CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE
PREPARED FOR THE RETURN OF THE KING
Ms.
Smallback
Blog Post Date: 8-30-2020
You
know how we say things like “it’s raining cats and dogs”? We understand that to
mean it’s raining really hard. You have to dig back a couple centuries to
understand the origin of that phrase was when they had thatch roofs and the
animals sometimes nested in them, and when it rained really hard they’d fall
through the roof. That’s an idiom.
The
Bible is full of them.
When
I tell people we can know the season of the Lord’s return, they act like I’m
either a raving lunatic or an idiot. [Eh, fine. I’ve never been one to care
much what someone else thinks of me. I do, however care about understanding the
Word of God.]
We
have this well-known passage from Paul who tells us that we are not in darkness
like the rest of the world, so we will not be caught off guard like the rest of
the world. Really look at what he says here*:
Just
the first sentence is a mouthful! Paul said we don’t need anything written to
us about the times and epochs (sometimes translated seasons). Why would that
be? Why does Paul assume his reader(s) – the early first century Church – know
the times and seasons – specifically about the return of Christ?
Interestingly,
this passage immediately follows the infamous “rapture” passage of the return
of Christ and the apantesis of the believers in escorting Christ from the air to
the earth.
Speaking
of a rapture….
So
let’s debunk the rapture myth. Christians aren’t going to be raptured up and
leave the earth while some seven year tribulation is hitting the earth. That’s
a lie, and a dangerous one. Someone find me this teaching before 1830 and we
can have a meaningful conversation about it.
The
“rapture theology” originated when a young Scottish girl named Margaret
MacDonald told a “vision” she had. John Darby ran with it, enveloped it in his
pre-tribulation theory, and as they say, the rest is history. But it’s not
solid Biblical teaching. It’s not Biblical at all, in fact.
[As
an aside, I would say most of the serious false teachings on the return of
Christ have occurred in the last couple centuries. The early Church did not
have the “doctrines” today’s Church promotes. But that’s a whole other story.]
It’s
really that simple. I don’t need to go on about a rapture that doesn’t exist in
Scripture because it’s a false teaching and no one can prove it by Scripture.
So let’s talk about an “apantesis” instead…
Now
this word “apantesis” is really important and carries serious implications. The
Greek word literally means “to meet one” and is used only three times in the
Bible: Matthew 25:6, Acts 28:15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
In
each of the three uses of “apantesis” in Scripture, it clearly depicts a
scenario of:
“Apantesis”
according to Vine:
“It is used in the papyri of
a newly arriving magistrate. It seems that the special idea of the word was the
official welcome of a newly arrived dignitary”…
It’s
a welcoming party, if you will, to receive royalty or dignitaries. They send a
delegation for a reception of the coming dignitary. The welcoming party leaves
the destination point to receive the coming dignitary a bit out of the city or
locale, and then accompanies him/her back to the destination point.
If
a visiting monarch, president, or head of state was visiting our city, an
apantesis would occur. There would be a welcoming group of people go out to the
point of entry into our city, perhaps an airport. That group would then escort
the visiting dignitary back into the city and the point of destination.
This
is the context of Christ’s Second Advent. He will return to earth the same way
He left.
Acts 1:9-11
[NASU]: “And
after He [Christ] had said these things, He was lifted up while they were
looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were
gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white
clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand
looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven,
will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
When
He returns, the believers still on the earth will actually meet Him in the air
and escort Him back to earth.
1 Thess 4:17 [NASU]: “ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air…”
That
word “meet” here in the Scripture they like to quote for their rapture theory
is apantesis – used only three times in Scripture — and defined as a welcoming
party to accompany or escort a magistrate or dignitary to the point of
destination.
Please
note one of the other three times apantesis is used is in the parable Jesus gives
of the Bridegroom’s return, and it is the instruction given to the virgins for
the arrival of the Bridegroom (King): go out and meet Him! Accompany Him to His
destination (the wedding feast).
So
no, there is no “left behind” scenario of a rapture that whisks believers away.
