[Originally posted July 25, 2009]
We are taking a short break from studying 1 Thessalonians. We will pick up next week in 4:13. This Eschatology Overview provides the framework for understanding Paul’s teaching in chapters 4 and 5.. I have recently been reading from the Book of Isaiah for devotions. I have discovered lots of application to our study on last day events.
Is. 34:8 – lots of references to the day of the Lord – we will be looking at that topic today… both references to judgment upon the world and blessing for God’s covenant people. Notice what the prophet says in vs. 16-17 – the Lord is going to fulfill all of the details of these prophecies of future events. Every detail of every prophecy will have its “mate” in terms of fulfillment.
Seek from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them. And He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it to them by line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
Keep in mind a couple of important features of biblical prophecy:
Remember the important principle of telescoping prophecy – two future events viewed as one; or what seems to be a single event turns out to have multiple phases
Also one partial, near-term historical reference like a foreshadowing… with complete fulfillment in the last days
Quick Primer – can’t cover all of the details; refresher for most of us; don’t lose sight of Practical Implications for holy living and watchfulness and worldwide evangelism; look at importance Scripture gives to this subject;
Be fair-minded about the problem passages for your view and gracious towards others of differing views;
Taking just a very high level approach to define some terms and get some background – not trying to prove anything – that would require a course in itself;
Are you interested in when Christ is coming back???
OVERVIEW OF 5 MAJOR ISSUES:
I. DISTINCTION BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
Essence of Dispensationalism – God then has some unique aspects to His overall program in dealing with such differing groups; OT saints are not members of the church and NT Gentile believers are not members of national Israel; the church has not replaced Israel so that God is finished fulfilling His promises to the nation; that is why the current existence of the nation Israel is so significant (even though it is not yet the regathered and converted nation that is prophecied in the OT) – God will still keep all of His promises; that is why we talk about a literal hermeneutic or system of interpreting the Bible rather than one of allegory or symbolism; such a literal system includes the proper use of symbolism (like Jesus saying “I am the door”) and typology as in any other literature – but does not sacrifice the intended historical application of God’s promises
Many things can be similar without two things being identical; look at the qualifications for elder and for deacon – many similarities – but not the same office; Then look at diff words for elder, pastor, bishop – yet all refer to the same person – So you have to look at both points of similarity and points of distinction; You have to make a complete study – don’t just pick up on a couple of verses that stress continuity and then jump to the conclusion that the church has replaced Israel;
With respect to Israel and the church — you have continuity of the people of God – but a distinction between national Israel and the Church; saved Gentile believers in the church age can be called children of Abraham (Rom. 4:11) and children of faith in a spiritual sense… speaking of spiritual Israel… but not in the national sense
-
Israel defined as a nation and treated as such by God in the OT – with specific promises made to the nation that still will find fulfillment in the future formation of the church at Pentecost – did not exist until then; Christ spoke of the church as future – “I will build my church”
-
Mystery nature of the church in terms of OT revelation
-
Christ presented as the Head of the Church and the Church as His Body
-
Strange: OT believers not part of the body of Christ??? Isn’t there one body of Christ??
-
Church as the Bride of Christ with marriage feast celebrated
-
We enter the Church Universal by being baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body; the Holy Spirit now indwells all church believers permanently – not true in the OT economy
-
Specific passages that distinguish the church from natural Israel and from spiritual Israel
Practical implications
-
View of OT prophecy is vastly different
-
Infant baptism vs believer baptism; whole issue of covenant theology
-
View of OT law; observance of the Sabbath, etc.
