Page 74 - Eschatology - Masters revised

Contrast Between -the Rapture of the Church -and the Return of Christ
The church will meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. The church will return to the earth with Christ. He
4.17) will set foot on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14.4)
The church will be taken to heaven (1 Thess. The church will return to the earth from heaven
4.17b) (Jude 14; Mt 25.31)
Christ will come with His saints (1 Thess. 3.1; Rev
Christ will come for His saints (2 Thess. 2.1)
19.14)
Christ Himself will gather the saints (1 Thess. The angels will gather the elect (Mt 24.31)
4.16)
Believers will be caught up out from among Unbelievers (“tares”) will be gathered out first
unbelievers (1 Thess. 4.16-17) (Mt 13.41-43)
Satan will not be bound Satan will be bound (Rev 20.3)
The righteous will be removed (1 Thess. 4.17) The wicked will be removed (Mt 25.40-41)
No signs will be leading to the Rapture (1 Thess. Signs will precede the return (Mt 24.24)
5.4)

We dare not confuse these two very different prophetic events and the passages describing each one.

15. The location of the church of Jesus Christ is different in the description of the rapture contrasted to
the description of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (NIV84)16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud
command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Revelation 19:11–16 (NIV84)11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white
horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes
are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one
knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen,
white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
“He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God
Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF
LORDS.

The description of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 reveals that Jesus will come down from heaven,
and His Bride will join Him in the clouds, in the air, announced by the blowing of trumpets. But the
description of the Second Coming in Revelation 19:14 reveals that “armies of heaven” (which will
include the church, His bride) are following Jesus Christ on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and
clean, coming out from heaven. In order for the church to follow Jesus from heaven, we must be in
heaven. How can the bride of Christ meet Jesus in the clouds, in the air, and then all of a sudden be
found in heaven on white horses following Jesus to the earth? These two events are obviously not the
same event, but two separate events. The church must be raptured and taken into heaven before it can
return along with Jesus Christ from heaven to earth at the second coming.

72