                      Timing Of The Rapture - 5 of 5

A THIEF IN THE NIGHT AND THE RAPTURE

When we  seek an  understanding of  the timing  of the Rapture, we
find more than sufficient information in the Bible to know that it
is to  occur at the end of time,  when Christ returns to judge the
nations.  Six different paths of the Bible have been examined, and
each gives the same  teaching.  But before we leave  this question
we should look at one more path.  It, too, is intimately concerned
with Christ's coming.   It, too, will  show us that  the believers
will be here when Christ returns in judgment.
 
Repeatedly the Bible  speaks of Christ coming  as a thief or  as a
thief in the night.  Jesus said in Matthew 24:43 in the context of
His discussion concerning His return:
 
    But  know this,  that if  the good  man of  the house had
    known in what watch  the thief would come, he  would have
    watched  and  would  not  have  suffered  his house to be
    broken up.
 
God declares in  II Peter 3:10 as He  discusses the destruction of
the universe at the end of time:
 
    But  the day  of the  Lord will  come as  a thief  in the
    night,  in the which  the heavens shall  pass away with a
    great  noise, and  the elements  shall melt  with fervent
    heat, the earth also  and works that are therein shall be
    burned up.
 
In Revelation 3:3 we read the warning:
 
    Remember therefore how thou hast received and  heard, and
    hold  fast,  and  repent.   If  therefore  thou shalt not
    watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not
    know what hour I will come upon thee.
 
And in  Revelation 16:15,  as God  is speaking  of the  end of the
world, we find:
 
    Behold, I  come as a thief.  Blessed  is he that watcheth
    and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see
    his shame.
 
On the  basis of these  verses various doctrines  have come forth,
amongst  which  are  those  which  suggest  that  Christ will come
silently.   Suddenly and  quietly the  Christians will  be removed
from this earth.  This  idea certainly appears to be  valid in the
light of the language of Christ coming as a thief in the night.
 
But  is  this  really  so?   Certainly I Thessalonians 4:16, which
speaks of the  Rapture of the believers, does  not suggest He will
come silently as  a thief.  For there  God speaks of the  shout of
command, of  the trumpet  of God.   This is  anything but a silent
coming.
 
Wonderfully,  however,  the  Bible  is  its own commentary.  If we
follow the Biblical rule of letting the Bible explain or interpret
the Bible, an understanding of the phrase "thief in the night" can
be found.  We  shall discover that  the Biblical references  which
use  this  phrase  are  not  at  all suggesting a silent coming of
Christ.  Moreover,  we shall  discover additional  support to  the
clear  teaching of  the Bible  that the  occurrence of the Rapture
must be simultaneous to the timing of Judgment Day.
 
In I Thessalonians 5:1-9 we read:
 
    But of  the time and  seasons, brethren, ye  have no need
    that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that
    the day of the  Lord so cometh as  a thief in the  night.
    For when they shall say, "Peace and safety,"  then sudden
    destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with
    child,  and they shall not escape.  But ye, brethren, are
    not in  darkness that  the day  should overtake  you as a
    thief.   Ye are all children of light and the children of
    the  day.   We  are  not  of  the  night nor of darkness.
    Therefore,  let us  not sleep  as do  others, but  let us
    watch and  be sober.   For they  that sleep  sleep in the
    night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
    But let  us who are of  the day be sober,  putting on the
    breastplate of faith and love, and for  a helmet the hope
    of  salvation.  For God  hath not appointed  us to wrath,
    but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
In this passage we find  again a clear reference to the day of the
Lord coming as a  thief in the night.  The day of the  Lord is the
day when our Lord Jesus Christ will come on  the clouds with power
and great glory.  It is the day when He comes as King of kings and
Lord of lords.
 
But  in these verses God teaches that  day will come as a thief in
the night.   Is He  then teaching  that He  will come  when no one
expects Him?
 
Certainly this is to be true for the unsaved.  Verse 3 records:
 
    For when they shall say, "Peace and  safety," then sudden
    destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with
    child, and they shall not escape.
 