Ezekiel 36:22ff: NT says there is no distinction now between man and woman… between Jew and Gentile in the church – in terms of equal sharing in the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant… doesn’t mean that God no longer sees a distinction between men and women; doesn’t mean that there is no future for the nation of Israel in God’s program… Expansion of the New Covenant promise to include Gentile believers in the church does not mean cancellation of those earlier commitments to the Jewish nation
Yet – there is continuity in the program of God – church is much more than a parenthesis – not an afterthought because of the rejection of the kingdom by the Jews at the time of Christ; but part of God’s overall program for the ages
Progressive Dispensationalism – Darrell Bock – vs classical dispensationalism – since we see the spiritual promises of the New Covenant being fulfilled in part in the church today – we see more of a unified view of eternal salvation. God will save humankind in its ethnic and national plurality. But, He will bless it with the same salvation given to all without distinction; the same, not only in justification and regeneration, but also in sanctification by the indwelling Holy Spirit. These blessings will come to all without distinction through Jesus Christ, the King of Israel and of all the nations of redeemed humanity. This perspective maintains the distinctiveness of Israel and the church but stresses continuity (despite differing dispensations) rather than discontinuity.
But: People will point to some text that shows the common link that we are all the people of God and proclaim, “See, we have refuted the basis for dispensationalism!”
Mathison: The promises made to literal, physical Israelites were fulfilled by a literal, physical Israelite, Jesus the Messiah. He is the Seed of Abraham. What dispensationalism fails to grasp is that through union with Christ, all who are His by faith have become members of His body. Therefore, all who are in Him by faith, whether Old Testament believers or New Testament believers, are coheirs of the promises and the covenants. The covenantal promises do not require a future fulfillment by national Israel in order for God’s Word to be true.
Yet in refutation of this, the Bible promises that at some point in the future, at the end of the Tribulation period all of national Israel that is on the earth at that time will turn in repentance and faith and embrace their Messiah. This would have no meaning if the reference was to all of spiritual Israel.
Ezek 37:28 – contrasts the nation of Israel with all of the other nations – cannot be a reference to spiritual Israel
Message of book of Hosea – Israel as a nation will be unfaithful, but the Lord will restore her and fulfill all of the unconditional promises of the various covenants
Application: Appreciate the beauty and privilege of God’s Election: Rom. 11:5, 17, 25-29
II. NATURE OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM AND THE TIMING FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST
OT promises that the Messiah will reign in peace and righteousness over the entire earth from the throne of David for a period of 1000 years – Is this prophecy to be viewed literally?
-
Rev. 20 – Satan bound for this 1000 year period
-
Is. 11:1-10 description of this reign on the earth
Amill camp says “No” – continuous growth of good and evil in the world; the millennium mentioned in Rev 20 describes the present reign of the souls of deceased believers with Christ in heaven or the reign of the church with Christ in this age – so they don’t take a chronological view of the Book of Revelation; don’t see any distinction between the millennial rule of Christ and the eternal state
-
NT frequently interprets the OT prophecies in unexpected ways – but I think that is due to God revealing and inspiring the authors rather than establishing a pattern for how we are to interpret the OT from the standpoint of illumination…
-
Simple argument:
-
Every prophecy not fulfilled at the First Coming, must be fulfilled at the Second
-
For every OT prophecy of the First Coming, there are eight for the Second
-
Since prophecies related to First Coming were fulfilled literally, we have a right to expect the same for those related to the Second Coming
-
Post mill camp says “Sort of” – the kingdom of God is now being advanced through Christian teaching and preaching and influence; eventually the world will be Christianized and enjoy a long period of peace and prosperity after which Christ will return for the final judgment and ushering in of the eternal state
-
Doesn’t meet the smell test – is that really what is happening in the world?
-
Simplifies a lot of things – only one return of Christ; only one final judgment… etc.
-
Spiritualizes much of OT prophecy related to the Second Coming
-
Refute this by looking at the positive support for the pre-mill position
Pre mill camp – says “Yes” – Why??
