The Book of Revelation (part 11)

The Timeline of Jesus’ Second Coming

3.18.2020

We are going through the book of Revelation verse by verse on Wednesday nights. Our world is changing. Jesus’ return is soon! I want you to be informed as to what the scriptures have to say about His Second coming and what we should be doing to prepare for that day!

The word Revelation means “an unveiling.” In this book, God shows John what will happen just before the return of Christ.

Ephesians 1: 9-10 (J. B. Phillips)

For God has allowed us to know the secret of His plan and it is this, He purposed long ago in His sovereign will that all human history should be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in heaven and earth should find its perfection and fulfillment in Him.

The book of Revelation is an unveiling of last things. It is the revelation to us of what God will do to judge Satan and remove him and his cohorts from this fallen planet, claim this planet again as His own, rid the earth of the curse that came in the fall of man, and prepare the earth for its eternal future filled with His glory and with redeemed human families.

 

To understand the book of Revelation, you must have a bit of understanding of the Old Testament and God’s dealings with the Jewish race; you must also have a bit of a grasp of the New Testament and the church age.

We’ve covered chapters 1-3 in past lessons.

Tonight, we begin with Revelation 4, which will begin the process of taking us into the details of what God showed the Apostle John will happen before the second coming of Christ.

Revelation 4 (NKJV)

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” (2) Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. (3) And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. (4) Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. (5) And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (6) Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. (7) The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (9) Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, (10) the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: (11) “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things,

And by Your will they exist and were created.”

Chapter four establishes again that God is the Creator, Ruler, Sustainer, and Owner of all things.

Before we get to Chapter 5, I want to show you what God showed me about ten years ago now concerning the timeline of Jesus’ return.

 

1. Jesus’ coming is a singular event.

It contains a number of phases as He returns.

Jesus’ coming is a parousia

Parousia is used 29 times in 9 NT books.

Parousia

From – para – with

and – ousia – being.

Conveys the idea of an arrival, and a continued presence with…

When we speak of Jesus’ first coming, we think of the announcement of His birth to Mary, the incarnation in Bethlehem, His temple teaching at age 12, His growing up, His baptism by John, His public ministry, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension.

His second coming will include the rise of the anti-Christ, the birth pangs spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24, the resurrection of those who have died in Christ, the rapture of the church, the Day of the Lord, judgment on the wicked, His physical return to Jerusalem in glory and power, and His establishing His millennial kingdom. (p.4)

Of the 17 times the word coming is used in connection with the return of Christ, it is used only in the singular and always with a definite article or personal pronoun (i.e., thy coming, the coming, or His coming). (p. 10).

So again, there is a sequence of events in the second coming of Christ.

Here is what I see.

The sequence of events in the Second Coming of Christ

As to end time theology, there are many different views by some very godly people who strongly disagree with each other. As a pastor, and as a minister for over 38 years, I always preach what I clearly see from scripture. If I say something, and you can’t find it in scripture, then what I say is suspect, and should be challenged.

2 Timothy 2:15 applies today: Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

When it comes to discussing end time events, we must be careful that we are not so dogmatic in our beliefs that we are not considerate of the views of others, who are as equally passionate about their beliefs. So I come to you as a student, a learner, as one who does not have all the answers. I come as a person who respects others and their beliefs. And I come as one who has received what I value as a new direction from the Lord with respect to end time truth.

Since 2010, I have come to see the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ in a new light, and I want to share that with you tonight.

I approach this subject, not as one who thinks he knows it all, but as a student of the Word, and as a disciple of Jesus who is learning. I welcome you to hear, and to disagree when you need to. But I also urge you to search the scriptures to see whether these things are so.

What has changed in my views of Jesus’ return…

As we get closer to the time of Jesus’ return, we will gain a clearer understanding of what the scriptures reveal about the time and events preceding His return.

Daniel 12:4 (AMP)

But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the Book until the time of the end. [Then] many shall run to and fro and search anxiously [through the Book], and knowledge [of God’s purposes as revealed by His prophets] shall be increased and become great.

The Tribulation

The time of Daniel’s 70th week, or the last seven years of the 490 years that God showed Daniel, is typically called The Tribulation Period. But, you will not find this anywhere in scripture! This was a BIG shock to me.

Jesus refers to great tribulation in Matthew 24 after the anti-Christ desecrates the rebuilt Jewish temple mid-way through Daniel’s 70th week, or three and one-half years into that period.

