The Second Coming of Jesus Christ (1)

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Dr. Lars Larson

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On the first Sunday of the month, and I think we're going to need every minute of it, as we're addressing this subject, because we arrive at it here in the chapter before us, dealing with the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would help us as we're dealing with a matter that is rather complex, and one that is misunderstood, in our opinion, among many.
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One that needs to be taught, our Lord, to our people. And I just pray that you would help us, our
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God, to proclaim and to teach your word in truth. And so give us wisdom, our
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God. Help us, our Lord, to learn. Help us to unlearn also, if that's necessary, as we broach this very important matter of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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For we pray in our Savior's name, amen. Now, last time we were in 1
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Thessalonians, which was just two weeks ago, of course. We were in chapter 4. We dealt with the teaching of the paragraph, which is verses 9 through 12.
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And it reads as follows, you'll recall. Now, concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
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For that indeed is what you're doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders, and be dependent on no one.
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Here the Apostle expressed his desire that these Christians in this church at Thessalonica would grow in their love for one another more and more.
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For although God himself had taught them to love one another, and we should understand that, meaning he produced in each one of them a true love for himself and a love for one another, this is part and parcel of saving grace, this love for Christ, love for God, love for one another from the soul, from the heart, is a result of God's saving grace in regeneration and the new birth, nevertheless, although it's true of every
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Christian, there is a need in every Christian to grow in the degree and quality of love that we have for one another.
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Well, we did not address the other instructions that the Apostle included with this injunction to love more and more, and they include instruction in three other areas of life other than growing in love.
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They were, first, to aspire to live quietly, secondly, to mind their own affairs, and thirdly, to work with their own hands.
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Now, we're going to get into later the issue at the church at Thessalonica.
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Some were actually idle, not working at all, because they thought the Lord Jesus was coming so soon, and in doing so, they were dependent upon other people.
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They were becoming a burden to other people in the church, and so his concern about them working with their own hands, it would have been probably a culture society where there was much in the matter of artisans or craftsmen doing this kind of work, and he's urging them basically to support themselves so that they would not be causing themselves to be dependent on others, and others wouldn't have to be underwriting them for that matter.
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And we see that they were, therefore, to be content, to be self -sufficient, that is, before the
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Lord. They were to live a simple, ordered life, living for the
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Lord, before the Lord, with a clear conscience, and with a credible profession of their faith.
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And so the Christian is to be diligent in work, and Paul says this will enhance that Christian's witness in the community, and it will keep him from personal need.
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If we could just apply those words to our own culture, it would be transformed, wouldn't it?
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Here are the words of Matthew Henry on these words of instruction by Paul, Observe 1.
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The Apostle exhorts to these duties that they should study to be quiet. It is the most desirable thing to have a calm and quiet temper, and to be of a peaceful and quiet behavior.
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There is a sense of stability and calm that ought to emanate from us. When people are around us, they ought to sense just a measure of stability.
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That guy is stable, and wherever he's at, it brings stability. Wherever she's at, there's a calmness.
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And to be of a peaceful and quiet behavior. This tends much to our own and others' happiness, and Christians should study how to be quiet.
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We should be ambitious and industrious how to be calm and quiet in our minds, in patience to possess our own souls, and to be quiet toward others, or of a meek and mild and a gentle and peaceable disposition, not given to strife, contention, or division.
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Satan is very busy to disquiet us. I love the old English. And we have that in our own hearts that disposes us to be disquiet, and therefore let us study to be quiet.
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It follows, do your own business. When we go beyond this, we expose ourselves to a great deal of inquietitude.
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Those who are busybodies, meddling in other men's matters, generally have but a little quiet in their own minds, and they cause great disturbances among their neighbors.
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At least they seldom mind the other exhortation to be diligent in their own calling, to work with their own hands.
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And yet this is what the Apostle commanded them, and what is required of us also. Christianity does not discharge us from the work and duty of our particular callings, but teaches us to be diligent therein.
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Amen. A Christian ought to be the best worker, faithful, stable, as an example, and as a cause of encouragement to the brethren.
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Now, with verse 13, the Apostle begins to address a new subject. Perhaps he wrote of this because he had heard, perhaps from Timothy, that they were confused and had concern about these matters.
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They were anxious. Some of these Christians had been distressed concerning those Christians who had already died.
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Paul explained to them that they would be reunited with their loved ones one day when Christ returned.
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That is, with those, of course, who died in the war. God will cause them to come with the
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Lord Jesus at his second coming. Now, that sentence is a little awkward, but it very accurately reflects what
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Paul wrote. Those who are yet alive at that time, those who are in Christ, will be caught up to meet them in the air.
