Part 2 of 6 – The Second Coming

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

We will now deal with more of the details of what will actually happen at the Second Coming. Jesus said in Matthew 24:29-31:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

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 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send 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.”

We see that when Jesus returns, every eye shall behold Him. He will send His angels to gather His elect.

The scripture tells us more about how all this is going to occur. Later on in Matthew 24:40-41 it says,

“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

Imagine two men out working in the field. They are either driving tractors or maybe doing something with ground. All of a sudden one of them will leave the ground and head into the sky. Maybe he's witnessed to his friend, Joe, and told him, “You know, the Lord's coming back and you need to get ready.” But Joe didn't want to hear it. He didn't pay any attention and he didn't believe. All of a sudden his friend leaves, and as he watches him go up, he screams out to him, “Wait, wait. Hey! Wait!” But it's too late. He watches him go into the sky.

The Bible also says that two women shall be grinding at the mill. One of the things they normally did in Bible days, women would grind wheat into flour or corn into cornmeal, whatever they were doing. You saw it all the time, so Jesus was using this as an example.

You'll see two women working together. In today's terminology, maybe they're in the flower garden and they're working together weeding the flowers. All of a sudden one woman is going to be talking to the other and she's getting no response. She looks up and sees a pile of clothes laying there. I don't know for positive the clothes will be there, but we know Jesus left his clothes when he rose from the dead. They were left in the tomb. Perhaps the clothes will be laying in a pile and she'll look up and see her friend as she's heading through the sky. She realizes the rapture. Her friend told her about this. Too late.

You can repeat that scenario with all the possible things that are going on in the world at that particular time.

In Luke 17 it says:

“Two will be in a bed, one taken, the other left.”

Maybe a husband and a wife. Perhaps the husband doesn't serve God, the wife does. 3:00 in the morning and all of a sudden the husband wakes up. Something bothers him. It's like the bed had moved beside him. He reaches over. She's not there and he looks up just to see her feet as they disappear through the ceiling. Immediately, he knows what it is because she's been talking to him for a long time. She's been praying for him for a long time. He runs out and he sees her clear the roof line and head through the sky. Probably the sky will be illuminated by the brightness of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The husband may cry out, “Stay! Wait! Help me!” Too late.

That's what it's going to be like. It's going to be marvelous if you're one taken. It's going to be terrible if you're one that is left behind.

To understand what the Rapture's really going to be like, because this is an event that's getting ready to happen soon, the Apostle Paul, teaching about the Rapture in 1 Thessalonian 4:13-17, said:

“But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren, concerning them which are asleep [the dead], that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Can you imagine how dramatic this is going to be? It's common in the Bible to refer to people who are saved and have died as being asleep because the belief was so strong that death was temporary; that they would raise again. If we believe Jesus died and rose again, then that's our evidence that all of us who die in Jesus and have the spirit of Jesus in us, will be brought forth from the grave just like He was. Just like Jesus was caught up, we will be caught up, and so will we ever be with the Lord. Christians that are alive on the earth at the time of the Second Coming, once the dead in Christ raise, when they reach ground level, will all go up together to meet the Lord in the air.

There is another instruction by the Apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 says:

“Behold, I shew you a mystery [a secret]; We shall not all sleep [we will not all die. There will be people alive on this earth serving Jesus Christ at the time of His Second Coming], but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump [remember, we talk about the 7 Trumpets. That's what we are talking about here.]: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible [our mortal bodies will be changed to immortality], and we [we who have not died but are alive and remain] shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Let's make sure we understand how this is going to happen. The last trumpet sounds and our bodies, if we are still alive on the earth, will be changed in a moment, from mortal to immortal. Then we are going to be caught up, our feet will leave the ground just like Jesus' feet left the ground. The dead in Christ have now risen. We are going up together to meet the Lord in the air. And the Bible says:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

In the Book of Revelation there are many accounts of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The Book of Revelation is really not the book of revelations, but the revealing of Jesus Christ.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.