Message Ten

The Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ
and Our Gathering Together to Him

Scripture Reading: 1 Thes. 4:15-18; 5:16-18; 2 Thes. 2:1-12;
Dan. 2:28; 9:24-27

1. The two Epistles to the Thessalonians were written in the light of the Lord’s coming; the Lord’s coming (Gk. parousia) is His presence:
   1. Every chapter of 1 Thessalonians ends with the coming of the Lord; this shows that the writer, Paul, lived and worked with the Lord’s coming before him, taking it as an attraction, an incentive, a goal, and a warning—1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:15-18; 5:23.
   2. Because we are awaiting the Son of God from the heavens, our future is focused on Him; our life declares that we have no hope on this earth and no positive destiny in this age, and that our hope is the coming Lord, who is our destiny forever; this governs, holds, and keeps our Christian life for the church life—1:10; 2 Thes. 2:1, 8.
2. We need to see “the coming [presence—Gk. parousia ] of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him”—vv. 1-12:
   1. Before the three and a half years of the great tribulation, the overcomers among the believers will be raptured into Christ’s presence (parousia) in the heavens—Rev. 12:5-6; 14:1-5; Luke 21:34-36; Matt. 24:36-44.
   2. At the end of the three and a half years of the great tribulation, the second half of the last week in Daniel 9:27, the majority of the believers, both the dead and resurrected and the living, will be raptured into Christ’s presence (parousia) in the air; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 speaks of this rapture, which corresponds to the reaping of the harvest in Revelation 14:14-16.
3. The prophecy of the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24-27 shows that the day of the Lord’s coming is very near; the seventy weeks are divided into three parts, each week being seven years in length—cf. 2 Pet. 1:19:
   1. First, seven weeks (forty-nine years) were apportioned from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Neh. 2:1-8) to the completion of the rebuilding.
   2. Second, sixty-two weeks (434 years) were apportioned from the completion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the cutting off (crucifixion) of the Messiah—Dan. 9:26.
   3. Third, the last week of seven years will be for Antichrist to make a firm covenant with the people of Israel (v. 27); in the middle of that week he will break the covenant, terminate Israel’s sacrifices and oblations to God, and persecute those who fear God (v. 27; Rev. 13); this will be the beginning of the great tribulation, which will last for three and a half years:
      1. When there is news that such a strong man signs a treaty of seven years with Israel, we have to prepare ourselves to be raptured—Matt. 24:32-44.
      2. At the beginning of the great tribulation, Antichrist’s image will be set up in the temple as an idol, and he will sit in the temple of God, exalting himself above every object of worship; this means that the temple must be rebuilt before the great tribulation begins—vv. 15, 21; Rev. 13:14-15; 2 Thes. 2:3-4; Dan. 11:36-37.
   4. There is a gap of unknown duration between the first sixty-nine weeks and the last week of the seventy weeks; this gap is the age of mystery, the age of grace, the age of the church—Eph. 3:3-11; 5:32; Col. 1:27:
      1. During this age Christ is secretly and mysteriously building up the church in the new creation to be His Body and His bride—Eph. 5:25-32.
      2. At the end of the last week of the seventy weeks, Christ with His overcomers, His bridal army, will come as the smiting stone to crush the totality of human government and become a great mountain, the kingdom of God, that fills the whole earth—Dan. 2:34-35; 2 Thes. 2:8; Rev. 19:19-20.
4. We must be those who have dispensational value to God “in the last days,” those who are being prepared to be God’s dispensational instrument, Christ’s bridal army, to turn the age for the glory of God and the kingdom of God—Dan. 2:28; Rev. 12:1-5; 14:1-5; 19:7-9, 13-16.
5. The Lord will come secretly as a thief to those who love Him and will steal them away as His treasures to bring them into His presence in the heavens; hence, we must watch and make ourselves ready to be His bride—Dan. 10:19; Matt. 24:42-44; 25:13; Rev. 19:7; 22:20:
   1. Every day that we have is truly the Lord’s grace; therefore, as long as we have today, as long as we still have breath, we must love the Lord and His appearing, await the Lord’s coming, and always take His coming as an encouragement—1 Thes. 5:1-11; 2 Tim. 4:1, 6-8; Luke 12:16-20.
   2. We must be absolutely consecrated to God, having one heart to love Him, seek Him, live Him, and be constituted with Him to be His expression—Jer. 32:39.
   3. We must be reconstituted with the holy Word of God, reading the Bible all the days of our life—Col. 3:16; Deut. 17:18-20; Psa. 119:15-16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17.
   4. We must persevere in prayer to glorify God, thank God, worship God, and serve God; our prayer and our being should be totally for God’s interests—Dan. 6:10; 9:17; 1 Kings 8:48; cf. Rom. 1:21, 25.
   5. We must be self-sacrificing persons in oneness with Christ as the One who sacrifices Himself for others—1 Thes. 2:1-12, 19-20; 5:12-15; Phil. 1:22-26.
   6. We must be watchful, on the alert, for our prayer life, cooperating with the indwelling, sanctifying Spirit to live a rejoicing, praying, and thanking life as a glory to God and a shame to His enemy—Matt. 25:13; Col. 4:2; 1 Thes. 5:16-18.
   7. We must not beat our fellow slaves, eat and drink with the drunken, or bury the Lord’s gift; instead, we must feed God’s children, spreading the truth of the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth—Matt. 24:14, 45-51; 25:25.
   8. We must keep the word of the Lord’s endurance, standing against the wearing-out tactics of Satan, and live, walk, and work by faith and love in the hope of the Lord’s coming back—Rev. 3:10; Dan. 7:25; 1 Thes. 1:3.