If the importance of a Bible subject can be judged by the frequency of reference
to it, the Second Coming of Christ is, indeed, a subject of primary importance.
Christ’s Coming is mentioned more than 300 times in the New Testament; that
means that it is mentioned on the average of once in every twenty five verses.
In Paul’s epistles there are more than fifty (50) references to the Second
Advent. It has been said that there are eight times more verses concerning the
Second Coming of the Lord than there are those that concern His First Coming.
Whole books (1 and 2 Thessalonians, Revelation), and whole chapters (Matthew 24,
25; Mark 13; Luke 21) are devoted to this subject. Jesus, Himself, often
referred to His coming again and urged His followers to watch and to be ready.
In fact, about fifty (50) times in the New Testament believers are urged to be
ready for the Lord to come again. In five New Testament passages the believer’s
posture is said to be that of WAITING for the Coming of the Lord: “ … ye turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to WAIT for His Son from
heaven. … ”(1 Thes. 1:9b, 10a). (See also Rom. 8:23–25; 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5;
Jas. 5:7.) The hope of the Second Coming was connected by Jesus with both
ordinances of the Church. The Apostles were commanded to make disciples,
baptizing them and teaching them with the assurance: “ … and, lo, I am with you
always even to the END of the ‘AGE’ ” (Mt. 28:19, 20, NASB).
Paul, quoting Jesus, gave the apostolic pattern for the observance of The Lord’s
Supper saying: “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do
shew the Lord’s death TILL HE COME” (1 Cor. 11:26). (See also Mt. 26:26–29; Lk.
22:17–20.)
The hope of the Second Coming provides the motivation for practical Christian
living: (1) for brotherly love (1 Thes. 3:12, 13); (2) for holiness (Rom.
13:12–14; 1 Thes. 3:13; 5:23; 1 Jn. 3:3; Ti. 2:11–13); (3) for faithful meeting
together for worship (Heb. 10:25); (4) for faithfulness in Christian service (1
Tm. 4:13–16; 2 Tm. 4:1, 2; 1 Pt. 5:2–4); (5) for a continued passion for souls
(1 Thes. 1:9, 10; 2:11, 12, 19, 20); (6) for comfort in time of bereavement (1
Thes. 4:14–18). So important is the Second Coming to the Church, the Bride of
Christ, that it is called the BLESSED HOPE: “Looking for that BLESSED HOPE, and
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Ti. 2:13).
As far back as the time of Moses, God predicted that Israel, if disobedient,
would be scattered throughout all nations (Dt. 28:64); He also predicted that He
would regather His people out of all nations, bringing them back into their land
(Dt. 30:3; Is. 11:11–16; 2:2–5; Ez. 36:8, 24; 37:11, 12; 38:8). In the Old
Testament, there are prophecies concerning two regatherings. They would be
regathered from Babylonia after seventy (70) years captivity (Jer. 25:11, 12);
but in the first captivity they would not have been scattered throughout all
nations, nor would the return be complete nor permanent. The passages cited
above refer to a complete and permanent regathering ending in a rule of peace
and righteousness. The second scattering of Israel into all nations is
prophesied by Jesus in Luke chapter twenty-one: “And they [Israel] shall fall by
the edge of the sword [A.D. 70], and shall be led away captive into all nations:
and Jerusalem shall
be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”
(21:24). The phrase “times of the Gentiles” refers to the period symbolized by
the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream interpreted by Daniel (Dn. 2:24–45),
a period during which a succession of Gentile rulers would dominate Europe and
the Middle-East, including Palestine. Daniel himself had a dream in which he saw
these same Gentile rulers represented by four beasts, the last of which ruled
“until the Ancient of days came … and the time came for the saints to possess
the kingdom” (Dn. 7:22). Paul seems to refer to the term “times of the Gentiles”
in Romans chapter eleven:
For I
would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery. … that
blindness in part happened to Israel, until the FULNESS OF THE GENTILES be come
in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, “There shall come out of
Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my
covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins (11:25–27).
On May 14th, 1948, the regathered Jews declared a portion of Palestine to be the
independent state of Israel. This in itself did not fulfill specifically the
prophecies concerning Israel’s regathering, for the regathering has been in
unbelief; but after nearly two thousand years of exclusion from their land,
Israel’s existence as a state may very well set the stage for the final act.
Paul describes social conditions in the “last days”:But realize this, that in
the LAST DAYS difficult days will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers
of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful,
unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control,
brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have
denied its power … among them are those who enter into households and captivate
weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tm. 3:1–7, NASB).
