Greeting beloved saints:

I recently heard a different slant on the coming of Christ that I had not really been familiar with and I'm not sure about.

It was said that there are two comings of Christ yet to come. The first is His coming in the air to gather His bride and the second is His coming to the earth with His bride to come to the Jews.

I always believed that the first coming of Christ was when He came to the earth to die and the second coming was His return to gather His bride.

I would like to hear some other insights to this with scripture.

Thanks,

Mike

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Mike

This view of two phases to the "second coming" was popularised by Darby and the early brethren over 150 years ago. Its quite a popular view in certain circles (have you heard of "The Left Behind" series?) and some seem to think that the churches of God have always held to this teaching and that everything else is either unorthodox or uneducated.

...at what is so often overlooked, it's not that hard to at least get a glimpse of what is to come.

The "rapture" hangs on these verses, more than any others:

1Th 4:16 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:


1Th 4:17 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 ever be with the Lord.

Please notice that the dead in Christ shall rise first. This is very important, since there has not been a "resurrection" since Christ was here last.

Now go to Rev 20:

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.


Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.


Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

What we read above is at the end of the tribulation. Please note in vs 5 that it says "this is the first resurrection". Drop back into Chapter 19 a bit and read up to this point and you see that the tribulation period has been brought to a close. The antichrist and the beast have been defeated and satan is bound for a thousand years.

Please carefully note also, that only those who are slain for their faith during the trib will rise first and rule and reign with Jesus for a thousand years.

Now, how in the world do they fit "Let Behind" and all this other stuff into this clear word of God is beyond me. I only discovered this myself recently. But in my spirit, I've never been able to reconcile the Pre-trib Rapture of the church.

Hope this helps and blesses you as it did me.