If Only We Have Faith in Christ (2024 Summer Retreat)

This passage deals, from an eschatological perspective, with the various interpretations of the millennium and with the timing of the rapture. Scholars are divided among premillennialism, postmillennialism and amillennialism, but because the Bible does not clearly fix a specific time, the passage points out that we must not brand one another as heretics. In particular, it describes how dispensational premillennialism and historic premillennialism fiercely debate the identity of the 144,000 and the timing of the rapture, and warns that fixating on such details can get in the way of the life of faith.

The sermon emphasizes that rather than being swallowed up by fear of the end times or by a particular theory, the most important thing for believers is to keep a firm faith in Christ. When the forces of the antichrist appear and the great tribulation comes, it says, what is needed is not trembling in fear but an attitude of walking with the Lord now and living by faith. For even if there is physical pain or persecution, believers who have been spiritually born again are those who reign with Christ.

So rather than knowing exactly when the rapture will happen or when the millennium will begin, believers should reflect on whether they have the faith to be taken up when the trumpet sounds, and whether they are keeping hold of the thread of faith that will not deny Christ amid the currents of the world. The sermon asks the reader to hold not fear of the end, but the hope and joy that come from faith in Christ.