The Promise of the Rapture - Part 4 (final)

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT:  SEE MY NOTE AT THE END OF THIS POST. CMR

I. Before the beginning of the day of the Lord

The text can only mean that Paul was comforting these believers. He was making it clear that, because the rapture came first and was a totally separate eschatological event, they need not be upset and worried. They should not think that they had entered that terrible time of trouble in which Christ would come to earth to destroy His enemies and establish His kingdom on earth. The up gathering together of the saints of the Church age destined them to seven years of rest while the earth, in great tribulation, still faced the coming of the King to establish His millennial kingdom.

Christ had been promised that reign on earth in eternity past in the decree. In Psalm 2 we have the record of His reporting that promise of the Father which was made in the eternal decree. He Who was fully God and coequal with the Father was to undertake His subordinate role as the Son of God. This He would do in order to accomplish all that was to be accomplished in time between the eternities. Psalm 2 records Christ's words as He quoted that which had been planned in the decree in eternity past. It includes the establishment of the Father/Son relationship in which these members of the Godhead would operate during time. But it also contains the promise of the Father to the One Who would serve in the subordinate position as the Son of God between the eternities that He would have an inheritance as His reward for that which He would accomplish. Because of all that He would do as the Son of God, He was promised in the decree that He would receive an earthly kingdom in which He would rule to the ends of the earth.

In the light of the interpretation of Psalm 2:7 by Hebrews 1:5, Christ is the member of the Godhead Who is speaking in verses 7-9 of the Psalm. He says: "I am determined [a determinative form in Hebrew which expresses that which He has chosen to do] to relate the details of the decree: The Eternal Lord has said to Me, You are My Son. This day [i.e., at this time] I become Your Father." In this verse the One Who would become the Messiah relates how His entry into the economic relationship with the First Person of the Godhead. That means that the ontological, or existence relationship which had existed from eternity, in which all three members of the Godhead always had been coequal in a perfectly balanced relationship, now was changing in order to accomplish all that the Godhead had planned to take place between the eternities. The economic relationship is being established. This is the working relationship in which both the Son and the Holy Spirit assume a subordinate relationship with the Father in order to accomplish the work that must be done by them between the eternities. This does not mean that either the Son or the Holy Spirit is any less God even though this temporary change in relationship has been established. Now the Son will take orders from the Father. The Holy Spirit will be involved in all that the Son will do on earth. And yet the Holy Spirit in some sense also is subordinate to the Son and Father. In the upper room Christ said to His disciples, "But when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth Who will come forth from [the presence of] the Father, He will testify of Me..." (Jn. 15:26).

In Psalm 2:8-9 the Son continues to quote from that which the Father had said to Him in the decree. 

"Ask of Me, for I am determined to give [This is the second untranslated, determinative form in the Psalm. It is easy to see why the amillennial translators of King James' court chose not fully to translate this verb form!] to You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron. You will dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel." 

Here then is the promise of the Father that lies behind the Father's utter scorn of those who thought they could break the bands and the cords of the Eternal Lord and His Messiah. Because it was in the eternal decree that the Son would rule here on earth, the rejection and death of the Messiah which is anticipated in Psalm 2:10-3 absolutely will not thwart the plans of the Eternal. Here is the reason for the derisive laugh of the Lord sitting in the heavens. When the Jews and Gentiles crucified Christ they did not in the least thwart the eternal plan of the Godhead. Indeed, they only fulfilled that decree! 

'Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and He will vex them in His sore displeasure. 'Yet will I establish My King [Christ, the Messiah] upon My holy hill of Zion'" (Psalm 2:5-6).

Second Thessalonians chapters one and two are but a small portion of the revelation given to us in Scripture of the fact that, in great violence, Messiah one day will return to earth, will overthrow His enemies and will establish His earthly kingdom which will last for one thousand years. That will be the fulfilling of the promise made to the Messiah, the Son of God, which was made upon His return from the Mount of Olives to the Father's presence in heaven. 

