the

clouds to meet the lord in the air

okay now please notice where we’re

meeting the lord we’re not meeting him

on earth

because it’s not time for him to come to

earth yet

because we’re going to be moving back

and forth

from heaven to earth

okay so there’s a two location thing so

you need a body that can go in both

places you need to be able to play

offense and defense you need to be able

to work both sides of the ball you need

to be able to you need to be able to

hang out up there

and be and chill down here you got so so

a lot of your time is going to be spent

on earth not in heaven okay

so

he says we will be caught up

to meet the lord in the air

first corinthians 15 and let’s look at

this just a little bit closer

verse 51

behold i tell you a mystery

i will tell you a mystery we will not

all sleep

but we all will be changed

so everybody dead and alive are going to

go through a metamorphosis

like a butterfly emerging from a

caterpillar

there will be a metaphormorphosis or a

change

he says in the twinkling of an eye

at the last trump for the trump will

sound the dead will be raised

imperishable and we will be changed for

this perishable will put on imperishable

and this mortal will put on immortality

okay

everything wrong with you

will change

it will be a glorified body

okay well well i don’t know about you

but i’d be interested to know what that

body is gonna be like

okay

john says in first john chapter two

first john chapter three verses two and

three he says

when we see him

at the rapture we will be like him

okay we will be like him

okay so if i’m gonna be like him then i

need to know what he’s like so i’ll know

what i’ll be like when i’m like him

all right

so let’s rehearse jesus’s resurrection

when jesus rose from the dead with a

glorified body

three days after crucifixion when he

stepped out

he was the same person who died

okay he wasn’t another person

he says this jesus whom you’ve seen

they say is coming back again so you

won’t become somebody other than who you

are

so that’s the first thing

so it’s not like you’re becoming you’re

meta you’re morphing into something else

because remember it’s your soul that’s

entering the body

so whoever you are is what you will be

then

so this is a whole different realm

coming at the return of christ at the

rapture

and this imperishable must put on

immortality and it will happen he says

in the twinkling of an eye

quickly

the dead

will be sucked out of the grave new

bodies to meet their souls redeemed

souls the souls will enter into the new

bodies for their glorified existence

the rapture is the next event on the

calendar

before god

re-enters

his program

for israel

he’s going to remove us out

before the wrath

in order

to recall his people

and so he ends in first thessalonians

by saying

in verse 18

we will be with the lord comfort one

another with these words

if you hold a magnet

to something

that has iron fillings in it it’s going

to suck those fillings to the magnet

okay you put a magnet near something

that has iron fillings in it

it’ll suck it to the magnet when jesus

christ comes back

his glory will

suck up the dead in christ

those who have the spirit of christ in

them they will be sucked up

in their new bodies to connect with

their souls

for their new glorified existence

so why should any of this matter

number one

you should feel comfort to know when

you’re dead you’re not dead

you should feel just a little bit better

that when you’re dead you really haven’t

died because you’ve never been more

alive than you are in that second

because to be absent from the body is to

be present with the lord and you ought

to feel better and less fearful about

death knowing that the thing you fear

most is the thing you’ll never

experience

so yeah it ought to make you just feel a

little bit better

about the uncertainty and the the fear

that comes with death

secondly

it ought to make you want to witness

so that you don’t have loved ones who

are left behind

it ought to make you want to share the

gospel

to make sure and that great getting up

morning

family and friends that you love and

care about

are sucked up in the rapture seized in

the rapture with you and not left for

the hell that’s going to break loose on

earth in the tribulation period

in first john chapter 3 verses 2 and 3

he says he that hath this hope

purifies himself

he says when you when you know this good

news it ought to affect how we live

my point is

you don’t want to miss this

you don’t want to be left behind

you’re only left behind having played

church

you’re left behind having been religious

[Applause]

if you’re here today and you don’t know

for certain that your sins have been

forgiven

and that you have received the gift of

life

you got two things that could happen

you could die

or the rapture could occur

either one are bad news for you

so if i were you

i would run to the cross

where god opens up his hands and says

whosoever will

let him come and drink from the water of

life freely

he offers eternal life to every man

every woman

every young person who comes to the

cross as a sinner

recognizing they need a savior

and trusting christ as their sin bearer

for the forgiveness of sins and the gift

of eternal life don’t let another day go

by

and for those who are already saved

if god never blesses you with a more

with a new house

another new car

more clothes better job bigger bank

account all that’s fine but if he never

gives you anything else

you have a reason to praise him

for your future

that he has planned

for you

[Music]

[Music]

you’ve been lied to so long

that you’ve never become what you were

created to be

when you are displaying that i have

dedicated all of my life i have put all

that i am on the altar to jesus christ

now you’re ready to turn this culture in

the name of jesus christ jesus christ

says i have died for you i have risen

from the dead for you i don’t care what

color you are i don’t care what class

you are him that coming to me i will not

reject

you