Foundations of the Christian Life. Chapter 35. The Future Resurrection in the Epistles.

Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 35. The Future Resurrection in the Epistles.


We have seen in the Gospels the teaching of Jesus regarding his Second Coming and the events known as the Rapture and first Resurrection. We found in the Gospels that the only Coming Jesus taught about was the event outlined in:

Matthew 24:30,31
"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”
Matthew 25:31.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.”

* This is clearly his coming at the end of the age, after the Great Tribulation, on the Day of the Lord.
* The associated parables must be interpreted in context to refer to that coming.
* This description of Christ’s Coming on the Day of the Lord is universally held to be a classic description using OT terminology and symbols.

Our task in this chapter is to look at this same question in the epistles: When does the Second Coming of Christ occur in the witness of the Epistles?


THE SECOND COMING IN THE EPISTLES OF PAUL.

There is a wealth of material in the writings of Paul on the Second Coming. It is clear that Paul lived with a vibrant hope that this event would be “soon”. The difficult question is, “Where do we start?” In answer to this question we need to fall back on our principles of Bible interpretation as discussed in chapter 6. There we made several preliminary guidelines including:
1. We must gather all the relevant material on any subject.
2. We must start with the plain, clear statements and interpret the more obscure statements in the light of those.
3. We need to interpret statements in context.

We will cover all of the material as we progress but where to start?

The answer is not as difficult as we might think. There was actually quite a debate about aspects of the Second Coming in the Early Church and Paul addressed this in his letters in some depth. In particular the Church at Thessalonica had several problems and Paul wrote two letters to them to clarify the truth. It is generally agreed by Bible scholars that these two letters were written only a few months apart. The first letter was written to address a specific issue raised by the fact that some people in the Church had died. The question being asked was, “What has happened to them? Have they missed out on salvation?” Paul writes to answer this question in 1 Thessalonians.
As a result of this letter other questions were raised and Paul later wrote 2 Thessalonians to clarify his teaching. This means that, as far as we can tell, the clearest, most detailed teaching on the Second Coming in Paul’s letters is that found in 2 Thessalonians. It is there we should start.

The question being asked in Thessolanica that led to Paul writing this letter (2 Thessalonians) was different to the question that prompted 1 Thessalonians. The question Paul is answering here is this:
"Has the Second Coming of Christ, the Day of the Lord, already come and we have all misssed it." It is a question about timing - has the event happened or is it still to come?
Paul indicates this by the way he introduces the subject: "we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come."

It is this question Paul is answering - we need to keep this in mind. Knowing the question being answered to a large extent determines how we read and interpret the answer Paul gives.

2 Thessalonians. 2:1-12.
“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”

As the question we are examining is the timing of the Second Coming we will ignore the details of the career of the man of lawlessness. The only things we are interested in are:
* The fact of his existence and
* The timing of his life in relation to the Second Coming of Christ.

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him,”
Two things are mentioned here. It is clear that, in Paul’s mind, they are one and the same event:
* "The Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
* "Our gathering together to meet him." This is a clear reference to the resurrection of the saints and the rapture of the Church. The word “our” here means Paul and his readers, the Church. If this does not refer to the rapture/resurrection of the Church it is hard to imagine what it might refer to.

So this is as clear a clear statement about the Second Coming and rapture/first resurrection as we could hope for. This is clearly the subject Paul is intending to address. He says so!

“…saying that the day of the Lord has already come.”
This is in the same sentence as the reference to the Second Coming and Rapture. This indicates that, in Paul’s mind, the Second Coming and rapture are to be on the “day of the Lord”, i.e. the great last day of this age when the Messiah appears in power and glory and establishes his kingdom.

There is no indication that he has suddenly changed subjects, i.e. from the rapture/resurrection to a different event, i.e. the day of the Lord. To suggest he has done so would be ludicrous. To say he is talking about two different things in the same sentence without qualifying what he is saying is unlikely to say the least. Common sense interpretation, interpreting in context, suggests that the "coming of the Lord" and the accompanying rapture of the Church are the same thing as "the day of the Lord". You may wonder why I am emphasising this point, it is only that one school of thought, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture/Dispensational school, has said that the two events are different. The Dispensational position can only be maintained by breaking the fundamental rules of Bible interpretation, particularly the rule of interpreting in context.

“…that day will not come until…”
Paul immediately denies that the Day of the Lord has already come and then here tells us that it “will not come until” and then he goes on to list several events that have to happen first – before Christ comes again and before the rapture. Included in this list is the life and career of the “man of lawlessness”, i.e. the Antichrist.

The Dispensational interpretation at this point has real problems because it is fundamental to that school of thought that "there are no known prophetic events to happen before the Rapture/Resurrection of the Church." Paul's words here plainly contradict that assertion. The way Dispensational teachers overcome this problem is to say Paul has "changed subjects" in mid sentence. Where he started talking about the rapture he is now talking about the coming of Christ on the day of the Lord. To me this interpretation makes Paul's words a seedbed of confusion and makes Paul into some sort of idiot who couldn't keep his train of thought. Clearly I am not impressed with this line of argument. The problem seems to be in the interpreters not in Paul - after all, as we shall see, Paul's teaching agrees completely with Jesus' in Matthew 24,25.

“…the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
* The reference to Christ’s “coming” here with no qualifying explanation means that we have to understand this as referring back to the Second Coming and Rapture at the beginning of the passage.
* The Jewish literary feature of bracketing, that I have talked about before, also demands that we see the references to the Coming of Christ in verse 1 and verse 8 as referring to the same thing. The description of the Antichrist’s career in between the two verses is thus an explanation, a filling out of detail, of that Coming of the Lord.

So the “programme” of the end of the age, as envisaged by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 is as follows:
(a) First there will be great rebellion, or apostasy (v3). A falling away from religion, or at least the worship of thge true God.
(b) The Antichrist, the man of Lawlessness, will appear, proclaiming himself to be God (v4). His appearance will come with all sorts of wonders and sign and deception (v9).
(c) Antichrist sets himself up to be worshiped in the temple (v4). Whether this means a Jewsih temple in Jerusalem or the spiritual temple of the Church, in the form of a "One World Religion", is not specified. It could be both.
(d) Antichrist will be destroyed by the coming of Christ (v8).
(e) At this time the Church will be “gathered to meet” Christ, i.e. raptured.

