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The Words of the Angels

Next Part The Man of Lawlessness

We have rightly begun by considering the words of Jesus about his coming. With a better understanding of what he said, we can now consider the words of others. All too often we have begun with the words of Paul, and then tried to make the words of Jesus fit with what we think we have understood. Paul, as he himself tells us, saw through a glass darkly. Jesus saw face to face.

Acts 1:11 records the words of the angels to the disciples. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.'

Were the angels referring to a physical return of Jesus due to take place in the same manner as his departure, but approximately 2000 years later?

The last recorded conversation of Jesus with his disciples was immediately before his ascension. They wanted to think about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. He wanted to tell them more about the Holy Spirit. He told them to wait in Jerusalem until they had received the promise of the Father. He said that they would receive power after the Holy Spirit had come upon them, and that they would be his witnesses. He said this would happen in a few days' time.

Jesus was comforting and encouraging his disciples by telling them of an event in the immediate future. We would not therefore expect the angels to point the disciples to an event that was going to happen in something like 2000 years' time. We would rather expect them to say something that would reinforce what Jesus himself had just said. The words of the angels appear to point the disciples away from what Jesus had just been talking about to an entirely different event. This cannot be right, and we must therefore have a new look at the words of the angels.

Further to this, if Jesus was soon going to come back out of the sky in exactly the way he had just gone, it would seem like good sense to keep on gazing up into the sky to catch the first glimpse of him coming back!

At his ascension Jesus disappeared in a cloud. This may have been a cloud of water vapour, or it may have been a cloud of glory. On the day of Pentecost Jesus reappeared in a cloud. However he did not appear in a physical cloud as his disciples may have expected. It was a cloud made up of them themselves and his other followers. They were now a cloud of witnesses lifted up into the heavens, and he appeared in them. Just as the angels said, it was the same Jesus. The same Jesus that had walked and talked with his disciples for 3½ years was now in them, and manifesting himself through them. He was appearing with great glory in a heavenly cloud of witnesses.

His physical visitation of his people when he came to earth 2000 years ago was something of great wonder and a multitude of the heavenly host was sent to announce it. His spiritual visitation of his people on the day of Pentecost was more wonderful and more powerful still. His visitation which is yet to come will show the day of Pentecost to be only the first fruits of a harvest far beyond the thoughts or imaginations of those first apostles.

Finally we may detect a hidden rebuke in the way the angels addressed the disciples. They did not call them men of God or maybe followers of Jesus but just men of Galilee. They were acting and thinking (as many have done since them) in a carnal and human manner, and so the angels addressed them with a title that referred to their human and earthly origin.

So are we saying that Jesus returned at Pentecost or are we saying that his return is still future? Both! He certainly did come again at Pentecost, and his presence with his disciples was better and more wonderful than when in human form he had walked the dusty paths of Galilee by their side.

But that coming was not the full and final fulfilment of his promise. Rather it was the first instalment. It was a foretaste of greater things to come. Now at the end of the age we come to the time of that greater fulfilment.

Paul's Words

To the Thessalonians Paul wrote, 'For this we say to you by a word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain till the coming of the Lord will not precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first: Then we who are alive and remain 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 for ever' (1 Thes 4: 15-17).

Many readers of the Bible take these words absolutely literally and believe without question in a physical appearing of Jesus in the clouds and a physical rapture of the saints to meet him there. In the verses preceding these Paul is clearly talking about those saints who have physically died; and so at first sight it is logical to take these verses literally as well. However, why is it that at this point Paul has a 'word from the Lord'? I believe it indicates that he is moving from the literal to the spiritual.

His language to the Corinthians is similar. After speaking about the resurrection of the dead, he writes, 'Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed' (1 Cor 15: 51,52).

A mystery is very different from a miracle. A mystery is difficult to understand, whereas a miracle is difficult to believe. A whole lot of bodies coming out of their graves and coming to life would be a miracle rather than a mystery. It is difficult to believe, but not too difficult to understand. The idea of a spiritual rapture and transformation, on the other hand, is difficult to understand. Literal interpretations of these passages may be difficult to believe, but they are not difficult to understand. They cannot therefore be called mysteries. Spiritual interpretations can be described as mysteries as they are difficult to understand rather than difficult to believe. They are hidden from the natural mind. What I am saying is that rather than look for a physical rapture we must search for a spiritual understanding of these words of Paul.

Let us then consider other ways of understanding the various statements of this passage.

Three of the most important events in scripture will help us.

The law-giving at Sinai

The birth of Jesus

The day of Pentecost

The Lord himself will descend from heaven

This is the foundation of every great divine event. In God's first great manifestation to Israel he descended on Mount Sinai. Jesus himself fulfilled these words when he came down from heaven and took human form and was born in the manger at Bethlehem. Pentecost was another divine descent of hitherto unimagined grace and glory. In each case, as in the event we are considering, he came down to bring man up. Each of these events had consequences of unimaginable magnitude for the human race. This next descent, dare we believe it, will have consequences yet wider and yet greater.

