Tim LaHaye - A Quick Look at the Rapture and the Second Coming

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture passages are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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A QUICK LOOK AT THE RAPTURE AND THE SECOND COMING

Copyright 2013 by Pre-Trib Research Center

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

LaHaye, Tim F.

A quick look at the rapture and the second coming / Tim LaHaye.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-7369-5870-7 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5871-4 (eBook)

1. Rapture (Christian eschatology) 2. Second Advent. 3. EschatologyBiblical teaching. I. Title.

BT887.L344 2013

236'.9dc23

2013023654

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Dedicated to Beverly, my beloved wife of more than 65 happy years.

She is the mother of our four children, Linda, Larry, Lee, and Lori; grandmother of our 9 grandchildren; and Gigi to our 14 great-grandchildren.

She is the founder of Concerned Women for America, the nations largest public policy womens organization, and serves as the Chairman of the Board.

She has been an ideal companion and shares with me our lifetime ministry of heralding the soon coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our ultimate dream is to go up in the rapture to the Fathers house together which we believe will be soon!

With highest regards for their consistent love for the prophetic Word of God, Id like to thank Harvest House Publishers for their work on this book. It was my longtime friend president Bob Hawkins, Jr. who envisioned the idea for this Quick Look volume, and senior editor Steve Miller who helped with selection of the contents and tackled the daunting task of turning my too many words into our agreed-upon page count. Also thanks to managing editor Betty Fletcher, who kept us on track and on schedule. I have been grateful as well for Bob Hawkinss passion for publishing our Pre-Trib Research Center books and other prophecy-based books, which have blessed the body of Christ for more than 30 years. These people are all a credit to the Christian publishing industry.

C ONTENTS

The Growing Interest in Bible Prophecy

O ver the six decades I have been a gospel-teaching minister and careful student of Bible prophecy, I have never seen more interest in what the Bible teaches about the chaotic times in which we live. Mans inhumanity to his fellow manfrom violence on our streets to vicious dictators killing millions of their own peoplecontinues to worsen. The fact that mankind has at its disposal the most frightening weapons from nuclear arms to bacterial gasses has more people than ever seeking answers to the uncertain future. Many of them are turning to Bible prophecy in their search. Even secularists who cling to the empty theories of both mans and the worlds origin are turning to the God of the Bible for insights. That is a good sign, for the Bible has much to say about the future.

The crux of the issue is whether or not there is a God in heaven who has given us a guide of past history, the present crises, and His detailed plan for our futureand especially whether we will truly live in another life, what it will be like, and whether it will be forever. The 66 books of the Bible contain an incredible number of prophetic teachings that answer the questions people are asking in this time of uncertainty and chaos.

One of the greatest Hebrew prophetscalled by scholars the prince of prophetslived about 800 years before Jesus Christ and spoke frequently for God to His people. This prophets name was Isaiah, and his track record of fulfilled prophecies serves as proof that he spoke for God because only God can foretell the future with precision and have it come to pass.

In Isaiah 46:9-10, the prophet spoke on behalf of God, saying,

Remember the former things of old,

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like Me,

declaring the end from the beginning,

and from ancient times things that are not yet done,

saying, My counsel shall stand,

and I will do all My pleasure.

Here, God declared beyond all unbelief that He alone is God, and for proof, He pointed to the accurate fulfillment of His prophecies as evidence. Only He can tell, in advance, what will happen in the days to come.

Prophecy scholars say there are more than 1000 prophecies in the Bible. More than 500 have already been fulfilled. The skeptic might say that is only a 50-percent fulfillment rate. The trouble with that objection is that the other 500-plus prophecies havent been fulfilled yet because they are still future. They have to do with the end times, an area of study known as eschatology. These prophecies are now starting to be fulfilled in our day, and we can expect them to continue being fulfilled at an increasingly rapid pace.

For example, it is more than interesting that the people of Israel began returning to the Holy Land after expulsion from the land for some 1850 years. And since 1948, Israel has been recognized by the United Nations as a sovereign nation. This regathering of the people and rebirth of the nation are among hundreds of signs of the end times that are being fulfilled todaysigns well examine more closely later in this book.

The point in Isaiah 46:9-10 is that God, through Isaiah, pointed to fulfilled prophecy as proof that He is God. On the basis of Gods perfect track record when it comes to prophecy, we can trust what He has said about who He is, what He has said about the past, and what He proclaims will happen in the future.

The most basic definition of authentic Bible prophecy is that it is history written in advance. Anyone can utter a prophecy, but having it come to pass on schedule can only be done by God, for He alone knows the future. This is why it is possible to say that fulfilled prophecy proves beyond question that the originator of the prophecy is authentic. And when you consider that more than 500 of Gods prophecies have been accurately fulfilled without a single error, pure logic tells us that God is surely the source of all things behind those prophecies. I like to call Him the uncaused cause of all things.

With that in mind, lets turn to what God has said will take place in the future.