Today I want to talk about the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Now I'm going to turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 here and begin reading in verse number 13.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain,
watch this, unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
So right there in the famous rapture passage in 1 Thessalonians 4, the Bible says that
it is the coming of the Lord.
We which are alive and remain, unto the coming of the Lord.
And yet how many times have we heard those who teach a pre-trib rapture say, well don't
confuse the rapture with the second coming.
And they say, you know, that's not talking about the rapture, that's talking about the
second coming.
Or that's not talking about the second coming, that's talking about the rapture.
And they say you cannot confuse the two.
Well here's the problem with that, the Bible calls the rapture the coming of the Lord.
So unless this is coming 1.5, this would have to be the second coming.
Now when you try to tell people that and explain that to people, then they will accuse you
of trying to say that the rapture takes place in Revelation 19, when Jesus comes on a white
horse.
Because that's the second coming, because we all know that in Revelation 19 that's the
second coming.
So if you say the rapture is the second coming, you're saying that the rapture happens in
Revelation 19.
But you see, that's just what you're calling Revelation 19.
That's not what the Bible calls Revelation 19.
The Bible calls the rapture the second coming of the Lord, which happens over three years
before the events in Revelation 19.
And at the rapture, the Bible calls that the coming of the Lord.
This is not coming 1.5, this is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
So I just want to get the terms right.
You say, oh, this is semantics.
But words matter.
Words are very important.
And what the devil does is he gets people to change the meanings of words and that confuses
them.
We need to get our definitions right.
The second coming of Christ, we know the first coming was when he came to this earth in Bethlehem's
manger.
The second coming of Christ, according to the Bible, not according to what man calls
it, is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the rapture, that is known as the coming of the Lord.
What happens in Revelation 19 takes place after.
If anything, that's a third coming if you want to look at it that way.
But it's definitely not the second coming.
The second coming occurs in 1 Thessalonians 4.