Earlier today I received an email from a beloved church member that made me feel really, really good about my preaching (I'm trying to work through a big COVID email backlog right now).
It wasn't a, "Wow! You're a great preacher," email (although this dear saint would say that)
It wasn't a, "Wow! You're a great preacher," email (although this dear saint would say that)
Instead, she very kindly said she couldn't tell what my view about the rapture was from my sermons through The Revelation. She was curious.
Maybe some of the rest of you at @fbcfarmersville have wondered the same thing.
Maybe some of the rest of you at @fbcfarmersville have wondered the same thing.
For what it's worth, I am a Premillennialist who believes in a rapture before the Great Tribulation. What follows is an explanation of why that wasn't obvious to you.
First, I'm preaching a sermon series through the Book of Revelation, not a doctrinal series on eschatology. The rapture is nowhere mentioned in the Book of Revelation, so it is also nowhere mentioned in my sermons from the Book of Revelation.
One of the real challenges of eschatology is to figure out where passages like 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 fit in this book. But that's a task for another day. When I preach through 1 Thessalonians, you'll get a sermon about the rapture. :-)
Second, I believe that the most important truths in the Book of Revelation are that ones that are obviously clear from the actual text of the Book of Revelation. In my opinion, too much end-times preaching maximizes uncertain things at the expense of that which is clear.
That's bad preaching.
So, although my view of the millennium will be obviously clear when we get to that chapter, I'm deliberately not emphasizing things like my opinion about when the rapture will take place. That email was confirmation to me that I've succeeded at what I'm trying to do.
Every book of the Bible can be read and preached profitably without having a theology book open beside it. The text of scripture is enough.
After all, the Bible itself WAS the theology book before all of those theology books came along. What it says is what we need most to hear.
Having an eschatological viewpoint is good. Even theological sermon series or classes are good.
Having an eschatological viewpoint is good. Even theological sermon series or classes are good.
But before all of those things and above all of those things and sweeter than all of those things is to gain familiarity with the Bible as it sits before you. Expertise in the Book of Revelation and expertise in eschatology are related but different things. Love the word first.
