3:20-21 What future event in time is Paul alluding to here?
3:20-21 What future event in time is Paul alluding to here?
(cp also Lk 12:35-36; Ro 8:23; 1Cor 1:6-8; 2Cor 5:1-2; Php 1:19, 4:5; Col 3:4; 1Th 1:10; 2:19-20; 3:13; 2Ti 4:8; Tit 2:13; He 9:28; Jas 5:7-9; 1Pe 1:7, 4:7; 1Jn 2:28, 3:2; Rev 3:7, 11)
The future event alluded to in all these passages is the first resurrection, of which the "rapture" of the church forms part, when Jesus comes again to take all the saints of God - Old Testament and New Testament alike - both living and dead, back to heaven with Him (cp Jn 14:1-3; 1Cor 15:51-58; 1Th 4:13-18).
The first resurrection is when Jesus comes for the saints, to meet them in the air.
It is not to be confused with the second coming of Christ, which is when He comes back to earth with the saints for the battle of Armageddon, when He defeats Antichrist prior to setting up His millennial (one thousand years) reign on earth (cp Isa 63:1-6; Eze 39:1-16; Dan 2:44-45; 7:13-14, 18, 27; Joel 3:1-21; Zech 14:1-5, 9, 16-21; Mt 24:27-44; 25:31-33; Mk 13:14-27; Lk 21:21-28; 2 Th 1:7-10; Jude 14-15; Rev 1:7; 14:17-20; 19:11-21).
Those scriptures all refer to the second coming of Christ, not the first resurrection. They relate to the Antichrist, the great tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, the judgement of the nations, and the setting up of the millennial kingdom etc.
There will be two resurrections of the dead: the first is to eternal life for the righteous dead, and the second is to eternal damnation for the wicked dead (cp Dan 12:1-2; Jn 5:28-29). While the two resurrections are merged into one in these scriptures there are however over one thousand years separating them (cp Rev 20:4-6, 11-15).
The righteous rule and reign with Christ for the thousand years, at the end of which the unrighteous dead are resurrected and consigned to hell. The word conversation in Php 3:20 is used metaphorically here of Christians in reference to their citizenship of heaven (cp V20).
See also comments on Lk 21:36, Jn 5:28-29, 14:1-3, 1Cor 15:51-58, 1Th 4:13-18, 5:1-11; 2Th 2:1-3, 2:6-8; Rev 1:19, 3:7-13.