The Rapture Is a Mystery — What Paul Revealed That No One Else Did

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Good to have everybody in today, and we're just going to be turning right back to where we left off in our last taping, and that's in Romans 11, and we'll pick up at verse 25. Again, for those of you joining us on television, we like to make everyone aware that all our past programs are available on VCR tape. We put 12 programs on one six-hour tape, and then Jerry Poole and his wife Lorna here today have been transcribing them from the tape onto the printed page, and so the little books are also available. So if you're interested in the tapes or the books, why, you just call us on the 800 number or drop us a line. Again, for those of you watching on television, we are just an informal Bible study. We do not have any denominational handle. We don't pick a fight with anybody necessarily. We just hopefully teach the Word and let the chips fall where they may. And I always tell everybody, I don't expect everyone to agree with me on everything, but if I can just get folk to search the Scriptures, they can prove me wrong, and they have become a Bible student in the process. Why, then the Lord's the winner and the devil's the loser. So anyway, this is our only approach, is that we just want to teach the Scriptures, and with no idea of moving people from one group to another. All right, now let's go right back then to where we left off in Romans chapter 11, a chapter of course where Paul is making it so plain, by virtue of inspiration of course, that God is not through with the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel has been set aside for the last 1900 and some years. They've been without the temple, without a priesthood, without a sacrifice. They've been without a homeland until our generation, but God is not through with His covenant people. And we saw that so vividly then in the grafting process, that Israel was removed, her branches broken off, and the Gentiles, Gentiledom as I used the term in our last program, but Gentiledom has now been placed over the root of the father Abraham. And so Gentiles have been under that blessing of having the gospel, the opportunity for salvation, but their day is fast coming to a close, because they too have been walking it underfoot, and God's grace, and God's patience is one day soon we think going to run out, and He will go back and pick up where He left off with Israel. All right, now then in chapter 11 verse 25, Paul writes, for I would not brethren, now remember I've said it over and over on this program, Paul always writes to the believer. He writes to the believer, and of course in the age of grace those are predominantly Gentiles, although there are certainly some Jewish believers as well. And so he says, I would not brethren, that you should be ignorant, and again I always have to stop at that word. Ignorance is not a lack of brain cells, or a lack of intelligence, ignorance is a lack of having been taught something. And so he doesn't want believers to be untaught, and I think that's where the church, if I may use the term, generally speaking, that's where the church has failed so miserably, is that they have not taught their people. Now I don't care what group it is, I've maintained you ask the average Roman Catholic, what do you believe? Most of them can't tell you. You can ask the average Episcopalian, well what do you believe? Well they don't really know. Well you can ask the average Baptist, Methodist, and those from Timbuktu, and most of them cannot tell you what they really believe. Why? Because nobody teaches them. And so this is what Paul is driving home, that the believers are to be a well-taught people. We should be well read in the Scriptures. And so this is his statement then, that I would not brethren, that you should be ignorant of this, oh what's that next word again? Mystery. And I've stressed that over the years, that this word is one that Paul uses so often, and in the Greek the word is mysterion, and it simply means secret. It can be translated either way, a mystery or a secret. A secret is a mystery, and a mystery is a secret. So what he says is that he doesn't want the Gentile believers to be ignorant of a secret that God had kept in His own mind until He revealed it to the Apostle Paul. Now I'm going to stop at this word for just a few moments, because it's been quite a while since we stressed it. But I've told my classes here in Oklahoma over and over, if you want to do a good Bible study some evening, take a good concordance, and just simply look up the word mystery, wherever it appears in Paul's epistles, and you can just make a two or three hour Bible study, and it'll be so interesting, and then put together all of the concepts that Paul associates with this revelation of a mystery. And we'll look at them just quickly and briefly a moment in this half hour, because we can't constantly remind folk that all of these things that we refer to as coming from the epistles of Paul were never revealed previously in any of God's dealing with mankind. So many of Paul's doctrines you cannot find in the Old Testament. You can't find them in Christ's earthly ministry. You don't find them in the early parts of Acts. They were revelations that God had kept secret since the beginning of human history, or even before. Now the verse I always like to start out with in that regard, of course, is back to Deuteronomy 29.29. We've looked at it more than once, even on the program, but let's look at it again. Deuteronomy 29.29. Way