THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST, THE RETURN OF JESUS, THE RAPTURE, BIBLICAL UNIVERSALISM, UNIVERSAL RECONCILIATION

Scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless stated otherwise.

The most glorious prophesied future event in the Bible is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth. The Bible is abundantly clear that Jesus Christ will return to this earth, and He will return in the same way as He left.

Acts 1:9-11
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

Matthew 24:30
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Zechariah 14:4
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

Jesus left this earth from the Mount of Olives and rose up into the clouds in the sky (heaven). Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives in the same way as He left, returning in the clouds from the sky (heaven).

Jesus will return to earth to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant

God made a covenant with Abraham known as The Abrahamic Covenant. This is a covenant by which God has promised unconditionally to make Abraham and His descendants (Israel) a great nation of blessing and to bless all the families (nations) of the earth through the Seed of Abraham, who is Jesus Christ Himself.

God has not yet fulfilled His Covenant with Abraham. To date, Israel has never been a great and blessed nation occupying the full extent of the land promised to Abraham and His descendants. Also, God has not yet blessed all the families (nations) of the earth through the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ. In Chapter 7 'God's Purpose For Israel' we have given a detailed explanation of the Abrahamic Covenant.

The Abrahamic Covenant can only be fulfilled by Jesus Christ. This will happen when Jesus returns to earth and establishes the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God will come in two phases: firstly the Millennial Kingdom, and then the Eternal Kingdom of the New Heaven and the New Earth.

It is the hope and expectation of the Jews that one day God will send a Messiah, an anointed King, who will restore the Kingdom of Israel and usher in a time of justice, peace and prosperity for the whole nation of Israel. This hope, rooted in the Old Testament Hebrew Scripture in several places, will be fulfilled when Jesus returns to establish His Millennial Kingdom.

The signs to watch for before Christ returns

Jesus' disciples understood that the return of Jesus Christ would mark the end of this age and the beginning of the next age, the Millennial Age. They wanted to know if Jesus would give a sign before His return.

Matthew 24:3
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when these things will be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

Christ answered them by saying that a number of things would happen before His return. These are given in Matthew 24:4-13 and listed below:

1. Many people will be deceived by false teachers and false prophets.
2. There will be wars and rumours of wars.
3. There will be famines.
4. There will be pestilences.
5. There will be earthquakes.
6. The Jews will be killed and hated by all nations.

How absolutely accurate the Bible is. These events have all been happening over hundreds of years since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, these are not the signs of His imminent return, because Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 24:8 that they are only the beginning of sorrows.

Jesus stated two important signs to watch for, which will indicate that His return is very close:

The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to the whole world as a witness to all nations.

The Great Tribulation.

Let us now consider each of these signs in turn.

The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to the whole world

Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Jesus Christ says that the gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world before His Second Coming. This will mark the end of this Age and the beginning of the next Age, the Millennial Age.

Over the centuries, Christians have been zealous in their missions to convert people to Christianity and save them from hell. However, has the gospel of the Kingdom of God really been preached?

How can Christians preach the full gospel of the Kingdom of God when most of them don't even believe in the coming literal Kingdom of God to this earth? Traditional Christianity has 'spiritualised' many clear scriptures, which refer to the coming literal Kingdom of God. It is unfortunate that traditional Christianity has reduced the Kingdom of God to a hazy, ethereal idea of something to be set up in people's hearts. The Bible clearly says that Christians enter into the Kingdom of God and not the other way round, that the Kingdom of God enters into them.

The full gospel of the Kingdom of God is about the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, the Reconciliation of ALL things in heaven and on earth to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, and God being the Saviour of ALL people.

This is the full gospel of Jesus Christ, which is yet to be preached to all the world as a witness to all the nations, and make no mistake about it, it will be preached before Jesus Christ returns.

The Great Tribulation

The Bible speaks about a time called 'The Great Tribulation' lasting for three and a half years just before the return of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 24:21
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Note that the Great Tribulation will be the most horrific unprecedented time that the world will have ever experienced or will experience again.

The prophet Jeremiah calls the Great Tribulation, 'The Time of Jacob's Trouble'. (Jeremiah 30:7) Daniel also refers to this same time of trouble, as follows:

Daniel 12:1, 7
1 ...And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time...

7 ...that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.

