Second Coming / Rapture
Bible Question: When is Christ going to come a second time? Is this what my minister calls "the rapture?"
Bible Answer: Most Bible-believing Christians feel we are living in the very time the Bible says Christ is to return. There is a revival of interest in prophecy with great expectancy of the second coming of Christ. This is based on many prophetic signs: Israel restored (Matt. 24:32; Jer. 16:13-18); knowledge and travel increased (Dan. 12:40); evils exposed as never before (Luke 12:2; 1 Cor. 4:5); infidelity rampant from university to pulpit (Luke 18:8; 2 Tim. 4:1-4); men seeking pleasure, morality rotting (2 Tim. 3:1-5, 13); strikes, walkouts (James 5:1-4); racial strife, riots (Zeph. 1:7-9)' juvenile delinquency (2 Tim. 3:2); wars and war preparations intensified (Joel 3:9-11); men crying fearfully for peace (1 Thess. 5:3, Luke 21:26); trouble everywhere (Matt. 24:21,22). What do these signs really mean? "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy presence [Greek, parousia], and of the end of the world [age]?" Matthew 24:3
Popular Christian novels tell of the horrors of a vindictive God destroying three billion people by earthquakes and fire. But is this what the Bible foretells? These fictional depictions of prophecy ignore the “Good News” of the Bible and paint a picture of an unsympathetic and cruel God. But this portrayal contradicts the clear Bible teaching that “God is love” and that “His compassions fail not.” (1 John 4:16-18; Lam. 3:22) Yes, the Scriptures do speak of a momentous time of trouble coinciding with the return of Christ and culminating in Armageddon. However, the true purpose of Armageddon is to cleanse the earth of the systems of corruption which have been under the control of Satan and his servants. It is important to understand that the corrupt ecclesiastical, social, financial and political systems need to be destroyed—not the people misled by these systems. (Isaiah 40:4) Billions of good-hearted people have not known and accepted Jesus. The conversion of these people will come after the true church is complete and after the great tribulation. "Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations... to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger... For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent." (Zephaniah 3:8, 9)
CLICK THESE LINKS FOR MORE DETAILS:
DAY OF THE LORD COMES AS A THIEF (Article)
I WILL COME AGAIN (Booklet)
NO ONE LEFT BEHIND (Article)
WHEN PROPHETIC EXPECTATIONS OUTWEIGH THE FACTS (Article)
SIGNS WE ARE LIVING IN THE END TIMES (Article)