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Division of Religion & Philosophy /
The Second Coming: An Inductive Survey
Matthew 16:27
Jesus says, “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels,
and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS (Ps. 62:12).”
This is the first mention of the second coming in the New Testament. There’s not the slightest
hint here of any duality to His coming again, i.e., it’s not a two-part event separated by seven
years. This also indicates that all persons will be judged at the time of the second coming.
Mark 13:1-37
Parallel passage to the Olivet discourse of Matthew 24-25. See chart below.
Matthew 24:29-31
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED,
AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from
the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the
SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.
And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER
TOGETHER his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” If this
gathering together of His elect (v. 31) refers to the rapture (and it does!), then the text
indicates that such an event occurs immediately after the tribulation (v. 29). This is quite
plain.
Matthew 24:36-41
The “coming” mentioned in v. 37 and v. 39 is described in rapture-like terms in vv. 40-41.
In context, then, the rapture is equated with the second coming. How can a distinction
between two comings separated by seven years be clearly gleaned from this section of
Scripture?
Matthew 25:31-46
A lengthy section describing a general judgment of “all the nations,” with v. 46 stating that the
unrighteous are sent away to eternal punishment while the righteous enter into eternal life.
The section begins with v. 31, which clearly tells us that this general judgment takes place
“when the Son of Man comes in His glory,” i.e., the second coming. Hence, the Great White
Throne Judgment occurs at the second coming.
Luke 12:35-40
While in Judea, Jesus mentions His second coming again to his disciples and to a large group
of people. These verses indicate that not only will He come in glory, but he will also come
suddenly and unexpectedly, bringing at that time rewards to the righteous and judgment to the
unrighteous. Again, there’s no hint of a two-part coming separated by seven years.
Luke 13:34-35
A short time later in Perea, Jesus sorrows over His rejection by Jerusalem’s inhabitants (v. 35).
But when He comes again, they will welcome Him (v. 36).
Luke 17:22-37
Parallel passage to the Olivet discourse of Matthew 24-25. See chart below.
Luke 18:8
“I tell you that He will bring about justice for [the elect] quickly. However, when the Son of
Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Jesus asks a rhetorical question, indicating that
relatively few will possess saving faith when He comes back. This “coming” can’t be a
reference to a pretribulational rapture. If the rapture were pretrib, there would be millions on
the earth possessing saving faith to be gathered up to meet Him in the air. Once again, there’s
no hint of a two-part coming separated by seven years.
John 14:1-3
It’s Thursday evening, two days after the Olivet discourse, as Jesus as His disciples are
partaking of the last supper. Is verse 3 (“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”) the first reference to a
pretrib rapture, as some say? No, because there’s no time relationship between His second
coming and the tribulation period discussed here. Rather, His disciples can look forward to a
permanent home with Christ in His Father’s house, never to be separated from Him again,
as they are about to be the next day on Good Friday. If a rapture is intimated here at all, it
must be connected to the second coming itself.
Acts 1:11
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up
from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into
heaven.” While on the Mt. of Olives, the two angels tell those present about how Jesus will
come back. His return is prophesied in Zechariah 14:4, which speaks of dramatic visible
events like the Mt. of Olives splitting in two. The angels probably had this prophecy in mind,
comforting the disciples and others present because they had just seen their beloved Christ
leave them by ascending to heaven. The angels don’t mention a rapture of Jesus’ followers
out of the world seven years prior to the second coming, an important fact, which if true,
these grieving disciples would surely have wanted to know.
1 Cor. 15:15-57
This is one of the clearest passages about the rapture of the church. Living believers will be
gathered to Christ and will also receive a “resurrection body” without experiencing death. It’s
very difficult to see how a pretrib rapture can be derived from this passage when it plainly
speaks of the second coming itself (taking place at the last trumpet) as the time when living
believers receive their glorified bodies, not at a rapture seven years previously.
End-Times Event 1 Thessalonians 4-5 Matthew 24
Christ Himself returns 4:16 24:30
From heaven 4:16 24:30
With a shout 4:16 24:30 (in power)
With the trumpet of God 4:16 24:31
Accompanied by angels 4:16 24:31
Believers supernaturally gathered 4:17 24:31, 40-41
to Christ
In the clouds 4:17 24:30
Exact time unknown 5:1-2 24:36
Will come like a thief in the night 5:2,4 24:43
Unbelievers unaware of impending 5:3 24:37-39
judgment
Judgment comes as travail upon an 5:3 24:8
expectant mother
Believers not deceived 5:4-5 24:4ff
Believers to be watching 5:6 24:42
Warning against drunkenness 5:7 24:49
The above chart demonstrates a striking, Holy Spirit-devised correspondence between
1 Thessalonians 4-5 and Matthew 24 regarding end-times events. The principal features of
the one passage are also found in the other with even the order substantially the same. The
question becomes, “What kind of exegesis can take exactly the same phrases and symbols
from these two accounts and then say some sort of secret rapture is occurring here?” The
two accounts exhibit an undisputed correspondence, hence Jesus and Paul are speaking of
the same event, the second coming.
