Jesus is Only Coming Twice

Jesus is Only Coming Twice

By M.E. Brines

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 by M.E. Brines

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Table of Contents

When is a coming not a coming?

Jesus is coming back

Evidence for the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

On the Imminent Russian Invasion

The 70 weeks: Seven Years of Tribulation?

The Wrath of God – Three and a half years or one day?

Did Jesus Teach a Pre-Tribulation Rapture?

Was the Prophecy in Matthew 24-25 Fulfilled in 70 AD?

Did Matthew Forget the Rapture?

Perhaps Mark Also Forgot the Rapture

Darbyism

The Seven Feasts of Israel

Locusts, Trumpets and the Rapture

John’s Vision – The Book of Revelation

Revelation Chapter Seven – The 144,000

The Seventh Seal

The Mystery of God

The Two Witnesses

Flashback #1 – The Woman and the Dragon

Flashback #2 – The Rise of the Beast

Revelation Chapter 14 – The Preparation for Invasion

The Wrath of God

Parenthetical (Babylon and the Harlot)

The Second Coming and the Battle of Armageddon

A Millennium is a Thousand Years

The Thousand-year Rule of Christ

Summary: Why the Rapture is Post-Tribulation

Appendix: When Might the Second Coming be?

Bibliography

A note on Biblical quotations: All quotes are from the King James Version because that is the version most commonly accepted. And unlike most Bible commentators I don’t just cherry-pick isolated verses or fragments thereof that seem to prove my point. I use large portions of scripture in order to demonstrate the context of the passage and therefore the original meaning.

About the Time of the End, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the midst of much clamor and opposition. – Sir Isaac Newton

When is a Coming not a Coming?

I grew up in the church. My father was a Sunday school teacher. Every lesson I ever heard on the subject and every book I ever read taught that Jesus would return for his church before the Tribulation. Any other idea was heresy. This is the typical view prevalent in Protestant churches today, the subject of best-selling books and movies.

But something about the idea always bothered me.

The first coming of Christ was in the first century when he died on the cross for our sins. The Second Coming is always taught to be the time when Christ returns to rule the nations at the end of the Tribulation. Yet pre-tribulation theology teaches he is also going to return again to rapture the Church, BEFORE the Great Tribulation, between his first and his Second Coming. I counted three comings of Christ. Yet the last one is always referred to as his Second coming. It’s taught that the Rapture doesn’t count as a coming because his feet don’t actually touch the ground. This just didn’t seem reasonable.

When I was a child my mother took my brother and sister and I to visit our grandparents in Michigan. It was my first trip by rail. Along the way the train stopped in St. Louis. It was just a routine stop to drop off and pick up passengers. My family didn’t have to change trains until Chicago and I suppose my mother, having three small children to keep track of, didn’t want the added bother of trying to make sure we all got back on the train before it left, so we remained aboard.

The only parts of St. Louis I saw were what could be seen from the window of the train, little more than a narrow strip of industrial park along the railroad tracks, at least until we crossed the Mississippi on a bridge. Then you could see the whole panorama of the city, including the famous arch.

My question to you would be this: Have I ever been to St. Louis?

Any reasonable person would immediately answer, Of course!

But using pre-tribulation logic I’d have to say, no, I’ve never actually been to St. Louis because my feet never actually touched the ground.

I guess I’ve never really been to a drive-in movie either, because I never actually get out of the car. Somebody else always ends up going to the snack bar instead. Obviously that sort of argument is absurd. But why are we supposed to accept it without a second thought when it has to do with pre-tribulation theology?

First Corinthians 15:52 is taught to be a verse that refers to the Rapture. Yet the verse clearly states the Rapture occurs at the last trumpet. The Last Trumpet is the seventh in the series in the Book of Revelation announcing the imminent Second Coming of Christ. But if the Rapture happens at the Second Coming, as I Corinthians 15:52 clearly says it does, then how can it happen seven years earlier BEFORE the Tribulation even begins? Are there two last trumpets? Are there three comings of Christ? Then why is his final one known as the Second Coming?

And then there’s those 70 weeks in Daniel. God said that there would be 70 weeks of years (70 x 7 = 490 years) between the issuance of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah. But my teachers said that 70 times 7 really equals 483 years plus a parenthesis period of undetermined duration called the Church Age that so far has lasted almost 2,000 years. So did God make a mistake when he said it was going to be 490 years?

And I had other questions. Questions none of my teachers would answer and none of the books addressed. So I did what I should have done at the beginning. I turned to the Word of God to see what He had to say on the subject.

