I Go to Prepare a Place for You

We will start with the best possible source on Jesus' Second Coming: Jesus Himself.  Jesus was very clear about this: He is coming back. Even before His death and resurrection, the Gospel of John records Jesus telling His followers, "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:2-3) It is worth noting that this promise was given after Judas, who betrayed Jesus, left the room; it is a promise to Jesus' faithful followers, as represented by the eleven faithful apostles.  He is coming back for His own, the born-again members of His Church.  

There are many other New Testament verses that clearly predict a Second Coming.  In the Book of Acts, Luke records that Jesus "was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?  This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (Acts 1: 9-11) 

The New Testament epistle writers, under inspiration from the Holy Spirit, also understood that Jesus would return.  James, the half-brother of Jesus and one of the pillars of the early Church, tells us to "be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand... behold, the Judge is standing at the door." (James 5: 7-9) 

Likewise, Paul is clear throughout his epistles that Jesus is coming back.  He tells us we are "to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:12-13) Notice that the appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ is our blessed hope, not something to be feared, and not a harbinger of our suffering.  

Paul also exhorts his readers to increase in love for each other, and for everyone, "so that [God] may establish your hearts blameless in holiness... at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." (1 Thess. 3:13)

There are many other verses which prove that, even in the first century, the Apostles expected Christ to come back at any time.  

Based on a serious, literal reading of the Bible, Jesus is actually coming back twice--in a sense.  It is more accurate to say he will return once but in two stages, just like a play can be a single play but occurring in two acts.  The first time Jesus comes back will be in the air for His Church, those who have chosen to accept His death and Resurrection as the atonement for their sins, in order to remove them from the earth and take them with Him to heaven prior to the wrath of God that will be poured out on all those left behind.  The second time Jesus comes back will be to the earth, when He will come physically with His Church, to judge the world and rule over it as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Jesus' return is a two-step process.

We as the Church are not appointed to suffer through God's wrath.  It's important not to get confused here; Jesus promised us that, as his followers, we will have pain and suffering: "In the world you will have tribulation." (John 16:33) But we, the faithful Church, will not go through the seven-year period of God's wrath that is known as the "Tribulation," "the Day of God's Wrath" or the "Seventieth Week of Daniel." This time of God's wrath is the seven-year period in God's prophetic plan for His creation, after He removes His faithful believers, when He will directly pour out His wrath on a world that is willfully in revolt against Him.  The Tribulation begins when the antichrist confirms a seven-year peace treaty with Israel and many others, and lasts for seven years.  It is the most violent, turbulent, and deadly period there ever has been or ever will be.  Jesus says himself that if He did not intervene to put a stop to it, no flesh would remain alive.  But He will intervene to keep that from occurring. 

We know we will not go through the time of God's wrath because God has promised to keep us safely from this period.  To the Church of Philadelphia, which symbolizes the faithful Church of the end times, Jesus writes, "Because you have kept my word to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." (Rev 3:10) 

What will this hour of trial look like?  The Old Testament prophet Zephaniah tells us, "That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm... their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like refuse... the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy." (Zeph 1:15-18)

From Isaiah we are warned that “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” (Isa 13:9)

Another picture of this time of God's wrath is given in Revelation 6:12-17: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"  And this is only the seal judgments; the trumpet and bowl judgments get progressively worse as the Tribulation progresses!

This does not sound like a good time to be alive.  Luckily, we won't be around for it if we trust Jesus for our salvation: "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thes 5:9) We are also told "to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1 Thes 1:10) And Romans 5:9 tells us that "since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!"

In the next section we will look at the mechanism by which God saves us from this period of wrath.

I take the premillennial, pretribulation view that the Second Coming of Jesus occurs in two phases: first, and prior to the Tribulation, comes the Rapture of the Church, where Jesus comes in the air to take away His faithful believers; second comes the Second Coming, in which Jesus physically descends to earth to destroy Satan's forces and judge those who are in literal rebellion against Him, ushering in His thousand-year "millennial" rule over the earth.  

There are scholars who place the Rapture at the beginning, middle, or end of the Tribulation period.  First the obligatory warning: the timing of the Rapture is not a matter of salvation but of proper eschatology (the study of the end times).  Those who believe in a post-tribulation Rapture--a Rapture that occurs after the 7-year Tribulation in which God pours out His Wrath on a world in rebellion against Him--will be taken in the pre-tribulation Rapture just like the rest of us; they will just be a bit more surprised about that fact than we are, is all.  

That said, there are many reasons I hold to the view that the Rapture occurs prior to the Tribulation.  I could and probably will make a list of all the reasons to expect a pre-Tribulation rapture.  The most important reason for me is because a straightforward reading of the the Bible indicates that the Church will not go through God's wrath, which characterizes the entire Tribulation period--see the above section.  By the grace of God, we as the Holy Spirit-filled Church are saved from the wrath to come.  

