Are There Two Second Comings?
Sally observed that the last staple in the stapler never worked, so she had an idea. She decided that when loading a new strip of staples she would go ahead and remove the last one. That should do it.
Sally learned, of course, that removing the last one did not solve the problem of having a last one. The next to last one became the last one. And that staple didn’t work either.
Silly Sally.
As we learned in the previous chapter, the Bible describes a future day that will be identified by the sound of a trumpet. Three times we are told that a trumpet blast will mark the coming of the Lord.
The boy in the baptistry blew his to mimic when “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). This happens “at his coming… in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound” (1 Corinthians 15:23, 52).
And Jesus said it is when “they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” that “he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds” (Matthew 24:30, 31).
“A great sound of a trumpet… the trump of God… the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound.”
The question is, Do these three trump texts refer to the same event? Sure sounds like it.
Or could there be two second comings? The “in a moment” moment and “in the twinkling of an eye” event happens “at the last trump.” That this trump is the last trump is a dilemma for supporters of a secret rapture. But we’ll save that argument for last.
The Bible teaches that the Day of the Lord is both the day of destruction of the wicked and day of deliverance of the righteous.
Proof?
The day that burns up the wicked as stubble is the same day that spares the righteous as jewels (Malachi 3:17-4:3).
The day Christ burns up the chaff is the same day he gathers “his wheat into the garner” (Matthew 3:12).
The day that “the tares are gathered and burned” is the same day “the righteous shall shine forth as the sun” (Matthew 13:40-43).
The day “they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” is the same day the angels “gather together his elect from the four winds” (Mark 13:26, 27).
The day “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them who know not God” is the same day “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
And the day believers are “caught up together with them in the clouds” is the same day “sudden destruction cometh upon” unbelievers who “shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-5:3).
Here it is in a nutshell:
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9). God hath not appointed us to wrath: the sudden and everlasting destruction of the flaming fire that takes vengeance and burns up the stubble and chaff; the fiery indignation that devours the adversaries.
But God hath appointed us to obtain salvation: the sparing of his jewels; gathering of his wheat; rapture of his own. The catching up is deliverance from burning up.
In case you skipped the last chapter, I will repeat, there is a catching up. I believe in the Rapture, just not a secret or separate one. It happens at the same time of the destruction of the wicked.
Again, the Rapture is deliverance from that destruction. It’s the same day. It’s the same event. It’s one coming.
But Dr. David Jeremiah, representative of the Scofield/Larkin paradigm, believes there are two second comings (italics mine):
“The Rapture and the Second Coming are often confused, but they are two distinct events on God’s prophecy timeline. First, the Rapture is when Christ comes back and takes every Christian that is still on this earth and resurrects all of those who have died and takes them to heaven with Him…The Rapture is God’s protection of His saints from the Tribulation—the seven years of judgment that will then be poured out on earth... Finally, at the end of the seven years, the Bible says Jesus comes back. This is His Second Coming.”
No wonder the two “are often confused;” even Dr. Jeremiah says “First… Christ comes back” and “Finally… Jesus comes back.” That is confusing. But only the second second coming is the “Second Coming.” At least according to Dr. Jeremiah. Fascinating!
Moody Bible Institute concurs (italics mine):
“Before He establishes His kingdom on earth, Jesus will come for His Church, an event commonly referred to as the ‘Rapture’.... At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus Christ will return with the hosts of heaven as well as the Church to establish the Messianic Kingdom on earth. His Kingdom will last for a thousand years. At this Second Coming, the Antichrist will be cast into the Lake of Fire and Satan will be bound for a thousand years.”
There you have it: “Jesus will come” and “Jesus Christ will return.” Two comings. Notice the wording “at this Second Coming.” Not at that Second Coming when “Jesus will come,” but at this second Second Coming when “Jesus Christ will return.”
Not to gnat-strain their semantics, but it is the secret rapturists who have oddly adopted the term “Second Coming” to distinguish Christ’s coming (the Revelation at the end of the Tribulation) from his coming (the Rapture before the Tribulation), though they readily acknowledge that both are called “the coming.”
