What relationship exists between the rapture and prophetic signs? NONE. Are you shocked? The rapture is only an evacuation of the believers before the great judgment of the tribulation hour. It is a meeting in the heavenlies and NOT CHRIST’s return to earth. Since HIS first coming was to earth, HIS second coming must ALSO BE TO EARTH. The rapture then, is not a coming to earth, but a meeting in the clouds. Seven years later we return with HIM, and all the signs point to this coming when HE returns to earth.
Watch the simplicity of this next statement unfold. Take two Bibles and place them side by side. Open one to the book of Revelation, chapter 6, where the signs begin. Then open the other to Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 17, or Luke 21. Compare the signs in these chapters with those found in the book of Revelation. The inescapable conclusion? They are identical! The texts are practically the same. The church is raptured in chapter 4, verse 1, and believers–represented by the 24 elders in verses 10 and 11–are placing crowns at the SAVIOUR’s feet before the signs and judgments of the Tribulation hour begin in chapters 6 through 18. The signs, then, are post-rapture and pre-revelational. In other words, they are fulfilled after the rapture and before the revelation–after CHRIST calls HIS saints home to heaven and before HE returns with them to earth. Not one sign needs to be fulfilled prior to the rapture, because all signs point to the revelation, or the revealing of CHRIST to the earth. Thus, there is a period of seven years following the rapture during which every sign can be adequately fulfilled. This of course is the tribulation hour, after the Christians have been raptured. (Insight from Dr. Jack VanImpe)
RAPTURE Vs. SECOND COMING in the Scriptures: Two Separate Events:
RAPTURE: the Rescue of the True Church to Safety to be with CHRIST
AND The SECOND COMING: The Return of the True Church to Earth WITH CHRIST WHO will finally deal with the evil on Earth.
Scriptural clarity:
Rapture
1. The church will meet Christ in the Air (1 Thes. 4:17)
Second Coming
The church will return to the earth with Christ (Zech. 14:4)
Rapture
2. The church will be taken to heaven (1 Thes. 4:17; John 14: 1-3)
Second Coming
The church will return to the earth from heaven (Jude 14; Matt. 25:31)
Rapture
3. Christ will come for His saints (2 Thes. 2:1, Thes. 4:13-18)
Second Coming
Christ will come with His Saints (Rev. 19:14)
Rapture
4. Seen only by believers (1 Cor. 15:51-52)
Second Coming
Every eye will see HIM (Rev. 1:7; 19:11-16; Matt. 24:30)
Rapture
5. Christ Himself will gather the saints (1 Thes. 4:16)
Second Coming
The angels will gather the elect (Matt. 24:31)
Rapture
6. Believers will be caught up out from among unbelievers (1 Thes. 4:16-17)
Second Coming
Unbelievers (tares) will be gathered out first (Matt. 14:41-43)
Rapture
7. Satan will not be bound (Rev. 13:2)
Second Coming
Satan will be bound (Rev. 20:1-3)
Rapture
8. The righteous will be removed (1 Thes. 4:17)
Second Coming
The wicked will be removed (Matt. 25:40-41)
Rapture
9. Earth not judged
Second Coming
Earth judged (Rev. 20:4-5)
Rapture
10. A Mystery (1 Cor. 15:51)
Second Coming
Foretold in Old Testament (Dan. 12:1-3; Zech. 12:10; 14:1-4)
RAPTURE vs. SECOND COMING
