1 Thes. Part 9 Rapture and the Second Coming
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The Rapture and the Second Coming: The Difference
We have seen in our study of 1 Thessalonians that the Rapture of the church is the overarching theme. Mention of this incredible event is found in every chapter. Without doubt, the Thessalonians had been taught the truth about the Rapture, the truth of the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus.
This knowledge spurred them on to win souls for Christ. They wanted to be found active in His service, in the center of His will, waiting expectantly when He returned.
At this point at the end of our series, it is important to distinguish between the two comings of Christ. The Jews of Jesus’ day failed to recognize the fact that the Old Testament foretold two comings.
The rabbis read the glowing promises of the prophets of a sovereign Messiah and looked for a Messiah who would crush their enemies, make Jerusalem the capital of a new world empire, and reign over the entire world. They looked for the One who would beat swords into plowshares, make their desert blossom as the rose, and cause the lion to lay down with the lamb.
But they also read of a suffering Messiah. They read of One who would be despised and rejected of men. They read of One who would be betrayed by a friends and sold for the price of a slave. They read of One whose hands and feet would be pierced, who would be given vinegar mingled with gall to drink, for Whose vesture people would cast lots.
The rabbis puzzled over these seemingly conflicting Scriptures. Their solution was to assume two messiahs, One who would be a sufferer and one who would be a savior. They were wrong in their conclusion. There were not to be two Christs: there were to be two comings!
In relation to the Rapture and the Second Coming, many Christians have made the same kind of mistake. Some Scriptures portray the return of Christ as imminent. Other scriptures are clear that many things must happen before the Lord’s return.
Some Scriptures point to the date of the Lord’s return as the best kept secret in the universe (Matt. 24:36). Yet other Scriptures point to the Lord’s return as being very nearly predictable.
Attempts to reconcile these seemingly conflicting Scriptures have resulted in a bewildering mix of conflicting positions. We have premillennialists, postmillennialists, and amillennialists.
We have those who hold to a pre-tribulation rapture, those who espouse a mid-tribulation rapture, those who believe that the church will go home before the Tribulation begins, those who think that the church will be raptured halfway through the Great Tribulation, and those who think that the church will go through the terrible “time of Jacob’s trouble.”
Let’s try unpacking this theological baggage in way that makes sense. There are to be two comings of Christ. The Lord is coming first in the air to receive His own to Himself. Later, He is coming to the earth to set up Him millennial kingdom.
He is coming first FOR His saints; He is coming later WITH His saints. His coming for His saints we call the Rapture. His coming with His saints is called the Return.
The coming of the Lord for His saints is an imminent, undated event, something that can take place at any moment. This coming is for the church, and it is the coming that predominates the eschatology of Paul’s first Thessalonian letter.
The coming of the Lord with His saints is a dated event. Certain things have to happen before it can take place. The Antichrist, for instance, must come and briefly rule the world. This coming has to do primarily with Israel and the world and is the coming that predominates the eschatology of 2 Thessalonians (which we will cover next).
It is important to note that God has always set prophetic dates with future events related to the nation of Israel. For instance, when God promised Abraham a land that would stretch all of the way from the Nile to the Euphrates, He told him that it would not be in his lifetime.
On the contrary, four-hundred years would elapse before the fulfillment of that promise. Abraham’s descendants, said God, would be persecuted in a foreign land, and they would be set free in the fourth generation
“God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your children and those born after them will be strangers in a land that is not theirs. There they will be servants and suffer for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation they will serve. And later they will come out with many riches. 15 You will live many years, die in peace and be buried. 16 Then your great great-grandchildren will return here” (Gen.15:13-18).
A biblically literate Hebrew living in the Egyptian ghetto could have known for sure that Moses was the Emancipator and that the date foretold had arrived. Moses represented the fourth generation! Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Moses…four generations. God set a date, circled it on His calendar, and kept it.
Another example of God’s perfect timing with the nation of Israel would be the Babylonian captivity. The captivity, said God, would last for seventy years. “This whole land will be a waste and a cause of fear. And these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years” (Jer. 25:11).
