MATTHEW 24
THE MISSING WRATH

The remaining Scriptures are still describing the Rapture as they differentiate between those who are taken and those that are left behind to experience God’s wrath. Jesus likens it to the day that Noah entered into the ark which “raptured” Noah and his family up above the floods of God’s judgment coming down upon the ungodly.

Matthew 24:37-39

37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

One interesting thing about what we just read is the fact that the ark was a sign of gigantic proportions to the people who lived before the flood, and yet, they were taken by surprise when the flood came. Second Peter 2:5 informs us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He didn’t preach to the animals on the ark; he preached to the people before the flood. It took him one hundred years to build the ark, and the preacher Noah was not keeping any secrets. The earth was still one language, and they more than likely remained clustered around the Middle East after Adam was removed from the Garden of Eden. The natural tendency of man is to be a part of a larger group for security and companionship. God did not confuse the language of men at the Tower of Babel and separate them into nations until after the flood of Noah. For one hundred years, people came to see the ark and listened to Noah rant and rave about turning from sin and maintaininga right relationship with God. He warned the world of the coming judgment of God. His family trusted and believed him, but the rest of the world mocked him until the day the flood came.

By reading the genealogies in Genesis, we get the impression that the population of the earth was not that great.Men lived from one to two hundred years short of a full millennium before they died.We are given the names of some of their sons and informed that they had daughters also, but we do not know exactly how prolific they really were. Noah was only the tenth generation of man from Adam, and God had not as yet spread mankind over the earth.When Noah was born, anybody that was over two hundred and fifty-six years old would have known Adam and his stories of walking in the garden with God, but by the time Noah was five hundred, God was instructing him to build an ark so He could save Noah and his family as He destroyed the rest of mankind, which had become totally corrupted by sin. The flood of Noah occurred approximately seventeen hundred and eighty-six years after Adam was created, and eight hundred and fifty-six years after he died, according to the genealogical information provided in Genesis. In such a short time sin had taken over the whole thought process of every living person on earth except for Noah and his family. God had to take dramatic action if He wanted to maintain a righteous seed on the earth. If He did not eliminate the thoroughly negative influence of the rest of the world, the subsequent generations of Noah would be corrupted also. As in the days of Noah, God is going to have to judge all flesh once more and bring an end to the world as we know it. And, as in the days of Noah, the world will be warned of the coming judgment of God, but many will mock and curse the return of Jesus and the Wrath of God until the day the sky turns black. Second Peter 3:3-4 points out that the scoffers of the last days who walk after their own lusts will be saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” “Nothing has changed. We’re safe. God doesn’t care what we do. He hasn’t intervened yet, and He’s not going to intervene.” And then cometh the end!

In verse 39 above, we need to notice a few other things.When the Scripture says, “They knew not until the flood came and took them all away,” “they” refers to the sinners not knowing that the flood was coming, but the ones who were taken away refers to Noah and his family being taken away as they were lifted above the flood inside the ark. Those who were caught off guard were overwhelmed and destroyed by the flood. Those who were not taken away in the ark were left behind to experience God’s judgment, just as those who are not taken away when Christ appears for His Church will be left to experience God’s wrath.While Noah was building the ark, everyone else was going happily about their lives until he finished, and then it began to rain buckets of water on the earth after Noah was secure in the ark. In the day Jesus returns to remove His chosen from the deluge of wrath that is about to begin, sinners and some very lukewarm saints will be totally caught off guard, even though the warnings will be broadcast by the Church and the signs will be evident.

Noah was not caught off guard at all when it began to rain. God had fully informed him of all of His plans. The Word of God that came to Noah and the progress he was making on the ark allowed Noah to see the day of deluge fast approaching.After driving the final stake and sealing the final seam, he knew the day had arrived, even though he didn’t know the exact day or hour. After the ark was completed, God spoke to Noah again and told him that he had seven days to get the ark loaded and then it was going to rain. The parade of animals loaded onto the ark was a sign that the flood was imminent, but Noah also had a set number of days straight from the mouth of God. With all those animals on board, if it did not rain soon, Noah was going to have problems on his hands. Last, but not least, the people had to board the ship. Genesis 7:13 bears record to the fact that on the very day Noah and his family entered into the ark, it began to rain. “As in the days of Noah, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.” In the very same day we board those heaven-bound clouds, the flood of God’s vengeance will begin to fall.