In addition, the four uses of parousia (coming) in 1 Thessalonians (2:19; 3:13; 4:15, 5:23)
appear in texts both before and after these events as recorded from 1Thessalonians 4:16-5:7.
Since the context, then, can’t distinguish two separate and distinct comings based on the
1 Thessalonians 4-5/Matthew 24 correspondence, neither then do the four before-and-after
uses of parousia refer to a rapture seven years prior to the second coming. The speaker
remains the same, the audience remains the same, the general subject remains the same, and
the specific terminology remains the same. If two comings are taught here, it’s difficult to see
how the Thessalonians could be expected to know which coming Paul had in mind since he
uses the same term parousia so often.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-10
Verses 1-2 state, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your
composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect
that the day of the Lord has come.” Syntactically, “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” is
linked to “our gathering together to Him” with a single definite article connecting two nouns in
the same case (genitive in this instance) and by using the correlative kai, our word for and.
This means that the second phrase refers to the same thing as the first and is a further
description of it. (See Dana and Mantey, p. 147.) In other words, the “coming” and the
“gathering together” are two aspects of the same temporal event, although pretribbers see
these phrases as the second coming and rapture respectively, separated by seven years. In
context, the “coming” of 2:8 clearly refers to Christ’s second coming and points back, in turn,
to the “day of the Lord” of 2:2. The “day of the Lord” phrase itself then refers back to the
same event described as both “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “our gathering
together to Him.” There’s no room here exegetically for a seven-year timeframe between the
rapture and the second coming.
Titus 2:11-13
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny
ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Christ Jesus.” Is “that blessed hope” referring to a pretrib rapture, as some say? No,
because it’s syntactically linked to “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior”
with a single definite article connecting two nouns in the same case (accusative in this instance)
and by using the correlative kai, our word for and. Thus syntactically “the blessed hope” and
“appearing of the glory” are being designated as the same event, just as in the case of
2 Thessalonians 2: 1. This presents a difficulty. Either the pretribulationist must admit that
“the glorious appearing” takes place at the rapture, which robs the second coming of its
distinctiveness, or else he must hand over “the blessed hope” to the second coming, making
the significance of a pretrib rapture a curious enigma.
James 5:7-8
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the
precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You
too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.” C. I. Scofield
regarded James as the earliest N.T. writing, and it contains this single mention of the second
coming. No information is given here that could substantiate a two-part coming separated by
seven years of tribulation.
Revelation 1:7
“BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even
those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be.
Amen.” Pretribulationists agree that this is the second coming, but it’s quite odd, some
maintain, that the second coming would be introduced so immediately here as the hope of
the churches being addressed rather than the rapture as that hope occurring seven years
previously.
Revelation 2:25
“Nevertheless, what you have, hold fast until I come.” In the context of addressing the seven
churches, there’s no reason to view this coming as different from the coming of Revelation 1:7.
Yet, John Walvoord, one of the grandfathers of classic dispensationalism, insists that this is
the pretrib rapture, not the second coming. I mention this only to illustrate that the comings
often get assigned different meanings based on something other than exegesis. At the outset
of Revelation, “Behold, He is coming” (Rev. 1:7) is admitted to be the second coming, but
when believers are subsequently urged to “hold fast until I come” in the next chapter, this
suddenly becomes a different coming.
Revelation 3:10-11
Verse 11 states: “I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your
crown.” This is identical in meaning to Revelation 2:25, so no additional comment is needed.
Verse 10, however, is usually regarded by pretribbers as their single strongest proof-text:
“Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of
testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on
the earth.” Two points here. First, it’s not at all certain that the “hour of trial” is to be
identified with a seven-year tribulation period yet future even to us. One of several
empire-wide persecutions of Christians by Rome could easily satisfy the “hour of trial”
terminology used by John. Second, since the church at Philadelphia is addressed here, if
some sort of “hour of trial” didn’t occur within their lifetime, the promise of their deliverance
becomes rather meaningless. What that trial was historically, it’s virtually impossible to
determine. Some scholars say it was the Domitian persecution. The only way pretribbers
can make this “hour of trial” equal to a seven-year tribulation period yet future to us is to
regard the church at Philadelphia as symbolic of all Christians at the time of Christ’s return.
Symbolic? Perish the thought.
Revelation 14:14-16
This is a proleptic view of the glorious coming of Christ at the close of the tribulation to judge
the earth, as pretribbers concur, sometimes reluctantly.
Revelation 16:15
“Behold, I am coming like a thief. . . .” An abrupt warning. Without dispute, this is another
reference to the second coming, not a pretrib rapture.
Revelation 19:11-16
A full picture of Christ’s triumphant return. No interpreter pictures this as anything but the
glorious second coming of Christ at the close of the tribulation period, and there’s no mention
of a pretrib rapture.
Revelation 22:7
“And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of
this book.” This concludes the series of visions given to John. John Walvoord, inexplicably,
says this refers to the pretrib rapture, even though it comes after a detailed description of the
second coming in 19:11-16. Comings, again, get assigned with great freedom, as it suits
one’s purposes.
Revelation 22: 12,20
These two references also get assigned to the rapture by Walvoord, but not on exegetical
grounds.
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