What I found disturbed me. Instead of answering all my questions, more were added. The deeper I dug, the more I became convinced that what had been taught to me all my life about the Second Coming was wrong. Proof verses had been taken out of context, clear teachings of a post-tribulation rapture ignored, spiritualized or re-interpreted to mean something else. I became convinced that the Church (and myself, should I live so long) would be going through the Tribulation.

But a person’s view of the End Times isn’t an important doctrine, is it? It doesn’t affect your salvation, does it? So what difference does it make what you believe?

Yet, I can see no better reason for the great falling away from the Church that is mentioned as happening during the End Times in Second Thessalonians 2:2-3 than to still be here during the Tribulation, being persecuted by the Antichrist, when you’ve been taught all of your life that Christ MUST return before then to rescue his church.

What will future Christians do, falsely expecting Christ to have raptured them, when the New Age unveils their counterfeit Messiah and says, "Here is the Christ, and he has returned for you as he promised." How many will come to doubt other Biblical teachings as a result of this error?

How many already do? You see I’ve discovered the teachings of the pre-tribulation Rapture are just the tip of a theological iceberg. While it glitters, white and clean, sparkling on movie screens and the bookshelves of Christian stores, beneath the dark waters below lurks a sinister Gospel-denying heresy. A heresy with tentacles that have ensnared many well-meaning but misinformed Christians who would be horrified if they truly understood the full implications of its teachings that sow doubt and division among Christians and disarm the Church, leaving it confused and helpless when the Antichrist makes his bid for power and acceptance.

But the pre-tribulation Rapture a false doctrine? Learned doctors of theology, best-selling authors, prestigious seminaries and historic Christian colleges deceived into promoting a heresy? It can’t possibly be! Why, so many learned and distinguished men believe and teach it that it MUST be true. Just look at their credentials!

But isn’t that exactly the same thing first century Jews said when Paul preached Christ to them as the Messiah? They denied the Jewish council could possibly have been wrong to reject him. They clung to what the synagogues had been teaching them all their lives about the Messiah coming as a conquering king, and attacked Paul as a heretic and blasphemer. He was beaten and stoned and run out of town, over and over again.

But what should our standard of belief be based upon? How do we determine what is orthodox and what is heretical?

The New International dictionary provides the following definitions:

Heresy: 1a: An opinion or doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs, especially dissension from or denial of Roman Catholic dogma by a professed believer or baptized church member. 2a: A controversial or unorthodox opinion or doctrine.

Orthodox: 1. Adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion. 2. Adhering to the Christian faith as expressed in the early Christian creeds. 4. Adhering to what is commonly accepted, customary or traditional.

Notice that the dictionary puts a great deal of store in established beliefs that are traditional or commonly accepted.

The Catholics have the Pope. Mormons have a burning bosom. Secular society puts a great store in opinion polls to discover what the majority of people believe or desire. But what should be our standard as Christians?

When Paul was advising Timothy how to avoid being taken in by deceivers what did he tell him to use as his standard?

* * *

2 Timothy 3:1-17

(1) This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

(2) For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

(3) Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

(4) Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

(5) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

(6) For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

(7) Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

(8) Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

(9) But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.

(10) But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

(11) Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

(12) Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

(13) But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

(14) But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

(15) And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

(16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

(17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

* * *

Does it really matter what the Bible says is true? Or is everything up for grabs? Should every doctrine be based on real Biblical facts or can we just assume whatever feels most comfortable to ourselves is true? Can we accept anything that comes out of anyone’s mouth as Gospel?

What if that mouth has a theology degree or the initials PhD after its name?

If we do not do as Paul the Apostle commands us to do in Timothy and verify that what is being taught in Jesus’ name is actually Biblical – if we don’t do this, then we can pretty much guarantee the wolves will come and scatter us to the four winds. Remember the words of Paul and of Jesus:

* * *

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

(Acts 20:29-32)

* * *

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

(Matthew 7:15-23)

* * *

Satan is the Father of Lies. The only way to tell a counterfeit from the truth is to compare it to the truth in the Scriptures. But have we actually bothered to compare? Or do we know the truth so well we can tell a lie just on sight?

When Paul came to the Jews in Asia preaching Jesus, what he taught them differed from what had been taught in the synagogues before. They had been taught the Messiah would be a conquering king. But Christ came as a suffering servant. When Paul tried to explain this difference in their expectations by reference to the scriptures they usually reacted by chasing him out of the city or stoning him.

But when he came to Berea he got a different response:

* * *

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

(Acts 17:10-12)

* * *

If someone comes to you trying to teach you ANYTHING – compare it to the Bible. Don’t just accept it because the source is supposedly reliable. And don’t reject it just because it doesn’t match what you’ve been taught before.

THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE STANDARD IS THE WORD OF GOD!

