Matthew 24:36-43 describes what it will be like during the secret aspect of the Lord’s coming in the heavens. If we do not have the concept of the secret aspect of His coming, we cannot understand these verses. Verse 37 says that the Lord’s coming, parousia, will be as the days of Noah. This indicates that the Lord’s parousia will be a period of time. This period will be as the days of Noah, that is, the situation of the Lord’s parousia will be like that in the days of Noah.
Revelation 14:1 and 12:5 also refer to the secret aspect of Christ’s coming in the heavens. Revelation 14:1 shows that Christ and the firstfruit, the hundred and forty-four thousand, are standing on Mount Zion in the heavens. Revelation 12:5 tells us that the overcomers will be raptured to where God is on His throne.
The Lord’s parousia will travel. It will be on the way. His parousia, His presence, will travel from the throne of God in the third heaven to the air.
Revelation 10:1 reveals Christ coming down out of heaven and being clothed with a cloud in the air. At this time He is clothed with a cloud, not yet “on the cloud” as in 14:14 and Matthew 24:30 and 26:64. To be “on the cloud” is to come openly, whereas to be “clothed with a cloud” is to come secretly.
Christ will linger in the air for a while to do a number of things. First, He will rapture the majority of the believers into the clouds. First Thessalonians 4:16 and 17 say, “Because the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are living, who remain, shall be caught up at the same time together with them in clouds into a meeting of the Lord in the air; and so we shall be always together with the Lord.” These verses refer to the rapture of the majority of the believers, including all the dead saints of the Old Testament.
The man-child and the firstfruit, the overcomers, will be raptured to the third heavens before the last three and a half years of the great tribulation. The man-child will be raptured to the throne of God in the heavens, and the firstfruit will be raptured to Mount Zion in the heavens. But the majority of the saints will be raptured into the clouds in the air. They will be raptured after Christ’s parousia travels from the third heavens to the air. While Christ is lingering in the air, He will rapture all of His believers. Verse 17 says that the majority of the believers will be “caught up...in clouds into a meeting of the Lord in the air.” As believers in Christ, we should all expect to be raptured, but do we expect to be raptured to the throne or to the air? The throne is higher than the air. The throne of God is the peak. To climb a mountain to reach its peak is not so easy. If we want to be raptured to the throne, we must overcome.
While the parousia of Christ is lingering in the air, Christ raptures the majority of the believers. They are the harvest, not the firstfruit. The firstfruit is mentioned at the beginning of Revelation 14 (vv. 1-5), and the harvest is mentioned near the end (vv. 14-16). Between the firstfruit and the harvest is the three and a half years of the great tribulation (vv. 6-13). Revelation 14 tells us four things: the rapture of the firstfruit to Mount Zion in the heavens, the manifestation of Antichrist to damage the world, the harvest of the majority of the believers near the end of the great tribulation, and the gathering of the grapes (the evil doers) for the great winepress at the end of the great tribulation (vv. 17-20). Wheat in typology signifies God’s people, but grapes signify the evil persons, which include Antichrist and the evil, worldly forces, whom Christ will destroy at Armageddon (Rev. 16:13-16).
After this rapture of all God’s chosen people in both the Old and New Testament times, Christ will judge all the saints at His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; Matt. 25:19; Luke 19:15; Rom. 14:10, 12). Many believers think that when Christ comes again, everything related to them will be all right. Surely, if we are overcomers, everything will be wonderful to us when He comes. But what if we are defeated Christians? Matthew 24 and 25 reveal that if the Lord’s slaves are faithful, He will reward them. But if they are not faithful, they will be punished. Matthew 24 says that the evil slave will have his portion with the hypocrites, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (vv. 48-51). In Matthew 25 the Lord tells a parable of a man going into another country and distributing talents to all his slaves. To one he gives five talents, to another two, and to another one. When he comes back, he asks his slaves to give him an account. In this parable, the slaves with five and two talents fully used their gift and doubled what their master gave them (vv. 16-17). But the slave with one talent went away and hid his talent in the earth (v. 18). The Lord said that this useless slave will be cast out into the outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (v. 30). When the Lord comes back, He will ask His slaves to give Him an account at His judgment seat. Many Christians will have problems when they appear before the judgment seat of Christ. In Matthew 12 the Lord said that men shall have to give an account in the day of judgment concerning every idle word that they speak (vv. 36-37). If we always gossip and criticize others, what will be our situation at the judgment seat of Christ?
The term “the judgment seat of Christ” is found in 2 Corinthians 5:10. Romans 14:10 calls this judgment seat “the judgment-seat of God.” The judgment seat of Christ is the judgment seat of God. In 1 Corinthians 4:5 Paul said that we should not judge anything before the time when the Lord comes. This verse indicates that the Lord will judge everything at His judgment seat. Matthew 25:19 and Luke 19:15 both show that the Lord’s servants will render an account to Him, and He will either reward or punish them. The judgment at Christ’s judgment seat will be for reward to the overcomers (Rev. 11:18b; Luke 14:14; Matt. 24:45-47; 25:20-23; Luke 19:16-19). It will also be for punishment of the defeated believers (Matt. 24:50-51; 25:24-30; Luke 19:20-26).