In our first article we trust we successfully proved that Christ’s coming is to be premillennial. We undertake now to show that Christ’s appearance in the air to catch away both his dead and living saints (as described in I Thess. 4:15-18) is imminent. We are not making any special effort in any of these articles to reply to any objections to our views. We have felt best to confine ourselves mainly to positive proof for our position and leave objections to be advanced by our readers. We urge our readers to write us concerning objections.

The reader is asked to read this article with both an open Bible and an open heart. Read for yourself all the references. For the sake of clearness, we are submitting and attempting to prove three propositions in this article. They are as follows:

Christ’s coming is to consist of two phases

Christ is coming as a bridegroom for His bride (Matt. 25:1-13), coming in the air to catch up His own to meet Him (I Thess. 4:15-18); and He is coming as a destroyer (II Thess. 1:8-9; 2:8), as a judge (Matt. 25:31-46), and as a king to conquer and to reign (Zech. 14:1-9; Rev. 20:1-5). The first two Scriptures represent the first phase of His coming, and the latter ones the second phase.

The two phases of Christ’s coming are to be separated by a considerable period of time

We suppose all believers in the personal coming of Christ will agree with us that His coming is to consist of two phases. But some believe the two phases will occur in immediate connection with each other. In other words, they believe Christ will appear in the air, at which time both His dead and living saints will be changed and caught up to meet Him; and that then He will immediately come on to the earth with them to judge the world and to set up His millennial reign. The proposition we are now attempting to prove is that these two phases of Christ’s coming will not occur in immediate connection with each other, but that they will be separated by a considerable period of time. We believe the great tribulation (Matt. 2:21; Rev. 7:14) will intervene between the two phases of Christ’s coming. We offer the following proofs for the contention that a period of time will intervene between the two phases of Christ’s coming:

(1) The Scriptures that describe the two phases strongly suggest a period of time between them. In the parable of the virgins, the saved (the wise virgins) are merely taken into the marriage, and the lost (the foolish virgins) are merely shut out. But in the description of the judgment (Matt. 25:31-46) the righteous inherit the kingdom, and the wicked are cast into everlasting fire. In the parable of the virgins the saved are taken from among the lost, but in the judgment in the end of the age, the wicked are to be severed from among the just (Matt. 13:49). Will Christ come as a bridegroom, taking His people with Him into the marriage, and then bring them back to earth and cause them to stand in judgment with the wicked of the earth? This would be strange treatment of the bride on the part of the bridegroom! After believers have been already glorified (I Thess. 4:15-18; I Cor. 15:51,52) will they be brought back into judgment with sinners in the flesh? Such a thought is a rank absurdity. And what could be the purpose of such a procedure? Why bring the raptured and glorified saints back and make a separation between them and the wicked after they have been already taken out of the earth? Is it not quite clear that those represented by the wise virgins, and the ones referred to in I Thess. 4:15-18, are not the same ones that are depicted on the right hand of Christ in the judgment scene of Matt. 25:31-46? We believe so. And this can be accounted for only on the grounds of a period of time between the rapture (catching away) of the saints and the judgment of the nations (Matt. 25:31-46). This means then that there must be a period of time between the two phases of Christ’s coming.

(2) For our second reason for believing there will be a period of time between the two phases of Christ’s coming we turn to II Thess. 2:3-9. In this Scripture we have presented to us the gruesome picture of the Man of Sin. We take the Man of Sin to be an actual personality, and not the mere embodiment of a principle or spirit by some group or institution. The Scripture expressly and distinctly calls him a man, and there is no good reason for taking it otherwise than literally. No group or institution can do what it is said the Man of Sin will do. Besides, we think it is clear that the Man of Sin and the Beast of Revelation (Rev. 13; 17; 19:19-20; 20:10) are identical. And that the beast is a personal being is shown by the fact that he is to be cast into the lake of fire with the devil (Rev. 20:10). There is no more reason for denying the personality of the Man of Sin than there is for denying the personality of the devil.