Of
course such men as Paul describes have always existed; but when the depravity
that he describes characterizes a whole society, such a condition signals the
approach of the end of this age. When the conditions prevailing today of
selfishness, sexual perversion, crime, violence, lack of conscience, and
rebellion against Bible morality are contemplated, one is not surprised that
many Bible scholars view modern society as a “doomsday” society.
Russia only became a world power with a goal of world
conquest after World War I in 1917. With the Middle-East being the chief oil
source of the world, coveted by Russia, and with Russia at odds with Israel,
an ally of the United States, that Moscow would invade regathered Israel at
some near future date is not impossible nor unthinkable, especially in the
light of the prophecy in Ezekiel chapters thirty-eight and thirty-nine.
According to Ezekiel’s prophecy, God will send a fire to destroy Russia and
the defeat will be so complete that the massive invader will leave behind
weapons of war in such a quantity that it will take seven years to dispose of
them. The dead will be so numerous that it will take Israel seven months to
bury them. At the turn of the century there was no state of Israel, and Russia
would have had no motive for invading Palestine. The rise of modern communist
Russia and the establishment of the state of Israel now make possible the
circumstances needed for the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy which was
predicted to happen in “the latter years.”
4.
The rise of communist China.
In the book of Revelation, chapter sixteen, there is a
passage which makes reference to the “kings of the east”: “And the sixth
angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates; and its water
was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the EAST” (Rv.
16:12, NASB). The river
Euphrates is also mentioned in chapter nine of Revelation in connection with
a prophecy that an army of two hundred million (200,000,000) would be
released, resulting in the death of a third part of Mankind (Rv. 9:13–21).
The river Euphrates was considered the boundary between East and West. Many
prophetic scholars see the rise of modern China, now with nuclear weapons,
as an inferential “sign” of the latter days.6
5.
Armaments and modern war potential.
Just before Jesus returns with His saints to claim His
kingdom, the earth will be the scene of the greatest war of all time, called
“Armageddon.” It will be the final conflict of this dispensation. At the
turn of this century, a war of the proportion of Armageddon was difficult to
conceive. Now with the development of atomic weapons, the destructive power
of which has already been witnessed, another world war would beyond doubt be
the last war, and would bring about the destruction of Mankind. In that
sense, the modern war potential is a latter day sign, because only the
Coming of Jesus can prevent total destruction. The Lord must come to save us
from ourselves.
6.
Progress in transportation and science.
In the last chapter of Daniel’s prophecy is recorded this
word of the Lord: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book
until the TIME OF THE END; many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall
increase” (Dn. 12:4, NKJV).
This prophecy seems to indicate that in end-time there would be a notable
acceleration in travel and in the acquisition of knowledge. Many who write
about latter day signs point to Daniel’s prophecy quoted above as a sign
that the end is approaching.
Until the nineteenth century, there was very little
change in the way people traveled. Abraham could get from one place to
another about as rapidly as Shakespeare could. Until the turn of the
twentieth century, the average person traveled in a vehicle drawn by
animals. Today, travelers span continents in jet planes in a matter of
hours; and space travel (already being booked) will offer speeds permitting
one to circle the globe faster than Abraham could get to the next village.
The increase in knowledge has been equally spectacular.
Until the invention of the printing press, and the discovery of the new
world, the sum of human knowledge was not appreciably greater than it was in
the Golden Age of Greece and Rome. The Renaissance was really only the
rediscovery of the cultures of ancient Greece, Egypt, Arabia and China.
Today’s scientists have split the atom, developed nuclear power, explored
human genes, traveled to the moon, photographed the planets at close range,
and computerized all statistics and most of industrial production. It has
been estimated that three-fourths of present knowledge has been acquired in
the last fifty (50) years, and that seventy percent of modern medicines and
surgical procedures have been developed since World War II. Three-fourths of
all the scientists who have ever lived are alive today. With the use of
computers, in an hour a modern engineer can duplicate the work of a lifetime
of an engineer working before 1940. In an atmosphere of exploding scientific
advancement and of declining morality and ethics, Jesus must come and rule
to save us from ourselves.7
It should be pointed out, however, that only the general
inferential signs, and conditions in society are to be looked for before the
Rapture of the Church; the explicit signs are prophesied to happen during
the Tribulation and in connection with the Lord’s Return in Judgment. No
specific sign must happen before the Bridegroom comes for the bride; His
Appearing, as in the parable of the ten virgins, should be expected at all
times.