That is a lie. (and that book series has done considerable damage to the
Church) There is, however, a far greater scenario: we will meet our Lord in the
air and accompany Him back to the earth at his Second Advent.
But
back to the return of Christ not catching believers by surprise…
In
verse nine of 1Thess 5, Paul reminds the believers we’re not destined for the
wrath of God, which is also why he took pains to explain that upon Christ’s
second advent (where He comes to exact judgment on the earth), the believers
still alive on the earth are caught up in the air to Him (as He is descending
from Heaven) to accompany Him back to the earth. (theapantesis) The believers
accompany Christ on the “day of the Lord”; they are not left on the earth to
fend for themselves (as His return is described in Isaiah 63 or Revelation
19:11-16), for they are with Him as Paul described in 1 Thess. 4:15-18.
The Thief in the Night
So
what is this thief in the night that Paul, a devout Jew and Pharisee
extraordinaire speaks of? And why is this a perfect descriptor for why
Christians will not be caught too much by surprise by Christ’s return?
This
descriptor is another idiom for something Paul’s audience would have been
familiar with, but the western mind would not. In the times of the temple in
Jerusalem, part of the priests’ duty was to keep the fire on the altar burning.
They had schedules for their duties to keep watch. The night shift was more
difficult for obvious reasons. The High Priest would make random visits to the
watchman priest of the fire to make sure the fire was still lit. If the
watchman priest had fallen asleep, the High Priest would take burning coals and
shovel some on the priest’s robes. The priest would awaken in a start as his
robes began smoldering and pull off his robes. This was considered an obvious
disgrace as he would be exposed naked (or in undergarments) when the next
priest came on shift. On the night shift, the High Priest was known by the
nickname “thief in the night”.
Paul
is telling us the High Priest (who is now only Christ Himself) will come like a
thief in the night, and the immediate understanding would be of this scenario.
Obviously we are the priests responsible for keeping the fire lit on the altar.
(God calls us His priests in Rev. 1:6, 5:10, 20:6.) If we’re doing our job,
there’s no way we’ll be overtaken because we will see the High Priest coming!
Now does this passage make sense?
Rev 16:15 NASU
(“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is
the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about
naked and men will not see his shame.”)
Do
you see the reference to keeping our clothes and not walking about naked??
Doesn’t that make more sense now? Can you see how Christ’s disciples should be
prepared for the return of the King? If they’re at their tasks with the fire on
the altar being kept, they will see as the High Priest is coming. But if
they’re asleep, they will be caught off guard, suffer for their slothfulness,
and be exposed (naked) for those who were awake and ready.
It
is, in fact, assumed by Paul and in the early Church, that Christians will not
be caught by surprise at Christ’s return. In fact, look at the comparison Paul
draws from the believers to the world. The believers will not be caught by
surprise, but the world will be in the midst of declaring “peace and safety” unaware
of the actual season they are in. Selah.
Christ’s
admonition in these passages is to the believers, not the world. The world
doesn’t know or care about God and His ways. The world will keep on keeping on
like it always has with wars, ethnic wars, droughts, famines and plagues, etc.
People will have their agendas of peace or war, of unity or division. As the
famous preacher said, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” To these people, the
return of Christ will catch them by surprise. They’re the same mockers Peter
refers to here:
2 Peter 3:3-7
NASU A Know
this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking,
following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His
coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was
from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their
notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was
formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was
destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and
earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction
of ungodly men.
Yet
Peter continues and here we have another reference to the thief….
2 Peter
3:10-13 NASU But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the
heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with
intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort
of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and
hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be
destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But
according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in
which righteousness dwells.
Planet
earth is actually wrapping up, if you’ve been paying attention. God’s timeline
for humanity has an actual expiration date. God, in His great mercy, has been
gracious to let us in on His purposes and plans. We only need to seek Him. Paul
said we don’t need the times and epochs written to us, why? Because we already
know them. (or we should if we’re disciples of the Son) Our job is to occupy
until He comes, clothed and ready, with the fire on the altar burning.