But…

Can good men have mistaken beliefs?

Does this make them wicked, evil wolves come to destroy the flock? Or just mistaken? Did even great men of God harbor mistaken beliefs at one time?

* * *

From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

(Matthew 16:21-23)

* * *

Peter was mistaken, yet he was one of Jesus disciples..

Paul is yet another example of a man who was trying to follow God as he thought best, but who believed wrongly:

* * *

I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.

And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And I answered, Who art thou, Lord?

And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

(Acts 22:3-10)

* * *

Jesus demonstrated to both Peter and Paul that the beliefs they had were mistaken. He can do the same to us today, but only if we listen. Being mistaken is okay – but only if we accept correction.

Martin Luther was a Catholic priest. He became aware of errors in Catholic doctrine as a result of studying the New Testament. Before he was aware of the errors he was an undistinguished lawyer in an obscure parish with a mediocre future, but when he embraced the truth he became one of the most influential Christians of all time. What he did in unleashing the Reformation puts him on a level with the original apostles. Without the Reformation what we call evangelical Christians today would be a tiny, persecuted minority in a Catholic world trying to buy its way into heaven.

Is it possible then for a person to believe wrongly about some aspect of doctrine and yet still be a Christian?

Yes.

But more importantly… is it possible this might apply to you?

How do you know? Have you ever examined what you’ve been taught? Do you check what people have told you about the Rapture against the Bible?

Or are you like most people and passively accept anything you read in a so-called Christian book as long as it’s familiar and comfortable?

What is your standard? The Holy Scriptures? Or do you rely on established beliefs that are traditional and commonly accepted?

I’ve heard it said, it doesn’t matter what a person believes as long as it doesn’t affect their salvation. But what does that really mean?

If this is true than NOTHING in the Bible except John 3:16 is important or even necessary:

The Great Commission becomes the good suggestion.

Communion? What should we use? Wine? Grape Juice? Water? How often? Weekly? Monthly? Annually? What’s the difference? Why even bother? It doesn’t affect your salvation, right?

Baptism doesn’t affect your salvation either, so go ahead and pour or sprinkle or immerse, whatever, or just throw the whole concept right out. What difference does it make? It doesn’t affect your salvation, right?

Prayer doesn’t affect your salvation, so go ahead and pray to saints, or the Virgin Mary or your cocker spaniel.

We can also throw out tithing, the Ten Commandments and anything else we find inconvenient.

Isn’t this the very argument used to justify homosexual pastors in the American Baptist denomination?

Ideas matter. The truth matters. When they stop mattering, that’s when the wolves start to feed.

Remember what Paul said in Acts 20:29: "For I know this, that after my departure grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock."

The wolves will come. He didn’t say that they might come, or that they could come but that they WILL come. And the only way not to get bit by them is to compare what you’re taught to the Word of God.

Will you do that with me?

Or will you do what Paul warned against and reject the truth for something that is more comfortable?

* * *

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

(2 Timothy 4:3-4)

* * *

We shouldn’t define our orthodoxy by what’s comfortable or by what’s popular but by what’s in the Scriptures. And if we can’t find a doctrine in there, then it’s from the wolves, not from God.

The Bible says that eventually Paul traveled to the city of Berea and began to preach the Gospel there in the synagogue. Those Jews soon realized that what he was teaching was new and different to them, but instead of rejecting it outright as the Jews in other cities had done, they checked his teachings against what the Scriptures had to say, to see if those things were so. The result was that many of them discovered the Truth and were saved.

* * *

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.

(Acts 17:10-13)

* * *

In view of the increasing popularity of Left Behind novels and movies, every Christian should at least be familiar with what the Bible teaches about the Rapture, even if they choose not to believe it.

But mere belief in something doesn’t make it true. Please do what I did and what the Apostle Paul commended the Bereans for and search the Scriptures and see if these things are so.

Let’s examine the conflicting claims of the different rapture positions ourselves and together compare them to the Word of God to see which position is true. Please keep in mind that if the facts don’t agree with the conclusion, either the facts or the conclusion is wrong… and the Bible is never wrong. (See Second Timothy 3:16)

Jesus is coming back

The Bible teaches that just as Christ came two thousand years ago to die on the cross for our sins that he will return again. One such passage is in the first chapter of the book of Acts:

Acts 1:1-11

(1) The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

(2) Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

(3) To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

(4) And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

(5) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

(6) When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

(7) And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

(8) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

(9) And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

(10) And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

(11) Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

* * *

While Christians all over the world and throughout time have agreed that Christ will return, recently there has arisen a disagreement as to exactly when he will return and the precise timetable of events that will occur at or