Christ's Parousia

The Coming of Christ, The Parousia, His promised return, a hotly debated topic in forums and denominations across the world because everyone sees themselves as right and won't allow for a correct exegesis to shed light on what they think no matter how correct it may be. In studying this topic one more time, I hope to present some more insight, but understand that I don't know it all. I will try to show what I see the Scriptures saying by using Scripture correctly.

***Disclaimer:

If I misuse a passage of Scripture, feel free to contact me and point out the error of usage. However if what you show me is your misusage, please allow me the right to say so as well. Now can I be any fairer than that?? [[[smile]]]
Mt 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? The disciples of Jesus ask Him some important questions, this one in particular when they are together on the Mount of Olives the night He is betrayed. What shall be the sign of thy coming? This question has reverberated through the centuries until here in 1999 it means perhaps more than ever to His disciples. That's why the answer is so important because we are on the threshhold of "His Parousia"!!

3952 parousia parousia par-oo-see'-ah

from the present participle of 3918; TDNT-5:858,791; n f

AV-coming 22, presence 2; 24

1) presence
2) the coming, arrival, advent

2a) the future visible return from heaven of Jesus, to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and set up formally and gloriously the kingdom of God
Dan 7:13-14 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Acts 1:9-11 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Mt 24:30 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.

Mr 13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

Notice all the familiar words used in these passages thus far. The parousia/parousia will be similar to His ascension in that He went up into the clouds and He will return in the clouds. This is a literal return to the earth, the very same way He left the earth, in the clouds. This is His Parousia!!

Is the parousia the rapture? Is the Day of the Lord His return? Is the first resurrection the same thing as the rapture? How fast will His return be? When is the rapture? These questions are discussed all over the internet and with a great deal of passion as one side demands their correctness and the other dogmatically screams their truth. Let's look at Scripture and see what we have for answers to these questions.

1Th 4:13-17 ś But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, 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 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 so shall we ever be with the Lord.

This passage gives us a few answers to some of the questions because the context is "His Parousia"!! Now what happens at His parousia? Let's just stay in context of this passage before we bring other passages. It says "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:" There is a shout, a voice of an archangel, and a trumpet call. Jesus is in the middle of the sky amongst the clouds, the shout, the voice, and the trumpet of God all sound "His Parousia"!! Now with all this noise, some would say the whole world will hear it, but actually the only ones who hear the noise are those who are in Christ, those who had repented of their sins and have a relationship with the Messiah. Paul told the Thessalonians there are two groups in Christ: ...the dead in Christ... and there are ...we who are alive...! So Paul separates these groups, but it is curious as to why he separates them. Jesus Himself gives us some insight as to why there is this separation of groups. Mt 24:31 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. The angels gather from the four winds ...we who are alive...on the earth, and from heaven ...the dead in Christ..., those who had already died in Christ, their flesh was buried and their souls were in heaven with the Lord.

We will come back to these two events in a moment, but we must go back to the term "His Parousia"!!, and look at the timing of it so that we can then relate the two events, their timing and the details of them. Let's look at what Paul told the Thessalonians. 2Th 2:1-4 ś Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. ś Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Pay particular attention to this detail, the parousia will not happen until the apostasy (the falling away), and the antichrist is revealed.

646 apostasia apostasia ap-os-tas-ee'-ah

feminine of the same as 647; TDNT-1:513,88; n f

AV-to forsake + 575 1, falling away 1; 2

1) a falling away, defection, apostasy

There's no need to go into great detail concerning the apostate church, but a few things do need to be said to give more context. First and foremost we must see that they were in church, they did know the truth, and they defected from the truth they once knew. There is no other way to define this word, apostasy. To attempt to change the meaning would be a violation of context, common sense, and Greek vocabulary. This apostasy has been taking place since Paul wrote his Epistle. Paul warns of this danger, apostasy! But he is not the only one to warn us!!

Jesus tells of the danger of apostasy. Let's take a look at what our Lord Jesus says to John the apostle while he is in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Rev 3:14-20 ś And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. How did the Laodiceans come to the position that they were okay in Christ and Jesus saying that His vision of them was very much different to the point that if they don't repent they were to be vomited from His mouth. Notice that this group of people attend church, but Jesus is on the outside of their hearts and knocking on the door to come in. This is apostasy, defecting from the relationship they once had in Christ. These people knew the truth at one time, they had a form of godliness (2Tim 3), but they have departed from the truth in the last days (1Tim 4).

Is there a genuine danger in apostasy? There is one group that speaks of salvation as eternal and that our Lord is not One who gives and takes back His gifts. They call this eternal security. After one has come to the Lord, this group speaks of salvation as eternal life and forever saved no matter what happens next or the choices that one makes. If a person is eternally secure, then there is no danger of apostasy, as a matter of fact, we must throw away this word and never use it in the Scriptures because by definition it contradicts eternal security. But is that the only danger? No it isn't! Let's look at some more warnings from Scripture.

Lu 17:26-27 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. (Mt 24:37-39)

Lu 17:28-32 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Notice that life carried on as normal for these people as they participated in the choices they made in life rejecting the warnings from Noah's preaching of righteousness, and they were destroyed in the flood. These will be the attitudes when the Lord returns, His parousia. The people in Sodom participated in normal life as they knew it and had rejected Lot. We even have the added displeasure of Lot's wife who after being in Zoar in safety looked back at her days in Sodom and all the "good old days", desiring to return, but she was changed to a pillar of salt.