This passage, then, presents us with the same sequence of events as does Matthew 24:1-31. Paul is in complete agreement with Jesus.
The Coming of the Lord and the Gathering of the Saints is on the day of the Lord at the end of the age.

This is confirmed by the other reference to the Second Coming in 2 Thessalonians:

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10.
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

“He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.”
This is steeped in the language of Jewish jurisprudence. We will cover this in more depth in the chapters on Eternal Judgement. Briefly, in Hebrew justice two things happen, the guilty are punished and the righteous/innocent are rewarded – but these have to happen together (in time). The punishment of the wicked at the end of the age must therefore coincide in time with the reward of the righteous. Justice will be seen to be done all round.
This indicates, however, that the righteous cannot be rewarded (i.e. raptured/resurrected, as that is part of our reward) until the time for the wicked to be punished. We cannot “jump the gun”. Thus Paul goes on to say:
“This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God… on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

* The Reward of the saints does not happen until the day of the Lord - Paul says so!
* Again this is clearly the “day of the Lord”.
* That this is the “day of the Lord” is confirmed by Paul by his use of the phrase ”revealed from heaven.” This is not some hidden event.
* The word “revealed” means ‘A public disclosure, revelation, unveiling”. The “revelation of Christ” at the end of the age is when “all men shall see him”. Scholars of all schools of thought are agreed that the “revelation of Christ” or “the day he is revealed” refers to the day of the Lord at the end of the age. It is the appearance of Jesus in power and glory as recorded in the book of Revelation.

As 2 Thessalonians was written to fill in and explain details left out in 1 Thessalonians it is to there we should turn next to see what Paul says. But we should be aware: Paul is hardly likely to say something in 1 Thessalonians that contradicts the explanation/elaboration he gives in 2 Thessalonians. The key passage in 1 Thessalonians is as follows:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:5.
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”

Again our focus is on the timing of the Second Coming and Rapture so we will ignore side issues.

The root question raised by the Church was: “What has happened to our fellow believers who have died?”
Paul answers this immediately:
"God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him…we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

* Those who sleep, i.e. have died as Christians, will have some sort of priority over those who are alive at the time of Christ’s coming.
* Christ will bring with him (the souls?) of those who have already died and they will rise first.
* Then those Christians who are alive will be caught up – also “changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51) – to be with them (Christ and the resurrected ones) in the air.
* We shall then all descend together to earth with Christ.
* “caught up” The word “rapture” is derived from the Latin word for this phrase. This is the only place in the NT where the phrase is used. This, then, is the fundamental passage referring to “the rapture” as such.

When will this happen? It will be when Christ comes:
* “with a loud command,”
* “with the voice of the archangel and”
* “with the trumpet call of God,”
In all it doesn't sound very quiet!

Notice in all of the references we have looked at the clear mention of the trumpet, and the archangel's call. Clearly all of these passages are talking about the same event.
C/f Matthew 24:30,31, 25:31 (above). The Day of the Lord when Christ comes on power and glory. In fact Paul confirms this is so as he continues:

“Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night…”

* Having talked of Christ’s coming and the resurrection/rapture Paul immediately talks of “the day of the Lord”. There is no indication that he has changed subjects so we must assume he is still talking about the same thing. Context demands it. For Paul Christ’s coming for the Church, the rapture, is on the day of the Lord.
* Paul uses the metaphor of a “thief in the night”. By this he clearly means that Christ’s coming will be “unexpected” as he goes on to elaborate the thought. The idea is not that “the thief comes and goes and no one notices”, rather the idea is that “the coming of the thief is unexpected.” But the question is: “Unexpected by who?” Paul clearly does not think Christ’s coming will be unexpected for everyone alive at the time of his coming. It is only those who don’t believe in Christ who will find it to be unexpected. Christians are not caught out by surprise.

“But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”

Paul never suggests that the timing of the Second Coming of Jesus is so surrounded in mystery that Christians will be taken by surprise. Rather he expects that we should be aware of the times and season, the events leading up to it, and so be prepared for Christ’s coming. This, then, is in complete accord with 2 Thessalonians 2 where he gives detailed events leading up to Christ’s coming. We need to take note and be on the alert.
We will not be caught out unawares because there are events prophecied in scripture that immediately preceed the Second Coming and therse will warn us that Christ's coming is almost on us.

Paul refers to the Second Coming several other times in 1 Thessalonians (1:10, 2:19, 3:13, 5:23). Context demands they must refer to the same event as chapters 4 & 5.

Paul’s other major teaching on the Second Coming and Rapture is found in:

1 Corinthians 15:51-57.
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

This is probably the classic reference to the rapture in which the details of what happens then are revealed.
* Those of us who are alive will have our bodies transformed (v51, 52).
* Those who have already died in Christ will be raised to life again (v52).

But what clues are there as to when this event happens - the timing? The answer is in the chapter.

(a) "Death is swallowed up in victory".
When we receive our resurrection bodies Paul tells us that "Death is swallowed up in victory". However earlier in the chapter we are told that "the last enemy to be destroyed is death" (v24-26). Here is a clear revelation. All of Christ's enemies will be destroyed before DEATH - including the Antichrist and False Prophet. Death is the “last” enemy. Thus “Death” is not destroyed until the End, after Antichrist. Thus our “mortality” will not be “swallowed up by immortality” until after Antichrist is destroyed.


(b) "AT THE LAST TRUMPET".
Logic drives us to understand that this must be the seventh trumpet of REVELATION.
* It could not come before the seven trumpets of Revelation or it would not be the “last”.
* If it is the “last” it implies that there must be some before it, it is the last, i.e. in a series. If it is not one of the Seven Trumpets then we know nothing about the rest of the series.
* If it is not the seventh trumpet then it must come after the seventh trumpet, otherwise it could not be the "last". If this is so then:
(i) We do not know anything else about it.
(ii) It would happen after the Millennium, as we are told that the seventh trumpet blows until all prophecy is fulfilled (Revelation 10:7), which is after the Millennium, in the eternal state. This is impossible and doesn’t make sense. Thus the “last trumpet” cannot come after the “seventh trumpet”, the “last” must be the “seventh”.
* We are told that the seventh trumpet ushers in the day of the Lord and the coming of the Lord on that day (Revelation 11:15ff). It seems logical to identify it with other trumpets referred to at Christ's coming.

