The last chapter in the Old Testament ends with the promise, “Unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2); whilst the last chapter in the New Testament gives us the presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ by Himself in the words, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David and the Bright and Morning Star … Surely I come quickly” (Rev. 22:16, 20).
The Sun of Righteousness, the Hope of Israel and of the world: the Bright Morning Star, the Hope of the Church, are here presented.
The similes are used skilfully, for just as the morning star rises before the sun, so the Lord will come FOR His heavenly saints before He comes WITH them to reign over the earth.
The writer well remembers an illustration of this. Travelling from the Shetland Islands to the Orkneys he rose after a restless night at 5 a.m. On reaching the deck of the steamer he saw a really beautiful and impressive sight. High up in the sky, already beginning to light up with the morning glow, shone one large, lustrous star—the only one visible. It was the bright morning star. Away on the eastern horizon the rising sun was shooting upwards his beams of golden light.
Instantly there came into his mind these symbols of the Lord in connection with His coming again: the Bright Morning Star, the Hope of the Church; the Sun of Righteousness, the Hope of Israel and of the world.
That the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is fundamental to the Christian faith is evidenced by the fact that it is mentioned in every New Testament Book, save five, and the reason for these exceptions only strengthens this statement.
These five exceptions are the little pastoral Epistle to Philemon and the Second and Third Epistles of John, and the Epistles to the Galatians and Ephesians.
It is quite understandable that in the case of the three first named there should be no mention of the Second Advent. They were very short pastoral letters addressed to individuals, and not taken up with any systematic unfolding of Christian doctrine.
In the case of the Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul fought strenuously the evil effects of the propaganda of the Judaizing teachers, who were undermining the very foundations of the Gospel in their attempt to bring the ritual of the Law as a system into connection with Christianity. The plain fact was that believers in the Galatian assemblies were not clear as to the Gospel—as to the result of the first coming of Christ, and how could the Apostle write to them as to the Second Coming?
Just as a boy at school who has not mastered what is taught in the lower class is not likely to be promoted to the higher, so the Apostle had to keep to his theme, as to what Grace and the Gospel brought the believer into.
In the case of the Epistle to the Ephesians the reason why the Lord’s Second Coming is not mentioned is for an exactly opposite reason to that of the Galatians. In Ephesians the believer is looked upon as quickened, raised and seated with Christ in Heavenly places. Already are they in spirit where the Lord’s Coming will place them bodily.
The Coming of the Lord is Made Up of Two Parts
That is, the Coming of the Lord for His saints, commonly called for convenience sake THE RAPTURE; and the Coming of the Lord with His saints to deliver His earthly saints, and bring them into the Millennium—the Kingdom of Heaven set up in manifestation on the earth—commonly called THE APPEARING.
The latter was prophesied even in Old Testament times. As far back as “the seventh from Adam,” Enoch prophesied, “Behold the Lord comes WITH ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all” (Jude 14-15). In the New Testament the great majority of allusions to the Second Coming refer to the Appearing. Not that the importance of the Rapture is to reckoned by the number of allusions made to it. The Appearing has to do with God’s government upon the earth, and the place the believer will have in the Kingdom is determined by his devotedness and faithfulness during the King’s absence. The “Rapture” has to do with Heaven; the “Appearing” with the Kingdom of Heaven upon the earth. The Rapture has to do with the Father’s House, sovereignty, God’s grace, salvation, eternal life, and all believers share alike in this; whereas the Appearing has to do with government, responsibility, reward, and believers will differ one from another according to their faithfulness and devotedness.
Naturally we should expect the Appearing to be oftener presented to us in the New Testament as the means to awaken saints to a sense of their responsibility, and as an incentive to devotedness and faithfulness whereby they may earn the Lord’s word of approbation, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:21).
But though this is the case, and the Rapture is not referred to in the Old Testament at all, and only directly twice in the New Testament, though there are one or two other allusions to it, yet …
The Rapture is a Matter of Supreme Importance
Its blessedness and importance must not be measured by the number of times it is alluded to as compared with the Appearing.
What can be more wonderful than the Lord presenting the Church “to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing”? (Eph. 5:27). And this will take place at the Rapture.
There is a deep and widespread impression on the part of earnest Christians all over the world that the Church of God is upon the very threshold of her translation to glory. It is true that there are no events which must be fulfilled before that wonderful event may take place. And yet there are recent events which clearly point to the imminence of the Lord’s Coming.
If, for instance, it were true that the Church had to go through the great tribulation we should be in the position of saying that the Lord’s Coming could not take place until the Antichrist had appeared and made his treaty with the head of the Roman empire, yet to be revived; in short, that the Coming of the Lord could not occur for several years at least.
In order to be clear on this point it must be grasped: (1) That no events need to occur before the Return of the Lord FOR His saints, but (2) That there are events which must needs materialize before the Lord can come WITH His saints to reign on the earth; in other words, there are no necessary events to occur before the Rapture; there are necessary events which must occur before the Appearing.
But seeing that these two events are separated by a very measurable space of years, it is not surprising that before the Rapture takes place there should be signs, ominous of and preparatory to the Appearing, occurring, and that these very signs, though necessary to and connected with the Appearing, and proclaiming that the Appearing is at hand, must necessarily tell us that if the Appearing is near at hand, the Rapture must be still nearer.