7. The Rapture
of the Church.
1. Its
any-moment occurrence.
A number of events are associated with the end of the
age. Jesus promised His disciples, “I will come again, and receive you unto
myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:3). Paul wrote: “…
the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air. …” (1 Thes. 4:16b, 17) Jesus spoke also of great tribulation, “For then
shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world
to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Mt. 24:21). This Great Tribulation is
described in detail in the book of Revelation, chapters six through
nineteen. (See also Dn. 12:1.) The tribulation will be caused by Satan,
through the agency of one called variously: “the beast” (Rv.13:1), the
“antichrist” (1 Jn. 2:18), the “man of sin” and the “son of perdition” (2
Thes. 2:3), and the “little horn” (Dn. 7:8). The Great Tribulation will be
concluded by the Battle of Armageddon and the Revelation of Jesus as King of
Kings, who will come with His armies of saints to bring judgment upon the
“beast” and his followers (Rv. 19:11–21). The Great Tribulation is followed
by the Millennial Reign of Christ, the Final Judgment, and the Eternal State
(Rv. 20–22).
Which of these events will happen first? Will it be the
Coming of Jesus or the revelation of the Antichrist? If the Bible is to be
taken in a natural sense, it seems that the first event for which the
believer waits is the “blessed hope” (Ti. 2:13), or the Rapture of the
Church:
Here we have a definite message from the Lord. It is that
those who are still living when He comes will not in any way precede those
who have previously fallen asleep [died], one word of command, one shout
from the archangel, one blast from the trumpet of God and the Lord Himself
will come down from heaven! Those who have died in Christ will be the first
to rise, and then we who are still living will be swept up with them into
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And after that we shall be with Him
forever. (1 Thes. 4:15–18, Phillips.)
The Apostle Paul, since he was the apostle to the Gentile
church, was given a special revelation from the Lord Himself regarding the
details of the Rapture and its relationship to the Resurrection.8
In a passage in 1 Corinthians, Paul again speaks of the
Rapture of the Church together with the bodily resurrection of deceased
believers: “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed” (15:51, 52, NASB). When the Lord
comes for His Church, not only will the living saints be raptured, their
bodies will be changed into glorified imperishable bodies. The believer,
body and spirit, will become like Jesus (1 Jn. 3:2, 3).
Another reference to the Rapture, by Paul, is found in 2
Thessalonians: “Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our GATHERING TOGETHER UNTO HIM …” (2:1). There is a probable
additional reference to the Rapture in the same passage: “… that day [the
Day of the Lord] shall not come, except there come a FALLING AWAY first …”
(v. 3). The Greek word translated “falling away” may also have the meaning
“departure” (see 2 Cor. 12:8, “depart”). The word in Greek has the definite
article, therefore it refers to an event known by the recipients. Since the
whole subject is about the “rapture” and the concern of the Thessalonians
that they were already in the Tribulation, the rendering “departure” is a
reasonable one.9
Without doubt, the New Testament, especially Paul’s
writings, is very clear about a “rapture” of the living believers at
Christ’s Coming. All evangelicals are agreed that a rapture will occur; they
are not in agreement about when
the Rapture will occur in relation to the tribulation period described in
the book of Revelation. While this book will identify itself with the
Pre-tribulation Rapture position, which is the historic position of our
church, the authors refrain from radical dogmatism in the presentation of
the position, recognizing the fact that godly and scholarly teachers take
other positions.
2. Various
Rapture theories.
a) The Post-tribulation Rapture Theory. Those who hold
this theory believe that the believers will go through the Tribulation and
that the Rapture will occur simultaneously with, or immediately before, the
Lord’s Coming in Judgment. They hold that the Rapture of the Church and
Christ’s Return to Rule are simply different aspects of a single event which
will happen at the end of the Great Tribulation, and just before the defeat
of the Beast and his followers and the beginning of the Millennium. The best
contemporary advocates of the post-tribulation Rapture are: Dr. George E.
Ladd, in The Blessed Hope
(Eerdmans, 1957); A Theology of the New
Testament (Zondervan, 1977); and J. Barton
Payne, in Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy
(Harper & Row, 1973).
(1) The principal arguments advanced in favor of the
post-tribulation Rapture position are as follows:
(a) The Coming of Christ is variously described, but
nowhere said to be two events separated by a seven (or three and a half)
year interval of tribulation.
(b) Jesus’ answer to His disciples regarding the signs of
the end-time indicated that a period of unequalled tribulation (Mt. 24:3–22)
would precede His Coming. Other passages also predict tribulation for God’s
people (Jn. 15:18, 19; 16:33).
