Have you ever read the Left Behind series? Those books tell us that everyone who is not a believer will be left behind when the Rapture occurs. Some of you may have seen movies related to this subject… Those kinds of movies or books describe what would happen on earth when the Rapture takes place.

The word “rapture” is not found in the Bible but comes from the words that the Apostle Paul uses for “caught up” in our text for this morning. It means to “be taken away” and expresses “a sudden and mysterious event”. Besides today’s main texts (1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:3 & Matthew 24:30-31, 36-51), a number of scriptures evidently show the certainty of this event. One good example is from what Jesus said to the disciples in the Gospel of John: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). The Holy Scripture clearly presents the fact that when Jesus comes again, His people are “raptured” out of the world. The Bible also mentions that suffering and persecution, known as the Tribulation, take place in the last days of the world.

As Christians, we have often argued about the details surrounding the return of Jesus. One considerable debate among bible scholars is about the order of the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming of Christ. I want to share the three distinct views on this subject briefly.

The first view is called Pre-tribulation. This view tells us that the Rapture happens before the Tribulation. The pre-tribulation position advocates that the Rapture will be a secret and sudden event and will occur before the beginning of the Tribulation. At the end of it, Jesus Christ’s Second Coming will take place. According to this perspective, the Lord wants to save His children prior to the wrath of God, just as He did for the people of God in the Old Testament…

The following view is the Mid-tribulation position. This view suggests that the Rapture occurs in the middle of the Tribulation period, just before the worst persecution and suffering start on earth. The divine event of being caught up by Christ will happen after the first half of “the seven-year Great Tribulation period.” To understand this perspective, we may want to look at some examples from the Bible (Daniel 7:25; Matthews 24:10-27; Revelation 12:14).

The last view is the Post-tribulation position. Post-tribulationists perceive “the Rapture as occurring simultaneously with the Second Coming of Christ.” They believe that the Rapture and the Second Coming are not separate events but one distinctive event when Christ returns. According to them, believers have always been in some form of the Tribulation since the church was founded. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself had been accused of His godly works, and the disciples had been persecuted after Jesus died on the cross. Throughout the entire history of Christianity, we can learn how many followers of Christ have faced persecution. That is why Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). These examples demonstrate that the Tribulation is “not a future event but an ongoing present reality.”

Which one of these is your view on the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ related to the Tribulation? Once again, this is an area where we, as believers can see things in different ways. Both the Rapture and the Return of Jesus Christ are mentioned in various passages of the Bible. One scripture does not tell everything, and those passages offer different pictures of this topic. My purpose for today is not to change your view on the time of the Second Coming of Christ, whether it will come before the Tribulation, during, or after. Despite different positions on the timing of the Rapture, every denomination has agreed that Jesus Christ is coming again. In this sermon, I want us to focus on how to prepare for the Return of Christ.

As I stated earlier, the main text for today teaches about the Rapture and Christ’s return. The believers in Thessalonica confidently felt that the Second Coming would occur in their lifetimes. It is crucial for all of us, as Christ’s followers, to keep this theme in mind constantly. The Coming of the Lord will happen in the future, even during our lifetime. However, some believers in those days had misunderstood Paul’s primary point in this scripture. Unfortunately, some assumed that His immediate return was a guaranteed promise in their days…

Paul describes dead Christians as those who have “fallen asleep” three times in verses 13 to 15. I believe that when he uses the term “asleep,” he is simply trying to communicate that death is temporary. When we die, we are separated from our bodies, and our spirits go to be with the Lord in Heaven. Our bodies may be in the grave, but the real person is with God the Creator. Our souls and spirits are enjoying fellowship with Jesus Christ while our bodies remain “asleep” until the resurrection. Paul believes that when Jesus comes again, the living believers will not precede the deceased ones. The deceased will not miss out on anything, so the Thessalonica believers don’t need to worry about their departed loved ones.

Let us look at some fascinating details about when the Rapture occurs. Paul says in verse 16, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven.” This future appearance is not a substitute. It is not an angel or a production of our imagination. Our Lord, Christ Himself, will return. In Acts 1:9-11 the disciples were watching the Risen Jesus ascending into Heaven. At that time, two angels spoke to them: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

An interesting phrase here is “This same Jesus.” When Jesus came into the City of Jerusalem, the people there waved palm branches as they did for their king and shouted, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” In the same way, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, will return with a loud command. The Apostle Paul describes how it will occur. “…Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…” (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). At the final trumpet call of God, “this same Jesus” is coming again. All the believers, who are still alive and have died, will be with the Lord forever. They will be raised with “brand-new bodies.” This is what Christians have always believed.

