Are the Rapture and the Second Coming the same thing? | Bible Questions & Answers

the question that i want to take up this evening is simply this are the rapture and the second coming the same thing so let's look at the chart just for a minute so if we consult the chart the chart is going to tell us that the rapture occurs at the end of the dispensation of grace so the last event of the dispensation of grace is the rapture the second coming of christ is a different event it is an event later in time it occurs at the end of the 70th week and so if we just look at the chart we know that the rapture and the second coming are not the same event but let me pause there just for a second the chart is a tool it's a very helpful tool but we want to always go by the word of god and not by the chart the chart is something that man created now this is a great chart i think it's an accurate chart i use the chart all the time i like the chart but i don't prove things on the basis of the chart says so you prove things on the basis of a verse when when paul says in first thessalonians 5 21 prove all things he doesn't mean by the chart he means by proving things by comparing verse with verse and so what we're going to study tonight is this we're going to show you the differences between the second coming and the rapture and to preview it i'm going to tell you that there's four big differences there's probably more than four but there's four that i'm going to focus on tonight the four big differences between the rapture and the second coming are number one the timing number two the location number three the people and number four the purpose in other words these two events take place at different times in different locations they involve different people and they have a different purpose so they're obviously not the same event now that's a preview let's see if that's what scripture says so get with me matthew chapter 24 matthew chapter 24 and we'll start there matthew chapter 24 matthew 24 verse 29 matthew 24 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days very helpful introduction isn't it we know the exact timing immediately after the tribulation of those days so if we go to the tribulation and go immediately after it that's the context immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken now some will say that the events of the gospels such as matthew 24 they will say that all of those events were fulfilled during the first century but that just can't be the case so look at what 29 says the sun will be darkened and they'll say well you know there was an eclipse for a little while well the sun's not darkened you can just go out during the day and the sun obviously shines and the moon shall not give her light well the moon is still here giving her light and then notice this even if you explain away those two and the stars shall fall from heaven well has that happened yet hadn't occurred and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken so this is obviously a future event that hasn't taken place and we know that it's immediately after the tribulation now notice verse 30 and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory so let's make sure we understand what verses 29 and 30 just told us immediately after the tribulation of those days so this is after the 70th week what happens the sun is darkened the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven so think about that just for a minute if all those things happen what does space look like well it's dark right if the sun is darkened so it's not giving light and the moon doesn't give light and the stars fall from heaven what's left darkness so matthew 24 29 describes events after the tribulation where the heavens become dark and then what did verse 30 tell us and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven so first the heavens go dark and then there's a sign of the son of man so let me ask you this question how many people on earth are going to notice these events well this isn't a local event this isn't something that happened in your neighborhood this is the sun was darkened the moon didn't give light the stars fell everyone on earth will notice when that happens and then immediately after that happens there's the sign of the son of man in heaven in other words guys i'm coming could i make it more clear i turned off the sun turned off the moon turned off the stars i put a sign i'm coming that's that's what the lord is doing in matthew 24 verse 29 and then verse 30 specifically says and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory it's the second coming so the second coming has to be immediately after the tribulation and it's after all of these disturbances in the heaven that make it clear that something is about to happen and the sign of the son of man reveals it now that's the second coming let's now talk about the rapture get with me first thessalonians chapter 5. scripture does not use the word rapture the word rapture is a latin word originally appeared in the latin vulgate it's not a word that you will find in the king james bible but it is a word that people commonly use you will find in in the scriptures terms like the adoption to wit the redemption of our body you'll see things about the glorious appearing you'll see things about the blessed hope so there's other terms that describe this event we're going to use the term rapture just because it's a common term that people are familiar with first thessalonians chapter 5 verse 9. for god hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our lord jesus christ now people differ about this so you should study it for yourself and you should just decide what conclusion you believe the scriptures teach but what first thessalonians 5 9 says is god hath not appointed us to wrath the 70th week the tribulation is a time of wrath so let's put 2 and 2 together if god did not appoint the body of christ to wrath and the 70th week is a time of wrath guess what you need to not be here first thessalonians 5 9 establishes the pre-tribulational nature of the rapture in other words what is pre-mean pre means before so the rapture occurs pre-tribulationally in other words before the tribulation and it occurs before the tribulation because scripture says the body of christ is not appointed to wrath so are you going to be here during the 70th week not if you're a member of the body of christ you're not so the first proof that the rapture is pre-tribulational is first thessalonians chapter 5 verse 9. now let me give you a second proof now what i'm going to