(c) The Resurrection is identified with the Rapture, yet
Revelation 20:4–6 puts the “first resurrection” after Christ’s Return to
Rule and just before the Millennium, therefore the Rapture and Revelation
must happen together. (See also Dn. 12:1, 2.)
(2) The following considerations argue against the
Post-tribulation Rapture position:
(a) The tribulation period is not a Church period, but is
the final week of Daniel’s vision regarding God’s dealing with Israel:
“Seventy weeks are determined upon THY people and upon THY HOLY CITY, to
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness …”
(Dn. 9:24, also 25–27). It is a time of God’s dealing with Israel and of His
wrath upon the godless nations (Rv. 6:15–17). The tribulation period is
called by Jeremiah “Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:4–7).
(b) Paul declares regarding the Church: “For God hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ …”
(1 Thes. 5:9). The Church has suffered and will suffer many trials and
tribulations, but not the Great Day of His Wrath.
(c) The Lord had promised the faithful that they will be
kept from that hour of wrath: “Because thou hast kept the word of my
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall
come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rv. 3:10).
(See also 2 Pt. 2:9; Lk. 21:34–36.)
(d) Nowhere in the book of Revelation, after chapter
four, is the Church mentioned specifically, until chapter nineteen, where
the Church is seen in Heaven as the Bride of Christ. Many scholars identify
the Church with the four and twenty elders who are in Heaven throughout the
Apocalypse. The four and twenty elders are arrayed in white with crowns of
victory on their heads, symbols of the Redeemed. The Tribulation saints
(those who are saved during the Tribulation and martyred) are seen as a
group only in Heaven. The Righteous who are seen on earth are the 144,000,
who are said to be Jews (Rv. 7:1–8; 14:1–5). Furthermore, if the Church is
to be on earth during the Tribulation, why is witnessing assigned to the two
witnesses who are apparently Jews (Moses and Elijah)? (Rv. 11:1–14)
(e) The Rapture and the Final Coming cannot happen
simultaneously, nor hardly on the same day, for two important events
separate the Rapture and the Resurrection of the Saints from the Coming to
Earth to Rule. The two events are the believers
Bema Judgment of Awards,
and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rv. 19:5–9; 1 Cor. 3:11–15; 2 Cor.
5:9–11).
(f) Since the Church age terminates with the beginning of
the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week, Dn. 9:27; “the fullness of the
Gentiles” Rom. 11:12, 25, 26, 27), the Church plays no more part in earthly
affairs until the Millennium.
(g) Regarding the Resurrection recorded in Revelation
chapter twenty, and referred to as the “first resurrection,” careful reading
will reveal that the resurrected ones mentioned are those who are beheaded
during the Tribulation; no mention is made of the saints of the entire
Church age who must have been raised up at the time of the Rapture before
the Great Tribulation. Daniel (12:1, 2) places the Resurrection of the Old
Testament saints at the end of the Tribulation, but John does not mention it
in Revelation chapter twenty. Christ is called the “first fruits of them
that slept”; at Christ’s Resurrection, a number of saints arose from the
dead (Mt. 27:52, 53). In Revelation 11:11, 12, the two witnesses are
resurrected; in Revelation 7:12–17, the Resurrection of the Tribulation
saints is recorded. Apparently all those who are resurrected before the
Millenium are a part of the “first resurrection”; those who are raised after
the Millenium are raised unto judgment and perdition (Rv. 20:13, 15).
(h) The strongest argument for a pre-tribulation Rapture
is the fact that throughout the New Testament exhortation is given to look
for and wait for the Coming of Jesus (Mt. 24:42, 43; 25:13; Mk. 13:35; 1
Thes. 5:6; Ti. 2:13; 1 Jn. 3:3; Heb. 9:28; Jn. 14:3). Jesus promised, “And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
myself; that where I am there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:3). Here Jesus’ Coming
is for the purpose of receiving the Church unto Himself and taking her to a
place in the Father’s house; this Coming cannot be the same as His coming
with the Church to earth as the post-tribulationists contend. The blessed
hope of an imminent Coming of Jesus is one of the strongest incentives to
practical godliness and diligent service (Ti. 2:12–14; 1 Jn. 3:3). If the
Tribulation must come first, with the manifestation of the Antichrist,
before the Rapture, who will look for a Coming of Jesus until many of the
events of the Apocalypse have transpired? The parable of the faithful and
unfaithful servants recorded in Matthew chapter twenty-four teaches the
tragic result of saying, “My lord delayeth his coming” (24:44–51).
