years and is known as the Tribula tion. During this time the anti-Christ will be revealed, and the battle of Armageddon will culminate in the Lord’s visible return in glory and victory. These periods of time are tremendous in scope and deserve our careful observation. What a won derful time awaits the believer as together we are looking for that blessed hope! P art II I N the study of prophetic events, one of the most thrilling things for the believer to contemplate is Christ’s coming for His Bride, made up of every true born-again believ er. In I Thessalonians 4:13-19 we have one of the most reassuring por tions of Scripture which bears on this subject. Read and re-read it. Commit it to memory. Let your own heart be excited with such thrilling words of earnest expectation. At the hour of our Rapture the living and the dead believers together shall meet the Lord in the air. In 1572 when John Knox was dy ing, the famed Scottish Presbyterian asked his wife to read from I Corin thians 15, which is a parallel pas sage to I Thessalonians 4. She read to him God’s mighty revelation con cerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ as well as of every believer. When she had finished, he comment ed contentedly, “Is that not a com fortable and comforting chapter?” So it is to everyone who trusts in the Saviour. There are other Scrip tures which deal with the resurrec tion with such force and fulness as these. These marvelous truths are absolutely central to our Christian faith. You see, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (v. 14). It is interesting to note that the subject of the Lord’s return filled exclusively the minds of the early Christians. So it should be with us
but also to judge both the quick and the dead. In verses 24 to 26 we find the por trayal of Christ ruling in His au thoritative dominance. The reference is to the period between the Lord’s return for the resurrection of be lievers, including the Rapture of the New Testament Church, and His mil lennial reign on earth. We would emphasize the word “reign.” “For he must reign (which means rule) till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” Now, before we examine that emphatic declaration, we must step aside to dwell on the importance of the little word them in verse 24 in relation to the prophetic program at this particular point. Briefly, the is sue is this: As we have seen in our studies together, Paul is concerned with the resurrection and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. About that there is absolutely no question. Three successive stages are listed, and quite clearly there is an interval between the first two. The first event is Christ’s resurrection from the dead (verse 20), which has already taken place. Right now we’re living in the period between that wonderful hap pening and the hour when all be lievers, living and dead, will be raised in His likeness. This will come at the end of the age of the Church. Then, we ask ourselves, “Does the Word of God suggest a gap between the coming of our Lord for His own and the consummation of all events ?” Many commentators pass over the subject in silence, as if it were of little significance. It is vital to study verses 23 and 24 together. Even down through verse 28, we find a group of temporal participles or ad verbs of time, as we would call them in English. They have real impor tance since this relates so intimately to prophetic truths. We believe there is a period of time between Christ’s coming for His Bride and the estab lishment of His reign. This inter mediate period consists of seven 14
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