Weekly Bible Study – March 23, 2015

The Rapture and the Second Advent

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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life:

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

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STUDY TITLE:

The Rapture and the Second Advent


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Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:

Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible

The Rapture and the Second Advent

We are still looking at some of greatest chapters in the New Testament, Romans 9-11. Romans 9:27 took us on an extensive study of the doctrine of Election and the subjects related to it.

ROM 9:27-28, And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; for the Lord will execute His word upon the earth, thoroughly and quickly.

Verses 27 & 28 is a quotation from Isaiah 10:22-23.

ISA 10:22-23, For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; [then we have a phrase Paul did not quote which states] A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord God of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.

The context in the Hebrew is a prophecy regarding the restoration of Israel at the Second Advent. In the prophecy of Isaiah, at the time, there was a tremendous build-up of a spiritual cancer, a great blot-out which is a concentration of people who have maximum hardness of heart. This blot-out was a complete ignoring of the first advent, when the Lord would come to die for the sins of the whole world because the Jews wanted the crown without the Cross. This was the expression of maximum negative volition.


Even in the Tribulation there will be those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning with the 144,000 Jews scattered throughout the entire earth from twelve of the thirteen tribes. There are really 13 tribes of Israel, but one tribe received a double portion and therefore was made up of two tribes identified as one tribe.

The 13 tribes are: 1. Reuben 2. Simeon 3. Gad 4. Judah 5. Issachar 6. Zebulun 7. Ephraim 8. Manasseh 9. Benjamin 10. Dan 11. Asher 12. Naphtali 13. Levi.

There are some very interesting principles regarding these Tribes. For example, polygamy is forbidden in the word of God, only monogamy is condoned. Polygamy means to have a plurality of wives. It is the antithesis of monogamy which means to only have one wife. Polygamy is prohibited by DEU 17:14 17; LUK 16:18, therefore it is a sin. This does not mean that remarriage is always forbidden, but it means you should not have more than one wife at the same time.

DEU 17:14-17, “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.”

Polygamy violates the divine law of right man and right woman, GEN 2:24, ECC 9:9, 1CO 7:17. In fact, cases of polygamy in the Bible are always related to reversionism and apostasy. Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel, plus two mistresses and he always had trouble with his sons. Gideon in Judges 8:29 9:57 had many problems with his 70 sons plus his many daughters. Solomon had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away from the true God. David had at least seven wives and many concubines and had nothing but trouble from his children, 1Ch 3, 2Sa 11-13.

Polygamy causes everything from incest and murder to rape and violence as illustrated by David’s polygamy, 2Sa 13.

Polygamy is not the will of God. God doesn’t condone polygamy. All polygamous believers have trouble as a result.

No man is designed physically or mentally for polygamy. Monogamy is God’s order under the laws of divine establishment. No one should have understood the problems of polygamy more than Solomon and David.

The point is that even though polygamy was forbidden, God still brought forth the 12 Tribes of Israel from Jacob’s two wives and two maidens. Why? Well many of us can only speculate as to why and how come. However, the bottom line is that we know DEU 32:4, “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.”

We also believe ROM 9:20, On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? When Joseph had two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh there in Egypt, Jacob said that instead of Joseph being called a tribe, under the principle of the double-portion that the father would give to whatever he chose, that Joseph’s two sons will be counted among the 12 tribes. The only tribe that was not given an inheritance because they were a nation of Priests for all 12 was the tribe of Levi. So, in reality, there was really 13 tribes. The tribes of the Old Testament were also a type of shadows of what was to come in the New Testament. And so here’s another principle that is interesting concerning the twelve tribes of Israel. How many people were there at the last supper? There were 13, the twelve tribes represented by the 12 disciples and the lord jesus Christ who was representing the tribe of Levi who were the priest’s. Our Lord Jesus Christ functioned as the priest at the last supper.

When you go to Act chapter 1, before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; Peter said we need to replace this position which was idiotic because the Lord chooses who His apostles would be not man. And so What did they do in Act 1.

