"To be glorified in His saints." "To be admired in all them that believe."

Christ is coming in us and with us.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

For if we believe Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (I Thessalonians 4:14)

Christ is coming in and with His saints.

Christians who adhere to the dispensational model of biblical interpretation believe in two different comings of the Lord: a first coming, in which He receives His Church, and then a separate coming to the world.

The claim is made that there will be a seven-year interval between the two comings during which Antichrist will reign on the earth, and the believers will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and then be married to the Lamb.

There are at least three reasons why two different comings, separated by a seven-year interval during which Antichrist reigns and the believers are judged, are impossible:

The Scripture teaches plainly that the moment the saints are removed from the world the wrath of God will fall on the ungodly.

The saints will not stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ after they are glorified.

The Scripture teaches expressly that the coming of the Lord to be glorified in His saints, the coming that delivers them from their sufferings in this world, is the same coming that will destroy Antichrist and his followers.

The moment the saints are removed the wrath of God will fall. This is the teaching of the Scriptures and it was foreshadowed by the events of the days of Noah and Lot. There will be no interval of time after the saints are removed during which business will continue as usual on the earth.

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and sulfur from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:29-32)

Here is a picture of the saints leaving the world just before destruction falls. Does this sound to you as though there will be a seven-year interval after the Church leaves during which Antichrist conducts his business in the earth?

Paul says the same thing:

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. (I Thessalonians 5:3)

Paul here is speaking of the coming of the Lord, the Day of the Lord, which he had described a few verses previously and which he portrays again in the first and second chapters of II Thessalonians.

Paul's teaching is, the Lord will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. This is Christ's appearing from Heaven. It will not come upon the saints as a thief because the saints are walking in the light. But it certainly shall catch the world and the worldly Christians by surprise just as Sodom was taken by surprise.

To be continued.