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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the year. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Not everybody likes to do what God wants to do, you know, because sometimes God interrupts our schedule. He wants us to do things that maybe we don’t want to do. Maybe he wants me to go somewhere and I don’t want to go. You’d be surprised sometimes God puts little longings and tuggings in your heart about doing certain things and he wants to lead and guide you and so he does that sometimes by closing off doors and opening up other doors and just opportunities that you might think you were in charge and yet God may be guiding you to put you where he wants to be and you just trust the Lord.

Believing verse nine, and when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. Now, a lot of time people wonder, is this talking about the rapture or is this talking about the revelation when Christ comes back again in power and great glory? You’ll notice what he says here, he was taken up a cloud, received them out of their sight. Then he says in verse 10, and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, the whole two men stood by them and wide apparent.

Which also said, ye men of Galilean, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Now we believe that that when he went up on the mount here, he’d come back on the very same USL. So on the amount The Mount of Olives, I’ve been there a number of times. I think Hank Linds from been there about 15, 16 times, something like that.

And so if you’re looking east from the top of the Temple Mount, you can see the Mount of Olives. And there’s a lot of open sepphricas and so forth, well they’re not open, but they’re sepphricas all over the side. the side of the heel there. And he says, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven, the same Jesus which is taken up from you, into heaven so shall come again in like men as you have seen him go into heaven.

It seems like, what are you standing here for? You’ve been given a command, you’ve been told what to do, now you go do what you’re supposed to do. Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? In other words, you can go on the mountaintop and there’s people that do this and they get up on some top of the roof and they just wait for Jesus to come. But that’s not what he told us to do. He gave us assignment. You do what you’re supposed to do and let him come when he wants to come.

But you try to spend all your time trying to figure that out and that absorbs you and then you never did what God wanted you to do with your life. good to know Jesus is coming. I don’t need to know when. If I knew he was coming back in two years positively, I would not change what I’m doing right now. Because don’t I believe that what I’m doing right now is what God wants me to do right now, then that’s what I keep doing.

So this is important to keep in mind and to remember. But when he says the same Jesus that’s taken up shall so come again in like manner, that means that He left from the Mount of Olives and he’s coming back and he’s going to be touching the Mount of Olives. So I would believe that when he’s talking about here, he’s talking to the Jewish people and he’s not talking about the church. As probably he’s talking about when he comes back and power and great glory.

That means at the end of the tribulation period. Now take your Bible and turn over there to the book of Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24 will quit. turn to your left Matthew chapter 24. Now, Jesus is talking to His disciples. He’s telling them about what’s going to take place in the end of time. And they came to Him and says, well, what is the sign of your coming? I mean, you’re going to come back. Okay? How will we know it’s you?

Jesus says, well, a lot of people are going to say, they’re the Messiah. He says, don’t believe it. He says, when I come back, here’s a sign. He didn’t tell them the day and the hour. But he did tell him a sign. And he says, the sign of the Son of Man coming in heaven is going to be this. See there in verse 27? For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shining even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

And he says, this is what’s going to happen. And where so ever the carcass is there where the eagles begathered. Yeah, that’s the battle of Armageddon. That’s where all the files of the year come. So he’s talking about it at the end of the tribulation period. this coming. So then he says in verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, so we’re not talking about him coming at the beginning of the tribulation, but at the end of the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the power of the heaven shall be shaken.

Now all this is talking about during the tribulation period the last time. And verse 30, then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. So this is at the end of this tribulation period. He kind of lays it off for you so you can see that. And he says, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see, get it, they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

So this is when he comes back to the earth and this is according to Zachariah 14, and he says that his feet shall touch that day upon the Mount of Olives, and it will cleave and mist and so on. So he will come back, they will see him coming as they saw him leave, and he’s coming to the very same spot, I believe. But this is not the rapture. The rapture is for the church, and we’re not talking about the church yet.

Now take your Bible look in chapter 25. In the book of Matthew chapter 25 you’ll notice in verse 31 just to look at these two verses. In verse 31 says, when the son of man shall come in his glory. So when you see words like in his glory, a power and every eye shall see him, you know that’s talking at the end of the tribulation period. That’s when Christ comes back before He sets up His Kingdom. But see, the rapture has already taken place seven years before that.

So if the Lord came back today for us, we won’t see, we may hear a trumpet, and we will just vanish out of here and meet the Lord in the air, not in Mount Olives over in Israel. and we’ll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and we will stand at the jibing of the Christ and then we’ll go to the marriage supper of the Lamb and then we’ll come back with Christ with all of His armies and He’s coming back.