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And so we will forever be with one another and with the Lord. So here's the paragraph, 1
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Thessalonians 4, 13 -18, where this matter of the second coming of Christ is introduced. And it's probably a passage that most of us are familiar with.
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But we do not want you to be uninformed brothers. The King James said, we do not want you to be ignorant, comma, brothers.
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I know this is probably not seemly, but I remember hearing about the pastor who left the church under unfortunate circumstances.
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And he stood up and preached without that comma in this text. I would not have you ignorant brethren.
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And that was his parting sermon, if you can imagine that. Punctuation is all important, isn't it?
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I would not have you ignorant brethren. I want you to be informed, is what he's saying.
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About those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others 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.
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For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive and are left until the coming of the
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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.
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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
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Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord and therefore encourage one another with these words.
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Let's work through the passage and determine exactly what he's declaring. In verse 13,
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Paul expressed his concern these Christians were grieving to a degree that was not warranted by them as Christians.
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We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep. These Christians had been uninformed about these matters.
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Not all Christians in those early days were uninformed in the way these Christians were at the church at Thessalonica.
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Indeed, yes, the church at Corinth, they were uninformed. In fact, even ignorant, even errant regarding their understanding of the future resurrection from the dead.
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Paul had to teach the church at Corinth about the reality of the future resurrection of the body.
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They were uninformed and they were in error. But this was not the case, say, with Martha, a close friend of the
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Lord Jesus, the sister of Lazarus who had died, you recall. She was well informed about the future resurrection of the dead.
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After Lazarus had died and was buried several days, Jesus appeared. And Jesus sought to console
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Martha with the grief she had concerning her brother. He said to her, your brother will rise, that is, rise again from the dead.
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And Martha responded to him, this note of confidence, this note of faith. I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
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She was informed about these matters and she knew them and believed them. She was knowledgeable and confident regarding the future bodily resurrection of the dead.
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I know he will rise and that will take place on the last day. But these Christians at Thessalonica were uninformed.
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However, Paul would not have them remain in this state of ignorance. He would instruct them rightly for he had a word from the
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Lord about this matter. Notice Paul described
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Christians who died as ones who were asleep. This is a common description of those who have died in the
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Lord. Now, specifically, we need to understand this. This has to do with the bodies, the physical bodies of Christians who died.
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Their bodies are as though they were sleeping in their graves. They are asleep, the bodies of Christians.
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They were as ones who would one day be awakened from their sleep of death coming forth unto eternal life.
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Now we emphasize that this is a reference to the bodies of Christians. Of dead believers being asleep.
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For there are those who teach that this sleep is also the state of the souls of those who are redeemed.
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Not just their bodies. This doctrine is commonly referred to as soul sleep.
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Seventh -day Adventists believe and teach this false doctrine as do Jehovah's Witnesses.
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And I would argue that there are true Christians in the Seventh -day Adventist movement. I wouldn't say all, but there are certainly true
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Christians in the Seventh -day Adventist movement. Not so in the Jehovah's Witness movement. That's a cult.
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Seventh -day Adventist has cult -like things, but I would not deny salvation to them.
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I could not do so biblically, but I could with regard to Jehovah's Witnesses. Because they preach and believe in another
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Jesus who does not exist. They teach that when a
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Christian dies, it is like when one falls asleep. The one who is asleep is not mindful of the passing of time until he awakens in the morning, rising to a new day.
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So when Christians die, they enter a state of unconsciousness, they say. Only to come out of that soul sleep on the day of the resurrection.
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But the scriptures do not teach this. In fact, the scriptures make it quite clear that when a Christian dies, his soul is consciously in the presence of the
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Lord. And that's a certainty. 2 Corinthians 5 .8 speaks about that. Even while his body is asleep in the grave, his soul is conscious before the
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Lord. Because death brings about a separation, and that's what death is, a separation of the soul and body.
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For example, when the thief on his cross next to Jesus said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom,
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Jesus responded, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
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How could he have said that if his soul was going to be asleep until the day of the resurrection, thousands of years into the future?
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The thief died that day, his body was no doubt buried that day, but he was with the
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Lord Jesus in paradise. His body was asleep in the grave until the day of the resurrection, but his soul was consciously with the
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Lord and his people. And by the way, I mentioned that importance of commas earlier, and this is where it's very important in translation, isn't it?
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Because this is what the Jehovah's Witnesses, and I don't know if the Adventists do, but this is where, I suspect the
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Adventists must do it too, but this is where the Jehovah's Witnesses argue that the English translation should not read as we have it there in your notes.
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Truly I say to you, comma, today you will be with me in paradise, but rather they remove the comma before the word today and put it after the word today.
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Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Pushing that way off into the future.
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But the Greek text will not allow for that. Jesus was declaring, today you will be with me in paradise.
