ESCHATHOLOGICAL STUDY SERIES (VI)
TEXT: – 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2:1-13
INTRODUCTION: – The next event in the agenda of God before the manifestation of that man of sin is the “taking out of the way the hindered of lawlessness.
There are presently three things we can refer to as the hinderer of lawlessness, i.e. the government (Roms.13:1-7; 1Pet.2:13), the holy Spirit (John 16:7-15) and the Church (Matt.5:13; 2Corinth.2:15-16’ Eph.6:12-18; 2Corinth.10:4-7). And since the Holy Spirit will continue to be here even throughout the millennium reign and forever, like the government (even the reign of antichrist is a government, it means the Church will be taken out of the World before the reign of antichrist.
The Church will continue to hinder lawlessness until the rapture. And then, the 70th week of Daniel’s vision will begin with the manifestation of the Antichrist. According to Daniel, the Antichrist will reign for 7years, for he will make a 7year covenant with Israel and break in the middle of 7years.
1) The Rapture (Thess. 4:16-17) : – The word “RAPTURE” comes from the Latin word raptu which means “caught away” or “caught up”. This Latin word is equivalent to the Greek word “Harpazo” used in 1Thess.4:17.
The rapture refers to the time when Christ will appear (Gr Parnusial, personal appearance) in the air and the saints will caught up with Him and be with Him in heaven (Jh.14:1-3).
The rapture is different from the second advent of Christ when He will come as the Messiah to destroy the antichrist.
There are two comings of Christ that we are expecting; first is the rapture, in which Christ will only appear in the air and the saints (i.e. the true Church) will be caught up to meet Him and go to heaven. In the rapture, Christ will not come to the earth to live and fulfill a mission as He did at the first advent. When Christ meets the saint in the air, He takes them back to heaven with Him and presents them before the Father’s throne where they remain during the time the great tribulation is running on earth (1Thess.3:13, Jh.4:1-3). Christ will not remain in the air with the saints when the meet Him there. He will take us to heaven and present us before the Father.
While the great tribulation is going on, in the earth, the marriage supper of the Lamb and the Bema seat judgment (i.e. judgment of the saints will be taking place simultaneously in heaven (2Corint. 5:10; Rev.19).
The Second Advent is the time Christ will come to the earth to live here and fulfill a mission. This is the time He will come from heaven with us (the saints) He has raptured 7years earlier. The second advent cannot take place until after all that is written in Revelation 4:1-19;21 is fulfilled, while the rapture can take place any moment from now without any thing being fulfilled.
2) Qualities for The Rapture
i) Be in Christ (2Corint.5:17-18; 1Thess.4:14)
ii) Be Christ’s (1Corint.15:23; Gal.5:24)
iii) Be blessed and holy (Rev.20:4-6; Heb.12:14)
iv) Be good(1Jh.5:28-29)
v) Be worthy(Lk.21:36)
vi) Be in the Church (1Corint.12:13; Eph.1:20-23; 4:4-6; 5:27; Col1:18, 24)
vii) Be pure (1Jh.3:2-3)
viii) Be without spot or wrinkle (Eph.5:27; Rev.21:27)
ix) Live and walk in the Spirit (Gal.5:19-21)
x) Walk in the light 1(Jh.1:7; Col.2:6)
xi) Be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev.21:27)
x) Be steadfast in love unmovable and unbounding in the work of the Lord (1Corint.15:58)
3) The Purpose of The Rapture (1Thess.4:17; 1Crint.15: )
– To receive the saints to Himself as promised (Jh.14:1-3; Eph.5:27)
– To resurrect the dead in Christ from among the wicked dead (1Thes.4:14; 16-17; Phil.3:11; Rev.20:4-6).
– To take the saints to heaven to live in the new Jerusalem and to receive rewards for their works on earth (thes.3:13; Jh.14:1-3; 2Corint.5:10; Heb.12:22-23; Rev.19:1-10; 21:9-10)
– To change bodies of saints from mortality to immortality (1Thes.4:16-17; 1Corint.15:35-58; Phil.3:21).
– To present the saints before God (1Thes.3:13; Jh.14:1-3; Jude 24; Rev.19:1-10).
– To make the saints whole in the body, spirit and soul (1Thess.4:16-17; 5:23; Phil.3:21).
– To cause the saints to escape the great tribulation coming upon the world (1Thes.5:9; Lk.21:36; Rev.3:10).
– To remove the hinderer of lawlessness (2Thes.2:7; Rev.4:1).
– To allow the revelation of the antichrist (1Thes.2:7; Rev.4:1)
4) How Will The Rapture Take Place (1Thes.4: 13-18)
a) The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven with a shout (or command or a call for preparation) for the dead to arise just like the case of Lazarus (Jh.11:43). All the dead in Christ shall resurrect. This is not the same as the resurrection described in Rev.20:4; which is an advent excuring after Christ returns to the earth, destroys the forces of the antichrist and confines Satan to the bottomless pit (Rev.19:11-20;3). The resurrection in Rev.20:4 talks about those who turn to Christ and died for their faith in Him during the Great Tribulation (i.e. Tribulation saints).
The shout will be followed by the shout of the archangel and the turning of God, whose great and terrible blasts like those on Sinai grew louder and louder until heaven and the earth did shake (Ex.20:18-19; Heb.12:18-21,26).
Then comes the Trump of God (1Thes.4:16). This is not the same as the 7th trumpet of Rev.11:15-13;18. One occurs at the rapture of the Church before Daniel’s 70th week (2Thes.2:7; Rev.4:1); and the other occurs at the rapture of the man child in the middle of the 70th week.
One is the trump of God (1Thess.4:16), the other is the trumpet of the 7th angel (Rev.11:15); one is the herald an event that will take place in a moment (1Corint.15:51-58) the other is to herald many events which are days in duration (Rev.10:7; 11:15-13;18).
One is a trumpet of blessing of woe to men (Rev.8:3; 11:15; 12:12).
One is before the 7 seals and the first 6 trumpets of Rev.6:1-9; 21, the other is after these (Rev.11:15).
At the same time as the dead in Christ arise, followers of Christ who are alive on earth will be transformed their bodies becoming incorruptible and immortal (1Corint.15:51-53). This will happen in a moment – “in the twinkling of an eye” (1Corint.15:52),
Both the resurrected saints and those who are alive and transformed will be caught up together to meet Christ in the air.
They will be visibly united with Christ in the air and be reunited with loved ones who have died knowing Christ (Thes.4:13-18).
The saints will be removed from all suffering and distress (2Corint.5:2, 4; Phil.3:21) from all persecution and oppression (Rev.3:10) and from entire realm of temptation, sin and death (1Corint.15:51-56). The rapture also rescues the saints from the “wrath to come” (1Thess.1:10; 5:9) – the great tribulation.
CONCLUSION: – The hope that our Saviour will soon come to take us out of this world of sin “ever be with the Lord” is the blessed hope of all who have yielded their lives to Christ (Tit.2:13). It is a major source of comfort for suffering Christians (1Thess.4:17-18; 5:10)
Those who claim to be Christians and part of the Church yet are unfaithful to Christ and do not truly have a personal saving relationship with the Lord will be left behind (Matt.25:1; Lk.12:45). They will be left with only a false system of religion (Rev.17:1), and will experience the great tribulation.