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Quiet Wyatt

The CoG has no official stance on the timing of the rapture

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12809 **5/21/24 6:59 pm**

We believe…In the premillennial second coming of Jesus. First, to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living saints to Him in the air. Second, to reign on the earth a thousand years.

Notice it plainly says “the premillennial second coming.” The tribulation period and the relation of the rapture to the tribulation period are not even mentioned in our DoF. All that is affirmed regarding the events surrounding the return of Christ is premillennialism. To be sure, the resurrection of the righteous and catching away/rapture of the saints is mentioned, but the catching away or rapture preceding the reign of Christ on earth is true of all the various premillennial views.

I have known several CoG pastors over the years who affirmed the posttrib view, including myself. I am always amazed whenever anyone assumes the CoG is definitely pretrib. The statement as it stands can fit with any of the various premillennial views, whether pretrib, midtrib, prewrath, or the correct one, posttrib. This is undeniable when one actually reads the Declaration of Faith slowly and carefully.

Mat

Re: The CoG has no official stance on the timing of the rapture

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1988 **5/22/24 7:50 am**

Nature Boy Florida

Re: The CoG has no official stance on the timing of the rapture

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 16637 **5/22/24 8:22 am**

Quiet Wyatt

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12809 **5/22/24 9:45 am**

In affirming the premillennial second coming of the Lord Jesus, we are not setting a date for His return. That is expressly not for us to know, according to Jesus’ own words immediately before He ascended to Heaven. In affirming the premillennial second coming, we are only saying, “This is how we see the Scriptures concerning the prophesied end of this present age, and the beginning of the prophesied age to come.”

FLRon

Acts-celerater Posts: 779 **5/27/24 6:05 pm**

Then is it safe to say the CoG is Dispensational Premillinialist? I have yet to find a single CoG congregation that believes in the post tribulation second coming of Christ, as all seem to preach an imminent return.
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“Hell will be filled with people that didn’t cuss, didn’t drink, and may even have been baptized. Why? Because none of those things makes someone a Christian.”
Voddie Baucham

Quiet Wyatt

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12809 **5/27/24 8:53 pm**

Quiet Wyatt

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 12809 **5/28/24 10:36 am**

Could Jesus return at any moment?

The New Testament is clear in saying that believers should be looking for Christ’s return. The inspired writers of the New Testament all emphasize the idea that believers should live holy, ready and earnestly watching for Christ’s return. Paul the Apostle, near the end of his earthly life, said, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8 NIV). The Greek word translated here, epiphaneia, does not refer to a secret, “any moment” rapture, however, but instead means “appearing, manifestation, glorious display.” This refers to the glorious appearing of Jesus to all the world which will occur when He returns to rule the world and judge the wicked. Paul says the same thing in every case in which he encourages believers to be looking ahead to Christ’s return. It is a public manifestation of Jesus Christ himself that is our blessed hope. Paul uses the same concept in one of the most well-known passages referring to Christ’s return:

Titus 2:13 (NIV) While we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Some teach that Christ’s return is imminent, meaning He could come “at any moment,” and that this has been the case since the New Testament period itself. They base this idea on the many warnings in the New Testament to “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42 NASB). While readiness, watchfulness, and holiness of heart and life are indeed emphasized by our Lord himself concerning His return, He also mentioned some specific things that must happen prior to His glorious return. If the New Testament teaches an “any moment” return of Christ to earth, it was just as true in the days in which the New Testament was written as it would be at any time since.

In Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus stated several things which must occur prior to His return. First, He said that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. This occurred historically in the year 70 AD, within one generation of Christ saying this would happen. He then goes on to mention other things that must happen prior to His glorious return, including false Messiahs coming, wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes in various places, which He describes as “the beginning of birth pains;” that is, these signs that must happen prior to His coming are analogous to the signs which always must precede childbirth. He goes on to say to His disciples that they will be hated by all nations because of His name. From this, one can only logically conclude that the Christian faith had to spread into all nations before all nations could hate the disciples. Indeed, Christ says in Matthew 24:14 that “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and THEN the end will come.”

Jesus Christ, the absolutely perfect revealer of truth, could not contradict himself. He simply could not have come before the gospel had been spread into all nations, and before all nations would come to hate His disciples. Even in our day, experts in world missions say that we have yet to reach every people group (which is what a nation is biblically) in the world with the gospel, though we are well on our way to reaching the world for Christ.

If it is true, as we have seen above, that Christ could not have come back “at any moment” before the gospel had gone out into all the world, it then necessarily follows that New Testament does not in fact teach an “any moment” rapture of the church from the earth. And if it was not true in the first century, it cannot be true in the 21st century. To be sure, we are to obey the scriptures which command us to be ready for His return, but the New Testament teaching is to be ever-ready by living a holy life, whether we live or die before He comes, not to expect an “any moment” rapture as such. We are to look for His glorious appearing, which will bring an end to this present age, which will usher in the fullness of the kingdom.

How are Christians to live in this present age, then? Live 100% for Jesus Christ every day, longing and looking for His return, with His perfect, holy love ruling our hearts in such a way that we will have “confidence and not be ashamed before Him at his appearing” as 1 John 2:28 says. And remember, it is His glorious appearing which believers are to look forward to, not to some supposedly secret rapture several years prior to His second coming. The only rapture Jesus ever spoke of is the gathering together of the elect (the holy people of God) immediately after the tribulation, upon His return, which will be like lightning flashing from the east to the west, not a secret rapture but an open revelation of His glory to the entire world.