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It would be an obvious thing, I'm declaring to you today. And to make that argument is grammatically incorrect in the light of the
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Greek text, and it's theologically errant too. So the thief died, his body was buried, but he was with the
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Lord Jesus. His soul was. Now Christians alone may have assurance that when Jesus returns, they will be reunited with their loved ones who also died in faith.
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Christians are not to regard the death of believing loved ones as others who have no hope.
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A reference to non -Christians. They have no hope. Those who die in unbelief have no hope of salvation.
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They have no hope for a happy reunion with loved ones when Jesus Christ returns at his second coming.
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This has practical implications. I trust that we assess, we view the world, and assess the world as we understand the scriptures.
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I had a rather sad event. You know, this past week, Carrie Fisher died, and her mother
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Debbie Reynolds died the next day by a stroke. And what was the word that came out?
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Well, she wanted to be with Carrie. Well, if they're both Christians, that is the case.
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If they're not, that's not the case. They're not a happy reunion of loved ones who don't know the
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Lord. Unbelievers die in their sins, and they'll face the Lord Jesus on the
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Day of Judgment, at which time he will damn them in their sins. This is serious business.
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But Christians, in contrast to them, have the glorious hope of reunion with their believing loved ones.
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Their sound assurance is based upon God's word and substantiated by the resurrection of their
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Lord and Savior from the death on that first Resurrection Sunday, that first Easter Sunday long ago.
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Now, Paul became more direct in verse 14 on how this future event would transpire. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him, as Jesus, those who have fallen asleep.
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Again, the wording we might read over rather casually or superficially, but the wording is rather interesting.
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It declares that God is bringing with the Lord Jesus those who are asleep.
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It's emphasizing that God, perhaps a triune God, or perhaps God the Father, is the one who is basically sending forth
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Jesus to gather his people, and he's also sending the souls of Christians who have previously died with the
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Lord Jesus. So God has decreed that all he would accomplish in this age would be done through Jesus Christ.
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God will bring back the souls of those who died in the
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Lord, along with the Lord Jesus. As one wrote, Jesus is God's agent in the final act, commissioned to raise and muster the dead.
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The same God that raised Jesus from the dead will raise from the dead those who are asleep in Jesus.
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So there's an emphasis here not just on Christ returning, but the purpose of the Godhead in all of this.
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In verse 15, Paul said that Christians who are alive at the coming of the Lord Jesus would not be caught up to join him prior to the gathering of those
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Christians who have fallen asleep. Well, the souls are already with the Lord.
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Paul declares in verse 15, For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord. He got this directly from the
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Lord Jesus. That we who are alive and who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
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And so Paul claims to have been given a word from the Lord respecting this matter. The Lord revealed this truth to the apostle.
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How or when God had given this word to Paul is not stated. But he was confident that this was from the
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Lord. Paul declared that all believers will be caught up together, though those who are asleep in Jesus will be summoned first, as we see in verse 16.
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For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
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Notice it is the Lord Jesus who calls his people to meet him and one another in the air. He does so with a cry of command, as the
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ESV puts it. He commanded one day Lazarus to come forth out of that grave.
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And on this occasion he is going to command all of his people to come forth. A cry of command.
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He will issue a command, first calling those who belong to him to come forth from the grave. And those bodies will ascend and be reunited with their souls.
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Which he brings with him from heaven. And then his command will be given to Christians who are alive all over the world, to be transformed in an instant.
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Their mortal bodies becoming immortal. And they ascend to meet the Lord in the air.
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Paul wrote of this in 1 Corinthians 15. Behold I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep.
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He is talking about Christians dying. But we all shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
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For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. That is, we who are alive.
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Not only will the dead be raised, but we shall be changed. You know, the last generation of Christians will not experience physical death.
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For this corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. These physical bodies are not suited for eternity.
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They have to be renovated. Not only does the Lord Jesus come with a cry of command, but he also comes with the voice of an archangel.
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That's interesting. I thought I'd do a word search in my
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Bible program on my computer and just see what the Bible says about archangels. You know, it's only mentioned twice in the
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Bible. Once here. The voice of an archangel. The Bible speaks much about angels, but not much about archangels.
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And the only other place is found in Jude 9, in which Jude wrote, Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said,
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The Lord rebuked you. Those are the only two places in the Bible an archangel is mentioned.
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Here in 1 Thessalonians 4 and there in Jude 9. However, if you go outside the
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Bible and you read Jewish literature and early Christian literature that are not canonical, outside of the
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Bible you find numbers of things said about archangels. Of course, this is not the word of God.
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It's not truth. But it does reflect or reveal what these people believed, perhaps, or different people believed.
