September, 1934
K e r e k w r o / d Z S C r t/ 7 Q A 0 6 V
K . The LORD’S COMING and the Two Great Separations B y W . H. ROGERS* New York, N. Y. R apture and R evelation First, Jesus Christ made very clear the distinction be tween the rapture and the revelation, a difference which we must see if we are to intelligently understand the Scrip tures in relation to this important theme. The rapture is one thing, and the revelation is another. The rapture has to do with Christ’s coming for His church, and the meeting will take place in the air. The revelation has to do with His coming with His church to reign upon this earth, with His throne in Jerusalem. In the rapture, the first great separation will take place: “ There shall be two men in one b ed ; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left (Lk. 17:34). Tw o shall be in the field o f toil, or at the millstone grinding, and the one shall be taken and the other left (Matt. 24:40-42). In the revelation, the second great separation will take place, when the sheep will be divided from the goats. The rapture will usher the church into the presence o f God, and will surrender the world to the great tribulation which is to follow, the period to which the Saviour referred when He said: “ Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24 :21 ). The revelation will bring about the culmination o f the tribulation and usher in the millennial reign o f Christ. The rapture o f the church is clearly set forth in 1 Thes- salonians 4:13-17. A reading o f these words will plainly show that this event involves a threefold process: First, the resurrection o f the righteous dead (1 Thess. 4 :16 ; 1 Cor. 15 :22, 23) ; second, the transformation o f living be lievers (1 Cor. 15:51, 5 2 ); third, the translation o f all believers (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). Thus the church will be taken out o f the world, and there will be the separation of sinners and saints. The tribulation, which follows the rapture, is very clearly set forth in Matthew 2 4 :15-31, and the revelation is set forth in Matthew 24:29-31, which involves the reign o f Christ on earth. It is therefore clearly seen that the coming o f Christ is twofold— not two comings, but two stages in the one coming, or one great event with two parts. In the first stage, He comes as the Morning Star; in the second, He comes as the Sun o f righteousness. In the first, He comes in the air; in the second, He descends to the Mount o f Olives. In the first, He comes to receive His bride unto H im self: in the second, He comes to be received by penitent Israel, that is saved through the tribulation. The first stage is called in Scripture “ our gathering together unto him,” while the second stage occurs “ when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven.” C haracteristics of the A ge In the second place, Christ set forth the characteristics o f this age of grace in which we are now living. In the professing church He said there would be declension, luke warmness, ease; a departure from the faith once for all delivered unto the saints; giving heed to seducing spirits
Photograph by Adelbert Bartlett
"A t the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
“ Then shall two he in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall he grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore ; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matt. 24:40-42). “ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne o f his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed o f my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation o f the world: . . . Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ” (Matt. 2 5 :31-34, 41). I have taken the texts from our Saviour’s discourse in which He speaks o f His second advent. He was stand ing on the top o f Mount Olivet. His disciples had already come to Him and had propounded three important ques tions. The first o f those questions was, “ Tell us, when shall these things be?”—-that is, the things He had been talking about, namely, the overthrow o f Jerusalem and the destruction o f the holy temple within it—predictions which were literally fulfilled in A . D. 70, by the Roman armies under the military leadership o f Titus. The second ques tion was, “ What shall be the sign of thy coming?”— not His first coming, for they needed no sign of that ; He was already with them. The third question was, literally, “ And what shall be the sign o f the end of the age?” The Lord Jesus Christ delivered this discourse in answer to these three ^Significant questions. _ Note very carefully some o f the things which the Lord emphatically: and plainly declared. *Pastor, First Baptist Church,
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