There’s the battle of Armageddon and He sets up His kingdom upon the year. So this has to deal with when He is revealed. That’s why we call the book of Revelation the revealing when they see Him coming in power and great glory. When the rapture take place. It’s in the moment the twinkling of an eye. You disappear here and you appear there. And so that’s what we are looking for. We’re looking for the blessed hope. Otherwise we would be looking for the blessed tribulation.

I don’t think so. So anyway, so he says here in verse 31, when the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, shall he set upon the throne of his glory?” So that means that this is when he’s going to set. See, he’s when he comes for you and I at the rapture, he’s not going to establish his kingdom at that time. There’s still seven years of tribulation that’s going to take place.

But when he comes to the earth in power and great glory and every eye will see him, then he will set up his throne upon the earth, the kingdom that he talks about. So he says here, then shall he set up his throne in verse 32, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate one from another. The shepherd will separate from the goats. The believers from all the nations who believed on the Lord go to heaven and those that do not.

Go to hell. And so these saved individuals of all these nations that have come through the tribulation period, if they believe them the Lord, they get to go into the kingdom. If they don’t, they don’t get to go into the kingdom. So now take your Bible and turn the book of Acts in chapter three. Acts chapter three. There’s an interesting portion of scripture here. I don’t hear it taught very much, but I do want to run it by you.

And you’ll notice here in the book of Acts, chapter three. So they had gotten busy doing the things they were supposed to do, and there had been warnings to the people that you have crucified the Lord of glory. And he told them. So if you’ll notice here, look in verse 13, verse 13 of chapter 3 of Book of Acts, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go.

Pilate was going to let him go. Pilate wanted to. The Bible says that too. But ye denied the holy one of the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.” Now, who was this murderer? Barabbas. You know, more people know about Barabbas today. You’d be surprised. I mean, people, they make a move about Barabbas. Well, anyway. But he says, you desired a murder to be granted to you. Now, are they letting them off the hook or are they hitting them right between the eyes?

They said, This is what God did and this is what you did. You did this. And then he says here in verse 15, and killed the prince of life, the prince of life. That’s the of eternal life. The only source of eternal life is from the person who has eternal life. He is eternal life. Eternal life is in the thing that you can put in a refrigerator and look at everyone’s in a while. Eternal life is the person. Jesus Christ is eternal life.

That’s who He is. That’s why He says He that hath the Son hath eternal life. Because when He said, I’ll never leave you never, that’s why you can’t lose eternal life, why? Because it’s the person. Jesus Christ is eternal life. This is the true God and eternal life. In 1 John chapter 5. But note what he says here. It makes this statement. He says in verse 15, “…and killed the prince of life whom God have to raised from the dead where we are witnesses.

And his name through faith in his name have made this man strong. Hom Yisea and Noah, because when they were ready to go into the temple in the first part of that chapter, there was a man there and he was asking for alms and they said, I love what Peter says, silver and gold have I, how could he be the Pope? I mean if he was a pope he would have had all that silver and gold. No. Silver and old have I none but such as I have give I be in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and rise up and walk.”

Well that was a pretty good deal. He got to give him some money but he couldn’t and rose up and walk. I’d rather be able to get up and walk. You know we need to be very thankful that we can get up and walk and move around. Sometimes we complain. You know with people who complain all the time, blame. When you complain, you blame. Because you don’t accept what happens to you in life. You got to blame something and you stay on a bitter course, bitter attitude, just always negative.

And it’s a shame because you don’t have to be like that. That’s a choice, it’s a choice. But look what he says here. So he says here in verse 16, And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom you see and know, Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness and the presence of you all. You saw, you know this man, And now look, and the Bible says he was jumping up and down, see up there in verse eight, and he leaping up, stood and walked and so forth.

Well, he says he was praising the Lord and walking and leaping. Wouldn’t you? I mean, he got perfect legs now. He jumped all over the place, probably could have run five miles while I stopped him. And notice what he says down here in verse 18. But those things, those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer. He had so fulfilled. He told that in the Old Testament, all the prophets in the Old Testament told about Jesus Christ coming and having to suffer.

Well, he did, but you wouldn’t believe him. And because you didn’t believe him, you fulfilled the very scriptures doing what you did. And that’s That’s why it’s a shame because they denied them and fulfilled the Scriptures and everything that they were doing to Christ. Just hold it right here just a minute. Let me just see something. I’m. Okay. Okay. Now. Now we’re going to be doing all the other lines. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. Good. Thank you. Good.

