1
Corinthians 15:23-24
But every man in
his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward
they that are Christ's at his coming.
Then
cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even
the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
He is saying that in context this passage means that the
next resurrection that occurs after Christ the firstfruits (the
Rapture) has to be at the end of the Tribulation 'at
his coming:'
1) because
an appearance in the clouds cannot be
described as a coming/arrival (this coming/arrival can only describe
when Christ returns to the earth and his feet actually touch the Mt. of
Olives, and because
2) Verse
24 starts with 'then cometh the end,' which can only mean that the
coming in verse 23 must be the second
coming immediately followed by 'the end.' So the rapture, the second coming and the end have to
basically all happen at the same time.
In other words, this is a post-trib rapture supported by the fact
that the timing of verses 23 and 24 won't allow for any gap of time between the
three events described. Does scripture
support this interpretation, or can 'at his coming’ describe his coming for us in the clouds at a pre-Trib Rapture?
I
appreciate your asking for my opinion through scripture about the timing of
these verses. What you’re going to see,
even among grace teachers (and I've known brothers who have done this), is a
departure from distinct Pauline truth – the rapture in particular. It seems like our brother is not dividing prophecy from mystery. When we study
Paul’s epistles, we are to assume that he is talking about something unique and
distinct to the dispensation of grace.
We are to divide truth from truth.
When
Paul talks about the end, we can assume that he is talking about the end of the dispensation of grace/mystery and the Rapture, unless he tells us otherwise.
1 Thessalonians 4:13
But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
Paul
is talking about the death of the grace believer and the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. What I found most
disturbing about what you communicated that this grace believer is saying, is
that ‘at his coming’ has to mean
Christ’s return to the earth in prophecy after the 70th Week of
Daniel (the tribulation) to set up his earthly kingdom. The rapture is something the Satan likes to
attack. We need to always keep our verse
in 2 Timothy in mind:
2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth
If you look at the context in 1
Corinthians 15, the issue is the timing of the rapture.
2 Timothy 2:16-18
But
shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of
whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; [Now watch what these two preachers did…]
Who concerning the truth have
erred, [so they made an error about
the truth of the resurrection]
saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of
some.
Hymenaeus and Philetus got the
timing of the resurrection (the Rapture) wrong.
They put it too soon; but I’m seeing now that people put it too
late. Some who call themselves grace
preachers are now saying that it’s going to be in the middle of the tribulation
or even at the end like the preacher you are referring to.
It’s interesting, because don’t
they understand that this issue of the rapture of the body of Christ is part of
the mystery program – part of this dispensation of grace, a distinction given
to Paul alone?
The rapture, the resurrection of
the body, will be pre-wrath, pre-tribulation and pre-prophecy. God won’t even resume his prophetic program
until the Body is raptured. He
can’t. At the rapture, the Lord Jesus
Christ must perform the Judgment Seat of Christ. But at His coming on the earth, he’s going to
Israel and the nations. Our judgment
will already be complete.
In other words, before the prophetic clock resumes, God is going to resurrect the body of Christ. But the timing of the rapture is still an
issue, as it was in Paul’s day. Let’s put
it right where it is supposed to be.
Regarding the issue of ‘at his
coming,’ when you look at the Apostles Paul’s books, it’s so simple. The term ‘at his coming’ is not exclusively
associated with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth and his feet
actually touching the Mount of Olives.
Paul uses this term throughout his epistles. Let’s look at some verses that prove that the
Rapture cannot be after the tribulation period (the wrath to come). Look
at how Paul uses the words ‘come’ and ‘coming’:
Matthew 3:7
But
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said
unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the
wrath to come?
1 Thessalonians 1:10
And to
wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered
us from the wrath to come.
How is he going to do that? He is going to take us out of here.
1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ,
God has an appointment of wrath
with the nation of Israel in prophecy – not with the body of Christ.
Romans 5:8-10
But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life.
So he has not appointed us to
wrath; we’re delivered from the wrath to come (the tribulation period). The way he will do that is with the Rapture.
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians – the
same book that this preacher used to support his view of ‘at his coming.’
1 Corinthians 1:6-8
Even as
the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
He is not talking about the end of
the tribulation period when the Lord will set up his kingdom; he’s talking
about the rapture for the body of Christ.
Who
shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
‘The end’ is the end of this dispensation when he takes us home. The
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the end, and the day of our Lord Jesus Christ
are all used in regard to the rapture.
So Paul is definitely talking about
the rapture. He is using the same
terminology that he will use in 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 4:5
Therefore
judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring
to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of
the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
Paul is talking about the day of
the rapture and the Judgment Seat of Christ.
And regarding the Lord’s Supper:
1 Corinthians 11:26
For as
often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till
he come.
That would also be at the Rapture.
1 Thessalonians 2:19
For
what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
First Thessalonians chapter 1 in
particular is dealing of the issue of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to deliver
us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 3:13
To
the end he may
stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
1 Thessalonians 4:15
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.
