The Second Coming (5)

The question is sometimes asked who will be caught up when the Lord comes as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. That passage and John 14:1-3 are the only two places where Scripture speaks of Christ coming for his own. If we take the passage in John first we could be forgiven for thinking that the only ones the Lord will be coming for would be his eleven disciples. However, from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 it is clear that the Lord is coming for others than his immediate disciples. The passage speaks of “those who have fallen asleep through Jesus” and the “dead in Christ” (Christians) as well as those who are alive when Christ comes. All these persons will be those who comprise Christ’s assembly. Put another way, it will be those who have accepted Christ from Pentecost till his coming. Christ’s assembly is a heavenly company and will have a place in the Father’s house (John 14:1-3). Their inheritance will not be on this earth. Hence we have the Lord’s people being “caught up” (raptured).

If we turn to 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 we get the raising of the dead spoken of and the changing of the living, but no reference to the Lord’s coming to take his people to be with Himself. The trumpet is spoken of but nothing is said about an “assembling shout, with archangels voice” as we have it in 1 Thessalonians 4. It is clear though that it will only be the Lord’s people that will be raised and changed from the context. Consider particularly verses 48 and 53.

The reference to archangel’s voice does not mean that Christ is the archangel as the Jehovah’s witnesses maintain, but rather that the voice that the Lord will use would be a powerful one. Those in the tombs will hear it (John 5:28). There are a number of references to angels speaking with loud voices in Revelation as a concordance will show.

From other passages we can learn that it will be the Lord’s voice that will bring the dead out of the tombs, both just and unjust (John 5:28/29; Acts 24:15). These passages make it clear that it is not only the Lord’s people that will be raised from the dead, though whether the raising of the different classes will be at the same time or at different times is not specified. However, other passages such as those we have been considering indicate that not all persons will be raised at the same time. It may be mentioned here that today it is not unusual for persons to speak of the general resurrection; Scripture does not. Martha does speak of “the resurrection in the last day” (John 11:24). Possibly a thought obtained from Job 14:12. However, Christ indicates that He is “the resurrection and the life”, or perhaps as one may say, the raiser and life giver (John 11:25). The power to raise and give life is in the hands of Christ. He has “the keys of death and of hades” (Revelation 1:18).

However, although we can say that Christians will be raised when the Lord comes and that unbelievers will not be raised till the time spoken of in Revelation 20:4-6, the question arises as to when the saints who died before the Lord’s own resurrection will be raised. Matthew 27:50-54 speaks of the tombs being opened (it does not say, some of them or all of them) and “many bodies of the saints going out of the tombs and appearing unto many”. One has thought of this as simply a sample resurrection, but a closer reading would suggest that it was more than that. Note the use of the word many. What happened according to Matthew would appear to be a fulfilment of Isaiah 26:19. Both these passages speak of bodies arising. Other passages speak of the dead being raised (e.g. Romans 1:4). There is no indication that the bodies that arose were taken to heaven. They are spoken of as going into the holy city, but where they went after that is not stated. One would not think they went back into the tombs. Those such as Ron Wyatt (www.arkdiscovery.com/machpelah.htm) that think they have found the true cave of Machpelah noted that there were no bones in the cave; an indication that the persons were some of those that arose as recorded in Matthew 27. It should be noted that Matthew’s Gospel is directed particularly to the Jew and the writer covers the resurrection of Jewish saints and no doubt also such saints as Abel, Noah and Job who lived before the time of Abraham, or at any rate outside the Jewish fold. Old Testament saints, although they will have part in God’s kingdom (Luke 13:28) will not form part of Christ’s assembly. It is probably because of this that there is nothing about the raised saints being taken to heaven. (Incidentally there is nothing about Abraham and Lazarus being in heaven in Luke 16:19-31, though I suspect that many would suppose they were, because they were not in the same place as the rich man. Consider the case of Samuel - 1 Samuel 28:15) It is possible that those who said the resurrection had taken place already had Matthew 27:50-54 as a basis for their pronouncements (2 Timothy 2:18).

Matthew it may be mentioned is a Gospel writer who mentions hell (Gehenna) more times than any other Biblical writer. As writing for Jews particularly he would have realised the seriousness of their refusal of Christ as having had more divine light than the heathen and hence the severity in this Gospel.

