Click for Chapter 38
In our last lesson we concluded our study of the Holy Spirit. It is not the intention of the writer to be exhaustive in the treatment of this study, but rather, to introduce a most worthwhile topic of Biblical study to the student. There are many excellent texts available. We recommend especially books written by the late Donald Gee:
Others recommended as well:
We noticed in our study of the Holy Spirit that He came to fulfill a definite mission. The gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit are given to us to accomplish His ministry upon earth. When this ministry is accomplished, He will return to the Father, as did Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:7 reveals that there is a time appointed for His being taken away from this world. "For the mystery of lawlessness does already work; only there is one that restrains now, until he be taken out of the way." This one who is restraining the work of Satan is the Holy Spirit. There is a time when He shall be taken away.
There are a few facts that we want to note about His return or ascension to the Father. In our study of His ministry during this dispensation, we have seen that when the Holy Spirit entered the world, that He became incarnated in the mystical body of Christ — the Church (John 14:17, Acts 2:1-4, 1 Corinthians 6:19). Since that day when the Holy Spirit fell upon the 120 believers in the upper room (Acts 1 and 2), the body of Christ has been His habitation. "In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).
Note the following fact:
When the Holy Spirit leaves the world, He will not disembody Himself, but He will leave in the body of Christ. This will constitute the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). The Church will be taken up in the Spirit to be united in glory with Christ, the head of the Church, Himself the Saviour of the body.
The Holy Spirit has been forming the body of Christ since the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and when this body is complete, He will present it to Jesus "a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle" (Ephesians 5:27). Writing upon this subject, A.J. Gordon has said the following: "The translation of the Church is to be effected by the Holy Spirit who dwells in her." As Romans 8:11 states, "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you."
It is not by acting upon the body of Christ from without, but by energizing it from within, that the Holy Spirit will effect glorification. In a word, the Comforter, who on the Day of Pentecost came down to form a body of our flesh, will at the Rapture return to heaven in that body.
The Rapture will take place at the return of our Lord. We want to study the scriptures about His return before we close these lessons. In prophecy, in parable, and in teaching, Christ revealed that He is coming again. Over three hundred verses in the New Testament deal with this tremendous fact. God’s prophecies never fail in their fulfillment. Every prophecy of Christ’s first coming was definitely fulfilled. So every promise of His second will be fulfilled.
We see Isaiah’s prophecy come to pass (Isaiah 7:14) when a virgin conceived and bore a son whose name was Immanuel. Christ was born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of Micah 5:2. The "whole world" had to be enrolled in taxation (Luke 2:1-2), however, to bring it to pass. Twenty prophecies of the 22nd Psalm were fulfilled when Christ died upon the cross. Isaiah 53 was fulfilled as He was made sin on our behalf.
The Holy Spirit revealed to the prophets of old these events, hundreds of years before Christ came. "Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what time or manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow." (1 Peter 1:10-11)
As we see the exact fulfillment of all the prophecies of Christ's first coming, what an incentive it gives to our searching the scriptures to learn of His coming again.
As we study the prophecies that foretell the second coming of our Lord, we see that there are two phases to that coming: (1) the Rapture, in which the Church is caught up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), and (2) the revelation of His second coming to earth with His Church in a display of His power and glory, "when every eye shall see Him." At this time, He shall set up His kingdom on earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3, Zechariah 14:1-9).
The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul gives us a startling picture of what will take place when Christ returns. His coming will effect every member of the body of Christ, whether they are with the Lord or alive, awaiting His return.
As it is stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, "For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we that are alive and that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we that are alive and remain shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever by with the Lord."
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has ascended into heaven and taken His place on our behalf as Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and Lord, "will descend from heaven with a shout." Every living believer shall hear that shout (the unbelievers have no part in this) and the shout will be a signal for the resurrection of the bodies of those who have died in Christ.
The bodies of those who are with Christ shall rise first. They with all living believers shall be caught up "in clouds" (Greek) to meet the Lord in the air. Notice here that it is the resurrection of the bodies of those in Christ who have died that will take place at the Rapture. It is not that the spirits will be raised. The spirits of the departed saints are already with Christ (Luke 23:43) in heaven.
The spirit of the believer in Christ Jesus can never die (John 8:51) and therefore, can never need a resurrection. The dead in Christ are not in the grave, but alive with Christ. Those who have died in Christ, as 1 Thessalonians 4:14 points out, shall come with Him at the Rapture to receive their glorified immortal bodies.