The principal proponents of the Pre-tribulation position
are: Dr. C.I. Scofield, Scofield Study Bible,
footnotes, (Oxford University Press, 1967); Dr. John F. Walvoord,
The Rapture Question
(Dunham, 1957); The Revelation of Jesus Christ
(Moody Press, 1972); Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest,
Prophetic Light in the Present Darkness (Eerdmans,
1956); Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost, Prophecy for
Today (Zondervan, 1961); Dr. Henry C. Thiessen,
Lectures in Systematic Theology
(Eerdmans, 1961); Dr. Mark G. Cambron, Bible
Doctrines (Zondervan, 1973); W.E. Vine,
The Epistle to the Thessalonians
(Pickering & Inglis); Herbert Lockyer, All the
Doctrines of the Bible (Zondervan, 1964); Dr.
Gerald B. Stanton, Kept from the Hour
(Zondervan, 1956); Dr. Charles C. Ryrie, The
Ryrie Study Bible (Moody Press, 1978);
Dispensationalism Today
(Moody Press, 1981).
b) The Mid-tribulation Rapture Theory. As the term
“mid-tribulation” reveals, it describes the position of those who teach that
the Church will be raptured after the first half of Daniel’s seventieth
(70th) week (Dn. 9:27). Most of those who hold this view, however, claim to
be pre-tribulation rapturists, because they do not interpret the first half
of the seven-year tribulation period as being a time of great tribulation or
wrath.
(1) The principal points of this theory are:
(a) The last trumpet, mentioned in connection with the
Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15:52, is identified with the seventh trumpet
sounded in Revelation 11:15 which occurs in the middle of the Tribulation (Rv.
11:2, 3). If the two trumpets are identical, then the Rapture occurs in the
middle of the Tribulation.
(b) Since the Church is raptured before the “Great
Tribulation” (the last three and one half years), the Church escapes the
“wrath” of 1 Thessalonians 5:9, and the “hour of temptation” of Revelation
3:10.
(c) The resurrection of the two witnesses in Revelation
11:11, 12 is declared to be a reference to the Rapture and Resurrection of
the Church, or to happen simultaneously with the Rapture.10
(2) The following arguments may be advanced in opposition
to the Mid-tribulation Rapture position:
(a) The trumpets in 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen and
Revelation chapter eleven are not the same. Paul’s “trump of God” is a
trumpet call of victory over death; John’s seventh trumpet is the seventh in
a series of announcements of judgment upon the wicked and final triumph over
Satan’s reign.
(b) The entire seventieth week of Daniel is Jewish in
character, therefore the Church does not belong in any part of it. God’s
wrath is also poured out in the first half of the tribulation period (Rv.
6:12–17). (Also 1 Thes. 5:9; Rv. 3:10; 2 Pt. 2:9).
(c) The two witnesses appear to be Jewish from the Old
Testament symbols—the temple, olive trees and lampstands (Zec. 4:3, 12),
withholding rain, and smiting with plagues (Ex. 7:20; 8:1–12:29; 1 Kgs.
17:1; 18:41–45; 2 Kgs. 1:10–12; Jas. 5:17, 18). If the Church were on the
earth, why would God assign Jewish prophets to the mission of witnessing to
the nations? Until the end of the Church age, it is the Church’s mission to
witness to all nations. Dr. Buswell believes, however, that the Church age
and the tribulation period will overlap three and one half years.11
(d) The same objection can be made to the Mid-tribulation
Rapture position that is made to the Post-tribulation position; that is,
that the Mid-tribulation position removes the any-moment expectation of
Christ’s Coming. The tribulation period begins with the Antichrist’s making
a covenant with the Jews, an event that could not be concealed. If the
Church is going through any part of the tribulation period, Christ cannot
come for the Church until the Tribulation has begun with Antichrist’s
covenant to restore the daily sacrifice (Dn. 9:27). Both of the theories
discussed above require us to look for the Antichrist’s coming before
Christ’s Coming.
c) The Partial Rapture Theory. Those who hold to a
partial Rapture base their believe on passages such as Hebrews 9:28, Luke
21:36; 1 John 2:28, and Matthew 25:1–13; which are interpreted to mean that
believers who are not “looking for Him,” who are not “counted worthy,” who
have something in their lives that might make them “ashamed before Him at
His coming,” or that do not have oil (the fullness of the Spirit) will be
left behind to go through the Tribulation. Advocates of this theory believe
that only those believers who are fully worthy will go up in the Rapture.
