>>announcer: today, one out of every four christian adults believes jesus christ could return in their lifetime. why? because jesus promised, "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 unto
myself; that where i am, there you may be also. where does the bible teach that a whole generation of believers around the world will be taken en masse into god's presence at the time of the rapture, and that they will never know what it is to die physically?
today we will take you step-by-step through what the bible reveals will happen at the moment of the rapture and how this mighty act of power will lead the world into the future events the bible predicts will happen in the last days. my guests are
dr. renald showers, widely recognized as one of the most distinguished theologians in america and author of numerous books, including "what on earth is god doing?" and "the most high god." my second guest is international journalist and prophecy scholar
dr. jimmy deyoung, who has lived and worked in the middle east for over 20 years. he will report on how events today are rapidly leading toward the alliance of nations the ancient jewish prophets predict will come against israel in the last days. we invite
you to join us for this special edition of the john ankerberg show. >>john ankerberg: welcome to our program. we've got a great one for you today. dr. renald showers is here, and dr. jimmy deyoung is here, and we're talking about the rapture,
the tribulation and the second coming. and for the last four weeks we've been talking about the verses, the passages in the bible that talk about the rapture. and the rapture, as you remember, is an event where jesus is going to leave heaven; he's going to come down
to the air above the earth. he's going to catch us up, or rapture us, from the earth, and every christian living at that moment will be taken to heaven to be with him. believers will be in heaven for about seven years while the tribulation is taking place here on earth.
and then, after seven years, jesus christ is going to come back, and we're going to come back with him when he comes to rule, reign and judge at his second coming. now again, how do we know these things? we've looked at the verses, one of them being john 14,
jesus' own words. and i want to go back to that passage, dr. showers, today, because you've got something that i want you to share with the people here. let me first of all put the verses on the screen so we refresh everybody's memory. jesus said, john 14:1-3,
"let not your heart be troubled. you believe in god, believe also in me. in my father's house," where is that? heaven, "are many mansions; if it were not so i would have told you." then jesus said, "i go to prepare a place for you, and if i go and prepare a place for
you," key phrase coming up here, "i will come again and receive you," or i'll take you, "to myself, that where i am there you may be also." now, dr. showers, you've got these tremendous books that have influenced all of us. and as a professor you've taught
this topic for so many years. and you have told us in your books, in your lectures, that if we understand jewish marriage customs in jesus' day, and we understand the meaning of the words "receive," when jesus says, "if i go and prepare a place for you i will come
myself," we will realize jesus was implying an analogy, making a correlation or a comparison between jewish marriage customs in his own day and his coming to receive his bride, the church, at the rapture. explain the meaning of "receive" as it is used here and in
the new testament. >>dr. renald showers: well, the word "receive" means "to take." and one instance is when joseph was being concerned about marrying mary. god sent an angel to joseph and said, "don't be afraid to take," the same word as receive in
jesus day, but "to take mary as your wife." and so that tied in an analogy right there with the whole concept. >>ankerberg: yeah, and then it says in matthew, he says that he actually took mary to be his wife, he received her. but if this applies to
the jewish marriage customs as you're saying, and these are the same words that are used in terms of taking a wife to yourself, take us through the progression, the steps of what took place between a jewish young man and a jewish young woman. what did it take,
the steps, for them to get married, and then how does this apply to jesus? >>showers: the first step was to establish a marriage covenant. and the young man would leave his father's house, would travel over to the home of the prospective bride and would
negotiate with the bride's father the purchase price of his daughter to be his wife. and so the young man would pay that price, establish the marriage covenant. and then, after that, he would return from her home, leave her there, go back to his father's
house. and he would remain there usually for about one year. and during that year he's preparing, in his father's house, living accommodations to which he can bring his bride later on, coming along. and by analogy jesus, over two thousand years ago, left
his father's house in heaven, came down to planet earth. one major reason was to receive his bride, which, according to ephesians 5, is the church. the church. and just as the jewish young man had to pay a purchase price to obtain his wife, jesus had to pay
a purchase price, establishing a covenant, just as the young man had to pay a covenant. and the purchase price that jesus paid was the shedding of his own life blood on the cross. >>ankerberg: yeah, paul said in 1 corinthians, "don't you know that you've been bought with
a price? therefore, glorify god in your body." in other words, he's saying jesus died for you, so the purchase price was the shedding of his blood. and he made the new covenant possible by doing that. what's step number three? after the groom established
the marriage covenant, what happened? >>showers: well, as we indicated, he would be working there at his father's house preparing the living accommodations. and at the end of the year and everything, when he was going to come to
take his bride, to receive his bride and take her to his father's house and everything, he would gather together on one night,... and the bride never knew exactly when it was going to be. and all she knew is it would be sometime there around the end of
the year, but never knew exactly what night it would be. >>ankerberg: and she was just supposed to be ready. >>showers: yes. and so he would call his best man and other male escorts to his father's house, and together those young men would begin
a torchlight procession through the streets of the city over to come to take the bride. as they would be coming along, bystanders would recognize what was going on, and they'd pick up a shout, "behold, the bridegroom comes!" and that's exactly, in a sense, what's going to
happen whenever jesus comes out of heaven to take his bride from where she's been here upon planet earth. >>ankerberg: now, it's interesting. you said that when the jewish groom got there, and he's coming for his wife, he wouldn't go up and knock
on the door. what would he do? >>showers: he and his escorts would wait outside. and the whole purpose for that shout, even by bystanders, was to forewarn the bride, "you'd better get ready in a hurry, because he's already on his way to take you to be with him."