The Eternal Lord said to my [David's] Lord, 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool. The Eternal Lord will send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Your people [Israel] will be willing in the day of Your power [when You rule] in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. You will have the dew of Your youth'" (Psalm 110:1-3).

But the revelation of that great mystery, the rapture, is that the Church will not be here on earth at the time 

"...when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He will come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all of those who believe..." (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). 

Our episunagooge, our up gathering together is an event that takes away the trouble of heart and concern about passing through the tribulation stage of the day of the Lord.

Thus the great Apostle assures the troubled church of Thessalonica and all even to this age who read of that day and are troubled. 

"Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ [to earth, in the early stages of the day of the Lord which clearly has been described in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 above] and by our up gathering together [the rapture] unto Him, (2) that you should not be shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit or by word neither by letter as if it had come from us, as [thinking] that the day of the Lord is at hand." 

Paul follows this instruction with a warning for the Church to beware of any that teach any other doctrine, a warning of crucial importance to the Church of Jesus Christ even today. "Let no man deceive you by any means..." (2 Thessalonians 2:3a).

It is regrettable that the amillennial translators of the King James Version followed a single very late Greek manuscript and its reading of 2 Thessalonians 2:2, which, as a result, incorrectly says "...that the day of Christ is at hand." The terminology, "the day of Christ" clearly is defined in Philippians 1:6-7, 10; 2:10-11 and 16. That term most certainly does not refer to the climax of the tribulation period here on earth. Instead, it specifically refers to that day in which we are in heaven in the presence of Christ. The following of that very late reading, "the day of Christ," desperately obscures that which is being revealed about the rapture in this context. Paul clearly is contrasting the"up- gathering-together" of Church believers in the rapture with the Day of the Lord. The correct reading, found in all ancient manuscripts of 2 Thessalonians, is "the day of the Lord." I conclude that this great eschatological period begins with the signing of the covenant to bring peace in the land of Israel by the one who will become the world ruler for the last three and one half years of the tribulation.

I have stated this in my doctoral dissertation, Joel's Concept of the Day of the Lord, at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1961. I insist that the day of the Lord is that period which lies between the signing of that covenant as described in Daniel 9:26b-27 and the great white throne judgment of unbelievers by Christ in preparation for the Day of God. In spite of the misunderstanding of many, these verses absolutely are revealing that there is no possibility whatsoever that the rapture will occur somewhere in the early days of the eschatological period which is called "the day of the Lord." There is to be no confusion at that point.

J. Before the bema or judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:9-10)

In Second Corinthians 5:10 the Apostle Paul looks forward to that day in heaven when believers receive their rewards for the way that they have served the Lord while they were here on earth. 

"Wherefore we labor in order that, whether we are present [here on earth before death] or absent, we may be accepted by Him. For all of us [believers] must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, in order that every one may receive the things done in his body, according that which he has done, whether it is good or worthless." 

It is clear that the departure of the Church for heaven in the rapture must come before that day when our Judge, the Lord Jesus, determines our rewards.

K. Shortly before our coming before God the Father (1 Thessalonians 3:13)

I conclude that Paul, in First Thessalonians 3:13, refers to an event which follows the judgment seat of Christ. He longs for the Thessalonian believers to 

"...Increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all, even as we do toward you, to the end that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all of His saints." 

To me that suggests that we believers should be occupied with living our Christian lives in utter devotion to the Lord, allowing Him to transform our lives into the glorious pattern of holiness which Christ would like to see here on earth. And yet the phrase, "...unblamable in holiness before God" actually will not be fully exhibited in us only at the time of our coming before God. For us to reach that glorious time when nothing of our shortcomings here on earth can only come when Christ at the Bema seat has taken care of all of our failures. Only then will be be fully conformed to the likeness of Christ as described by Paul in Romans 8:29.

"For whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that He [Christ] might be the firstborn among many brethren." 

It appears that Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 actually is looking forward to that time after the judgment seat of Christ when our Savior presents up to the Father, fully conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Surely it is of that glorious day of which the Apostle John is speaking in 1 John 3:2. 

"Beloved, we now are the born ones of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we do know that when He will appear, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is."

