Being Made Visible

I have always been a little bit different from the average believer. I am always questioning how the Word of God is interpreted, how it is explained and taught by others. I just don't automatically accept as spiritual food whatever is taught as if it's good lean meat. I find most of it usually has some bones in it that I have to spit out.

No, I may not know any more than you do. But I base everything I believe … not on what I have heard men teach or preach … but upon what little I know and understand in the Word of God.

So today I want to share my views about … "the return of Jesus" … knowing before hand some people may not agree with my personal opinions. It's not that they can't agree … many just don't want to accept or even consider the facts; they have their minds already made up. A good example of this type of attitude comes from St. Augustine. He was asked once why the Jews as a nation could not believe in Jesus. His answer was … "They could not, because they would not."

I was reading one morning, 1st Corinthians 1:7 in my Amplified Bible trying to refresh myself on the Apostle Paul's instruction for Christian living in a culture with moral conditions that should be considered inferior even by pagan standards. America's culture today is just like the conditions Paul found the Corinthian church in.

The last half of verse 7 is what triggered these thoughts again in my spirit. I've had them many times before … but now I feel the need to put them down on paper.

Paul wrote in verse 7 that we are to … "Wait and watch for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and His … being made visible … to all."

This return or 2nd coming of the Lord has been referred to since 1830 as … "the rapture of the church" … even though the word "rapture" isn’t used in the Bible. How did this phrase become so popular if it’s not scriptural?

A young Scottish woman named Margaret MacDonald had a dream in 1830. Her dream contained all that is taught today about the rapture … meeting the Lord in the air, secrecy, suddenness, invisibility, imminency, and a pre-tribulation separation of believers and unbelievers. The last part is what makes most people want to accept her dream as scriptural. It makes them more comfortable.

She sent a handwritten copy of her dreamed "revelation" to Edward Irving, a controversial minister drawing large crowds to his church in London. Most people thought this "new truth" was something Irving found in the Bible, and being a popular preacher, his views were quickly adopted. His preaching popularized the new theory, and within a few years it became the greatest preaching tool they could use. "Jesus could come back tonight! Are you ready for His return?" For over 1800 years nobody had even heard or thought about … "a secret 2nd coming." Even Jesus never spoke about it!

The word "rapture" comes from the two words "caught up" in 1st Thessalonians 4:17. The Greek word Paul used is "harpazo" which means … to seize, catch away, pluck up or take by force.

Look back again at Paul's words I started with in verse 7. He was saying that Jesus would be … "made visible to all." Paul is instructing the believers in the city of Cornith to … "wait and watch" … for the return of Jesus during their lifetime. Paul expected it at any time. It was obvious to Paul, this return wasn't going to be in secret … His return would be made … visible to all.

So as not to base this thought only from the Amplified Bible, I turned to the standard most versions are compared with … the Kings James Bible. The last half of verse 7 in it reads slightly different … "waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The first thing I noticed was it didn't say anything about being made "visible," so I started looking up the original Greek words found in the K.J.V. The word "coming" in the original means … "disclosure by appearing, to be revealed by coming."

So, would I be wrong if I conclude that Paul, by using the Greek word … "apokalupsis" … translated "coming" in the K.J.V. is saying, Jesus is coming back to be revealed.

But not stopping there, I also looked at the word "waiting" in verse 7 which means … "to fully expect, to look while you wait." So I think one could say that the Amplified version has accurately captured the intent of Paul's words. I would say they mean … "to fully expect Jesus to be revealed to all at His coming."

I suppose one could argue that only those waiting and looking for His return will see Him visibly, so I started looking for more scripture on His returning.

2nd Thessalonians 1:6-10 … "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints …"

Some would say this scripture is not speaking of the "rapture" but rather His "revelation" when He comes back to rule for a thousand years. Well, if that is the case … why is Paul telling these believers who are being troubled and afflicted, to rest in the fact that when Jesus is revealed He will take action against those who are causing them distress. Why didn't Paul tell them to wait for the rapture, the secret coming of the Lord instead? When he said "rest with us" why didn't he tell them that they would soon be plucked up, caught away (raptured) out of this trouble?

The teaching today is that unlike the Christians in the coliseums that were torn apart by lions, God is going to protect us from anything bad. We must be special.

Speaking of being plucked up … in Matthew 13:24-30, we have the parable of the wheat and the tares. The wheat represents the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The servants see the tares growing with the wheat and ask if they should be plucked up. The Lord of the harvest says no … "if you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. Wait for the harvest and I will say to the reapers, Gather together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."

The words … "root up" … in Matthew 13:29 is "ekrizoo" which means to pluck up by the roots. What was the meaning of the word used for rapture? (To pluck up or take by force.)

So … if we understand correctly what Jesus is saying in this teaching … when the Lord of the harvest (Jesus) comes to gather His good wheat, He is going to pluck up the tares … FIRST … before He plucks up, catches away or raptures His wheat.

Wait just one minute. I thought the rapture happened first. That's what this young girl's dream showed us back in 1830. So which are we to believe?

Continuing on in 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-5 … "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (the rapture?)
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ (the rapture?) is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except (the following things must happen) there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, (before the rapture) the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?"

Some have asked … "Why wasn't Paul more explicit in his teaching about the return of Christ?" I think he just answered that question. Evidently when he was with this church in person, he told them or instructed them about all these things that he believed was about to happen in their lifetime. This is why he said … "Remember, I told you these things" … which is the reason he doesn't go over them again. Remember, this was a letter to them … not us.

Another familiar scripture I want to look at is found in 1st Thessalonians 4:15-18 …

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

Again Paul's statement makes me believe he thought he would be alive when Jesus came back. But Paul wasn't through with all his instruction on this matter.

When Paul wrote this letter, he didn't put chapter headings or verse numbers in it. The translators of the Bible put them in for ease of reference to help us find scriptures. So to understand the things he has been writing about, especially the time frame when these things will happen, we need to keep on reading this letter.

1st Thessalonians 5:1-6 … "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that (the rapture?) the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day (the rapture) should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."

Daniel 8:25 … also speaks of this man of sin, the antichrist being in the temple … "And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."

The question that remains is; when shall … "we which are alive and remain be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air?" Paul's answer to this question was, when the world begins to say … "peace and safety." You must decide for yourself if perhaps it is because of the world wide policies of the antichrist that create a false sense of peace?

I would like to believe in the rapture of the church as it is taught today. I want to believe in this young girl's dream instead of scripture … but I don't. Sorry.

I think I will stick with the facts found in the Word of God. I have only presented a small sampling of what's given in God's Word on this subject. There is much more. Look and see for yourself … do not only believe what others have said … including me.

I have been known to be wrong.

But … He will be made visible … to all.

I will close with the following scriptures concerning the return of Jesus.

Acts 1:9-11 … "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (I believe that means … visible.)

Matthew 24:30-31 … "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, (as in 1st Thess. 4:16?) and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (The elect in the N.T. always refer to born again believers.)

John 14:1-3 … "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (Jesus said He was coming back again, meaning one time, not again and again as some teach.)

Revelation 1:7 … "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." (Jesus comes back in like manner as He went … visible to all.)

It's in the Book!