“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, 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 Corinthians 15:51-52)
There is a spiritually deceptive doctrine that has been widespread throughout wider Christendom since the latter half of the 19th Century and that has gained momentum especially in the western democracies. This doctrine related to Biblical Eschatology teaches two Second comings of the Lord Jesus at the end of the age. One is where He comes secretly for the faithful Assembly of believers to snatch them away to heaven for seven years before the man of sin is revealed. Then after seven years the Lord Jesus physically returns to the earth with His body of faithful believers to destroy the Antichrist, rescue Israel and to inagurate the Messianic Millennial Kingdom on earth. But does the Bible teach this? Let’s now look at this…
1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Have no fear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus because the rapture and resurrection is coming for the faithful Body of the Messiah! Now according to the text of 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, it is at the blast of the last trumpet that the rapture and resurrection of the faithful Body of the Messiah occurs and that immediately after the tribulation, not before it. Now let’s look at this. The main text used by those who hold to a pre-tribulation secret rapture is found in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4:16-17. Now let’s very briefly look at this text. We notice that there is a loud command or shout and a trumpet call blown and at that trumpet blast both the living and dead saints are raptured and resurrected, or snatched up, to meet the Lord in the air at His Second Coming to earth. Now it is interesting that the phrase “to meet” has the idea of an important dignitary coming towards a city and where the people go out to meet him and then gather around him and accompany him back into the city straight away.
1 Corinthians 15: 51-52; Revelation 11: 15
We see the trumpet call elsewhere connected to the rapture and resurrection in the New Testament. Starting with our text in 1 Corinthians Chapter 15: 51-52 we see that believers receive their glorified resurrected bodies in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye at the blast of the last trumpet. Now if we turn to Revelation Chapter 11: 15 once again we see the seventh and last trumpet sounded accompanied by loud voices or shouts in heaven and at that time the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah and He will reign for ever and ever. This is obviously the Second Coming of the Messiah to set up His Messianic Millennial Kingdom on earth. It is clear these three texts are describing the one and the same event, namely the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus to earth. There is a trumpet blast in all three of the references and a shout from heaven in two of the references.
Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:26
Now let’s turn to Matthew Chapter 24:29-31. We read in these verses that at the Second Coming of the Messiah He is seen coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory and that He sends his angels accompanied by a loud trumpet call and His elect saints are gathered from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Now a cross reference to this same event in Mark’s Gospel Chapter 13:26 we are told that the elect saints are gathered from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. It is a global rapture and resurrection!
Those gathered from the four winds of heaven would be the saints who have already died and at that time receive their glorified resurrected bodies. Those gathered from the ends of the earth would be those saints who are still living on earth who also receive their glorified bodies at the same time those who have already died receive their resurrected glorified bodies. The rapture and resurrection in Matthew Chapter 24 and in Mark Chapter 13 are the one and the same event. This account of the rapture and resurrection in the two gospels perfectly aligns with 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4:16-17.
Matthew 24:29
Now as we turn again to Matthew Chapter 24 we see in verse 29 that the rapture and resurrection of all the elect saints occurs “Immediately after the tribulation of those days.” In other words right at the end of the time of Great Tribulation and the shaking of the heavenly constellations described in other passages of scripture, the saints are gathered to meet the Lord in the air at His Second Coming followed immediately by the bowls of God’s wrath poured out upon a Messiah hating, Messiah rejecting world. The text is plain enough.
Matthew 24:31
For the most part the Book of Revelation describes the tribulation which gains momentum and leads into the time of Great Tribulation. Only right at the end of the Book of Revelation do we see the bowls of God’s wrath poured out. (Revelation Chapter 16) Now we also notice in Matthew 24:31 “the elect” are mentioned. To limit the elect gathered to meet the Lord Jesus in the air to believing Jews only is an interpretation and not taught in this verse. This idea comes from the dispensational system of eschatology that makes a radical separation between Israel and the Church that scripture does not make and applies Matthew Chapter 24 exclusively to Israel only. It is related to Israel but the elect mentioned in the text are Bible believers both Jews and Gentiles being one new man in the Messiah. In Matthew Chapter 24 the Lord Jesus is speaking to all of His faithful followers.
