The rapture is a Bible teaching which says that there will be one generation of Christians who will not face physical death. This generation, who are alive when Jesus returns, will be caught up with him in the air and will not face physical death.
Sermon Title: THE COMFORT OF THE RAPTURE
Sermon Text: JOHN 14:1-6
Sermon Series: LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
JOHN 14:1-6 ESV
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The rapture is a Bible teaching which says that there will be one generation of Christians who will not face physical death. This generation, who are alive when Jesus returns, will be caught up with him in the air and will not face physical death.
I. Gives Assurance for the Believer
JOHN 14:1 ESV
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
JOHN 13:33 ESV
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
JOHN 13:36 ESV
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
JOHN 12:32-33 ESV
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
JOHN 16:6 ESV
6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
trouble | Greek: tarassó
“agitation, trouble (a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro)”
JOHN 14:1 ESV
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Every command in the Bible comes with a capacity.
1 CORINTHIANS 10:5 ESV
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
ROMANS 12:2 ESV
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
The way to peace is to replace our worry in the present with the certainty of the future in Christ.
JOHN 14:2-3 ESV
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 ESV
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 ESV
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
HEBREWS 4:15 ESV
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
II. Announces our Final Destination
JOHN 14:2-3 ESV
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
HEAVEN IS A REAL PLACE
“…I go to prepare a place for you…”
HEAVEN IS A RELATIONAL PLACE
“In my Father’s house …”
REVELATIONS 21:3-4 ESV
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
HEAVEN IS AN EXTENSIVE PLACE
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. …”
HEAVEN IS A PERSONAL PLACE
“…If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
III. Discloses the Adequacy of Christ
JOHN 14:4-6 ESV
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
MATTHEW 7:13-14 ESV
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
ACTS 4:11-12 ESV
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
When you make the choice for Christ, that’s all you need.
Knowing Jesus is enough and will always be enough. Our search ends with Jesus.
“Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.”
1 PETER 1:3-4 ESV
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1 CORINTHIANS 2:9 ESV
9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”--
REVELATIONS 21:1-2 ESV
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
REVELATIONS 21:16-17 ESV
16 The city lies foursquare; its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.
REVELATIONS 21:23-26 ESV
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
nations | Greek: ethnos
“a race, a nation, the nations (as distinct from Israel)”
JOHN 14:3 ESV
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.