Posted on 12/31/2012 12:56:34 PM PST by GiovannaNicoletta
My previous article commenced a series of articles on the rapture. We began with the question, "What is the Rapture?" This question can best be answered by noting ten truths about the rapture from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. In this first article, we saw that the rapture is an important doctrine and not something that can be marginalized or explained away as a secondary doctrine. We now move to our second point.
The Rapture Is Distinct from the Second Advent
Second, the rapture will be an event which is distinct from the Second Advent. In other words, the Second Coming of Christ is divided into two phases. There would be part 1 of the Second Coming of Christ and then part 2 of the Second Coming of Christ. After He comes to rescue His church, He will return at the end of the Tribulation period when He brings judgment upon planet earth. Some may think it strange to divide the Second Coming of Jesus Christ into two distinct phases. Interestingly, when we go back into the Old Testament and we study various truths and prophecies related to His First Coming, we very quickly get the idea that different prophecies are saying different things. For example, Isaiah 53 describes the Messiah suffering and dying. On the other hand, Isaiah 9:6-7 describes the Messiah ruling and reigning. How could He come and suffer, and how could He come and rule and reign at the same time? The only way to harmonize these passages is to conclude that there must be two comings of Christ. There must be one coming when He comes and dies to pay the penalty for the sins of the world and another coming of Jesus to rule and to reign. So we can conclude by studying the Old Testament that the coming of Christ takes place in phases. In essence, this same approach leads one to the teaching of the rapture. The New Testament describes the Second Coming of Christ in two different ways. Thus, the only conclusion we can come to is that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will also take place in two phases.
The Rapture
For example, at the rapture Christ will come in the air (1 Thess. 4:16-17). However, in the Second Advent Jesus Christ will come back to the earth (Job 19:25). His feet will physically touch the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9-12; Zech. 14:4). At the rapture, Christ will come for His saints. In other words, He will come back for His church (1 Thess. 4:15-17). By contrast, in the Second Advent, He will come back with His saints (Jude 14; Rev. 19:14). Moreover, the rapture will be an event of great blessing. Everybody who is involved in the rapture will be blessed (Titus 2:13; John 14:1-4). Thus, Paul uses this doctrine to comfort the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 4:18). On the other hand, at the Second Advent of Christ there will be tremendous judgment (2 Thess. 1:7-8; 2:8; Isa. 11:4). Revelation 19:15 describes a blood bath as the Christ-rejecting nations of the world will oppose Christ at His Second Advent. Christ will come to defeat and declare victory over them. In addition, when Christ comes in the rapture, it will only affect believers. It will involve Christians, that is those who are “in Christ” (1 Thess. 4:16). However, when Jesus Christ comes at the Second Advent, His coming will directly impact both believers and unbelievers (Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 19:15).
Another distinction is that the rapture will be an event that is visible only to those that are “in Christ” (1 Thess. 4:16). Christ will meet believers in the air. However, the Second Advent is something that will be visible to the entire world. "Every eye will see Him" (Rev. 1:7). Another simple distinction is that the rapture will be an event that is announced by an archangel (1 Thess. 4:16). By contrast, the Second Advent of Christ will involve myriads of angels who will accompany Christ as He returns to the earth (Matt. 25:31). In addition, the rapture will be a resurrection. First Thessalonians 4:16 speaks of a resurrection associated with the rapture when it indicates that, "the dead in Christ will rise first." By contrast, at the Second Advent of Christ there will not be an instantaneous resurrection. Finally, when Christ comes at the rapture, He will come to rescue the church (1 Thess. 1:10). However, when He comes in the Second Advent, He will come to rescue Israel (Matt. 23:37-39; 24:31).
As we carefully scrutinize, read, and examine the prophecies related to the return of Christ we see His return described in totally different ways. The only logical conclusion one can reach is that the Second Coming of Christ must occur in two phases. As will be shown later in this series, there must first be a rapture before the Second Advent can occur seven or more years later. This identical logic applies to the Old Testament teaching that the coming of Christ must have two phases as well. He comes to suffer and die (Isa. 53), and then He comes to rule and reign (Isa. 9:6-7). Identically, the New Testament reveals that the Second Coming of Christ also has two distinct phases. Thus, not only is the rapture an important doctrine, but it is also an event that is distinct from the Second Advent of Christ.
Ping!
Hi Gio,
Howdy, Brother! Can we talk sometime? PM me I will give you my cell number!
Agape,
Typing on a tablet sucks BTW!
I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and will have a happy New Year.