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Early canonical Jewish books of the early Christian era identified others. I say extra canonical, in other words, outside the canon of Scripture.
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I'm using that word extra in a technical sense, outside the canonical Jewish books.
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But the word of God, again, only identifies Michael as an archangel, and that's in Jude 9. We should probably see an archangel as a leading commander of angels.
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Now that the Lord Jesus shouts with the voice of an archangel, speaks of his great authority, perhaps even being the commander, maybe the commander of the army of hosts.
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He's calling out with this authoritative command. We can look elsewhere and read about the employment of angels in the gathering of Izzalek, which may be a reference to this,
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I don't know. The third description of the manner in which he comes is with the sound of the trumpet of God.
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William Hendrickson, a good commentator, a good solid reformed guy, all his commentaries are good. He wrote these words.
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The trumpet blast in this connection, in the Old Dispensation, talking about the Mosaic Covenant, Israel.
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When God came down, as it were, to meet with his people, this meeting was announced by a trumpet blast, as at Mount Sinai.
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And the sound of a trumpet was exceeding loud, as Moses recorded in Exodus 19. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet
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God. Hence, when the marriage of the Lamb with his bride reaches its culmination, Revelation 19, this trumpet blast is most appropriate.
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And also, the trumpet was used as a signal of Jehovah's coming to rescue his people from hostile oppression. It was a signal for their deliverance.
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And also, those final trumpet blasts, a signal for the dead to rise, for the living to be changed, and for all the elect to be gathered from the four winds to meet the
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Lord, may well be interpreted as being also the fulfillment of the trumpet ordinance found in Leviticus 25, and accordingly, as proclaiming liberty throughout the universe for all the children of God, their everlasting jubilee.
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Every 50th year, the rams worn blue, and slaves were set free, people were set free of debt, and this trumpet of the
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Lord were being set free from death and raised. We read the dead in Christ will rise first.
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The Lord causes the bodies of the dead in Christ to come forth from the graves. Now, Paul is only concerned here about the resurrection of believers.
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He is not given a full -orbed description or delineation of what goes on at the Second Coming of Christ.
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He is only concerned about comforting these people at Thessalonica regarding their lost loved ones who were believers.
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And we should understand that. And so, he only speaks of the dead in Christ rising first.
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Elsewhere, however, we can read the unconverted also rising from their graves.
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Paul doesn't address it here, but our Lord did in John 5, 24 -25. Now, those that argue that this is a rapture of Christians only and the unconverted will not be raised until long after, well over a thousand years later, they say they take the
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Bible literally, but for some reason they don't take the Lord Jesus' words literally in John 5, 28 -29.
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Jesus said, do not marvel at this. Right afterwards, He says, basically, you should marvel at this, that God can cause spiritually dead people to be spiritually alive.
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Now, that's a marvelous thing. But He said, don't marvel at this. In other words, it's no big thing for God. Don't marvel at this.
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The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth. That hour, that seems to be a singular event, doesn't it?
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That hour is not a thousand and seven years old separating the resurrection of the just and the unjust, as many claim.
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But the hour is coming when all who will hear His voice, and they come forth. And there's two groups come forth.
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Those that have done good, as God defines it in the Bible, under the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil under the resurrection of condemnation.
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And we would argue, because of our Lord's words, here it's in a gospel setting, a narrative setting, that this should be viewed as really an authoritative paradigm, an expression of truth.
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And so, rather than interpreting everything that our Lord said, like here, in the light of an apocalyptic vision that's, say, found in the book of Revelation, and argue for the nature of the resurrection based on that, is very,
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I think, simple to come to the Lord's words. And we would argue, as all Christians have done throughout church history until the end of the 19th century, that in the future there's going to be a general resurrection of the dead, believers and unbelievers called forth, those unto salvation, the others unto damnation.
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And so the Lord said He'll cause all to come forth from the graves in that hour, but they will be separated upon the rising from the dead, those under the resurrection of condemnation.
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All people are going to come forth from the grave. Resurrection of condemnation will be separated from those under the resurrection of life.
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But again, Paul, here in 1 Thessalonians 4, is only speaking about this group, the resurrection of the righteous.
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Because again, he's pastorally comforting these people regarding their dead loved ones who died in the
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Lord. Well, after the dead in Christ are raised, Paul then declared in verse 17,
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Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air, so will we always be with the Lord. So that's that same truth as we found in 1
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Corinthians 15, the moment in which our bodies are changed. This mortal body all of a sudden will be transformed if we're alive at the coming of the
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Lord. That would be wonderful, wouldn't it? And we'll be transformed and caught up.
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Paul is not concerned here, again, about declaring what happens to these Christians upon their joining to Christ.