do here is you can see the full chart what i'm going to do is i'm going to modify it and what i'm doing is i'm hiding the dispensation of grace so the dispensation of grace does not appear on this chart now i want you to think through something with me just for a minute the dispensation of grace is described as a mystery first corinthians 2 verse 7 tells us that a mystery is hidden wisdom and in fact let's just get ephesians 3 9 let's look at it together because it's it's better just to see it with your own eyes than to have me tell you about it so look with me in ephesians 3 and let's look at verse 1. for this cause i paul the prisoner of jesus christ for you gentiles if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of god which has given me to you word how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery and you can see a parenthesis there in verses 3 and 4 verse 5 which in other ages was not made known so let's put that all together paul was given the dispensation of grace it's described as a mystery and verse 5 says in other ages it was not made known so was it made known to adam to abraham to moses to david to john the baptist to isaiah to jeremiah to peter it wasn't made known to any of them because in other ages it was not made known now i'm going to hide this again if you stood in acts 7 as stephen and someone said to you draw me the timeline of history this is how it would be drawn because the mystery had not yet been revealed the mystery was a secret now get with me first corinthians 15. first corinthians 15 verse 51. first corinthians 15 51 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 for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptable and we shall be changed corinthians 15 verses 51 and 52 refer to the catching up they refer to the rapture and verse 51 specifically says it is a mystery so now think about that if the rapture is a mystery and we know from first corinthians from ephesians 3 that the mystery revealed to paul was hid from ages and it was not made known in time past then if you put yourself in time past you don't know anything about the rapture because it is a mystery it hasn't been revealed yet now think about that just for a minute what that tells you is the rapture has to occur during the dispensation of grace it can't occur during the prophetic time calendar because it is a mystery see if you're in the old testament and you're reading the old testament carefully and you read daniel daniel tells you about the 70th week isaiah tells you about the millennium you can know about these events of prophecy because they're revealed in the old testament and in fact you can see all the verse references here you can look those up and and see those in the old testament they knew all about it but they didn't know about the mystery because the the mystery was hidden and they didn't know about the rapture because the rapture is a mystery now what all that tells you is the rapture therefore must take place during the dispensation of grace in fact it's the last event of the dispensation of grace get with me second timothy two second timothy chapter two now this one you're gonna need to put on your thinking cap and i think this will this will help you second timothy 2 verse 17 and their word will eat as doth a canker of whom is hymeneus and philetus now notice verse 18 who concerning the truth have erred so they've made a mistake what's their mistake saying that the resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some well when they air and they say the resurrection is past which resurrection are they talking about are they talking about the resurrection of the lord at the end of the gospels well they're not talking about that are they talking about the resurrection of people into the millennial kingdom they're not talking about that what resurrection are they talking about they're talking about the resurrection that occurs at the rapture what happens at the rapture is all of those members of the body of christ who are dead they are resurrected they get their new bodies at that time now what second timothy 2 18 is describing there is there is a false teaching that the resurrection is passed the resurrection that's being described there has to be the rapture and i'll prove it to you are you ready if it's talking about the resurrection at the second coming you would be in the kingdom the lord would be present it's not something where that can be passed and you not know it once the second coming happens and people are resurrected everyone on earth is going to know it the lord is going to be visibly reigning but the nature of the rapture is that the rapture occurs and the only people that leave the earth are the body of christ you know what that means life on earth continues to some degree business as usual let me put it this way at the rapture does 99 of the earth's population leave 85 70 50. you realize that when the rapture occurs the vast majority of the people are still going to be here so what second thessalonians 2 18 tells you is when there was this false teaching that people missed the resurrection it's a reference to a pre-tribulational rapture because that's the only thing you can miss you can't miss the second coming if the if the rapture was in fact at the same time of the second coming you couldn't miss that how are you going to miss that when the sun turns to darkness you're not going to be able to miss that see what second thessalonians 2 18 does is it confirms that the rapture is pre-tribulational so the first and most basic reason that we know that the rapture and the second coming are different events is they occur at very different points in time they're literally years apart they're in fact more than seven years apart because there is there's a time lapse there's a gap between the rapture and the start of the 70th week if the rapture occurs on monday the 70th week doesn't start on tuesday there's there's there's other prophetic events that take place what that tells you is the rapture and the second coming are different events there they differ by years and years so not the same event the second difference is the location of the lord's coming so get with me zechariah 14. zachariah chapter 14. zechariah 14. zachariah chapter 14. notice with me verse 1 behold the day of the lord cometh and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee zechariah 14 is a prophecy about the day of the lord coming now notice what it says in verse 4 and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of olives which is before jerusalem