All right. Luke McDonagh again now in verse 19. So in verse 19 he tells him, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refresh and shall come from the presence of the Lord. Now that’s a confusing verse it really is for most people and commentaries and people like the preacher here. But when he says as he did in the book of Acts chapter two verse 38 when he says, repent, change your mind, think differently reconsider because they thought that Jesus was just a man and he was the wrong kind of a man and he had blasphemed the law and they thought they were doing God a favor by having him killed.

And he says, now change your mind. See him as the one that God had prophesied that should come and should suffer and he died and paid for your sins. And by you believing that you can have eternal life. But remember, as an individual, that’s one thing. As a nation, that’s something else. So God requires like the nation of Israel. If the nation of Israel, with the leaders and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the chief priests and the rulers, if they as a nation would humble themselves and see that what they have done was wrong.

And as a nation, then God could restore maybe the kingdom to Israel at that time. But as an individual, individuals could still trust Christ as Savior, believe and have eternal life and go to heaven when they die. But as a nation, if you want the blessings of God, then you have to do what will bring the blessings of God. So national repentance were bringing national deliverance. And they were looking for a deliverer to take them from the iron heel of Rome.

And Jesus came lowly and riding upon a donkey and they were looking for the knight in shining armor. And they crucified him. They didn’t recognize him. And to them, God visited the earth and they didn’t recognize him. He told them how it’s going to come, how can they recognize him? When we showed up, they wouldn’t believe it. And he did all those miracles that he did. You think that would have just drove people to the Bible to study what the prophecy, and look, you know what that’s what it says, that’s what it says, that’s what it says.

And there was a few people that did that, and they believed. One was Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea. And then notice what he says here, when he talks about, and at the times of refration shall come from the presence of the Lord. See, there is a time that God has set aside. called a a kingdom age upon the earth that he’s going to set up his kingdom upon the earth and this is what we call the time of refreshing when God like hits a refresh button and puts it back the way it used to be.

You ever have that on a computer you can hit a refresh button or go back you make a mistake and hit the little back arrow and it’ll take it back to where it was before he’s gonna and refresh. And so the Kingdom of Israel is going to be established just like God says. See there’s a lot of Christians today that don’t believe that Israel will ever be Israel again. Now America is Israel. America is not Israel. Israel is the Jewish people that are being Israel and God’s going to keep his promise just like he said.

So he says, I’ll in verse 20. And when that happens, when Israel as a nation, and that’s why when Christ comes back in power and great glory, Israel as a nation will believe on the Lord. They will see the scars in his hands and they will trust him as their Messiah and they will receive him. See the first time he comes, they reject him. The next time they see him, they accept him. And so he is going to establish instead of His Kingdom upon the earth.

So He says in Veratruity, and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive, get this, until the times of restitution of all things. Means the restoration of the land of Israel. When God’s going to, a restoration is a restoring. God’s going to restore this earth. There were a lamb and a lion can lay down together. And you don’t have to worry about current, needless, big, eating you up. God is going to change things.

And it’ll be like the Garden of Eden. Wouldn’t you love to have been in the Garden of Eden? God says there’s a time coming in the future when God’s going to restore it and the only way it can be done is Jesus is coming back from heaven. But the nation of Israel kept rejecting even after the resurrection of Christ, even after the apostles preached unto them and they still would not. So just get the idea. See there in chapter 4 when it says in verse 1, and as they spake unto the people, the priest, the captain of the temple, the Sadducees came unto them being grieved, that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

Well see the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, they didn’t believe in the power of God, they didn’t believe in the spiritual and the supernatural. That’s why they were Sadducee. So they didn’t believe right. So they finally got Jesus dead and thought man we got rid of that guy and all of a sudden here’s all these other guys that are doing the same thing Jesus did. So who gave you the power to do this? They said Jesus whose name are you doing this Jesus?

Well we killed him that I came back from the dead he’s alive and is an amazing that these things are in the Bible but it’s such a wonderful story as you read it. Sometimes I sit down I I started reading, I said, I can’t stop, I just gotta read some more. When I first found the book of Acts, I didn’t know all this was in the Bible seat. And I’d sit down, I’d start reading, I’d try to explain a few things to me, and that’s what I mean.

I couldn’t put this, I’d read a novel. It’s all these beautiful stories in the Bible. So I wasn’t raised in a church or in the Sunday school or have a Bible in our home. So it was all new to me. Eighteen years old, I trust Christ as my Savior. And man, I found me a treasure. and I love these stories, all these things that was going on. You’re trying to figure out what in the world is talking about them.