-
More literal hermeneutic in general – God’s plan from the beginning has been to establish a kingdom of peace and righteousness on the earth; He has never abandoned this objective
-
Maintains the distinction between Israel and the church with respect to the OT prophecies
-
Expectation of Christ and the apostles in the gospels and Acts 1:6; 3:19-21 (restoration) – just talking about the kingdom being delayed; not correcting their expectations about a physical kingdom on earth; still has a focus on the nation of Israel and throne of David; changes nothing about the nature of the kingdom they are expecting
-
Chronological explanation of events in Book of Revelation – 19:11; 20:1
-
Distinction from the eternal state – yet OT texts sound like they are talking about the same
But what about the Jewish nature of this kingdom and the rebuilding of the Temple and some form of animal sacrifices reinstituted?? Some weirdness… .
Application: Expectation of a glorious future for this earth; a nice approach to a philosophy of history; we are headed somewhere; Christ as King will reign over this earth before He puts down all opposition at the end and ushers in the eternal state
Our home is in heaven – John 14 – but we will reign on the earth with Christ
2 Tim. 2:12: If we endure, we will also reign with Him
III. DISTINCTION BETWEEN RAPTURE AND SECOND COMING (REVELATION)
Arguments mostly against post-trib; left with pre-trib or some form of mid-trib position
Might want to define these positions differently with reference to 70th week of Daniel
-
Background: revelation regarding the First and Second Coming of Christ in OT
-
Viewed as 2 mountaintops without any glimpse of valley between so it looked like one event
-
Complexity vs Simplicity – wouldn’t it be great if we could just go with simplest interpretation – less resurrections, less trumpet calls, less judgments…
-
Certain omissions when these two events discussed
-
More importantly, certain areas that cannot be harmonized
-
Look at the chart from Zondervan: Charts of Biblical Prophecy. Use caution: don’t try to get too precise with diff Gk words used: Second Coming = general ref
-
Paraousia – denotes arrival and presence of some ruler at a certain place; being along Side; Personal and bodily coming of Christ
-
Apocalypsis – unveiled, revealed
-
Phaneroo – to make visible what has been not known or seen
-
Epiphaino – to bring to light; full visibility
-
-
Need interval of time for marriage feast of the bride of Christ; for Judgment seat of Christ; for populating the earth with believers who will enter the Millennium and have children who will rebel
But: Matt. 24 passage has a lot of parallels to 1 Thess 4 passage – but some differences as well; introduces much complexity;
Strangeness of Rapture – hard to imagine what will be taking place in the world as all the believers are snatched out; harpooned out; gathered to meet Christ in the air. Left Behind series… Tim Lahaye…
Application: Privilege of having mystery truth unfolded to us – not revealed in OT – but a number of types of Rapture: Enoch and Elijah; 2 Cor 12:2-4 (rapture of Paul) “caught up to the third heaven”
IV. NATURE OF THE DAY OF THE LORD / GREAT TRIBULATION / TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE
Definition of Day of the Lord – God’s special intervention into the course of world events to judge His enemies, accomplish His purpose for history, and demonstrate His sovereignty; there have been mini days of the Lord throughout OT history – but only foreshadowings of the coming Day of the Lord… right now man has his day; Satan has his day… cf. Clint Eastwood: “Make my Day!” Lord will have His day
Importance of 70th week of Daniel – gap between the 69 weeks and the 70th is where we are living in the church age; 2 events referred to in Dan. 9 that fall into this gap period: crucifixion and destruction of city and temple in Jerusalem (so it makes sense that entire church age would fall into this gap period)
Primary application to the nation of Israel – abundant details provided in OT
Two phases/purposes of the Day of the Lord:
-
Judgment upon unsaved / period of darkness versus
-
Deliverance for believers / period of light, divine rule and blessing
Time period:
-
Definitely future – can’t look at some past event like the destruction of the temple in 70AD and say that it fulfilled all of the cosmic chaos attributed to the Day of the Lord
-
Broad sense – This may surprise you: includes 70th week of Daniel and the Millennial Kingdom; not some limited 24 hour period
-
Narrow sense – one specific day = when Christ returns with His angels to climax the judgment phase
You can see where there might be confusion then in some texts with respect to time references = where most of the controversy develops – the mid-point of Daniel’s 70th week with the Antichrist desecrating the temple – that occurs before the narrow sense of the Day of the Lord… but in the midst of the broad sense of the Day of the Lord
View of Book of Revelation – some people take a view that these events are largely past and had more to do with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD – only a foreshadowing; many aspects of the prophecy obviously not fulfilled in 70 AD
Preterism (the Historic View) – the end of the age had to happen in that generation to which Jesus was speaking in Matt. 24:34; telescoping view of prophecy is the answer
Concept of Birth Pangs preceding the revelation of Christ and ushering in of new millennial age; fits well with 7 year period; beginning of birth pangs = 1st 3.5 years; then more severe outpouring of divine wrath – important concept (see below)
How related to Jewish people; when is the nation saved?
