Jesus Christ
- HIS COMING FOR HIS SAINTS
- To fully understand this lesson it is highly recommended that you look up and read all Scripture references in context.
The doctrine of this lesson is one of the most important themes of unfulfilled prophecy. The student should be reminded that prophecy is God's pre-written history and is therefore as credible as all other parts of the Scriptures. Almost one-fourth of the Bible was in the form of prediction when it was written. Much has been fulfilled, and in every case its fulfillment has been the most literal realization of all that was prophesied. As pre-announced many centuries before the birth of Christ, He, when He came, was of the tribe of Judah, a son of Abraham, a son of David, born of a virgin in Bethlehem. In like manner, the explicit details of His death foretold in Psalm 22, a thousand years before, were precisely fulfilled.
The Word of God also presents much prophecy which at the present time is unfulfilled and it is reasonable as well as honoring to God to believe that it will be fulfilled in the same faithfulness which has characterized all His works to the present hour.
The fact that Christ is to return to this earth as He went - " this same Jesus," in His resurrection body, and on the clouds of heaven (Act 1:11) - is so clearly and extensively taught in the prophetic Scriptures that this truth has been included in all the great creeds of Christendom. However, the doctrine of the return of Christ demands most careful and discriminating consideration.
In common with Bible students generally, distinction is made between two yet future events. We therefore assign the study of one - Christ coming "for" His saints - to this lesson, and the study of the other - Christ coming "with" His saints - to the following lesson. Though but one aspect of truth is indicated by each of these titles, the Scriptures reveal that much more will be accomplished in each of these events than the titles suggest.
Conforming to the incomplete statement of truth proposed by these titles, we observe that in the body of Scripture assigned to this lesson, Christ is seen descending into the air and there receiving to Himself the saints who are caught up from the earth to meet Him - some of these to be raised from the dead and some to be translated from the living state (1st Corinthians 15:22, 23, 51, 52). However, in that body of Scripture assigned to the next lesson, He is seen descending to the earth (Zechariah 14:4-7) with His glorified saints as His bride attending (Revelation 19:7, 8, 14; Jude 1:14), to sit upon the throne of David (Luke 1:32), which is also "the throne of His glory" (Matthew 25:31). Though these two events differ in every particular, they are often confused, and for this reason this lesson should be closely compared with the one which is to follow.
In contemplating the prophetic doctrine of Christ's coming for His saints, it should be noted:
First. - The order of these two events is obvious: Christ cannot come to the earth with His saints until He shall have come for them. They must be gathered together "unto him" (2nd Thessalonians 2:1) before they can "appear with him" in glory (Col 3:4). Though these events are probably separated by only a brief period of time, according to prophecy, there is much to be fulfilled between these events which is world transforming (2nd Thessalonians 2:3, 4; Rev 4:1-19:10).
Second. - The long predicted second coming of Christ to this earth will be completely fulfilled when He comes with His saints, and, therefore, the coming of Christ for His own sustains no relation to it whatsoever. The two events are not two phases or aspects of one divine undertaking.
The Scriptures present the coming of Christ for His own as a mystery or sacred secret (1st Corinthians 15:51) - meaning something hitherto unrevealed, but to be understood after it is divinely disclosed (Deuteronomy 29:29; Matthew 13:35). The New Testament revelation concerning Christ's coming for His own could not have been seen in the Old Testament since it is only one aspect of truth (God's way of taking His people out of the world) related to the Church; which Church is a sacred secret, having been nowhere directly anticipated in the Old Testament. Likewise, the Church could not have been revealed in the Old Testament since it is only one of the divine purposes in the present age; which age is itself a sacred secret, not having been revealed in the Old Testament (Matthew 13:11). In contrast to all this, the second coming of Christ is in no sense a mystery or sacred secret, since it is one of the most important themes of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 30 3; Psalms 2:1-9; 24:1-10; 50:1-5; 96:10-13; Isaiah 11:10, 11; Jeremiah 23:5, 6; Ezekiel 37:21, 22; Daniel 7:13,14; Zechariah 2:10-12).
Third. - As revealed in the Scriptures, His coming for His saints is the next event in the order of the fulfillment of prophecy, and is, therefore, that for which the child of God should be waiting (1st Thessalonians 1:9-10 "For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come". and looking (Philippians 3:20; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:28), and which he should be loving (2nd Timothy 4:8).
The Scriptures bearing on the coming of Christ for His own are explicit: In 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 it is revealed that when Christ comes the "dead in Christ" will rise first and the living saints, together with them, will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord and to be forever with the Lord. In 1st Corinthians 15:51-53, the same fact of the resurrection of the "dead in Christ" and the transformation of the living is set forth; but with the added revelation that the translation and transformation of the living saints will be as suddenly as "the twinkling of an eye," and at the sounding of the "last trump." In John 14:1-3, it is disclosed that Christ will receive His own unto Himself: not into the mansions, but into the place which He has gone to prepare. Again, in Philippians 3:20, 21, it is stated that at His coming "he shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. " In like manner, the time of Christ's coming for His own will be the time when they shall appear before His judgment seat to receive their rewards for service (1st Corinthians 3:11-15; Matthew 16:27; Luke 14:14; 1st Corinthians 4:5; 2nd Timothy 4:8; 2nd Corinthians 5:10).
As certainly as the coming of Christ for His saints is not revealed in the Old Testament, so certainly it has no relation to the unsaved. To the Christian, however, it is, in the purpose of God:
1. A Comforting Hope. - Comfort is derived from the fact that Christ may come at any time and that there is not a whole lifetime, necessarily, or until death, before the believer may see his Lord, and also from the fact that when He shall come the child of God will be instantly in the presence and fellowship of those loved ones who were saved and who have gone on before (1st Thessalonians 4:18).
2. A Purifying Hope. - No one can contemplate the fact that Christ may come at any moment and not have his conduct affected by that belief (1st John 3:1-3).
3. A Blessed Hope. - There is nothing comparable to the expectation that, through riches of grace, the saved one will see his Lord face to face, be with Him, and be like Him (John 14:3; 1st Thessalonians 4:17; 1st John 3:3).
This future event is not to be confused with the second coming of Christ as Jesus describes it in Matthew 24:36-42 "But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, "and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left."Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left."Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming".
This event will be discussed in our lesson of "the end time".
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