This message was preached at New Testament Christian Fellowship on December 27, 2020. It is the fifth of a 7-part miniseries delivered during the Advent Season to serve as a fitting introduction to the glorious portrait portrayed in Revelation 21. Accentuating principles from Proverbs 11 , this series highlights unsung heroes and details from the birth narrative of Jesus Christ while also detailing aspects of the believer’s future expectation and hope that ultimately culminates in a new heaven and a new earth.

Part 5 focuses upon the “blessing of the upright” described in Proverbs 11:11, a blessing that makes a city to rejoice. This was demonstrated by the shepherds who lived as if they believed what had been told to them about the Messiah by the angels and what had already been written down in the Old Testament. They “made known abroad” to others; and they went on publicly glorifying and praising God in the midst of political troublesome days. In the same way, we who claim to believe what God has told us in the Scriptures concerning Messiah’s imminent coming for His Church should live in days of tyranny as if we most certainly do believe these promises. For the promise of Christ’s imminent return for His Church before the pouring out of God’s wrath in the Tribulation is not just New Testament doctrine. All prophetic doctrine or New Testament mysteries concerning Jesus Christ have their seed in the Old Testament. What is unfolded in the New is always enfolded in the Old. We should therefore expect this concerning the Pre-tribulational Rapture. This particular messages examines TYPES of the pre-Trib Rapture found in the Old Testament: in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.