The Biblical references to Jesus' return are divided into two categories: when Jesus comes for His Church and when Jesus comes to judge a world that has rebelled against Him.  For now we will look at the first phase: the Rapture.  

Some of the most valuable information about the Rapture comes from Jesus himself.  In Matthew 24:36-44, Jesus tells us that "concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.  Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  Add to this a parallel passage in Luke 17:28-30, "Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed."

Let's break this down.  Jesus starts by telling us that even He, at least while in His human form and prior to His resurrection, did not know the day or hour of His return in the Rapture.  At the time he spoke those words, only the Father knew when that time would be.  Since Jesus' resurrection and ascension, He may have access to that knowledge as well; the only thing we can say for certain is that it was unknown to him during the time of His earthly ministry.  

The next point Jesus makes is that His coming will be like the days of Noah, specifically in the sense that prior to the flood it was life as usual; "they," the earth-dwellers, were eating, drinking, and marrying right up until the time Noah entered the ark.  The flood caught them completely unaware, and they were doomed.  Noah and seven others, the only ones who heeded God's warning as delivered through Noah, were saved from the judgment.  Likewise, prior to the Rapture, which is like the opening credits to the Day of the Lord, people will be living life in a mundane, everyday manner.  Everything will seem to go on as it always has until Jesus suddenly breaks into history in an incredibly obvious manner by taking hundreds of millions of believers to heaven with him in the twinkling of an eye.  

In the parallel passage to Matthew 24, Luke 17, Jesus gives an even better analogy that provides us with an Old Testament foreshadowing of the Rapture: it will be just like in the days of Lot, when they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, right up until when the angels came and brought Lot out of Sodom and then completely destroyed the city once Lot was safely away.  Here we have a picture of complete normalcy, just like in the days of Noah; everything was business as usual until God intervened by taking Lot out of the area of judgment, then the judgment could begin.  The angels made it clear that they were not capable of destroying Sodom until Lot had been safely taken away.  Likewise, the Tribulation can't happen until the Church has been safely taken away in the Rapture. 

Jesus also says in Matthew 24 that He will return like a thief in the night.  We are to stay awake since the Lord is coming at a time we cannot know.  Paul tells the Thessalonians something very similar, “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." (1 Thes 5:2) The Second Coming will not come like a thief in the night; it will come after a period that begins seven years from when the antichrist confirms a peace treaty with Israel and others, and it will be witnessed by all who are alive after the Tribulation.  Therefore, the thief in the night passages refer to the Rapture, which will come suddenly and unexpectedly and will likely not be witnessed by those on earth aside from the fact that they will see the aftermath, the sudden disappearance of hundreds of millions of Christians in an instant.  

Jesus then says something very interesting: "But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into."  We have already established that Jesus is the thief in the night coming for His Church, so who is the master of the house?  Who does the Bible say is the "god of this world?"  Who is the "prince of the power of the air?"  Satan is.  Satan is the master of the house, this world.  This passage reveals to us one of the reasons God has not revealed to us more about the timing of the Rapture: he intends to catch Satan off guard when He comes to take His church.  

Jesus also tells us in His epistle to the Church of Philadelphia, as recorded by the Apostle John in Revelation 3, that “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.  I am coming soon.” (Rev 3:10) The Church of Philadelphia represents the faithful Church of the end times.  From this we learn that Jesus will not abandon His faithful to the Tribulation, but will instead pull them out prior to the beginning of the Tribulation.  

A thorough examination of the Rapture must also include the other Old Testament foreshadowings of the Rapture aside from Lot and Noah.  There were two actual "raptures" in the Old Testament: Elijah and Enoch.  They are types of the Church, because Enoch was raptured for his faith and in that way kept from the tribulation of the Flood and death: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Hebrews 11:5)  As for Elijah, in 2 Kings 2 he is also raptured into heaven alive: "Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."   Another example is Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel.  While these three are going through the tribulation of the fiery furnace, protected by a person who in form "is like the Son of God"--many scholars believe this is an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ--Daniel, who is beloved of God, is completely absent from the story at that time.  God delivered him from the situation entirely, just as He will deliver His beloved Church from the Tribulation.  

So although there are no passages in the Old Testament that clearly say the Rapture will occur, there are strong foreshadowings of it in the cases of Lot, Noah, Elijah, and Enoch.  We know that God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow; we know He operates in a certain way.  From this we can conclude that God has a definitely established pattern of taking His faithful out of the way of His judgment and wrath before directly unleashing His wrath.  

