By: John Krug
There's a story about an evangelist who was fervently preaching to the congregation that people are to be ready for the return of Christ for His Church. During the sermon the preacher exhorted those in the audience to stand if they were ready to go to be with the Lord. All stood except one reluctant man on the front row. The preacher then directed the remainder of his gospel message to this person. At the end of the sermon the evangelist again exhorted that those who were ready to go to be with the Lord should stand. The fellow in the front still remained fixed to the pew. After the service the evangelist immediately confronted this individual and asked: "Don't you want to go to heaven someday?" To which the man replied: "Sure!" The evangelist then followed with: "Are you ready to go?" The man replied in the affirmative. With some disgust the preacher then followed: "Well then why didn't you stand when I asked?" The man then retorted: "I thought you were getting a load ready to go right now." We might wonder how many people today would say they want to go to heaven, and even insist they are ready; but when faced with the thought of the sudden return of Christ for them, they might not be to too anxious to leave.
This next mystery in our series addresses the subject of the return of Jesus Christ for believers at some time in the future. This is known as the "blessed hope" that was revealed to the early New Testament believers in Acts 1:10,11 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." They were certainly astonished and possibly saddened at the sight of the Lord disappearing into the heavens; but they were not without hope. The promise was given that He would return for them. That wonder promise applies to believers today as well.
In this session we will look at number two in our list that was obtained from Unger's Bible Dictionary.
2. The mystery of the translation of the living saints at the end of the Church age (1Cor. 15:51, 52; 1Thess. 4:14,17)
The verses that cover this event occur in two of Paul's epistles. First is in the great resurrection chapter of First Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15:51,52 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will 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 will be changed. In the next passage the apostle is providing hope and encouragement for the persecuted people at Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 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 not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
An initial observation of these verses indicates that this mystery is associated with an event that will happen to the Lord's people at some time in the future. The event is usually known as the "rapture" which is not a Biblical word but is a word used to describe the act of the Lord "catching us up". What has engendered controversy in the Church for many years is the point in time at which it will occur. Using the tribulation that will come upon the earth that is described in book of Revelation and other prophesies as the benchmark, the timing of the rapture is defended by people with the following persuasions: "pre-trib" (my preferred position) occurs immediately before the tribulation, "mid-trib" occurs about three and one half years into the tribulation which is the mid-point, "pre-wrath" occurs while the tribulation is in process but before extreme persecution of believers, "post-trib" occurs immediately after the tribulation when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to set upon His kingdom on earth, and "partial-trib" occurs at various times during the tribulation when people leave based on their level of spiritual maturity. Someone even has entertained the concept of "pan-trib", where one doesn't care when, but they hope everything will "pan out" all right. In any event we'll not take time in this dissertation to evaluate the various positions, but instead we will subject this mystery to our analytical questions.
Our first question is to determine what was hidden in the past. A search of the Old Testament will not produce any incident or even prophesies where a group of God's people are caught up to be with the Lord without seeing death along with a mass resurrection. There were the two incidents with individuals: Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) who were caught up without seeing death, but it is doubtful that any of the scholars could have envisioned that this type of event could occur with a whole group of people. The people in the Old Testament did not even have a very clear concept of the resurrection of the dead. Job knew of a future day with Lord (Job 19:25), King David recognized that he would eventually be with his deceased infant son (2 Samuel 12:23) and Martha agreed that there would be a resurrection day (John 11:23). So we must rely upon the doctrine developed and expounded in the New Testament to provide us with the detailed truths the resurrection and its event of believers being "caught up".
Our second question is to determine why the mystery was hidden in the past. The "catching up" of people in this mystery has to do with a New Testament group of God's people we recognize as the Church of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament venue God focused upon the nation of Israel as the major group of people with whom He dealt. The Church which would include both Jews and Gentiles was unknown in the Old Testament and hence any event that would involve the Church would also be hidden to the eyes of people before the advent of Christ.
Since we know the Church is now in existence and the mystery has been revealed, we then want to ask our third question which is why the truth is now revealed. What meaning might it have for believers today? Looking again at the passage in 1 Thessalonians we note that the apostle Paul wanted his listeners not to grieve like unbelievers at the death of loved ones in Christ. To encourage these early believers and us as well, we are reminded of the hope we have that Jesus is coming back for His people as promised. Many of these people had lost loved ones and were wondering what would happen at the resurrection of the believers in Christ. There were probably some who wondered if there even going to be a resurrection. Paul not only revealed that the dead in Christ would be resurrected to have their soul and spirit united with their body (2 Corinthians 5:8), but those alive at this time would also be dramatically affected. With the sounds of the trumpet, the shout, and the voice of the archangel; the dead in Christ will be raised first . (I once heard a preacher who stated that the only reason for the dead to be raised first was that they have six feet of earth to overcome.) Those believers who are alive will join those once dead (now very much alive) and go up together to be with the Lord forever! What a great joy and blessing! Those of us who have had loved ones precede us in death have this wonderful hope seeing them again, maybe on the way up. Another remarkable hope is that we will be changed. No more will we have to endure our old bodies that are scared with the effects of sin, but we'll have new bodies free from pain, suffering and weakness. My father, a godly man who passed away some ten years ago, was one of my favorite people. We had many similar likes and dislikes and enjoyed many hours discussing topics of mutual interest. Since his passing I often come across things that I think Dad and I would enjoy sharing, but of course that is no longer possible in this life. The hope is that we will again have the opportunity to sit down and again enjoy each other's company. The apostle Paul appropriately ends the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 with the words: ..therefore comfort one another with these words.
Are you grieving from the loss of a Christian loved one? This mystery has now been revealed to provide you with comfort and the hope of fellowshipping with that person again. Perhaps you might know a grieving brother or sister in Christ. This mystery can provide you with material so you can share comfort and encouragement with them.
TO BE CONTINUED…..
All Scripture from The New American Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation.
