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The Daily Word of Righteousness
After the Tribulation of Those Days, #7
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:30,31—NIV)
A young man of our church found it difficult to accept that when the great signs appeared in the heavens there would be no opportunity for repentance. He could not see why people would not be warned and receive Christ when the heavens are shaken.
Then he had a dream. He saw the Lord in the sky, and yet he could not bring himself to believe. After his dream he was convinced.
In any case, we know from the parable of the ten virgins that there is no opportunity for repentance when the midnight cry comes.
Can you see the parallels between the above passage and the announcement of the Lord's coming found in the fourth chapter of First Thessalonians?
We have the coming of the Son of Man, the clouds of the sky, the trumpet, and the gathering of His elect to Himself.
Don't forget, most of the elect are in Heaven at this time, only a very small fraction will be alive on the earth. All shall be gathered together before they ascend to meet the Lord in the air. Those of us who are alive on the earth will not enter the Kingdom before those who have returned with the Lord, or have any advantage over them. All will be brought to perfection together in Christ.
Can you begin to see that introducing a special secret coming several years before the coming portrayed here renders any sensible, coherent interpretation of the above passage totally impossible? The any-moment pre-tribulation "rapture" is so manifestly unscriptural that its acceptance by devout scholars must be regarded as a supernatural blindness.
The grand coming of the Lord described here is the Day of the Lord, the one coming of the Lord, the blessed hope of the Church. There has been no coming of the Lord prior to this one and shall not be one in the future. This is it!
And it takes place "immediately after the tribulation of those days."
Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:32-35—NIV)
Some have taught that Israel is the fig tree, and that when Israel is restored, this will be the leaves proceeding from the fig tree.
This may or may not be the case. Israel is seen as an olive tree, not a fig tree, in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Romans.
To be continued.