THE RAPTURE: DOES JESUS RETURN TWICE?
Big Idea
Many Christians have been taught that Jesus first returns for His Church at the Rapture.
Then, seven years later, He returns with His Church to earth.
That gives us two future appearances of Christ:
First: The Rapture
Jesus comes for believers and takes them away.
Later: The Second Coming
Jesus returns with His people in judgment and begins His earthly kingdom.
But does the New Testament actually describe two future returns of Jesus separated by years?
Let's put the passages beside each other and see.
1. THE RAPTURE IS IN THE BIBLE
Let's make something clear at the beginning.
The event commonly called the Rapture is biblical.
Paul says:
“Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
— 1 Thessalonians 4:17
The expression “caught up” is where our word Rapture comes from through the Latin translation.
So the question is not:
Is there a catching up of believers?
There is.
The question is:
DOES THAT HAPPEN YEARS BEFORE CHRIST'S FINAL RETURN?
That is what we need to find in the text.
2. WHAT HAPPENS AT THE RAPTURE?
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 carefully.
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
Then living believers are caught up with them to meet the Lord.
Notice the events:
Jesus descends from heaven.
There is a shout.
There is the voice of an archangel.
There is God's trumpet.
The dead in Christ rise.
Living Christians are gathered to Christ.
This certainly describes Christ's arrival.
So where does Paul say this is only the first stage of His return?
He doesn't say that here.
3. NOW LISTEN TO JESUS
Jesus describes His coming in Matthew 24:
“They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
— Matthew 24:30
Then:
“He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds.”
— Matthew 24:31
Compare that with 1 Thessalonians 4.
MATTHEW 24
Christ comes.
Clouds.
Angels.
Trumpet.
God's people gathered.
1 THESSALONIANS 4
Christ comes.
Clouds.
Archangel.
Trumpet.
God's people gathered.
Are these two different events separated by seven years?
Perhaps.
But if they are, where does either passage tell us that?
4. PAUL DESCRIBES CHRIST'S RETURN AGAIN
Now read 2 Thessalonians.
These Christians were suffering persecution.
Paul tells them that God will give them relief:
“when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels.”
— 2 Thessalonians 1:7
When does their relief come?
When Jesus is revealed from heaven.
What else happens then?
Paul continues:
“taking vengeance with flaming fire on those who don't know God and on those who don't obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
— 2 Thessalonians 1:8
In the same description:
Believers receive relief.
Jesus is revealed from heaven.
Angels accompany Him.
Judgment falls on the wicked.
Paul does not tell suffering Christians:
“You will be removed seven years before that happens.”
He points them toward the revelation of Jesus from heaven.
5. WHAT ABOUT THE “LAST TRUMPET”?
Paul describes the resurrection again in 1 Corinthians 15:
“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:52
But notice what he calls it:
“at the last trumpet.”
Now compare:
1 THESSALONIANS 4
Jesus descends.
Trumpet sounds.
Dead believers rise.
Living believers are gathered.
1 CORINTHIANS 15
Last trumpet sounds.
Dead believers rise.
Living believers are changed.
Again the descriptions fit naturally together.
So ask:
If the Rapture trumpet sounds seven years before Christ's final return, in what sense is it the “last trumpet”?
That question deserves an answer from the text.
6. WHAT HAPPENS TO DEATH WHEN CHRIST RETURNS?
Earlier in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives us the order:
“Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:23
When are Christ's people raised?
At His coming.
Then Paul's argument moves toward the defeat of Christ's enemies:
“The last enemy to be abolished is death.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:26
Later, when the dead are raised:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:54
Christ comes.
His people rise.
Death is defeated.
That sounds like history is reaching its great conclusion.
It does not naturally sound like the beginning of another long period in which people continue dying for more than a thousand years.
7. PETER DESCRIBES “THE DAY OF THE LORD”
Peter writes:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”
— 2 Peter 3:10
What happens?
The heavens pass away.
The elements are destroyed.
The earth and its works are exposed.
And believers look forward to:
“new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
— 2 Peter 3:13
Notice where Peter's hope points.
Not toward another temporary earthly age.
Toward:
New heavens and a new earth.
8. “FOR” HIS CHURCH AND “WITH” HIS CHURCH?
You may have heard it explained this way:
At the Rapture, Jesus comes FOR His saints.
At the Second Coming, Jesus comes WITH His saints.
It sounds convincing.
But where does the Bible itself make that distinction?
Certainly believers will be with Christ forever after they are gathered to Him.
So later descriptions of Christ appearing with His people do not require another return separated by seven years.
Once we are with Him:
“we will always be with the Lord.”
— 1 Thessalonians 4:17
So Christ can gather His people and appear with His people without requiring two separate returns years apart.
9. DOES “LIKE A THIEF” MEAN SECRET?
Another expression often connected with the Rapture is:
“like a thief in the night.”
But “like a thief” describes unexpectedness, not silence.
Peter uses the same picture:
“The day of the Lord will come like a thief.”
— 2 Peter 3:10
And what happens on that day?
The heavens pass away.
That is hardly secret.
Jesus' return can be unexpected without being invisible.
10. PUT THE PASSAGES TOGETHER
Now step back and look at what we have read.
When Christ returns:
He descends from heaven.
He comes with angels.
A trumpet sounds.
The dead are raised.
Living believers are changed.
God's people are gathered to Christ.
Judgment comes upon the wicked.
Death is defeated.
God's people remain with Christ forever.
And Scripture points us toward:
new heavens and a new earth.
So where does the New Testament stop this sequence and insert seven years between:
Christ gathering His people
and
Christ finally returning in judgment?
That is the question.
11. WHERE ARE THE TWO RETURNS?
If Jesus returns once secretly for the Church and then again publicly seven years later, we should expect the New Testament to explain that distinction somewhere.
Where does Jesus teach it?
Where does Paul teach it?
Where does Peter teach it?
Where does any New Testament writer say:
Christ returns for His Church, leaves with them, waits seven years, and then returns again with them?
The passages certainly teach:
Christ will return.
The dead will rise.
Believers will be gathered to Him.
Judgment will come.
But where do they teach:
TWO RETURNS?
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Rapture—the catching up of believers—is biblical.
What we are questioning is the timeline placed around it.
Paul never calls the Rapture a separate coming of Christ.
He simply says:
“The Lord himself will descend from heaven.”
The dead rise.
The living are gathered.
And:
“so we will always be with the Lord.”
Perhaps we don't need two future returns.
Perhaps we need to let all these passages describe the same great event from different viewpoints:
THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST.
APPLICATION
Don't begin by asking:
“Where does the Rapture fit on the chart?”
Begin with a simpler question:
“What happens when Jesus returns?”
Read Matthew 24.
Read 1 Corinthians 15.
Read 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5.
Read 2 Thessalonians 1.
Read 2 Peter 3.
Put them beside each other.
Then decide whether the Bible itself separates Christ's return into two events years apart.
KEY SCRIPTURES
Matthew 24:29–31
John 5:28–29
1 Corinthians 15:20–26
1 Corinthians 15:50–54
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18
1 Thessalonians 5:1–6
2 Thessalonians 1:6–10
2 Peter 3:10–13
A-HA MOMENT
The Bible clearly teaches the catching up of believers.
The question is not whether the Rapture happens.
The question is:
DOES JESUS HAVE TO RETURN TWICE FOR IT TO HAPPEN?
Read the passages.
Then decide.
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
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