THE COMFORTING HOPE

Photo by B Smith from the Kitchen Door

156 - THE COMFORTING HOPE

JUNE 2, 1963

PASTOR HENRY F KULP

 

I Thessalonians 4: 16 - 18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Last week we talked to you about being a space man, for the Scripture says here, we shall be caught up. Man’s program is a very foolish program. Man’s program into outer space is one of inconvenience, it is one of danger—but God’s space program for the children of God, is one of utmost comfort, and one that does not entail danger at all.

1/ Not last week, we talked about these words, being caught up—what marvelous words they are. But I wonder if you recognize that this is a truth that is known nowhere but in the writings of the Apostle Paul, and what a wonderful, marvelous truth it is We are going to be caught up to be in the heaves with the Lord Jesus Christ. But let us give you another verse that is so very important.

Psalms 115: 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

This verse has been misused by some people. They try to say that this fact is true today, but it is not. Today, the heavens are not directly in the Lord’s keeping—He is the Lord over them, but right now, Satan is the prince and power, the authority of the air, and the earth is not in the control of the children of men, but rather, it is in the control of Satan again. He is the god of this age. Notice these Scriptures, Ephesians 2: 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Here, where we read that Satan is the prince, the power, the authority of the air—he is not the king, but he is the prince. God has permitted him to have some authority in the air. Then notice he is the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He is controlling this earth through man. And man is under his dominion. Then in I John 5: 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness, and it says the whole world lieth, and that means as a child would lie in a crib, as a body would lie in a tomb, and a man would lie in the embrace of a harlot, under her power because of the domination of his lust. The whole world is lying in the power of the seductive embrace of the evil one. We are in Satan’s territory, it is not under the control of man, but the devil.

2/ Now it was not always so—in the beginning God placed man upon the earth to control the earth—to have dominion over the earth.

Genesis 1: 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

But man does not have dominion over the earth today—Satan does because it lays in his embrace—his seductive embrace.

3/ But in the beginning it was not so when Satan caused man to sin, he took over dominion of this earth, but there is a day coming when man will again control this earth under God. When man will have dominion over the earth under the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. In reality Psalms 115: 16 is a Millennial truth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath he given to the children of men. 

4/ Now the important part of this is to see Genesis 2: 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. Man did not evolve. Man did not come from a monkey or a baboon. God made him. That verse of Scripture tells us from what God made man. He formed man out of the dust of the ground. He did not make man in Heaven. God did not create him on Mars, or on Jupiter, or Saturn. God came down to earth, and formed man out of the dust of the earth because man was to be an earthly creature, and so he is. God created man for earth, and God created earth for man. But if Adam had not sinned, man would never have died. He would have occupied, ruled, controlled the earth. In fact, God made Adam the dictator of his earth. He didn’t last long, but God gave him a position that many men have fought and died to attain, but have never attained. The thought is that man is an earthly creature, and I don’t want you to forget that in this study.

5/ Acts 17: 24 - 26 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

Notice the 24th verse. Paul goes back to creation and again distinguishes between the earth and the heavens. He set the earth apart from the rest of creation, and the rest of the bodies in the universe. Now what makes the earth different from the rest of the heavens? Why is it singled out as being unique, and separate and different? It is because God created it to be the habitation of man. It is the place where God wanted man to live and wanted him to stay there. This is quite evident from what now follows.

Acts 17: 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

A number of things are stated in this verse are very important in our study.

(1) All nationalities of men on earth have one common ancestor—they are of one blood. All men are brothers under the skin. They are the result of a creative act, not an evolutionary process.

6/ They were created to dwell on the face of the earth not in space.

(2) God has determined man’s time. He has limited man’s day of bungling. As God waited in the days of Noah until the appointed time, as He tolerated just so long the building of the Tower of Babel, then He stepped in, so there is a limit to God’s patience today. How far will He allow man to go in his program? I do not know. But I know one of these days, he will step in and end all the plans of man to defy Him.

7/ Third, and finally, God says he has set the bounds of man’s habitation—the word, bounds, here means limit or frontier. I do not know how far man will go, but I know God has set a limit.