Googling “Second Coming vs. Rapture” reveals numerous articles with this in common: the authors say they’re two different events but never say where the Bible says it.
The uniformity of the descriptive features in scripture of the Lord’s return should surely cause the thoughtful reader to wonder how “the coming of the Lord” could be divided into two separate events:
It seems incredible that anyone could insist that these passages with so much in common concerning “his coming” are speaking of two different events. Especially note the similarity of these four:
All four have at least four of the five distinctive descriptions in common. Multiple-coming apologists maintain, however, that two of them refer to the secret rapture before the tribulation, and the other two to the revelation of Christ at the end of the tribulation.
“Shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) and “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52) are by far the two most popular phrases in the Premillennial parlance. Why do they see only these two as a secret rapture? It’s because of what they presume cannot be seen.
In the other two passages, Christ is undeniably visible. In the first, Jesus actually warns against claims of a secret return: “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:26, 27). Christ’s coming will be noisily noticeable and noticeably noisy! The sun and moon will go dark, stars will fall, and “the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds” (Matthew 24:29-31).
In the second passage, Christ is “revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire” (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8). That’s also noticeably dramatic and very visible. And it’s “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe... in that day” (2:10).
There’s that day again.
In Matthew 24 he comes “with power and great glory” and in 2 Thessalonians 1 he is present with “the glory of his power” (v. 9). No one seems to question that these two texts describe the same event, nor doubt that it is the one presented in Revelation 1:7: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.”
He is revealed, seen, and admired. Visibility is what Premillennialists insist distinguishes the second coming (or “Revelation”) at the end of the tribulation from the secret rapture before it.
“The Rapture, according to Scripture, will be an instantaneous, hidden event,” Mary Fairchild contends, “The Second Coming, according to Scripture, will be seen by everyone.”
So even if clouds and angels, shouts and trumpets, power and glory, accompany both comings, only the second is seen.
No doubt the Rapture is loud - “with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God” - but though it may be heard, it’s still unseen. Or so say champions of the rapture as a “hidden event.”
My challenge to those who believe in more than one second coming is to read the two short letters to the Thessalonians in one sitting, and ask yourself if Paul was not speaking of one and the same event.
And if he were writing of two distinct ones, how would his readers know the difference? They didn’t have the “advantage” of Scofield’s notes and Larkin’s charts. And why would he give details and urge watchfulness (“let us watch and be sober” - 1 Thessalonians 5:6) of an event that would be seven years removed from their removal? They wouldn’t be there to watch for it.
Here are phrases relevant to Christ’s coming in order of their appearance in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. According to proponents of two comings, the ones on the left presumably refer to the secret rapture and the ones on the right to the visible return. Notice how this means Paul would so quickly flit back and forth between the two (no less than eight times).
What distinguishes the event on the left from the one on the right, in the understanding of the secret rapturists, is the absence of wrath and destruction. But that is a template imposed on Paul, not a difference expressed by Paul.
You’ll search in vain for any explanation from the author that informs his readers on how to distinguish the two. And this from the apostle who began his elucidation of the Lord’s coming with “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
Avoiding ignorance was so often his express intent (Romans 1:13; 11:25; 1 Corinthians 10:1; 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8). But now we’re expected to believe that this gifted communicator who loathed ignorance and sought comprehension nonetheless hopscotched from one coming to the other coming without any clarification.
That would indeed explain why no one figured out about a secret rapture until Darby’s eureka moment, but it wouldn’t account for why an articulate inspired writer would be so ambiguously slapdash.
And it wouldn’t resolve why “a hidden event” (Mary Fairchild’s words) would so often in Scripture be labeled an “appearing.” Wouldn’t hidden and appear be opposites? If you're hidden, you don't appear. And if you appear, you're not hidden.
On five separate occasions Paul speaks of the Lord’s coming as his “appearing” with plenty of particulars as to what that means.
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).
“That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:14, 15).
“The Lord Jesus Christ… shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:4).
“There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).
