So you all believe differently,and Im not debating,I think it's a discussion,as for info on the net,been there and most if not all say Christ can come at anytime,sorry if I lumped you in that group.....However the scriptures you provided were all for His 2nd coming,if you think it's the rapture,can you show me verses for that 2nd coming....And may God bless you as well...
In
1 Thess. 4:15-17 it says, “15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming(3952) of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 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:
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.
You will see “the” before the word “coming.” This makes the “coming” a definite article which is
singular. In contrast as if it were “a coming” it would mean one of many comings.
The Greek word for “coming” used here is Parousia and means Advent. The Strong’s Concordance number is 3952. In the Merriam Webster dictionary the word Advent as used in the bible means, “The Second Coming of Christ.”
This Advent or Parousia of Christ in
1 Thess. 4:15-17 is commonly known as the Rapture of the Church and is the definite article. Everytime you have this particular word used it must be held to the single event of the rapture. Let's see where else we find it in the bible.
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The word Parousia is used 18 times when relating to Christ in the New Testament and every time used it refers to the Rapture event as established in verse 15 where we can see it as a definite article.
If we now look in 2 Thess. Chapter 2 it reads, “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.
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.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
We see the Parousia of Christ used twice here. I want you to take a look at verse 8. Jesus is going to also take care of Wicked 459 (Lawless) , the Anti-Christ at the same time He raptures us up to Himself. The word used here “destroy”2673 means to render idle or useless. So that doesn’t mean that Jesus is going to kill the Anti-Christ. It only means that He is going to incapacitate him.
Seeing that this Rapture event takes place while the Anti-Christ is revealed and already on the scene tells us that the event takes place at a minimum of the middle of the seven year tribulation period of later. This way we can see the timing of the Rapture in relationship to the seven year period.
Just a side note: the word Parousia is not found anywhere in Revelation chapter 19 when Christ returns to earth with His army. Logically so because the Rapture has already taken place before that time so the word representing it is not found.
[FONT="]FYI
The 18 places Parousia is used in the New Testament in reference to Jesus:
Matt 24: 3,
27,
37,
39,
48 1 Co 15:23 1 Thess 2:19,
3:13,
4:15,
15:23 2 Thess 2:1,
8
James 5:7,
8 2 Peter 1:16,
3:4,
12 1 John 2:28[/FONT]
