The Second Coming of Christ

The one most interesting thing I have been privileged to understand and write about is the events concerning the return of Christ for His Bride. This consists of the rapture and the first resurrection, followed by the Millennium, the thousand years that those who are called His Bride spend with Him in Heaven.

One of the first things that will take place will be the carrying off of those who are called His Bride as is detailed in Matthew 24:40-41 and Luke 17:34-36. Here it says that certain ones will be carried off and certain ones will be left.

The scriptures say:

Mat 24:40-41 “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be ta­ken, and the other left. {41} Two <women shall be> grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

Luke 17:34-36   “I tell you, in that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. {35} Two <women> shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. {36} Two <men> shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

Even-though these scriptures are speaking of the rapturing of the saints who are still alive when He returns, Paul, the Apostle, made it quite clear that this event takes place at the same time as the first resurrection.

In these Scriptures of Matthew and Luke, Jesus said that in these instances one person would be taken and one would be left. It should be very clear that those who are taken are taken into Heaven and those who are left are left here on the earth. If Christ was going to leave the redeemed here on the earth, as some teach, would He first meet them in the air as Paul tells us?

1 Thess 4:15-17 “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. {16} 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: {17} 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 forever be with the Lord.”

I believe that the study of these scriptures reveal to us that during the Millennium the redeemed will be in Heaven with the Lord and those who are not taken in the rapture and the first resurrection will remain here on the earth.

            One thing that I want to make clear here is that those who are carried off are not all of the believers on the Earth and those who are left are not all unbelievers. There is a difference between those who are in the Bride and those believers who are not.

            The believers who are in the Bride will be carried off into Heaven to spend the first one thousand years with the Lord. The believers who are not part of the Bride will have the opportunity to enter into eternal life after the Millennium is over and will face the final white throne judgment, but until then, they will remain on the Earth. For a picture of what will take place during that time of judgment, read Matthew chapter twenty five, starting with verse thirty one.

            Now, what is the difference between those who are in the Bride and the believers who are not? To understand this we must look to the instructions of the one which Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom to and told him whatever he bound on Earth would be bound in Heaven.

Let us look at Acts 2:38

            Peter the Apostle said to the people: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

            So Peter, who had the authority to set the standard for those who would become a member of the body of Christ, gave this instruction to the people. First, you had to repent, then you had to be baptized in the name of Jesus, then you would receive the Holy Spirit.

            Jesus also said: “I say unto you, except a person is born of water and of the Spirit, they cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Paul then came along and said: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Paul also said: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

            Now, back to the return of Christ for more instruction, we turn to the book of First Thessalonians. Paul says: “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.”

            Paul continues with: “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:

            As you can see that by the word of the Lord, He will descend from Heaven and cause those who had already died, those who are in the body of Christ, to rise up first. This is the first resurrection. Then Paul says: “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 forever be with the Lord.” This is the start of the Millennium.

            Can you just imagine what the people who are left on the Earth when this takes place will say? Those who are a part of the Bride and have passed away will rise up; take on new bodies no matter where they are. If they are in the grave, the graves will open and those believers will come out, if they are in the depths of the ocean they will rise and if they have been cremated, their ashes will be gathered together back into their body again.

            Paul tells us this: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

            Yes, we’ll all be changed into heavenly bodies and rise up to meet the Lord in the air. What will the people left behind do then? I can see them now, going to their bible teachers and saying; why didn’t you teach us the real truth? Why have you caused us to be left behind? You told us that all believers would be taken in the rapture and we’re still here. You told us that baptism wasn’t necessary or it didn’t matter how we were to be baptized. Why did you teach us these things?

            I’ll tell you why all of these bible teachers teach these false doctrines. They are being deceived into believing a lie. Satan, the prince of the power of the air is on this Earth deceiving those who will believe everything and have not sought out the truth of God’s word by earnestly studying the scriptures. All they know is what someone else has taught them according to the false doctrines that have been passed down for generations.

            The revelation of these false things being taught will cause those who are left behind to forsake their churches and false teachers and begin to search for the truth.

The next thing we want to look at is the significance of the imprisonment of satan, what that actually means and how it will affect life on the earth during the Millennium. Here is what the scriptures say about satan and what happens to him.

Rev 20:1-3   “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. {2} And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and satan, and bound him a thousand years, {3} And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled:

John tells us that in his vision he saw satan bound for a thousand years so he would be prevented from deceiving the people of the earth. What does this mean to the people who will be left here? How has satan deceived the people of the earth? Once this deception is stopped, how will it affect the people?

Satan started his deception in the Garden of Eden when he convinced Eve that she would not die because of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan did this by taking the words that God spoke and changed what they meant. God had told Adam that if he ate of that tree he would surely die. Then when satan went to Eve, he just added one word to what God had spoken and said to her “You shall not surely die”.

This was the beginning of satan’s deception, which has con­tinued for thousands of years. Satan practices his deception even today by changing God’s Word, by adding to it, taking away from it, or putting his own interpretation to it.

The results of satan’s deception in the world are the exis­tence of all the different re­­ligions, denominations, churches and doctrines.

Because satan has used man to interpret God’s Word, the people of the world have no idea what the truth of God’s Word is. This deception of satan has caused many men to start preach­ing think­ing they have been sent by God, when they really have­n’t. It has caused many to believe that they have been pre­desti­nated to eternal life when they really haven’t because of man’s distor­tion or misunderstanding of God’s Word. It has caused many millions of people to believe they have been saved but they aren’t.

But during the Millennium this deception will not exist because the power of satan will be bound. The people will come to the knowledge of the truth of God’s Word and the world will be turned upside down. The different religions and churches will lose their hold on their subjects because they will learn the truth of God’s Word and reject those who have falsely taught them for so long. As was noted in the chapter on the premillennial events in my book, the great Church of Rome, called Babylon in the book of Revelations, will be found out for what it is and lose control of the millions of people it has deceived for so many hundreds of years. But so will all of the other churches who have taught the Word falsely for so many years.

So I truly believe that the Scriptures are telling us that the binding of satan to prevent his deception of the people of the earth is actually the truth of God’s Word being made manifest to such an extent that the people will believe it and reject all the false doctrines they have been taught. The people still liv­ing on the earth will finally come to where the Apostle Paul said they should be, in the unity of the faith.     

Yes, Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians: there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism, and I believe the knowledge of this will become a reality in the Millennium when satan is not around to deceive the people.

How will this come about? Only God knows. But I believe that God will use some person or persons, who are totally committed to the truth of His Word, as it was given in the beginning before man corrupted the meaning of it, and vindicate their ministry in such a supernat­ural manner that the people of the world will not be able to deny what is being taught is the absolute truth of the Word of God.

This is according to the Word of God. Are you being taught the complete truth of scripture? Will you listen to every man that stands behind a pulpit no matter what he tells you? Will you be ready when that trumpet sounds or will you be left behind while the true bride of Christ spends the next one thousand years in heaven with Christ?

You that are reading this, what will you do now? Will you believe the truth of the scriptures or just continue believing what you are and take your chances when the Millennium is over and the second resurrection occurs?

Now is the time to make things right.

Return to Index Page, click here