When Darius the Mede entered Babylon in the wake of Cyrus, whose coming had been foretold by Isaiah, Daniel realized that the time of captivity was over. “It is I Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he will do all that I want him to do,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ and of the house of God, ‘Your first stones will be laid again’” (Isa.44:28).
It was time for God to act. Daniel gave himself to prayer (Dan.9:1-9). And God sent an angel to assure Daniel that things were proceeding according to plan. It was time to reveal to Daniel a new cycle of time that was soon to begin.
God showed Daniel that there would now be a period of 490 years. After 483 of those years, the predicted Messiah (Jesus Christ) would be “cut off” (killed). The remaining period of 7 years would remain in suspension, awaiting certain events and further revelations (Dan.9:24-27).
A starting date was given for the commencement of this new period of 490 years. It is amazing that a biblically literate Jew, living in the time of Christ, could have set the date for the Crucifixion of Christ to the day. One commentator has shown that the period of 483 years expired the day Jesus rode in triumph into Jerusalem!
It will be the same with the return of Christ to the earth, WITH His saints, to set up His millennial kingdom. The pending final 7 years of Daniel’s prophecy now awaits fulfillment. It will begin when the Antichrist signs a seven-year treaty with the nation of Israel. This will signal the beginning of the final 7 year countdown to the return of Christ.
Halfway through this period, the Antichrist will tear up his treaty, occupy Jerusalem, seize the rebuilt Jewish temple, and set up his image within. He will then declare that his image is to be worshipped. He will inaugurate that fearful time of persecution known as “the Great Tribulation,” and “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”
At this point, exactly 1,260 days will be left until the visible return of Christ to put an end to these horrors, judge the earth, and set up His kingdom (Rev.11:1-3). The biblically literate Jew living in those days of terror will be able to do a day-by-day countdown to the return of Christ.
Setting dates has to do with the nation of Israel, not with the church. The coming of Christ for the church is an undated, imminent event, the actual time of which is a secret known only to God (Matt.24:33-36). It is the best kept secret in the universe!
The gist of this is that, at any time, the Rapture could occur. The Rapture is one of seven “mysteries” revealed to the Apostle Paul. A mystery in the Bible refers to a truth formerly hidden but now made known. Paul was God’s chosen vessel to receive
The mystery of Christ’s cross,
the mystery of Christ’s church,
the mystery of Christ’s coming,
the mystery of Christ’s gospel
the mystery of the age of grace
the mystery of godliness, and
the mystery of iniquity
As to the Rapture, this mystery—formerly hidden—was first made known to the Apostle Paul. And so he writes of it twice:
1 Thes 4: 15-17 “We tell you this as it came from the Lord. Those of us who are alive when the Lord comes again will not go ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud call. The head angel will speak with a loud voice. The trumpet will sound. First, those who belong to Christ will come out of their graves to meet the Lord. 17 Then, those of us who are still living here on earth will be caught up together with them in the clouds. We will meet the Lord in the sky and be with Him forever.”
1 Cor. 15:51-52 “For sure, I am telling you a mystery. We will not all die, but we will all be changed. 52 In a moment, no longer than it takes for the eye to close and open, the Christians who have died will be raised. It will happen when the last horn sounds. The dead will be raised never to die again. Then the rest of us who are alive will be changed.”
Soon, in God’s unknown timetable, the order will be given. A trumpet will be sounded in glory. The same voice that called Lazarus from the dead will shout. By the same power that was utilized to raise Jesus from the dead, those that died in Christ will be raised from the grave.
They will receive brand new, resurrected bodies like Jesus did. Then, those believers yet alive on earth will be “caught up” into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. It will be sudden, unexpected, unknown to the world at large, and will precede the final seven years shown to the Prophet Daniel.
Comfort one another with these words!
All notes taken exclusively from John Phillips’ Commentary Series, Kregel Publishing. Greek and Hebrew definitions taken from Strong’s Concordance and Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words.
NEXT TIME: 2 Thessalonians: Fascinating End-Time Events