and so she sent out word to her bridesmaids saying, come in, help her get all prepared and all the rest. but those young men would never enter into her home. they'd wait outside her home in the streets of the city until she was ready. and then she and her bridesmaids
come out. just as jesus when he comes to rapture the church, doesn't come the whole way down to planet earth where the church has been dwelling, but waits outside the earth in the air, and then will catch up his bride, the church, from the earth to meet him
in the air. >>ankerberg: and the jewish groom would then take the bride where? >>showers: take her back to his father's house, and just as jesus promised he would do there to the apostles, "i will receive you and take you to my father's
house in heaven." now, when they would arrive there the bride and groom would go into hiding and,... >>ankerberg: in the "huppah". >>showers: in what was called the huppah, according to the jewish people. >>ankerberg: the bridal chamber.
>>showers: bridal chamber. and in the privacy of that room they would enter into physical union with each other for the first time, thereby consummate the marriage that they had covenanted at least a year earlier than that. and at the end of that, at
the end of that year,... by the way, they would stay in there for seven days, a period of seven,... >>ankerberg: they were hidden away. >>showers: ...and at the end of that then they would come out, and the groom would bring his
bride out in the open for everybody to see who his bride actually was. during the seven years of hiding they're hidden away from view. at the end of that, jesus will bring his bride out of heaven, and they'll come down to planet earth together with the lord
jesus for him to set up god's millennial kingdom rule upon >>ankerberg: alright, how does this apply to the pre- tribulation rapture view? >>showers: well, the pre-trib view indicates when jesus comes to get his bride he doesn't come the whole way down to planet
earth. he stops outside the earth in the air and catches his bride up to be with him. and then he takes them to his father's house to dwell. and then, after that seven year period, he will bring them down to earth together for the next one thousand years.
>>ankerberg: alright, we're going to take a break. and when we come back we're going to flip the coin here, and we're going to go from the rapture taking place and christ takes christians home to heaven for seven years. what's going on, on earth during those
seven years? the bible calls this a time of trial, a time of tribulation, of judgment. and in that part, god in the bible talks about what's happening among the nations and even the leadership, the political leadership of nations in the world. and i'm
going to ask jimmy to talk about the main political leader that's going to arise during that time period, called the antichrist. he's going to explain who he is, what he's going to do. stick with us, we'll be right back >>announcer: if you would like
to have all the information in today's series, entitled "step by step through the rapture" with dr. renald showers and journalist dr. jimmy deyoung. all four television programs in this series are available on dvd for a gift of $49 and come as both a blue ray and dvd combo
set. and you may order these programs now by calling us at 1-800-805-3030. >>ankerberg: welcome back. we're talking with dr. renald showers and dr. jimmy deyoung. and i want to come to this thing of what the bible says is going to happen to
israel during the tribulation period. the rapture takes place, and then all of a sudden this seven year period the bible says is going to come upon us. and certain events are going to take place in reference to israel, but also in reference to the nations. and i'm interested
today in the big political leader the bible describes, both old testament and new testament, that's going to come up, up ahead. >>deyoung: well, that would be the antichrist, john. and that word is used in first john 2:18. now, that's one
of 27 names for the antichrist. you go back to daniel 7, and verse 8 he's referred to there as the little horn coming out of the 10 horns of daniel 7:7, which would be the revival of the roman empire. and then when you go to chapter 9, verse 26, you see his name is
"the prince that shall come." daniel 11:36 he's the willful king, and he blasphemes god. and that is evident in other passage of scripture, i.e., the book of revelation chapter thirteen, probably the most detailed passage of scripture on the antichrist. jesus christ
in his olivet discourse, matthew 24, referred to him as a false messiah. and you go over to 2 thessalonians chapter 2, the apostle paul calls him the wicked one, the son of perdition, the man of sin. and then in chapter 13, as i mentioned earlier, in the book
of revelation, verse 1, he's the beast out of the sea. in fact, that word "beast" from chapter 13, verse 1 through the rest of the book of revelation, used 42 times, and referring to the antichrist. now those are the names for this individual, this political
leader that comes to power and actually begins with doing something very key in the middle east to start that seven year period unfolding; the clock starts ticking on the seven years. >>ankerberg: what is it? >>deyoung: well, that is going