back there in the beginning of your Bible, and it's something that you can sink your teeth in even today. Deuteronomy 29.29. I'm going to give you time, because that's another one of the things we hear from our television audience. Give us time to look up the Scriptures. So if you can look it up, I trust that those out in television can. Deuteronomy 29.29. The secret things, see there's that word, the secret things belong unto the Lord our God. Why? Because He's sovereign. He's the creator of everything. He can do whatever He wants to do. He's sovereign. Too many people today got the idea God is just some big, what shall I say, easygoing grandfather type that you can just sort of manipulate Him and tweak His nose and get whatever you want. That's not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is sovereign. He is absolute. He's holy. He's righteous. And yet He's a God that is loving and kind and merciful and patient. But in His sovereignty now then, He has every right in the world to keep things secret as long as He wants to keep them secret. And He'll reveal it when He's good and ready, and not until. Alright, that's what the book says now in verse 29 again of Deuteronomy. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed and are no longer secret, belong unto us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law. Now this of course was written by Moses, but as I explained to someone I think in a conversation last night, you want to remember the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New, even though we're under a whole different set of responsibilities and everything, yet God hasn't changed. The things that God hated back in the Old Testament economy, God still hates today. The very things that God forbade Israel back there in the Levitical system, God still does not condone today. And so even though this was spoken by Moses to the nation of Israel, yet it's the same God and the same secret holder that we deal with today. Alright, now then if you'll come back to Romans a moment, and we'll look just quickly at a few of these secrets that God has held all the way up through human history, and revealed only when He called the Apostle Paul to be the Apostle of the Gentiles. One of the first ones of course I think we find, if we'll go through chronologically so you won't have such a hard time looking for it, is right here in Romans, the last chapter, chapter 16 and verse 25. And don't just shrug these off as unimportant, they are basic to all of the Pauline doctrines. And what I normally like to do is just place it on the board, and I may yet before we're through with this, and then look at all of the basic doctrines that Paul associates with a revelation of the mystery. They are different concepts, but they are all part of that revelation of the mystery. Alright here in verse 25 now then, Romans 16. Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. You see that? In other words Paul says the gospel that I preach is going to be that gospel which is part and parcel of these revelations of secret things that had never been revealed before. And that's the gospel according to the revelation of the mystery. And then continue on, finish the verse, which was kept secret, how long? Since the world or the ages began. And that's exactly what Deuteronomy 29.29 is talking about, that God can see fit to keep things secret as long as He wants. But once He reveals it, then it becomes the human responsibility to believe it. Alright now then your next one is Corinthians, and so you might just as well go on into Corinthians a moment. And 1 Corinthians 4. Now he puts a responsibility on believers of this age. And I know that he's talking here in the first person, but whatever Paul applies to himself, he applies to all of his listeners. And now he says in verse 1 of 1 Corinthians 4, Now what's the steward? Well he is a caretaker, he's a manager, he's an overseer. Well how in the world can you oversee or manage something that you don't know anything about? So if you're going to be what the Bible expects you to be, you better be studying, you better be learning. What are you to be ready to administer? What should you be willing to be a manager of? The mysteries. Well how can you manage them or share them with somebody if you don't know what they are? Alright, so now then he says verse 2, Moreover it is required in steward or a manager that he is found faithful. See? So what we have to do is once we get a hold on these mysteries, that we are faithful in passing them on to those who have probably never heard or those who know nothing of it. Alright, now let's just keep turning on through and come to Ephesians chapter 3. Now I'm not going to touch on all of them, I'm just hitting a few of the plainer ones, the easier ones to understand. Now Ephesians chapter 3, right off the bat in first one, verse 1, Ephesians 3 verse 1, Paul again is establishing the fact that he is dealing primarily with Gentiles. For this cause, in other words all the things that took place in those first two chapters, for this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles. And then he comes down to verse 3 and he says, How that by revelation, in other words he revealed these things from the ascended Lord in heaven. How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. See? That revealed body of truth that no one ever before had any concept of. Now it was of course back in the Old Testament in latent form. Much of these things that Paul is proclaiming to the Gentiles, now that we understand this we can go back to the