8/ We said that in the beginning the HEAVENS belonged to the Lord and the earth belonged to man, but something happened to it. In the future, in the Millennial reign of Christ, this situation will be restored once again. But now, here is the part we want you to see. God does not have us in this day and age, as part of the program of Psalms 115: 16. We are the only ones in the Bible spoken of as being caught up into Heaven. As being raptured.

9/ THIS SHOULD BE IN THE START OF THE MESSAGE. TALKING ABOUT THE MOON AND MAN’S INSANE DESIRE TO GET THERE. THERE IS SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE YOU TO SEE ABOUT THIS MOON.

Joel 2: 10 The earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark.

Notice, there is a day coming when the sun and the moon shall be dark.

Then in Matthew 24: 28 - 31 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

...where it says, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. Now notice here, the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light. The stars shall fall from heaven, the moon that is the point of so much conversation today, is only about one-fourth the size of the earth and no other heavenly body excepting meteors is so near to us, being about 240,000 miles away. Man is all wrapped up in this but I would rather be wrapped up in being caught up into the heavens to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

10/ Then notice, this truth is to be used by believers to comfort one another. The Thessalonians were having a hard time, and the wonderful truth of the Word of God told them of the resurrection of their loved ones, and the joy of being together again and to be with the Lord was a joyous prospect. Paul did not tell these Thessalonian Christians, ow if you endure through the tribulation time, if you endure to the end, you will be saved. If you survive this awful period, then you will see your loved ones at that time. That would not have been encouragement to them. They were in trouble already, and no doubt had been taught that the day that is coming, the tribulation would be much worse. No, he says, comfort one another, you are going to meet together again and you are going to have the joy of being in one another’s fellowship.

11/ Then there is a comfort of knowing what is going to happen when we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

I Corinthians 15: 52, 53 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be

changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Where it says, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. A physical change will take place when we are caught up. And then we have an even clearer picture in Philippians 3: 20, 21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His own glorious body.

What a comforting hope this is, not only for our fact that we have loved ones who are dead in Christ, but for ourselves as well.

12/ Charles Spurgeon began a sermon on the resurrected body by saying that Christians believe that the soul lives on after death—they believe in a Heaven where the redeemed spirits are with Christ, but their faith goes no further than that. The heathen believe in the future life of a soul—Plato and Socrates taught, and the Greeks believed that the soul lived on after death in conscious joy or conscious misery, but that is not the resurrection of the dead. The Christian doctrine of the resurrection is not only does the soul live after death, but that the body will one day rise up and join it. Resurrection means that this body of mine, if it dies, will be preserved by the power of God. One day gathered from the dust and made into a new body—physical body.

13/ Now, this new body will be much better than the old body. When we place a shriveled seed in the ground, what do you receive in return? We receive a full-grown head of wheat, or a beautiful flower, far superior to the bare grain that was sown.

I Corinthians 15: 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

This present body is the shriveled grain of seed—it is a body of corruption because it is decaying all the time, it is a body of dishonor because it is often the home of some terrible disease. It is a body of weakness in that it finally dies. But it is to be raised incorruptible, no decay shall ever touch the body, it shall be raised in glory—no disease shall ever come near it. it is to be raised in power, no weariness shall ever be shown by the Christian in his new body of everlasting youth.

14/ I Thessalonians 5: 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It tells us of a wonderful fact about the believer’s body and what a comforting hope the rapture is. I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the purpose of God to preserve the Christian’s body until the resurrection. True, it may turn to dust, but God will preserve the dust. The dust might be scattered, but the God of all power will find it again. It is a scientific fact that nothing in this world can ever be lost. It may be changed, but it can never be destroyed.

15/ Then we have another astounding fact given to us in I Corinthians 6: 13-15.

Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

And here, Paul makes the remarkable statement the bodies of ours are actually and literally the members of Christ. So how could Christ neglect or forget or lose any part of His own body. Notice, the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His power. Know ye not that your bodies are (notice it says, bodies) are members of Christ. So the Apostle here tells the Corinthian believers and us that our bodies are actually and literally a part of the body of Christ. What a glorious wonderful truth!

16/ The resurrection, this rapture may be at any moment. It can happen at any time, and how long will it take to change our bodies?

In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye.

AMEN

Ref: 06/02/1963 / 156 - THE COMFORTING HOPE / 04/10/2022