OUR BODIES
WILL BE TRANSFORMED
When the Lord comes
our lowly bodies will be transformed - He
will also complete His redemptive work in us. Our
mortal bodies will put on immortality. The earth
will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord and
will be redeemed from its bondage to decay.
“ For we know that the whole
creation has been groaning together in the pains
of childbirth until now. And not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the first
fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of
our bodies.” (Romans 8: 22 - 23)
“But our
citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform
our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by
the power that enables him even to subject all
things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21)
“Then comes
the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the
Father after destroying every rule and every
authority and power. For He must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
For “God has
put all things in subjection under his feet.” (1
Corinthians 15:27)
The last enemy to
be destroyed is death. When He comes Jesus will
destroy and remove the systems and strongholds
that are opposed to the benign and loving
will of God. This will create as we have seen a
new heavens an a new earth. Death is not
destroyed until Jesus comes and defeats every
other rule.
PAUL TEACHES ON THE
COMING OF THE LORD
2 THESSALONIANS
AND IN 1 CORINTHIANS
“But we do not want you to be ignorant,
brothers, about those who are asleep, that you
may not grieve, as others do who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will
bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
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. 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. 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.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
(2 Thess. 4:13-17)
“Behold! I
tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the
trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed. For
this perishable body must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal body must put on
immortality. When the perishable puts on the
imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality,
then shall come to pass the saying that is
written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.
“O death, where is your victory? O
death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor.
15:51-55)
From these two passages in Paul’s
letters we learn the following and more.
Paul does not want us to be
ignorant of
(1)
The fact that the Lord is Returning
(2)
That the believers who have gone on before us
will come back with the Lord
(3)
That there will be no rising to meet the Lord in
air UNTIL the return of the Lord with the
believers who have gone before.
(4)
The believers who are alive on the earth will not
rise to meet the Lord before the dead are raised.
Because the dead in Christ will rise BEFORE
the saints on the earth
(5)
At The Last Trumpet the dead will rise and
receive new bodies Those who are alive and
remaining at the return of The Lord will receive
redeemed bodies, and overcome the last enemy
– death
(6)
The coming of the Lord will be accompanied with
the blast of a trumpet . This is The Last
Trumpet.
Some have taught
(erroneously) that the believers will rise in the
resurrection before the coming of
the Lord or before The Last Trumpet. Paul
specifically says that Jesus will not return
until The Last Trumpet (1 Cor. 15:51). Also the
Book of Revelation reveals that the Lord will not
return until the plagues on the earth are over
(Rev 11:15). He will come and possess His Kingdom
when the seventh trumpet (which is The Last
Trumpet) is blown after all the plagues on the
earth are finished and not before then. It is
then the Lord will return to rule on the earth.
“Then the
seventh angel blew his trumpet, (the last of
seven) and there were loud voices in heaven,
saying, “The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he
shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation
11:15)
Paul is concerned that
the believers should not be ignorant (as much of
the church is today) that there will be no rising
to meet to he Lord in the air
(1)
Until the Lord returns to rule upon the earth
(2)
Until the Last Trumpet.
This was the standard
teaching of Christianity until the 19th
century.
The Book Of Revelation describes
some of the plagues on the earth as the Trumpets
are blown from heaven. When each of these
trumpets is blown there is a further wave of
trouble on the earth. Finally Revelation tells us
that when the Last Trumpet is blown the
mystery is ended and the Lord’s rule is
established. This coincides with Paul’s
statement that we will not receive resurrected
bodies until the Last trump. (Rev. Chs. 8-11)
“Then the
seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were
loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom
of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and
ever.” (Revelation 11:15) “Behold! I
tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the
trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed.”
(1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
The Bible assures us that
God will not allow the earth to continue to be a
place of turmoil, war and oppression forever.
He will send Jesus back to establish His rule and
reign on the earth. When this happens He will
replace every other rule and authority with His
own benign rule of healing, truth, righteousness,
mercy and love. We will all walk in love
and serve Him and serve one another.
“Everyone
helps his neighbor and says to his brother,
“Be of good courage”(Isaiah 41:6)
WILL THE CHURCH BE “RAPTURED”
BEFORE JESUS RETURNS?
