Events Prior to the First Resurrection

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 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. 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. 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. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

(1 Thessalonians 4:14-18)

We mentioned earlier that of the eight feasts recorded in Scripture, five have already been fulfilled, while three are yet to be fulfilled. The next feast to be fulfilled is the Feast of Trumpets, which will find its fulfilment at the rapture of the church. As the passage above declares, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” Then “the dead in Christ will rise first,” and those who are alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

(2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)

A question frequently asked is: When will the rapture of the church take place? Over the centuries, many have foolishly attempted to predict its timing. As the passage above indicates, such speculation was already occurring in Paul’s day.

In response to those seeking to deceive the church about the timing of the rapture, Paul listed three clear signs that must occur before the event takes place. Until these three signs are in place, there is no possibility that the rapture is imminent.

Of the three signs Paul identifies, two are explicit and one is implied. The two explicit signs are:

1.       The falling away, and

2.      The Antichrist seated in the temple of God.

The implied sign is the building of the Third Temple.

As an aside, these are not the only signs given in Scripture preceding the rapture; however, for the purpose of this teaching, we will limit our discussion to the three mentioned by Paul in this passage.

Michael E.B. Maher

Resurrection of the Dead

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