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In other words, he's only concerned about our coming to Christ and our regathering with the other people.
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He doesn't say then they go back to heaven for seven years. He doesn't say they come to the earth, although we would argue elsewhere he does teach that.
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That the Lord caught up all his people to himself as he's coming, the second coming, and then they proceed with the
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Lord Jesus to the earth to bring judgment, the final judgment upon the world. He's bringing them out before he brings his destruction upon them.
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In the same way he caused his disciples to flee out of Jerusalem. When you see the city surrounded by the armies flee to the mountains.
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He's taking his people out, and then he's bringing them with him, and the second coming will be fully realized.
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And so he does not say that he turned around and returned with his people to heaven, only to return after a seven -year tribulation period, as so many people commonly believe and assume will occur.
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The point that Paul was stressing was that from this occasion of the rapture, even unto eternity, so we'll always be with the
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Lord. That was his point of emphasis, his concern here teaching. This word of our future translation to be with the
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Lord and his people is to be an encouragement to Christians. Paul concluded this paragraph by writing in verse 18,
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Therefore encourage one another with these words. And it is encouraging, isn't it? I mean, it's a wonderful thing.
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I've done about 91 funerals now in the 19 years almost I've been here, and I would say maybe 10 of them were
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Christian. And it sure is a lot easier to stand at the graveside of a Christian and talk about a future reuniting of loved ones in the
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Lord rather than standing before a grave and knowing that they have no hope because they're not
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Christian. You know, it's a difficult situation.
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You try and be gracious and kind and merciful and yet true, but it's a difficult setting.
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But we are to encourage one another with these words. Now this great prophetic event is commonly referred to as the rapture.
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The rapture as a word, of course, is not found in the Bible. It's actually not even derived from a
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Greek word, the Greek language of the Bible, but rather it's taken from the Latin language, raptura, meaning to catch up or take away.
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And it's close also to an old French term as well. I don't know French, but I've read that.
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And so this idea of the rapture has been viewed throughout history as one aspect of that great end -time event, the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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Now when people hear, say, my understanding of the end times, which is very simple, the
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Lord Jesus is going to come back. He's going to raise the dead. He's going to separate the righteous from the unrighteous. There's going to be a general judgment of all mankind.
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Eternity will be ushered in. Christians into eternal life, new heavens, new earth, and damned into everlasting punishment.
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That's a pretty simple view of the end times. But when people hear, say, someone like me teaching that, they have difficulties.
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They have trouble. And they say, oh, he doesn't believe in the rapture. I've heard that so many times.
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He doesn't believe in the rapture. Oh, that church there, First Baptist Church, they don't believe in the rapture. We believe in the rapture.
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The Bible talks about it in 1 Corinthians 4. But we believe it to be the same as the second coming of Christ.
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The catching up of Christians to be with the Lord, and forever with the Lord, is at the second coming of Christ.
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It's one aspect of the second coming. And so don't assume that we don't believe in the rapture. We believe in the rapture, even though that term is not a biblical term.
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We believe what it says here, what it teaches here. Well, let's understand a little better this future event, as we try and sort through these matters.
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The Greek word most commonly used to refer to the return of Christ is the word parousia. And it's commonly translated simply by the
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English word coming. It's in our text in 1 Thessalonians 4 .15,
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which reads, For this we declare it to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the parousia, the coming of the
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Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. But this word parousia is found in many other places as well.
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In fact, I've included every verse in the New Testament in your notes, where the
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Greek word parousia is used, that's referencing the coming of the
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Lord. There are uses of the word, speaking of Paul, spoke about one of his companions appearing, coming on the scene.
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It's obviously not a reference to the second coming. But here are all the verses. And so if we just read through these quickly, we've got a little bit of time to do so.
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By the time we get to the end of these verses, you get an idea of what this appearance, or this coming of the
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Lord Jesus entails. And so we have Matthew 24 .3,
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Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Jesus, privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be?
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He's talking about not one stone standing upon another here in the city. They'll all be cast down.
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When will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? They were asking about the fall of Jerusalem, as well as the end of the age.
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The coming of Christ. Matthew 24 .27, As the lightning comes from the east and flashes from the west, so also will be the parousia, the coming of the
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Son of Man be. Matthew 24 .36 and following, But if that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my
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Father only, but as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
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For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, in other words, life was going on as usual, until the day that Noah entered the ark, did not know until the flood came, took them all away, so also will the coming of the
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Son of Man be. 1 Corinthians 15 .23, Each in his own order,
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Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those were Christ at his coming. Talking about the second coming, of course.
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1 Thessalonians 2 .19, We've already seen it in 1 Thessalonians. For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing?