Lu 21:34-36 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. Again our Lord Yashua relates the dangers of choices that we may make. It isn't just one choice or one sin as so many try to relate, but these are choices of rejection that comes easy after a while, a walking away from the Lord until He is no longer welcomed in our lives and we have become apostates. To those who are aware of their relationships and do not take them for granted, they are alive and growing, marriages that have love because of self sacrificing and putting the other first. This is why the mystery of the church is marriage (Eph 5:32). Yashua is the Groom returning for a holy bride, one that desires Him, is awaiting His return, is not allowing the cares of this world to choke out the Word of God.

1Th 5:1-10 ś But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. ś Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. It isn't God's will for any of His creation to perish, but for all to repent (2Pet 3:9), we are not appointed for wrath because He has already paid the price. God wants us to not let His return to be like a thief when people are thinking they are okay (Laodiceans), but are not and are consumed in His wrath of destruction and worldwide purging.

For there to be any other conclusion concerning the attitudes when the Lord returns, concerning the choices that people will be making when the Lord returns, and concerning the dangers of apostasy, I am convinced they would lead to theological and spiritual suicide. The dangers are very real for apostasy, very, very real. To rest on some pie in the sky theology that one is eternally secure is not just irrational, but flies in the face of Scripture when looked at from the WHOLE of Scripture and not a few verses taken out of context or some emotional appeals with extreme examples/analogies that are incorrect.

Now we know from Scripture that His parousia is after the apostasy, and after the man of sin is revealed, and after the tribulation of those days as we have discussed. Now when He appears in the clouds, after the tribulation, after all the noise, there are those two things that happen, the gathering together by His angels of two groups, the dead in Christ and the alive in Christ. These are two different actions. 1Th 4 ś But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep...and the dead in Christ shall rise first:... Notice the point that Paul clearly makes, and the dead in Christ shall rise first:...!! Paul says it a little differently in another passage. 1Cor 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. What happens at His parousia? First the dead in Christ are raised and they put on the glorified body the Lord has for them. This is the group that Daniel talks about that awake. Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel reveals the dead in the faith raised to everlasting life, and the other group, well we know where they will end up, I think. Yet, just in case you don't, the lake of fire will be their eternal destination. The apostle John in Revelation tells us the same thing. Rev 20:4-6 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

This first action in the parousia is the raising of the dead bodies and replacing it with a glorified body combining the soul and spirit once again in a tabernacle, one that will last all eternity. When you think about this, it now becomes clearer why the action of the angels. Mr 13:27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Mt 24:31 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.

575 apo apo apo'

a primary particle; ; preposition

AV-from 393, of 129, out of 48, for 10, off 10, by 9, at 9, in 6, since + 3739 5, on 5, not tr. 16, misc. 31; 671

1) of separation

1b1) where of a whole some part is taken

2) of origin 2a) of the place whence anything is, comes, befalls, is taken
2b) of origin of a cause

The usage by Matthew shows this preposition has the angels in heaven gathering those already in the heavens who had died in Christ, their souls and spirits present with the Lord, and now placed within a glorified body for all eternity. Paul tells us this happens in the twinkling of an eye (1Cor 15:52). For this word to be used consistently and by defintion, these are people in heaven, not angels, but people who died in Christ, those who died during the tribulation and were under the altar, and all those who were carried to heaven at Jesus Christ's ascension when He led captivity captive, Abraham's Bosom into the heavens where Paradise is, and where the thief who died next to the Lord would be.

The other action that takes place at the Lord's parousia is the alive, those who are alive and remain, this group also receives a glorified body to house the soul and spirit of that person. 1Cor 15:51-52 ś Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: ..., and 1Th 4:17 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 so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is where we get the word rapture because the Latin word used here for caught up is rapere. The Greek definition describes the action much better.

726 arpazw harpazo har-pad'-zo

from a derivative of 138; TDNT-1:472,80; v

AV-catch up 4, take by force 3, catch away 2, pluck 2, catch 1, pull 1; 13

1) to seize, carry off by force
2) to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly
3) to snatch out or away

The force probably has something to do with taking the corruptible body and leaving it and placing the spirit and soul in an incorruptible body.

The resurrection and the rapture do happen, this is undeniable as some have taught. These passages of Scripture can not be super-spiritualized away unless we violate sensible hermeneutics. The Old Testament uses a little different terminolgy for the Lord's parousia, and the resulting devastation that takes place on the earth as the wrath of the Lamb is poured out, as the antichrist and his armies are defeated, as the Lord stands on the Mount of Olives in victory. Obadiah 15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. Joel 2:1 ś Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; The OT talks about the Day of the Lord, His return and victory which begins with the first resurrection, then the rapture, followed by the victory, and then the 1000 years of ruling and reigning with Him.

Other passages to read are:

Ps 2:4-9; Isa 13:9-13; Mal 4:1-6; Amos 5:16-20; Jer 30:3-11; Eze 7:2-12; Eze 30:2-6; Zep 1:14-16; Joel 2:11, 31; Joel 3:14; Zech 13:7-9, 14:1-9.

The parousia, His return, the Day of the Lord, the first resurrection, and the rapture, they all happen almost simultaneously, and while some aspects will last for some time such as the wrath of God, the bowl judgments, it begins with the parousia. There is no eternal security, there is no pre-tribulation rapture, there is no feel good theology, but there is the Lord who will protect His as He did with Noah, as He protected Lot and his family that accepted His protection. Don't be lulled to sleep by mockers! Be expectant and know He is COMING, but you must be looking for Him, longing for Him. Watch out for the dangers of the world entering your thought process until what the Lord started is killed out by those terrible thorns, the cares of the world.