I've been wondering who will be at the Mount of Olives when Jesus returns with us. Believing Jews fled when they realized that the day of Jacob's trouble was upon them and will have been protected by GOD for 3 1/2 years. So who is in Jerusalem?
I do have a problem with the wording used.
“There would be part 1 of the Second Coming of Christ and then part 2 of the Second Coming of Christ.”
Christ does not come to get us in the Rapture. We are raised to “meet Him in the air”. Trying to split Christ’s “coming” into 2 separate events leads to confusion and I don’t think should be used. There is no place in scripture that teaches that Christ’s second coming is actually a second and a third coming.
Wherever it occurs, I expect that the words "Limbo," "transsubstantiation," and "infant baptism" ought to be nearby.
Regards,
As for who will be in Jerusalem when Christ comes back, that is a good question! It is one of those details that we wish God had been more specific about!
Where in the Bible is the word "Bible"? Where in the Bible is the word "trinity"?
The original Greek used in the 1 Thessalonians Scripture that speaks about the event commonly known as the "Rapture" is harpazo, which means a "snatching away". The word "Rapture" comes from "rapio" which can be found in the Latin Vulgate and is used to describe the Rapture.
As far as the other words you listed, they don't exist anywhere in my Bible so I can't help you there.
There is no second and third coming, but we do know that there will be an event where Jesus "comes" from Heaven to get His bride and there will be a time when Jesus literally, physically returns to earth.
My point is that no where in prophecy will anyone find Christ “coming” to earth other than at His birth and when He comes as King. Splitting hairs perhaps but that’s what unbelievers will do when we try to teach or explain.
My point is that no where in prophecy will anyone find Christ “coming” to earth other than at His birth and when He comes as King. Splitting hairs perhaps but that’s what unbelievers will do when we try to teach or explain.
I dislike the current Christian terminology of “first” and “second” coming, but am in agreement with the scripture (I don’t believe first and second are scriptural terms, per se).
Jesus has been coming to us many times, from everlasting. We see Him as (again using traditional Christian terms) as Theophanies in the Old Testament.
Micah 5:2
But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Micah 5:2.
So we won't call it a "first" coming and a "second" coming but we do know from Scripture that He came to earth once and will come to earth again, a second time.
Micah 5:2 is talking about Christ’s second coming to the New Jerusalem after the battle of Armageddon at the end of the tribulation. He will then reign on this earth for 1000 years.
Great posts. Somehow, ever day, I think the Sound of the Trumpet is getting closer. Keep listening.
Excuse me, but where in the Bible is the word “Rapture” (in this sense) employed?
Wherever it occurs, I expect that the words “Limbo,” “transsubstantiation,” and “infant baptism” ought to be nearby.
‘My point is that no where in prophecy will anyone find Christ “coming” to earth other than at His birth and when He comes as King.’
1 Thess. 4 says that he will come to take believers up into the air. He doesn’t actually come to the ground in that event.
And so when Jesus came and appeared to His disciples (after the resurrection), was not that a “coming” or “appearance” as well?
I think you are reading what others are saying, rather than reasoning from the scriptures for yourself.
Jesus is not a created being. He is God, himself, in the flesh, shown to us through the Trinity. As such, when any have beheld God, they have seen Jesus. For in Him, the fullness of the Godhead dwells (Col 2:9. That is to say, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit do not have bodies in the likeness of men, only Jesus has that body.
I the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God......The Word became flesh and lived among us....(John 1:1)
Jesus is not limited by our understanding. He can come and go as He pleases.
And as Micah 5:2 states, He has been doing FOREVER.
No, that was His ascension to heaven.
>>I think you are reading what others are saying, rather than reasoning from the scriptures for yourself.<<
So you don’t believe there will be a 1000 year reign of Christ on this earth after the Tribulation? Oh, and I get that from scripture not “reading what others say”. Reading what others say leads to many errors if not checked with scripture.
>>Jesus is not a created being. He is God, himself, in the flesh, shown to us through the Trinity. As such, when any have beheld God, they have seen Jesus. For in Him, the fullness of the Godhead dwells (Col 2:9. That is to say, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit do not have bodies in the likeness of men, only Jesus has that body.<<
Um Yeah, and He gave us lot’s of information in the prophecies in scripture.
>>Jesus is not limited by our understanding.<<
You would be correct there.
>>He can come and go as He pleases.<<
He set a plan, made some promises, and told us what they were in scripture. He didn’t allow us to know the day or the hour but other than that He was pretty clear to anyone who wants to know.
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