So the three passages in Paul’s letters that specifically mention the rapture all place it on the day of the Lord, at the end of the Tribulation. In this Paul agrees with the teaching of Jesus.

Other References in Paul’s Epistles that teach we are waiting for the Day of the Lord:

Romans 8:18,19.
“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Though this does not directly refer to the Second Coming it does refer to events that are the consequence of the Second Coming:
* The “revelation of the sons of God”. This is clearly the same thing as “our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies”. This is said here to be our “hope”.
* The Creation will be released from its “bondage to decay”. The timing of this is clearly meant to be the same as when we receive our resurrection bodies. Again this is tied in with the Hebrew idea of justice. The Earth was subjected to futility by the sin of man. When the final consequences of man’s sin are dealt with, and we are released from sinful bodies, justice will be done to the earth also. So the earth “waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God” knowing that when we are set free so too will the earth. Just as the earth will not be set free until the day of the Lord, so too we will not be set free until the day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:7.
“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.”

* Paul is writing here to the Corinthian Church, but also “to all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 2), that includes us.
* Paul says we are “waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” The use of the word “revealed” here refers us to the events of the day of the Lord. We are awaiting the coming of the Lord on the day of the Lord, not some other event. This is as plain a statement as we could hope for.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5.
Paul here is talking about a situation needing Church discipline. The details of this are not important for our discussion here but he concludes in verse 5 with a reference to our theme:
“hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
* The person concerned is clearly a Christian – after all it is only Christians that the Church has the right of discipline over - and Paul affirms the person’s eventual eternal salvation, “his spirit saved”.
* But alongside eternal salvation there are other consequences of his sin “that the sinful nature may be destroyed”. The coupling of this with ”his spirit saved” shows that Paul envisages both events happening at the same time.
* This will happen “on the day of the Lord”.
* Thus this verse indicates that Paul expected the resurrection/rapture to be on the day of the Lord.

1 Timothy 6:14.
“...to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

* The phrase “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” is an equivalent of “the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” and refers to Christ’s coming in power and glory on the day of the Lord.
* Paul thus expected that Christians should continue to be obedient until then – indicating he expected us to be around until then. “Until” is a time determining word.

2 Timothy 4:8.
“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

* It is on "that day", this is an OT phrase meaning “the day of the Lord.”
* It is when he “appears”.
* That’s when Christ will reward his saints.

Titus 2:13.
“while we wait for the blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,“

* This is “our blessed hope”. The “our” means all Christians.
* The hope is “the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” – not some secret hidden event. It is the day of the Lord.
* This is what we are waiting for.

Other Verses:
Philippians 1:6,10.
"The Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ". Gods' work will continue in us until then.

Philippians 3:14,20,21.
The Changing of our bodies. But there is no direct time clue in this passage as to when it occurs. Therefore we must interpret it according to passages which are plain.

Note: In arriving at a doctrine the rule is ALWAYS as follows: Start with the clear statements of scripture and build up the general picture. Only then should the more obscure verses be reconciled with the clear.
Most of the theories on the Second Coming are a result of building a theory out of an obscure passage, and then trying to fit everything else into it. You can see here that we have started with the clear passages that give the order of events and timing and have arrived at a consistent picture in them. You will find that every other passage referring to the Second Coming fits into this general picture we have drawn.

The Dispensational interpretation argues that while "revelation" and "appearing' refer to the day of the Lord, "coming" refers to the secret rapture which happens prior to then.
We have already mentioned several passages where this does not hold true.
In fact “coming” is regularly identified with the day of the Lord and with other words such as revelation and appearing.


OTHER REFERENCES TO THE RAPTURE.

1 Peter 1:7,13.
“These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed…Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

* "Revealed" implies the day of Lord.

2 Peter 3:4-12.
Clearly about the Day of the Lord.

Jude 14,15.
Clearly about the Day of the Lord.


There are a handful of other references to the Second Coming but none of them add anything to what we already know. The Second Coming of Christ, and the attending events of the Rapture and First Resurrection, occurs on the day of the Lord, the last day of this age. At that time Antichrist will also be destroyed.

SUMMARY:

(1) Many times we are told we are waiting for the glorious appearing of Christ on the day of the Lord.

(2) Every NT reference we have looked at, if they have a time clue at all, refers to the day of the Lord. The Second Coming and the Rapture are placed there several times.

(3) Nowhere is it even hinted that there is an earlier coming and rapture for the Church, or for part of the Church.
This would rule out any theories such as a Pre tribulation rapture, Mid tribulation rapture or any partial rapture theories.

In these last two chapters what I have tried to do is just say what the scriptures say. I have deliberately avoided giving interpretation of things, except where such interpretations are agreed on by all interpreters. It seems to me that the issue is not really controversial at all – if one lets the scripture speak for itself. It is only when a person comes to the scriptures with a predetermined viewpoint that they then set out to prove that problems and disputes arise. Invariably disputes boil down to a failure by someone to stick with the basic principles of interpretation that we outlined in Chapter 6.

In conclusion we can safely say that the teachings of a Pre-tribulation rapture, or a partial rapture, or a mid-tribulation rapture do not stand in the light of Scripture. The only evidence we have ALL points to a post-tribulation rapture.

One thing is for sure, the teaching of both the gospels and the epistles is so clearly for a post-tribulation rapture of the Church that it is hard to miss the point. Another thing is for sure – there is no clear evidence for a partial rapture or for a pre or mid tribulation rapture. Nor is there any clear inferences for these positions. One has to read the idea into the scriptures to find it there.

There is no scripture that would indicate other than a post tribulation rapture, unless it is wrested out of its context and given a meaning that it will not sustain when left to speak for itself.