With this much said, let it be noted that as yet no individual that fulfilled the description of the Man of Sin has been revealed on the earth. He is yet to be revealed. And his revelation is now being hindered by some person. (Note the masculine pronoun in verse 7). Who is this hinderer? Our certain conviction is that in the full light of Scripture he can be no other than the Holy Spirit indwelling every true believer (I Cor. 6:19) and every true New Testament Church (I Cor. 3:16). This being true, the taking out of the way of the hinderer will mean the taking out of the earth of every true believer, which will, of course, mean the removal of every true New Testament church. This must be done before the Man of Sin can be revealed, and the Man of Sin must be revealed before the coming of Christ to the earth. Then, since believers will not be taken out of the earth until the first phase of Christ’s coming, there must be space enough between the two phases of Christ’s coming for the Man of Sin to be revealed and to run his course.

Our third proof for the contention that a space of time will intervene between the two phases of Christ’s coming is found in Rev. 7:1-8

In this Scripture we have the sealing of the servants of God. And we find that the sealed Ones consist of “an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” This is manifestly a literal statement, and we take it so. Scripture ought to be taken literally and in its simplest sense, unless the very passage under consideration, or the context, demands another sense. This rule ought to be applied to the book of Revelation the same as to any other book in the Bible. Away with that arbitrary spiritualizing that savors not of the things that be of God, but that instead savors of the liberalism of Modernism! Both passages under consideration and the context favor a literal interpretation here. So at this time God will have no servants on the earth, except Jews! What has become of Gentile believers (together with previous Jewish believers)? They have gone in with the bridegroom to the marriage (Matt. 25:10)!

Christ has appeared in the air, and all His dead and living saints have been caught up to meet Him (I Thess. 4:15-18)!! The first phase of Christ’s corning has already taken place. We see the second phase of His coming pictured in Rev. 19:11-20:5. Therefore, all that is predicted from Rev. 7 (and probably from the beginning of chapter 6) to Rev. 19:11 must transpire between the two phases of Christ’s coming. We think these chapters of Revelation describe the events of the great tribulation period.

The first phase of Christ’s coming is imminent

We have now shown that Christ’s coming is to consist of two phases, and that these phases are to be separated by a period of time. We undertake here to prove that the first phase of His coming is imminent. Note that we are not attempting to prove that Christ’s coming in judgment and to reign is imminent. So far as we know, all unfulfilled prophecies referring to this age (and there are many), without violence to them or any other Scriptures, may be fulfilled in the interim between the two phases of Christ’s coming. They must be fulfilled before the second phase of Christ’s coming, but we know of no prophecy that must be fulfilled before Christ comes for His Bride.

Webster defines the word imminent as meaning “threatening to occur immediately; near at hand; impending.” We maintain that this is exactly the way God has taught in His Word that believers should regard the coming of their Lord to receive them unto himself. The Scripture presents this event as ever “near at hand,” and that, therefore, believers should ever be prepared for it and in the attitude of watchful expectancy. Note the following passages:

(1) Mark 13:35, 36—”Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.” Thayer says that the meaning of “watch” in this and similar passages is “to take heed, lest through remissness and indolence some destructive calamity overtake one.” Can there be any sensible reason for watching for an event, unless, so far as we know, it may take place now?

(2) James 5:8—”Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” The Greek word for “draweth nigh” is in the pluperfect tense, and means, according to Thayer, “has come nigh, is at hand.” A similar form of the same word is said by Thayer to be used “concerning things imminent and soon to come to pass.” The verb in the above passage is translated “is at hand” nine times in the King James Version. Matt. 26:46 furnishes a good example of its use.

(3) Rev. 22:12—”...Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” The word in this passage for “quickly” does not mean suddenly, as some would have it; but it means “quickly, speedily, without delay” (Thayer). Good samples of its use may be found in Matt. 5:25; 28:7,8; Mark 16:8; John 11:29. In the above passage, the coming of Christ is spoken of as God sees it; and a thousand years is as one day with God (I Pet. 3:8). And it is so represented that the time of it may be uncertain to believers. So far as they know it may occur at any moment. Therefore, to them it is ever imminent.

Many passages show the practical value of a belief in the imminent coming of Christ. Prominent among them is James 5:8 as given above. This passage shows that a belief in the imminent coming of Christ is an incentive to patience and strength in the midst of suffering and affliction. Selah.

(This article was taken from The Baptist Examiner Vol. 1, No. 4 from May 15, 1931)