Do you want to turn to 1 Thessalonians? When I was a lot younger, the
rage was books like The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey
and things like that. And the whole theory was there
was going to be a secret rapture at the second coming, and that
rapture was going to take the Christians out of the world,
and it was going to be either at the beginning of the tribulation
period of seven years, it was going to be in the middle of
the tribulation period, or it was going to be at the end of
the tribulation period. Well, I considered all that at the
time, and one time I was reading 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and it
just really struck me that 1 and 2 Thessalonians, when taken together,
present a single happening as the second coming of the Lord
Jesus. and not a split-up series of events like these other people
were presenting. So I'd like to present this to
you this afternoon, see what you think about it. This is certainly
nothing for any of us to get mad at each other about or lose
fellowship with each other. It's just a detail, but I think
it's interesting. I think it's important for us
to know as much as we can about the second coming, and so let's
just consider this for a few minutes. In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians,
Paul wrote, he probably wrote these letters from Corinth because
Silas and Timothy were with him in Corinth. And you can see at
the beginning of the letter, it's presented as from Paul,
Silvanus, and Timothy. It was probably written about
AD 50 or 51. It was one of the earliest letters,
except for maybe Galatians was written before it. And he wrote
it After he received a report from Timothy about the congregation,
it was during the second missionary tour, and he had come to Thessalonica
from Philippi, as explained in Acts 17, one through 10. So that's
the background. And there is a rich vein of teaching
throughout these two letters about the last days. And Paul
was wanting to get across to them what it was going to be
like in the last days. He mentions the day of the Lord,
and he mentions that some people had been saying that it had already
happened. So one of the main things he's saying to them is,
don't get all excited by these people who are saying the day
of the Lord has already occurred. It hasn't occurred. There's got
to be two things to happen first. You've got to have the apostasy,
the great falling away, and you've got to have the man of sin appear,
the Antichrist, on the scene before the Lord comes back again.
So don't be thinking that it's already happened. But what I
think he's describing in these two letters is a single event
that's going to happen. Other passages, of course, describe
the second coming. They're very important passages
that must go along with this. Matthew 24 in Revelation 19 and
20. We're not going to talk about
those today, but they have to all be taken together. All right,
let's go through 1 Thessalonians very quickly and look at the
verses that describe the second coming. Then we'll go through
2 Thessalonians the same way, and you can come to the same
conclusion I have or not, that this is all a single event at
a single event in time. Chapter 1, verse 10 is where
he first mentions He had mentioned in verse nine that he was so
glad in fact that they have turned from idols to serve the living
God. And then in verse 10, and to
wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. So there's
the first mention of the second coming. Now chapter two, verse
19, For what is our hope, or joy,
or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? Now this uses the word
parousia for coming. It means coming, arrival, or
presence. And it's used throughout the
New Testament for the Lord's second coming, parousia. In chapter
3, verse 13, He says, to the end, he may establish your hearts,
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. All right.
As we go through these verses, let's add to the characteristics
of his second coming, the things that are going to be happening
at the same time that he comes. And one of them is that he's
going to come with all his saints. So just remember that. Now, chapter
four is the one that really defines, it's the definitive text on the
second coming that so many people look to. Let's look at verses
13 through 18 in chapter four. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not even as the others which have no hope. So here's
the context of what he's gonna be saying. He doesn't want them
to worry about those who have already died, that something
weird or strange is gonna happen to them. 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 under 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
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. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words." All right, let's look at these verses. He's
saying that the ones having slept in Jesus, God's gonna bring with
Him at the second coming of Christ. And that the ones who are alive,
us, say, won't beat out the others to meet Christ. We are not going
to precede the ones who are dead in meeting Christ well what are
those theories say except that we're going to precede the others
to meet Christ secret rapture that would happen first and then
years later the rest so one thing to keep in mind is that he's
saying this is all one big event we're not going to precede those
uh... who have fallen asleep already
And what does he say is going to happen in verse 16? Three
things are going to happen when the Lord comes. A shout, this
is the word kallusma, shout of command. Number two, the voice
of the archangel. And number three, the trump or
trumpet of God. Now that is very significant.
