This post is in response to an excellent question I received from MA~ found here:
http://kingdomstudies.blogspot.com/2009/07/apantesis.html
There is no doubt that both Jude and Revelation mention the fact that Christ returns with His saints.
The word “Saints” is indicative of one who has received salvation, so the saints cannot be angels. Angels are not in need of salvation, so these saints must be Christians.
Now let’s look at these verses:
Matthew 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.
I Thessalonians 4:16,17 - 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.
I Corinthians 15:51,52 - 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: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Revelation 10:7 - But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
What I see here is that Christ returns with his army of angels, who gather His elect (the saints) who meet (Apantesis) Christ in the air, and escort him to his original destination which is Israel.
This takes place as the last trump begins to sound, and just as Corinthians mentions the rapture as being a mystery, Revelation says that at the beginning of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery is finished. (Rapture has now occurred).
So there are two groups involved here.
The Angels in Heaven who come with Christ, and the saints who meet Him in the air, and go with him to the earth.
And as always, I appreciate any responses or correction.
2 responses to "apantesis response"
So the armies of Heaven in Rev 19 are angels? Is that what you are saying? Just trying to be sure. Ok, I can see that, but what about the 'as in the days of Noe' statement. It seems that if we were at the end of the biggest Heck on earth that things would not be going on as usual...? I also have thought that the mystery in Revelation was the rapture, of course that puts in much further in than I would like it:)
As far as things "Going on as usual", I don't think it's that simple.
The scripture says:
Matthew 24:38 - For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
I realize most interpret this to mean everything is normal, but that's not what it says. It says people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.
No matter how bad things get, no matter how many people die, those left are still going to have to eat and drink.
Even if this planet doesn't resemble anything we recognize today, I don't believe it is far fetched to believe that some will want to marry.
Even in Genesis 6, the fallen angels came down and took wives.
And again; I'm not claiming to have all the answers, so any additional insight would be great!
I'm just writing what makes the best sense to me in these studies.