'A time, times and a half a time' means a period of three and a half years. Notice that a time of trouble will come in the future when the power of the holy people, meaning God's chosen nation, the Jews, will be completely shattered.

The Great Tribulation will be a time of God's judgement when the whole world including Israel (Jacob) will be plunged into great distress, as prophesied in both the Old and New Testaments. It will be followed immediately by worldwide tohuw and bohuw cataclysmic events, when the powers of the heavens will be shaken at the actual return of Jesus Christ to this earth. Chapter 6 'The Pre-Adamic Age', describes the future judgement of God at the end of this present age. Below is a quote from Chapter 6.

"By putting together the scriptures Jeremiah 4:24-28, Revelation 6:12-17 and Matthew 24:29-30, we can clearly see that the future tohuw and bohuw judgement, at end of this present age, will be absolutely cataclysmic involving the powers of the heavens being shaken, the stars (meteorites) falling onto earth, the sun and the moon being darkened, great earthquakes causing every mountain and every island to shake and move out of its place, a great global devastation of the earth's surface causing chaos and waste, massive destruction of all types of life and surviving unbelievers so terrified that they hide away from the face of the returning Jesus Christ and His wrath."

God's massively cataclysmic judgement against this present world at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will also change the topography and the landscape of the whole earth's surface in preparation for the Millennial Age of Jesus Christ. Let us hear what the prophet Isaiah has to say.

Isaiah 40: 3-5
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

Notice the earth's surface will go through a complete transformation such that every valley will be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low, the crooked places will be made straight, and the rough places made smooth. This occurs at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ when all flesh will see Jesus Christ in the clouds in all His glory, returning to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, to establish His Millennial Kingdom.

The Bible and in particular Matthew and Revelation describe the events which will take place during and immediately after the Great Tribulation. However, there is one very important event, we need to discuss in more detail. This is the gathering together of God's Elect and their resurrection when they will rise, as the Bride of Christ, to meet and welcome in the air the returning Jesus Christ to this earth.

The Gathering Together of God's Elect, the Bride of Christ

The gathering together of God's Elect coincides with the return of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 24:29-31
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

There are three key points to note from the verses above.

Firstly, immediately after the tribulation there will be cataclysmic shaking of the powers of the heavens marking the return of Jesus Christ who will then appear on the clouds.

Secondly, the return of Jesus Christ coincides with the gathering together of Godï¿½s Elect.

Thirdly, there will be a great sound of a trumpet as God's angels are sent to gather together the Elect.

The parallel scripture in Mark 13:24-27, confirms that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ occurs after the Great Tribulation, and also shows that this is the time when God's Elect will be resurrected to meet the returning Christ in the air.

Godï¿½s Elect will rise in their redeemed new immortal youthful bodies, free from all sickness and disease as Psalm 103: 1-5 below confirms.

Psalm 103:1-5 (NIV)
1 Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit (the grave) and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

There is a lot of confusion in the Christian world about exactly when believers will rise to meet the returning Jesus Christ. Christians talk and argue about a pre-tribulation rapture, a mid-tribulation rapture and a post-tribulation rapture, even though the word rapture is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

The Bible speaks of Resurrection, not Rapture

Many Christians have confused the powerful truth of the Resurrection of ALL believers at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, by introducing an unbiblical concept called 'the rapture'. Most Christians who hold to the rapture theory believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. They believe that Jesus Christ's Second Coming will take place in two stages; the first stage being at the beginning of a seven-year period of tribulation. At this first stage, they believe that Jesus comes only in the clouds, to whisk away all believers to heaven. By doing this, they believe that Jesus protects the believers from God's wrath during the last three and a half years of the tribulation. They do not believe that Jesus lands on the earth at the first stage of His Second Coming, but will land at the end of the tribulation period.

A typical rapture belief is as follows:

"Millions of people will disappear from the Earth without warning. As a result, tragic and unexplained accidents will occur on a wide scale basis, ushering in the tribulation period. Many speculate that the non-believers left behind who may have known of the Rapture theory, yet previously rejected it, will finally come to belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour as a result of the Rapture. Others left behind will remain in unbelief, finding theories to explain away the bizarre event."

The rapture belief is unbiblical. The Bible speaks of only one Second Coming of Jesus Christ and only one gathering together of ALL believers, which is the Post-Tribulation Resurrection. This resurrection of all believers (those who have died and those who are still alive) will occur immediately after the Great Tribulation when Christ returns. This resurrection is, of course, the First Resurrection referred to in Revelation 20:6.