The unsaved are  not looking for Christ to come in judgment.  They
may not even be looking for His return at all.  They may  believe,
in  their evolution theory-blinded minds,  that mankind is finding
answers to  living in  this world.   These answers  may assure him
that,  by  exercising  careful  diligence,  mankind  can  continue
another million  years or more on this  earth.  And certainly they
are convinced that  insofar as a Judgment Day  is concerned, if it
exists at all,  it is probably  millions of years  away.  In their
own minds they have concluded that God need not be reckoned  with.
They are safe and secure to follow their own lustful pleasures.
 
If  they  are  those  who  relate  to  the  Bible but are unsaved,
inasmuch as they are following other gospels than the true Gospel,
they will  also be  quite sure  that Judgment  Day is  of no  real
concern.   After all, God is a loving  God.  He does not wish that
any should  perish.  Somehow  God has  a marvelous  plan for  this
earth and its  inhabitants which will insure maximum love for all.
In   their  blindness,  by  their  false  gospels  which  seem  so
successful and so God-ordained, they will be certain that there is
still hope for a utopia on  this present earth.  Again, as in  the
case of those who wish to deny  God altogether, they will feel all
is secure.
 
Revelation 11:9,10 speaks of the killing of the two witnesses,  an
event  which can  be shown  to be  signifying the silencing of the
Gospel all  over the world.  Note the  world's reaction to this in
Revelation 11:10:
 
    And  they that  dwell upon  the earth  shall rejoice over
    them,  and  make  merry,  and  shall  send  gifts  one to
    another, because  these two prophets  tormented them that
    dwell on the earth.
 
This passage  indicates that before  Christ returns the  Gospel is
silenced.   That is, the true Gospel  is silenced.  It, of course,
is  unacceptable  to  all  kinds  of  people.   For even though it
teaches  the love  of God  through the  Lord Jesus Christ, it also
teaches that mankind is  under the wrath of God.   It teaches that
unsaved  men are the slaves of Satan who must spend an eternity in
Hell paying for their sins.  These are ideas that are repugnant to
mankind.  It is  so much nicer and more joyful to talk about God's
love and mercy.  They fail to understand that God's love and mercy
have no meaning apart from a clear declaration of God's wrath.
 
So  for the unsaved, too, Christ  comes unexpectedly.  As a matter
of fact,  His coming will  be a horrible  surprise.  For those who
are not saved will discover  they are to stand for judgment.  They
will  discover  that,  while  perhaps  they  thought  all was well
between  them and  the Lord,  they actually  had been  following a
salvation designed  to their  own liking  rather that  a salvation
designed  by the Bible.  At Christ's coming it will be a moment of
truth.  They  will  realize  they had  never served  Him as  Lord.
They had been obeying the Bible only when it was convenient.  They
had never  trusted Christ  as the  only one  who could  save them.
Rather, they  had been seeking  a salvation based  on the grace of
God plus  their own  meritorious efforts.   They had  thought they
were at peace  with God and secure  in Christ, but it  was a false
peace, a  false security.  At  His coming the  terrible truth will
come to them that they never had been born from above.
 
For all these,  Christ's coming will be  as a thief in  the night.
Notice what will happen to those for whom His coming is as a thief
in the night.  "Sudden destruction will come upon them,  and there
will be no escape."
 
This is  the language of Judgment Day.   Remember what happened to
the people of  Noah's day.  Suddenly they were  deluged with water
and  destroyed.   Remember  Sodom.   It, too,  experienced  sudden
destruction.   Remember the  language Jesus  uses as  He speaks of
Judgment Day in Matthew 7:13:
 
    Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and
    broad is  the way that  leadeth to destruction,  and many
    there be which go in thereat.
 
And in II Thessalonians 1:9 God declares:
 
    Who  shall be punished  with everlasting destruction from
    the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.
 