L. Before the Day of The Lord

1. The times and the seasons of our departure (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)
The word that connects 1 Thessalonians 4 to the 5th chapter introduces the review of the truth that Paul already had taught the Thessalonians. Once the reader of this section recognizes how carefully Paul distinguishes those who will be involved with Christ's coming at the rapture from those who will suffer judgment at the time of Christ's return to earth, it will become involved that believers will not be involved in the suffering of the day of the Lord. The pronouns "you, we" and "us," contrasted with "they" and "them," inescapably draw that distinction. 

"But about the times and the seasons, brothers, you do not have any need for me to write to you. (2) The reason is that you yourselves perfectly well know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (3) For when they say: 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction comes upon them like travail comes upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. (4) But you, brothers, are not in darkness, with the result that that day [the day of the Lord] should overtake you like a thief. (5) You all are the sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. (6) Therefore let us not sleep [here the sleep of indolence] as do others, but let us watch and be sober, (7) for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they who are drunken are drunken in the night. (8) But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the assurance of salvation for an helmet. (9) For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord, Jesus Christ, (10) Who died for us, so that, whether we are awake [i.e., alive] or sleep [i.e., dead], we should live together with Him. (11) Wherefore you comfort yourselves together, and build one another up, even as you also do" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).

It is clear from Paul's careful distinction that the day of the Lord will not come upon believers. The judgment aspect of the early part of the day of the Lord is destined to fall upon those who are unbelievers and not upon those whom Paul was addressing or even upon us. It is obvious that the day of the Lord is not to be a matter of fear to the believer for it is upon those who will have ignored the gracious invitation of the Lord Jesus to receive His salvation. Yet one more section of Paul's instruction about the rapture, so long misunderstood and distorted from its original intent, tells us that believers will not be involved in the day of the Lord as recipients of the trials and tribulation which will fall upon unbelievers in that great day.

2. During hee apostosia, actually time of our departure (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)

One of the most painful pieces of Bible translation that the one who is interested in eschatology can find is the way that practically all translators have treated 2 Thessalonians 2:3. It is in their translating hee apostosia as "a [religious] falling away." In the first place the Greek definite article, hee, , "the" has been ignored or mistranslated by the indefinite article "a" in English by most translators. That would seem to be an insignificant change at first. However, the definite article repeatedly is used as an article of previous reference. That is, it tells us that the noun that follows the article refers to a previous mention of the same subject. In other words, the reader is told by the definite article to look for the same subject earlier discussed by hee apostosia in the immediately preceding context. The significance of the mistake of ignoring the definite article will become obvious in the following discussion.

The second problem in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is the fact that the translators have assumed that the noun apostosia is being used in an extended meaning, and not in its basic meaning, "departure." It has been translated "a falling away" in the King James Bible. The New American Standard Bible transliterates the noun into English letters, "apostasy," thus suggesting that the word refers the departure of a believer from the truth. This improves the reading only in that the definite article is acknowledged and is correctly translated by the English article, "the." But to what previous reference to "the departure from the truth" is there in the previous context of this book? There is none. And that raises serious question concerning the accuracy of the translation of the noun and article, hee apostosia by "the apostasy." The New International Version provides a translation that has somewhat better possibility of being accurate. It renders the noun "the rebellion." I say that it has somewhat better possibility since there are obvious signs of rebellion in chapter one. However the question must be asked, "Is "the rebellion" really a valid translation of hee apostosia ? Is this a word that properly is applied to the rebellion of the unsaved against the Lord Jesus Christ? Would it not be more appropriately used of the departure of those involved in the faith from their Biblical foundations? But is that the meaning?

Now there are several verses in the New Testament that clearly do announce that in the latter days there will be much religious apostasy. Indeed, that is precisely the case in the much of the Church today. But, by assuming that the Greek noun was referring to religious apostasy, the going away from the faith, the translators have ignored the possibility that the noun is being used in its basic meaning instead of its extended meaning. The noun actually is used in its basic meaning in four other passages in the New Testament. It is amazing to see modern day translators misunderstanding the meaning of the noun when both Tyndale and Cloverdale long ago properly translated the phrase simply as "the departure." And here is the basic and common meaning of the noun in Greek usage.