Christians who believe in a pre or mid-tribulation rapture should pay close attention to what Jesus says in the following scripture.

Luke 21:25-28
25 "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

These verses give the same sequence of events as in Matthew 24:29-31. The most important glorious future event of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ occurs after the distress of nations, meaning after the Great Tribulation. Also, note that all will see Jesus Christ coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

This is also the time when true believers will look up with joy and lift up their heads because they will know that their redemption is near. They will know that they are about to leave this earth and, in the twinkling of an eye, their earthly corruptible bodies will change into glorious incorruptible, immortal bodies, and they will rise to meet their returning Saviour in the air.

The pre-tribulation rapture theory, which teaches that believers will suddenly and without any warning disappear from this earth, is unbiblical. It completely contradicts verse 28 above. The Bible says that all believers who are still alive at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will know exactly when they will be resurrected to meet the returning Christ because they will see Him coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

There is only one Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and only one resurrection of ALL believers who have lived and died along with those who are still alive at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This occurs immediately after the Great Tribulation. There is not a hint in the Bible of Jesus Christ returning in two stages separated by a seven-year period of tribulation.

Christians who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture give 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 as their proof texts. Let us examine these texts.

1 Corinthians 15:50-53
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Corinthians 15 is a chapter which speaks about resurrection. This chapter says nothing about a rapture. In verses 50-53 quoted above, Apostle Paul confirms that true believers, both those who are dead and those who are alive, will be changed and raised incorruptible at the last trumpet. When will the last trumpet sound? As we have already shown by quoting Matthew 24:29-31, there will be a sound of trumpet when the Elect will be gathered together at Christï¿½s return, immediately after the tribulation.

As we have seen, the Bible clearly speaks about a Post-Tribulation Resurrection, which is the First Resurrection, and it will coincide with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Why use an unbiblical term such as 'rapture' when the Bible only speaks about resurrection?

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The Bible is consistent. The verses above speak of the First Resurrection of ALL believers at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Notice that when Jesus descends from heaven there will be a trumpet sound, which agrees with previous scriptures we have quoted. This trumpet sound will occur immediately after the Great Tribulation when Christ returns, after He has gathered together His Elect as He descends to earth onto the Mount of Olives.

True Believers will be ready when Jesus Christ Returns

The Bible says that only the Father in heaven knows the exact day and hour when Jesus Christ will return to this earth. The world will be taken by surprise when Jesus returns. For unbelievers, Jesus Christ will come totally unexpectedly like a 'thief in the night' (Matthew 24: 36-51).

Though nobody knows the exact day and hour when Jesus Christ will return, true believers who are God's Elect are not in darkness. They are ready and always will be ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as they are waiting, watching and praying for God's Kingdom to come and God's will to be done on this earth.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-6
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

All true believers have the full assurance of their salvation. They know that Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of their faith. (Hebrews 12:2) They also know that they are not appointed to wrath, meaning the future judgement of God in the Lake of Fire.

1 Thessalonians 5:8-10
8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Verse 9 above speaks about the Lake of Fire wrath of God, during the Great White Throne Judgement Age. It has nothing to do with the wrath of God or Satan, which occurs during the three and a half year period of the Great Tribulation, as falsely believed by Christians who believe in the rapture theory. God will protect the majority of true believers from Satanï¿½s wrath during the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation. (Revelation 12:13-17) However, God will allow some true Christians to suffer persecution and even martyrdom. (Revelation 13:7) Godï¿½s wrath during the Great Tribulation will be directed at unbelievers and not believers.

All true believers know that they will rise to meet their returning Saviour in the air and be with Him forever, whether Jesus returns before or after they die. Believers who die before Christ returns will be the first to be resurrected, and believers who are still alive at His Second Coming will be transformed into their new resurrected bodies in the twinkling of an eye. Both groups will then be gathered together and rise up in their new immortal bodies to meet the coming Jesus Christ in the air. Let us comfort and edify one another with this wonderful truth, as Apostle Paul encourages us to do so.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

We are sure that God inspired us to write God’s Plan for All, and we ourselves are amazed to read its contents. There are many wonderful, powerful and eye-opening truths revealed in this book. Truths, clearly explained with plain biblical texts. There has been no such book written in the history of Christianity.

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