| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
Christ and His Saints Go to Work, #6
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (I Thessalonians 4:16,17—NIV)
Paul wrote these words, not to give the believers hope they would be removed from trouble but to comfort them concerning their dead relatives. I use the passage at funerals, telling the grieving relatives and friends that they will see their loved ones again.
Notice there is no mention of leaving the earth and going to Heaven. The saints meet the Lord in the air. They go up to meet Him as He descends to the level of the spiritual thrones that govern the earth. These thrones had been occupied by wicked spirits. The thrones in the air are now vacant, ready to be taken by those saints for whom they have been prepared.
Notice that the dead in Christ, many of whom have been in Heaven for thousands of years, have returned with the Lord to claim their bodies from
their place of burial. Now they are standing on the earth in glorified bodies.
The living saints, who are spiritually mature enough to sustain the change from mortality to immortality while standing on their feet, are also glorified.
This is the army of the Lord. Do you think these warriors in glorified bodies, living by the life of the Spirit of God, could be harmed by Antichrist or the great tribulation? Let us not be foolish!
Slowly, majestically, in the sight of Antichrist and the wicked of the earth, the army of the Lord will rise to meet the Commander-in-Chief in the air. There they will mount the white war stallions in preparation for the onslaught of Armageddon.
Don't you think the heroes of faith who have returned with Christ and received back their bodies from the ground would be somewhat dismayed at the thought of returning to Heaven to wait another seven years before they can assume their places of rulership (as is often taught)? They are kings and they are anxious to inherit their kingdoms!
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10—NIV)
The moment they rise from the earth the fury of God's anger will fall on those who have been left behind. This is not the great tribulation but the Day of Wrath.
Notice the following verses, which are in context with the above passage.
For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so this day should surprise you like a thief. (I Thessalonians 5:2-4—NIV)
To say that Paul has changed the subject, that I Thessalonians, Chapter Four is not speaking of the historic Day of the Lord, and that Chapter Four is not speaking of the same event as the first and second chapters of Second Thessalonians, is to depart from reasonable biblical interpretation. The "pre-tribulation rapture" is a "private interpretation." It is one of the deceptions that Jesus warned us would be prevalent in the closing days of the Church Age.
To be continued.