Now we have to see when the rapture of the saints will take place. This redemption, this transfiguration, and this glorification will take place with the coming (parousia—presence) of Christ (Matt. 24:3). In Greek the word for coming is parousia, meaning presence. In ancient times among the Greeks, a dignified person’s coming was his parousia, his presence. The New Testament uses such a word to denote Christ’s second coming. His second coming is the presence of Himself as the most dignified person, and this presence will begin from the throne of God in the third heaven before the great tribulation. Then this presence, this parousia, will travel from the third heaven to the air and will linger in the air for a short while. Eventually, this parousia will reach the earth. When it reaches earth, 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says that there will be the appearing of His presence (coming). Thus, the rapture of the saints will take place with the coming, the parousia, of Christ.
The rapture of the saints into Christ’s presence (coming) will take place before the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21) for the overcomers and at the end of the great tribulation for the majority of the saints. The great tribulation will last three and a half years, beginning from the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-17) and ending at the seventh bowl (Rev. 16:17-21). These three and a half years will be the second half of the last week, the last seven years, of the present age. This week will be the last week of the seventy weeks revealed in Daniel 9:24-27. We are still awaiting and expecting the coming of this seventieth week, the last week, which will be one of the strong signs of the Lord’s coming back.
The New Testament gives us some signs of the coming of the last week. One strong sign is the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Many centuries ago the Jews lost their nation, they became captives, and they were scattered on the earth among the Gentiles. But the Bible promised that one day the Lord would bring them back to their fathers’ land and restore the nation of Israel. After I was saved in 1925, I wondered how the scattered Jews could be gathered together to their fathers’ land again. But eventually in 1948, Israel was restored again as a nation. This was a sign of the Lord’s coming. The Bible also prophesied that the city of Jerusalem would eventually be returned to the people of Israel. Jerusalem was taken over by the king of Babylon about 600 B.C., approximately twenty-six centuries ago. But in 1967, nineteen years after the nation of Israel had been restored, the city of Jerusalem was reclaimed by the Jews. This was another sign of the Lord’s coming. These signs are the fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 24:32 concerning the branch of the fig tree (the nation of Israel) becoming tender and putting forth its leaves.
The things that are happening today are also the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Daniel’s interpretation of the image in Daniel 2 is actually a prophecy concerning the nations of the earth. The head symbolizes the Babylonian empire, the breast and arms of silver symbolize Medo-Persia, the belly and thighs of bronze symbolize the empire of Macedonia and Greece, and the two legs of iron symbolize the Roman Empire. Finally, the feet of the image are part iron and part clay signifying the nations in the period after the fall of Rome and before the second coming of Christ. Iron signifies the power of dictatorship, or autocracy, and clay signifies the people. In Russia and eastern Europe, the practice of communism has actually been the practice of autocracy, dictatorship. Now the people, the clay, are rising up to weaken the iron. As the clay rises up, the strength of the iron is weakened. This shows that we are in the iron-clay stage of the image depicted in Daniel 2 as another sign of the approaching of the Lord’s coming back.
According to Daniel 9:27, at the time close to the end of the present age, that is, at the last week of the seventy weeks, Antichrist will make a firm covenant (an agreement of peace) with the nation of Israel for seven years. In the midst of the seven years, he will break the covenant and begin to persecute the children of Israel and the Christians. From that time the great tribulation begins and will last for three and a half years, that is, forty-two months or one thousand two hundred sixty days (Dan. 12:7; Rev. 11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). The making of the seven-year covenant by Antichrist with the nation of Israel will be another sign of the Lord’s coming back for the rapture of the saints. This is why we are awaiting and expecting the last week of the seventy weeks, revealed in Daniel 9, to come.
According to the New Testament, the rapture has different sections. The harvest of the crop in the field in the Old Testament typifies the rapture of the saints. Before the general harvest, the firstfruit is reaped, brought into the sanctuary, the house of God, and presented to God for His fresh enjoyment (Lev. 23:9-14; Exo. 23:19). After a period of time, the entire harvest is reaped. Therefore, in the type of the harvest, there are the firstfruit and the harvest.
The rapture of the saints is according to this typology. The firstfruit is mentioned in Revelation 14:1-5. Then verses 14 through 16 speak of the harvest of the majority of the believers. These are the two sections of the rapture: the firstfruit and the harvest.
The section of the overcomers is the first section of the rapture. These overcomers are of five classifications: the man-child, the firstfruit, the overcomers in Philadelphia, the watchful and beseeching saints, and the watchful one of the two saints.
First, there is the man-child mentioned in Revelation 12:5. Revelation 12 depicts a universal and heavenly woman who is clothed with the sun, having the moon underneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. That woman signifies the totality of God’s people. The man-child delivered by her is the stronger part of God’s people, the overcomers. They will be raptured before the great tribulation of the three and a half years of the last week of this age (Rev. 12:6, 12-17). They will be raptured to God and to His throne in the third heaven where Christ is today. Revelation 12:11 says that the overcomers who are a part of the man-child are faithful unto death. All of them have been martyred. Hence, the man-child, which includes all the dead overcomers, is different from the firstfruit, who are the living overcomers.