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1 Thessalonians 1:10
10 And [kai] to wait for [anemeno] his [autos] Son [huios] from [ek] heaven, [ouranos] whom [hos] he raised [egeiro] from [ek] the dead, [nekros] even Jesus, [Iesous] which [ho] delivered [rhoumai] us [hemas] from [apo] the wrath [orge] to come. [erchomai] KJV-Interlinear
10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. NASB
Paul hits upon this key subject in Thessalonians, that is the return of Christ.
He is not referring to the Second Advent, because it is we who will accompany Him back to this earth at His Second Advent. In order to return with Him, we have to have already been with Him. Here is the reference to what has become known as the doctrine of the Rapture.
More will be covered regarding the Rapture in chapters four and five of this letter.
In short, the Rapture is the removal of all believers from the world, thus delivering them from the ‘wrath to come.’ The wrath, is the judgment upon humanity during the Tribulation. The Tribulation is the name given to the seven year period which remains in the history of the dispensation of the Age of Israel. Note that the wrath comes after the Rapture, not before it. We believers will be removed from the world, so that we will not be a part of that judgment period.
In the dispensations of history, the previous dispensation was the Age of Israel. Daniel listed its final calendar in his seventy weeks prophecy. In his seventy weeks prophecy, seventy weeks of seven year periods were left for that dispensation, or 490 years. Since Daniels time, only sixty-nine of those weeks (of seven years) have passed, or 483 years. The last week of seven year periods, was interrupted by our dispensation.
The last seven years, or called the seventieth week of years, or also called the Tribulation, remains still in the future and will not resume until our dispensation, the Church Age, is completed.
Our current dispensation is also called the Age of the Bride, the Age of the Royal Family, the Church Age. All are synonymous terms.
In his (Daniels) prophecy, the Messiah was to come, grow up, be sacrificed, ascend to glorification in heaven and then return to assume control and rule over the earth for a one-thousand year period. Only the last part, the return to rule, has not yet occurred.
Our dispensation began after the crucifixion and our dispensation, which was the mystery dispensation not mentioned in the Old Testament, has continued for these last 1979 years (2009 minus 30) and counting.
The prophecies of the Old Testament apply to the dispensations belonging to the Old Testament or referred to in the Old Testament, including the Millennium, which was also mentioned. The prophecies do not apply to our dispensation, which was the mystery dispensation and therefore hidden from revelation to history until Christ revealed it during His First Advent ministry.
When Christ referred to our dispensation, the Church Age, He identified it as an age of historical trends, as a time when the nations would be made (arranged) into the footstool for His feet. So, our dispensation is one of historical trends, of examples, of the arrangement of the nations readying them for the final seven year period of mans rule in this world.
The Rapture is imminent. It could happen at any time. The Thessalonians lived their daily lives with that foremost on their minds. The fully expected it to occur during their lifetime.
However we know now that God has been arranging the nations into the array that they are supposed to be in, for the resumption of the final seven years of the dispensation (the Age of Israel) which we interrupted.
It is this doctrine, the Rapture, which was foremost in the minds of the Thessalonians and of which was spoken about throughout the region, as mentioned in the previous verses.
I might mention too, that our dispensation is without prophecy except for the final event of our dispensation, the Rapture. Since the rapture is and always has been imminent, then no functioning prophecy could exist within our era. Otherwise, the Rapture would be dependent on other events.
However that does not preclude the trends of events of history, that contribute to the arranging of the nations and peoples, and knowledge, and the various increases that have been mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. Trends are non-specific events that are general in nature, such as the increases in population, the increases in knowledge, or the formation of powers north, south, east and west of Israel, and so forth.
The restoration of Israel is a Millennial prophecy, not what occurred in 1948.
And these trends also include the formation of the state of the world (economic, political, social, etc.) as it evolves up to the point immediately prior to the Rapture.
The Rapture is a portion of the divine plan of God the Father, who raised His Son, Jesus Christ, and with that same promise and power, will raise all of us from the dead if we are to die prior to the Rapture, along with those believers who will remain alive at the time of the Rapture.
Now, these dates and events are already set in the future. They are certain and will occur as stated. Nothing in this world can destroy the world or humanity and certainly no social or political program can or will change that future date. In fact all that occurs in history now, is driving right toward its occurrence.
Man in his arrogance and spiritual rejection, is following Gods plan to the letter, and following mans own destiny to his own destruction.