Recommended Reading:
George Eldon Ladd: The Blessed Hope.

Foundations of the Christian Life.Chapter 34: - The Resurrection of the Dead #5. The Future Resurrection in the Teaching of Jesus.

Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 34: - The Resurrection of the Dead #5. The Future Resurrection in the Teaching of Jesus.


Probably one of the most controversial of these foundations is the Bible teaching of the Second Coming of Jesus. It seems that some people live for Christ’s coming and other Christians deny it is even going to happen. There are many different “Schools” of thought about the exact timetable of events. At last count I think I came up with about nine different schools of thought that are current in the Church. Because it is so controversial there is a tendency to avoid talking about it today in many circles. But it is part of our foundations so we need to examine it. We will try to work through the questions raised in a systematic way.

As a Bible believing Christian I am not going to even discuss the idea that Christ is not coming again. The Bible is clear, and we shall see many Bible statements to this point soon, that Christ is coming again. The idea that he is not is not even worth entertaining. So we are starting with the assumption that Christ is returning.

This issue has created more heat than light, but the Scripture is very plain - if left to speak for itself.

We must remember our first principles of interpretation:
(1) Start with those passages which are clear in their meaning.
(2) Less clear passages need to be interpreted in the light of what is clear.
(3) Normal principles of interpretation apply also to prophecy. We need to be consistent in our approach to scripture. Rules like literalness, context and comparison still apply


First it would be good to start with a general outline that, it seems to me, nearly all agree on.

A GENERAL PROGRAMME OF THE RESURRECTION.

1 Corinthians 15:21-26.
“For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

The Resurrection here is pictured as having three stages, which we shall put in a timeline:
1. Christ.
2. The First Fruits.
3. At his coming all who belong to him.

Following this we are told Christ “hands over the kingdom to God the father after he has destroyed all dominion, power, authority and power.” This gives us another two events in our timeline.

4. Christ destroys all evil government.
5. Christ delivers the kingdom to the Father.

Let us look at some of these more closely.

1. The Resurrection of Christ.

This is the first stage of the resurrection, and is the guarantee that the rest will follow. We have already looked in depth at this.

2. “The First Fruits.”

This metaphor suggests that the resurrection of Christ involved more than just the "seed" of his body that died. More rose with him.

Matthew 27:50-53.
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”

At the time of Christ’s death and resurrection it seems that the saints of the OT period were raised to life. The use of the word “many” here should not be interpreted to mean that not all the righteous from the previous age were raised. The Bible has a tendency to use “many” in the sense of “all”. Hence we are justified in seeing this as a general resurrection of the OT saints. Thus the “First Fruits” are the harvest of the kingdom of God from the OT age.

3. “At His coming all who are his.”

It is clear from the statement “all that are his” that the qualification for being part of the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age is that you “belong” to Christ, i.e. are a Christian. There are no other participants in this resurrection. This is adequate reason for assuming that all the OT saints are already raised.

Paul goes on to describe the event of the resurrection of "all who are his" in more detail later in the chapter:

1 Corinthians 15:51-54.
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Clearly Paul is talking about the same event, but is giving more detail. We have already talked about the nature of the resurrection body so we won’t cover that again. But clearly this event is the point in time when the “last enemy…death” is destroyed. Paul tells us here that certain things will happen:

* “The (last) trumpet will sound.”
* “The dead will be raised imperishable.”
* “We will be changed.” Presumably this refers to those who are still physically alive when this occurs.

We will return to this scripture in the next chapter to discuss the elements of timing found here.

Paul describes this event again in:

1 Thessalonians. 4:13-18
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”


Paul tells us here that certain events will happen:

1. Christ will come with the archangel.
2. The Trumpet will sound.
3. Those who have “died in Christ” will come with him.
4. They will receive their resurrection bodies.
5. Then we who are alive will be “caught up” to meet Christ in the clouds. Presumably we will also be transformed.

This event is usually called “the Rapture” from the Latin word for “caught up”.

Definition: The Rapture: The Event when Christ returns and the dead in Christ are raised to life, and those who are alive “in Christ” are caught up to be with him and are changed.

So we have a programme of events as follows:
1. Christ has been raised from the dead.
2. The “First Fruits” (the OT saints) were also raised from the dead and went to heaven with Christ at the ascension.
3. Christ comes again at the end of the age with the archangel and other angels. The (last) trumpet of God sounds.
4. The “dead in Christ” are raised.
5. Those alive “in Christ” are transformed and “caught up” to be with Christ.
6. Christ destroys all evil rulership.
7. Christ delivers the kingdom to the Father.

Clearly the saints of the Church age are understood to be the rest of the harvest, the OT saints being the ”first fruits”.
In general, evangelical Christians agree with this outline. It is only as we begin to add details that debates arise.
So let’s add some more details. We have established the beginning of the process (Christ and the first fruits), at this point we will work backwards from the end to fill in more details.

Revelation 19:11.
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war….”

This is the Second Coming of Christ. The writer goes on to describe the following events.

Revelation 20:1-21:1.
“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth- Gog and Magog- to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”

A simple reading of this passage gives us a sequence of events as follows:
1. Christ returns to earth.
2. Satan is bound for 1000 years.
3. The witnesses to Jesus are resurrected. This is the first resurrection. The implication of the text is that this happens at the beginning of the 1000 years. They "reign with Christ" on earth during the 1000 years.
4. At the end of the 1000 years Satan is released again.
5. Satan deceives the nations and they rebel against God and his kingdom.
6. The rebellion is overcome and Satan, the beast (the Antichrist) and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire (Hell).
7. The rest of the dead, i.e. all who were not Christians, are raised from the dead. This is the Second Resurrection.
8. There is a judgment at the Great White Throne.
9. Those whose names were not found in the book of life were thrown into the lake of fire (Hell).
10. Then there is a new creation – a new heavens and a new earth.

As I said above, there are several schools of thought on the timing of the Second Coming of Christ. These different schools are based on the relation of various events around two key events:
1. The Millenium (the 1000 years).
2. The Great Tribulation (I will define this later).

