The Day of Christ will come upon the world and upon the hypocritical Christians suddenly and without warning. But God's elect who love Him and who seek His face continually will not be caught unprepared:

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thessalonians 5:23)

Concerning the previous verse, of what coming is Paul speaking? Obviously, it is the next coming, as far as the Thessalonians were concerned, since they are to be preserved blameless unto it.

If verse 23 of the fifth chapter is speaking of a secret disappearing of the saints, then Paul has set forth one coming in Chapter Four, a separate coming in the early verses of Chapter Five, and then has swung back to the secret disappearing in verse 23 of Chapter Five.

But the concept of watching and being sober, mentioned in 5:6, refers backward to verses 1-5 of Chapter Five and forward to verse 23 of Chapter Five, binding Chapter Five to one coming.

If this is the case, then Chapters Four and Five are speaking of but one coming, because verse 23 of Chapter Five speaks of the next coming—that to which they are to be preserved blameless.

The interpretation that one coming is being discussed is strengthened further by the fact that the Greek term parousia (coming; presence) is employed uniformly by Paul in First and Second Thessalonians.

It is clear that Paul, in both First and Second Thessalonians, is speaking of only one coming of the Lord and is teaching the church of the Thessalonians concerning the one coming.

It is likely that an unbiased Greek scholar would come to this conclusion.

From our point of view, to interject a secret disappearing of the Church into such an otherwise straightforward treatment of the Day of the Lord violates every rule of Bible interpretation. It runs dangerously close to a willful distortion of the text in order to support a tradition.

The doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture of the believers is an indefensible teaching. It has produced spiritual immaturity and death and will continue to destroy the Gospel of the Kingdom of God until it is cast away by the saints as the confusion that it is.

"Be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." If we have the hope of being like Christ in a resurrected body, of seeing Him as He is, then we must purify ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

The power of God in Christ can keep us perfect in spirit, in soul, and in body as we wait for the coming of the Lord from Heaven.

To be continued.