Steps to Life

Prophecy Seminar

Session 5: The Mystery of the Resurrection

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth and that He created it for a purpose. The crowning act of God’s creation was the creation of man and woman.

Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

God made man in His own image, with the ability to think, to invent, and to make decisions. He was a free moral agent. And God gave him dominion over the earth—man became the caretaker of this part of God’s universe.

But as a free moral agent, God wanted to test the loyalty of man before giving him permanent dominion. God intended only peace, happiness, and fulfillment for man—with no fears, disappointments or death. In order for that to happen, men and women had to be trustworthy, so God gave one simple prohibition to mankind.

Genesis 2:16 "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’ "

Sad to say, man failed the test, and death—the great curse of life—resulted. Without God, the Lifegiver and Source of life, there was only death.

Romans 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death."

Man, who was created in the image of God, now became like Satan in nature—he became selfish, cruel, trampling on the rights of others, unthankful and disobedient to his Creator.

Ephesians 2:3 "Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

A Second Chance Provided

But God did not leave us in this lost condition. He provided redemption through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, that all who were willing to believe on Him and follow Him might have life again, as God created man to have in the beginning.

Ephesians 2:4 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."

Romans 6:23b "But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Jesus came down to redeem mankind. The whole Old Testament was to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah. The Old Testament in Jesus’ day was called the "Scriptures"—there was no New Testament written yet. Jesus said:

John 5:39 "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."

The Old Testament brought salvation to those who read and believed it because it pointed forward to Jesus. Prophecy after prophecy pointed forward to Jesus so that they might be prepared to receive Him. The Old Testament predicted and described His work. It foretold what town He would be born in. It foretold the very year of His baptism, and it not only foretold the year of His death, but also the month, day, and hour of His crucifixion! These are amazing, thrilling prophecies—in fact, tomorrow night, while we are talking about the rapture, I am going to also show you from the Old Testament a clear prophecy of Jesus’ baptism and death—foretelling the very year of both. You won’t want to miss that. If you have ever wondered if Christ really was the Messiah or not, do not miss tomorrow’s seminar.

The Lifegiver Rejected

God loves mankind. He made us in the beginning, and then after the Fall, He redeemed us. And yet, when Jesus came down, there were very few who received Him.

John 1:10 "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."

Why Was Jesus Rejected?

When Jesus came down, people were religious—very religious. There were many religious beliefs, factions and schools. There were the Pharisees and the Sadducees and other religious groups who studied the Bible diligently. Many of the Pharisees had memorized the books of Moses word for word, and some had memorized the entire Bible that had been written up to that point, which was the Old Testament. They had schools of religion and doctors of theology. They had many books on the Bible and religious philosophy. They had expensive synagogues and many rituals and lots of formal prayers—but somehow they rejected Christ when He came. I wonder why?

The reason was that they had not understood prophecy, nor Scripture, correctly. Satan had been busy working through their religious teachers to confuse the minds of the people so that they would not be ready for Christ when He came, but would reject Him instead. Satan had caused the people to take the prophecies of Christ’s second coming and apply them to His first coming. They were using the Bible and quoting from the Bible— texts such as the Messiah ruling from sea to sea—but they were using the Scriptures incorrectly. Whenever we use one scripture in such a way, and interpret it and apply it in such a way that other portions of scripture are rejected—we have used it in the wrong way. All Scripture must agree with itself.

2 Peter 3:16 "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."

Satan’s Ploy for Us Today

Those who have not been taught, through personal study and the aid of the Holy Spirit, everything that the Bible says about a subject, often take Bible verses out of context and twist them in such a way as to give them a different meaning than God intended. No scripture can be correctly interpreted in such a way as to disagree with another scripture, but this the religious leaders did in Jesus’ day.

In Jesus’ day Satan succeeded in deceiving people through popular teachings by applying prophecies of Jesus’ second coming to His first coming. Today, as we will see in the coming nights, Satan has done just the opposite—he has taken obvious prophecies of Jesus’ first coming and applied them to His second coming. The end result is the same in either case—people are confused and unprepared for Christ and are thus preparing for destruction.

2 Corinthians 11:13 "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

So thoroughly had Satan affected people’s minds that even Jesus’ disciples were affected by the popular teaching of the day. Even after three years with Jesus, they were still confused about the work of Christ because of what they had been taught for so long. They expected Christ to reign as a temporal ruler and to defeat the Romans and liberate the people. But Jesus came to free the people from sin, not from the Romans. He had come to die for them. The penalty of sin is death, but Jesus came to take that penalty upon Himself, that we might have eternal life.

