| 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
The True Hope: "Rapture" or Resurrection?, #9
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:26,27)
The Greek term for "coming" is parousia. Parousia is the term employed in Matthew 24:27 (above). Parousia is used exclusively throughout First and Second Thessalonians for "coming," tying the two books together in meaning. There is no sound reason for maintaining that Paul is referring to a "pre-tribulation rapture" in First Thessalonians and a later coming in Second Thessalonians, as is sometimes maintained in an effort to prove that Paul is speaking of a secret "rapture" in First Thessalonians.
Parousia is the term employed in Matthew, Chapter 24 when speaking of the historic return of the Lord Jesus in the clouds of glory.
The so-called "rapture" verses of the fourth chapter of First Thessalonians are referring to the coming, the parousia of the Lord. All of the passages in the Old and New Testaments speaking of the Day of the Lord, the army of God, the deliverance of Israel, the establishing of the Kingdom of God upon the earth, the chastisement of the wicked in the churches, the blessed and holy priesthood, the ascension to the thrones of the air of the conquering saints, are part of the parousia.
The parousia is announced at the beginning of the Book of Revelation and is the bedrock of Revelation.
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)
This is the coming of the Lord, and "every eye shall see him."
There is but one coming of the Lord, one Day of the Lord. Paul is comforting the saints of Thessalonica with the hope of the coming of the Lord to destroy the wicked and set up His Kingdom on the earth. This fact is so plain that for an intelligent reader to persist in the special, secret "rapture" delusion is indefensible. It is to perpetuate a deception that, more than any other factor, has prevented the preparation of the believers for the horrors of the days ahead.
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep."
"Shall not prevent [go before] them which are asleep." Shall not precede or have any advantage over those who are asleep.
The living saints shall not precede or have any advantage over the dead saints concerning what? Concerning going to Heaven? This is absurd. Some of the saints who will return with the Lord have been in Heaven for thousands of years. How then could there be any thought that the living saints could go before the dead saints into Heaven or have any advantage over the dead saints when the dead saints already have been in Heaven? This is not sound thinking.
To be continued.