His appearing is at that day. And believers should not only love his appearing, but should be “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Hardly a hidden event!
There’s more. In the context of “the judgment” after the universal appointment of “men once to die,” the writer of Hebrews affirms that “unto them that look for him (Christ) shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:27, 28). Peter and John both reference “the appearing of Jesus Christ” as a time of reward (1 Peter 1:7; 5:4; 1 John 2:28; 3:2, 3).
Are these ten announcements of an appearance talking about the same event? Without doubt, except to those who separate the secret rapture from the visible return based on the supposition that the first is unseen and only the second involves judgment of the wicked.
And it’s a supposition based on other eschatological notions, not on the actual scriptural expressions that use the same language and give identical details for the alleged distinct comings.
And the expressions in question are devoid of any explanation that would compel an interpretation in which the Lord’s coming from heaven in clouds with angels and power and glory happens twice and years apart.
Especially since we know Christ’s coming is accompanied “with a great sound of a trumpet” and it is “the last trump” at that. If the trumpet in Matthew 24 had been termed the last trump, I’m certain the secret rapture enthusiasts would celebrate that detail as proof positive of separate events, of two comings, with the last trump being sounded at the visible return, after the next to last trump that sounded at the rapture.
But it’s not.
The last trump is specified in a passage promoted as clearly descriptive of the secret rapture: “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” (1 Corinthians 15:51, 52).
This means that the trumpet in Matthew 24 comes later than the last. Say what? No worries, say advocates of the clandestine catching.
“Even the trumpet that will be blown at the Second Coming of Christ (at the end of the tribulation) will not be the absolute last trumpet blown here on planet Earth,” Renald Showers explains on the John Ankerberg Show. “You will have the blowing of trumpets every year (during the Feast of Tabernacles) throughout the Thousand Year Reign of Christ.” So says Showers. Surely that settles it. The last trump is not the last, at least not “the absolute last.”
Sally removed the last staple; Showers moves the last trump. Typical of traditional apologists, the “last trump” text is excised from its context. There’s more than just the last trump in 1 Corinthians 15 to indicate this is one last event:
1 Corinthians 15:22-26. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
“At his coming… then cometh the end… the last enemy… the last trump” (1 Corinthians 15:23, 24, 26, 52). There’s definitely a sense of finality in this language, and there’s nothing at all about any events to follow.
But in Scofield’s notes and Larkin’s charts, there is 1007 years packed in that single period of punctuation between “his coming” and “the end… when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power” and destroyed death, the last enemy.
Look at it again: “...his coming. Then cometh the end…”
Peculiar to John’s gospel is that this coming day of the coming of the Lord is “the last day”:
“And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:39,40).
Twice more Christ emphasizes “I will raise him up at the last day” (6:44, 54). En route to the tomb of Lazarus, sister Martha expressed her confidence: “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24).
So this last day is certainly the resurrection of the righteous.
But it’s also the judgment of the wicked: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:49).
If we believe in one Author inspiring all the authors, surely we believe the last day and the last trump are, well, the last.
My intent is not to squabble over prophetic interpretations. Other than believing the one second coming of the Lord is also the day of the Lord, I don’t have a dogmatic view on how it will all play out in “the last days” before that event. And one can be both a Premillennialist and a Conditionalist, accepting that destruction is ultimately the final fate of the wicked.
So why does this even matter in a debate about endless torment? It matters because so many passages that speak of destruction as the final fate of the wicked are relegated by so many traditionalists to a scene at the end of the seven year tribulation, or ignored altogether. They can’t accept that there could be one end-time event in which Christ comes to judge the world, deliver believers, and destroy the wicked.
But that’s exactly what the Bible teaches.
And this “end” happens on “that day,” the forgotten Day of the Lord. It’s the same day. It’s the last day. It’s the same event. It’s one coming.
And it’s signaled by the sound of the trumpet. The last trump.
I said I was saving this argument about the last trump until last. If I make another one after this one, this one wasn’t the last. Same with the last trump.
Silly Sally, removing the last staple or last trump doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
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