Judgment and Perseverance

We know that the faithful saints of God will be with Jesus when he returns from heaven to execute judgment on the wicked (Jude 1:14,15; Rev. 17:14; Rev. 19:7,8,14). Most of the body of Christ, along with the remainder of Christianity, contend that this is the result of a "rapture" that has taken place previously; either before the time that "great tribulation" sets in, or somewhere during that time, but before the Lord's second coming. I would like to show very clearly from the scriptures in short order today why that school of thought is altogether in error. First of all I would like to take this passage as the text: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God BRING WITH HIM. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto THE coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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 [unto THE coming] 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" (I Thess. 4:13-17). Okay now, you might note the words that I've capitalized here for the sake of emphasis, and as you will see, it is with good reason that I have done so. To sum it up, the Lord will "bring with him" his faithful ones, which are comprised of the dead who are raised at THE second coming, along with those who "are alive and remain" unto THE second coming of Jesus. And also let's make note that this second coming will be accompanied by the sound of a heavenly trumpet. Now that should really be enough right there to show this truth, but since we know that the apostle referred to this event as THE coming, let's go elsewhere to see the scriptures confirm this even more plainly: "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. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Cor. 15:51-54). So there it is again, the exact same thing. At the sound of the trumpet the dead will be raised and the living shall be changed, all of whom are given immortal bodies like the one Jesus has, that will never die. And seeing that all of these elements are part of our text passage, we know that all of these things take place at THE second coming of Jesus, even though that item of note isn't definitively stated here. One thing is for certain however, the dead and living saints are NOT going to be resurrected and glorified more than once. One time in fact is all that it will take to get that job done. I mean, immortality is immortality; and the following references make it evident that God's elect will obtain that immortality WHEN Jesus appears from heaven AT his second coming (Philip. 3:20,21; I Jn.3:2,3). We could draw from more scriptures here to further clarify these things, but I believe this part of the point is thoroughly established by what we've seen from the scriptures so far.

Now let's look at the "when" factor of this event, in regard to the time of great tribulation which Jesus spoke of. "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. THEN if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect... For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also THE COMING of the Son of man be. Immediately AFTER the TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man COMING in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 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" (Mat. 24:21-24,27,29-31). And once again we see the same things with some more details in place regarding the time of THE second coming of the Lord. Notice that it was the time of great tribulation that Jesus correlated with "false Christs and false prophets" appearing on the scene. This is noteworthy because most of those who adhere to the 'feel good' rapture theory believe it will take place BEFORE "the Beast" and "the false prophet" are made manifest. And that is exactly who Jesus is speaking of here, as the following passages positively confirm to us (II Thess. 2:3,4,8,9; Rev. 13:5-8; 11-14; Rev. 16:13,14). And the scriptures clearly show that the Beast and the false prophet will have finished their wicked course and be destroyed by Jesus at his coming (II Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19:19,20). And last but not least, Matthew 24 shows us that THE second coming of Jesus will not take place until AFTER the time of great tribulation; and in fact his coming will sufficiently punctuate the tribulation for the wicked and usher in a glorious rest and peace for the righteous who have been raised and changed (II Thess. 1:6-8). And again we see that these things take place at the sound of the trumpet which is synonymous with the moment that Jesus "gathers together," or catches up his elect to meet him in the air, so that his saints will be with him when he arrives on the earth. Jesus would not have left this warning for us about not accepting "the Beast," otherwise known as "the "Antichrist," unless his people were still on earth during his and his "false prophet's" tyrannical reign. And he said with good reason in regard to that grand deception, that HIS coming would APPEAR like the lightning of heaven; and to accept NO Lord, Christ, or God who DOES NOT come in that manner. This warning was given because his people WILL be here to endure that time of tribulation and world-wide deception, and they will be here until the very end; which end IS his ONLY second coming (Dan. 7:25-27; Dan. 8:23-25; Rev. 13:7,15-17; Rev. 14:9-13; Rev. 20:4). So my friend, though we could go on with much more confirmation of these scriptural facts and realities, the fact is that confirmation is all that IS left about this irrefutable truth. There simply is NO RAPTURE to be found in the Bible, only the ONE second coming of the Lord Jesus; at which time he will raise up and glorify his faithful saints, who will meet him on his way here to destroy the wicked and set up his millennial reign (Rev. 19:17-21; Rev. 20:1-6). Amen.