With a loud command

When the Lord came down he spoke. On Mount Sinai he gave 10 commandments and followed them with the most significant and powerful verbal revelation that the world has ever received. The Law came through Moses. God spoke a word through the angel Gabriel to Mary, and the word was made flesh in her womb. At Pentecost the tongues of the assembled company were loosed, and they spoke the word of God with hitherto unprecedented power.

In each case the word of command had global effects. The 10 commandments, the gospel of Jesus, and the effects of Pentecost have spread throughout the world. The coming and presence of the Lord will have even greater impact.

With the voice of an archangel

The scriptures tell us little about archangels. Only Michael is clearly described as one. By tradition he was the intermediary through whom the law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai (referred to by Stephen in Acts 7:38). To Gabriel was given the privilege of announcing the birth of Jesus, and according to tradition he is the angel named in this passage

With the trumpet of God

Trumpets were used to announce the great festivals of the Lord. The events of Mount Sinai occurred on the 50th day after the Exodus from Egypt, and prefigured the day of Pentecost which was 50 days on from the resurrection of Jesus. On Sinai the trumpet sounded loud and long, and the day of Pentecost was like a spiritual trumpet. Jesus also associates the sound of the trumpet with his coming (Mat 24:30). I believe the passage we are considering describes the fulfilment of the Festival of Tabernacles (see The Festivals of Israel).

The dead in Christ will rise first

To the Romans Paul wrote, 'We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.' He was not referring to physical death, but to spiritual death.

Many of us, I believe, are now undergoing a death experience. The Day of Atonement, which in some ways symbolises death, preceded the Festival of Tabernacles, as death precedes resurrection. Before we can reign with Jesus in the glory of that coming festival we must experience his sufferings and death. We must die to ourselves and to the world. As long as this world has a claim on us we cannot reign over it. The world has no claim on those who have passed through physical death. They are no longer subject to any of its laws or customs. They have gone. This spiritual death will have the same effect.

Those then who are spiritually dead in Christ will experience a spiritual resurrection.

We who are alive and remain 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 for ever.

Will we meet Jesus in physical air? The Greek word for spirit - pneuma - originally means breath or wind. Both of these are moving air. We have already talked about the meaning of clouds as those who have been purified and drawn up to God. The air then is the realm of the spirit where those clouds dwell. There is where we are and will be with the Lord.

We may note in passing that Paul himself did not live till a physical rapture took place, which further indicates that this passage cannot be taken literally.

Parousia

The title of this writing is The Coming of the Lord. Many times in the new testament, the Greek word translated coming is parousia. The literal meaning of this word is being beside (para-ousia) and hence presence . Because you cannot be present without having come, it goes on to have the meaning coming.

Sometimes I believe God leaves words of double meaning in the Scripture when the time is not yet ripe for a particular revelation. The full truth is hidden till God wants to reveal it. Though both coming and presence are legitimate translations of the word parousia, I believe we will understand God's purposes more clearly if we retranslate it presence.

In human terms, an arrival can be a dramatic and emotional moment, but what happens after the arrival is more important than the arrival itself. The presence of Jesus is more important than his coming.

In Matthew's gospel the last promise Jesus made to his disciples was that of his presence. His words were 'surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' Jesus was undoubtedly present with his early followers after he physically left them. He has been present with his people in their sufferings and victories throughout the centuries from then till now; and he is undoubtedly present with and in us today. However I believe that we will soon experience that presence to a much greater degree than ever before.

Paul told the Ephesians that they had received a deposit or down payment of their inheritance (Eph 1:14). The implication is that there was much more to follow. The main thing was yet to come. Pentecost was wonderful. It was the greatest outpouring of God's grace that the world had yet seen. It far exceeded all that went before it. Yet it was small compared with what now lies ahead of us.

Conclusion

Millions of Christians have been taught to expect a literal and physical personal second coming of Jesus to the earth. This teaching has been based on certain key scriptures such as:

'I will come again and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am'. 'They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky'. 'This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.'

'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.'

'Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him'. We have considered a spiritual fulfilment of these scriptures rather than a literal one.

This is not the path of unbelief, but is exactly what Jesus did himself. When he told the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, they took him literally and thought he was talking about physical bread. Actually he was referring to the doctrine of the Pharisees. When he spoke about destroying the temple and building it again in 3 days, he was not referring to the literal temple. He was talking about his own body, the real temple of God.

Many members of the early church had seen and talked with Jesus in the flesh. No doubt they found it difficult to relinquish their ideas of his literal presence with them.

At first sight it takes faith to believe in a physical return of Jesus to this earth and a physical rapture of his saints to heaven. Is it real faith? Or is it just sticking to a doctrine?

Real faith is not a set of beliefs about the future. Nor is it sticking to a literal interpretation of the Bible. Rather it is hearing and receiving the word of God, and acting on it.

Clinging to a particular teaching about the future is not real faith. All that this does for people is to consolidate their membership of the particular sect or doctrinal grouping to which they belong, and to separate them from everyone who holds a different view.

Seeing the real spiritual meaning of the scriptures strengthens our faith and walk with God.

May he grant us that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which he has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Eph 1: 18,19).

Next Part The Man of Lawlessness