By Alden Ho, Wheel Salt Ministries
With all the craziness surrounding us today, there is no doubt that faithful Christians are greatly looking forward to the soon appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. At the same time, we need to beware that Satan is always looking for an opportunity to counterfeit anything that Jesus does, and why not the second coming? That would be Satan’s crowning master deception. “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it (Matthew 14:17).” So, how can we not have the wool pulled over our eyes? The Bible says in Isaiah 8:20, “to the law and to the testimony! If do not they speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” The following is what the Bible says will happen when Jesus returns.
“They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30).” Our first clue says that they will see Jesus coming, but who are “they?” “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him (Revelation 1:7).” The “they” then, is everyone that is living at that particular time, and even some who were involved with the death of Jesus will be brought back to life to witness His coming. We are also told, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).”
We find three things that are the identifying signs of the Jesus’ second coming: 1. Every eye will see Him; 2. Every ear will hear Him; 3. He will not touch the earth. When the clouds break open, the trumpet call of God will sound which will awaken the sleeping saints in their graves, who will arise changed to immortality and get caught up with the now immortal living saints who will never see death. The Apostle Paul writes, “Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).”
It is key to understand that all the saints will be caught up, meaning brought up to where Jesus is in the clouds, because He will not touch this sin filled world. This means that any report of Jesus being in Dallas, Los Angeles, Jerusalem, or Rome is a deceptive lie, because Satan is on the ground trying to impersonate Jesus. Matthew 24:23, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
So far, the righteous are with Jesus, and what about the wicked? “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! (Revelation 6:15-16).”” The prophet says, “And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground (Jeremiah 25:33).”
Please note that everything so far I have shared is not my own words, but directly from the Bible. You may ask, why is it that we don’t hear more preaching and teaching about Christ’s second coming? This is because that’s the way Satan would have it. If people heard these truths, that would change their lives and lead them to study more from their Bible, and to spread of the gospel to tell others, but this would only infuriate Satan, as he would rather us all be with a “form of godliness” (2 Timothy 3:5) or be lukewarm (Revelation 3:17-20), than be prepared, watching and waiting.
And what about the secret rapture? Well, its such an absent secret that it’s not even mentioned in the Bible, but rather only as a novel story. The Bible warns, “and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables (2 Timothy 4:4). Be faithful to only the Word of God, where truth is truth.
Alden J. Ho is the pastor of Wheel Salt Ministries, www.aldenho.com, and can be reached at 630-643-4646 or aldenho@yahoo.com.