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Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming? 1
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Thessalonians 3 .13, In the previous chapter, So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our
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God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. We'll be looking at that expression maybe next
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Lord's Day in more detail. 1 Thessalonians 4 .15, This is the verse in our passage,
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For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
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1 Thessalonians 5 .23, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our
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Lord Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 2 .1, Now brethren, concerning the coming of our
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Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that's the rapture clearly, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come.
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Some thought that the second coming was only a spiritual coming and they missed out on it. He says don't think that.
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2 Thessalonians 2 .8, And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.
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That would be the man of sin that we'll deal with in 2 Thessalonians 2. James 5 .7
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and 8, Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early latter rain.
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You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 2
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Peter 1 .16, We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. An allusion to the
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Transfiguration. 2 Peter 3. Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying,
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Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
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2 Peter 3. This verse alone devastates the dispensational position.
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Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, he's talking about everything physical, the earth, what manner of persons ought ye to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and elements will melt with fervent heat.
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We would argue that the coming of Christ, the new heavens and the new earth, will be fashioned before us.
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1 John 2 .28, Now little children, abide in him when he appears. We may have confidence, not be ashamed before him at his coming.
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In other words, we will not be ashamed and condemned at the judgment. We'll be exonerated.
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We're going to be held forth as wonderful people of faith that endured through great trial and difficulty in our lives.
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We will not be ashamed at his coming, because we will be found to be in Christ, thankfully, in his righteousness.
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It's quite clear, I would argue, that each of these references to the parousia speaks to one event at the end of the age, even the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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And from the verses that we read or considered, we may conclude that when the coming of Jesus Christ takes place, the following events occur.
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One, when Jesus Christ comes, he'll raise his people from the dead, gathering unto him, that they will dwell with him through eternity, from that point on.
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Second, the lawless one will be destroyed at his coming. Third, when the coming of the
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Lord Jesus occurs, he will defeat his enemies and judge all the inhabitants of the world. Four, when the coming of the
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Lord Jesus Christ takes place, this present universe will be dissolved and he will create a new heavens and earth.
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All these things will take place at the coming of the Lord. And so the
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Holy Scriptures, we would argue, set forth the future coming of Jesus Christ as a single future event that will bring an end to human history in this present world.
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It will be a day in which he will judge the world, saving his people from their sin and damning all others to their just condemnation.
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I would argue that the rapture described here in 1 Thessalonians 4 is but one aspect of that one second coming.
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In asserting this, some would, again, falsely accuse us of not believing in the rapture. But this is not true.
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The Scripture certainly foretells the future rapture of those redeemed by Christ. But the word of God declares that this rapture is the same event as the second coming of Christ.
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Not a separate one. Not a different event from his second coming. Nor is the rapture to be understood as the first stage of the second coming.
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And the second stage of the second coming is at the end of the seven years. Many teach that. My old friend
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Doug, who is with the Lord now, I always quote him. He is one of the most quotable guys I have ever known. Just a homey guy from Arkansas.
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And when he would get into discussions with the brethren about this matter who differed from him, he would interrupt.
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Now, are you talking about the first second coming or the second second coming? And the foolishness of their argument was immediately apparent to them.
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You know, there is one second coming. Not two second comings. Not two stages of the second coming. There is one event.
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And it is all expressed through this Greek word the poesia. Now, in order for us not to be uninformed about this matter, it is necessary that we address,
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I believe, the errant view of the pre -tribulation rapture. And this is what we are all taught.
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This is what I was taught as a young Christian. The first book I read was The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsay in 1970.
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And it taught this pre -tribulation rapture. Please understand what this position is.
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And most evangelicals believe it. The who's who of evangelicals teach this.
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In my mind, one of the greatest servants of the Lord in America is John MacArthur. But he teaches this view of the second coming.
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Two stages. Charles Stanley does. David Jeremiah does.
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Chuck Swindoll does. J. Vernon McGee, who I have great regard for. They all do.
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Except for R .C. Sproul. And I think maybe Alistair Bigg, I would suspect, doesn't.
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But for the most part, the big names, the big boys, all teach this. Because this is what's been taught.
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But on the other hand, although I'm standing up here and presenting a position that only R .C. maybe espouses as a big name, please understand, before 1900, before the 20th century, the vast majority of Christians affirmed a position that I'm affirming here.
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And it was a vast majority. And before 1830, there were no Christians that advocated this two -stage coming of Jesus Christ.
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And so I would argue that all the Puritans, all the Reformers, all of the Christians, up until the 19th century, particularly the end of the 19th century, really with the onset of Schofield, the early 20th century, believed what we are espousing here.
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So I would argue, actually, we've got the majority position. And I would further argue that all the historic confessions of faith, all the
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Protestant confessions of faith, prior to the 20th century, set forth a view of the coming of Christ in the manner that we are asserting.