But: Are we doing believers a disservice not to prepare them for the suffering and persecution of the coming Day of the Lord?? Certainly there is persecution and suffering throughout the Church Age.
Application: Judgment aspect is not something I would be looking forward to – but rather the blessed hope for us is the Rapture – being taken out of the world before this great and terrible day of the Lord
Transition: leads to issues related to the Timing of the Rapture
V. ISSUES RELATING TO THE TIMING OF THE RAPTURE
You cannot just be pro-trib – you must make a decision on some passages… but don’t want to make too much out of this issue
Various Positions:
– Partial Rapture – only “worthy” believers participate in the rapture and escape the tribulation period
-
Pre-trib (pre-70th week)
-
Mid-trib (mid-70th week) – many variations
-
Pre-wrath position – 6th seal judgment begins the outpouring of divine wrath so the church will be raptured some time before that in the second half of the tribulation. Overlaps God’s program for the nation Israel and for the church
-
-
Post-trib (post 70th week) – or at least at the very end
-
Claims that the early church held this view;
-
But: you need some interval of time between the Rapture and the beginning of the Millennium to populate the earth with people who will enter the Millennium with unglorified bodies and have children who may end up rebelling
-
What would the purpose be for such a rapture if the church is caught up to meet Christ and then just accompanies him immediately back to earth?
-
Purpose of Tribulation Period – for Israel rather than the church – gets back to point #1
Imminency is major issue – looking for the any moment return of Christ
No clearly predicted event must intervene; much more than just possible for that particular generation
What about passages that seem to imply some other event must first take place??
Do we need a temple in Jerusalem??
John 21:18-19 old age and death of Peter by crucifixion
Acts 23:11 – Paul would have oppty to revisit Rome
Destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70
Renald Showers: The concept of the imminent coming of Christ is a significant inference for the pre-tribulational rapture of the church… an imminent event is one that is always hanging overhead, is constantly ready to befall or overtake a person, is always close at hand in the sense that it could happen at any moment. Other things may happen before the imminent event, but nothing else must take place before it happens. If something else must take place before an event can happen, that event is not imminent… when an event is truly imminent, we never know exactly when it will happen… since we never know exactly when an imminent event will occur, three things are true. First, we cannot count on a certain amount of time transpiring before the imminent event happens… second, we cannot legitimately set a date for its happening… third, we cannot legitimately say that an imminent event will happen soon. The term “soon” implies that an event must take place within a short time… by contrast, an imminent event may take place within a short time, but it does not have to do so in order to be imminent. Thus, “imminent” is not equal to “soon.” This is illustrated by the fact that the next coming of Christ was just as imminent when the New Testament was written as it is today. However, today, some 2000 years later, that coming has not occurred yet. Thus, from today’s historical perspective, it is obvious that although the next coming of Christ was imminent in the New Testament times, it certainly was not soon then. The relationship of “imminent” to “expectant” should be noted. The term “imminent” is an adjective used to describe the nature of the event. It depicts the kind of event that is always hanging overhead and could happen at any moment. By contrast, the term “expectant” is an adjective used to describe people’s attitude toward an event.
