It appears that the early Church also confronted confusion concerning the Lord’s coming as we have today. They, too, heard false teachers speak questionable things concerning that Day. For one thing, they began to fear for their fellow believers who had died before Jesus could return. What would happen to them? Would they miss out and not receive resurrection? What if we don’t last until that time? Although their specific questions were somewhat different from our own in these days, the bottom line is that we do not have to question the hope of our calling—of being fully redeemed and perfected in spirit, soul, and body at the appointed time.
     Once again Paul comes to the rescue because he had come to understand the extended nature of the tribulation of those Days. He came to understand that Jesus would not be returning soon, but latter—at the appointed Day.
       End-Time Lesson: In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul gets right to the heart of the matter—the hope we have in Christ. “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep [a nice way of referring to those who have died because they are eternal spirits], lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”
      When believers die, they go to Heaven to be with the Lord until that appointed Day. Their mortal bodies return to dust here on the earth. They have some sort of spiritual covering that is recognizable, but that is about all we know about this interim “body.” When Jesus returns, Mark 13:27 says, that Christ will send His angels to “gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.” So when Christ comes, He won’t be alone. He will bring the dead in Christ back with Him.
      Paul continues, “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” (1 Thess. 4:16). The dead in Christ will be born from the dead first. Their bodies will somehow be gathered from the earth and changed into immortal, glorified bodies. Being birthed from death—resurrection—means they shall be alive forevermore, no longer subject to death.
      "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17). The Greek word for caught up here is harpazo (har-pad’zo); it is always used in references to the rapture. We know that the rapture is when we are birthed from death—resurrection. So those of us who alive at His coming then receive our immortal, glorified bodies “in a twinkling of an eye.
       The Greek word for “meet” in this passage is apantesis (ap-an’-tay-sis), which refers to a friendly encounter. It comes from the root word that means to meet away. In other words, both the dead in Christ and those who are alive in Christ at His coming are resurrected, gathered to meet together with our Beloved Lord, to be taken back to Father’s House in Heaven as promised. “And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
      We do not simply go part way up in the sky somewhere, meet Christ and the dead in Christ, and then come back down to earth in our glorified bodies as if we’re on some sort of divine Ferris Wheel ride. The masses of ungodly people left on the earth could not stand in the presence of so many glorified beings. That which is unholy cannot coexist with that which is completely holy and sanctified. More on that later.
     In a similar letter to the Corinthians, Paul adds a few more descriptive details as to what it is like to be birthed from death, never to die again.
       “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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ ” (1 Cor. 15:51-54). 

         In Luke’s version of Jesus’ teaching on Mount Olivet, he followed the same sequence of events, as Matthew and Luke, but was led by the Spirit to add a few extra details for the benefit of any Gentile believers who would not be so familiar with the Old Testament prophecies.
      Like the other gospel writers, Luke relays Jesus’ parable concerning the fig tree. Jesus linked the growth and fruit-bearing pattern of the trees to know the season to looking at the kairos signs in our time to know what season we are in. This is why Jesus said,  “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).
         The phrase about being counted worthy simply refers to knowing you are in Christ. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, then you are already worthy—not because of your own works, but through the finished work of Jesus. We are counted righteous through His shed blood. If you’re not sure, then it goes without saying that now is the time to make sure. “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).
            End-Time Lesson: When the dawn of the 7th Day is shattered by a glorious trumpet sound, every believer will be immediately judged as being “in Christ.”  When the veil over the spiritual realm is pulled back and God’s throne is revealed, Revelation 6:16 records this moment of truth for those left behind: “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great Day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
        Hopefully, you know how to answer that question. If not, we’re told in the very next chapter, which is a vision of the raptured Church. “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:9-10).
          So if you think you cannot stand the immorality, deceit, injustice, and lawlessness that Jesus warned us would come, this is what lies ahead for every believer who endures and does not let go of the truth of the rapture and the hope of our calling. Oh, by the way, the things that will come to pass that we escape by virtue of the gracious gift of righteousness include the wrath of the Day, the shaking of the heavens and earth, the mark of the Beast, and the command to worship the image of the Beast. We escape all the trumpet and bowl judgments that are God’s vengeance against evil. In fact, one of the main purposes of the rapture is to gather us to God’s throne so that we can be seated as the heavenly immortal government and execute this justice! 

