The Twofold Coming of Lord Jesus Christ.
A. At the Rapture of the Church.
1Th 4:13 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who have died, lest you be sorrowful as those who have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, thus also God will bring with Him those who die in Jesus.
1Th 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall by no means precede those who are dead.
1Th 4:16 Because the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
1Th 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
The Rapture Explained.
Todd Strandberg comments The rapture is an event that will take place sometime in the near future. Jesus will come in the air, catch up the Church from the earth, and then return to heaven with the Church. The Apostle Paul gave a clear description of the rapture event in his letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians.
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess, 4:16-18).
"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:51-53).
The timing of the rapture is not known. From the Word of God and from sound reasoning--something Jesus used quite frequently--I hope to prove the reality of the pretribulation rapture.
The word "rapture" comes from Paul's "caught up" remark in verse 17. The words "caught up" are translated from the Greek word harpazo, which means "to carry off," "snatch up," or "grasp hastily." The translation from harpazo to "rapture" involved two steps: first, harpazo became the Latin word raptus; second, raptus became the English word "rapture." <www.raptureready.com>
B. The Future Coming after the tribulation - with His People .
Mat 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light; and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
But immediately, suddenly after a slow development, rather than immediately following, or unexpectedly. Mat_24:36 shows that our Lord did not intend to define the length of the interval, or to encourage us to define it.
A Popular Commentary on the New Testament - After the tribulation of those days, not the tribulation attending the destruction of Jerusalem, but the period of trial which belongs to the ‘last times,’ for the following reasons: 1. In Luk_21:24, the period of Jewish dispersion and the fulfilling of ‘the times of the Gentiles’ is put before this prediction, while the expression in Mar_13:24, also permits the supposition of a long interval. 2. The reference to the destruction of Jerusalem is attended with the greatest difficulties. It takes all the expressions of Mat_24:29-31 in a figurative sense, but the figure exceeds any reality that occurred in those days. The interval between the horrors of the siege and the actual destruction itself was too short to allow of any events worthy of such a figurative representation as we find here. 3. To refer it to a merely providential coming of Christ in judging and purifying nominal Christendom, is not at all in keeping with the specific character of the representation.
The sun shall be darkened. A reference to the events attending the destruction of Jerusalem seems impossible. So long as the prophecy is not yet fulfilled, its exact meaning cannot be insisted upon. Two views: (1.) Visible phenomena in the heavens at the visible appearance of Christ; in which sense the rest of the verse needs little explanation except to determine the difference between ‘the stars’ and ‘the powers of the heavens.’ The former may mean meteors and the latter the host of stars, or better, the former the stars in general, the latter the greater heavenly bodies that affect the earth (the solar system). This view suggests also the possibility of actual changes in the physical universe to prepare for ‘the new heavens and the new earth.’—(2.) Spiritual events to occur at the same time. We add the most plausible interpretations of this character: ‘The sun shall be darkened,’ i.e., the knowledge of Christ, the Sun of the Church and the world shall be obscured; the moon shall not give her light; the reflected light of science, which derives its excellence only from Christ, the true Sun, shall cease to guide (or it may refer to heresy and unbelief in the Church, for that leaves her merely a scientific or temporal organization); the stars shall fall from heaven; the leaders and teachers of the Church shall become apostates: the powers of the heavens (the greater heavenly bodies) shall be shaken: the influences which rule human society shall be disturbed. Others refer the whole to the fall of heathenism with its worship of Nature (sun, moon, and stars), but this is less probable, since terrifying occurrences seem to be meant (see Luk_21:25-26).E-Sword.
Jude 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,
Jud 1:15 to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly among them about all their ungodly deeds which they have committed impiously, and about all the harsh words which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
to execute judgment, i.e to pronounce the doom, and see that it is carried out. Then follows the description of these sinners. The characteristic of the antediluvians, as of those whom Jude addresses, is ungodliness: four times is this quality named, first and last and midst, in the description.
to convict (an intensive form of the English verb) in their consciences and before the world. The double meaning of the Greek word is only half represented by ‘convince,’ and only half by ‘convict;’ both meanings are in the word, though the second meaning is the predominant one here.
and of all the hard things—rough, coarse; used here in its ethical sense, and especially to describe arrogant blasphemy (1Sa_2:3; Mal_3:13)—‘stout,’ the outcome of a hardened heart.
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| The Rider on the White Horse - Faithful and True |
Rev 1:7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will wail because of Him. Even so, Amen!.
Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, having names written, and a name written that no one knows except Himself.
Rev 19:13 And He is clothed in a robe having been dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the armies in heaven were following Him on white horses, having been dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15 And out of His mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, so that with it He might strike the nations. And He will shepherd them with an iron rod. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name having been written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the great supper of God,
Rev 19:18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who ride on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great."
Rev 19:19 And I saw the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, having been gathered together to make war against Him who rode on the horse and against His army.
Rev 19:20 Then the Beast was apprehended, and with him the False Prophet who had performed the signs before him, by which he had deceived those who received the mark of the Beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the rest were slain with the sword which proceeds from the mouth of Him who rode on the horse. And all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh.
