America was founded as a Christian nation. But if you listen long enough to the ACLU or the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and you will come to believe that America was founded by a wide diversity of people from many different faiths. Some deists, some atheists, and just a few Christians. Ask ChatGPT, and it will tell you the same thing. That the founders’ goal was to build a completely secular nation that was devoid of any religious, especially Christian, influence, whatsoever. You’ll be told that our founders wanted to erect an inscalable wall around our country that would keep any influence of religion from seeping in to public life. That version of American history belongs in the same category as George Washington and the cherry tree. It is an absolute myth.

America was founded primarily by, not exclusively, but primarily by Christians. Our founders believed that our success as a nation depended on our faithfulness to following God’s eternal Word. Though it is completely politically incorrect to say, the truth is that America was founded as a Christian nation, and our success as a nation depends on our fidelity to God’s Word.

52 of the 55 men who attended the Constitutional Convention were Christians. Yes, two of our nations founders were deists, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and make no mistake about it, Deists are not Christians. But even these men understood the importance of a spiritual foundation for our country. Benjamin Franklin said it was necessary to open every congressional session seeking the guidance of God through prayer. Franklin said he was convinced that God governs the affairs of men, and is quoted saying that unless the Lord builds the house, its laborers labor in vain.

You know, three years ago, two college professors from the University of Houston published a research project to understand who our founding fathers quoted the most. So they set out on this project for 10 years. After 10 years of studying more than 15,000 documents, they found that there were three men who our founding fathers quoted the most, and they were all Christian philosophers. But these professors also found that America’s founding fathers quoted the Bible 4 times more than they quoted any men. More than 1/3 of all the founding fathers’ quotes came directly from the Bible. And another 60% came from those three authors who based their writings on the Bible. The founding fathers referenced the Bible more than any other source.

It was this study that led Ken Woodward of Newsweek Magazine to write the article “How the Bible Made America” to write “Evidence shows is that it is the Bible, even perhaps more than the Constitution, is our nation’s founding document.” Study the lives of our founding fathers and you’ll see that America was founded as a Christian nation.

Now can you imagine America without Christianity? What would become of our hospitals? Our Christian colleges? Our Christian schools? Our disaster relief? Our adoption and foster care? Our churches? Well, today’s message is about what is going to happen when the world ends. Did you notice we changed our graphic to red, white & blue? That’s fun, isn’t it? But it’s my view that just before the tribulation begins, our country and the world’s Christians will be raptured to heaven. Now before we start talking about the rapture, I want to tell you that if you disagree with me about my view on the pre-tribulation rapture, that’s ok. This is not a salvation issue. This is not an issue that should divide a church. I want to begin by explaining three different buckets we can use for discerning what’s important, and what isn’t important.

The first bucket is what makes someone a Christian. That you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. There are two types of people in the world: saved, and lost. If someone is not saved, that is who we are called to reach. This is the simple message of the Gospel that separates Christians from non-Christians, those who are heaven-bound, and those who are hell-bound. As Christians, we have to agree on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The second bucket, are things that you can believe as a Christian, but it might be awkward to join a church that holds a different view. Things like believer’s baptism, views on communion, the literal interpretation of God’s Word. These are things where opposing views might not mean you aren’t Christian if you don’t agree, but these are the things that frame our interpretation of God’s Word and we want to be united on as a church seeking the Lord together. If we don’t agree on these things, you might be better off to find a church who agrees with you on these things. Then there’s a third bucket, where I wholeheartedly believe it’s healthy to have a diversity of views. A pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation rapture fits into this third bucket. This is not something to be divided over, but something that God gave us so that we would continue to pursue Him and His truth. And only one of us is right, so it’s important to approach with humility, knowing we might be wrong, that’s why I have always said, “Pray for pre, prepare for post.”

But take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13, and I want to explain to you this Scripture, and why my interpretation is that there will be a pre-tribulation rapture. Now this letter was written to the church in Thessalonica. They were confused, their understanding was that Jesus would come back during their lifetime, while they were watching their Christian brothers and sisters die here on earth, and wondering what was going to happen to the Christians who died on earth before Jesus came back. Now you’ll remember a similar message to the Corinthian church, that to be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord, you’ll remember Jesus’s teaching about the rich man and Lazarus from Luke 16, that the moment your life ends here on earth, you’re with the Lord for eternity, as long as you’re in Christ. If you’re not in Christ, it’s the opposite. You’ll be in hell, eternal torment, it’s hot there, everyone is weeping, they’re gnashing their teeth, and they can see the reality, according to Luke 16, that they’re separated from God forever. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

[1 Thess. 4:13] 13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Death has affected all of us in this room. It’s affected me, it’s affected you, and we are all going to die. When we lost Brittany’s dad to brain cancer, there was overwhelming grief because we lost a father, we lost a grandfather to our children, we lost a husband to our mother, but we are sure that he is with the Lord. That’s the difference between the way the Christian grieves and the non-Christian grieves. When Christians die, there is a tremendous loss on this side of eternity, but we live with the promise of eternity, that to die on earth is to live with the Lord forever. We have hope. Don’t die without hope. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

[1 Thess. 4:14] 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Now this phrase, “fallen asleep” was just the same thing we would say when we say someone “passed away.” This doesn’t mean you’re sleeping in the grave until Jesus comes back to wake you up, this just means “you’re dead.” But what’s important about this verse is it describes that first bucket I explained to you. That Jesus died and rose again, and in the same way, through Jesus, when you die, you’ll be with Him.