Over and over Paul uses the
terminology ‘the coming of our Lord’ not in reference to the Prophetic coming
when his feet touch the Mount of Olives and he establishes his earthly kingdom,
but to the Rapture. This is the
simplicity that is in Christ; we shouldn't make it complex.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
And the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:1
Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him,
Here he is telling us that he is
coming to gather us. This is the same
thing he tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
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.
He’s
saying that he’s going to come and we’re going to gather to Him. When we study Paul’s epistles, we are to
assume that he is talking about something unique and distinct to the
Dispensation of Grace. An exception is 2
Thessalonians in which Paul is dealing with the future 70th week of
Daniel, the time of Jacob’s trouble.
It’s called Jacob’s trouble,
not the Body’s.
You
correctly pointed out that Paul would have instructed us somewhere in his 13
books that we would be going through that time of trouble and how to get
through it in the same way that the Lord taught his disciples in the four
Gospels. Paul never tells the Body of
Christ that we will go through the tribulation or gives us instructions on how
to endure it. In fact he tells us that
God has not appointed us to wrath; we’re delivered from the wrath to come.
2 Thessalonians 2:8-9
And
then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [He
is talking here about the second coming of the Lord to earth to destroy the
Antichrist.] Even him, whose coming
is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, [Here
he also uses the word ‘coming’ to describe the action of the Antichrist.]
So the use of the word ‘coming’
depends on the context. Paul could be
talking about the Lord at the Rapture, his second coming to Israel, or he could
be talking about the Antichrist and his kingdom.
Christ received his physical,
glorified body as the firstfruit of them which sleep. He was the first to be resurrected.
Philippians 3:20-21
For our
conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the
working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Now let’s look at the passage you
asked about in 1 Corinthians 15 in which Paul is dealing with the physical
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and all who are in Christ. Paul’s focus is on the body of Christ. We’re going to have the same glorified,
resurrected body he has.
1 Corinthians 15:23-24
But
every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming (cf,1 Thess. 4:16-17).
Here in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is
dealing with the type of body we will have when the Lord comes for us and how
that will happen. Let’s assume that the
‘coming’ is the Rapture (consistent with 1 Cor. 1:7-8), unless he tells us
otherwise.
Then cometh the end,
The end of what? The same end as in 1 Corinthians 1:8—the end
of this present Dispensation. When Paul wrote
to the members of the Body in Corinth, why would he begin his epistle to a
group of carnal Grace believers who reject Paul’s doctrine by immediately
discussing the Kingdom program? The
whole theme of Corinthians is the wisdom of God in the Mystery.
1 Corinthians 2:7
But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God
ordained before the world unto our glory:
Paul is telling them that God gave
them his Spirit so they would know these things; stop listening to other men—‘I
am your apostle.’ He begins his epistle
talking about ‘the coming’ and ‘the end’; the end being the end of the dispensation of grace. Paul is teaching
them how to be grace believers, not how to be Israel.
Back to 1 Corinthians 15:24
…when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
What authority and power is Paul talking about?
2 Timothy
4:18
And the
Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom [the kingdom in the
heavenly places that the Body of Christ was created for]: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Paul is summarizing what will
happen: the Rapture (our gathering
together to be with the Lord); the Judgment Seat of Christ; and then his giving
of us to the Father. ‘All rule and all authority and power’
does not have to do with the earth. That
won’t happen until He establishes the kingdom.
He is talking here about the heavenly kingdom.
Philippians 2:10
That at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth;
Ephesians 6:12
For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
Colossians 2:15
And
having spoiled [heavenly] principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in
it.
Ephesians 1:20-21
Which
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Colossians 1:15-16
Who is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him
were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Notice the issue of all rule and
authority and power in the heavenly places that Paul talks about in these passages. The Body of Christ will take over those
positions, so that is Paul’s focus.
1 Corinthians 15:25-26
For he
must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy
that shall be destroyed is death.
That is the issue. Death is destroyed. When is death destroyed for the church, the body of Christ? At the Rapture. That’s why when Paul discusses this
information he isn't being exclusive to the return of Christ to the earth
because death is destroyed for you and me at the Rapture.
Where I do agree with the brother
is that this principle is applicable to the second coming of Christ to this
earth because eventually there will be a time when death will be abolished
forever – first for the nation of Israel during the first installment of the
Kingdom (the millennium), and then for everyone after the GWTJ (Revelation 21:4).
But Paul’s focus is the dispensation of grace. How do we know
that? Paul is going to talk about our
bodies:
1 Corinthians 15:51-55
Behold,
I shew you a mystery; We [the body of Christ] shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump:
This is the trump of 1 Thessalonians
4:16. He will blow it twice: the first time for ‘the dead in Christ’; the
second time for ‘we which are alive and remain.’
… for
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. For this
corruptible [the dead in Christ] must put on incorruption, and this
mortal [those subject to death –
those who are alive and remain]
must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
That is when the enemy of death
will be destroyed: at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ for the church, the body of Christ, at the rapture.
Hopefully this
helps!
†††
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