to be the confirmation of a peace treaty. remember, one of those names for the antichrist, found there in chapter 9, and verse 26, the prince that shall come. but verse 27 then refers back to the prince, and that name for the antichrist, "and he,"
the antichrist, "shall confirm a covenant," a treaty, "with many," the jewish people and all of her neighbors "for a week," for a seven year period of time. and we have right now in this world many, many world leaders, i.e., the secretary of state, john kerry, who has been into
israel over nine time with the purpose of trying to bring a peace agreement between the palestinians and the israelis, bring a resolution to that. i'm not saying that john kerry is the antichrist; i don't mean that at all. i'm simply saying that there's
an effort by world leaders to bring peace to this earth. the antichrist is going to confirm; he's not going to sign a peace treaty. in fact, there are already three peace treaties on the table. >>ankerberg: yeah, we've got them stacked up. i mean, there's
all kinds of peace treaties. >>deyoung: going back to '79, the camp david accords. >>ankerberg: and nobody follows them, jimmy. >>deyoung: nobody's following them. they've never been normalized. they're not working. you have the camp david accords.
you have the peace treaty between israel and the palestinians, the oslo accords. you have the peace treaty between israel and jordan. those are all.... >>ankerberg: israel, egypt. >>deyoung: yeah, and those are all on the table. they are not
working. and so the antichrist comes to confirm that treaty. and that word there in the hebrew is "gabar." it does not mean to sign; it simply means to strengthen, to make stronger or to confirm. so, with these peace treaties on the table, this man of power
comes into the scene in the middle east and confirms that peace treaty. now, he is part of, one of three members of the satanic trinity. you have satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet. satan tries to do everything to replicate god the father;
the false prophet tries to replicate the holy spirit; and the antichrist wants to be known as the messiah, howbeit a false messiah. you go back to chapter 7 in the book of daniel, in verse 7 it talks about ten horns, which would refer to the revived roman empire,
daniel 7:23-24. and this antichrist, this little horn, comes out of the gentile world, the gentile world powers that will be in play during that seven year period of time, the revived roman empire. i seem to believe that, that antichrist is going to be
a gentile since he's coming out of the gentile world. many people say, well, why would the jews accept a gentile as their messiah? second thessalonians 2, starting in verse 8, says those who have rejected the love of the truth that they might be saved, god
shall send them a strong delusion so that they then shall believe the lie. when jesus was talking to his disciples, they asked jesus, they said, "give us some signs of your second coming," not the rapture. this is matthew 24. the very first sign he gives them is
deception. that's verse 4. verse 5, he repeats deception; verse 11, deception; verse 24, deception. and he reveals to them the communications of deception will be through signs, wonders, and miracles. >>ankerberg: is the world ready for that kind of a leader
right now? >>deyoung: i believe it is, because indeed we are seeing a proliferation of signs, wonders and miracles. i mean, the antichrist, the false prophet, chapter 13 in revelation, chapter 16 of revelation, chapter 19 in
revelation, will do these signs, wonders and miracles. and many, many people with signs in the heavens, with so-called extra-terrestrial visitation from the heavens. just time and time,... watch television; you see all these weird things that it seems to be talking
about some type of miraculous event that has happened. now, can jesus still perform miracles? of course he can; he can do whatever he wants to. but he tells us, and we have to look at what he says about what the time is going to be like, these signs, wonders and
miracles. the antichrist is ready to step on the scene to confirm that peace treaty. the world is talking about a peace treaty. the bible tells us in chapter 11:38 he is going to be a military genius. he will worship the god of forces. we just start putting
all of this together. the european union, i, at least, believe is the infrastructure for the revived roman empire. everything is on the scene, the stage is being set, all the actors are in place, the curtain's about to go up, and that antichrist is about
to appear. >>ankerberg: yeah. and, jimmy, people, there's a ring of truth to all of this as they think about the world that we're looking at. and i want them to, for the last few moments here, to focus their eyes on jesus, the one that's
been giving us this information, the one who's coming back, and the one we're going to have to face; the one who died for our sins. a lot of people might have intellectual knowledge, or maybe they don't know about him at all. how do they get on the good side of jesus?
