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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Day of Christ
Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. (Philippians 2:16)
In the following essays we will speak of Christ's return in glory, the Day of Redemption, the promised worldwide revelation of Christ to set up His Kingdom on the earth. We are stating there will be no secret coming of the Lord for His Church before His worldwide appearing and that the current teaching of a pre-tribulation "rapture" is an error.
The Day of Christ, the Day of the Lord, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth, is the blessed hope of the Christian Church.
It is the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth—that which was preached by John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Apostles of the Lamb.
Jesus is coming again!
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:21)
The coming of the Lord is in several stages. In these essays we are speaking particularly of Christ's return in glory, the Day of Redemption, the promised worldwide revelation of Christ to set up His Kingdom on the earth.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church of the Thessalonians concerning the return of Christ—the time of the resurrection of the saints. The following are the terms Paul employed:
"The coming of the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:15).
"The day of the Lord" (I Thessalonians 5:2).
"The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:23).
"The Presence of the Lord" (II Thessalonians 1:9).
"The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and . . . our gathering together unto him" (II Thessalonians 2:1).
"The day of Christ" (II Thessalonians 2:2).
"The brightness of his coming" (II Thessalonians 2:8).
Paul uses the word coming seven times in First and Second Thessalonians. In every instance Paul employs the Greek term parousia, the same word used by the disciples of the Lord in Matthew 24:3.
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (Matthew 24:3)
The common use of parousia (always in the singular) supports our position that Paul did not switch back and forth in First and Second Thessalonians between a special secret "rapture" and the long awaited return of Christ to set up His Kingdom on the earth.
Paul is teaching the saints in Thessalonica concerning the return of Christ to the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. Other passages of Scripture that announce the same event are as follows:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29,30)
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)
To be continued.