Our blessed hope and the Acts 28ers.

The Acts 28ers raise a stink about what Mid-Acts calls "the rapture". They say it is some kind of thing found in the Old Testament with some kind of "feast of trumpets" and it is at the 2nd coming of Christ and all sorts of things that fall under the category I call "the logic of goofball". 

Why do I know that my "rapture" is not in the Old Testament?


1 Corinthians 15:
[51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
[52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
[53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
[54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
[55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
[56] The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
[57] But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:
[13] But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
[14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
[15] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
[16] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
[17] Then we which are alive and remain 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.
[18] Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The reason I know that the "rapture" is not found in the Old Testament is because if Paul got a "mystery" and he got it "by the word of the Lord" then I know it cannot be the big, well known and expected, heavily taught, expounded, and looked forward to resurrection of Jewish saints found in the OT. A mystery Paul got by the word of the Lord can only be a mystery he got by the word of the Lord. Which, all this is a little to deep for an Acts 28er.

The Acts 28ers say that because of 1 Corinthians 15:54 then it has to be from the OT (completely ignoring "mystery" "by the word of the Lord). Let's look at the verse.   


[54] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
[55] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The Acts 28ers do not like Paul using the "saying" that is "written" about victory over death that is found in the OT. If you read the passage, it is clear that Paul is only using a "saying" to apply to our victory over death, if not, why call it a "mystery" and why only use the OT for when he is talking about victory over death? The Acts 28ers strain at a gnat and swallow a camel there.

The Acts 28ers say that Christ's "coming" of 1 Thes. 4:15 and 1 Cor. 15 is different from what Paul says in his post Acts epistles because in the post Acts epistles Paul uses the word "appearing" rather than coming. (but Paul is talking about the same thing)

1 Timothy 6:14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Timothy 4: 
[1] I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

[8] Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Again, this is all common since, but that is something the Acts 28ers cannot seem to grasp. Acts 28ers say that the coming and appearing are different and cannot be the same thing and that the Body of Christ has the blessed hope of the "appearing" and not the "coming". (That's what I call Larry, Curly, and Moe theology) 

If the Body of Christ has the blessed hope of the "appearing" and not the "coming", then how could we look forward to Christ "appearing" (Titus 2:13) if we never knew that He was coming! How can we love Christ's "appearing" (2 Tim. 2:4) if we don't know he is coming? These are all problems that arise from Larry, Curly, and Moe theology.

Study the King James Bible, RIGHTLY divided.