The timing of the rapture

The other BIG issue is that I can find NO scripture that clearly says that the rapture will occur before the tribulation, or Daniel’s 70th week begins.

(I preached for years that Jesus is coming twice: first for the saints in the rapture of the church, then 7 years later with His saints at the second coming. But you cannot find anywhere in scripture where it says that Jesus is coming twice! Or that the rapture is seven years before the second coming. And, when the scriptures refer to Jesus’ second coming, it is never plural, but singular. It is one coming that has several stages to it.) (See Endnotes.)

On the other hand, I clearly see now that the church will be here during the first part of the reign of the anti-Christ, and after the great tribulation will be raptured to heaven.

Another issue is that the rapture is NOT imminent. That is, it could happen at any time with no signs leading up to it. But, there are clear signs in scripture of the season of the rapture, but not of the very day and hour.

SO, let me show you a chart of what I have taught in the past, and of what many believers in the U.S. still believe.

Some very godly and wonderful people believe the following:

Chart of The Tribulation Period

 

(Taken from The Pre-wrath Rapture of the Church by Marvin Rosenthall: Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 108). Used by permission.

Many teach that the entire tribulation period is a time of God’s wrath, and because it is a time of God’s wrath, we are immune from the entire period, and so the rapture must occur before this time period.

Historically, the pre-tribulation rapture is a fairly new teaching in the body of Christ that started in the 1830’s. It’s mostly an American belief, and is held by a relatively few number of believers worldwide. It is NOT popular in Europe, in Africa, in South America, or even in Canada!

Many godly, wonderful, and smart theologians have encompassed this view in America primarily in the 20th century.

But, for the majority of the church age, believers have held the view that the church will be here during the reign of the anti-Christ, and will be raptured after his appearing on the scene.*

Chart of Pre-tribulation Rapture

 

(Taken from The Pre-wrath Rapture of the Church by Marvin Rosenthall: Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 56) Used by permission.

I have spent dozens and dozens of hours reading and researching this subject. I have re-read what I have learned and believed in the light of new insight, and have changed my views.

When this process started in 2010, it shook me deeply. I wept as I saw new truth. I wept as God dealt with me about what will come in the future. And it sobered me up!

How my views of the Rapture and the 7 years we call the Tribulation have changed.

As I read through Revelation, I began to see a pattern, a concise series of events that were sequential, that is, a clear sequence of one event followed by another.

At the same time, I still have a very strong conviction that the church of the Lord Jesus will not be here to receive the wrath of God, because Jesus took God’s wrath on the cross for us.

I believe in the scriptures that there are clear indications that the Day of the Lord is a concise period of time that occurs just after the rapture of the church and is a time of the wrath of God being displayed on Satan and those being willfully used by Him. You will see this as we go chapter by chapter through Revelation.

I now believe that the seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week are divided up into three specific periods that are shown in scripture.

Chart

 

(Taken from The Pre-wrath Rapture of the Church by Marvin Rosenthall: Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 149) Used by permission.

The first period is called by Jesus the beginning of sorrows (Matthew 24:8) and is spoken of in Matthew 24:4-8 and Revelation 6:1-8.

The second period is called The Great Tribulation. This is the period when the anti-Christ breaks his covenant of peace with Israel, desecrates the rebuilt Jewish temple, and then begins to kill Jews and Christians in the Middle East on a wide scale. This great tribulation is mentioned in Matthew 24:9-28, and in Revelation 6:9-11.

The third period is called the Day of the Lord, and is the beginning of the wrath of God being poured out on the enemies of the kingdom of God. This period is mentioned clearly in Revelation 6:17, and in Revelation 8 with the breaking of the seventh seal and the blowing of the seven trumpets that starts the Day of the Lord judgements.

Before this time, there will be cosmic disturbances that will precede the rapture of the church and will signal the beginning of the Day of the Lord. This is clearly seen in Revelation 6:12-17 and in Matthew 24:29-31.

Chart of the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church

(Taken from The Pre-wrath Rapture of the Church by Marvin Rosenthall: Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 61) Used by Permission.

****************************************************************************

Additional Information about the Parousia and the rapture of the church being included in it:

Jesus’ coming is a singular event.

It contains a number of phases as He returns.

Jesus’ coming is a parousia.

parousia is used 29 times in 9 NT books.

From – para – with

and – ousia – being.

Conveys the idea of an arrival, and a continued presence with…

When we speak of Jesus’ first coming, we think of the announcement of His birth to Mary, the incarnation in Bethlehem, His temple teaching at age 12, His growing up, His baptism by John, His public ministry, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension.