It is this that has stirred so many Christians of late years out of their lethargy and revived the hope of the Lord’s Coming in their hearts.
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, which are the two prominent Scriptures which present the Coming as the immediate Hope of the Church, and you will find no event or events are outlined as needing fulfilment before the Lord shall come for His people; whereas in Matthew 24:3-41, where the Coming of the Lord with His people is the theme, you have many events necessary to take place before that event can occur.
How cheering for the believer to realize that there may be only “the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52) between him and that most wonderful event—the Coming of the Lord for His Church. Do we really live in constant and daily expectation of this blissful event, which is surely coming, and that soon?
The Church is Listening for Sounds, Not Looking for Signs
This latter the godly Jew will do in a future day, when he will wait and long and pray for Messiah’s appearing. We wait for the long-continued silence of the heavens to be broken. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1 Thess. 4:16). And that silence may be broken before the reader has time to finish this paper.
How sweet and comforting are the words, “the Lord Himself”! He will not send a deputy, however glorious. He will come Himself. How could it be otherwise? The One who has revealed the Father, the One who in His anguish sweated as it were great drops of blood in Gethsemane’s Garden, the One who died for His Church in all the shame and bitterness of the Cross of Calvary, the One who broke the power of sin and death and hell, the One who ascended to God’s right hand, the One who sympathizes with, succours and supports His people through their wilderness journey, is the One who is coming again for us. What a joyful shout His will be! How full of power and majesty!
The archangel, as leader of the uncounted, angelic hosts, will voice with deepest reverence their sympathy with and joy in the glad shout of their Creator and Lord, whilst God Himself will sound the trump which proclaims so blessedly that the mind of Heaven is one. The Father and the Spirit are in fullest accord with the Son in this wondrous moment.
Some Uninstructed Christians may think of the Lord as gracious and merciful and tender and of God as austere and demanding satisfaction for outraged majesty in connection with sin. But the Gospel is to bring us to God, not to shield us from God. It was the Father, gracious and merciful and tender, who sent the Son, equally so surely. Righteousness must be upheld, but only that love might flow forth through the only channel possible. “Grace reigns through righteousness” (Rom. 5:21).
“The river of His grace,
Through righteousness supplied,
Is flowing o’er the barren place
Where Jesus died.”
It will be sweet to hear “the trump of God,” as “the voice of the archangel,” and “the shout” of the blessed Lord—to be welcomed by all in Heaven.
The few verses, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, are of especial interest to the believer. Cut them out of the Bible and we should not know the order of the Lord’s coming. Verse 14 reiterates that the Lord will come with His saints; verses 15, 16, 17, explain how the Lord will come for His saints, in order to come with them, and how the sleeping saints, the dead in Christ, will be the first to come under the mighty power of the resurrection shout, and then the living with them will be changed.
The question is often asked,
Will All Believers be Caught up at the Second Coming of Christ?
and the Scriptural answer is clearly in the affirmative. But some may quote Hebrews 9:28, “Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin to salvation,” and say that only those who LOOK for Him will be caught up. That is exactly what the verse states, but “those who look for Him” describes the believers, whilst the unbelievers can be described as those who do not look for the Lord. It certainly does not describe a specially earnest section of the believers, but it describes believers as a class. It does not say, “those who look for His coming,” but those who look for Him,” and what Christian is there who cannot be thus described? 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, settles the point beyond dispute that all believers will be caught up. We read, “Behold I show 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 trump.“
Here it states categorically that ALL saints—dead and living—will be changed in a moment, not at different times, the duration of the moment being limited to “the twinkling of an eye.” The whole chapter bears this out. Verse 22 says, “In Christ shall all be made alive,” and “Afterwards they that are Christ’s at His Coming” (v. 3), will be raised.
The one qualification for the sleeping saints is, Do they belong to Christ? and surely that is the only qualification for the living saint.
But for a place in the Kingdom of Heaven in manifestation, devotedness is required. It is this confounding of Heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven that leads to this view of partial raptures.
After the Rapture
After the rapture when saints have their glorified bodies and are like Christ, there will be the judgment seat of Christ, when the deeds of the believer will be reviewed for his loss or reward. His person, however, will never come into judgment—we have the judge’s own assurance in John 5:24 that this will never take place, but his deeds will be manifested. There is no question of his fitness for Heaven being raised. That is settled on the ground of the wondrous efficacy of the atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and hence there can be no question as to all believers being caught up at the Rapture, but their position in the Kingdom of Heaven will be determined by the results of the judgment seat.
As for unbelievers, Scripture teaches that they must be judged. In their case it is their persons that will be judged according to their works. How different it is for the person of the unbeliever to be judged, and the deeds of the believer to be manifested either for loss or reward in view of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let me give one Scripture which clearly proves that the believer’s person will never come into judgment: I would refer to the hypothetical case adduced in 1 Corinthians 3:15, where we read, “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” The case is adduced where a man’s work might be thoroughly bad, and its condemnation at the judgment seat would actually be a means of salvation—not in the eternal sense of the word, but in a governmental sense. Yet, how solemn when the work of the flesh has to be burned by the fire of judgment. May the solemnity of this affect our lives even now and day by day till He come. And the knowledge that the judgment of the persons of the unbelievers means eternal punishment will make us more grateful for the wonderful salvation that is ours through the death of Christ and more zealous in the Gospel.