The day of Christ is the Pre-tribulation Rapture of the church and is to be looked forward to.
The Day of the Lord is the Second Coming when Jesus sets foot on the Mount of Olives and is to be greatly feared.
Most of the new age churches today tend to read the Bible from Matthew to Revelation and apply it all to the gentiles and don’t rightly divide their Bible. Not all of the New Testament was written to the Church, but only parts of it. Other parts of it were written to the Jews at the time it was written and to the Jews that will be living during the time of Jacob’s Trouble (Great Tribulation). And other parts of it are written to the unsaved gentiles that will go through the seven year tribulation.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
If you study your Bible and rightly divide the Word of God, you will see that it is impossible for these two events to be the same.
The Pretribulation Rapture of Church is to be looked forward to as the ‘blessed hope’ in Titus 2:13. The Second Coming is a day to be greatly feared as described in Amos 5:18.
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
The Rapture of the Church is the “day of Christ” and will be a glorious day for the believers when Jesus Christ returns in the clouds to meet us in the air.
The Second Coming is called the “day of the Lord” and is to be greatly feared as it will be full of darkness.
Amos 5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
The Rapture and Second coming cannot be the same if one is a blessed hope and the other is darkness.
The Rapture of the Church
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
2 Thessalonians 2:2 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.
The Second Coming
Amos 5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it
Jesus Christ comes for his church at the time of the Rapture and the Church comes back with Jesus Christ during His Second Coming.
At the Rapture, the Church is caught up and disappears from the face of the Earth. At the Second Coming, Jesus returns with His saints. This is another major flaw when the new age churches don’t rightly divide the Bible and try to say the two events are one and the same.
At the Rapture, the saints will be going up and at the Second Coming, the saints will be coming down. See the difference?
The Rapture of the Church
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 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.
The Second Coming
Revelation 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
The Church is taken up to Heaven at the Rapture. At the Second Coming, Jesus sets up his one thousand year rule on earth.
Through the writing of Paul and John, the Church is promised a Heavenly home. The Jews and the Tribulation saints are not given the same promise and are given an earthly Kingdom ruled by Jesus.
The Rapture of the Church
John 14:2-3 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
The Second Coming
Revelation 20:4 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
The Rapture happens before the Antichrist rides the four horses and the beginning of Great Tribulation, while the Second Coming happens after both.
In a letter to the Thessalonians, Paul tells us (the Saints) we are not appointed to wrath and Matthew tells us that the Second Coming is after the tribulation of those days. So the Rapture and the Second Coming cannot be the same.
The Rapture of the Church
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 Thessalonians 2:3 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;
The Second Coming
Matthew 24:29-30 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 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.
At the Rapture, only the Church will see the Lord coming for them. At the Second Coming, The whole world will see the return of the Lord.
Paul calls the Rapture of the Church a mystery. The Holt Spirit used Paul to write the doctrine. At the Rapture, only the true believers who have been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ will here His voice as a sound of a trumpet calling us up to meet Him in the air.
At His Second Coming, The whole world will see Jesus Christ returning for the judgement of the whole world.
The Rapture of the Church
1 Thessalonians 4:17 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.
The Second Coming
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. Even so, Amen.
At the Rapture, Jesus comes to gather His Church. At the Second Coming, angels do all the gathering for judgment.
In a moment, at the twinkling of an eye, Jesus will shout for us to come up, there are no angels involved. At the Second Coming, only angels are sent to gather God’s elect which are the Jewish remnant that made it through Great Tribulation.
The Rapture of the Church
1 Corinthians 15:52 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.
The Second Coming
Mathew 24:30-31 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.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Following the Rapture is the Judgement Seat of Christ & following the Second Coming is the Judgement of Nations.
Immediately after the Rapture of the Church, Paul says we will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Since we have accepted Jesus Christ as our saviour, our sin will not be judged. Jesus died on the cross of Calvary for our sins. We will be judged by our works. But immediately after the Second Coming, the judgment that takes place is a public judgment of the nations.
The Rapture of the Church
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
The Second Coming
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
False Peace, War, Death & Famine follow the Rapture & 1,000 years of true world peace follows the Second Coming.
Immediately after the Rapture there will be an unbelievable suffering known as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) & Immediately following the battle of Armageddon, 1,000 years of unbelievable peace on earth will be led by Jesus Christ & we will rule and rein with him. In Matthew 24 when the Apostles ask Jesus what will be the sign of His coming, they were still looking for a kingdom here on earth and were not given the doctrine of the rapture of the church until thirty years later.
The Rapture of the Church
Revelation 6:1-8 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The Second Coming
Isaiah 11:6-10 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Matthew 24:3, 6-10 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The doctrine of the Rapture of the Church was not revealed until the Lord revealed it to Paul.
In Corinthians 15 Paul first reveals the Rapture of the Church as a mystery God revealed to him alone. Paul is the Apostle that is to teach the Church. The Book of Matthew was written for the Jews around 35 AD and the Book of Corinthians was written for the Church around 66 AD. This shows that Matthew 24 cannot be for the Church since they did not know of the Rapture at that time. The Church was not even formed at the time of the book of Matthew.
The Rapture of the Church
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 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.
At the Pretribulation Rapture, believers are given a glorified body, at the Second Coming they remain in earthly bodies as they enter the Millennial Kingdom.
At the Rapture, The Church (Body of Christ) undergoes a glorious transformation and receives a new body the same as Jesus did at his Resurrection. At the time of the Second Coming, as Jesus sets on the Throne in Jerusalem, the people who miraculously made it through Great Tribulation will still be in there earthly bodies and are able to die. Christians that receive their glorified bodies, can never die.
The Rapture of the Church
Philippians 3:20-21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
The Second Coming
Isaiah 65:17-21 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
If you are not saved and a born again Christian, I ask you to consider the consequences as well as the rewards of salvation in Jesus Christ an invite you to the most important and lift changing decision you will ever make.