Lesson 44 - Events Preceding the Second Coming of Christ

     In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus describes the period between His first and second coming (Matt. 13:25-30, 36-40). We know this to be the church age in which we currently live."In general, Matthew 13 speaks of the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ without reference to the rapture or the particulars of the church as the body of Christ. It describes the sphere of profession of faith and the mingled picture of good and evil. The dual development of both good and evil throughout the age, climaxing in judgment and separation, characterizes the period."[1] Dr. Chafer argues there are nine signs given in that section:

1. False Christs (vs. 5)
2. Wars and rumors of wars (vs.6)
3. Famines (vs. 7)
4. Pestilences (vs. 7)
5. Earthquakes (vs. 7)
6. Martyrs (vss. 9-10)
7. False prophets (vs. 11)
8. Abounding iniquity and cooling ardor for Christ (vs. 12)
9. The gospel of the kingdom to be preached in all the world (vs. 14)[2]

He also argues there are four additional signs given in 2 Peter chapters 2-3:

1. Denial of the Person and deity of Christ (2:1)
2. Denial of the work of Christ that He bought us when He died on the cross (2:1)
3. Moral apostasy over departure from moral standards (2:2-22)
4. Departure from the doctrine of the second coming of Christ and the judgments related to it (3:1-13)[3]

     The rapture of the church will bring the church age to a close. It is at this time that Jesus will call all Christians from the world to heaven (1 Cor. 15:51-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18), leaving only a professing church behind (i.e. not true Christians such Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other groups who take the name “Christian”). “This event will bring to a close the purpose of God in terms of the church as a separate company of saints, and the departure of the church will set the stage for the major events leading up to the second coming of Christ to the earth to set up His millennial kingdom.”[4]

The Period of Preparation

     The removal of the church from the world will allow evil to prosper in new ways without restriction. Evil embraces religion, and there will eventually come a worldwide religion described as Babylon the Great in Revelation 17. This will be the time when Israel’s blindness will be removed and many will be saved (Rom. 11:25-26). Like the Jewish apostles who started the church, so there will be Jewish evangelists who will convert many to Christ during the time of the Tribulation (Rev. 7:4-8). It is also during this time that there will emerge a confederation of European nations that will form the basis for a one world government where Antichrist will rule (Dan. 7:7-8).

The Period of Peace

     The Antichrist will rise to world power and broker a seven year peace treaty with Israel and her surrounding hostile neighbors (Dan. 9:26-27). It is implied in Scripture that the Jewish temple will be rebuilt and animal scarifies will be reinstituted (Dan. 9:27; 2 Thess. 2:3-4).

The Period of Persecution

     The Antichrist will break the peace treaty with Israel half way through the seven year Tribulation and will take political control of the nations of the world and set up a global economic and religious system which he controls (Rev. 13:7, 16-17). This begins the period of worldwide persecution known as the great Tribulation (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 7:14). During this time the Antichrist will set himself up in the Jewish temple as god (2 Thess. 2:4) and will persecute all who do not worship him (Rev. 13:8, 15). God will pour out great judgments upon the earth and the vast majority of mankind will be destroyed (Revelation chapters 6-18). The troubles of the world will cease only when Christ returns (Rev. 19:11-21).

 

[1] Lewis Sperry Chafer; John F. Walvoord; Major Bible Themes (Grand Rapids, Mich. Zondervan Publishing, 2010), 313.

[2] Ibid., 313.

[3] Ibid., 3:13.

[4] Ibid., 314.