Awaiting His THIRD Coming

 

Traditionally, Christians are taught to wait for The Lord’s return, often referred to as His second coming to Earth. Some of us believe the next, pending resurrection and rapture of all 3rd age saints, might be that coming. Scripture, however, corrects us on both points. So let’s clear the air on these very relevant topics.

The Next Resurrection/Rapture Event

Paul’s prophecy in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 is that all The Lord’s 3rd age saints will ‘meet Him on a cloud in the air’, not on Earth. Ergo, that event cannot be His predicted, physical return onto Earth. Rather, it will be His ‘reaping the Earth of His saints’, or ‘harvesting His saints from the Earth.’ In 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, Paul predicts this will not be a publicly viewed event, but will happen in a nano-second— ‘in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye’. This event will occur at the end of this current, 3^rd age of our history. Here’s why: In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, Paul asserts, ‘… For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ…’ The wrath he likely refers to is the apocalypse.

Paul's mention of trumpet in verse 52 should not trigger a false correlation with the trumpet judgments of the apocalypse, because of the timing difference. The apocalypse judgments will only begin roughly midway through the tribulation age, and by that time, the 3rd age saints will have been removed from Earth.

Now contrast Paul’s prophecies with Jesus’ prophecy, in Matthew 24:29-31, about His physical return onto the Earth. This will be a very public event. It will occur at the end of the 42-month-long apocalypse, that will end the 7-year tribulation age—the 4th age of human history. This contrast disproves the errant notion of a single resurrection/rapture event for all peoples--saints and sinners alike, whether at the end of the tribulation age, or the end of the post-Millennial Reign age (Revelation 20:11-15), as some of us may think.

Some of us might misconstrue the resurrection/rapture event Jesus noted in verse 31, with the resurrection/rapture event of all 3rd age saints in Paul’s prophecies. They clearly are not the same event. Paul refers to the resurrection/rapture of 3rd age saints BEFORE the wrath of the apocalypse judgments. Jesus very clearly refers to the resurrection/rapture of 4th age/tribulation age saints AFTER the wrath of the apocalypse judgments. It is imperative that we distinguish, and avoid confusion about these significantly different resurrection/rapture events. Let’s keep in mind that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. ¹

His THIRD Coming

 

Traditional Christian thought is that, according to Acts 1:9, Jesus only ascended to Heaven once after His resurrection. However, John 20:17 confirms He FIRST privately ascended to Heaven; then returned per John 20:19; then He visibly ascended a SECOND time, per Acts 1:9. ² Therefore, His next return to Earth will be His THIRD coming, rather than His presumed second coming. 

 

Let’s trust and believe what the text actually records, rather than traditions we've all likely heard or read.

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¹ For more on raptures and rapture-types, see Bible Raptures - Types and Timings (Series).

² In Ephesians 4:8, Paul, under The Holy Spirit’s inspiration, confirmed that The Lord did what David, under The Holy Spirit’s inspiration, in Psalm 68:18, had predicted He would do. To learn what He did, see: Missed Insights from Matthew 27 (Series).