[1 Thess. 4:15] 15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. This is the great advantage the people who die before the rapture have: they get their resurrected bodies first. And look what happens at when it’s time for the rapture:

[1 Thess. 4:16] 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. This is why, when I die, I want to be buried and not cremated. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with cremation, I’m not against cremation, I think it’s just fine to be cremated. But I’ve always had this picture since I was a boy of what this is going to be like when Jesus comes back for the rapture, and I want to pop out of the grave in my glorified body and start high-fiving everyone on our way up to heaven. Remember what Philippians 3 says, [Philippians 3:20-21] "Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself." When you die here on earth, if you’re in Christ, your body will be buried or cremated, but your soul will go to be with Him. Then, at the time of the rapture, the dead in Christ will rise first, our souls will be reunited with our bodies, and we’ll continue to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Now I want to address the rapture specifically. There is a lot of hogwash teaching out there, people who say “Well, you know the word rapture isn’t in the Bible,” and I want to blow a hole in that bad theology right now. Look at verse 17 of our text:

[1 Thess. 4:17] 17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. The word rapture is the transliteration of the latin translation of the Greek work Harpatzo. Rapture literally means to be caught up. Just as the Apostle John was caught up to Heaven to write Revelation. We’ll be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, so we will always be with the Lord.

[1 Thess. 4:18] 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. The question for the Christian is not whether or not there is a rapture, the question is when will the rapture occur? Is it before the tribulation, is it during the tribulation, or is it after the tribulation. Last week I gave you three reasons why I believe the rapture is pre-tribulation.

For one, the absence of the church during the tribulation in the book of Revelation. In fact, take your Bibles and flip over to Revelation chapter 4. The book of Revelation does not explicitly describe the rapture like 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 does, but what we see is the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, followed by John being caught up to the throne room of Heaven, and the church is there. The church is not mentioned a single time from Revelation 6-18, until Jesus comes back on his white horse in Revelation 19. You see that white space between the last verse of Revelation 3 and the first verse of Revelation 4? That’s when the rapture happens.

For two, the purpose of the tribulation is God’s wrath being poured out on an unbelieving world, and the tribulation is the evidence of His mercy, a final call to Christ, and we see multitudes of people coming to Christ as a result of the tribulation. Daniel chapter 9 described these last 7 years of world history as a final call to salvation for God’s people. God desires that no one would perish but that everyone would come to repentance. The purpose of God’s wrath during the tribulation is the final call to Christ. And as Christians, we are exempt from God’s wrath. [1 Thessalonians 1:10] says “…wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” Or do you remember Revelation 3:10? Jesus is writing a letter to the church in Philadelphia, and He makes it clear that He is making a promise that is promised for all churches of all time when He says [Revelation 3:10] Because you have kept my commandment to endure, I will also keep from you the hour of testing that is about to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth. This doesn’t mean we’re exempt from suffering, this doesn’t mean we’re exempt from persecution, but it does mean we are exempt from the wrath of God, which is hell and the tribulation. We’re going to sing a hymn after our baptism, that one that cross when Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. That’s the message of the Gospel, that in Christ, we’re saved for eternity.

And finally, the order of 1 Thessalonians 4-5. This is where I land the plane. This text is written in the order of events. It’s evident by the conjunctive prepositions throughout the text. Now that’s just a fancy way of saying words like “then.” The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are still alive will meet Him in the air. When we get to chapter 5, [1 Thess. 5:1-2] we begin the Day of the Lord. Remember the Day of the Lord from the book of Joel? The sun turns to darkness and the moon to blood? This is the tribulation. The sixth seal from our text last week, which the opening of the seals is the first thing that happens in the 7 year tribulation. And because of the conjunctive prepositions throughout 1 Thessalonians 4-5, we have confidence that the rapture will occur before the tribulation. But when you die, and we are all going to die, that is the great crossing of the road by which it is too late to come to Christ. If we live to see the rapture, and you don’t get raptured, you will die during the tribulation, and why would you ever want to live under God’s wrath? Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Now if you’re still not convinced of the pre-tribulation, I want to tell you that’s ok, this is not something that should divide the church. But know that I will be preaching through the rest of Revelation through the interpretation that the church has been raptured before the tribulation. And we’re always going to land on the first bucket, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In fact, I’m going to land us there tonight. Turn to Romans 6 with me and we’re going to talk about baptism.