       By ignoring the “one thing” Peter told us to remember concerning the end-times—how God counts prophetic time in terms of His 1,000-year great Days rather than our earthly 24-hour days—we have lost a vital source of encouragement from God’s Word. Hebrews 10:25 says we can see the Day of our Lord’s coming. I might add, we must see it. Why? Because it gives us a sense of urgency in sharing our faith with others.
          When Jesus introduced the rapture and the end of the Days atop Mt. Olivet overlooking the temple, He compared our time with that of Noah’s. “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Mt. 24:37-39).  
       Incidentally, the preceding verse (v. 36) is referring to the unknown day and hour when heaven and earth pass away at the end of the last Day, not the timing of Jesus’ coming. Otherwise, why bother to tell us the signs of His return and warn us to learn the parable of the fig tree to know what time and season we are in?
           Just as Israel missed the signs of Jesus’ first coming, despite the signs being prophesied in God’s Word over and over, many in our generation may likewise miss His second coming because they are too busy living according to the “woke” ways of this world, just like the masses in Noah’s time. Yet we know that God’s Word shall come to pass, whether or not they believe it.
         The final book in our Bible, reveals what shall happen when the snare of that Day comes and they are unprepared. It tells us what shall happen at the last Day of God’s prophetic week, particularly the first 31/2 years of the final thousand-year Day, which is the wrath of that Day.
         The End-Time Lesson: While Revelation is the timely “what” of the age to come very shortly, the book of Hebrews is the timely “how” of this present age. For it contains a timely, urgent message of living in the reality of who we are in Christ. It opens with a reminder of our inheritance in Christ, for we are joint-heirs with Him as His Body, His Church, His Bride.  
         The rapture isn’t about us escaping because the Church cannot deal with the unfolding events of God’s wrath against evil and the Antichrist. We certainly escape the wrath of that Day as promised because we are in Christ. But the primary reason we are taken to Heaven is to be with Christ in Father’s House and before His throne so we can execute that vengeance against evil. We are seated as the heavenly court and the declaration of our inheritance is declared, for all the heirs are present.
       Hebrews 1 quotes Psalm 2, which tells us the essence of our inheritance. “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps, 2:8-9). Like Jesus the Head of the Church, we are “begotten” that Day by virtue of the rapture, having overcome death through resurrection. Part of being in Christ, then, means we rule and reign with Him from Heaven. “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
         Which brings us back to the Ark of Testimony. Like our Lord, our lives are to reflect God’s love and ways to those around us. Our timely assignment now is to bring as many lost souls as possible into the Ark that is salvation in Jesus Christ. God’s Word tells us we are living in perilous times. Lawlessness abounds. But in the face of such turmoil, God’s Word also tells us that we can abide in Him, the rock of our salvation. He is our refuge and fortress no matter what comes our way (Ps. 91).
         When we walk in the comfort, hope, joy, and victory that is ours in Christ, we can draw people to the goodness of God. In effect, our time now is training for reigning with Christ from Heaven’s throne and seat of all authority. To do so, however, we need to recognize God’s preappointed times and the seasons, and be watchful as we see the Day approaching, calling as many as we can into the Ark.

     When the angelic choir lit up the Bethlehem sky above the shepherds, their timely announcement was a divine prelude to what was to come forth at Jesus’ baptism for ministry. They declared, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” It didn’t mean that all was going to be peaceful and that God suddenly decided to overlook the sins of the world. God doesn’t change and He doesn’t change His mind.
       Instead, it spoke to a new possibility. Through Jesus’ earthly ministry, He would make it possible for sinful mankind to be redeemed and saved from their sinful ways. But it wasn’t a carte blanch for everyone. No, as always, every person would have a choice. It was the same choice seen in the Garden—the choice between God’s kind of abundant life versus the knowledge of good and evil. It was the same choice seen in the Law of the Old Covenant—to follow God’s ways or the ways of this fallen world.
          The announcement heralded a new version of that same choice—a choice between the abundant life in Christ the great Shepherd and Savior versus a deceived and destructive life in Satan, the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4). “The thief [Satan] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I [Jesus Christ] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10.
       The Gospel message isn’t that God is no longer angry with mankind because of Jesus’ work. The message is that out of God’s mercy and grace, He has made it possible for mankind to be reconciled to Him (Rom. 5:10-12). Paul explains the announcement of peace this way: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-3).
          Yes, peace with God is available, but that is not the full story. We also must remember that His Word tells us in no uncertain terms that there is an appointed Day of God’s wrath. The wrath of God shall be revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men and ungodliness (Rom. 1:18). A person who rejects God’s offer of peace through Jesus, a person with a hardened heart, is treasuring up wrath in the Day of wrath (Rom. 2:5). Colossians 3:5-6 tells us that those who walk according to the sinful ways of this world (children of disobedience) shall experience the wrath of God.
          The End-Time Lesson: There is an appointed time for this wrath. Revelation 6:17 tells us that this wrath will come at the start of the Day of the Lord, the 7th and last Day in God’s plan of redemption. Jesus referred to this wrath as the snare of that Day (Luke 21:35). Thankfully, the angelic announcement reminds us that peace is possible. That is why 1 Thess. 1:10 says that believers are delivered from the wrath to come.
         This was the ultimate purpose of that timely announcement in Bethlehem. God’s will is that all be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). His will is that none have to experience His wrath against evil. “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). But because mankind has a will, we have a choice.
          When Jesus stood before His hometown folk and made a timely announcement as well, He read from Isaiah 61:1 to describe His earthly ministry of making peace with God possible. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” He quoted the first part of the next sentence, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” but He strangely stopped there.
         Why? Because the rest of the sentence refers to the Day of vengeance of our God. That is, God’s wrath against evil. It would come after Jesus’ earthly ministry—much, much later, almost two thousand years later.
         It is important that we preach the rest of the passage—the message that peace, comfort, and victory are available through Christ. But if we ignore the fact that God’s wrath shall come, we are subtracting from God’s Word. People need to be warned. They may ignore it as they did in Noah’s time, but we must be faithful to tell the whole story: peace versus wrath—which will you choose?