Bible Question:
1.When does Rapture take place, is it before tribulation or after tribulation? 2.Is the rapture going a secert one or everybody will know what has taken place? I need answers supported with scriptures. thanks |
Bible Answer: Will there be a second and third coming of Christ? ____________________ "There is not a distinct second and a third coming, rather one coming, one Parousia at which time God "sum[s] up ... all things in Christ" (Eph. 1:10)" ____________________ "Awaiting and looking for the [fulfillment, the realization of our] blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)," Titus 2:13 (Amplified Bible). 'Two examples corroborating the teaching that the church is present through some portion of the persecution and therefore not removed from the earth in a secret coming prior to the 70th Week are Irenaeus (the disciple of Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John) and Justin Martyr. Irenaeus wrote, "And they [the ten kings] ... shall give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight." (Against Heresies 5:26.1) 'Justin Martyr wrote, "The man of apostasy [Antichrist] ... shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians." (Trypho cx) 'The early church fathers understood there to be only one coming of Christ. They never separated His coming into the idea that He would come first in a secret coming for His church and then later (perhaps seven years) with His church to pour out His wrath on wicked mankind. 'For the above reasons, to understand that a difference was intended in Titus 2:13 between "the blessed hope" being the (secret) Rapture of the saints and "the appearing of...Christ Jesus" as the Revelation of Christ at the end of the 70th Week, is to incorrectly understand the verse. Therefore, there is not a distinct second and a third coming, rather one coming, one Parousia at which time God "sum[s] up ... all things in Christ" (Eph. 1:10)' ____________________ www.signministries.org/ faqs/faq019_thirdcoming.htm (See also www.solagroup.org) |