But now look what he says here. In verse 21, whom the heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things. When God has a time set and he says it’s not for you to know, he’s gonna come back and he’s gonna set up his kingdom upon the year. So now I don’t believe these scriptures here are talking about the rapture of the church, but talking about when Christ is going to come back the end of the tribulation period and set up his kingdom upon the year because they wanted to know we’ll now restore the kingdom to Israel this time.

So we’re not talking about the church because it started on the day of Pentecost and there’s a different story there all together and God revealed things to the apostle Paul and so on. But now notice what it says here in verse 22, for Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.” In other words, you go back to the book of Deuteronomy and all and it will tell you, like chapter 18, I believe it is, and it will be there about what was going to take place.

And then he says in verse 23, “…and it shall come to pass at every soul which will not hear of that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Isn’t it true that every person who does not believe on Christ is going to go to hell? And every person who believes on Christ, they get to go to heaven. And for the Jewish people, they will get to enjoy the kingdom upon the earth and which there will be no end because it will be a new heavens and a new earth.

Then notice what he says in verse 24. Yay? And all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days. If he’s foretold of these days, well the church isn’t in the Old Testament, so therefore the prophets when they wrote did not write about the church age in which we were involved in. It told about Israel and what’s going to happen with Israel in the coming of Christ to the earth to rule and reign.

So we know what it’s talking about and it makes a lot more sense. But if you try to put the rapture in all these verses, I think you’ll have problems because it doesn’t fit. It just doesn’t fit. So look at what he says here. In verse 25, ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed.” Now we know from the book of Galatians in chapter 3, thy seed is referenced toward Christ because he came through the line and he says, thy seeds shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

That means everybody, all families, could be blessed because when Christ died, who all did he die for? Everybody. And if you die for everybody, then everybody can be blessed by having the free gift of eternal life. As Abraham was saved by faith alone, God says all the heathen will be justified by faith alone. Just like Abraham was, everybody will be. So the Gentiles are going to be blessed because of the nation of Israel. God wanted to use the nation of Israel to be a light unto the world.

Well, they didn’t do too good. They had problems. So what he says in verse 20 says, unto you, first, God, having raised up his son, Jesus, sent him to bless you. Sent him to bless you. And that blessing is salvation. because that can be shown in the book of Galatians in chapter 3, but I’ll be mentioning that a little bit later during the church service this morning. And so he says, in turning every one of you from his iniquity, the only way God can turn you from your iniquity is to turn you from your old sinful nature.

And the only way you can be turned from your old sinful nature is by him giving you a new birth, a new nature. See, the scripture not tell you how you explain everything like I do, but by a combination of the scriptures which have to perfectly dovetail, it makes sense. And some people get hung up and they get a little gristle and they can’t swallow it. But when you go through this, when he says, look what he did, he died on that cross to pay for your sins.

And he’s telling them in verse 19, repeat you therefore, you still can’t believe the the ones who crucified Him, the one who said, no, we’re going to have Barabbas and chose a murderer over him. He’s still telling, change your mind. You can still change your mind. You can still believe. And the thing is, many of them did. Look at that in verse chapter four and verse three. And they laid hands on them, put them in holes until the next day for it was now even time.

How be it? Many of them which heard the word did what? What did they do? They believed. And the number of the men was about 5,000. That’s a pretty good soul winning day, wouldn’t you say? That was a pretty good powerful message. So they did believe, they understood what he said, didn’t trust Christ as their Messiah. So that’s what it’s all about. Now we’ve got just a couple of minutes here but take it no we don’t either.

Well just when we start having fun. One good chapter you can kind of tie in with this would be Revelation chapter 19. When the Lord comes back in power and great glory, that’s when it happens and it’s a fulfillment of these prophecies in the Old Testament and there you are. Let’s pray shall we? Father, we thank You so much that Jesus Christ came, paid the price, and was buried, came back again from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and is coming back.

We look for Him in Christ and we pray. Amen. Have you heard about Bibleline Institute, the online Bible College of Bible Line Ministries? There are 11 different Bible College courses to choose from, and for this month, We’d like to give you a free enrollment to the class personal evangelism taught by Dr. Arnold. For your gift to Bibleline ministries in any amount, you’ll have full use of the 10-hour course, which you can access whenever you like as often as you’d like, it’s online.

The classes include video instruction, lecture notes, quizzes, and if you’d like to send a quiz, you can submit it. Again, it’s all online. When you send in your gift, please include your email address and we’ll enroll you in the class personal evangelism. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your email address or contact information. God bless you and thank you again for supporting Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.