Old Testament and we can see that God had it on His mind, but He had not revealed it as it was kept secret. Alright, so now then he says, How by revelation he made known unto the mystery, verse 4, whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Well, people have often asked, If I feel that Saul of Tarsus after his conversion on the road to Damascus, and I feel that from Damascus they led him down over the wall and God led him down to Mount Sinai in Arabia for three years, well why would it take so long? Well, I've got several reasons, but one of which of course you want to remember that Saul of Tarsus was steeped in Judaism. Saul of Tarsus was just as human as the rest of us, and so it probably took a little while to cleanse his thinking and his behavior under Judaism. But on the other hand, to give the man such a clear cut understanding of things that had never been revealed before would naturally take some time. And he had to be so prepared that when he came back from that Arabian experience and was now ready to go out amongst the Gentile world, going out amongst abject Hagan idolaters, he had to be skilled in what he was proclaiming. And I think that's part and parcel then of that three year training time down in Arabia. But see, he makes it so plain that all of this was revealed to him, and he takes the responsibility of now passing it out to the whole world. All right, now then as you come on in verse four, whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge, see, his complete understanding in the mystery of Christ, or the secret, which, look at verse five carefully now, which in other ages, see, in other past generations, in other words that takes you all the way back to the Old Testament, which in other generations was not made known. See how plain the language is. These things that Paul is now revealing were never made known before, and he makes double sure that we understand that. And it was not made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed. I always go back to Deuteronomy, what does it say? And once it's revealed, they belong to us, which means we better believe it. Now then, verse six, this is this part of the mystery that Paul is dealing with in Ephesians three. There are all kinds of segments to the mystery. This is the one he's talking about now, that the Gentiles, see, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, not by Judaism, not by the Mosaic law, but how? By Christ, see, by his finished work. Now, just stop and think. Have you ever read anything like this back in the Old Testament, that Gentiles would become one with Christ or with God? They didn't understand Christ as much back there, but that Gentiles would become one with the God of Abraham? Well, who ever heard of such a thing? Jews would have thrown up their hands in horror if anybody would have approached with such a subject. But they didn't. They had no concept. Now, God had the Gentiles on His mind. Don't ever lose sight of that. But it was under a whole different set of circumstances than what we're seeing here. All right, read on. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, partakers of promise. Now then, verse seven, Paul says, Whereof, of this message of revealing this mystery, I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual work of His power, and so on and so forth. Now, verse nine, And to make all men see, not just Israel, or not just the Gentiles, but the whole human race, to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, or the secret, which from the beginning of the world, or the age, has been hid, where? In God. See? The sovereign God. As I said earlier, it's His prerogative to keep things secret if He wants to. And that's where it was. It was hid in God, the same God who created all things by Jesus Christ. All right, now let's just move on quickly to another little book of Paul, and that's Colossians. Colossians. That we might get an understanding that one of the aspects of the mystery is that, yes, Israel is going to be spiritually blinded for almost two thousand years. Another revelation is that the Gentiles are going to come into a privileged position with Israel's God in the form of the body of Christ. All right, now here is another aspect of the mystery. Colossians chapter 1, and drop down to verse 25, 26. Colossians 1, verse 25, when he speaks of the body of which all Gentiles who are believers are now a part, whereof he says, I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me, to you, do you see the order? To fulfill or complete the Word of God, and here it is, verse 26. Even the mystery, see? Even the secret which has been hid from ages and from generations, and now is made manifest. See how plain that is? All these Pauline truths were held in the mind of God. Israel never had a concept of them. The Twelve had no concept of them, but here comes this renegade, this Saul of Tarsus that God saves by grace, and to him God now reveals the secrets, the mysteries. And that�s why he has now been given the authority to pin these epistles that become the central part of our Scriptures, is because he is the one to whom God has revealed the mysteries. All right, reading verse 26 again quickly, the mystery which has been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest. All right, now just turn the page, I think I want, no, I want chapter 2 in Colossians. Now chapter 2, verse 2, that their hearts, and he�s speaking, of course, of the believers up there in Laodicea, up there in Asia Minor, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement