If you wish to hang on to your beliefs, don’t read the rest of this post.
1) At the rapture, believers meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). At the second coming, believers return with the Lord to the earth (Revelation 19:14).
2) The second coming occurs after the great and terrible tribulation (Revelation chapters 6–19). The rapture occurs before the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10).
3) The rapture is the removal of believers from the earth as an act of deliverance (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 5:9). The second coming includes the removal of unbelievers as an act of judgment (Matthew 24:40-41).
4) The rapture will be secret and instant (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). The second coming will be visible to all (Revelation 1:7; Matthew 24:29-30).
5) The second coming of Christ will not occur until after certain other end-times events take place (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Matthew 24:15-30; Revelation chapters 6–18). The rapture is imminent; it could take place at any moment (Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54).
Why is it important to keep the rapture and the second coming distinct?
1) If the rapture and the second coming are the same event, believers will have to go through the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10).
2) If the rapture and the second coming are the same event, the return of Christ is not imminent—there are many things which must occur before He can return (Matthew 24:4-30).
3) In describing the tribulation period, Revelation chapters 6–19 nowhere mentions the church. During the tribulation—also called “the time of trouble for Jacob” (Jeremiah 30:7)—God will again turn His primary attention to Israel (Romans 11:17-31).
The rapture and second coming are similar but separate events. Both involve Jesus returning. Both are end-times events. However, it is crucially important to recognize the differences. In summary, the rapture is the return of Christ in the clouds to remove all believers from the earth before the time of God’s wrath. The second coming is the return of Christ to the earth to bring the tribulation to an end and to defeat the Antichrist and his evil world empire.
https://www.gotquestions.org/difference-Rapture-Second-Coming.html
There are NO multiple second comings... How do you all plan to have a ‘wedding’ out there if the ‘bridegroom’ sets up shop in Jerusalem ? Why would the bridegroom leave you all out in nether ville, during the Lord's Day?
Amen, Roman! Amen!
Excellent post, btw.
“The rapture occurs before the tribulation (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10).”
Since 1 Thes. 5 is about The Day of The LORD, and His Coming, and of our being gathered to Him, how do you feel you have license to violate that context and teach that the “wrath” referenced in v.9 is the whole of The Great Tribulation period?
Are there Seals of Wrath and Trumpets of Wrath, also? Or is it for no reason that John writes only about the Bowls of Wrath?
Assuredly The Church is spared from wrath; before the Bowls of Wrath are poured out in Rev. 16 — with seven Seals, and seven Trumpets in the rear-view mirror — Christ reaps His harvest of righteousness from the Earth in Rev. 14:14-16.
And, lest you object that living through The Great Tribulation on the Earth would imperil many, answer why 1 Thes. 4 notes TWICE Christians who are “alive and remain”; that is, “we who have survived”?
Or why, in Rev. 7:9-14 is John witness to a great throng “from every nation, tribe, people and tongue” who have “come out of” The Great Tribulation? Hello, martyrdom. Hello, war, famine, pestilence...Seals and Trumpets — all that havoc isn’t gonna claim only unbelievers.
They can’t be new converts killed in the tribulation if there’s already been the one-and-only resurrection of the dead in Christ right before a pre-Trib rapture of the living saints. You can only play the Resurrection of the Righteous card ONCE, so what sort of gandy dancing are you gonna do to get this fresh crop of righteous dead to Heaven without another Resurrection, and what scriptural references support it explicitly?
As for Rev. 3:10...that’s written to the church at Philadelphia. Does the doomsday timeline do a quick “bootleg” 180 from the decadent Laodicean church era and burn rubber back to Philadelphia just long enough to rescue this claim with a deft Bible Heimlich? Our angelic chauffeur wouldn’t happen to be called “Rockford”...?
Yes, I’m trying to keep it on the lighter side, ‘cuz I know we don’t see it the same way. And I’ll keep up my end of this deal: if it plays out your way, steak dinner is on me; ask you can eat. I’ll expect reciprocity. ;-)