Yet, so thoroughly were even the disciples themselves tied to the ideas of worldly greatness, popularity, and achievement here, that they just never could quite accept the real purpose of Jesus’ coming—to free them from sin so that they could live forever. Jesus tried to get their thoughts away from a kingdom in this world to the kingdom in heaven.

John 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

Jesus said, "In My Father’s house are many mansions." "There is nothing to really live for in this life. There are no real treasures here, and even if there were how long would they last?"

This life is full of sorrow, disappointment, frustrations, hurt, loneliness—and even when you do achieve, how long does it last? "No," said Jesus, "this is not the life I came to give—the life I came to restore was the life that man had in the beginning when there were no sorrows or disappointments."

"Yes," Jesus said, "all the prophecies you have read about Me are true—but some of them apply to My second coming and some of them apply to My first coming—you must read the Bible correctly—not putting your own ideas in, but letting the Scriptures explain themselves with the aid of the Holy Spirit."

"I will come again!"

"I will come again," Jesus said. "That is the reward you are to look forward to and to live for." That became the great hope of the New Testament writers—Jesus’ second coming.

Titus 2:13 "Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."

The Second Coming was the hope of the apostles—their hope was not centered in this life. All the disciples but one met death by martyrdom, and that one was exiled on the island of Patmos. Their hope was centered in Jesus’ second coming. That is what they preached and wrote about. The Bible refers to the second coming of Christ hundreds of times. That is a lot of times, too many times to overlook. You cannot believe the Bible without believing in the second coming of Jesus, because it is the central hope of the Bible writers.

Today, many people who profess to believe the Bible no longer believe in the Second Coming! Yet the Second Coming is the very climax of all prophecy.

The Rapture

In our next lesson we are going to look at the meaning of the rapture, and next week we are going to look at the mark of the Beast, the tribulation, and all the rest.

But note this, today many people are talking more about the rapture than about the Second Coming, yet rapture is a word that is not even found in the Bible. Did you know that? A lot of people don’t know that. Sometimes people have become offended because the Second Coming was explained and the word rapture was not used, but that is the terminology that the Bible uses. If you talk about the Second Coming of Christ, you are talking about what the Bible talks about.

The rapture is not the great subject of the New Testament. That is a self-centered subject. We are going to be raptured. But Christ’s Second Coming is about what He is going to do: He is going to come, and that is the very core of the New Testament prophecies. So the subject we are going to be studying tonight is not the rapture, but the second coming of Christ. However, the rapture fits into it, and we are going to look at that tomorrow night. The title of tomorrow nights subject is "The Seventieth Week." I will say this, if you have a belief in the rapture that excludes a belief in the Second Coming, you are misunderstanding something. Remember what we said: Any time a text of Scripture is interpreted in such a way as to invalidate some other plain teaching of the Bible, it is twisted and used the wrong way. So, whatever the truth is about the rapture, one thing is for certain, it must not diminish the truth of the Second Coming, for that is the central theme of the New Testament. Tonight we are going to cover the plain biblical teaching of the Second Coming and the resurrection.

How Is Jesus Going to Come?

Acts 1:9 "Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.’ "

How did Jesus go up into heaven? He went up literally, while the disciples were watching. And how will He come again? "In like manner." Will people see Him come? They will see Him come just as they saw Him leave.

Revelation 1:7 "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen."

Notice that it is not just the righteous who see Him come, but every eye.

Matthew 24:30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Will Jesus’ Coming Be Secret?

These texts hardly fit in with a "secret" coming. Does Jesus say anything regarding a secret coming?

Matthew 24:23 "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."

When Jesus said that He would come as a "thief in the night," what did He mean?

2 Peter 3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."

It Will Be as a Thief

Jesus’ teaching that He would come as a thief is one of those texts that can be, and has been, twisted so as to distort, and actually destroy, everything else the Bible says on the subject of the Second Coming. Jesus’ meaning of coming as a thief is that it would be a surprise—not that it would be secret. A thief in the night does not necessarily stay quiet—he may tie his victims up, hold them hostage, or whatever—but one thing he always tries to do, and that is to surprise his subjects. He does not give any forewarning. Thus it is that Jesus’ second coming will come upon the world—it will be an overwhelming surprise.

Matthew 24:37 "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."

Do you have to be surprised and unprepared?

1 Thessalonians 5:2 "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober."

Is Christ coming only for those who are alive at the Second Coming, or is God going to do something to those who have died?

The Resurrection

I Thessalonians 4:13 "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Paul uses the term "asleep" when referring to the dead just as Christ does. What prophecy says about the dead is a subject for another lesson, but Paul says that those who have died are going to be raised to receive bodies.

