Some Die Once – Many Die Twice [Part 29]
In Part 29 of our series of Blog Posts from our upcoming book titled “One Way or Another Your Eternal Destination is Guaranteed” the question today looks at: “The Coming of the Lord”
First or Second Coming
Confusion in varying Christian doctrines exists with reference to the Second Coming back to earth of the Lord Jesus. Everyone agrees with the First Coming—or First Advent. This is well covered by the in-the-flesh birth messages in Matthew chapters 1-2 and Luke chapters 1-2. However, there is division in the teaching about the Second Advent. Some teach that the Rapture is the Second Coming, but by examining Scripture and rightly dividing the Word of God, it is not possible that the Rapture and Second Coming are one and the same event.
Rapture
For the Rapture, the Lord gathers His body of believers in the clouds and meets them in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). For His Second Coming, He departs heaven and arrives upon earth on a white horse. His armies of believers, whom He had earlier raptured, follow Him on white horses for the War of Armageddon on earth (Revelation 19:11-20). The Lord will, having defeated the Antichrist, false prophet and their followers, dismount His horse and stand with His feet on the Mount of Olives. This is His Second Advent:
Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. Zechariah 14:3-4a
Now 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. Revelation 19:11
And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine lines, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Revelation 19:14-15
Then the beast [Antichrist] was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Revelation 19:20
The Coming of The Lord
The coming of the Lord in the clouds will take place prior to the seven-year Tribulation period. Believers will not be on earth to experience God’s wrath.
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
The Lord’s return to the earth to defeat the Antichrist will happen in order to end the Tribulation period. God’s Word is pure truth, God does not lie, God keeps His promises, and God does not change. None of God’s Scripture contradicts itself.
The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Psalm 12:6
Every word of God is pure: He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Proverbs 30:5
For I am the LORD, I do not change; Malachi 3:6a
In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, Titus 1:2
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16
Seven-Year Tribulation
When the Lord Jesus gathers believers together in the air, He does not return to this earth (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Therefore, the Rapture is not His Second Coming to earth. The chronological order in Scripture reveals that the Seven-year Tribulation follows the Rapture, and at the end of the seven years He and His army of believers return to earth. Prior to the Seven-year Tribulation Period, He will remove the Church body from earth to protect believers from God’s furious wrath and from Satan’s evil, bitter resentment (John 3:36; Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:9).
Since the controversy continues, this subject bears repeating: Believers are not subjected to God’s wrath during the Seven-year Tribulation period which immediately follows the Church Age Rapture, because the Church Body of believers will be raptured prior to God’s judgment. God’s wrath is His vengeance which demonstrates justice, or the fair payback to unfaithful creatures for offending their just Creator. Note the emphasis on life, judgment and wrath in the following verses:
Wrath or Life?
John the Baptizer exemplifies the fact that unbelievers will experience God’s wrath:
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides [remains] on him.” John 3:36
The Lord Jesus tells us that believers will experience life—not judgment:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” John 5:24
According to John 5:24 above, although many believers have already died the first death, their eternal life has already begun, having passed from death into life.
Paul points out the truth that believers are saved with the righteousness of God (in God’s view), but nonbelievers will suffer the Tribulation wrath:
Much more then, having now been justified by his blood [which forgives those who repent and believe], we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Romans 5:9
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10
The Second Coming of The Lord
No more convincing proof is required. Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. During the 2,000 year Church Age, the people who have had faith and believed in the Savior, will not suffer the wrath of the seven-year Tribulation.
In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 above, to wait refers to the believer’s great hope for the promise of God to send His Son back to the air, to take him up with the other Church Age believing saints (and possibly with the OT saints). However, to wait could also be applied to His Second Coming: For those who did not believe, but for the first time, might hear and accept the saving Gospel message, God will resurrect these Tribulation saints at Christ’s Second Coming (Rev. 7:14; Matt. 24:13; Mark 13:13; Dan 12:12-13; Rev. 20:4, 5b). During the Tribulation period, while there will be tremendous suffering for those who will not deny their new-found faith, they will not suffer the eternal second death.
The Great Tribulation
With regard to the last 3 ½ years of the Seven-year Tribulation period, Jesus called that phase the “Great Tribulation”:
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matthew 24:21
During the coming time of trouble, unbelievers and the new Tribulation believers alike will be in enormous distress:
And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17
Forgiven
The vital importance of looking ahead cannot be overemphasized. Believers have been forgiven for the things done in the past, and they look forward to what comes ahead:
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, Philippians 3:13b
Whether believers or not, we all need to be prepared for our eternal futures:
Prepare to meet thy God. Amos 4:12b
The trumpet sounding for the Rapture of the Church in Revelation 4:1 is in divine harmony with two other places in the Scriptures having to do with the trumpet signalling the taking up of the believers (The word trumpet is in bold for emphasis):
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Revelation 4:1
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. [Last trumpet of the Church Age] For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 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. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Churches
The Book of Revelation is the end of the Bible and the most detailed prophecy of the end times things to come. In it, the chronological order of events is expounded: The first chapter affirms the Lord Jesus is Almighty God; then the second and third chapters quote the Lord Jesus telling the seven churches what the Spirit says to the churches. After that, the word churches is not seen again until the 6th to last verse in the Bible (Revelation 22:16). The logical reason for the word churches being omitted is because the universal Church is still on earth in the last verse of chapter 3 and is raptured in the very next verse: the first verse of chapter 4. The Church body will then be in heaven with the Lord until they return with Him for His Second Advent.
Tribulation and Judgment
Chapters 6-19 describe events which will take place during the Tribulation period. Chapter 20 tells of the 1,000 year Millennial reign followed by the Great White Throne judgment, Chapters 21 and 22 describe heaven and give warnings for those who might change God’s Word:
For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Revelation 3:22-4:1
To reiterate the fact that the Rapture precedes the Tribulation, the chronological order in the chapters of Revelation specifies the Seven-year Tribulation period does not begin until after the praises by the saints of the Lord in chapters 4 and 5. In 4:1, the things which must take place after this are explicitly described from chapter 6 to the very end in chapter 22. In chapter 6 the Antichrist finally appears; first promising peace, on a white horse. Then as his career progresses the horses’ colors change from fiery red to black, and end with a pale horse representing death.
Armageddon
The unbelieving are gathered together for the battle of Armageddon in Revelation 16:14-16. There is a Parenthesis in chapters 17 and 18 to describe the falling; first of Babylon’s religious system, and then the entire commercial structure. Soon after this, in chapter 19, the actual Armageddon battle is quickly won by the Lord Jesus coming in on a white horse and His followers on white horses. Again, this will be His Second Coming to earth.
Next Blog Post on November 20, 2025:
“When will the Rapture Occur? There is only One Absolute Truth”
Pray that people will come to the saving knowledge of the Truth before it’s too late, and love their children to teach them the Truth.
Thank you for reading and God bless you!
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