(Continued: Chapter V-The Rapture of the Church)

Concerning the times and the seasons of the Rapture, the Thessalonians had no need that anything should be written to them; for, having been taught the Scriptures, they knew that the day of the Lord (the Great Tribulation) would come upon the world as a thief. According to I Thessalonians 5:3, there will be a period of false peace and security before it breaks forth upon the world. The people of the world, uninformed concerning Biblical prophecy, will misinterpret the times in which they are living, and the Tribulation will come suddenly upon them "as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape."

Christians who are well taught in the Word are "sons of light" and realize the situation in which they find themselves. The approaching darkness cast by the coming Tribulation will not come suddenly upon them (II Pet. 1:19,20).

Some interpreters, however, think that the implication of verse 4 is that the Church will go through the Tribulation because the Apostle states that "ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." According to these interpreters, the day of Jehovah overtakes the children of light—the only difference between the Christians on the one hand and the people of the world on the other is that the Tribulation comes upon the men of the world unawares, whereas it comes upon the Christians, who know about it ahead of time from the teaching of the prophetic Word.

The word translated overtake, in the middle voice, is intransitive and has variety of meanings. It may mean "to stand upon; to be set over; to stand by, be present, be at hand, come on or upon." This word, therefore, does not imply that the Tribulation does come upon the sons of light.

This interpretation is confirmed by verse 9: "For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." This verse states the truth both negatively and positively: Christians are not appointed unto wrath, but they are appointed unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. The saved people who are living at the time when the Rapture occurs will, therefore, obtain deliverance from wrath.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: 57 but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord. (I Cor. 15:50-58).

In this passage the Apostle declares that he is telling a mystery to the Corinthian church. In the original the word mystery does not mean something that is incomprehensible, but something unrevealed, a secret. The secret which Paul had in mind on this occasion was that "we all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." The word sleep, as used in this passage and in I Thessalonians 4:13, refers to dying, falling asleep in Jesus. When the Apostle, therefore, says, "We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed," he means that all Christians will not die, but all of them at a given time will be changed. The time when this prophecy will be fulfilled is "at the last trump."

What is the last trump, and when is it blown? Some believe that it is the last trump mentioned in the Book of Revelation. This interpretation cannot be correct because the Corinthians knew nothing about the message of the Book of Revelation. The Corinthian letters were written about A.D. 56, 57, but the Book of Revelation was probably written in A.D. 96, forty years later. To assert that the last trump of the Corinthian letter is the last of the seven trumpets of the Book of Revelation is without foundation. Examination shows that the seven trumpets are used to call forth seven different types of judgment upon the world. The trumpets mentioned in the Thessalonian and the Corinthian letters are to call forth both the dead in Christ from their graves and the living saints into the presence of Christ.

When the dead in Christ are raised, they come forth from the grave with glorified, immortalized bodies. When the living saints are translated, their mortal, corruptible bodies likewise are changed into incorruptible, immortal bodies. When this miracle of grace and glory takes place, the prophecy in Isaiah 25:8 will be fulfilled: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

In order to understand this prophecy correctly, one must study the connection in which it appears.

6 And in this mountain will Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that covereth all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it (Isa. 25:6-8).

According to verse 6 of this passage, God will provide "in this mountain" a feast of good things for all peoples of the earth. In what mountain? In Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, as one sees in Isaiah 24:23. Is this banquet a literal or a figurative feast? Figurative, of course. When the plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense. To interpret this fact literally does not make good sense.

According to Isaiah 25:7, the Lord will, in the same mountain, destroy the covering that covereth all nations. Satan is the one who blinds the eyes of people so that they cannot see the truth. "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: 4 in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them" (II Cor. 4:3,4). This veil cannot be taken literally, but it is a figurative expression. What are the facts that are set forth by this figure? According to Revelation 20:1-5, the Lord, when He returns to Jerusalem, will incarcerate Satan and all the evil spirits in the pit of the abyss for the thousand years of His reign upon earth. In this manner the covering which Satan has held over the minds of the people will be destroyed.

According to Isaiah 25:8, the Lord hath "swallowed up death forever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it." As already seen, the prediction of Isaiah: 25:6,7 is to be realized in the future. In verse 8, suddenly, the Prophet switches from the future tense to the present perfect: "He hath swallowed up death." This Hebrew idiom is common and is known as the prophetic perfect. When the Hebrew prophet wanted to vivify his message, he often used this idiom—speaking of things in the future as if they had already been accomplished. Thus the prophecy lives before the audience.

What is the meaning of "swallowed up death"? Satan who now has the power over death will be incarcerated in the pit (Rev. 20:1-5) and will cease to have anything to do with human affairs during the Millennium. At that time, death will be swallowed up.¹

After using the prophetic perfect, Isaiah continues his prophecy regarding the future, saying, "And the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces ..." From the connection it is clear that Isaiah is speaking of tears caused by death. Since death will be no more, there will, therefore, be no more tears.

The Lord will also take away forever the "reproach of his people." The people of whom He is speaking are the Jewish people. They have suffered reproach throughout the centuries. When the time here foreseen comes, anti-Semitism and racial prejudice will be things of the past.

From this investigation of Isaiah 25:6-8, it is clear that the Prophet is talking about the time that Christ returns and establishes His reign on the earth. At the Second Coming of Christ, death will be eliminated¹ from human experience. The Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15:54 says that Isaiah's prediction, "Death is swallowed up in victory," is fulfilled at the time of the Rapture, but Isaiah has put the swallowing up of death at the end of the Tribulation when Christ comes to reign. In the light of the facts brought forth by Isaiah and Paul, one sees that Isaiah 25:8 is an example of the law of double reference. The Rapture of the Church before the Tribulation is a partial, limited fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, according to I Corinthians, chapter 15. But this prophecy will be completely fulfilled at the Second Coming of Christ.

As has already been seen, the Rapture of believers occurs before the Tribulation. During the Tribulation, the great revival sweeps the world in which multiplied millions will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Some of these doubtless will die a natural death; others will be martyred by the Antichrist. Many of them will survive the Tribulation, remaining on earth until the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the Tribulation. Then will occur the Rapture of the living tribulation saints.

30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matt. 24:30,31).

Since we do not know the day or the hour of our Lord's coming for His saints, it behooves each one of us to be alert at all times.

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is" (I John 3:1,2).



Footnote:

¹ During the Millennium, however, everyone will accept the Saviour and be redeemed, with few exceptions: those reaching their one hundredth birthday without accepting the Saviour will be condemned (Isa. 65:20).