Historical argument – pre-trib position not defined until fairly recently in church history… but a lot of evidence that people believed in imminent return of Christ – tough to reconcile; Historical pre-mill position = no distinction between Israel and the Church
Book of Rev does not show the church to be on earth during the Day of the Lord
Three divisions – Rev. 1:19 “the things which you have seen (chap 1), and things which are(chaps 2-3), and things which will take place after these things” (chaps. 4-22)
Any Signs believers should be looking for to signal the Rapture
May have some second degree signs – e.g. when we see signs in the store decorations that Christmas is coming, we know that Thanksgiving is close
What needs to be present fairly quickly near the beginning of the broad Day of the Lord?
-
God’s regathering of Israel to the homeland
-
A great world leader, the Antichrist
-
A new temple in Jerusalem
-
A covenant of peace made with Israel by this world leader (Dan. 9:27)
Rapture does not need to be the starting point of the Day of the Lord – may be some intervening time?? Allows for the day of the Lord to be more surprising…
How are believers protected from wrath… and the nature of that wrath
Rev 3:10 “I also will keep you from the hour of testing” (But John 17:15 – argued by post-trib position)
Keep you from experiencing by taking you out of the world or protecting you from tribulation that is all around you
1 Thess 1:10; 5:9 – seems to be emphasis here on salvation from hell
Bible Knowledge Commentary: The combination of the verb “keep” (terein) with the preposition “from” (ek) is in sharp contrast to the meaning of keeping the church “through” (dia) a preposition which is not used here. The expression “in the hour of trial” (a time) makes it clear that they would be kept out of that period. It is difficult to see how Christ could have made this promise to the local church if it were God’s intention for the entire church to go through the tribulation.
Showers: In what sense will Christ separate church saints from the future wrath? Will it be by removing them from the wrath after they have been in it for a period of time, or will it be by preventing them from ever entering the future wrath?… the fact that the church saints’ deliverance or separation from the future wrath is already a present reality before the future wrath begins, and the fact that God’s resurrection of Jesus from the dead guaranteed that the already obtained deliverance will never cease to be a present reality, prompt us to conclude that Christ will separate the Church saints from the future wrath by preventing them from ever entering that wrath.
Parallels to Jewish wedding customs
Showers: Parallel to the custom of the Jewish grooms preparing a dwelling place for his bride in his father’s house during a time of separation, Christ has been preparing a dwelling place for the church in his father’s house in heaven during the period of separation… In John 14:2, Jesus stated that was why he would ascend to heaven. In the same manner as the Jewish groom came to take his bride to live with him at the end of the period of separation, so Christ will come to take the church to live with him at the end of his present period of separation… just as a procession of the groom and male escorts from the groom’s father’s house came to fetch the bride from her home, so a procession of Christ and an angelic escort descending from Christ’s father’s house in heaven will fetch the church from the earth (1 Th. 4:16-17). The Jewish bride did not know the time when the groom would come for her. Likewise, the Church does not know the time when Christ will come for it… in the same way that the Jewish groom’s arrival was preceded by a shout, so Christ’s arrival to take the church will be preceded by a shout (1 Th. 4:16). As the Jewish bride returned with the groom to his father’s house after her departure from her home, the church will return with Christ to his father’s house in heaven after it is caught up from the earth to meet him in the air (Jn. 14:2-3; 1 Th. 4:17). In the same manner as the Jewish wedding party found wedding guests assembled in the groom’s father’s house when they arrived, so Christ and the church will find the souls of Old Testament saints (those who were saved in Old Testament times before the church began and who, therefore, are not part of the Church) assembled in his father’s house in heaven when they arrived. These souls will serve as the wedding guests for Christ and the Church. Just as the Jewish bride and groom remain hidden for a period of seven days after they arrived at the groom’s father’s house, so Christ and the church will remain hidden for a period of seven years after they arrive in heaven. While the seven years of the 70th week of Daniel 9 are taking place on the earth, Christ and the church will be in heaven, totally hidden from the view of those living on the earth. In the same way that the Jewish bride and groom came out of hiding after seven days, now with the bride’s veil removed so that all can see who she was, so Christ and the church will come out of hiding from heaven after the seven years of the 70th week, in full view of all who are still alive on the earth, so that everyone can see who the true church is.