The apostles knew that they were going to die long before Jesus’ second coming (see 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, for example), and yet the Second Coming was their blessed hope the thing they looked forward to—why? Ah, it was because of the resurrection! They were going to be raised! They were going to receive real bodies again! They would be real people again!

I Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

John 6:40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

The resurrection of the dead is a plain and unequivocal teaching of the Bible—it is an integral part of the Second Coming. Any contradictory teaching to this is a distortion of the Bible—something has been read wrong—for the Bible plainly teaches a resurrection.

Should we die before the second coming of Jesus and we are found true followers of Christ, we are going to be raised up "at the last day"—"at the last trumpet." This was the blessed hope of the apostles.

Someone thirty-five or forty has already lived half his life if he doesn’t die by accident or disease before growing old. Life is too short! You just begin to live and you begin to die. I don’t know about you, but it seems the longer I live, the faster life goes. Does it seem that way to you?

We are passing away, and what is going to happen in the future? You know, it is a great future many people paint—sitting on some imaginary cloud somewhere playing imaginary music with imaginary fingers on a harp; singing imaginary songs with imaginary vocal chords and listening with imaginary ears. Thrilling, isn’t it! And people wonder why young people aren’t interested in religion and don’t care that much about heaven. I wouldn’t either. But that is not the eternal life that Jesus came to give us. He came to give us something real! Tangible!

John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Jesus came to give us life more abundantly—not less abundantly. He didn’t come to take away our joy and happiness, but to give us joy and happiness.

Not Spirit Beings

I don’t know about you, friend, but I like real things. I like real food. I like real friends. I like to wade in real streams, to swim in real water, and to hike with real legs in real mountains. I like the real, and so does God. Go back with me in your thinking again to the beginning of the world—way back to the Creation.

Genesis 1:12 "And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good."

What kind of trees did God make? He made real trees. In fact, the trees we have outside today are from the seeds of the very trees God made. There is no difference between our trees and the trees God made in the beginning, except that sin has come in to make them sickly and short-lived. But the trees God made were real. And what does He say about it? "God saw that it was good."

God made the angels to be spirits, but human beings He made to be tangible. He made real trees for us, real flowers, real water and real friends. He made us real people with real arms, eyes, ears, legs and fingers—and that is the way He intends us to be.

When God finished the creation of a real world, how did He evaluate it?

Genesis 1:31 "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day."

"And God saw everything that. . . indeed it was very good;" I like that. God likes the tangible. He created the tangible. That is the way He intended it to be. God was the Creator, and He created REAL things. Jesus came to restore that real, eternal life back to us that God intended us to have in the first place.

What the Bible calls heaven is a real place:

Isaiah 65:17 " ‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. . . . 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. . . . 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ says the Lord."

Imagine! Building houses! And why not? Didn’t Jesus talk about mansions? But we ourselves are going to build! ". . . And plant gardens and trees and vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." And what kind of trees are we going to plant?—The kind God created; the kind we have outside today, except without disease.

Is that too wonderful to believe? That is why the disciples looked forward to the resurrection and the Second Coming. We are going to be real people in heaven.

I Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Comfort One Another with These Words

The Bible says to comfort one another with these words. Paul says this is how we are to comfort those who have lost loved ones—those who have lost a mother, a husband, a son, or a friend. . . . There is a hope. You will meet again.

Hebrews 2:14 "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

This is the hope that frees "those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Oh, that is so true. In Pennsylvania at a seminar like this, a lady came who later told her story. Her heart was burdened with grief. She had lost her first-born baby four years earlier and she was still mourning over him. She took it harder than most people, so hard she actually had a nervous breakdown and had to have psychiatric treatment for two years. She was a beautiful lady, a registered nurse, and had a lovely home. But her life was wrapped up in that baby. This fear of death and what had happened to her baby nearly ruined her life. The separation that took place when her baby died caused something to die inside her.

When we studied this subject of the Second Coming and the resurrection, she became a new person, with new hope. She knew she would see her baby again—and that he would be real! If you were to meet this lady today, you would find a complete change, a total peace and happiness—all from a knowledge of this subject. This truth of the Second Coming and the resurrection did something for her that psychiatrists weren’t able to do in two years.

Yes, this is the blessed hope. I wonder tonight if there is anyone here who has lost a loved one? There probably is not one here who has not lost some loved one. Should there be one who hasn’t, it is only a matter of time until you, too, experience the sorrow of death.

Let us look a little closer at this resurrection of the dead.

What Was Jesus Like After His Resurrection?

I Corinthians 15:12 "Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? . . . 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

Jesus was a firstfruit of those who will be raised at the Second Coming. How was Jesus raised?