how do they trust him, to have him forgive them, and make them one of his own? >>deyoung: it's a belief; it's faith. faith is things hoped for, not seen. the word of god, packed full of information. we're talking about prophecy. one of the great
affirmations that the bible is the word of god is the prophetic passages in it, those who have already been fulfilled and those yet to be fulfilled. and what we've been talking about is how that stage is set for all of those prophecies to be fulfilled. now, if that be
the case, then god's word is absolute. you'd better go find out how you are going to be able to live in this time, first of all, if you know christ as lord and savior; but then, make certain that you are ready to live eternally. and, of course, the message is
in god's word; it's the book of redemption. god so loved the world he sent his son to receive that responsibility of taking away our sin on the cross. he did that. if we believe that we're sinners, if we believe he, jesus christ, took away our sins, and
we call upon him to save us, he will save us. we'll not have to worry about that old antichrist who's coming on the scene. >>ankerberg: yeah, we trust a lot of friends. we even say we trust this guy with my life. listen, you can trust jesus
christ. and what he wants is you to trust that he did everything that's necessary for you to have your sins forgiven and to be presented before god spotless and clean. he paid the price, as rennie said before, for your sins. how do you get it?
when you say, "jesus, i need this. i am a sinner. and please come into my life. change me. i'm putting all of my trust in what you did and you empower me to live for you. i'll follow you." folks, i hope that you would do that right now if you haven't. now, where are we going
next week? next week, we're going to a very, very interesting set of topics here. people say, how do you know that the rapture and the second coming aren't just one event? how do you know that they're two events? and how do you know that they're separated by
a seven year period of time? there are eight differences that the bible spells out, and we're going to start to take them in the next programs. and that's one thing. the second thing, though, is there's two other countries that are in the news big time. one is all that's been
happening in egypt, and all that is going on right now in syria. and i'm going to ask jimmy to talk about, what does god say will happen to these countries in the future during the tribulation period? fascinating, fascinating program, folks. i hope that
you'll join us then. >>announcer: stay tuned for scenes from next week's program. our new series, "step by step through the rapture" with dr. renald showers and dr. jimmy deyoung, all 4 television programs in this series are available for a gift of $49.
in this series you will learn where the bible teaches that a whole generation of believers around the world will be taken en masse into god's presence at the time of the rapture, and that they will never know what it is to die physically. how jesus made
a comparison between jewish marriage customs in his own day and his coming to receive his bride, the church at the rapture in john chapter 14. and what the bible teaches will happen after the rapture and why events in the world today are rapidly leading us toward the alliance
of nations the ancient prophet ezekiel predicted will come against israel in the last days. the 4 television programs in "step by step through the rapture" are available on dvd for a gift of $49 and come as both a blue ray and dvd combo set.
then we are making available a second series called, "one coming or two? the eight differences between the rapture and second coming." why coming are not the same event, but two different events, separated by the seven year tribulation period?
why the rapture is an imminent event, in which jesus could come back at any moment, while the second coming is not an imminent event, but must be preceded by seven years of tribulation on the earth. you will also learn eight different things that the bible
teaches will happen at the rapture, that will not happen at the second coming, and eight different things that will occur at the second coming that will not occur at the rapture. in addition, after the rapture what does the bible say about the antichrist, a powerful new
political leader who will arise and persuade the world to follow his ideas? what will he do? and at the battle of armageddon what will happen and which nations will be involved? and when jesus returns to the earth at the second coming, what will happen, and what will
he do? the five television available on dvd for a gift of $49 and come as both a blue-ray and dvd combo set. then third, we are making available two new study guides, with extensive notes that parallel our two television series. each study guide is
available for a gift of $8 or for five or more copies for $5 each. and finally, if you would like to have all of these items together, that is both tv series, containing nine television programs, plus the two study guides, all four of these items are available
together in a special package for only $99. and you may order this special package now by calling us at 1-800-805-3030. that's 1-800-805-3030. or you may also order these materials at our website at jashow.org. >>ankerberg: one last thing.
because many of you have requested our "ultimate prophecy package", i have decided to extend our offer a few more weeks. now the ultimate prophecy package features seventeen prophecy scholars, over forty television programs, six study guides, and about
twenty-four hours of content. my guests on these television series include prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, retired 3 star general william g. boykin, dr. david jeremiah, zola levitt, dr. tim lahaye, dr. mark hitchcock, dr. jimmy deyoung, dr. david breeze,
dr. john walvord and many others. the ultimate prophecy package is available for a limited time for a gift of only $100, and you may order it now by calling us at 1-800-805-3030. now as we close, here are some scenes from next week's program.
>>john ankerberg: i believe there's at least eight differences that the bible spells out between what happens at the rapture and what happens at the second coming.
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