There are four main “groups” of schools.

1. Amillenial Schools.

This comes from the Greek words:
A = no.
Millenia = 1000.
i.e. “No 1000 years”.

These schools basically believe that there is not such thing as a literal Millenium, or 1000 years of Christ’s rule on earth. They argue that the numbers in Revelation are symbolic and claim they are not to be taken literally. The number 10 is a number signifying testing and completion. The number 1000 is 10 cubed, indicating “a perfect testing time”. Thus they claim the idea of 1000 years is not to be taken literally but is symbolic of something else.

In answer to this theory it can be said that while it is true that the numbers in Revelation have a symbolic meaning (no one denies this) there is also for many of them a literal sense as well. There are seven seals – not 6 or 8, seven trumpets – not 6 or 8, seven bowls – not 6 or 8. The same could also be true of the number 1000 in this case.

There are two major Amillenial schools:
(a) The 1000 years symbolises the present Church age during which Satan has been bound by the work of Christ on the Cross.

The two major problems for this theory are:

Revelation 20:2,3.
“He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.”

There seems to be little evidence that Satan is bound in this present Church age. He is still deceiving the nations in the areas of politics and religion – just as he was doing before the death of Christ. There seems to have been no change in the Devil’s activities since before the Cross of Christ. The difference is that Christ has defeated him in an ultimate sense and his destruction in the future is guaranteed, not that his work has now been curtailed. Whatever this binding of Satan is, it has not happened yet.

Revelation 20:3.
“After that, he must be set free for a short time.”
Revelation 20:7.
“ When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations…”

This theory argues that Christ’s Second Coming ushers in the Eternal state. But these verses indicate a release of Satan at some later stage of future history to deceive the nations again. Why? The way Amillenialists overcome this problem is to simply deny that this happens, i.e. the Bible is wrong. But what makes them right and the Bible wrong? What great revelation from heaven have they had that justifies their position?

The Amillenial position seems to be a very unsatisfactory position to take to me.

(b) The 1000 years symbolises the perfect state of the New Creation in eternity.

Again this theory is unsatisfactory for the reason given above: Why should Satan be released in the eternal state?

The “1000 years” here has a beginning – Satan is bound, and it has an end – Satan is released. It has limits. It doesn’t sound like a limitless eternity. Once we accept that it has a beginning and an end then we are justified in asking, “How long is it, in actual fact?” And there seems no real reason to deny that it is actually 1000 years.

To me the Amillenial School is unsatisfactory and ends up twisting and denying the Scriptures to suit their own theory.

2. PostMillenial Schools.

In this school of thought the Second Coming is said to happen after the Millenium. This school grew out of the optimism generated by the theory of evolution. It was a Liberal Theology application of the theory of Evolution. In this theory man is seen to be getting better and better. Liberals put a religious slant on this improvement and said that the gospel was going to grow and grow in influence in the world until the whole world was Christian. Then the Church would reign for 1000 years and then Christ would come.

There are several problems with this theory:
1. The Scriptural text of Revelation 20 really gives the order of events quite differently. To get this theory one has to rewrite the Bible text to suit the theory. And what is to stop us rewriting the rest of the Bible to suit our own theories? Either the Bible is a given and is our authority, or we might as well toss Christianity away altogether.
2. The optimism that brought this theory to birth has been well shattered by two World Wars, the Nazi regime, Communism, and the moral and religious decline of the West. There is simply no evidence that we are “getting better and better”. If anything we are getting worse - at least at a moral and spiritual level.
3. Again, why should Satan be released at the end of the Millenium, when, according to this theory, that is when Christ returns to reign?

In all, this theory seems quite unsatisfactory.

3. PreMillenial Schools.

These schools teach that Christ returns before the Millenium. There are several of these theories and to understand the issues we need to define another term, the (Great) Tribulation. To do this we will need to expand our timeline of events.


THE END OF THE AGE IN THE TEACHING OF JESUS.


The major teaching of Jesus on the Second Coming is found in Matthew 24 & 25. This has parallel records in Mark 13 and Luke 17 & 21. We need to remember the different writing styles of Luke and Matthew. Luke records events in chronological order; Matthew tends to groups events and teaching in collections of similar things. Matthew has gathered into one “teaching” what was in actual fact two or more teachings of Jesus. Luke shows us that Jesus taught on this subject on several occasions. Matthew presumably heard many of these teachings and has joined them together. However because Matthew had heard this material come from Jesus several times we can be sure he is giving us an accurate remembrance of Jesus’ teaching in terms of its meaning.

Matthew puts the occasion of this teaching as one arising out of a question the disciples asked Jesus. Jesus had just prophesied the destruction of the temple of Herod.

Matthew 24:3.
“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

There are three questions here and Jesus answers them all. They are:
1. When will this happen? I.e. the destruction of the temple.
2. What will be the sign of your Coming?
3. What will be the sign of the end of the age?

The problem for us interpreting it is that Jesus appears to give as sort of “double-barreled” prophecy in answer to the question. The answer to the first question, about the temple, is put in the context of the answer to the third question, the signs of the end of the age. This indicates to us that the words he was speaking were going to have a double fulfillment: The temple would be destroyed twice. This may not have been clear to Jesus at the time – he admits in this talk that he doesn’t know all the details – but the cryptic way he talks about the temple is similar to OT prophecies that have a double fulfillment.

So the words of Jesus fall into three main sections:

1. General Signs that these are the Last Days

Matthew 24:4-14.
“Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Jesus lists a series of things that are general signs that these are the last days:
* Wars.
* Famines and earthquakes.
* Persecution of believers in Christ.
* A great falling away from the faith.
* Because of the increase in wickedness in the world LOVE will grow cold - suggesting a breakdown of family, society, church, etc. The primary expression of this will be in LOVE FOR GOD.
* Many false prophets will arise – cults, false religions.
* The gospel will be preached to all nations.
* Then the end will come.

In one sense these have been true from the Fall. But the implication of the words of Jesus here is that these things will become more prevalent – in other words the number of these sorts of things happening will increase the closer to the end we get.

