The Second Coming

I feel like the time is right to share my views about the return of Jesus. I believe it's usually referred to as … "the second coming." Why share now? Take a look at the world; the Holy Scriptures are being fulfilled faster than ever before. The whole world is on fire! The only thing that will save Israel from total destruction by her enemy’s will be the return of Jesus … only they don't know He's the one they are looking for … but this time they won't reject Him.

As far as Christians are concerned, there are two different views held about His return. One is the "rapture" of the church in secret, and the other is the "revelation" of Christ, a revealed return in which all will see Him.

I must first make you aware that the term "rapture of the church," or the word "rapture" itself 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, and sent handwritten copies of her "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. The young woman was not credited with the vision at first because ... "She was a female in the male-dominated theological world of 1830; she was young; she was uneducated; and she had been a Christian only a year."

Her dream contained all that is taught today ... meeting the Lord in the air, secrecy, suddenness, invisibility, imminency, and a pre-tribulation separation of believers and unbelievers. (I will speak to this later when dealing with "the tares and wheat" that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 13:24-43.)

Irving’s views influenced C. I. Scofield, whose Bible popularized the new theory, and within a few years it became the greatest evangelistic preaching tool they could use. "Jesus could come back tonight! Are you ready?" For over 1800 years nobody had even heard or thought about "a rapture." Even Jesus never spoke about it!

The word "rapture" comes from the two words "caught up" found in Paul’s teaching in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 which we will look at later. In this study, we will look at what the Bible has to say about the "return of Christ" … how it will happen, where it should happen, and whether scripture says it will happen.

When Jesus was taken up to Heaven in a cloud from the Mt. Of Olives in Acts 1:9-11, two men or angels robed in white tell all those who watched Jesus leave this earth, that He will come back the same way he left, in the clouds, in the sight of man!

Zechariah 14:1-12 says when the Lord (Jesus) comes back and sets His feet on the Mt. of Olives again, it will be during a war, commonly called the battle of Armageddon. A side note … verse 12 sounds exactly like what happens to human flesh during nuclear war. "Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."

At this present time Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons for the total annihilation and destruction of the nation of Israel. How long can it be before this war begins?

If … His return during the Battle of Armageddon is the second coming … then it can also be referred to as the Revelation of Christ, which starts His millennial (1,000 year) reign, at the end of the seven years of Tribulation.

John wrote in 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." (Wail … means specifically, to beat the breast in grief, to lament, mourn.) Why would they wail? Because they will have to admit that Jesus was who He said He was.

Both Old and New Testaments confirm His physical return to the earth, therefore His return or second coming is doctrinal. Where doctrine becomes a little unclear or (fuzzy) is in the difference between the "Revelation of Christ" and the "Day of Christ."

The Apostle Paul in (1st Corinthians 15:12-57) teaches us about death and the resurrection of the dead. But we need to pay close attention to verses 20-24 … "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God ..." (Notice only one return is spoken of.)

I want to pursue two points here. First ... the resurrection is at His coming. Second … then cometh the end. What end is Paul speaking of? I believe it is the end of this present age ... the dispensation of grace which we are living in.

After the second coming the world will be in a new dispensation called the millennium … where Jesus will rule on earth for 1,000 years.

The Apostle Paul continues in verses 51-52 ... "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

He calls what happens a mystery … and because of what we read in scripture concerning the end times … it truthfully remains a mystery or as I describe the end times, it's a little bit fuzzy.

Paul writes that we will be changed at the last trumpet, at the end. Paul thought he would see Christ’s return in his lifetime. Paul uses "we" three times in verses 51-52.

Compare this with 1st Corinthians 1:7-8 where Paul wrote that he was ... "waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ … unto the end … in the Day of our Lord …" The word "coming" in the Greek means … (an appearing, a manifestation, to be revealed) which to me sounds like ... the revelation of Christ.

All this happens "at the last trump." Could this trump be the same as the last of the seven trumpets in the book of Revelation that brings the last of three "woes," the seven vials of Gods judgment and wrath that is poured out during the great tribulation? (Revelation 11 & 16.)

Paul wrote to people or churches he knew in simple letter form without any numbered verses or chapters, and they should be read as such. In his first letter to the Thessalonian Church, Paul tells them about the "rapture, the catching away" of the church in ...

1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 (edited) … "I would not have you to be ignorant (unlearned) about those who are asleep (have died) … We which are alive and remain (survive) unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which sleep (died) … The Lord Himself shall descend … The dead in Christ shall rise first … Then we which are alive and remain (survive) shall be caught up (raptured) together … with the Lord …"

Remember, Paul’s letter doesn’t stop at the end of chapter four, so keep on reading in the next chapter. After Paul tells the church about the rapture, he tells them when it will happen!

"Of the time (when all this happens) ... you know perfectly ... when they shall say, peace and safety …"

Paul is speaking of the same period of time that Daniel spoke about concerning the anti-christ's rule during the seven year tribulation.

Daniel 8:25 … "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; (Jesus) but he shall be broken without hand."

At the second coming, the rapture or revelation of Jesus (both of which may be the same) Daniel says the anti-christ is defeated, (at the battle of Armageddon) and the dead in Christ are then resurrected.

Daniel 12:1-2 … "And there shall be a time of trouble, (tribulation) such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, (the resurrection) some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Now let me go back to the phrase Paul used in 1st Thessalonians 4:17 … "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together …" The word remain in the Greek means "survive." I wish he would have just said … "we which are alive" … but he didn't, he added the word survive. This makes me question why Paul in his original writing chose this word. Could it be that he seemed to think that believers would go through the tribulation? If you look at his second letter to this church he definitely points to that.

In 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-12, Paul continues his end times instruction to this church with this second letter. There had been some letters passed around with his name forged on them. So Paul tells this church, even if someone gives them a signed letter as from him that says … "the day of Christ (the rapture) is at hand" … don’t be deceived … "for that day shall not come, except" … these three things must happen.

"There will be a falling away first."
"The man of sin is revealed."
"He sits in the temple of God as God."

A falling away? Could this be those who were told Jesus would come back before the tribulation, and now their "faith" fails them when they see these things taking place?

Revealed? Is Paul saying that the anti-christ will be seen by believers before the rapture?

Sits in the temple? Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 24:15. Jesus said ... "When you see this abomination … standing in the Holy Place …" Paul agreed with Jesus.

Could it be that Paul thought the "Day of Christ" (Rapture) and the "Day of the Lord" (Revelation of Christ) were one in the same? Some of that (fuzzy) stuff again.

Do I believe in a rapture? Yes … but not as it is commonly taught today. What is taught today is Margaret MacDonald's dream … that Jesus comes back in secret to rapture the church which causes a pre-tribulation separation of believers and non-believers. This teaching declares that Christian believers are taken first and then some seven plus years later at end of the Great Tribulation the non-believers are gathered for judgment.

I stated earlier that I would speak about "the tares and wheat," the example Jesus used to illustrate the end times. I want you to look at the words of Jesus in Matthew 13:24-43 as He teaches His disciples about the harvest at the end of this age.

Matthew 13:30 ... "Let both (tares and wheat) grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, (sinners) and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat (believers) into my barn."

A little later Jesus explains this parable to His disciples ...

Matthew 13:38-39 ... "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one ... the harvest is the end of the world."

The secret catching away of believers (wheat) before non-believers (tares) is the complete opposite of what Jesus taught His disciples. Am I going to accept the words of Jesus, or a young girls dream?



Comments welcome.