Application: 1 Cor 15; John 14; 1 Thess 4 – tremendous comfort derived from these passages; we will not be going through the terrible day of the Lord, experiencing the divine wrath
1 Cor. 15-16 MARANATHA – OUR LORD, COME
QUOTES FOR REFLECTION:
Stedman: Paul calls this “the coming of the Lord.” Many people, including certain notable Bible scholars, are confused on this because they tend to regard the coming of the Lord as though it were a single event, an immediate and once-for-all appearing. But if we carefully study the Scriptures (and we will see evidence for this in a moment), the coming of the Lord is a series of events. This series has a dramatic beginning, as Paul describes here, with Jesus appearing to take his living and dead saints to be with him. And it has an even more dramatic ending when, as the Lord himself said, he would manifest himself to the entire world: “They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of glory with all his heavenly hosts,” {cf, Matt 24:30, Mark 13:26, Luke 21:27}. That is a different event from the one here described. You cannot make those fit together. In between them is a period of time during which Jesus is present on the earth though not always visibly so.
That is what Scripture calls the “presence,” which is the Greek word parousia. That is a better translation of this word “coming.” When Scripture talks about the coming of the Lord, it sometimes looks at the beginning of that series, sometimes it looks at the end of it, and sometimes, as in the book of Revelation, it is looking at what is going on between the two ends. We must train ourselves to think in those terms. The parousia of Jesus is a series of events.
Keathley: Paul first addresses the issue of those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, but in doing this, he says “we” and not simply “those.” In the Greek text, the “we” is slightly emphatic and seems to be designed to bring out an important point. Clearly, Paul included himself among those who could be alive when the Lord returns. There is a clear implication here. Paul believed the coming of the Lord and the things described here were imminent and could have occurred in his day (cf. John 21:22; 2 Cor. 5:1; Phil. 3:20; Tit. 2:13). Any other viewpoint fails to give the needed recognition to Paul’s use of the first person pronoun “we” instead of the third person, “those.”…
Had this not been the Thessalonians’ outlook, their question regarding the dead in Christ and exclusion from the parousia would have been meaningless. They were thinking in terms of an imminent parousia, expecting to see it before death (Best, p. 183). An intervening period of messianic woes or birth pangs was not their anticipation (Best, p. 184), for such intense persecution would have meant probable martyrdom, and in that case they would have had doubts about their own participation in the parousia. Hence, Paul believed and had taught his converts that the next event on the prophetic calendar for them was their being gathered to Christ…
The word imminency refers to an event that is, so to speak, “hanging overhead; it is something that is ready to occur or could occur at any moment.” While other things may happen before the imminent event, nothing else must occur before that event happens. If something else must occur first, then that event is not imminent. Further, no specific amount of time is specified regarding when the event will happen. It may be soon or it may not be. If a certain amount of time were needed before the occurrence of an event, then it would not be imminent. So an imminent event—like the return of Christ for the church—could happen soon. It might not… but it could.
Whitcomb: The Rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ from this earth
Introduction: Spiritual cataracts on the eyes of our spiritual understanding; we need clear vision of end time prophecies; need to study the clear revealed Word of God
I. The Promise of the Rapture — John 14:1-7
Context: 11 frightened disciples; Judas has already departed; upper room setting; the church will be in heaven first before the kingdom comes down to earth and the will of God is performed perfectly on earth as it is in heaven; mansion Christ is preparing for us must be very impressive – He has been working on the project for quite some time; Can’t be the Second Coming in Glory – Rev. 19 = all of us clothed in white following Christ as He returns in victory – How do we get up to heaven so that we can return with Him? The Rapture!