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And so, you know, I know what it is. You've never heard anything like it before. I was that way when
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I first heard it. In fact, I knew a fellow who first encouraged me to go into seminary.
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And all I knew about him was he was a strange bird because he was a Calvinist. And he had this, he didn't believe in the rapture.
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But he had a great influence and impact on me going further in my education. So I think back fondly on O .C.
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Harris now, who's with the Lord. By the way, I carry around his New Testament that he gave me when
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I graduated from my Master of Divinity degree. And he wrote in the cover, he says, remember,
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Lars, anything old has the possibility of being true. Anything that is new is not true without a doubt.
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And I thought that was good counsel that he gave. Now, let's consider the beliefs of those who hold to a pre -tribulation rapture.
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People don't think through these issues. If they did, they would understand that there's some glaring difficulties.
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Again, we are asserting the Holy Scriptures foretell a single future event of the Second Coming of Christ. Most believers, however, have embraced a different understanding of our passage.
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They believe the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will occur in two stages. The first stage of the
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Second Coming, they believe, is the rapture of the Church. I emphasize the Church. Our understanding of the rapture is all redeemed people throughout all of history.
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That is not what those who espouse a pre -tribulation rapture teach. It's only those
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Christians since the day of Pentecost until the rapture of the Church at the end of the
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Church Age. They argue that this rapture is an event that is imminent, that it will take place suddenly, and there is no event foretold in the
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Scriptures that will occur between now and the rapture of the Church. They say that Jesus will return, therefore, at any moment to rapture
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His Church to be with Him. They then assert that a period of seven years of tribulation will occur on the earth after the
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Church is removed. Only after this seven -year tribulation they say the fulfillment which they say is the fulfillment of the 70th week of Daniel.
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We'll have to address that maybe in two Sundays from now. Then the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will take place.
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It should be understood, they teach, the rapture will not include all people through history who are redeemed through Jesus Christ.
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In other words, they do not teach that the rapture will include all New Testament believers and all Old Testament saints.
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Rather, they teach the rapture will only include New Testament believers, which they regard as the
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Church. They believe that the Old Testament believers will not be raised from the dead until the end of the seven years of tribulation after the rapture of the
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Church, seven years before, at the onset of a future Jewish millennium, which will occur at the
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Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the second stage of the Second Coming. And that's when all the believers of the
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Old Testament are raised, because they are going to populate the earth during the Jewish millennium.
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I would argue the pre -tribulation rapture teaching requires multiple future resurrections from the dead, not just one.
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Many would not affirm this, but if you think it through, this is what the pre -tribulation rapture results in.
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First, they say only those members of the true Church, those who become Christians between Pentecost and the rapture of the
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Church, will be resurrected at the rapture. The Lord takes His bride to be with them.
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Second, they say that Jewish believers will be raised from the dead seven years later at the Second Coming, who will then populate an earthly Jewish millennium, with Jesus sitting on David's throne, they argue.
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Third, there will be those who become Christians during the millennium, in the future, who are born in the millennium, grow up, they become
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Christians. When are they going to be raised from the dead? You'd have to conclude they're going to be raised upon death, and resurrected upon death throughout the millennium.
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A whole series of resurrections. And then fourth, they say that the unconverted of all human history will come forth from their graves at the end of the future thousand -year millennium, in order to be judged at the
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Great White Throne judgment. They do not believe in a general resurrection of the dead, as we have espoused.
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And again, as I would argue, our Lord taught in John 5, 28, and 29. They do not believe in a one -time, end -general judgment of all mankind, which is taught in numerous places in the scriptures.
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They believe the Bible teaches a number of future resurrections, and a number of future judgments. There's a judgment of Christians after the rapture.
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There's a judgment at the second coming, determining who will be allowed to continue in the millennium.
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And then there will be a judgment at the end of the thousand years. And then again, you have to have these judgments throughout the millennium of Christians that die, and then are raised.
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It's convoluted when you think about this scheme and all that's entailed.
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And again, I was taught this. I believe this. I showed the Men and Men's Group yesterday the first book
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I bought as a Christian entitled Dispensational Truth by Clarence Larkin. I showed all the charts.
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I ingested this thing when I was a young Christian and knew them all. I knew all the charts, knew all the arguments, and it took a while to unlearn those things.
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But I was forced to do so through the studying and preaching of the Holy Scriptures over the course of a number of years.
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So I was converted in 1972, became a preacher and associate pastor in 1974, a full -time pastor, head pastor in December of 1979.
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And it says after I became a pastor and preaching to the Bible week after week, book after book,
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I came to realize that's not consistent with what we have been taught, what I believe. This isn't consistent.