Let us now go back to the central question on “how to prepare for the Second Coming of our Lord.” We are to be ready by being faithful to our calling in Jesus Christ. In our Gospel for today, we are supposed to be like the servant who diligently performs the tasks his master wants him to do, even though the master has been away for a long time. Do we need just to hang around until Christ returns? No! Instead, we must faithfully do the work that God has entrusted to us, no matter when the Lord’s return occurs.

While preparing this message, I was reminded of some past predictions about the Lord’s Second Coming… Since the early Christian period, this kind of false prophecy has been spread, and none of the predictions have been true. The reason why people like to know the date of Christ’s return is that they seek some certainty while living in an uncertain world. In our Gospel, we need to know that Jesus has never mentioned the exact date and time of His return. Instead, He implies the day of His Second Coming as an ordinary day, like Noah’s day. The flood came on one of the normal days when people were eating, drinking, and working. In other words, the date of Jesus’ Second Coming is not a day when His followers gather and wait for Him in a certain place and at a certain time.

Jesus said, “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns” (Matt. 24:46). It is not for us to try to determine the time of the Second Coming, but for us to do the right thing our Master wants us to do until He comes… Jesus wants us to focus on living the Christian life today while we are waiting for His return in the future.

We are also to be ready by keeping the promise of Christ’s Second Coming in our hearts. We must be on guard from false theology. We do not know when the Return of Christ will take place; however, it will indeed happen someday, possibly even today or tomorrow. In the New Testament, more than 300 passages deal with the Return of Christ. The doctrine of the Lord’s Second Coming is one of the most crucial subjects in Christianity. It is not just a dogma; it is more than a principle which influences us in our daily life. Do you remember the thought in our Gospel story the wicked servant had? He said to himself, “My master is staying away a long time.” Because of that view, he began to mistreat the other servants and eat and drink with worldly people.

Once more, I say to you that our theology about Jesus’ return will dictate how we live our life on a daily basis. The Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 3:10, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” Then he said, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming…” (2 Peter 3:11-14).

As Christians, if we do not believe that Jesus will return as the King of kings and reward us based on what we have done, we would be careless to do what we are not supposed to do. When I had my military service, my fellow soldiers and I had to do a lot of cleaning jobs from time to time because one of our generals came to visit each military place. We pulled out weeds in the grass, took out unnecessary stuff from each storage room, and organized everything in order, just in case that the general and his staff wanted to see inside. By keeping our hearts clean, we can be ready for the return of the Lord.

Repentance is not just saying, “I have done something wrong. Lord, please forgive me.” True penitence requires us to fear the Lord. When we truly fear the Lord, we will say “No!” to sin. We do not want to do anything that brings disgrace and dishonor to the heart of God. Fearing God means that we put Him as our most and first priority. We can imagine the frustration of God who sees people commit the same sin over and over again. We could be one of these people… Repentance does not just happen once. It is a daily activity we need to do every day until Jesus comes to us again. Have we made a clean room in our hearts for the Lord of lords?

To conclude, I would like to share one of Satan’s main strategies with you… Sadly speaking, I would have to agree that this kind of method Satan uses works well. People these days are not in a rush to prepare to receive the Son of God. They seem to be in a state of inactivity about the coming Messiah. Their interest in this vital subject seems to be less and less. They seem to sleep in the Spirit. There is no time for sleep. The day is at hand! We are closer to the return of Jesus Christ than when Paul wrote today’s scripture!

Friends, let us take a moment to place anew all our hope and trust in what the Son of God did on the cross. Let us confidently ask God to cleanse us from all of our sins by the blood of Christ, create in us a pure heart, restore to us the joy of our salvation, and praise His unchanging love for all of our lives. Furthermore, let us courageously live with His holiness and shine His light into this sin-darkened world while actively waiting for Christ’s return.

*In this sermon, I have used some thoughts and materials from the messages written by various preachers that are based on Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 & Matthew 24:30-31, 36-51.