What If The Rapture And The Second Coming Are The Same Event?

To listen on YouTube, CLICK HERE.

WHAT IF THE RAPTURE AND THE SECOND COMING ARE THE SAME EVENT?

Pastor Mike here.

I want to talk to you about the Rapture today.

I’m answering the question, What If The Rapture and The Second Coming Are The Same Event?

THE PRIMARY TEXT USED TO PROVE A RAPTURE IS 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18

Probably the primary text used to prove a Rapture is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13 through 18 where it reads…

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Now the problem with using this text to prove a Rapture is that it’s not what it’s about.

Neither is it trying to answer the Rapture question.

THE QUESTION 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 IS ANSWERING: WHAT HAPPENS TO BELIEVERS WHO HAVE DIED?

Instead, the question 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13 through 18 is answering is: What happens to believers who have died?

Will they miss the Second Coming of Christ?

And that answer is: No.

THE CATCHING AWAY IS DIFFERENT THAN RAPTURE-OLOGISTS THINK OR TEACH

Now it’s not that there won’t be a catching away of the Church to Christ when He comes again.

But this catching away is different than rapture-ologists think or teach.

In reality, the Church will be caught away to Christ in the air on the Last Day to then accompany Him as He arrives on planet earth to judge the living and the dead.

DR. R.C. SPROUL ON THE RAPTURE

The late R.C. Sproul explains it this way…

Paul does not say that the Christians will be caught up in the air and then stay up in the air with Jesus. The imagery here is of meeting Christ as He is returning in glory. So that the Christians are participating in His victorious return to this world.

It’s not that He’ll come so far, catch up the church, and then stay there and go back to heaven until a later time. But the whole point of the imagery here echoes and reflects something that was common place in the contemporary world in which Paul wrote, namely, the pattern and practice of the triumphal return to Rome of the Roman armies.

Dr. Sproul goes on…

Whenever the Roman armies would come back from a campaign, before they would enter the city of Rome, they would camp outside the city – about a mile outside the city. And there would be all of the soldiers plus all of the captives that they had brought home from the campaign.

And then they would send a messenger into the Senate to announce their arrival. Remember they carried the banners of S P Q R – the Senate and the people of Rome. And that would give the time for the city planners to erect an arch of triumph and to decorate the city – much as we would for a ticker tape parade for conquering heroes.

They would spray garlands with the sweet aroma throughout the city to cover up the smell of slaves and their odor and so on. And then at a pre arranged time a signal would be made whereby the trumpets would be blown and that was the signal for the armies of Rome to march in triumph into the city.

Dr. Sproul concludes…

But before they began their march, at the signal of the trumpet, everyone who was an actual citizen of Rome was invited to come outside the city to join the parade to march back in through the arch of triumph with the victorious army. So that they participated in the victory and participated in the triumph.

And I think if you see throughout Paul’s writings, he frequently borrows the imagery of the Romans from this.

And what I hear Paul saying is that when Jesus comes He’s going to come back to this earth with His whole church. The church will be caught up to meet Him as He descends. And He will continue to descend along with His whole entourage of believers.

IT IS PROVABLE THAT THE RAPTURE AND THE SECOND COMING ARE INDEED ONE AND THE SAME

And so I’ve been answering the question, What If The Rapture and The Second Coming Are The Same Event?

It is provable when you understand that 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13 through 18 is not about a Rapture as rapture-ologists think or teach.

Neither is it trying to answer the Rapture question.

Instead, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13 through 18 is about what happens to believers who have died.

Will they miss the Second Coming of Christ?

That answer is: No.

And then when you take into account R.C. Sproul’s comments regarding the entry of the victorious Roman armies into Rome with the citizens participating, it’s hard to deny that the Rapture and the Second Coming indeed are on and the same.