The term "clouds" does not necessarily mean the clouds of the air. It probably means that clouds of believers will arise from every nation to meet the Lord in the air. We find the term "clouds of witnesses" mentioned in Hebrews 12:1.
Let us notice the Greek meaning of the word "caught up." We are told it indicates a mighty decisive act of God, which none can resist and which none will desire to resist. It means a "taking by force — a snatching out!" The word is used in Matthew 11:12 when Christ says that men of violence take the kingdom of heaven by force and in Acts 23:10, when soldiers were commanded to take Paul by force. What a joyful compulsion that will be! Caught up to meet our blessed Lord and Saviour, "whom not having yet seen, we love."
A change will take place within our bodies. Paul says, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God... But we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." (1 Corinthians 15:50-51) Philippians 3:21 states "Our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of His glory." We shall actually receive a glorified, immortal body like our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit through John tells us that "we know that when He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him." We have been translated from Satan’s authority into Christ’s. We have already been conformed in spirit to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). We are waiting now for the redemption of our bodies, the receiving of a glorified body like unto our Lord’s.
Paul mentions this hope in Titus 2:13, "Looking for that blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." Christ speaks of His coming in Luke 17:30-35. "In the day that the son of man shall be revealed, in that night there shall be two men in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other left. There shall be two women grinding together; the one shall be taken and the other left." Also Matthew 24:40, "There shall be two men in a field, one is taken and the one is left." Here is revealed the eternal separation of the body of Christ and the world.
The meeting of Christ with His body will be a time of great rejoicing. The members of the body of Christ shall be welcomed by Him. Rewards will be given. The rewards may consist of various appointments of office for the millennium period. We do not know definitely.
2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether it be good of bad." Romans 14:10 tells us "But thou, why do you judge your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." This meeting is called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Revelation 19:7-8 says, "Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give glory unto him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." And Revelation 19:9, "And He saith unto me, write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb." It will last for a period of several years.
The spiritually dead people shall continue living upon the earth. The following scriptures refer to this great tribulation (Isaiah 26:16-21 & 27:1). We notice the silence of the epistles upon this subject. It is not mentioned in any of them, because it will not effect the body of Christ. From our Lord’s words in Matthew 24:21-30 it seems clear that the greatest tribulation the world has ever seen will take place and especially fall upon the Jewish nation just before Christ’s coming in glory at His revelation.
During this time, antichrist shall appear. The word "antichrist" is only used by the Apostle John. Other scriptures refer definitely to him, however. Paul refers to him (2 Thessalonians 2) as the "lawless one," "the man of sin," and the "son of perdition." Daniel refers to him as a king that shall magnify himself above every god — "And the king shall do according to his will, and shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished. For that which is determined shall be done." (Daniel 11:36)
It seems that antichrist shall be some sort of a Christ. The prefix "anti" means either "against" or "instead of." Both conceptions may be contained in one word. Wescott says it means far more than the adversary of Christ; it means one who under the same character opposes Christ.
During the tribulation, not one single believer who has been baptized into Christ by the Spirit of God will be left upon the earth. Every person here will be in affinity with Satan, a child of Satan. The world will be his. Then Satan will come in personal form. The antichrist will be an incarnation of Satan, and will imitate Christ in many ways.
We must remember that the desire that caused the downfall of Satan, and changed his nature was the desire to be like the Most High. Isaiah 14:13-14, "And thou said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
This is the one who promised Adam and Eve that they should be as God (Genesis 3:5). He desires to take God’s place in the life of man. He even tried to secure the worship of Christ. So, in the period of unrestraint (the great tribulation), he will sit in the temple setting himself forth as God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). It seems that the Jews will make a pact with antichrist (unknowingly) for one week of years (7 years), who will permit the reestablishment of the sacrifice and ablation. (There has been no Jewish sacrifice since the destruction of the temple by the Romans general Titus in A.D. 70 to the present.)
Daniel 9:27 — "And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and ablation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations, shall come one that makes desolate; even unto the full end, and that determined wrath shall be poured out upon the desolate." However, he breaks this covenant in the middle of the week (3 ½ years) and demands the he, himself, shall be worshipped (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
Then will come the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble. All those who then refuse to worship the beast will be killed. No one will be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast upon his hand or forehead. The most stupendous triumph of Satan will come when he shall appear as antichrist and exalt himself above every other god, compelling men to worship him.
However, his triumph will be short-loved, and he shall be conquered by Christ. The scriptures which tell of the antichrist are as follows: Revelation 13; Daniel 7:8-25; 8:23-24; 11:36-37.