Jesus tells the disciples that He is going to return following the Great Tribulation. We take a look at the difference between what is known as the rapture of the church and what is called the Second Coming of Christ.
"But in those days, following that distress, '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 people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory." (Mark 13:24-26) He quotes from the book of Isaiah, in which the prophet described the day of judgment like this, "The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light." (Isaiah 13:10)
We spoke yesterday about the Apostle John and the vision he had while in exile on the Isle of Patmos in which he foresaw meteor or asteroid strikes upon the earth. Meteor showers are often referred to as 'falling stars' because that's what they look like. Burning asteroids breaking up in the atmosphere and falling to the earth would also look like falling stars. Massive or plentiful strikes upon the earth would cause dust to rise and hang in the atmosphere, darkening the sky so that the sun and moon and stars would not appear to shine. John says he saw "the sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the moon turned blood red". (Revelation 6:12b) Scientists say that following the huge asteroid strike that is believed to have killed the dinosaurs, the earth may have been covered with darkness for up to two years. The dust alone would have made the skies dark, but in addition the fiery asteroid would have caused raging forest fires that could have burned for months, sending a continual layer of soot and smoke into the skies. At evening the dust would have taken on a sunset glow, making the rising moon appear red as blood. There is no reason for us to doubt the imagery in the Scriptures regarding the end times, for there are clear scientific explanations for the conditions Jesus and the prophets are describing.
The prophet Daniel used the phrase "Son of Man" to represent the Messiah, and he had a vision of the Messiah coming with the clouds. "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13-14) In other words, Daniel saw Christ and he saw the kingdom coming. Jesus is telling the disciples that Daniel's vision is going to immediately follow the last day of the Great Tribulation. He is going to appear to the world. He is going to be given authority over the world. He will rule over the world forever.
Those of you who studied the book of Revelation with me know that I subscribe to the belief in a pre-Tribulation rapture of the church. The people on the earth when Jesus returns are comprised of those who were unbelievers and left behind at the rapture. A large number of these people have come to Christ during the Great Tribulation, while a large number remain either entirely unbelieving in any deity or else are worshiping the Antichrist. Jesus Himself promised to remove the church from the world prior to the Great Tribulation, saying of the church age that will exist in the final days before the Tribulation, "Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth." (Revelation 3:10)
The Apostle Paul, due to the prophetic revelations he was given by the Lord, believed in a pre-Tribulation rapture. He pointed out that what we, as the church, are to be looking for is "the blessed hope---the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ". (Titus 2:13) The word "rapture" comes from the Latin "rapio" which means to "catch up, snatch away, seize, carry off". This is where we get our English word "rapture", and the Apostle Paul speaks of it like this, "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." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) The rapture of the church and the Second Coming of Christ are not the same event. At the rapture of the church, Christ will call believers up to Him, both the living and the dead. He will not set foot upon the earth. It is at the Second Coming that Christ will return, with the saints who have been with Him in heaven, to establish the eternal kingdom on the earth.
To conclude our look at what I feel is very compelling evidence for a pre-Tribulation rapture of the church, we finish our study today by studying ancient Jewish wedding practices. On the night before the crucifixion, Jesus makes a proposal the disciples must have found quite puzzling at the time, because it's a marriage proposal. He tells them that His Father's house has many rooms, and that He is going there to prepare a place for those who believe in Him, and that when the place is ready He will come back and get them. (John 14:2-3) This is what a man would say to the woman who has agreed to be his wife. After she accepts his marriage proposal, he goes back home to his father's house to build additional living quarters onto it. When he feels the residence is ready, his father inspects it. If everything meets the father's approval, he tells his son to go get the bride. Meanwhile, the bride doesn't know the day or the hour when her bridegroom will come for her, so she has to remain ready at all times with her honeymoon luggage packed. When the father says the time has come, the bridegroom sets out for the house of his bride, calling her name while his friends blow trumpets and make merry. The bridegroom happily gathers his bride into his arms and takes her back to his father's house for the wedding. This is the scene the Apostle Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Does a man in love leave his bride to endure tribulation if it is within his power to rescue her? No! Nor will Christ leave His bride on the earth to endure the Great Tribulation. Just as a Jewish man in ancient times would celebrate with his bride and all their family and friends in his father's house for seven full days following the marriage, Christ will celebrate with His bride in heaven (in His Father's house) for the seven full years of the Great Tribulation. While the terrible days of the Great Tribulation play out upon the earth, the bride is not on the earth enduring the wrath that is being poured out on it. She is at home with her Bridegroom. And in Revelation 19, when we see the Bridegroom returning to the earth in what has come to be known as the Second Coming of Christ, the bride is with Him "dressed in fine linen, white and clean". (v. 14) The ones dressed in the fine linen, white and clean, represent those who were made pure by the blood of the Lamb, who were saved from wrath, who are the members of Christ's church, His bride.
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