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For all of you End Times enthusiasts, this one’s for you!
Welcome to an epic day in the lives of the disciples as a whole, and Peter in particular.
As you are about to hear in the PODCAST, Peter was a guy who in the blink of an eye rose to the dizzying heights of declaring the very words of God, only to plunge into the abyss of speaking the very words of Satan, and from there to receive from Jesus what could arguably be described as one of the most precious promises Peter or we could ever imagine.
All this in the space of just a few hours/minutes.
From all outward appearances, Jesus and the disciples were fighting a losing battle. By this time into Jesus’ ministry (2½ years into it, with only 7 months or so before the crucifixion), He and disciples were but a not-so-merry band of 13 men.
They were reeling from their resounding rejection at the hands it seemed of everyone. Jesus in particular was at this very moment both a political and religious refugee. The Romans under Antipas’ command were hunting Him; the religious leaders led by the Jerusalem rabbis were hounding Him.
All was lost, or so it seemed.
Just like it might seem that all is lost to us today. That our nation’s precipitous plunge into a moral abyss is now irreversible, dishearteningly so.
So to boost His disciples’ sagging spirits (and ours!), Jesus took His men on a most unlikely road-trip to a most unlikely place. A field trip that was carefully choreographed to fortify His disciples with the quiet confidence that when all the dust settles, they win; and so do we. A men’s retreat during which Jesus systematically laid out for His men a remarkable roadmap of His final months here on earth. A glimpse into His plan, one that directly impacted the lives of His 12 men; one that equally impacts our own lives today.
Let’s begin by reading Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done.
Now, throughout the Old Testament, God’s prophets laid out a roadmap which pointed to the coming of Christ. They wrote of His humble birth, of His signs and wonders, they wrote of His suffering, death and resurrection. They also wrote of His glorious return. However, where Jesus’ disciples got it wrong, is that they superimposed the two and thought that His final victory and reign from His eternal throne was going to happen then. They must have glazed over His prophesied suffering, torture, death, burial, and resurrection.
So, Jesus needed to straighten out their thinking. He needed to assure them that the Messiah would rule over the earth and there would be peace throughout the land… but not yet.
Before reigning eternal, He would have to die. Before wearing a crown of glory, He would wear a crown of thorns. Before sitting on His everlasting throne, He would have to hang on a cross.
It was this very concept of experiencing defeat and death before eternal victory that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 16:21 – the first signpost on the road to eternity, if you will:
From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
We read the second signpost in Matthew 16:24-26 when Jesus said:
“Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Now, you have to understand that Jesus said these words in a place where the streets were lined with crosses. The Romans used them to not only kill those who opposed them, but to send a message to everyone in the land that a horrible and painful death awaited anyone who declared a different king than Caesar. Jesus was telling His disciples that not only did death on a cross await Him, but they would probably be killed as well. There was going to be nothing casual about being a follower of Jesus Christ.
And, in light of the culture Jesus’ disciples were surrounded by (and the culture we find ourselves surrounded by today), Jesus was prophetically laying out the roadmap to glory… with a few bumps and valleys along the road.
In Romans 1:28, Paul describes these bumps and valleys:
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
This is where Jesus lived. It’s where we live today. It’s a world where Christians must courageously take up their crosses and boldly set their lives on the track that follows Christ. So, when Jesus said that before victory comes defeat, He was neither downplaying things, nor was He leaving anything out.
Which led Him to signpost number three in verse 27:
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done.
Yes! Christ’s second coming!
Now, the Old Testament’s promise of a coming Messiah had two parts to it: 1) The first coming, which would result in His crucifixion; 2) Jesus’ second coming which will result in His eternal reign.
But when the New Testament promises a returning Jesus, this promise comes in two parts as well: 1) The rapture; 2) The second coming of Christ. These are two distinct events, separated by approximately seven years.
Just as Peter and the other disciples got confused about the distinction between Christ’s first coming and second coming as foretold in the Old Testament and superimposed the two, so do many Christ-followers get confused today regarding the rapture and Christ’s second coming.
When Jesus promised His disciples in Matthew 16:27 that He would come in all of God’s glory with God’s angels, He was NOT referring to the rapture. He was referring to the second coming.
Jesus did talk about the rapture later… but not until the night before He went to the cross. In the upper room, Jesus mentioned the rapture for the first time (which was also the first time any of the New Testament writers mentioned it).
Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. 3 After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together.”
The rapture is the next event on “God’s timetable”. There is no other prophesy that needs to occur before the rapture can take place. Theologians call it an “imminent event”, meaning that it can happen at any time. There’s nothing standing in the way. And when it happens, as Jesus promised, He will take His followers with Him and we will be together.
Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 a similar description as Jesus:
With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. 17 Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever.
The word “Rapture” is not actually Biblical. It’s Latin which means to snatch up or gather, in reference to how a bridegroom would rapture His bride at a Jewish wedding. But notice that Paul’s description does not mention Christ setting foot on the earth. We join Him in the clouds in the sky. This is not His second coming.
He will set foot, eventually, on the Mount of Olives, but not for another seven years after the rapture.
First, He will take us home!
And it can happen at any moment. This is our blessed hope!
What I find interesting, though, is that while Christ’s second coming and the Messianic Age, which will follow Christ’s return is prophesied throughout the Old Testament, the rapture isn’t mentioned at all by the Old Testament prophets.
It’s a uniquely New Testament truth. Which is why Paul uses a very technical term to describe it: mysterion, from which we get the word mystery. It’s not a “who-done-it” type of mystery, but rather something that was revealed in the New Testament, not in the Old Testament writings.
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret (or mystery). We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
It is with the confidence found in these words that we can boldly take up our cross and follow Jesus today, with the full knowledge that in the end… God wins!
And what an amazing victory it will be. Because after the rapture, as a global consequence of all of Jesus’ followers spontaneously and collectively leaving the planet:
Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. 4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
What’s interesting about this “man of lawlessness” is that before he exalts himself as Paul wrote, he will seemingly bring peace to the earth. He will stabilize the world both economically and politically. And he will unite the world religiously. According to Daniel, chapter nine, he will negotiate a peace treaty that will secure stability and peace throughout the Middle East, and guarantee the safety of Israel for a time of seven years. Halfway through this period of seven years (which is known as the Tribulation), though, he will violate this treaty, he will violate the Holy of Holies in the newly reconstructed temple, and he will proclaim himself god. He will do exactly what Lucifer aimed to do in Isaiah 14:14
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
What’s terrible is that he will get away with it. His dream will be realized. For a little while.
Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world’s foundation in the slaughtered Lamb’s Book of Life will worship the Beast. (Revelation 13:8)
He will get away with it. For a time. Until what we read in Revelation 19 happens:
Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. 12 His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15 From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress.16 On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords. (Revelation 19:11-16)
And that will begin the beginning of the Messianic Age when Christ will take His place as ruler over all the earth. That’s the second coming. A radically different event than the rapture. That’s how the apostle John described it in Revelation. Jesus used these words to describe that day.
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done. (Matthew 16:27)
We win! So, when anyone wonders “when will Christ return?” You can answer confidently that we are closer today than humankind ever has been before!