Scripture Text – Matthew 24:3-14
The Authority
Next Paul gives the authority on which he is making this revelation:
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord.
It is a very significant fact that whenever the coming of Christ is mentioned in the Bible, God always accompanies or precedes the statement with the warning not to tamper with this truth. In the Old Testament the prophetic portions are almost invariably introduced by such expressions as “thus saith the Lord,” “hear the word of the Lord” or other expressions. The Lord knew that the truth of prophecy and the coming again of Christ would be scoffed at by the unbelievers, as well as tragically ignored by the host of professing Christians. Because of this, almost invariably the Spirit adds a warning to remind us of the seriousness of tampering with the truth of the Lord’s return. Note that Paul says, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord.” In other words, if you reject this revelation you are not rejecting the word of man but the “word of the Lord.” Yet, in spite of all these warnings, how much rejection of this truth there is today. Even among orthodox believers one cannot find another doctrine on which there has been greater difference of opinion than that concerning the truth of the coming again of Christ and the Millennium. We have the “Postmillenarian,” the “Amillenarian,” the “Premillenarian,” the “pre-Tribulation Rapturist,” the “post-Tribulation Rapturist,” the “mid-Tribulation Rapturist” and the “Partial Rapturist.” How is a man going to know the truth when apparently sincere and able men are found among all of these groups? There is only one answer and that is to go, personally and directly, to the Scriptures and then receive and accept what they have to say concerning this great truth. We’re going to see what Paul reveals in the remainder of this passage in the following section.
The Order
After having warned us not to tamper with this revelation, Paul gives the order of the events at the coming of Christ for His Church:
- The Lord Himself will descend from heaven.
- The Lord will shout.
- The Lord will allow the archangel to speak.
- He will blow a trumpet.
- The dead in Christ will rise first.
- The living believers will join the raised ones.
- They will be reunited.
- Then they will rise into the air.
- They will meet the Lord.
- They will remain ever with Him.
Ten definite events will occur, according to this passage. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout.” There is a certain, sweet comfort in the expression “the Lord himself.” The same Lord who nineteen hundred years ago went into heaven to prepare a place for us will come again. Does not every believer’s heart quicken its beat at those words? The “Lord himself”; the One whom, “having not seen [we] love” (1 Peter 1:8); the precious, blessed Lord who left heaven’s glories and laid aside the form of God and took upon Himself our human nature to redeem us from the pit of hell and to lift us into sonship with God—He will come again. Soon we will see the same Jesus who walked the weary way to Calvary, bearing the Cross on which we should have died; the same Jesus who hung on that Cross for six dread hours, with all the weight of a world’s guilt laid upon Him and the infinite wrath of God bursting upon Him for our sin, until the very sun, which He had created, could not bear to behold the sight any longer, and as the Light of the World slipped into the darkness of death, the sun hid its face, God drew the shutters of heaven, blew out the Light of the World and turned His back upon His own Son until He cried out in the inexpressible agony of His soul, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” – Mark 15:34. There He bore our sin and shame—the sin that hid God’s face from us—the sin that deserved eternal death. He bore it there. He paid it there for me—for you. Now we are redeemed and saved from hell and damnation because He loved us so.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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