The preaching of the gospel, the Antichrist, the Tribulation, the blackened heavens—these will all be signs to everyone on the face of the earth.We have been given more than just signs, though; just like God gave Noah, He has given us many specific and reliable numbers that help us to know how things will unfold in the end-times and how long they will take. God has not told anybody, not even Jesus, what day these things will begin to happen, but when they do begin to take place, we will be able to count down the days just like Noah did. Many people all over the world will miss the signs; and others will choose to ignore them even as Christians are heralding the coming of the end. A preoccupation with sin or an outright rebellion against God will exclude many from the deliverance God is about to send. Just as it was with Noah, God has given us all advance warning so that we will be ready, waiting and full of hope and expectancy, rather than despair and despondency. And, just as Noah, we are to be sounding the alarm to anyone who will listen. In Noah’s day, they did not know judgment was coming until the day it began because they did not believe Noah and they did not believe the sign of the ark. They thought it was the folly of a mad man. Those who ignore the warnings God has given in His word and those who dismiss the warnings as foolishness, in the end-times will be suddenly overcome by the judgment of wrath. No man knows the day or the hour, but those who heed the warnings and watch over their own spiritual welfare will know that the day is right at the door before they ever hear the sound of knocking because they will see it coming by the signs.

In the remainder of Matthew 24, Jesus is telling us to be ready always. When He does return, it will not be for sinners, and it will not be for those “Christians” who are preoccupied with sin and overwhelmed by the affairs of this life. He’s coming for a spotless Church, so we need to be ready. As we approach the end of the Tribulation, life will go on as usual in many parts of the world. However, as we look at world events and the things happening in the Middle East, it may seem as though He has forgotten all about us, but that is not going to happen.

Matthew 24:40-51

40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

48 But and IF that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus is not trying to convince us that the whole Church is going to be caught completely off guard along with the rest of the world when He returns. It is those servants who say in their hearts, “My Lord will not be returning anytime soon, let me see what I can get away with,” who will be “cut asunder.” If we are watching the signs, and it appears that the Lord couldn’t possibly come for another ten or twenty years and we decide to dabble in sin, we could be overcome by that sin to the point that our spiritual senses become dull and the day approaches us while we are busy with other things. There are many signs that Jesus does not even mention in this conversation with His disciples, such as Israel becoming a nation again. The fact that it has re-emerged as a nation tells us that the day of His return is near. However, there is no temple yet, which suggests that the day is still delayed. If we use that information as a window of opportunity for sin, it will backfire on us!

We are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, but only for those who seek for the golden age of peace and safety through political and worldly means. In other words, those who cry “peace and safety” at the signing of the Antichrist peace accord will not be looking for the physical return of Christ and, therefore, will be caught off guard. They are looking for world peace in this lifetime because they love this life filled with the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. Much of the world—many Jews included—will be crying “peace and safety” after the Antichrist has taken control of his final end-times kingdom and appears to bring peace to the most volatile part of the globe through a false seven-year peace accord. He may appear to some to be the “savior” of the world, or at least his part of the world, until halfway through the seven years when he turns against the Jews, Christians and anyone else who opposes him. His followers are already convinced that the Jews are the biggest problem they face, and together they begin the final “holocaust” by attempting to eliminate them from the face of the earth. During the time of the Great Tribulation, sudden destruction will come upon the unbelieving of Israel, and according to Revelation 6:8, at least a quarter of mankind will die as the Antichrist brings sudden destruction on the earth. The Antichrist will not be allowed to complete the destruction that he intends upon the earth because God will cut His own work short in righteousness when He sends Jesus to gather His elect. Afterwards, the real “sudden destruction” will come upon the world through the Wrath of God. In verse 4, we are informed that the day will not have that same element of surprise for those who are watching and waiting for His return. We have been enlightened. We have been given all the signs. Now all we have to do is observe those signs as they begin to appear and count down to the day when Jesus finally appears.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-4

2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Jesus tells us in different places that we should watch and be ready—or watch and pray. The idea of being watchful is more than just keeping our eyes glued to the newspapers to see what is transpiring in the world or staring into the sky watching for His appearance. He wants us to watch over our own spiritual attitudes and well-being. If we don’t, we slip into a spiritual slumber or blindness that allows Satan to creep in and rob us of our inheritance.We slowly wither away on the vine until God has to prune us away.At the same time, a simple awareness of the fact that Jesus is going to come again to deliver His faithful servants and cast everyone else into a flood of wrath helps us to keep our focus.Whether it appears that Jesus’ return is imminent or not, we should always be ready and in an attitude of preparedness. If we become complacent about the return of the Lord, even if there are no observable signs taking place at the time, we may soon slip into a sinful lifestyle. Once a person begins to slip into a lifestyle of sin, it is hard to turn around. Repentance is always available as long as a person has not asked Jesus and the Holy Spirit to depart from their lives, but it becomes more difficult with each passing day to turn back to righteousness. For those who fall into sin and remain in sin at the return of the Lord, Peter has a simple message for them: the same message that Jesus gave us at the end of Matthew 24 in the above scripture. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.

