Christ Will Return Series

ARTICLE 13 We believe in the pre-millennial second coming of Jesus. First, to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living saints to Him in the air. Second to reign on the earth a thousand years.

Intro: The pre-millennial view holds that Christ will return to earth (this return is also known as the Second Coming), literally and bodily, before the millennial age begins and that, by

His presence, a kingdom will be instituted over which He will reign.

The Second Coming is the conclusion of God’s kingly reign in the world. Jesus birth was the beginning of the kingdom of God, God through his son Jesus intervened in the world, Jesus while among them proclaimed the rule of God was beginning in a new way. “Although God has begun His reign it will not be fulfilled until Christ return. When this happens Christ will give God the kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:24). This will consummate the kingly rule and God will be supreme everywhere and in everyway. The Trinity will rule and reign in perfect harmony and goodness (1 Corinthians 15:25-28).”

The first step of the pre-millennial reign of Christ is the rapture of the church (or the catching away of the saints) The Second Coming of Christ will occur in stages. First, He will remove all Christians from the Earth, to protect them. This is called "The Rapture." “The term comes from the Greek word harpizo, meaning to be caught up" or "to be snatched up." Jesus will "snatch us" out of harm’s way.

I Cor: 15: 51-55 “Behold, I shew 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

This verse of scripture relates to the resurrection of the dead in Christ.

1. The dead in Christ are the believer’s who have died before the rapture has taken place.

During this process called the rapture or catching away..their bodies will be transformed and made new and reunited with their spirits to forever live with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 “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.”

During the rapture those which are alive upon the earth will be changed instantly in the moment of a twinkling of an eye. These believers will also go through a transformation process their mortal bodies will be changed to immortality and their corruption will be changed to incorruption.

The time and gathering of the redeemed is debated by many.

The four most prominent views of the rapture of the church are (1) Pre-Tribulation this is where the church will be taken out before the Tribulation begins and the church will be spared any kind of persecution or tribulation. (2) Mid- Tribulation this teaching believes that the church will enter the seven years of tribulation, but will be taken to be with Christ 3 1/2 years into the tribulation at the mid-point. Typically, this removes the church from the "Great Tribulation" which they believe to be contained in the second half, but does put the church through some of the more tolerable conditions during the first half. Like Pre- Tribulation, this is a futurist / pre-millennial belief system. (3) Pre-Wrath Tribulation is the view that the church will experience the persecution of the Antichrist but will be raptured out before the vials of wrath are poured out upon the earth. (4) This view Post-Tribulation view teaches that Jesus will return visibly and bodily to raise the dead Christians and gather together the living Christians at the end of a period of intense tribulation, called by Jesus the "great tribulation" (Matt. 24:21).

The post-trib view is the only rapture view which sees only a single future coming of Jesus. All other rapture views, pre-trib, mid-trib, and pre-wrath see the rapture and resurrection prior to the second coming of Jesus. “

While these rapture views see the rapture as a means to take the Church to heaven to escape God’s wrath, the post-trib view sees the rapture as a mechanism to gather together believers from both heaven and earth in a single location with Christ, to be revealed with Him in glory to the world at His coming.” Therefore, in a post-trib belief, the rapture is a essential part of the second coming. Upon Jesus descent from heaven, the angels will be sent out by the trumpet blast and gather together Jesus elect to meet Him in the air.