Jesus left the details regarding this up to the apostles to explain; intricate details of eschatological events; just hinting at the Rapture here; at this point the disciples did not have much of an understanding of what the church would be – was not formed until Day of Pentecost
What did he not tell them about the rapture here?
– that these people (living believers) would be received without dying
– that all dead believers would be resurrected as well
– only coming part-way to the earth at this time
I have many things to tell you that you cannot bear now; but I will explain later through the NT authors
II. Part 2 — Additional Details About the Rapture — 1 Thess 4:13-18
Revealed through Paul
These are precious truths that will encourage us to be faithful in difficult times; written by apostle of Jesus Christ who has mind of Christ and is inspired by Holy Spirit
“God will bring with Him” – where are the dead Christians now?? He will bring their soul/spirit of disembodied believers… but their body is still down here; angels have no body and can minister; we need a body to accomplish anything; [Don’t bother praying to Mary to ask her to intercede on your behalf or pray for you]; Dead Christians are in intermediate state – resting in presence of Christ, but incomplete; Jesus is the only glorified human being at this point with a body; all Christians will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; the physical bodies of the dead will be united to the spirits right before this – they will be glorified first; body will be restored to them – How in the world can that happen?? (1 Cor. 15); God understands our DNA code – completely identifies us with all of our uniqueness; you can clone your whole body from just one small part that contains your DNA; “caught up” – unregenerate professors of faith will remain so many churches will continue on without change; Gk word = we get harp; when plucked, instrument comes out; harpoon will pluck out sea creatures; we will be harpooned out from the ocean of humanity; God never misses;
Illustration: magnet will only grab metal pieces made out of iron (same size, shape, color of bits of metal out of difficult material) – only those pieces go up; the rest of the pieces just sit there
What type of clouds = not rain clouds, but glory clouds = surround God and his presence; same as at the Ascension; “so shall we ever be with the Lord” – just as in John 14 – Christ looking forward to being united with His Bride; What did it take to get Lazarus out of the tomb? Just the shout of Christ “Come forth!” – John 10 – my sheep hear my voice and follow Me (not the voice of a stranger); “All sheep, Come forth!”
Voice of archangel Michael – he has been waiting for this event – Dan. 12:1 – the protector and promoter of Israel; now Israel takes over on the earth to be Christ’s witnesses; Michael has been very frustrated waiting all of this time; Michael started Israel at Mt. Sinai under Moses when God gave the law – Ex. 19:16 – sound of a trumpet that waxed louder and louder; Israel awakes to now perform function of God’s ambassadors on earth; Satan will be extremely unhappy as this happens in the air (his temporary domain)
III. Part 3 of God’s Revelation of the Rapture – 1 Cor.l5: 51-58
Mystery = something previously hidden and now revealed;
“in a moment” = atom = cannot be divided or split any more; smallest thing in the universe; [what about sub-atomic particles that we have found… not in view here… ]
How long does it take for eye to twinkle; our age accustomed to evolutionary thinking; takes long period of time to accomplish anything significant; you will not be raptured by chance; will not take any time at all; how long did it take for Jesus to pass from death to resurrected life; no gradual process; same trumpet as 1 Thess 4; we don’t all have to die; but we must all be changed totally, radically, instantly
Feinberg: Let me put the matter in this way. The New Testament commands the believer to look for Christ’s coming. For these many years saints have watched, but He has not returned. Only one generation will look and see Him. Does this call into question the perspicuity of Scripture? I do not think so. The problem arises if we are told to look because we will see Him come, and He does not. Neither in the case of the Second Coming nor in the case of the Olivet Discourse do I see a promise that the events spoken of will transpire in the lifetime of the hearers.