on the east and the mount of olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west and there shall be a very great valley and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south now notice what that is saying and by the way before we dig into verse 4 where did the lord ascend from he ascended from the mount of olives so if you if you read early acts after the lord died on the cross was buried and rose again the third day he subsequently ascended into heaven and he ascended from the mount of olives what zechariah 14 is describing is the second coming so let's hide the dispensation of grace again the lord leaves the earth at the ascension he leaves from the mount of olives and at the second coming he returns to the earth and where does he return he returns to the exact same place he left he returns to the mount of olives now notice what zechariah 14 verse 4 says and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of olives so does the lord come down and hover in the air 20 000 feet before the mount of olives above it or does he return and his feet actually set foot they touch the mount of olives and zechariah 14 says that they literally touch the mount of olives look with me at first thessalonians chapter 4. first thessalonians chapter 4. first thessalonians chapter 4 and let's let's start in verse 14. for if we let's do verse 13 but i would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope this is how you think about deceased members of the body of christ for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him for this we say unto you by the word of the lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the lord himself shall descend from heaven so this is the lord returning from heaven shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first now notice verse 17 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord well where do we meet the lord according to first thessalonians chapter 4 we meet the lord in the air what happens in first thessalonians 4 is the lord does not come all the way down to the mount of olives because it's not the second coming he comes down to the mount of olives at the second coming and there's a valley formed because it's the second coming and all of the wrath described in prophecy is going to occur at that time but what first thessalonians refers to is it refers to us meeting the lord in the air we meet him in the clouds because we're not coming back to the earth we're going to heaven the reason i know that the body of christ goes to heaven get with me second corinthians chapter five second corinthians chapter five verse one for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved what happens if your body gets disintegrated i mean there are there are members of the body of christ where obviously there's members of the body of christ that die there's members of the body of christ where their body is just completely destroyed right because of something that happens to them for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of god and house not made with hands and where is it eternal in the heavens so as a member of the body of christ where will you be for eternity you will be in the heavens second corinthians 5 1 says so what the lord does at the rapture is he comes down to the earth's atmosphere he doesn't come down to set his feet on the ground he comes down to the earth's atmosphere the the members of the body of christ are caught up we meet him in the air and we go to heaven because that is our eternal dwelling place so the second reason that the second coming in the rapture are different events is they take place in different locations at the rapture the lord meets his body of christ those deceased members of the body of christ he brings with him and those that are alive and remain are caught up to meet him in the air that occurs in the earth's atmosphere that occurs in the first heaven zechariah 14 describes the second coming where the lord's feet stand on the mount of olives so what's the third difference well the third difference is the people that are involved so look at me at revelation chapter 19. revelation chapter 19 revelation 19 and look with me at verse 11 revelation 19 11 and i saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war revelation 19 11 is a reference to the second coming it's a reference to the lord being in heaven the heavens opened he's faithful and true and what he's going to do is in righteousness he's going to judge and make war meaning he's going to return to earth and he's going to pour out his vengeance on his adversaries look with me at verse 13 and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of god no question that this is a reference to the lord jesus christ verse 14 and the armies which were in heaven followed him first thessalonians 4 didn't mention anything about armies at the rapture but there's armies that follow the lord at the second coming because he's returning to make war and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen white and clean verse 15 and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty god what the lord is doing at the second coming is he returns to earth and he's going to set up his millennial kingdom but what is the first thing he does before setting up the millennial kingdom he pours out wrath on his adversaries the lord jesus christ establishes his millennial kingdom not through an election there is no vote the earth did not take a vote and say we all voted we're agreed we want the lord jesus christ to reign that's not what happens he returns and his enemies oppose his return he brings the armies of heaven with him the sharp sword goeth out of his mouth because what he's going to do is those that oppose him being king of kings are going to be destroyed revelation 19 what happens at the second coming is the lord comes and he comes and his first order of business is to pour out vengeance on his adversaries compare that get with me first thessalonians chapter 4. first thessalonians chapter 4 first thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16 for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god notice what it says and the dead in christ shall rise first is the rapture about the lord's enemies or is it about his beloved saints it's about his saints is what it's about verse 17 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air so shall we ever be with the lord see the reason i say that the second coming in the rapture involved different people the second coming is the lord returning to deal with his adversaries