There is much popular but
false teaching today that says the church will be
removed from the earth before the Lord
comes back to rule on the earth. It is
astonishing to us that this teaching should be so
widely accepted when it is clearly contradicted
by the scriptures themselves which (as we have
seen above) teach that the Lord does not come
until the last trump and that the believers on
earth do not rise before the saints who
have gone on. This has become an unquestioned
TRADITION in many parts of the evangelical church
today. But it is only a tradition and is not
supported by scripture. In fact the scripture
specifically contradicts it.
This tradition is based
on a false teaching that the last week of Daniels
70 week (490- year) prophecy has not yet been
fulfilled. (Daniel 9:24-27) A Chilean Jesuit
priest, Manuel Lacunza, who had been exiled to
Europe in the last part of the 18th century,
developed this teaching. In 1790 Lacunza
published a three-volume book "The
Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty".
In this book he (heretically) taught that the 70
week prophecy of Daniel 9 was about the
Anti Christ instead of the true Christ.
He also put forward the notion the last 7 years
of Daniel’s prophecy would be fulfilled at
the end of the age when a vicious dictator (The
Antichrist) would enter into a peace treaty with
Israel. (See “Appendix I – Daniel’s
70 Weeks”)
The renowned Bible
teacher, J.N. Darby of the Brethren movement,
picked up this teaching and developed it further.
Darby passed the teaching on to CI Scofield and
it became a part of evangelical orthodoxy and
tradition. It has become entrenched in many
American evangelical Bible schools, Bible
colleges and study Bibles notes up to this
day. It has been popularized today by many
TV ministries and by Tim Lahaye in the “Left
Behind’ series of books.
As well as grossly
misrepresenting the prophecy of Daniel Chapter 9
about the death of Messiah and the covenant the
Messiah makes, it teaches that the church will
disappear from the earth before the Lord
returns to the earth to rule.
It
implies that there are two comings of the Lord
·
1st coming in Secret for the
believer to escape tribulation
·
2nd coming publicly to establish
His rule on the earth.
WE WILL “MEET”
THE LORD
IN THE AIR
“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. 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. 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.” (1 Thess.
4:15-17)
Paul says that we will
“MEET” the Lord in the air. What does
it means to ‘meet’ the Lord? The word
“meet’ used here is the Greek word “apantesis”.
This word occurs only three times in the New
Testament and the meaning is the same each time.
1) It is first used
in the parable of the ten virgins, in which they
are told, "Behold, the bridegroom! Come
out to meet
him" (Matt. 25:6). The bridegroom has
been gone, and, as they see him returning, they
run out to meet and welcome Him.
2) The second time
this word is used is when Paul is on his way to
Rome, and the disciples in the city went out to
Three Inns "to meet" him. Once again,
he is on his way to Rome and they go out to
meet him to welcome him to Rome.
3) The final use of
this word is in the “rapture” passage,
in which the Lord is descending from
heaven and we are caught up "to
meet" Him. He is already coming down
when we are caught up to welcome Him back exactly
as in the parable of the wise virgins coming to
meet the Bridegroom. We are caught up to welcome
our Lord back to rule and reign on earth. In
fact, this is the reason for the “rapture”.
The word was used to
describe what happens when a city would go to
meet a retuning general coming back in
triumph. It is exactly in this way that we will
rise to meet Jesus in the air and welcome Him
back to the planet as Messiah - King
of Kings.
“The ancient
expression for the civic welcome of an important
visitor or the triumphal entry of a new ruler
into the capital city and thus to his reign is
applied to Christ. "Then we who are alive,
who are left, shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord (eis
apantesin tou Kyriou) in the air; and so we shall
always be with the Lord." The same thoughts
occur in the parable of the ten virgins. The
virgins leave to meet the bridegroom (eis
apantesin tou nymphiou) i.e. the Lord, to whom
they wish to give a festive reception (Matt.
25:1) (New International Dictionary)
People often ask, “Do
you believe in “The Rapture’?” We
say, “Yes. We do believe that we will rise
to meet Him in the air AT His
coming but not BEFORE His coming.”
We will not rise to meet before He comes to rule
on the earth, but we will rise to meet Him when
He comes. The Bible never uses the word "rapture”,
but it does speak about our rising to meet
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