There is no pressure for an any-moment "rapture" unless its purpose is to enable us to escape Antichrist and the great tribulation. The whole idea is based on the desire for an escape from trouble.

It would help our discussion if we would distinguish between the great tribulation and the Day of Wrath. As soon as the saints are caught up to meet the Commander-in-Chief in the air the wrath of God will be poured out on the wicked of the earth, just as in the days of Noah. This is not the great tribulation but the Day of Wrath—two entirely unrelated events. Tribulation is the means by which we enter the Kingdom of God. Wrath is not redemptive. It is the destruction of the wicked.

And here's another thing. The passage in First Thessalonians refers to the event it describes as "the coming of the Lord." This is very significant because it ties this passage to Matthew, Chapter Twenty-four and other parts of the Bible that refer to the coming of the Lord.

According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. (I Thessalonians 4:15—NIV)

"Till the coming of the Lord."

This event is not a special secret "rapture." It is the coming of the Lord, the Day of the Lord, the time of the resurrection of the dead and of the Day of Wrath. We ought never to refer to it as a "rapture." This gives it a peculiar flavor. It takes on a special life of its own. It always should be referred to as the coming of the Lord or the Day of the Lord. Then we are on solid scriptural ground.

The idea of a "rapture" places the emphasis on the going of the believers to Heaven. But the idea of the coming of the Lord places the emphasis on the return of the Lord to set up His Kingdom on the earth. One idea is man-centered. The other idea is God-centered.

We ought never to use the term "rapture." It is not a scriptural term. We should start talking about the coming of the Lord.

The idea of a special secret "rapture" will prove to be the major Christian heresy of the twentieth century. Here God's "answer men" are busy chastising some of the believers for their emotional excesses while ignoring the massive, most destructive heresy of them all. Oh well, we are always straining out gnats and swallowing camels.

In the fifth chapter of I Thessalonians, which is a continuation of the thought (Paul did not write in chapters), Paul refers to the catching up he mentioned in the fourth chapter as "the day of the Lord."

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (I Thessalonians 5:1,2—NIV)

To maintain that Paul has changed the subject from Chapter Four to Chapter Five, when Paul did not write in chapters, is not a defensible point of view for a student who wishes to be taken seriously. It is obvious from the text of Chapter Five that Paul is continuing with his discussion of the coming of the Lord.

To be continued.