In John 5:25 Christ says: “An hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have heard shall live. For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself.” This passage is sometimes taken to refer to the receiving of spiritual life while here on earth, but is it ? In Luke 7:22 Christ said in his message to John the Baptist: “dead are raised”. Further, Lazarus was raised when Christ was on earth. Christ “cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:18). What about the cry “with a loud voice” in Matthew 27:50 ? What followed this was the opening of the tombs. Was this the fulfilment of what Christ said in John 5: 25/26 ? Note also that Christ is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). John 5:12 emphasises that Christ had life. Paul in Romans 1:4 shows that the resurrection of dead persons showed that Christ was Son of God, not here by his moral qualities but by his power. The centurion testified to this fact in Matthew 27:54.

To summarise:

(1) All the resurrections other than that after the millennium are of saints. None of the unjust are included (Matthew 27:50-54; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; compare 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:4-6).

(2) A. The raising of the bodies in Matthew 27:50-54 answers to Isaiah 26:19.

B. The raising of the saints in 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 is said to be a mystery and there is no specific prophetic word as to it in the Old Testament.

C. The resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20 :5 answers to Daniel 12:1-3.

(3) Sometimes Scripture speaks of the resurrection as a state and not just as an event. We therefore have the expression “in the resurrection” (Matthew 22:30; Luke 14:14).

(4) Often the resurrection of Christ and his saints is spoken of as “Resurrection from among the dead”.Firstly, Christ (Acts 4:2; 1 Peter 1:3) and secondly, the saints (Luke 20:35; Philippians 3:11).

(5) If the catching away of the Lord’s people has a place in Revelation at all it must be included in the catching away of the man-child (Revelation 12:5). The man-child is Christ and his body could be said to be included. John himself was shown as positionally in heaven when the events in the bulk of the book took place prophetically. At the end of Revelation “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. This would refer to the Lord’s coming for his own as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 as it is not part of the prophetic utterances, but after they are completed (Revelation 22:16-21).

It is appreciated that the remarks in this article are not simply regarding the coming of Christ, but are added to put his coming in its Scriptural setting.

One would mention that Steve Noble has a different view to that given above on his web site: www.judev3.co.uk. What he has said could well be considered as well as the thoughts set out above. He also has many profitable thoughts as to the Lord’s coming.

“For as in Adam all die, thus also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). All could be said to cover every human being and not just saints as Christ will raise all (John 5:28/29). “The rest” in Revelation 20:5 will all live again. Those who are cast into the lake of fire will die again. Dead persons can’t die again. They must be alive in some way in order to die. “Christ is the head of every man”; not just saints (1 Corinthians 11:3). (Note: man is here distinct from woman; it is not the race). The quotation from 1 Corinthians 15:22 above does not necessarily mean that in Christ (by Christ) all those in Christ (Christians) will be made alive. The words “those in Christ” are not there or “those in the Lord or Jesus”.

Those spoken of in Revelation 14:13 would be those who have part in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:5/6) and clearly can’t have part in the resurrection described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 unless we say that that resurrection and the immediately following rapture will not take place until after the judgments described in Revelation. Their resting, incidentally would remind us of what is said as to Daniel in Daniel 12:13. Note also the word henceforth in Revelation 14:13 which means from now on.

The trump of God in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 would remind us of the trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52. There is no assembling shout mentioned in Corinthians, presumably because there is no reference to the rapture. However the trumpet would be the signal for the dead to be raised. Revelation 1:10; 4:1 speaks of a great voice as of a trumpet speaking. These passages at least show a connection between a loud voice and a trumpet.

Finally, one would say that the truth as to resurrection and the Lord’s coming should not be just an academic study with us. The former is spoken of by Paul to show that our labour here for the Lord will not be in vain and the latter as an encouragement to us (1 Corinthians 15:58; 1 Thessalonians 4:18). To unbelievers these events have a warning voice (Hebrews 9:27). Every doctrine has a point to it and it is up to us to see what it is. Paul often presents great features of truth and then shows how these are to affect us (Consider Ephesians which tells us great things in chapters 1 to 3 and then comes down to the practical side in chapter 4, where we are taught to walk worthy of our calling). In 2 Peter 3:11 to end, we are told how the things just spoken about are to affect us.

March 2009