Is there a departure mentioned in the preceding context to which the article of previous reference could be pointing? Indeed, there is, and it is only two verses before. For this reason I reject the translation of hee apostosia in ways that imply that the noun as used here refers to religious apostasy. After all, the antecedent "going away" or "departure" in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 specifically refers to the going away of the Church in "the up-gathering-together" of the saints of the Church. For this reason I insist that 2 Thessalonians 2:3 must be referring to the rapture and that the verse should be translated in this way. "Let no man deceive you by any means [including the mistranslating of he apostosia], for that day will not come [i.e., the day of the Lord] except the previously mentioned going away comes first and the man of lawlessness comes to be revealed, the son of perdition." Properly understood the verse perfectly harmonizes with Paul's comforting assurance in the first verse of the chapter that the believers at Thessalonica were not already in the day of the Lord. Indeed, verse three gives the basis for that assurance. Paul clearly is saying that the day of the Lord and the manifestation of the man of sin in the day of the Lord cannot possibly arrive before the going away of the Church in the "up gathering together," the rapture of the Church. What a pity that this great truth has been lost for so many in the Church as a result of the amillennial translators who refused the accurate work of Tyndale and Cloverdale because they did not even believe in the rapture, with the result that they rendered he apostosia as "a falling away."

REMEMBER WHEN I TAUGHT YOU THESE THINGS? (2 Thessalonians 2:5)

No sooner has Paul re-taught these things to the Thessalonian church than he reminds them that they had heard these truths before from his own lips. 

"Don't you remember that even while I still was with you, I used to tell you these things?" (2 Thessalonians 2:5). 

The impact of Paul's rebuke stings even more when one realizes that he carefully had taught these things again to that church in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. How sad it is that the Church today, often like the church at Thessalonica, needs to be reminded and rebuked for their careless treatment of this great eschatological truth. It clearly promises the departure and deliverance of the Church of Jesus Christ from the terrors of the seven years and from all of the tribulation which faces the world, tribulation which will be climaxed by the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ with all of His saints to earth.

CONCLUSION

One of the great tragedies of Bible translation is the mistake made by the English Catholic translators when they translated hee apostosia by "apostasy." That error has been followed by scores of other translators in the centuries that have followed. That has resulted in the obscuring of Paul's very precise explanation of the time when the rapture would take place has resulted in tragic confusion among those who, contrary to Paul's explicit statement, want to expect the rapture at mid-tribulation or at the end of the tribulation. Of course that in turn has resulted in a continually growing host of confused believers who no longer live their lives in the constant expectation of Christ's return in the air at any moment for the Church. Indeed, the translation of hee apostosia in such a way that it refers only to rising religious apostasy has left multitudes of believers open to that confusion which denies the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church. While several texts of Scripture do teach that the Church will degenerate in its faith and practice in the latter days, Second Thessalonians 2:3 is in a context which has nothing to do with religious apostasy. The article that accompanies apostosia in that text, ignored in many translations, is the key. This article of previous reference directly links "the departure" in that verse with the previous mention of the departure of the Church in "our up-gathering-together." It leaves no doubt whatsoever that the departure of the Church must precede the events which start the Day of the Lord, an extended period which will begin with the tribulation, the time of Jacob's troubles.

IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE
Bernard E. Northrup

I. THE PROMISE OF THE RETURN (Jn.13:33)

Supper was ended; now Judas had gone.
The disciples were troubled with gloom.
Night now had fallen; the Christ spoke of home
While crushed silence of woe filled the room.
Crystalline clear was the import to each.
He had said He was going away!
Jn 13:36-37
"Lord, where do you go?" Peter then said.
And He answered: "Though I go, you stay."
"Simon, while Satan had asked to sift all,
I have prayed for your faith in that sieve.
Trial and heartbreak, denial will come,
But when strengthened, help these here to live."

