Two questions regarding the end times need to be answered. First, what part, if any, does Israel play in the end times? Secondly, could the Lord return at any time, or are there necessary events which must take place before his return? If so, what are they?

What about Israel?

The first question pertains to Israel. Some believe God is still working with the nation Israel, while others believe there is no justification for the existence of a nation Israel today, since all the promises made to Israel are fulfilled in Christ and the church.

But, several problems surface, if Israel no longer exists and if all the promises made to it are fulfilled in Christ and the church. First, there is the promise to Abraham of the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession” (Gen 17:8). That promise was taken by Abraham as a promise of a literal land and the fulfillment of OT history demonstrates that is how it was meant.

Moreover, Paul the Apostle argues in Rom 11:25-26, a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved. Whether this refers to how all true spiritual Israel, gathered from the nation Israel and from the Gentiles, will be saved (so Augustine and Calvin), or if it refers to a national conversion of Israel (not necessarily all without exception, since not all without exception within the nation Israel were hardened; so many today), the point remains. Israel continues to exist as a nation, even though it has been set aside for a season because of its hardness of heart. Yet, one day yet future, the Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob and will take away their sins (v. 26).

What about the Rapture?

A lot has been made about a pretribulational rapture view, largely due to the modern day writings of the Left Behind books. But, there simply is no evidence from scripture for that view. Nowhere does scripture say the Lord will return before the tribulation for the church. In fact, in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-6 Paul takes great pain to refute the Thessalonian error regarding an imminent, pretribulational return of the Lord. They had been led to believe concerning the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto him (2 Thess 2:1) that that day was about to take place, is at hand (v. 2, KJV). That view required that the rapture occur first and be followed by the tribulation. But, Paul argues that certain tribulation events must occur first, followed sometime later by the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto him. He says, that day will not come except the apostasy come first and the man of lawlessness be revealed.

The face value reading of scripture regarding the return of the Lord is given by the Lord Himself in Mt 24:1-31. After discussing the coming judgment upon Israel and the Great Tribulation (verses 15-28) the Lord says, but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened and the moon turned to blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of May, and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

This coming of the Lord is strikingly similar to the description of his coming in 1 Thess 4:16, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.