Page 75 - Pneumatology - Student Textbook

Study Section 14: The Future Work of the Holy Spirit

14.1 Connect

You’ve heard of eschatology? It is the study of future events as prophesized in the Bible.
Almost 27 percent of the Bible constitutes prophecy of future events. 100% of the time, many
have been fulfilled. But still, of the 1,817 and of the 8,352 verses that contain prophecy,
hundreds are yet to be fulfilled in the future.

Major future happenings include the Rapture of the Church as described in I Thessalonians, the
Great Tribulation found in 2 Thessalonians and the Book of Revelation, and the Millennial Kingdom
described by the prophets and the Book of Revelation. So, we must ask ourselves, what will the Holy Spirit
be doing during these great future events? A verse in 2 Thessalonians says something about the Holy Spirit
being taken away or removed during the Tribulation. Does that mean He won’t be on earth during that
time?

These and many other questions will be handled in this lesson on the eschatology of the Holy Spirit.

14.2 Objectives

1. The student will be able to describe the activities of the Holy Spirit during the Rapture.

2. The student will be able to describe the activities of the Holy Spirit during the seven years of
the Tribulation Period

3. The student will be able to describe the activities of the Holy Spirit during the thousand year reign of
Christ in the Millennial Kingdom.

14.3 Holy Spirit and the Rapture

The rapture of the church is the culmination of Jesus’ promise to
build His church (Matt. 16:18). The church will consist of saved
Jews and Gentiles who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit by
faith. The glorified Christ will appear in the sky in clouds and will
bring the dead and living church saints into the presence of His
glory. These truths are collectively declared in I Thess. 4:13-18, I Cor. 15:51-
53, John 14:1-3, Phil. 3:20, Titus 2:13, and in I John 3:1-3. Up to this time in
history, one of the Holy Spirit’s work has been to restrain sin in the world. His restraint of sin will then be
removed.

The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit was involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:14, Rom. 1: 4,
8:11) In like manner, the Holy Spirit’s work during the rapture will be to make alive those who have fallen
asleep (died) and to raise those who are alive. Paul’s letter to the Romans says, “if the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).

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