"Smitten the Shepherd---offended the sheep
And the Shepherd be cursed with your breath!"
"Lord!" Peter cried, "I will follow you there--
Whether prison or even to death!"
"Troubled disciples, believe in me now.
Let your hearts find rest here in words true.
Jn.14:1-3
Many abodes are prepared where I go;
But I go to prepare one for you.
And if I go to prepare you a place,
Then for you I will come once again.
I will receive you then to myself;
My disciples believe not in vain.

I now return to the glory I shared
With my Father who sent me to you.
Trouble awaits you, all scattered, alone,
But the Comforter comes to you too.
Be of good cheer for my peace I will give
Through the One who will dwell in your heart.
He will attend you until that glad day
When I come and no longer depart.

2. THE WAIT FOR HIS RETURN Lk.24:4, 5, 11

The trauma now had passed,
The capture, trial and crushing cross,
The streams of salty tears that coursed
Their chapped and sunburned cheeks
While nails had rent the flesh of Him
That each one loved so much.

How black the shroud of night
That fell to hide the frightful scene!
How troubled, yes, afraid had been
Their hearts on Calvary.
Their hopes had turned to dust
As He had suffered, bled and died!
Lk.24:25-27
But He arose! Alive!
And they had seen Him forty days!
For forty days He taught;
He filled their souls with prophets' words,
Revealed how they spoke of Him.
How oft their hungry hearts had burned.

Repeatedly they heard Him speak
And they had handled Him!
Now proofs infallible were theirs.
He was the living Christ!
Where once before He walked u
Upon the sea before their eyes,
Jn.21:9,12
He walked no more but built
A morning fire upon the shore.
No water walking there
For some might always err and think
A spirit came to them.
He waited long upon the shore.

He broke the bread he baked and fish,
And they together dined.
Then, still beside the sea,
He counseled them about their work
Which they must do for Him
While He was gone away from them.
Jn. 21:22-23
He hinted at the truth (which we
Who wait have come to love),
That some would be alive
When He should come to them again.
Some erred who heard. They thought
He meant before the death of John.

This plainly John denied.
But some will tarry till He comes!
Now centuries have passed.
This promised hope for us has grown.
When they had seen Him last
On Olivet they heard these words: Acts 1:10-11
"You ragged men of Galilee,
Why stand you gazing at the sky?
The One whom you have seen Him go
Shall come again the Way He left!"
Then do you wonder why
We wait and look for Him to come?

The church that Christ has built
Has grown and spread throughout the world.
His faithful very oft have turned
Their hopeful eyes toward the clouds.
Now each who reads His Word with care
Awaits in hope of Him today.
Each waits the day He will return
And longs to live to see the day!

3. THE JOY OF HIS RETURN

The church awaits the mystery, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
The promised hope which we will see
When He shall come, when we will hear
That ringing shout so loud, so clear--
When Christ descends from God above
To gather those who say in love:
"Oh come! Christ, quickly come!"
I Thessalonians 4:13-17

Our hearts will leap to hear His cry,
To see descending from on High
Our Lord and His who lie asleep
In mouldering dust or in the deep--
Will come with Jesus in that day
Their trump will sound and He will say:
"Come forth, you Sons of God!"

The church awaits the mystery,
The transformation we will see
When from the heavenly trumpeter
Our ringing call will reach us clear
And in a moment's twinkling eye
We rise, transformed like Him on high!
"Oh Christ, Oh quickly come!"
Psalm110:1
For He is seated up above
Beside His Father, who in love
Had sent Him to the manger mound,
To dreadful cross before His crown.
He serves His church in work of prayer
That we might join His presence there.
"Oh come! Christ, quickly come!"
Revelation 6:8-9 NKJV
Our elders from their heavenly throne
Will fall upon their faces prone
To worship and give thanks to One
Who was and is and is to come--
To cast our crowns before His face
Who made us victors through His grace.
"Oh Christ! Oh quickly come!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thank you, Dr. Northrup. I can't wait to meet you in the sky - soon!

A Child of the King 

IT IS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE THAT YOU READ MY NEXT POST. BY "CRITICAL" I AM SPEAKING OF LIFE AND DEATH INFORMATION.  CMR