2. Specific Events just prior to the Second Coming.

Matthew 24:15-20.
"So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel- let the reader understand- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.”

Here is where we run into difficulties. Jesus describes the events of the destruction of the temple. His description is very accurate of the events that occurred with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. But there are three reasons why we should be aware that the prophecy was not limited to the Roman invasion and also has a future fulfilment at the end of the age:

1. In the following verses (vs 29-31) Jesus goes on to describe the Second Coming. He says that this will happen, “immediately after the distress (tribulation) of those days”. Clearly Jesus didn’t come again immediately after the destruction of the temple in AD70. There are some teachers who say he did in a “spiritual” sense – but Jesus is clearly talking about an event that the whole world can see in vs31.
2. Jesus refers to the `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel”. This is a reference to the end time ruler of the world (Antichrist) who lives and rules just prior to the coming of the Messiah to set up his kingdom. He is destroyed by the Coming Messiah. This was not true, historically, of Titus who led the Roman armies into Jerusalem in AD 70. Thus it still needs to be fulfilled.
3. The Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation, refers back to this teaching of Jesus in Revelation 11-14 – but he wrote Revelation after Titus had destroyed the temple. John still saw the events to be future.

So it is clear that the words of Jesus here have a double fulfilment:
* Once in history when Titus and the Romans destroyed the temple.
* Again in the future when the Antichrist sacrifices in the temple.

So this is a key event in the future: The Antichrist will commit some act of sacrilege in the temple of God.

But what does this mean? There are two possible interpretations:
1. Literal.
There will be a literal temple rebuilt in Jerusalem with a Jewish cult operating before the Second Coming. The Antichrist will sacrifice an unclean animal in the temple, or he will be elevated to deity in the temple (i.e. recognised as being the Messiah, the Son of God).
2. Symbolic.
The temple of God here means the visible world Church (one world religion) and the Antichrist becomes the object of the worship of the Church.
Both meanings are possible and both are likely – again there could be a double-barrelled fulfilment.

But this act, whatever it is, is the trigger for a period of unparalleled suffering.

Matthew 24:21-26.
“For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now- and never to be equalled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ!' or, `There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect- if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.”

There will be “great distress”, or “great tribulation”.

This is where the title, “the Tribulation”, or “the Great Tribulation” comes from. This is a time period immediately before the Second Coming of Christ of great trouble in which millions will die, both by natural disasters and by the hand of man. The persecutions of the Nazis or Communists will seem like nothing compared with the murders of the Antichrist.

This time period:
* Is generally held to be of either 3½ or 7 years in length. This depends on one’s interpretation of a passage in Daniel which we won’t go into now.
* Begins with the Antichrist taking his seat in the temple. The Antichrist will rise, proclaiming himself to be God (v15). Ruling over Israel.
* Ends with the Second Coming of Christ.
* There will be much suffering in Israel (v16-20).
* This period has a definite limit to it - a predetermined length (v22).

3. The Second Coming.

Matthew 24:27-30.
“For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. "Immediately after the distress of those days "`the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

* These will be signs in the heavens.
* There will be a specific sign “of the Son of Man”, but what this is, is unspecified.
* Christ will be seen coming on the clouds.
* His angels will go out and gather his elect from all the earth.
* The trumpet of God will sound.

The debate about the Second Coming centers around the question: When does the Rapture occur? There are several theories:
* Pre-Tribulation Rapture (Called “Dispensationalism”): The Tribulation is seven years in length and the rapture of the Church occurs at the beginning of this seven-year period. The Tribulation closes with Christ appearing with his saints in power and glory to reign with him. Thus there is two phases to the Second Coming.
* Mid-Tribulation Rapture: The Tribulation is seven years in length and the rapture occurs at the midpoint of this period when Antichrist proclaims himself to be God. The Tribulation closes with Christ appearing. Again a two-phase theory.
* Short Tribulation – Pre-Tribulation Rapture: The Tribulation is only 3 ½ years in length and the rapture occurs at the beginning of it. The Tribulation ends with the appearance of Christ and the saints. Again a two-phase theory.
* Partial rapture: Only part of the Church (the perfected group) is raptured before the end. The rest have to go through the Tribulation to be perfected. There are several variations on this theory – some are pre-tribulationists, some are mid-tribulationists. One variation on the theme is called the “Bride of Christ/Manchild rapture”. Again a two-phase theory.
* Post Tribulation Rapture (Called “PreMillenialism Proper”): There is only one phase to the Second Coming. At the End of the Tribulation Christ comes in power and glory and collects his Church. They then descend with him to join in his rule on earth.

It would take too much time to present and argue the cases for and against each of these theories in detail. Instead what I intend to do, in the rest of this chapter and the next, is survey the Bible references to the Second Coming and let them speak for themselves.

In the rest of this chapter I want to look at the teaching of Jesus, in the next we will look at the rest of the NT writings.

The questions we are asking as we look at the scriptures are these:
1. When does the rapture occur in relation to the Second Coming?
2. When do the events we are reading about occur?

What does Jesus say about these things?

As we have said the major teaching of Jesus is found in Matthew 24 &25. It is there we need to look again.
So far we have seen that Jesus predicted a series of events leading up to the Second Coming. The programme of events looked like this:

1. Wars, natural disasters, a falling away from the faith.
2. Antichrist takes his seat in the temple.
3. There is great Tribulation.
4. Christ comes in power and glory at the end of the Tribulation and gathers “his elect” from the four corners of the earth.

On the face of it, it looks pretty simple to me. The problem with understanding it at face value is that the Dispensational school have claimed that “his elect” do not refer to the Church but to the “elect of Israel”, i.e. a Jewish remnant. This then leaves them room to say that this is not the rapture, the rapture occurred seven years earlier and Jesus just didn’t mention it.

