The Coming of the Lord:

The Books of First and Second Thessalonians tell us about the coming of the Lord. It is interesting that the word in both books for "coming" is always the same Greek term—parousia. I believe I am correct in this. This tells us that the coming, or presence, set forth in I Thessalonians 4:13-5:3, is not a special, secret coming of Christ to catch away His Bride to Heaven. Rather, it is the coming of the Lord mentioned in Matthew, Chapter Twenty-four; II Thessalonians; and other passages of the New Testament.

I ended up preaching on the "rapture" in the evening. For whatever reason, the burden of the morning was on what it means to be "born again." I thought I might get back to the rapture, but I never did.

Yesterday sometime during the day (or night) it dawned on me that many of us do not understand what it means to be born again, and the reason we do not understand what being born again is, is that we are preaching grace incorrectly.

From the frequency of its use today one would suppose that being born again is the primary message of salvation, was used by the Apostles in the Book of Acts to get people saved, and fills Paul’s Epistles.

The truth is, the Apostles, as recorded in the Book of Acts, did not preach being born again as the means of salvation. This expression is not found even once in the Epistles of Paul. So it is obvious we are not using the concept correctly.

First of all, being born again has nothing to do with going to Heaven. Being born again has to do with seeing and entering the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not a place, like Heaven. The Kingdom of God is the rule of God through Christ in the hearts of people.

The reason Christian people in the United States talk about Heaven but not so much about the Kingdom of God is that they have not been born again. When they have been born again they will talk about the Kingdom of God and not about going to Heaven.

Have they "accepted Christ"? Yes. Also many of them have spoken in tongues or otherwise exhibited gifts of the Spirit. Well then, what do I mean they have not been born again? The same thing Paul meant when he told the Galatian Christians that he had to travail until Christ was formed in them.

The Galatians were Christians but Christ had not been formed in them as yet. When Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again in order to understand the Kingdom of God, Jesus was not talking about being saved and going to Heaven. What He was doing was letting Nicodemus know that He, Jesus, had no wish to try to explain the Kingdom to him (to Nicodemus). When Nicodemus was born again, then he would see and enter the Kingdom.

Every woman in the world knows the difference between conception and bringing forth a child.

First there must be conception. Then there must be a gestation period of nine months. Then the child is born.

When a person really comes to Christ, not just goes through some church formula, the Holy Spirit gives him or her eternal life. Also, the Seed of God is planted in his heart.

Has he or she been born again? No. Has Christ been formed in him or her? No. What has happened? Christ has been conceived in the individual.

Then follow the many years of the gestation period. Speaking in a figure, the cells must divide until they form an embryo. The embryo must grow until it becomes a foetus. The foetus must grow until it become an infant. Then the infant must be cut from the umbilical cord so it can breathe on its own. At this point it is born.

Physical pregnancy requires nine months. Spiritual pregnancy requires years of patient cross-carrying obedience to Christ before there is a new birth.

We have the hope of Heaven as our goal until the inner child is nearing delivery. Then we become conscious of the Kingdom of God. Our hope now is the coming of Jesus to install His Kingdom on the earth.

The current teaching of "grace," that it is God’s substitute for our becoming a new creation, for our being born again, has kept the believers in such confusion that they think when a person has been converted to Christ he or she has been born again. This is not the Bible usage of the term.

People, why don’t we cease using the term "born again" when we are referring to conception. What do you say.

So much for the morning’s sermon. Let’s go now to the evening message.

The teaching of the pre-tribulation "rapture" of all who profess belief in Jesus Christ is not scriptural. I have come to this conclusion after many years of Bible study. In no way does the fourth chapter of the Book of First Thessalonians present a special, secret disappearance of Christians so they will not be harmed by Antichrist or the Great Tribulation.

The other passages used to support this widespread error are also taken out of context. The pre-tribulation "rapture" simply is a false doctrine. Its purpose is to keep the believers from preparing themselves to stand during difficult periods.

We are facing Divine judgment on our nation because of abortion and the other sins being practiced. When God’s people are told they will not suffer during the coming judgment because they will be "raptured" out of it, they are being lied to.

There indeed is a secret coming of Christ to His disciples. It is set forth clearly in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. It is taking place today. But it is not a carrying of the disciples from earth to Heaven. Rather it is an inner coming of the Father and the Son in the spiritual fulfilment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles. (John 14:21)

The inner coming of Christ and the Father to those who keep Christ’s commandments will indeed enable them to stand and help others during the difficult times on the horizon. But they will be kept during the trouble, not removed from it. This kind of deliverance was true of Daniel in the lions’ den, and the three Hebrew young men in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, wasn’t it? God always is able to keep His saints during trouble. A thousand fall at their side but it does not come near them.

If you desire this inner coming, then keep Christ’s commandments. If you are one of those who believe you are not required to keep Christ’s commandments because you are "saved by grace," or that you are going to be caught up to Heaven at any moment, then God has sent a delusion upon you because you have not believed the truth of His Word.

You are unprepared for what is on the horizon, and you will not be able to stand or help others to stand. You will be drawn into the Antichrist world spirit and will not even realize you are in deception. Let us look for just a moment at the passage in question—First Thessalonians 4:13-5:3:

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

It is a good idea when interpreting a passage of the New Testament to step back, as it were, and ask yourself what it is talking about.

