Do you ever get the rapture and 2nd coming mixed up in scripture? People argue so much about all of this until we can't even talk about it. Man, the early church sure did talk about it, they were excited even way back then awaiting Jesus' return!
Remember when we read the Bible we have to look at who is speaking and who are they speaking to. Those are big clues as to what is being discussed.
Do you know that Israel is called: chosen, elect, and saints. Did you know that the church is called: chosen, elect and saints too? The angels are also referred to as chosen, elect and saints. You have to read the context (before and after the scripture) and consider the speaker and the audience to figure out "who" is being talked about.
ELECT:
Isaiah 45:4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel Mine elect....(Israel)
Romans 8:33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? (church)
I Timothy 5:21 I charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels....(angels)
Elect is translated Called in my KJ Bible / in Greek it means chosen
SAINTS:
Psalm 148:14 He also exalts the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him. Praise the LORD. (Israel)
I Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. (church)
Zechariah 14:5c and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with Him. (saints or angels) saints here is Kadosh in Hebrew and can mean saints or angels
CHOSEN:
Deuteronomy 14:1 For you are an holy people unto the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all nations that are upon the earth. (Israel)
Romans 8:33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. (church)
I Timothy 5:21 I charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the chosen angels… (angels)
RAPTURE:
I Thessalonians 4:16-17 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 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 Corinthians 15:52 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. **Last trump is something the Jews refer to on The Feast of Trumpets when they blow the shophar’s 100 times – the last long blast at midnight is called The Last Tump**
I Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ
Isaiah 26:19 Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in the dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
Job 14:13-14 O that you would hide me in the grave, that you would keep me secret, until Your wrath be past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ
2nd COMING:
Matt: 24:30-31 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.
Matt: 24:40-41 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. ** Greek: taken = to receive unto oneself left = to put away This is the sheep/goat judgment or wheat/tare separation**
Mark 13:26-27 And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Revelation 19:11,14 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (This is us and the angels) **armies in Greek is strateuma meaning a body of troops, an army of any size, large or small.
We know that we are in Christ’s army: II Timothy 2:3-4 You therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who has chosen Him to be a soldier. And we know we have armor: Ephesians 6:12 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.**
Zechariah 14:5c And the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with You. **The word saints here in Greek is Kadosh and it can be saints or angels.**
Jude 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints. **Here the word saints is hagios in Greek meaning separated, separated from sin and therefore consecrated to God, sacred. – this is the process we go through as believers**
Revelation 1:7 Behold, He comes with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. **wail in Greek is kopto meaning to chop, to beat the breast in grief – this is not something a believer will do when they see Jesus so this is another indication that we will be with Him at His 2nd Coming!! And in Matt: 24:30 it says “mourn” meaning the same thing – we will not mourn!!**
God is not a man that He should lie. We know that His Word is true and the promises that are in His Word are for us today. If you are in Christ, and believe those promises are for you, then you will have what is written. However, if you do not believe in the promises in God’s Word, then they are not for you. Not believing a promise is true is called unbelief. God will not give you a promise if you don’t believe in it or believe it is for you.
Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared (loved and honored and respected) the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD listened, and heard it, and a Book of Remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares His own son that serves Him. **Spare from what?? Read on into chapter 4 and you will find in verse 5 – (Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LORD) He is talking about sparing you from the tribulation if you believe in the Messiah and have a personal relationship with Him. – RAPTURE**
For those that are post-trib I want to point out that in order to be with Jesus at His 2nd coming means that you have to already be with Him on your horse when He comes. He isn’t riding down here, getting you and then going back to heaven so you can get a horse and then turning around and coming back down here for His 2nd Coming. There is more than one scripture above that points out that we will be with Him already at the time of His 2nd coming. Now for those that believe in mid-trib, my response to that is this: Jesus said in Luke 21:36 Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. Jesus means what He says, He wasn’t saying well you might have to go through a little bit of the tribulation and then I’ll take you out of it. When He says escape – He means that you will not have to go through ANY of it if you obey. And again in Malachi 3:16 when God makes up His jewels that He will spare, meaning they will not go through the tribulation at all. For those of you who think that “rapture” is a concept that came about in the 20th century and bled over into the 21st century it is clearly taught in the Bible so it has been around as long as scripture has. The early church fathers taught on it and so did Paul and the prophets prophesied about it. The term “rapture” is more commonly used than harpazo and is not found in the Bible. While you will not find that exact word through a word search, the meaning of the words that are written remains the same and conveys the same idea. The term “rapture” comes from the Latin verb rapiemur which means “to seize, snatch, carry away.” This is the same meaning behind the Greek word that is found in the Bible, harpazo. It is found in the following scripture, which is the “harpazo” passage. I Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be “caught up”… Who does this? THE LORD HIMSELF (I Thess.4:16) not angels – but The LORD HIMSELF.
If you aren’t living for Christ right now and you think oh well I’ll just take my chances and go through the tribulation, that is not the right way to think. You really think that you will all of a sudden be able to live for Him when all hell is breaking out on the earth, but yet cannot come to Him when you are in peace and free to do so? When you are starving and fighting and being faced with pledging allegiance to the anti-christ so you can get some food. Do you really think you can stand strong for Jesus when you are faced with being beheaded? You may not even live that long. Seek Him now while He is near. Call on Jesus, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
B E L I E V E, He’s Coming Soon!