In answer to this we can say the following:
1. It is surprising that Jesus would not mention to his disciples such a key event as the rapture – especially as it would affect them personally, being members of his Church.
2. It seems incredible that “his elect” refers here to a “Jewish elect” and not to the disciples of Jesus, the Church. Elsewhere in the gospels, where Jesus uses it, the idea of being “elect” or “chosen” refers exclusively to the disciples of Jesus and, at times, specifically excludes Israelites by birth. To use the idea in such a way here would be novel, and to do so without qualifying explanation would be unlikely. The disciples he was speaking to knew they were chosen specifically by Christ.
3. Nowhere else does Jesus, nor do the Apostles, teach of the existence of such a “Jewish elect”.
4. The phrase “his elect” in the context means “the Messiah’s elect” and this can only refer to the disciples of Christ, i.e. the Church.

So here we see a clear statement by Jesus:
1. He is returning in power and glory at the end of the Tribulation and,
2. He will gather his elect then.

For the Jew, the Messiah's coming was to be a glorious victory when the Messiah would defeat his enemies and set up his kingdom. This event was to happen on the "Day of the Lord", a phrase which came to mean "the end of the world order as we now know it".

Bible words associated with this "Day of the Lord" coming are "Glory", "Power", "Revealed", "Manifested", "Victory, "Salvation", "Deliverance".
The Messiah was to come in power and Glory, with his angels, to deliver his people. The clouds would be his chariot.

In the NT three references are classic descriptions of this Jewish Hope:

Matthew 24:30. Acts 1:11. Revelation 1:7.

This idea of the "day of the Lord" came straight into Christian thought unchanged, except that the Messiah was now recognised to be Jesus and that his future victory was based on his prior suffering.

So then, there is a clear expectation of a dramatic event bringing in the End, when Christ returns as Lord, on the Day of the Lord.

PARABLES OF THE COMING OF CHRIST.

Jesus then goes on to give a string of parables and the main point of these parable is to talk about the timing of the event of the Second Coming. He stresses this in two ways:
1. The Context.
2. Repetition of an idea.

1. The Context.
You may remember in chapter 11 I talked of a concept of Jewish writing style called bracketing. When a Hebrew writer wants to isolate something out of the main body of the text he does so, not by using curvey lines like we would, but by repeating an idea or thought. The result is that a piece of writing will be bracketed by the repetition of an idea. The bit in the middle is an explanation of the main idea. It looks like this:

Idea / Explanation of idea / Idea.

Matthew (and presumably Jesus) does this in Matthew 24 &25.

Matthew 24:30,31.
"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

Matthew 25:31.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory…”

These are the beginning and end of the brackets.
What this tells us straight away is that the bit in the middle (24:32-25:30) are explaining the coming described in verses before and after them. Jesus has not changed subjects and started talking about some other coming (a secret rapture?). He is still on subject. These parables all illustrate his coming in power and glory at the end of the Tribulation on the day of the Lord.

This conforms with the basic principles of interpretation as listed in Chapter 6 especially the need to interpret in context things that are said. Parables are, after all, illustrations of truth and not the truth in themselves. They illustrate the truth; the truth is to be found in the context the illustration is found. The parable needs to be interpreted according to context and not the other way around.

This would not be a difficulty if Dispensational teachers had not claimed that these parable all talked about “the secret rapture of the Church seven years earlier”. In context, both textual context and context of Jewish literary style, this is impossible.

The context demands that they are talking about Christ’s coming on the Day of the Lord.

2. Repetition of an Idea.

With these parables Jesus is wanting to get through one single idea: We don’t know when his coming will be.
To get this through to us he tells nine parables about timing.

The first parable refers back to the signs of his coming he mentioned earlier in the chapter. When we see those signs we will know the end, and his coming, are near. We should therefore be ready.

Matthew 24:32-35.
"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

The next 6 parables are to tell us that though, when we see the signs, we know he is near, we don’t know exactly when his coming is. We cannot know the day nor the hour. Jesus makes the point in introducing the parables, and in case we miss the point Jesus repeats it after each of the parables.

Matthew 24:36. The Point.
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Jesus admits that he is not omniscient – at least not at this point of his earthly life. There were things about the future he did not know.

Matthew 24:37-39. The days of Noah.
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

This is more about judgement that will come on the unbeliever when the Son of Man comes. The point is that the judgement comes when Christ comes – the judgement here is not the Tribulation.

Matthew 24:40-42. Farming Illustrations.
“Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

These are clearly illustrating the phrase “the son of man will send out his angels and gather his elect…”
If they illustrate anything at all they illustrate the rapture.

Matthew 24:43,44. The Thief in the Night.
“But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

The motif of the thief in the night is one of the most confused in scripture. It is only used five times in scripture. Once has no direct reference to the Second Coming, once has an indirect reference to the Second Coming, and the other three (including this one) directly refer to the Day of the Lord. None of them refer to a secret rapture seven years prior to the day of the Lord.
See: Revelation 3:3, 16:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:2.

Matthew 24:45-51. The Faithful Servant.
“ Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, `My master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Luke repeats this in Luke 12:42-46 and 17:26,27.

Matthew 25:1-13. The Ten Virgins.
"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight the cry rang out: `Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' "`No,' they replied, `there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
"Later the others also came. `Sir! Sir!' they said. `Open the door for us!'
"But he replied, `I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

The idea of the coming kingdom being like a wedding breakfast and the bride having to make herself ready for it is used several times in Scripture. In Revelation 19:1-7, as it is here, the wedding breakfast is after Christ comes on the day of the Lord.

These six parables all have the point repeated after them – in case we miss it. It is this: We don’t know the day nor the hour of Christ’s coming.
But the thing we need to recognise is that, in context, the coming Jesus is talking about is the coming referred to in Matthew 24:30 and 25:31, his coming in power and glory at the end of the Tribulation, on the day of the Lord.

The last two parables also illustrate this coming but bring out a different point – there is going to be rewards and punishments when the Lord returns. We don’t need to examine these at this point.

Matthew 25:14-30. The Parable of the Talents.
Matthew 25:32-46. The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.

Luke’s Gospel adds a few more parables but they do not change anything as far as our understanding of the timing of the Lord’s coming and the rapture are concerned.

The only other reference to the Second Coming ion the teaching of Jesus of any significance is the following:

Matthew 26:64.
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

This is Jesus’ reply to the high priest at his trial. But it adds nothing new to what we already know.