His second coming will include the rise of the antiChrist, the birth pangs spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24, the resurrection of those who have died in Christ, the rapture of the church, the Day of the Lord, Judgment on the wicked, His physical return to Jerusalem in glory and power, and His establishing His millennial kingdom. (p.4)

Of the 17 times the word coming is used in connection with the return of Christ, it is used only in the singular and always with a definite article or personal pronoun (i.e., thy coming, the coming, or His coming). (p. 10).

Matthew 24:3 (NKJV)

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Matthew 24:27 (NKJV)

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

1 Corinthians 15:23 (NKJV)

But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

1 Thessalonians 3:13 (NKJV)

so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

1 Thessalonians 4:15 (NKJV)

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV)

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 (NKJV)

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,

2 Thessalonians 2:8 (NKJV)

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

James 5:7 (NKJV)

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

James 5:8 (NKJV)

You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

2 Peter 1:16 (NKJV)

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

2 Peter 3:4 (NKJV)

and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

2 Peter 3:12 (NKJV)

looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

1 John 2:28 (NKJV)

And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

 

Not a single Ante-Nicene Church Father supports a signless, any moment Rapture. By contrast, they uniformly teach that the Antichrist must appear before Christ’s coming for the church and that the church should be watching lest they be caught off guard: (p.11)

Justin Martyr:

The man of apostacy [Antichrist] … shall venture to do unlawful deeds on earth against Christians…( Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 110)

Irenaeus:

And they [the ten kings] shall…give their kingdom to the beast and put the church to flight …(Against Heresies V, 26,1)

Be he [John] indicates the number of the name [Antichrist 666] now, that when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware of who he is…(Against Heresies V, 30,4).

Hippolytus:

Now concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the church from the adversary [he has been speaking of the Antichrist’s persecution of believers]…That refers to 1260 days [the last half of Daniel’s 70th week] during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the church (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 60,61).

Tertullian:

Now the privilege of this favor [to go without dying at the rapture] awaits those who shall at the coming of the Lord be found in the flesh [those who are still alive] and who shall, owing to the oppression of the time of Antichrist, deserve by an instantaneous death [Tertullian’s way of describing the rapture], which is accompanied by a sudden change, to be qualified to join the rising saints [those who has already died in Christ] as he writes to Thessalonians (On the Resurrection of the Flesh xli).

(Taken from What Does God Say about The Coming and The End? Zion’s Fire newsletter by Marvin Rosenthall, November/December 2008 edition (2009: Winter Garden, FL: Zion’s Hope.org; Zion’s Hope, Inc). pages, 4,10,11.

Some of the Christian leaders who never embraced pre-tribulational rapturism, or who initially embraced it only to renounce it include:

Henry Alford, Oswald T. Allis, Matthew Arnold, David Baron, J. Sidlow Baxter, Louis Berdhof, Rowland V Bingham, Horatius Bonar, William Booth, F.F. Bruce, John Bunyan

John Calvin, William Carey, Edward J Carnell, Thomas Chalmers, Adam Clarke, Charles T. Cooke, Samuel Cooper, Jon Cotton, Alexander Cruden.

Alfred Edersheim, Jonathan Edwards, Charles R. Erdman, W. J. Erdman, Charles Finney, John Foxe, Alexander Fraser, John Gill, A, J. Gordon.

Robert H. Gundry, William Hendriksen, Carl F. H. Henry, Matthew Henry, Herschel H. Hobbs, Charles Hodge, Frank Houghton, Thomas Houghton, John Huss, John Knox.

Martin Luther, Norman S. Macpherson, Cotton Mather, Campbell Morgan, George Mueller, Isaac Newton, Thomas Newton, A. W. Pink, A. B. Simpson, Oswald J. Smith, Charles H. Spurgeon, A. H. Strong, William Tyndale, B.B. Warfield, Charles Wesley, John Wesley, George Whitefield, John Wycliffe.

If some of these names are not familiar to the reader, let it be known that among them are the men who gave us the Bible in the English language, some of the foremost puritan personalities, the leading reformers, missionaries who with the gospel pierced the darkness of heathen lands, theologians of the first rank, some of history’s greatest preachers and authors whose books have stood the test of time to become classics within Bible believing Christendom…. None of these men were pretribulational.

Taken from The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church by Marvin Rosenthall, Zion’s Fire Newsletter, January-February 2005. (2011: Winter Garden, FL: Zion’s Hope.org; Zion’s Hope, Inc). p. 5