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And after a while, I realized this whole thing is convoluted. And then after I concluded that,
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I came across, God bless him, Ralph Woodrow's books that we have down on our book table that set forth that what
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I had come to conclude was indeed Biblical. And then I realized the recent invention of all this that prior to Scofield's Bible in the early 20th century, nobody believed these things except for a small group of Plymouth brethren through the 19th century, influenced by J.
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N. Darby and a charismatic guy in London, Edward Irving. And that they basically, because they came into a situation of vacuum at the beginning of the 20th century with all these sincere true
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Christians coming out of these liberal Christ -denying mainline denominations and forming their own
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Bible -believing churches and own Bible schools and starting their own publishing house, and Scofield's Bible came right down within that vacuum and came to be understood as the
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Bible believer's Bible and his notes were accepted. And he had great influence on Lewis Barry Schaeffer who founded
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Dallas Seminary and I could go on and on about. That was really the only voice that was heard throughout the 20th century.
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Arthur Pink was a dissensationalist early on and spoke widely to groups of 2 ,000 people until he stopped being a dissensationalist and they stopped being asked to preach.
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And he lost his ability to have influence. There were a few guys here and there.
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G. Gresham Machen was a faithful Presbyterian back through the 30s and 40s and there were others.
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But they were largely marginalized because there was not a evangelical book publisher that would publish anything except the line of the
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Schofield understanding and teaching. But things have changed.
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People came to understand differently. George Ladd wrote a wonderful book dispensing the rapture of the church and showing it to be the second coming of Christ.
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There were other books written in the 70s and 80s and even some of the classic dissensationalists began to correct some of the earlier errant teachings.
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MacArthur did to his credit regarding the kingdom of God. That's why so many evangelicals don't preach about the kingdom of God because they think the kingdom was postponed.
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They don't believe I pulled off two dozen books off my shelves in preparation for this morning.
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And so many of them believe that the offer of the kingdom that Jesus gave and John the Baptist gave to the
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Jews was the millennial kingdom. If they would have embraced Jesus as their king, the millennium would have begun.
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A thousand years in which Israel would have ascended over the earth. But because Israel rejected
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Jesus as king the offer of the kingdom was withdrawn. And so the church age is a parenthesis.
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But after the rapture of the church during the tribulation the gospel of the kingdom will once again be the preeminent message and the gospel of the kingdom will be realized at the second coming of Christ.
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And so the classical dispensationalists argue Jesus is priest and prophet now but he will not be king until the second coming of Jesus.
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I would say that's near blasphemy. And so they deny the present reality of the kingdom.
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And I would argue that even though a lot of evangelicals don't go so far to say that there's an absence in kingdom preaching and teaching because of their dispensational background and the influence of dispensationalism.
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And one of my well my theme down in South Africa before perhaps 200 pastors is the kingdom of God.
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And I know what they've been taught. They've been taught by American evangelicals. And one of my purposes down there is to show that the present reality of the kingdom and what that entails and that the gospel of the
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New Testament is a gospel of the kingdom. And that you know the gospel is not just the good news of how you can have your sins forgiven through faith in Jesus.
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The gospel of the kingdom is the announcement that King Jesus has come into the world and through his life and his death upon the cross he basically was given all authority in heaven and earth and he is bringing back this world this creation into a willing submission to his father throughout this church age and that's going to be accomplished finally and fully at the second coming when every knee will bow and every tongue confess
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Jesus is king to the glory of God the father.
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And that's what we are to believe now and to proclaim now and there are not a lot of people that are doing it in today's world.
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We're way off base here I know. I get circulars from Vision New England you know the big evangelical promotion where they have a conference every year with 10 ,000 evangelicals coming and they forfeited any longer any doctrinal or biblical exposition all it is is a conference telling pastors it doesn't matter what denomination you're from whatever you believe this is how you build a church this is how you do ministry it's the nuts and bolts but they no longer are proclaiming the word of God as the word of God.
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The voices are few and some of you know that don't you? You've ended up here because you've driven dozens and dozens of miles because you can't find anything in between and I would say that the state of things in which we find ourselves today is very dire very serious but thanks be to God we've got his word and Lord willing he's going to help us and I pray and I hope we pray that as a church we'll stay true to him and the
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Lord will bless him these days. Amen? Let's pray. Father we know these are difficult matters and we know that there are good men who hold a different view and we do not in any way disrespect or denigrate them but we want to know the truth our
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Lord and we pray that you would help us to be true to you and true to your word and so help us our
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Lord in our study, help us our Lord to embrace these matters and incorporate them into our verbal witness for we desire
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Lord to bear faithful witness to the teaching of your word a message that you can bless our
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God to the saving of souls for we do pray in Jesus name. Amen.