or the acceptance of the what? The mystery of God the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Did you see that little three-letter word in there again? All treasure and knowledge is hid where? In God. All right, now what is the revelation here that the Old Testament is vague about? Well, the Trinity. Now we know the Old Testament has evidences of the triune God, but you see, this is why the Hebrews and the rabbis even of our own present day call Christians almost pagan, because we worship three gods, see? We are trying to think of the word, but anyway, we don�t worship one God, we worship three, because they don�t recognize the Trinity back there in the Old Testament. They still don�t. But here is a triune God, and it�s a revelation that Paul brings out now that part of the mystery is that God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of course. All right, then you come on down to, I think I had one other verse in here someplace, and I skipped my mind, but I thought there was another one in Colossians, that with regard to the mystery. All right, now then, I�m going to you back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and this will be the last one. I imagine our time is about gone as well. Now we come back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and again we have Paul talking about a mystery, something totally different now again. First he talks about the Gentiles becoming one with God. Then he talks about God and the revelation of who He really is as the triune God. And now we come to a revelation of something totally different, but yet all part of that same complex revelation, something that is never referred to anywhere else in Scripture, and that�s why people have such a hard time contemplating it even today, and that is what we call the rapture. That�s a Pauline doctrine you won�t find anywhere else in your Bible. But now look what he calls it. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 51. Verse 51. I�m sorry, I didn�t give you the verse. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51, �Behold, I show you a� what? Mystery again. See? �I show you a secret, something that�s never before been revealed.� Now what�s this one? Oh, that there�s going to be one group of believers who are not going to die physically. They�re going to be alive when everything comes to a culmination. Nowhere else is that ever hinted at in Scripture, and so it�s part of the mystery that yes, there is going to be a group of believers at the end of the church age that are going to be suddenly from here to there in a split, split second. I was mulling it over again just the other day, and it is. It�s hard to comprehend. No wonder the unbeliever scoffs at it. I can understand why he would, because it takes some faith to believe that all of a sudden Christ will leave glory, will come to the atmosphere, the trumpet�s going to sound, the archangel is going to shout, and all of a sudden all the dead believers of the church age are going to be raised from wherever they are. They�re going to be resurrected, going up to meet the Lord in the air, and in a split second behind them here we come, that are still alive and remain. I mean this is hard to comprehend. I can�t just envision millions of people suddenly congregating up there someplace in the atmosphere, and then going back with Christ into heaven. But what�s the book say? Just exactly that, and so I believe it, even though I can�t comprehend it. All right, this is a mystery, a secret revealed to the apostle Paul, but now it�s no longer a secret, and we�re to believe it. �Behold, I show you a secret. We shall not all sleep or die physically, but we shall all be changed.� And then of course he goes on to say how it will happen. And then when you go over into 1 Thessalonians, let�s look at it a moment. I think we�ve got a couple of minutes left. Might as well go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. He doesn�t use the word �mystery� in this portion, but nevertheless he�s talking about the same thing, so it too is part of the mystery, and that is what we call the outcalling or the rapture of the church. And again he uses the same word as he used in 1 Corinthians 15, �I would not have you to be ignorant.� 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13. But I would, brethren, not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are asleep, your loved ones who are believers and have died, that you sorrow not even as others who have no hope.� And I always call this the qualifications for the rapture. This is all you need to be in that great company that one day soon is going to be called out of here, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again. See, do you believe it? I had a gentleman here just a while back, I think it was while we were out in Indiana, and he�ll never know what that testimony meant to me. He had always had trouble with the resurrection. He could believe all the rest of it, but he couldn�t believe the resurrection. Highly educated man, a brilliant man. He�ll be listening to the program in a few weeks. But he said all of a sudden one day the Lord opened his eyes, somehow or other, and he says, �I believed it.� And he said everything changed. And that�s what it is. All right, so here now in the last few seconds that the Lord Himself, verse 16, �shall descend from heaven with a shout.� Verse 17, �Then we who are alive and remain shall be what? Caught up to meet the Lord in the air.� Those are the words that we have coined the word rapture, caught up to meet the Lord in the air.