The Coming of the Lord...

The disciples asked the Lord Jesus what would be the sign of His coming.

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:1-14)

(2/20/2011). If we want to know about the return of the Lord Jesus, then we must consider His answer to His disciples.

The first thing we notice is that there will be no "rapture" prior to His coming. Given the fact that the neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament speaks of a rapture of God's people to Heaven prior to the coming of the Lord, it is amazing how widespread this deception is. I think the "rapture" deception will fall by the wayside as world history unfolds.

The truth is, there will be no special "rapture" before the coming of the Lord. There only is the one coming of the Lord, except for the coming to each disciple personally, as described in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John.

You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. (Matthew 24:6-8)

Wars and rumours of wars are not the sign of the end, nor are famines and earthquakes. These are the beginning of the birth of the Kingdom of God and of the new world of righteousness that is on the horizon.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:12,13)

Wickedness is increasing in our day. There is coming a worldwide revival, as portrayed in the two witnesses of Revelation. It may be true that most people in the world will believe in Christ because of the revival. But there will be so much evil, the love of the majority finally will grow cold. Then the believers must stand firm to the end if they are to be saved.

So when you see standing in the holy place "the abomination that causes desolation," spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 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, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:15-22)

"For the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." Since it is the Great Tribulation that is being discussed, does it sound to you that the elect will be present or absent during the Tribulation?

The doctrine of the pre-tribulation "rapture" of the Christians is a foolish, fatuous, fanciful, totally unscriptural teaching. It is part of the Dispensational-grace theology which is nothing less than a sophisticated rebellion against God.

Whoever is teaching a pre-tribulation "rapture" of the Christian people is preventing them from being prepared to stand during the chaotic days that lie before us.

I think "the abomination that causes desolation" will be the figure of a man sitting on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem; and also the statue of a man standing on top of the Temple, at the place where Jesus was tempted.

The idea is that man is supreme. The spirit of Antichrist is that of man making himself God, as is promoted in America today. However I think that Daniel is clear that there will be a human being, man or woman, who will exemplify the ideal of man rejecting all other gods and being his own god.

Whenever man usurps the place of God, every sort of desolation follows, financial, educational, military. This why the strength of America is diminishing.

For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:27)

The coming of Jesus Christ will not be a "secret rapture." This is the very thing Christ warned us against! Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. (Matthew 24:28)

The "carcass" is the slain Lamb in the sky. The "vultures" properly "eagles" are those who live by His body and blood.

Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29-30) Does the above sound to you like a "secret rapture"? It doesn't to me either.

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

Now think for a moment. How could there be a secret rapture before the worldwide return of Christ, when it is at His return that the angels gather Christ's elect from one end of the heavens to the other? Are there two gatherings of the elect? This is ridiculous? It is totally illogical and unscriptural.

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. (II Thessalonians 2:1,2)

The above is Paul's description of the same event. There is only one time that we are gathered to Christ, and that is during the Day of the Lord. The same Greek term for "coming" is employed in Matthew 24 and First and Second Thessalonians.

Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. (Matthew 24:33,34)

It may be true that "all these things" are the signs in the heavens, the darkening of the sun and moon, and so forth. The generation that experiences these signs will live to see the Lord's return.

Two men will be in the 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. (Matthew 24:40.41)

From the context it is difficult to determine whether the one who is taken is the one who is saved, or whether he or she is the one who is lost, as in the case of those drowned during the days of Noah. In any case it is clear that the judgment of God will carefully divide between the closest of people.

We must conclude that it is not enough just to "accept Christ," unless by this we mean receiving Jesus into our life every moment of every day and night. In this manner we "keep watch" so the coming of Christ does not catch us unprepared.

How different this exhortation is from the current comfortable teaching that once we make a profession of Christ we are saved eternally no matter how we behave.

If we are cruel to people, not helping them along the way, then we will not be blessed by the Lord when He returns. Rather, we will be cut to pieces and assigned to a place with the hypocrites.

There is no question in my mind but that we have been lied to, having been taught that all we need do is make a profession of belief in Christ. After that it does not matter how we behave, just as long as we keep on "believing in Christ. I don't know about you, but since my eternal welfare is at stake, I prefer to act according to the admonitions of the Scriptures rather than trust in the traditions of today's Bible teachers.

If through prayer and obedience to Christ we are able to escape the carousing, drunkenness, and anxieties of life of these last days, we will stand in victory in the Presence of Jesus Christ. He who endures to the end shall be saved.

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