What an awful moment!  What a terrible  place to be!  No wonder we
read in  Revelation 6:16  of men  calling upon  the rocks to crush
them and the  hills to cover  them.  No experience  of trauma that
mankind  has  ever  experienced  can  approach  the  awfulness  of
Judgment Day.
 
But  the Bible  goes on  to disclose  other news  relating to this
momentous occasion.   It indicates  there are  others present  for
whom our Lord's coming is  not as a thief in the night.  These are
the true  believers.  These  are the  ones who  are ready  for His
coming because their sins have been washed away in Christ's blood.
 
These are  the ones  who are  not under  the dominion of darkness.
They are children of the day (a synonym for Christ Himself).  They
are children of the light.  (Jesus is the light.)  So they are the
ones who belong to the Lord.
 
We read in these verses that the day of the Lord will not overtake
them as  a thief.   For they  have anticipated  His coming and are
ready for it.
 
We thus  see that when  Christ returns in  judgment, the believers
will still be here.  Therefore these believers could not have been
raptured earlier.  And  since Judgment Day is the  end of time, we
can know  that these believers  must now be  raptured.  They in no
sense  are  to  experience  judgment,  even as I Thessalonians 5:9
declares:
 
    For God  hath not  appointed us  to wrath,  but to obtain
    salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
The wrath spoken of in this verse is not the tribulation period as
some would suppose.  With the sure knowledge that the Rapture will
be  simultaneous  with  Judgment  Day,  we  know believers will go
through the final tribulation  period.  But that period is not the
wrath of God  that must be visited upon unbelievers as payment for
their sins.  The wrath of God is the punishment the unsaved are to
experience  eternally  as  a  result  of  their  sins.   The  true
believers  in  no  way  are  to  experience  this.  For Christ has
covered all their sins by His blood.
 
Revelation 6:15-17 speaks eloquently of the wrath of God:
 
    And  the kings  of the  earth, and the great men, and the
    rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and
    every bondman, and  every free man hid  themselves in the
    dens  and in the rocks of  the mountains, and said to the
    mountains  and rocks,  "Fall on  us and  hide us from the
    face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath
    of the Lamb,  for the great day of His wrath is come, and
    who shall be able to stand?"
 
This is the wrath from which  the saved are free.  Praise God  for
such a wonderful salvation!
 
In summary then we see that the verses of I Thessalonians 5 can be
understood  very  readily  when  we  recognize  that  there  is  a
simultaneous  occurrence of  the Rapture  and Judgment Day.  While
Christ comes as a  thief in the night  to bring judgment upon  the
unbelievers, the believers are ready for His coming.  For  them He
does  not  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night.  For them it is the
marvelous moment when  their salvation is  completed, as they  are
raptured to be forever with Christ.
 
 
                           Conclusion
 
We  have  patiently   looked  at  seven  different  paths  in  the
Scriptures concerning  the timing  of the  Rapture.  Each  of them
shows  us  that  the  Rapture  of  believers  is simultaneous with
Judgment Day.  God has indeed given us ample evidence of this.
 
Because this truth is so very clearly documented in the Bible, all
other  teachings  concerning  the  details  of our Savior's return
should  be studied in  the light of  this truth.  The  fact is, we
should  find, as  we study  the Bible  to discover  aspects of His
return, that  there should  be continuous  agreement.  This  is so
because the Bible is perfect in its truth and trustworthiness.
 
The big question  we all must face is whether  or not we are ready
for our Lord's return.  Have  we seen ourselves as the  sinners we
are?  Have we repented of our sins, believing in the Lord Jesus as
our  sin-bearer?   Have  we  turned  away from our sins, earnestly
desiring to be obedient to Christ?
 
If  we haven't,  we are  not ready  for His  return.  We still are
included amongst those who are subject to judgment.  Our condition
is indeed dangerous.
 
Praise  God for His  love that it  is still the  day of salvation,
that forgiveness  is available  for any  who call  upon the  Lord.
Praise God for such a Savior!
 

