A Unified View of the End-Times

            Since God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33), we know it must be possible to have a unified view of the end-time events. Particularly, a unified view of His second coming. How is this possible? By letting the Scriptures speak to us. We know that God does not contradict Himself. We also know that  He has placed everything we need to know about our Lord’s return in His Word. But for some reason He has not put them all in one place.
            Why is that? “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). He wants us to see it for ourselves, to put the various puzzle pieces together, so that we won’t be deceived in these last Days (2 Peter 3:8-9). Each puzzle piece (passage) tells us a certain amount of information. But equally important is what it doesn’t tell us.  What may seem like a sloppy revelation to us is actually an invitation to seek God and His prophetic plan.
            Sadly, the Church at large has opted to settle for our human assumptions rather than God’s wisdom. These assumptions are what have caused much of the confusion in our end-time views. This is not God’s will. He wants us to see the truth that Jesus will only come twice. The Church recognizes His first coming, but has dropped the ball in connecting the essential puzzle pieces concerning His second coming.
            A foundational piece of the end-times puzzle is recorded in Hosea 6:1-3. It is our next step in gaining knowledge of the Lord’s prophetic plan of redemption. Namely, “He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth” (vs. 3). Truth #1: Therefore, we must recognize that there can only be one more coming.
            Another piece is found in 1 Thess, 4:13-15 and into chapter 5. Paul joins our Lord’s return with the coming of the Day of the Lord. Truth #2: there can only be one Day of the Lord! The passage tells us Jesus will come again at the appointed time in God’s timetable—the Day of the Lord, the Last and 7th Day in God’s timetable. He will descend on the Feast of Trumpets to gather us together with Him. But He doesn’t tell us whether Jesus will descend all the way down or not. A crucial piece of the puzzle seems to be missing.
            That is until we make the connection to this same event in Zech. 14 , which gives us important details about that Day. It begins with Israel being invaded. Then the Lord comes forth to help them. How does He do this? He descends to the Mt. of Olives and splits the mountain in two, making a way of escape for them. Putting this crucial linkage together with 1 Thess. 4-5 reminds us that when He comes we will be caught up (the rapture) as His Bride and He will take us back to Father’s House to be with Him forever! In effect, He reenacts His ascension after His resurrection, only this time the Head and the Body are complete! We’re taken back to the Father’s throne to rule and reign with Christ during the last Day and for all eternity when God makes the new heavens and new earth.
            Truth #3: this means He doesn’t stay on the earth. Truth #4:Nor do we go up with Him and then come back down to rule on the earth. Instead, we are seated together as the heavenly court of joint-heirs, at the right hand of the Father, in the place of all authority and power in heaven and on the earth (Rev. 3:21).
            End-Time Truth. When we put the pieces of the scriptural puzzle together correctly, following the Spirit-inspired connections in His Word rather than our human reasoning, it eliminates our disagreements and it cancels out the various flawed views that have resulted in so much confusion. As we piece the other end-time puzzle pieces, we recognize that they cannot contradict the truth we’ve seen so far. God does not contradict Himself! “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us” (Heb. 6:17-18).  This hope set before us is our heavenly calling of being seated with Him, for we are in Him, His Body, His Bride, and His Church.