That covers the Gospels and the Old Testament.  Now on to Paul's epistles.  One of the best proof texts for the Rapture are Paul's letters to the Thessalonians, which give us more insight into Jesus' return than any other single epistle.  "For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:15-17)    

So in this event we have Jesus descending from heaven to the air, and calling all believers, both alive and dead, to meet Him in the clouds to be with Him forever.  Paul apparently received this revelation from Jesus Himself, since his words come "by a word from the Lord."  The mechanics of the situation are that the dead will be raised first, and then quickly in succession the living will be "caught up" to the clouds with them, to meet Jesus in the air and be with him always.  We learn more about how this all will work in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”    

In the New Testament epistles, regarding Jesus' coming, there is a sense of urgency, of imminence--meaning that Jesus' return for us in the Rapture could happen at any time.  Especially with how in our time the prophetic stage of the last days has been set, to make the fulfillment of all prophecies possible in a way which, with the benefit of hindsight, wasn't feasible even a century ago.  There are many verses that could be chosen to show the imminence of the Rapture.  One example is: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Heb 9:28) This is an example of a passage referring to the Rapture because Christ will appear in the Rapture specifically to those that look for him--not to the world in general, which will be the case with the Second Coming.  Another example that shows the imminence of the Rapture is, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13) 

A final passage demonstrating imminence is the premier Rapture passage from 1 Thessalonians: "We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thes 4:15-17) Paul says "we who are alive", and "we will always be with the Lord," including himself in this.  In Paul's mind, Jesus' return for His Church could have happened in his own time--at least during Paul's earlier years of ministry, which the letters to the Thessalonians come out of.  Eventually it was revealed to Paul that he would die in Rome, and at that point he likely realized that the Rapture would not be in his lifetime.  But the key takeaway is that there is no barrier to Jesus returning for His Church, no event that has to occur before the Rapture.  The Rapture is the next thing on God's prophetic time clock.

The Second Coming, in which Jesus descends to earth to put an end to the Battle of Armageddon, judge those in rebellion against Him, and usher in His thousand-year millennial reign, is distinct from the Rapture in many ways.  To begin with we will take a look at descriptions of the Second Coming so we're all on the same page.  Then we can contrast the Second Coming with the Rapture and see how they differ.

The Second Coming occurs “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” (2 Thes 1:7-10) 

The best illustration of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is found in the Book of Revelation 19:11-21.

"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.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

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.

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

We can see from this that the Second Coming will be very different in nature from the First Coming.  The first time around, Jesus came in humility, as a servant--despite being God in human flesh--who came to live as an example to us and to die as the sacrifice for our sins.  The second time, Jesus will come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, in the fullness of His power as God.  He comes with His saints and the armies of heaven but fights and triumphs over the antichrist and his followers using only the words of His mouth, which is the sword which proceeds out of his mouth.  He comes to put down all rebellion against Him and establish His kingdom on the earth.  

Now, we can compare the Second Coming and the Rapture.  First, unlike the Rapture which is imminent--could occur at any moment--there are many events that must occur before the Second Coming can happen.  The Tribulation begins when the antichrist signs or confirms a peace treaty with Israel and many other nations, and lasts for exactly seven years.  The Book of Revelation tells us that after the Church age, there will be 21 judgments of God between the time when the seven year Tribulation begins with antichrist confirming a seven-year treaty with Israel and when Jesus' Second Coming occurs; there will be 7 seal judgments, 7 trumpet judgments, and 7 bowl judgments.  End-times scholars believe that by the end of these judgments a good two-thirds of the people alive at the start of the Tribulation will have died.  There will be natural and supernatural disasters with global impacts, world war, angels openly interacting with the world, 144,000 supernaturally protected Jewish witnesses preaching the Gospel, the rise and fall of world government under the antichrist, the Battle of Armageddon, etc.

Second, while the Rapture will likely not be witnessed by non-Christians except for the aftermath of hundreds of millions disappearing in the twinkling of an eye, the Second Coming will be clearly witnessed and fully visible to all.  According to Matthew 24:29-30, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”  The Second Coming will be the most visible intrusion of the supernatural into the natural creation that has ever been witnessed.  

Third, the Rapture will occur at a time when people are living in essentially normal times.  It will be business as usual, as in the times of Noah prior to the flood, or the times of Lot just prior to the destruction of Sodom.  People will be eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, engaging in social activities like marriage, etc.  The Second Coming will be the opposite of business as usual.  As mentioned above, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."  Then, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and upon seeing this, "all the tribes of the earth will mourn."  This will be a global reality settling in on all those who survive the Tribulation; the sign that they have lost in their senseless war against Jesus and that a power greater than them has come to put an end to their rebellion once and for all.

Fourth, in the Rapture, Jesus will come in the air and call living and dead believers up to Him without setting foot on the ground: "And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." (1 Thes 4:16-17) At the Second Coming, Jesus will descend physically to the ground at the Mount of Olives and will cause a severe earthquake to occur there when he touches down.  Zechariah 14:4 tells us "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."