The following considerations argue against the Partial Rapture Theory:
(1) First Thessalonians 4:16 says: “The dead IN CHRIST
shall rise first.” If all who have died in Christ will be resurrected,
certainly all who are alive “in Christ” will be raptured. Certainly the Lord
will not wait until the generation alive at His Coming to make distinctions
between believers who are “worthy” and those who are not.
(2) Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 15:51, Paul says:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall ALL be
changed.” All who are in Christ will be changed at His Coming. This of
course does not include the unregenerate who are only professing Christians.
(3) If only the “worthy” are to be caught up, who will
go? Who can claim worthiness in himself? Our standing with God is based on
the Righteousness of Christ, not our righteousnesses which are “filthy rags”
(Is. 64:6).
(4) Every believer ought to be filled with the Spirit,
but the purpose of that fullness is not to make us worthy, which is
accomplished by the blood of Jesus, but to equip us with power for service
(Acts. 1:8). To interpret the “oil” in the parable of the ten virgins as
symbolic of the “fullness of the Spirit” violates sound principles for the
interpretation of parables (both the wise and the unwise had oil at the
beginning).
(5) Proponents of the Partial Rapture Theory as well as
those who believe that the Church must go through some or all of the
Tribulation, contend that tribulation is necessary to purify the Church and
make her ready for the Bridegroom. This belief contends for a kind of
Protestant purgatory. And if the saints alive at the end of the age need
purging by tribulation, it would seem that the Lord would need to resurrect
the dead saints for a period of tribulation previous to their Rapture. An
absurd thought, of course! Christ’s
Return to Rule—the Revelation.
At the Rapture, Christ comes
for His saints; at His
Revelation, He comes with
His saints. At the Rapture, He comes in the air; at His Revelation, He comes
to earth to rule in power and glory. The Rapture is followed by the
Believers’ Judgment of Rewards and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; the
Revelation is followed by the defeat of the Antichrist and the wicked
nations, and the establishment of His millennial kingdom (Rv. 19, 20). “And
Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying, Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints” (Jude 14). (See Dn. 7:9, 10,
21, 22; Is. 11:1–4; 63:1–3.) According to Revelation chapter nineteen, the
steps in Christ’s Return to Rule are:
1. The heaven is opened and
Christ appears riding on a white horse with a crown on His head and with
garments dipped in blood; His name is announced to be “The Word of God”
(vv. 11–13; also Jn. 1:1).
2. He is accompanied by
armies of saints, also riding on white horses.
A sharp sword issues from His mouth to smite the wicked
nations. His title is revealed to be “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (vv.
14–16).
3. An angel announces His
readiness for battle against the Beast and his armies which gather to oppose
the Lord.
The Beast’s armies are crushed; the Beast, the False
prophet and all those who have taken the mark of the Beast or worshipped his
image are cast into the Lake of Fire (vv. 19–21; Dn. 8:25).
4. An angel from heaven
casts Satan, called “the old serpent,” the “dragon” and the “devil,” into
the Bottomless Pit where he is imprisoned for a thousand years
(Rv. 20:1–3).
5. The Tribulation saints
are raised and, together with the Church saints, reign with Christ for a
thousand years (Rv. 20:4; Mt. 25:21; 2 Tm.
2:12; Rv. 5:9, 10).
NASB
The New American Standard Bible
6
Hal Lindsey, with C.C. Carlson,
The Late Great Planet Earth
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970) 81.
NKJV
The New King James Version of the Bible
7
See Tim LaHaye,
The Beginning of the End
(Tyndale, 1972); H. Leo Eddleman, Last
Things (Zondervan, 1969); and A.E.
Bloomfield, Signs of His Coming
(Bethany Fellowship, 1962).
Phillips
The New Testament in Modern English (J.B.
Phillips)
8
See Roy Hicks,
Another Look at the Rapture
(Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1982), where an extended treatment is made
of Paul’s special insight into the Rapture.
9
See Kenneth S. Wuest,
The New Testament, an Expanded Translation
(Eerdmans, 1972) 486; also Roy Hicks,
Another Look at the Rapture (Harrison
House, 1982) 45–49.
10
See J. Oliver Buswell,
A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1963) II, 456.
Duffield, Guy P. ; Van Cleave, Nathaniel
M.: Foundations of Pentecostal Theology. Los Angeles, Calif. :
L.I.F.E. Bible College, 1983, S. 526
