Chambersburg Bible Church

Text: Revelation 22:12Revelation 22:12
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.  

Topic: Christ’s return for his Saints is imminent!

We must be living our lives with the expectation of the Lord’s imminent  return upon our minds. His return  could happen at any time, nothing  is preventing it from happening. We often say that, eschatologically speaking , “it is the next thing on God’s calendar” (although we know that God is not bound by time).

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We hold to a dispensational view of eschatology, which allows us to understand that there are no prophesies that need to be fulfilled before the rapture of the Church. The following is a  brief review of the eschatological events following the return of Christ for his Saints:

• Following the rapture of the Church, Israel will sign a covenant with antichrist, initiating the period referred to as the “Tribulation.”
• 3 ½ years into the Tribulation, antichrist will break the covenant with Israel, marking the beginning of the last half of the Tribulation, which is referred to in Scripture as the “Great Tribulation” and the “Time of Jacobs trouble.” In this time, God will pour out His wrath upon the earth.
• The Battle of Armageddon will conclude the Tribulation period, which will end in the destruction of the Armies of the earth and the casting of the Beast and false prophet into the Lake of Fire. Satan will be bound for 1,000r 1,000
  Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!
  years in the pit of the abyss
• The end of the Tribulation will issue in the Millennial reign of Christ upon this earth, in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and covenants. This reign will be a righteous reign where Christ will “rule with a Rod of Iron.”
  • At the conclusion of these 1,000e 1,000
    Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!
    years, God will loose Satan for a time, leading to the final struggle between the unrighteous man and God at the battle of Gog and Magog
  • Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity
  • The Lord will then judge all unbelievers, small and great, from all of time at The Great White Throne Judgment and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Investigate the scriptural teachings of the imminent return of Jesus

• The “Watching” Passages
  • Romans 13:11-12Romans 13:11-12
    11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. ¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.  
    
    • Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed
      • Time of accounting for the saved
      • Time of judgment for the lost
    • A time to awake from slumber
      • Because our salvation is nearer than ever before
      • Because we have no right to sleep when there is work to be done
      • Because the days are evil and the enemy is at work even as we sleep
• 1 Thessalonians 5:6-81 Thessalonians 5:6-8
  6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. ⁸ But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.  
  
• 1 Peter 4:71 Peter 4:7
  7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.  
  

• The “Hoping” passages
  • Titus 2:13Titus 2:13
    13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; glorious...: Gr. the appearance of the glory of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ  
    
  • James 5:7-8James 5:7-8
    7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be...: or, Be long patient, or, Suffer with long patience ⁸ Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.