The Bible explicitly says it is not for you to know the times and seasons of the second coming, which God has left in His own power. We don't know about that; but aren't we glad Paul knew Jesus was coming and that it might happen in his lifetime! It may be in our lifetime. It may even be today, tonight, maybe tomorrow morning before I wake. I don't know when, But Jesus is coming. It may be in 500 years. I don't know. Nobody knows, but He is coming. - John R. Rice [Comments on 1st Thessalonians, pg. 25]
He is coming. And it will be sudden and unexpected. And, oh, what a glad time when we all see our loved ones and meet the Lord and them in the air!
Jesus is coming. - John R. Rice [Comments on 1st Thessalonians, pg. 26]
"The day of the Lord" [1 Th. 5] has reference in the Bible to the time when Christ returns; not primarily the first phase of His coming, but the whole matter of the second coming. Jesus has the battle of Armageddon and sets up His kingdom on earth. All the kingdoms of the earth will be torn down and Christ will take over these kingdoms. That is called "the day of the Lord." - John R. Rice [Comments on 1st Thessalonians, pg. 26]
Christians will have been raptured and taken away before the battle of Armageddon, before the Man of Sin is revealed, before the mark of the beast comes. Christians will not see that; that is for those people left after we have gone. - John R. Rice [Comments on 1st Thessalonians, pg. 27]
Some Christians are afraid they might go through the tribulation time. So many have set dates and times and say they have figured out when the last days will be. For example, , the sings of World War I, of World War II, the rise of communism, the National Council of Churches, the great apostasy among Christian denominations. . . . People say these must mean this age is about done. But those are not signs. There is no way for anyone to know when Christ will come. - John R. Rice [Comments on 1st Thessalonians, pg. 27]
Somebody sent an ad for the SWORD OF THE LORD which advertised survival kits. It contained packages of rice and other things to use and eat in the tribulation time. I did not accept the ad because he doesn't know when the tribulation will be. It comes after the rapture.
You are not of the night but of the day. And he goes on to say, "Let us [who are of the day] watch and be sober. . .putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." God has not appointed us for wrath, nor for the tribulation time. We Christians will have been taken out before that. - John R. Rice [Comments on 1st Thessalonians, pg. 27]
So the whole phase of the second coming, the tribulation, the battle of Armageddon, the destruction of the nations, then Christ setting up His kingdom to reign will come after the rapture, when Christians are caught up to meet the Lord. We are not of the night but of the day. These things will not come suddenly upon Christians, but we will be taken out at the rapture. - John R. Rice [Comments on 1st Thessalonians, pg. 27]
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