and he's going to destroy them they're going to be crushed the rapture is the lord coming for his own let me say that as a word of encouragement if you look out at life in the earth and you think everything is crazy it is that's true but you know what what's going to happen is the lord is going to return for the body of christ and if this world frustrates you if you find this world difficult well you're going to be delivered from it because you're going to meet the lord in the air and you're going to be ever with the lord second corinthians 5 1 says eternal in the heavens verse 18 wherefore comfort one another with these words now the fourth difference between the second coming and the rapture is the purpose and we touched on this briefly but let me just make this clear the purpose of the second coming is for the lord to return to pour out vengeance on his adversaries and establish his millennial kingdom on the earth the lord's millennial kingdom will literally be on the earth he will sit in jerusalem and he will reign and he will govern on the earth the purpose for the rapture is for the lord to receive the body of christ the the members of the body of christ who were saved during the dispensation of grace they will be received unto him and he will take them to heaven where they will be forever in other words the rapture and the second coming have fundamentally different purposes the rapture is about the body of christ the rapture is about the body of christ going to heaven to be in the heavens forever the second coming is about the lord returning to establish his kingdom on the earth so let me tie this all together people ask the question are the rapture and the second coming the same event and what happens sometimes is there's verses that talk about the lord coming and so they say well it's it's the same thing it's the lord coming there's only one of them well that's not the case and the reason it's not the case is these events take place at different periods of time they're years removed in in time they occur in different locations they involve different people and they have different purposes so the rapture and the second coming are plainly not the same event they are different get with me titus if you would get with me titus and let's look at chapter 2 verse 11. for the grace of god that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world grace doesn't mean live any old way you want it means to live soberly and righteously and godly now look at verse 13 looking for that blessed hope you ever go through a trial in life and you're just looking for that time when it's done you know you have some sort of problem or difficulty and you're just ready to move on well a lot of people look at 2020 and they say you know what ready to be done with 2020 happy to move on to the next year will 2021 be better i hope so don't really know but please understand we have something more certain something more blessed than just looking forward to a new year look at what it says looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god and our savior jesus christ see we have something to look forward to that that's so glorious that's so spectacular that's so eternal that all the the problems that we have and the problems are real i'm not saying they're not the problems are real but those problems are insignificant when compared to the glory that awaits yet with me second corinthians chapter 4 verse 17. second corinthians 4 17. ii corinthians 4 17 and 18 for our light affliction which is but for a moment now here's a fascinating thing you might want to study this paul says in second corinthians 4 17 are light affliction if you just turn to chapter 11 of that same book you see that paul was shipwrecked multiple times he was beaten with rods he was in stripes above measure he was imprisoned he suffered tremendously but what does he say in verse 17 for our light affliction well it wasn't light in the sense that it was small in a worldly sense but it's light when compared to something else for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory now you may think the struggles in your life are bad and i'm sure some of them are difficult not many people suffered as much as paul did and what did paul say about it well it's a it's a light affliction compared to what the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory you've heard the phrase this too shall pass and it's something people say because they're going through a difficult time and they're they're looking forward to getting on the other side of it this too shall pass it shall end we'll we'll get out the other side of it well you know the way that life on earth works all the troubles here end and right now they may seem huge but james says this life is a vapor you ever been walking outside in the winter and you exhale and your breath crystallizes what happens when you try to grab it it eludes your grasp because it's immaterial it's insubstantial you can see it for a moment but then it's gone well that's what earthly life is like it's done this life is a vapor but the light affliction we face during this life works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory verse 18 tells us how to think about this while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal everything you can see or touch is going to disappear it's going to burn the elements will pass away with a fervent heat so the stuff that you can see and feel it's only temporal it doesn't mean much but the things that are eternal god his word the souls of men those are the things that are eternal those are the things that are worth investing in we hope this is an encouragement to you brethren what we all need to do is we need to not look at the things on this earth we need to look at the things that are unseen those are the things that are real those are the things that are eternal let's close in a word of prayer father god we thank you for this time we thank you for your word we thank you you've provided it for us we rejoice in all the blessings you've given us in the body of christ we pray that we would be faithful to teach others the gospel we pray that they would believe it and be saved and that you would continually add new people to the body of christ that they may share in your eternal glory it's in the name of the lord jesus christ that we pray [Music] amen [Music] do you

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

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Length: 39min 47sec (2387 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 20 2021