βLooking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good worksβ (Titus 2:13,14).
A rich harvest of blessing was reaped for the Church in those years before and after the turn of the century when the great truth of the Lordβs comingΒ to catch away His ownΒ was recovered by men of God and the expectancy of His appearing became once more βthat blessed hopeβ to multitudes of believers.
NowΒ some are pointing to such passages as Matthew 24:6-9 and Matthew 24:29, 30 to prove that the ChurchΒ willΒ go through the tribulation. Others have adopted a βmid-tribulationβ view, holding that the Church will go through only the first half of the tribulation period, and will be caught away before the fearful outpouring of Godβs wrath in the βgreatΒ tribulation.β Still others hold the so-called βpartial raptureβ view on the basis of our Lordβs exhortation to His disciples in LukeΒ 21:36. Ac-cording to this view only those βcounted worthyβ will be caught up at the rapture.
And thus the glorious prospect that Paul, by inspiration, holds out to the members of Christβs body asΒ βthat blessed hope,βΒ is again being lost to growing numbers of sincere believers, simply because they fail to recognized it as a distinctlyΒ PaulineΒ revelation.
It is a significant fact that in the very first epistle from Paulβs pen he already refers to a prior hope for the members of the Body of Christ, the hope of a coming of Christ whichΒ precedes His return to earth to reign. In I Thessalonians 1:9,10 he recalls:
ββ¦how ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, AND TO WAIT FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVENβ¦.β
And in I Thessalonians 4:16-18 he explains:
ββ¦We which are alive and remainβ¦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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.β
To those who remain blind to this important fact such passages as Matthew 24 must qualify, if not contradict, I Thessalonians 4, and any attempt to harmonize the Gospel records as to Christβs return with Paulβs special revelation as to His coming for His own, must end in the most bewildering confusion.
But we whoΒ doΒ recognize the distinctive character of Paulβs apostleship and revelation have no such problem to vex us. To usΒ βthat blessed hopeβΒ glows β surelyΒ should glow β brighter as the days grow darker. source