In fact the word “elect” is a term used by the writers of the New Testament to refer to the Body of the Messiah corporately, the faithful assembly of believers being both Jewish and Gentile believers who are one new man in the Messiah. (Ephesians 2:14-16) (1 Thessalonians 1:4) It is also clear that the elect saints of God go into the time of Great Tribulation. Lets very briefly look at this…
Revelation 7:14
We see the saints coming out of Great Tribulation in Revelation Chapter 7:14. They are seen coming out (present continuous tense) of Great Tribulation. Now to come out of something means you have already had to have been in it to come out of it. Down through the ages of Church history the saints individually have been coming out of tribulation either though natural death due to old age, or due to sickness, or through martyrdom. The word “tribulation” (thlipsis) is a word used throughout the New Testament for “trials afflictions, persecution”, and contains the idea of “being pressed down by a weight” or “being under severe pressure.” The word tribulation referred to in Matthew Chapter 24 in several verses is not referring to God’s wrath.
1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9
The same word (thlipsis) is also used in the Book of Revelation. The tribulation is not the wrath of God. There are two different Greek words used in relation to the wrath of God and they are “orge” and “thumos.” In 1 Thessalonians: 1: 10; 5:9 the Greek word used for wrath is “orge.” In the Book of revelation when we see a reference to the bowls of God’s wrath, the Greek word used for wrath is “thumos.” Now we are also told in Thessalonians Chapter 1 that we have not been destined or appointed to wrath (orge) but to salvation through our Lord Jesus the Messiah who rescues is from the coming wrath (orge).
1 Thessalonians 3:3; Matthew 24:21-22
When we put all of these scriptures discussed so far together and related to the rapture and resurrection we discover that the rapture and resurrection of the elect saints corporately happens immediately after the time of great tribulation (thlipsis) at the sound of the last trumpet blast accompanied by a loud shout from the heavens. The apostle Paul also tells us that in this life as bond slaves of the Lord Jesus we will suffer tribulation (thlipsis) and that we have been appointed to suffer it by the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 3:3) This is the time frame spoken of by the Lord Jesus in Matthew Chapter 24:21-22 where we see the time of Great Tribulation (thlipsis) being three and a half years in duration cut short by the physical return of the Lord Jesus to save the planet from annihilating itself and for the sake of the elect, being the faithful Body of the Messiah. The word Matthew uses for tribulation in verse 21 is the word “thlipsis.” So then it is at the sound of the last or the seventh trumpet that the rapture and resurrection of the elect saints occurs.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3; 2 Peter 3:11
The whole idea of a secret pre-tribulation rapture, where the Lord Jesus sweeps down ‘secretly’ to remove His Body the faithful Assembly (Church) for a seven year period in heaven, is just not in the texts of the Bible. In the idea of His coming “as a thief in the night” the focus is not on a secret rapture but that He will come in an hour when He is least expected. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) This is the day of the Lord and a day that we must be preparing for now by seeking to live Godly lives separated to the Lord for His exclusive use. (2 Peter 3:11) This is why we need to have a personal working relationship with the blessed Holy Spirit and be fellowshipping with like-minded believers. If we cannot stand together in this last hour it will be almost impossible to stand alone!
Don’t listen to those teachers who are telling you that the faithful Body of the Messiah is going to escape the time of great tribulation or from having to face the Antichrist and His beast empire. It is interesting that some of the early Church fathers and patriarchs of the Church taught and believed that in the last days the faithful Body of the Messiah would have to face the persecution by the Antichrist. Some even identified the Antichrist and the beast empire of revelation Chapter 13 as Islamic.
The doctrine of a pre-tribulation secret rapture is a spiritual deception and it is the soft ‘underbelly’ that Satan will pierce with the spear of persecution that will see untold millions of believers, for the most part in the western democracies, fall away from the faith, because of what they were taught about a secret pre-tribulation rapture. Having said this scripture affirms that ultimately, right at the end of the time of the great trouble, the rescue is coming for the dear tried, tested and afflicted saints of God. The rapture and resurrection is an absolute certainty for the faithful Body of the Messiah!
To encourage us as the bond slaves of the Lord Jesus we need to hear His encouraging words to us; “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. On account of My name they will deliver you to the synagogues and prisons, and they will bring you before kings and governors. This will be your opportunity to serve as witnesses. So make up your mind not to worry beforehand how to defend yourselves. For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death. And you will be hated by everyone because of My name. Yet not even a hair of your head will perish. By your patient endurance you will gain your souls.” (Luke 21:12-16)
Added to this, the apostle Peter also writes; “But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory. If you are insulted for the name of the Messiah, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4:13-14)
The last trumpet is going to sound and we shall all be changed in a flash in the twinkling of an eye because at that last and seventh trumpet blast we will be raised imperishable! Our mortality will be changed to immortality and death will have been swallowed up in victory! This is “the blessed hope!”
