Coming of the Lord Passages:
Zechariah 14:1 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Matt 24: 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Jude 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Rev 19:14 “the armies which were in heaven followed him”
1 Thess 4:14 “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Jude 14 “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints”
1 Thess 4:14 “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.
1. Matt 24 doesn’t mention Jesus or armies on a white horses, Rev 19 does.
2. Matt 24 mentions a trumpet, Rev 19 does not.
3. Matt 24 mentions coming in the clouds, Rev 19 does not.
4. Matt 24 mentions sun ,moon and stars, Rev 19 does not.
5. Matt 24 or Rev 19 doesn’t say his feet shall stand on the Mt of Olives, Zech 14 does
6. Zech. Does not say He comes from heaven, Matt and Rev do, Jude implies it.
1 Thess 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Jude 14 “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints”
Rev 19:14 “the armies which were in heaven followed 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.
2 Thess 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
1 Corin 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.
1. The only thing 1 Thess 4 and 1 Corin 15 have in common is a trumpet.
2. 1 Thess says we will be caught up but 1 Corin 15 only says we will be changed.
3. 1 Thess. mentions the Lord descending from heaven and shouting 1 Corin 15 does not.
I believe most pre and post tribbers will agree the 1 Thess 4 and 1 Corin 15 passages above are the same event. Also I believe most pre and post tribbers will agree the Matt 24 and Rev 19 passages are the same event. The disagreement starts when someone says all four are the same event. Then pre-tribbers begin to point out the differences that prove their point. Here are some facts we must settle:
1. No two coming of the Lord passages in the entire word of God are identical.
2. There are some overlapping similarities in many of them.
3. To simply say there is no resurrection in one or there is no trumpet in one proves nothing. As my examples show there are differences in passages that most all of us agree are the same event.
Things that tie all of them together:
1. Matt 24:30 “then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven”
Rev 19:11 “I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him”
2 Thess 2:1 “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”
1 Thess 4:16 ” For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven”
2. Matt 24:31 “with a great sound of a trumpet”
1 Thess 4:16 “with the trump of God”
1 Corin 15:52 “at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound”
3. Matt 24:31 “they shall gather together his elect”
1 Thess 4:17 “caught up together with them”
2 Thess 2:2 “by our gathering together unto him”
4. Jude , Revelation and 1 Thess says He comes with, saints, armies or them that sleep in Jesus (I submit they are the same group) the rest of the passages do not.
With all the differences and similarities I’ve pointed out here there are still more I didn’t mention. The point here is when one makes a Doctrinal stand by pointing out some little difference in wording they are on shaky ground and shifting sand at best. We need to harmonize these scriptures rather than divide them up into our neat little "my pet doctrinal" piles.
Will someone really address the main point here. There are not 2 coming of the Lord passages that are identical. How can we then in good conscience divide them up based on minor differences in wording? They all describe the same event with different details.
There is only one more coming of the Lord and resurrection of the righteous dead!