I plan to write a few blogs describing my thoughts on Christ’s
return. If you are a non-Christian, you
are welcome to read on, but realize that this is an “in-house” debate. By that I mean that I’m not trying to be
persuasive to nonbelievers but addressing believers directly. Ok now that that is out of the way…
The average Christian today believes in a plotline that
would closely mimic that of “Left Behind” for the second coming of Christ. I don’t.
I happen to believe that the rapture is the resurrection and that the
resurrection is coincident with Christ’s physical, bodily return to earth after
the Tribulation has occurred.
I have several reasons for this belief. Instead of putting them all down in one blog,
I’ll devote one short blog to each of my reasons.
The first reason is the Bible’s overall message of
preparedness for Christ’s return and for “the day of the Lord”. If you’ve actually read your Bible (shame on
you if you haven’t), you’ll already recall many parables given by Jesus that
speak about one’s work when the master is gone, about consequences of not working,
about not letting your lamp oil run out, etc.
Paul also warns the church at Thessalonica to be prepared for “the day
of the Lord”. He gives the illustration
that a house would never be robbed if the homeowner knew when the thief was
coming:
Now as to the times and the epochs,
brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know
full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
3 While they are
saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor
pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not
in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of
light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as
others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night,
and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober,
having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of
salvation. 9 For
God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ, 10 who
died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with
Him. 11 Therefore
encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
I Thessalonians 5:1-11
My question is this: Why would Christians
need to be prepared for the day of the Lord so as to not be overtaken by it if
the rapture kicked everything off and the Christians were immediately rescued
from the Tribulation? In fact, the
turmoil that the Thessalonians were experiencing was used by some to convince
them that the day of the Lord was already at hand. Paul corrects this error in II Thessalonians.
For those that read “wrath” to mean the
tribulation, I again disagree. First, it
doesn’t follow from the warning above to be ready if there was nothing to be
ready for. Second, this language mirrors
Paul’s language elsewhere (e.g. Romans 5:8-9) where the topic is salvation and
the wrath avoided is Hell.
That’s it.
Something simple. Why prepare if
we are whisked off to be with Christ prior to the Tribulation?
3 comments:
I agree. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 also confirms Paul's use of the term 'wrath' as meaning hell, God's eternal wrath, and not something that is temporal. I think Paul also makes that clear when he uses the word 'salvation' immediately following 'wrath' in chapter 5:9, which are both eternal.
Looking forward to you next few posts. I agree with you and I am constantly trying to "iron out" all the reasons (from the Bible) I think this way.
Thanks guys. The next one is now up. Eric, I deleted the second comment as it was a double post.
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