There are two other parable Jesus told that Refer to the Second Coming/Rapture.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. Parable of Wheat and Tares.
“Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
"The owner's servants came to him and said, `Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' "`An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, `Do you want us to go and pull them up?' "`No,' he answered, `because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"
“He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

The point of this parable is that good and evil will grow together until “THE END OF THE AGE.” Both will be reaped then TOGETHER. Then the harvest will be sorted. There is no indication here that the reaping of the good seed, i.e. Christ's disciples, and the bad seed, non Believers, are separated in time by 3-7 years.

Clearly the coming referred to here is on the Day of the Lord; it is "the end of the Age" (v39).


Matthew 13:47-50. Parable of the Net.
"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Because of the context, where this story is told in conjunction with the Wheat and Tares, and because there is no explanation otherwise, we must assume that this parable is talking about the same event. Hence it is about the harvest at the End of the Age.


And that is the sum total of Christ’s teaching on his Second Coming. Not much really, and if one lets it speak for itself without trying to impose a pre-held theory on it then we would get the following scenario:

1. There will be increasing wars, violence and natural disasters. These are signs of the end times/last days.
2. At some point Antichrist will take his seat in the temple. This is the beginning of the last period of human history as we know it. This is called the Great Tribulation.
3. Christ in power and glory on the day of the Lord and will gather his people to himself in the clouds. The angels do the gathering. This will finish the reign of Antichrist. This will be the end of this Age.
4. Following this there will be some form of celebration for the saints (a “Wedding breakfast”) accompanied by an allocation of rewards for service done for the Lord in this life.
5. Later there will be some form of judgement for those who have not accepted Christ and they will be sent to the “lake of fire” (Hell).


NOTE: THREE OTHER THEORIES OF BIBLE PROPHECY INTERPRETATION:
(for your information)

1. Preterist.

Interprets Revelation to be a record of the conflict between Rome, Judaism and the Early Church, resulting in an idealised triumph under Constantine. I.e. it is symbolic history, not prophecy. The Harlot (ch17) is identified with the Roman Empire. This interpretation is popular in Catholic Circles, and was the standard interpretation for hundreds of years.

Clearly Revelation draws on events from the first century and uses them symbolically to picture the End Times, so an understanding of the times in which it was written will help. However many of the prophecies go beyond what this interpretation allows in scope and time.


2. Historicist:

Interprets Revelation to be purely symbolic of the Church age. Chapters 4-12 are said to depict the struggle of the church against the Roman Empire, Chapters 13-19 depict the struggle of the True Church against the Harlot, the Spiritual Roman Empire, the Catholic Church of Rome.

This was the view of the great leaders of the Protestant Reformation and is still widely held today in the denominations that grew out of that period.

The main problem with this interpretation is that, even in it's worst period, the Catholic Church was still the visible representation of the Church of God on earth. The outright condemnation of the Catholic Church by this interpretation is extreme and unwarranted.

3. Chronological Prophecy.

Is a development of the above view with the addition of Biblical Prophetic Chronology.
The Greatest exponent of this view was H.Grattan Guiness in his book "Light for the Last Days" published in 1917.

There are several variations on this theory, which was extremely popular last century.

The Basic premise is built on a principle found in Daniel 9 where a day is given a symbolic value of a year in prophecy. By enacting this principle in Revelation, and elsewhere, Guiness finds two periods of 1260 years, a total of 2520 years, starting with the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The midpoint of the 2520 years coincides with the rise of Islam, which he sees as the second Babylon. The Harlot is identified in a dual way with the Roman Catholic Church and Islam.

This approach gives some amazing insights into Bible Prophecy and actually gives rise to a series of predicted dates in history which have been largely fulfilled.

In spite of this amazing accuracy it seems to me to have two major problems:

(i) The period of 1260 days derives from a prophecy in Daniel where the day/year principle has already been enacted. Hence the principle is used twice to get the required "Seven years of prophetic years" (2520 years). This doubling seems to me to be a wrong use of a principle.

(ii) According to Guiness (unless I have misunderstood his book) the termination of the 2520 years should have been the Second Coming, or at least the fall of Islam as a viable religion and political power. New Zealand author George Curle manages to find another 75 years somewhere to stretch it out to 2007. Clearly the prophecy falls down as far as Guiness is concerned. Time is telling for Curle. However Guiness was an astronomer, mathematician, historian and Bible Teacher - his qualifications are sound, and if he never found an extra 70 years I doubt that it is there!

I suggest that this approach to understanding Bible prophecy is actually intended by God, but that it is by it's nature not conclusive. It is a proof of the accuracy and integrity of Bible prophecy, but does not give us a final outworking. This is why the dates fall short of the present day. There still awaits a GREATER outworking than even what we see in this approach, correct though it is.

Unfortunately history has shown this interpretation to be unlikey. It is, however, a very insightful and fascinating approach.

In my view Bible prophecy has many “layers” of understanding, each one pointing to the divine authorship and truth of the Bible. These “layers” can reveal truth in themselves but eventually “fall down” in the sense that they do not completely fulfill the propechies. These layers are not “wrong” in an absolute sense, but I believe God has put them in scripture as a witness to the truth, but not as the final meaning. But ultimately there will be one “right” fulfillment of the prophecies that completely reconciles all issues. The Historical approach could be one of those “layers”. Another “layer” could be the whole Bible numeric code interpretation that has recently become popular. Both of these approaches appear to reveal truth up to a certain point, but ultimately fall down.

HOMEWORK:
Get a Bible or New Testament and a red marker.
Read the entire NT through except Revelation. The Doctrine of the Second Coming and the rapture/resurrection is a NT doctrine primarily. We leave out Revelation because the interpretation one will give to Revelation will be predetermined by the view of the Second Coming one approaches it with. It is, therefore, of prime importance that you arrive at your doctrine of the Second Coming before you read Revelation.
Highlight with the red marker every passage in the NT that talks about the Return of Christ and the events of the end times.
When you have highlighted them all go through the NT again and read all the bits you have highlighted in red. Do it in one sitting – it will only take you about 30 minutes.
Ask yourself the following questions as you read each passage: