“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
It is very important to understand and maintain the clear distinction between the Rapture and the Revelation (Second Coming). The following is adapted from Pastor Denis Lyle (Northern Ireland) on the key distinctions between the two:
In essence the Rapture will introduce the Great Tribulation while the Second Coming will conclude it. At the Rapture Christ comes in the air (1 Thess. 4:16); at the Second advent Christ comes to the earth (Zech. 14:4).
At the Rapture, the Mount of Olives will remain intact, at the Second Coming, it will be split in two (Zech. 14:4).
At the Rapture, believers will be transformed (1 Cor. 15:52); at the Second Coming, no-one will be transformed.At the Rapture, Christ Comes for His saints; at the Second Coming, Christ comes with His saints (1 Thess. 3:13; Jude 14).
Christ’s Coming for His saints is never said to be preceded by signs in the heavens, but Christ’s Coming with His saints will be preceded by some definite signs (Matt 24:29-30).
The Rapture is presented as a time of blessing (1 Thess. 4:18); the Second Coming is presented as a time of Judgement (2 Thess. 1:8-12).
The Rapture involves the church (1 Cor 15:51); the Second Coming involves Israel and the Gentile Nations (Matt 24:1 25:46).
Scripturally speaking the “Come up hither,” in Rev. 4:1 is the Rapture, but the appearance of the White Horse Rider and His armies in Rev. 19:11 is the Revelation of the Lord Jesus.
3. The Restrainer must be removed before the Antichrist is revealed (2 Thess. 2:7-8) 2. Thessalonians 2:7-8 “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:”
There are some today who try and argue that the antichrist must be revealed before Christ returns. Apart from the fact that this teaching shifts the believer’s focus from looking for Christ to the Antichrist which is a shocking error, the Bible actually teaches that the Restrainer (“he who now letteth”) must be “taken out of the way” before the Antichrist is revealed.
In old English, “letteth” or ‘let’ as used in this context meant “to hinder, prevent, obstruct, restrain.” Observe the personal pronoun ‘he’. This points to the fact that the one Restraining is a Person.
In the present Church age, it must refer to the ministry of the third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, who through the Church, exercises a restraining influence upon the progress of the “mystery of iniquity”.
This restraining work of the Holy Spirit will be removed (“taken out of the way”) when the church is raptured and then Antichrist will be revealed. Lewis Sperry Chafer’s notes on the identity and work of the Restrainer are insightful and helpful:
“To achieve all that is to be accomplished, the Restrainer must be one of the Godhead. Even a casual contemplation of the power required will convince the open mind of this necessity; and, since the Holy Spirit is the active Executor of the Godhead in the world during this age, it is reasonable to conclude that He it is who restrains.
Doubtless His restraint operates both directly and through the Church in which He dwells. When His work of gathering out the Church is completed – that for which He came into the world – He, the Spirit, the Restrainer, will be removed from the world as resident here and reassume His position as Omnipresent only, as He is everywhere.
The right understanding of this important Scripture depends upon recognition of the distinction to be observed between the Spirit’s relation to the world as resident therein or omnipresent. He who was always omnipresent became resident on the Day of Pentecost; He who is now resident will become merely omnipresent on the completion of that which He came on the Day of Pentecost to achieve.
It is as clearly asserted that the believer can never be separated from the Holy Spirit. Christ’s prayer that cannot go unanswered was that the Spirit should abide with believers forever (John 14:16); therefore, when the Spirit, the Restrainer, is “taken out of the way,” the Church will of necessity be removed with Him.” (Systematic Theology Volume IV, Pg. 372)
So be of good comfort brethren! The Pre-Tribulation rapture is not a manmade theory but the clear teaching of the Word of God. We aren’t looking for the Tribulation, we are looking for the Translation!