ACT 1:23-26, And they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, “Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two Thou hast chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Now that was idiotic. They drew lots! They offered the Lord two individuals when the Lord had His own replacement in line, Saul of Tarsus, who became the apostle Paul. It was an office that only Jesus could establish among the Apostles. Now, all of this is going to used by the apostle Paul to illustrate to the Romans to beware of the discipline and judgment that God is going to bring upon the world.


ROM 9:27-28, And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; for the Lord will execute His word upon the earth, thoroughly and quickly.”

This passage indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ will come back known as the Second Advent. What is the Second Advent?

The Doctrine of the Second Advent.

First of all, the word advent means the coming or the arrival of something extremely important. There are two advents of Jesus Christ depicted in the Word of God. The First Advent begins with the virgin birth and concludes with the resurrection, ascension and session. During the First Advent, Jesus Christ in Hypostatic-union accomplished the strategic victory of the angelic conflict and the salvation of the human race. This strategic victory gives Him battlefield royalty. He must have a royal family to go with this royalty. Therefore, there is the need for the Church.

You see, the Lord has Three Royal Families:

1. The divine one = God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

2. The natural realm = Jewish Royalty, He is the Son of David.

3. The spiritual realm = the head of the Church, the Royal Family of God.

The Second Advent is designed to reveal Him as both battlefield royalty and Jewish royalty. He returns to earth in resurrection body as the Hypostatic-union. At the Rapture of the Church, Christ does not return to the earth as we meet Him in the air.

The Distinction Between the Rapture and the Second Advent.

R=Rapture
SA= Second Arrival or Advent

R Private, ACT 1:11
SA Public, REV 1:7.


REV 1:7, Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.

R. In the air, 1TH 4”17
SA. On earth, ZEC 14:4.

ZEC 14:1-4, Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

R. Judgment of believer’s works, 1CO 5:10.
SA. Baptism of Fire, MAT 25:31-46
.

R. Church goes to heaven, JOH 14:3.
SA. Church returns with Christ, 1TH 3:13.

1TH 3:13, so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

R. Holy Spirit is removed, 2TH 2:6.
SA. Removal of Satan, REV 20:1-3.

R. Change in believer’s body, PHI 3:21.
SA. Earth is changed, ZEC 14:9; ROM 8:19-22.

R. Christ appears as the groom.
SA. Christ appears as the Messiah.

R. End of the Church Age.
SA. End of the Jewish age.

R. Israel under the fifth cycle of discipline.
SA. Termination of the fifth cycle of discipline.

R. Believers taken from the earth, 1TH 4:13-18.
SA. Unbelievers taken from the earth, MAT 24:37-44.

Mat 24 has always been a passage misunderstood by many as referring to the Rapture but it does not.

MAT 24:37-44, “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women {will be} grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think {He will.}

R. A time of comfort, 1TH 4:18.
SA. A time of terror, REV 6:15-17.

These are some of the contrasts which exists between the Rapture and the Second Advent.

Analogies to the Second Advent.

The Analogy of Nature: Lightning, MAT 24:27, “For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”

The Second Advent will be seen by all, REV 1:7, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him.”

The Second Advent disturbs and frightens the unenlightened, REV 6:15-17.

The Second Advent warns of a coming storm.

The Second Advent is characterized by the storms of coming judgment.

The Historical Analogy is found in MAT 24:37 41, “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

This refers to the fact that the end times will be like the days of Noah which really points to people living under the wrong priorities even thought may refer to the presence of super-creatures on the earth once again.

Marrying, eating, and drinking (normal pleasures in life) were more important than Bible doctrine.

Secondly, in verse 39, “they did not know” a big judgment was on the horizon. And as in the time of Noah, so also in the Tribulation; people cannot tell what is about to happen because they have no Bible doctrine in their souls. And so in verses 40 and 41, the believer is left and the unbeliever is taken in the baptism of fire.

Just the opposite occurs at the Rapture. In Noah’s day unbelievers were removed by water.

This time fire will be used.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.