If we do that, to the passage in question, we see that it is speaking to those who have deceased Christian relatives, to comfort them concerning their dead loved ones. The passage is not directed toward Christians who wish to be delivered from trouble.

If we agree that this is the Apostle’s intention, then we understand at once that the passage has nothing to do with a secret disappearance of Christians to remove them from tribulation.

I am not certain my explanation at this point will help the majority of believers in the United States. The doctrine of the pre-tribulation "rapture" is based on emotion, the desire to flee from pain. It is not a scholarly interpretation of the Scriptures.

No reputable Bible scholar would agree that Paul was writing to comfort bereaved believers, and then conclude that Paul is referring to a special, secret coming of Christ. In fact, this is the very thing that Christ warned us against!

I realize that God has sent delusion upon the pleasure-loving American Christians and their people-pleasing pastors, teachers, and evangelists. But there may be some who, like the believers in Berea, will search the Scriptures to see if what they had been taught is according to God’s Word. It is to this remnant that I am writing.

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

Have you ever heard a teacher of the "rapture" emphasize that this passage is referring to the coming of the Lord, to the Day of the Lord? Those who have "fallen asleep in Jesus" are the great host of the godly from the time of Abel. They all are returning with Jesus so they can regain their bodies and help the Lord install the Kingdom of God on the earth.

Can you think of how many people will return with Jesus? They will far, far outnumber the Christians who are living when the Lord returns. The living Christians will be but a small handful of people compared with the mighty army of the victorious saints who return with Jesus. Have you thought much about that?

We are referring here to the return of Christ, the Day of the Lord, the one coming of Christ, the one Day of the Lord. This is not a special, secret appearing to whisk away lukewarm American believers who rush home from a sermonette so they don’t miss the Super Bowl on the television.

According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

The Greek term for "coming" is parousia. This is the word used in Matthew 24:3, which undoubtedly is referring to the return of Christ in visible glory. We who are alive at the time will not enter the Kingdom before the dead who return with the Lord. This is to answer the concern of the believers of Thessalonica who were worried that their deceased loved ones would not be present when the Lord returned and thus enter the Kingdom. You see, they thought the Lord was going to return in their day.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

This is a secret "rapture"? Rather, this is the attack of the Battle of Armageddon. The resurrected (and transformed) saints will ascend to meet Christ in the air, and from there descend to crush Antichrist and the False Prophet, and install the Kingdom of God on the earth.

"The dead in Christ will rise" means they will rise from the dead. This is the first resurrection of the dead, spoken of in the Book of Revelation. (Revelation 20:4-6)

The teachers of today stress the ascension ("rapture") so the lukewarm believers will be all "comfy" and cozy. The New Testament does not stress the ascension, and the Old Testament does not refer to it at all, to my knowledge. Both Testaments speak of the resurrection. It is the resurrection of the physical body that is the destruction of the last enemy, the climax of the Divine redemption.

Can you see how Satan has moved the Church away from the "blessed hope"? His motive is to send the believers to Heaven so he can perpetuate his abominations in the earth. How greatly we have been deceived!

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

There is nothing whatever here about going to Heaven. The victorious saints who have returned from Heaven with Jesus have already been there—some of them for thousands of years. They have no desire to go to Heaven. Their desire is to regain their body so they can reign as a king on the earth with Jesus. They meet Christ in the air, because this is the headquarters of Satan (Ephesians 2:2). All of the demonic principalities must be ruthlessly destroyed in order that the Kingdom may prevail on the earth.

Do you see anything in this passage about the believers going to Heaven? Neither do I! I refuse to believe a lie in order to comfort my flesh. How about you?

Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Who is encouraged? The ones being addressed whose loved ones had died before the Lord returned. How are they encouraged? That they will see their loved ones enter the Kingdom of God even before they do.

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, Paul was under the impression they already knew about the coming of the Lord, because they had been taught previously.

For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Can you see that Paul has been writing concerning the one Day of the Lord, not about a special secret "rapture"?

While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. The current teaching of the pre-tribulation "rapture" is that when the believers fly away to Heaven there will be a period of seven years on the earth when business proceeds somewhat as usual, although without the presence of the Christian people.

But if you will notice carefully, when Jesus returns, sudden destruction will come upon the earth. The shout, the voice of Michael, and God’s trumpet will terrify the inhabitants of the earth. They then will realize that the world as they have known it has come to an end.

How near are we to the coming of Christ, to the Day of the Lord? It is my opinion from what I read, in Daniel and elsewhere, that there are some major events that must take place before Christ returns. Perhaps fifty or a hundred years. I am not certain. Time is not a factor in the spirit world. The Lord always will come "quickly."

My exhortation to God’s people is that they look to the Lord right now. Jesus has wonderful things for us at this moment. The Jewish feasts of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles are being fulfilled spiritually in each believer who chooses to seek Christ fervently. Sin is abounding in our country, and Divine grace is much more abounding. Not the grace of forgiveness, primarily, but the grace that is the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to lead us into green pastures and still waters.

I can see the abominations that are increasing in our land. But there is a table spread for each fervent disciple in the very presence of our enemies.