God Will Make a Way

The Bible states that one day Jesus will appear in the sky, and all of us who have accepted Him will rise to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The theological name for this event is the “Rapture.” The unsaved people of the earth will be left behind. They won’t see any of this for it will happen “…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…” (1 Corinthians 15:52). In the blink of an eye, all who have placed their faith in Jesus for salvation will be gone.

Once the Rapture has taken place, the Tribulation (seven years of trouble) will follow. God desires that all people come to faith in Jesus and be saved, but He leaves the choice up to the individual (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 John 4:8-10). Christ stated clearly that when the time of the great Tribulation comes, He wants the gospel of the kingdom proclaimed everywhere and to everyone (Matthew 24:14). While doing research on this coming period of time, I discovered three seemingly insurmountable problems in reaching the world with the Gospel during the Tribulation. Consider with me these three problems:

1. The Personnel Problem

God will need many thousands of saved, dedicated believers to preach the Gospel, but where will He get them? Immediately after the Rapture, there will not be any saved people on the earth. Preaching the Gospel to the world, therefore, looks like an impossibility.

2. The Closed-Door Problem

The world has never been a friend of those who preach Jesus, and it will be even worse during the Tribulation. We know from Scripture that there will be hostile political and hostile ecclesiastical forces. Humanly speaking, it would seem unrealistic to even consider a program to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the people of the earth.

3. The Urgency Problem

Starting without any believers, God would have to get His message to the people of the earth in just three-and-a-half years. After the first three-and-a-half years of the Tribulation, the people will be forced to worship the Antichrist or be killed (Revelation 13:1-8, and 15-17).

Summary: Each of these three problems seems insurmountable. The Bible, however, tells us that God will make a way.

The Personnel Problem Solved

The Bible tells us that shortly after the Rapture many thousands of Jews will believe on Jesus as their Messiah and be saved (Revelation 7:9-15). What catalyst will God use that will result in the conversion of thousands of Jews to Jesus Christ? Have you ever thought about that? We learned recently that there are now over one million evangelical Jews. Many of these Jews are sharing with their families, friends, and neighbors that they have placed their faith in Messiah Jesus and that He is coming soon to take them to Heaven (the Rapture).

I think the Rapture is the catalyst that God will use to cause large numbers of Jews to change their minds about Jesus. When the Jewish believers disappear, their unsaved families, friends, and neighbors will probably say, “We were wrong about Jesus! They are gone, and we are left behind!” A
great multitude of Jews will, I think, quickly accept Jesus as their Savior and begin serving Him right away. Out of this multitude of saved Jews, God will call 144,000 for special service (Revelation 7:1-8). In light of Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 24:14 It seems clear that their role will be to spread the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth.

The Closed-Door Problem Solved

The Bible lovingly tells us that Christ died for our sins and rose again and that we can have salvation simply by trusting in His finished work (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 16:31, etc.). That, my friend, is the good news of the Gospel. Satan hates the gospel message because it sets people free, and he wants full control of our world. Working through the hearts of sinful men, Satan has made it illegal to proclaim the Gospel in many countries around the world. We know, however, that God will somehow make a way for people in these closed countries to hear the Gospel before Jesus returns to the earth to set up His kingdom (Matthew 24:14).The Bible teaches that in the end times a leader (the Antichrist) will make a seven-year peace pact
with Israel. He will grant the Jews religious toleration, even allowing them to sacrifice in their newlybuilt temple.

This will open the door in many places on earth for the saved Jews to preach the message that Christ told them to preach, however; they will still have many adversaries as did Paul (1 Corinthians 16:9). After three-and-a-half years, the Antichrist will slam the door shut when he breaks his peace pact with Israel (Daniel 9:27).

The Urgency Problem Solved

With the first two problems solved, it will enable God’s chosen servants to proclaim the Gospel message to millions of people. Even so, three-and-a-half years is not sufficient time for His servants to reach all the people of the earth with the message that Messiah wants proclaimed (Matthew 24:14).
They couldn’t possibly reach everybody on earth unless . . . God makes a way.

About 2,600 years ago God sent an angel to deliver an end-time prophecy to Daniel. It was a prophecy concerning the end times and it contained these words: “…knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4). We have lived to see this happen, haven’t we? Consider the World Wide Web, for example. It didn’t exist just a few years ago, but with the coming of the Web knowledge has increased and now two-thirds of the world’s population is connected to the Web. It is estimated that by 2025 three-fourths of the world’s population will use only their cell phones to access the Web. The chosen people will, no doubt, use the Web to reach a huge portion of the world quickly. During those first three-and-a-half years of the Tribulation, they will use every available tool to accomplish Messiah’s goal.

This teaching excerpt has been taken from Dr. Manley’s bi-monthly newsletter. To sign up, visit the newsletter page.