Luke 24:36 "Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’ . . . 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence."

Jesus said, "Feel Me—I am not a spirit!" He then ate food with them. What did Jesus say we will do in heaven?

Matthew 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom."

We, too, will eat food. The teachings of the Bible are too plain to be misunderstood, friends—in heaven we are going to be real people.

The Great Treasure

When Jesus was here He was very unpopular. It was a great sacrifice to follow Him. It was a cross to follow Christ.

Matthew 16:24 "Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’ "

But Jesus said, "Whoever is more concerned about this life than following Me is going to lose everlasting life, and what will a man give in exchange for that?"

Matthew 16:25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

There are some people who become tied to the short-lived pleasures of this life, and just can’t seem to rightly evaluate the things of eternity. Others somehow get a glimpse of eternal realities, through faith, and their whole outlook becomes changed. Jesus told a parable to illustrate this truth.

Matthew 13:44 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

In the days before banks, people had to have some way to secure their treasures. Often they hid them in some field. They would go out at night, when no one was around, and find some place to bury it. They would remember the exact spot—second tree down and ten steps over. Sometimes the owner of the treasure passed away suddenly without anyone else knowing where the treasure was. It may lie there for 500 or 1000 years.

In this parable, a sharecropper is plowing a field. Suddenly he hits a rock with his plow. Other sharecroppers had probably hit the same rock every year for years previously, and had just picked up the plow a little and gone on. But this farmer was more thorough—why hit the same rock again the next year? So he dug down to remove the obstacle.

Lo and behold!—It was a treasure chest! When he opened it, he found it was filled with jewels! He admired it for a few minutes and quickly covered it over so no one else would see it. Here was a great fortune—he could be a wealthy man. But how could he secure the riches?

If he just took them home, people would wonder how he all of a sudden became so rich. Soon the truth would be out and he would be found to be a thief, for the treasure belonged to the owner of the field—though it had probably lain there for hundreds of years.

"Wife," he said when he got home, "I’ve decided I’m tired of being a sharecropper, I’m going to buy that field."

"But how?" she asked. "We have no money."

"Never mind," said the farmer, "I’ll find a way." He didn’t dare tell her why, lest she tell a friend and word get around and the price go sky high.

The first thing he did was put his plow and yoke of oxen up for sale. Everyone thought he was crazy—what good would a farm do without a plow or yoke of oxen? But never mind—he had all of a sudden gone crazy to be a landowner. No one else understood, for they had not seen the treasure.

Yet, he still didn’t have enough money. "Wife," he said, "we’re going to have to sell our place, I still don’t have enough money." She protested, "This is crazy, John—it’s not right for the kids; and you know what it was like when we lived with your mother-in-law last time. That was real trouble."

"Never mind," John said. "I’ve got to be a landowner—I can’t be a renter all my life." But when the home sold there still was not enough money. Next went the wardrobe and all they had.

What does the text say? "He sold most of what he had." No. It says "He sold all that he had." It takes all to buy the field of eternal life. It takes a complete conversion and that is no more popular today than in Jesus’ day!

Was John foolish? To the neighbors he was, but soon he was a fabulously wealthy landowner—a multimillionaire! He had seen the treasure!

Such is this truth of Jesus’ second coming and the resurrection. Some people simply see a problem in it with their previously held opinions about the end of the world. But for those diligent students of prophecy who dig down to really see for themselves what the Bible says, they find a treasure that’s worth everything. And once you get a view of the treasure, nothing can keep you from possessing it.

I tell you, friend, if you have even the foggiest concept of what the treasure is—24 nights of prophecy seminar would seem like nothing. Nothing could keep you away from these meetings. For all of prophecy is for the purpose of getting us ready for that day. God has messages in prophecy for you—messages of the seal of God and the mark of the Beast.

You know, people will spend years studying for some career on earth which may last for 30 or 40 years at the most. But friend, the treasures of this earth are as nothing compared with the treasures of heaven. If we had but the slightest comprehension of that treasure, there would not be a day go by without prayer and Bible study, for God has promised that all who are truly sincere will find the treasure—and yet so few will actually do so.

Matthew 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Jeremiah 29:13 "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

Tomorrow night we will look at one of the most thrilling prophecies in the Bible—70th week and the rapture. The prophecy we will study tomorrow night will help you to see what is happening in the religious world all around you that very few Christians today understand. My grandfather was at one time a skeptic, I know about the struggles of mind that skeptics go through. Tomorrow night is a special night for skeptics. If you are friends of a skeptic please invite him to the meeting tomorrow night.

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Last Updated: 06/18/03