2 Peter 2:9

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Luke makes the comparison between the days of Noah and the days leading up to the Rapture much clearer. He makes it abundantly clear that God’s judgment begins to pour out on sinners on the very day Jesus removes His redeemed from the earth. The Tribulation of the Antichrist does not begin on the day Jesus appears in the sky;that is the day it comes to an end! It is the Wrath of God that begins, but only after He gathers His elect from the four corners of the earth. Verses 26-29 make it clear that on the same day that Noah entered into the ark and on the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, God’s judgments came to destroy all of those who were left. The point made by both Matthew and Luke is that God’s judgment always follows immediately after He delivers the righteous out of harm’s way. After Noah and Lot were delivered, all those who remained were destroyed. Verses 30-36 tell us that at the appearing of Jesus, one will be taken into the clouds and the other left to suffer God’s wrath. After Jesus delivers His Church, many will be destroyed in God’s wrath, but not all. Some will remain after the wrath to populate the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ, but it won’t be people who were saved during the wrath; it will be the heathen who were spared from death in the vengeance of God. This distinction is made in Revelation and elsewhere.

Luke 17:26-36

26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

32 Remember Lot's wife.

33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Remember Lot’s wife. She was not actively involved in the sin of the city of Sodom, but she loved her life there nonetheless. She turned to look back because she was going to miss her nice home with all thefine things they had accumulated over the years and because she was going to miss the culture with all of its open sin and all the people enjoying themselves in that sin.Many Christians today who have been abundantly blessed with nice material things and who spend a good portion of the day being entertained by the sin of others on radio, TV, the Internet and elsewhere will find it hard when Jesus appears to give all that up and to surrender to Jesus for the final deliverance of their bodies and souls. They’ll be more concerned with their big plans for the day, the possessions they have worked so hard for or what is going to happen on tonight’s episode of “Sex and the City.” If this was not the case, Jesus would not have had to issue the warning about Lot’s wife to those He is coming to catch away. Remember Lot’s wife and don’t become attached to the things of this world. Our life is in Him, and our affections should be set on heavenly things.

Matthew 25 is actually a continuation of the final thoughts of Matthew 24. We all know the story of the five wise virgins who kept their lamps filled with oil and the five foolish virgins who ran out of oil and were not allowed to enter the wedding.We also know the story of the servants who were given various amounts of money with which to do business. Both stories are about servanthood, faithfulness and maintaining a busy and vigilant attitude while we await our master’s return.We are not going to look any further into those two parables, but the third item which Jesus mentions does need some explanation. It is less of a parable and more of a description of the final judgment. When Jesus sits on His throne to judge all of mankind,He will separate those who humbly and faithfully serve Him with works of compassion and those who just couldn’t seem to find the time or resources needed to serve the Lord and, in fact, overlooked every need but their own.We want to look briefly at when this judgment actually takes place.

Matthew 25:31-32

31 When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory:

32 And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

From the lead-in statement Jesus made, you might think that the final judgment will take place at the same time He appears in His glory to rescue the Church. However, that is not the case. When we get to the end of Revelation, we will see that the final White Throne Judgment happens after the Millennial Reign of Christ, or more than one thousand years after Jesus returns for His Church. Jesus is making a very broad statement here which ties over a thousand years’ worth of events into one sentence. Peter did the same thing when he said in 2 Peter 3:8 that “one day is as a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is as one day.” In verse 9, Peter speaks of the longsuffering of the Lord as He waits on all of us to come to repentance. In the very next verse he begins to speak about the Day of the Lord with the elements being dissolved and then a new heaven and new earth to replace the current heaven and earth as though they were tied together as one great big cosmic event. They are not—at least not until you begin to clump events into thousand-year intervals. Jesus (in the above scripture) and Peter (in the scripture below) were both using great liberality of speech when they viewed things from God’s perspective in which a thousand years is the same as a single day. The dissolving of the heavens and the earth and the creation of new ones do not occur until after the Millennial Reign at about the same time the final judgment takes place. There are a thousand years that separate between the second return of Jesus at Armageddon and the final White Throne Judgment with a new heaven and earth, and an additional seven years if we count from His initial return to gather His elect.

2 Peter 3:8-13

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Hopefully, taking a closer look at the thousand-year statements of Jesus and Peter will help keep us from getting too confused as we move on to Revelation. The words of Jesus in Matthew 24 have provided a solid foundation which will help us to understand Revelation in its fullness. Jesus reveals to us that after the gospel has been preached to all the world, the Antichrist will be revealed and the Tribulation will begin. The Church will suffer through the Tribulation with the rest of the world until Jesus appears in the clouds to rescue believers. On the day we depart, it will be as the days of Noah for the rest of the world. They will be suddenly and irrevocably thrown into the winepress of the Wrath of God.We can boil the entire end-times and the order of events down into just three words—Tribulation~ Rapture~Wrath. Understanding Matthew 24 is like a golden key that unlocks the greater treasure of understanding the Book of Revelation and the other prophecies. So, without further delay, let’s take our key and open wide the mysteries of our final redemption..

Think about it!

­Did the disciples ask Jesus about the Wrath of God?

­Does Jesus describe the Wrath of God in His response to their questions?

~Selah~Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. Luke 3:17

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