That's one of the things that really clicked in my mind when
I was reading this so long ago is how many trumpets of God are
you going to have? This is happening when the people
are being caught up to meet him. This is the rapture, and it's
got with it the trumpet of God. And that's the final note, is
the trumpet of God. It's all through the Old Testament,
the sounding of the trumpet. So this is one single event. The dead in Christ shall rise
first, Yes, in that moment of time, not years before, but in
that moment of time, the dead 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. All right, we can
follow this. First, the first event is that
the dead in Christ rise. Then we who are alive come with
them and we meet the Lord in the air as he's coming down to
the earth. It's not like we meet him in
the air and we go away somewhere for three and a half or seven
years. It's all part of the second coming. The word for rapture
is a good Greek word. It's harpazo. It means to take
by force. It means to seize suddenly, to
take by force, to take away, to carry off, to catch up. And
that's where we do get the word, the rapture. And that's, I don't
think there's any problem with that word in itself. Let's look
at a few other uses of harpazo in a few other scriptures. Look
at Matthew 11, 12. These are all the same Greek
words. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and
the violent take it by force. That's this harpazo word. That's
the first one. Then Matthew 13, 19. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom and understands it not, then cometh the wicked
one and catches away that which was sown in the heart. Catches
away. or seizes or grabs. This is he which receives seed
by the wayside. Now, go to John 10, 28 and 29. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. That's the same word arpazo. So it's a kind
of a rapid and violent season. So when it is time for the second
coming, the Christians are going to be seized, to be grabbed up
into the air to meet the Lord. Then there is this word used
in Acts 8.39. I can just read these to you. And when they were come up out
of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that
the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing.
So Philip himself was raptured, was caught up. And then second
Corinthians 12, two and four. I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether
out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such an one caught
up to the third heaven. How that he was caught up into
paradise and heard unspeakable words, so forth. So Paul was
caught up in that special experience he had. And Jude 23, two more. Jude 23 says, and others, save
with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment
spotted by the flesh. So we're supposed to yank others
out of the fire. And finally, Revelation 12.5, and she brought forth a man-child
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child
was caught up unto God and to his throne. So there's the idea
of what's gonna happen. In Matthew 24, verses 40 and
41, let's look there. Matthew 24 is a great passage
where the Lord himself told what was going to be happening in
the second coming. In verses 40 and 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. So there is, now that doesn't
use this particular word, but it's describing the same kind
of event. It's still in the context though of a single event. In
chapter 24 of Matthew verse 31, It says, and he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet. There's that trumpet
again. So it's gotta be the same event that's being described
in 1 Thessalonians, right? There's not two last trumpets. And then in verse 36 of that
chapter, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the
angels of heaven, but my father only. That day. not those days,
that day. This is the day of the Lord.
This is the day of final judgment. This is the day talked about
all through the Old Testament of the second coming and of judgment. All right, one more verse in
1 Thessalonians, then we'll go to 2 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians
5.2. You yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord So cometh as a thief in the night, the
day of the Lord. All right, it's used throughout
the Old Testament. We won't turn there, but in verses
like Isaiah 13, 6, and 9, in Joel 1, 15, in Joel 2, 1, which
mentions the trumpet, in Zechariah 14, 1, in Malachi 4, 5, these
are all talking about the great day of the Lord, the thing the
Old Testament saints look to in the future that was going
to be the end of the world and the judgment time all right now
second Thessalonians now this is a different letter to the
Thessalonians but it's still the same people and he's just
continuing on with some of the same thoughts and one of his
main thoughts is the second coming look in chapter one verses six
through ten now he's going to be shifting more towards not
the exact events of the snatching up of the Christians and the
rising of the dead, but he's going to be talking more about
the judgment of the lost because these Thessalonians were being
mistreated and he wants them to know that the people that
are mistreating them are going to get their judgment. So in
verses six through ten, seeing it is a righteous thing with
God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. And
to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power. when he shall come to be glorified
in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe because
their testimony among you was believed in that day in that
day so he's talking about when the lord jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels and he's talking about that day
finally Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor
be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as
from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive
you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come
a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son
of perdition." So it hasn't happened yet. You know all those bumper
stickers that were popular back when that said, you know, if
you see this car crash and there's no driver, I've been raptured. I don't think so. I don't think
it's going to happen that way. Anyway, the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ by one gathering together unto him at that day. It's also going to be the day
of judgment. And he describes the tribulation in Matthew 24. It's got to happen. So, just
in my simple mind, it just seems to me that there's a single second
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all these things are going
to happen at that time. And there's not a second coming
and then a third coming. It's not going to be that way.
It's going to be a single second coming where the dead in Christ
and us who remain, if we're in that age now, all meet the Lord
in the air together. And then as he's coming down
to earth, and then he sets up the judgment at least of the
saints. Now you get into another part
of interpretation that we won't talk about today, I'm not qualified
to talk about it anyway, and that is whether there is a split
judgment with a thousand years in between or whether there's
not. But what I'm talking about today
is just that single second coming of Christ. The dead in Christ
are raised, the ones remaining are caught up, and Christ descends. That's described in Revelation
19 in a vivid description of the coming of the Lord Jesus. Of the judgment, either two parts
or one, of the Antichrist being destroyed and chained for a thousand
years, in Revelation 20, and the bottomless pit, and so forth.