A Thief In The Night: Not To Those In The Light

A thief in the night?

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” - Matthew 25:13

“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” - Mark 13:35-37

We often hear of Christ coming as a thief in the night. To those who live in darkness and in sin, Christ will come as a thief, he will catch them quite unawares. As followers of Christ dwelling in the Light we will be on our guard watching and praying. We will see the trees shooting forth their tender leaves and know that the summer is “nigh at hand” (See Luke 21:29-36, Mark 13:28-37, also see Matthew 24:45-50).

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-7

“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” - 1 Peter 4:7

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” - Matthew 24:37-39

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” - Matthew 24:42

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” - Luke 21:36

See the Hymn "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IS JESUS"

See the related post "Tribulation? Rapture? The Second Coming of Christ?"

See the related post "The Wrath of God and the Song of Moses and of Christ"

Tribulation? Rapture? The Second Coming of Christ?

A Short Defense for the Historical Post Tribulation Rapture

First, if Church history is understood and considered regarding the rapture and the tribulation it will appear that a pretribulation rapture is a rather ridiculous idea. But I do not plan to go into history at all in this article, but merely point out that understanding the views of earlier church leaders, and history itself would alone make the common day “pretribulation rapture belief” appear foolish.

Rather, the focus will only be on the word of God, as he has spoken quite clearly on this matter which is more than evident. The fact is that whenever in scripture that the tribulation and the rapture are mentioned together the rapture ALWAYS comes after the tribulation. Those who believe a pretribulation rapture split Christ’s coming into two. They say he has one coming for the church in the rapture, and another when he comes to rule on the earth. Never in scripture does the rapture come before the tribulation. The 2nd coming of Christ is always spoken of as one occurrence in scripture. This should be simple enough to understand, but some have cleverly devised lies and wrested the scripture to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).

First, consider John 17:15. Here Jesus prays to the Father that we (Christians) would not be taken out of the world, but that we may be kept from evil. This shows us a theme in the Bible that had perhaps begun with Deuteronomy 4:30-31. That theme being that we are to have faith in the Lord calling upon him to deliver us in time of tribulation. This is just as true in the tribulations we face commonly as it would be if we were to experience the great Tribulation.

There are three arguments that will be considered which revolve around four subjects; the last trumpet, the plagues of Revelation, the day of Christ, and the abomination of desolation/son of perdition. The strongest and clearest argument will be saved for last.

First, it appears that the “trump of God” in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the “last trump” of 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, and the trumpet in Revelation 10:7, 11:15 (see Rev. 8:2, 9:1, 9:13 for context) and Matthew 24:31 are all the same trumpet. This would fit the rapture in perfectly with the order of events in Matthew ch 24 and Revelation (and shows the rapture as after the tribulation).

Second, the plagues of revelation (of the tribulation), namely the locusts of Rev. 9:2-4, and the angels horsemen of Rev. 9:14-21 were sent to torture only those who had not received the seal of God (Rev. 6:9-11, 7:3, Eph. 1:13, 4:30, 2 Cor. 1:22; we are sealed after we believe by the Holy Spirit) . It can be clearly seen that those who are marked with the seal of God are still on the earth at this time, but they are protected by God from these plagues. I also believe that they are protected by God from the other plagues of Revelation chapter 8. So how are the servants of God harmed during this time of tribulation? They are “slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held” as is seen in verse 11 and 9 of Revelation chapter 6 (Also see Matthew chapter 24).

Now from the letter’s of the Apostle Paul we are given perhaps the clearest argument, but the references to other books of scripture to which Paul refers will also be pointed out. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 we can see a number of important details. In verse 1-4 we see Paul telling the Thessalonians not to be troubled and that they should let no man deceive them. He says that the day of Christ shall not come “except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be reveled, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” It should be noted that verse 4 refers to the same event as Matthew 24:15 and Daniel 11:36 (The antichrist, and when he is there is tribulation). So in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 it is said that the day of Christ shall not come until after the falling away and the antichrist comes first (Also that those who do not love the truth will be damned.) In Philippians 1:10 and 2:15-16 we can see that the day of Christ is the final, or last thing that Christians are to be blameless until, and should be able to rejoice in, unless they have failed to “hold forth the word of life.” So the order of events should be more clear by the pointing out of these verses and there relation to each other.

We see in Romans 14:8, Luke 20:38, and 1 Thessalonians 5:10 that weather we live or die (in the flesh) we are with the Lord. But when Christ returns at his second coming the dead shall be raised first and then we who are alive and remain shall also go to be with the Lord (in our new resurrected bodies, see 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, and Philippians 3:20-21). So to be clear, both the resurrection and the rapture take place at the same time when Christ returns after the tribulation.

Also see

http://post-triborpre-trib.blogspot.com/2007/06/end-times-bible-prophcey-conference.html