It has been shown already that the
rapture and the Second Advent of the Lord are different events.
Firstly, their timing is different. The rapture happens suddenly and unexpectedly
without any preceding signs, before the beginning of the ‘day of the Lord,’ the
time of tribulation on earth, whereas the Second Advent happens at the end of
this period of tribulation, and there are definite signs which precede it.
Secondly, their nature is different. In the rapture, the Lord descends peacefully
to the air and then returns to heaven with his bride, whereas at the Second
Advent he returns forcefully to earth in power and great glory.
And thirdly, their purpose is different. In the rapture, the Lord comes to claim his
bride, whereas at the Second Advent he returns to earth accompanied by the
armies of heaven with the intention of overcoming and defeating Antichrist.
Table 4.1 below sums up these differences:
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The Rapture
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The Second Advent
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The
Lord descends to the air.
Raptured
believers go to heaven with Christ.
He
comes for his own.
He
claims his bride.
He
comes for his bride.
It
is impending. It can happen at any time.
There
are no preceding signs.
Only
believers are involved in this.
It
happens before the day of God’s wrath, rescuing believers from this.
The
day of God’s wrath (the tribulation period) begins after this.
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The Lord descends right down to the earth.
Raptured
believers return to earth with the Lord.
He
comes with his own.
He
returns with his bride.
He
comes to destroy Antichrist.
It
happens at the end of the period of tribulation.
There
are definite signs which precede this.
This
affects everyone on earth.
It
happens at the end of the day of God’s wrath.
The
millennial reign of Christ on earth begins after this.
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Table 4.1
The rapture and the Second Advent are different events
Some of the verses and passages from the
Bible which clearly illustrate and confirm the fact that the rapture and the
Second Advent are different events are given in Table 4.2 below:
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The Rapture
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The Second Advent
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Jesus returns
for his bride and rescues us from the coming day of God’s wrath, the
tribulation
‘In
my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told
you. I am going there to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also
may be where I am.’ (John 14:2-3)
‘…and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.’ (1 Thess. 1:10)
‘For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Thess. 5:9) |
The Lord returns
to destroy Antichrist, and to reign ‘This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.’ (2 Thess. 1:7-8)
‘And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.’ (2 Thess. 2:8)
and see also Jude vv.14-15 and Rev. 19:17-21
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Life
generally will be pretty much as normal
‘For
in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing
about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the
Son of Man.’ (Matt. 24:38-39)
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The
world will be undergoing the tribulation, a period of great distress
‘For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equalled again. If those days had not been cut short, no-one would survive…’ (Matt. 24:21-22) |
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The rapture is
impending, it has no preceding signs, and its time is unknown
‘No-one
knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father.’ (Matt. 24:36)
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The Lord returns
after the period of tribulation, and definite visible signs precede this
‘Immediately
after the distress of those days… “the sun will be darkened…” At that time the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in the sky… They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of
the sky, with power and great glory…’ (Matt. 24:29-30)
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The Lord
descends to the air
‘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 for ever.’ (1 Thess. 4:16-17)
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The Lord returns
and descends right down to the earth
‘I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. The armies of heaven were following him… Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.’ (Rev. 19:11,14-15)
‘On
that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem …’
(Zech. 14:4)
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The dead in
Christ are raised and living believers are raptured
see
1 Thess. 4:16-17 above
‘We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.’ (1 Cor. 15:51-52)
‘I
am the resurrection and the life. He
who believes in me will live, even though he dies [THE RESURRECTION OF THE
DEAD IN CHRIST], and whoever lives and believes in me will never die [THE RAPTURE
OF THOSE WHO ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN].’ (John 11:25-26)
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Believers who
died during the tribulation are raised after the Second Advent
‘And
I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for
Jesus and because of the word of God.
They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received
his mark on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.’ (Rev.
20:4)
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Table
4.2 Verses and passages which show that the rapture and the Second Advent of
Christ are different events
The apparent
rapture tension in Matthew ch.24
Many believers get confused about the rapture when they read Matthew ch.24. On the one hand it says quite clearly that the coming of Christ will happen immediately after the future period of great distress commonly known as the tribulation (vv.29-30). And yet on the other hand Jesus says equally clearly that we need to be ready, because we cannot know the time of his coming (vv.42,44):
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‘Immediately after the distress of those days… At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky…’ (Matt 24:29-30) |
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‘Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come… So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect him…’ (Matt. 24:42,44) |
If we attempt to reconcile these two
sets of verses by saying that the rapture is part of the Second Advent (and
therefore happens at the end of the tribulation), then logically we end up
simply with a plain contradiction. Verses 29-30 tell us exactly when the Second
Advent will happen, so therefore we know exactly when the rapture would happen
(if it is indeed at the same time). However, vv.42,44 say unequivocally
that the rapture will happen at an unknown time. And if we are expected
to be ready for it, then it must be an impending event, rather than it being at
the end of a seven-year period in future world history (i.e. the
tribulation). So our attempt to reconcile these two sets of verses fails,
and therefore the rapture cannot be part of the Second Advent.
Therefore, the rapture (which
will happen at a time unknown to us, but which is impending and we are
therefore expected to be ready for it) is an event which must be separate to
and prior to the Second Advent (which happens at the end of the
tribulation).
What
about the parable of the weeds and the parable of the net in Matthew ch.13?
Those who believe in a post-tribulation
rapture (post-tribulationists as we call them) often cite the parable of the
weeds and the parable of the net in Matthew ch.13 in support of their
view. These two parables both pertain to
the time when God’s future judgement will take place. They describe how evil people, or weeds as
they are referred to, are removed from God’s kingdom so that only the
righteous, or the wheat remain. So put
simply, in these two parables the unrighteous and ungodly are removed whereas
the righteous and godly remain. Pre-tribulationists
believe the truth of these passages just as post-tribulationists do.
However, as we have seen previously,
passages that support a pre-tribulation rapture seem to teach the opposite, vis.
that the righteous and godly are removed from earth whereas the ungodly are
left behind to go through the tribulation.
See Table 4.3 below:
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The righteous are taken in the rapture
and the unrighteous remain on earth
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The unrighteous are removed through
judgement and the righteous remain in God’s kingdom
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‘In
my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told
you. I am going there to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also
may be where I am.’ (John 14:2-3)
‘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 for ever.’ (1 Thess. 4:16-17)
‘Two men will be in a field: one will be
taken and the other left. Two women
will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.’
(Matt. 24:40-41)
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‘As the weeds are pulled up and burned
in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels,
and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who
do evil. They will throw them into the
fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.’ (Matt. 13:40-43)
‘This is how it will be at the end of
the age. The angels will come and
separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matt. 13:49-50)
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Table
4.3 Comparison of these two sets of passages
So do we have a contradiction here? No, because these two sets of passages
are simply describing different events that happen at different times. Understanding this is the way to resolve the
difference between these two sets of passages.
The events described in the two parables in Matthew ch.13 will take
place at the ‘end of the age’ (vv.40,49), and both pre-tribulationists and
post-tribulationists agree on this.
However, the other passages which indicate that the righteous are
removed and the ungodly remain refer to a different event, the rapture, which
happens at a different time and before the end-times tribulation ensues. For post-tribulationists to cite these two
parables in Matthew ch.13 to support their view of a post-tribulation rapture (followed
immediately by the final judgement) simply means that they have to live in
denial of the true meaning of the other passages, which do refer to a separate
event which we know as the pre-tribulation rapture. However, if we are to be faithful to the
whole of the scriptures, then we must accept both these sets of passages and
learn to interpret them correctly, as referring to different events that
happen at different times.
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