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.