"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.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."
Notice that this is a time of the second coming of Christ to set up the promised Kingdom of David. This is a Jewish Kingdom and has little to do with the Gentiles. The Messiah comes back for Israel at this time and not the Gentiles.
Notice that the tribes of the earth shall morn when they see Messiah (Second Coming) " coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Zechariah 12:9-11 says:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem..."
No where in Scripture does it say that the Church of Christ will morn when Messiah returns. You will also notice that the term Son of Man is used in Matthew. For the Church, we worship the Son of God because we are saved by believing Christ is God. Israel has never accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Once they see the Son of Man coming in clouds of power and glory, Israel for the first time will recognise that their Messiah is the man Jesus that they had rejected and denied through all the centuries. Oh yes there will be great mourning among the Jews as they, "mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son."
This is a time when Israel will for the first time receive the Holy Spirit. Today Israel is an unbelieving nation that denies the Deity of Christ and still waits for her Messiah. Unlike the Gentiles and the Jews of the early Church, the house of Israel has never been Baptised in the Holy Spirit of salvation. A time is coming when they will have their Pentecost and out pouring of the Holy Spirit. Only then will they be saved. And only then will they recognise Jesus for the first time. As for now, "they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10 3,4.
Why Israel today does not except Jesus today is that because of their rejection and cusifixition of Christ, "God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompence unto them:Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway." Romans 11:8-10
It's because of this that Israel has never been given the Holy Spirit and thus will not be Raptured and will enter into the Great Tribulation before their Kingdom is established on earth. The Wrath of God will be upon them and through great sorrows the nation of Israel will be born in a day.
Now for the second half of Matthew. "...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."
There are those that see this as the Rapture of the Church to Christ as returns to the earth. First of all we are told that at the time of Rapture we will go up to Jesus to meet Him in the air. "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: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." Thessalonians 4:16,17
Here we see that we will be caught up and there is not even a hint of angels gathering us together. So who are the elect that are being gathered together by the angels? It is none other than Israel. Since Israel has been scattered all over the world, they must be gathered together in Jerusalem to greet their coming King and Messiah. The will be gathered together, baptised in the Holy Spirit, and then enter into the new Jewish Kingdom under God. Those who missed Rapture will be gathered from the earth and those who died in the Tribulation will be gathered from heaven to enter into the promised Kingdom. The "elect" spoken of in Matthew is Israel.
"Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD." Ezekiel 37:12-14
This is clearly not the Rapture and resurrection of the Church. We are not gathered together in the land of Israel. "For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Philippians 3:20,21 The following is from Cornerstone Church.
"Jesus said, 'For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.' People with resurrected bodies won't be able to marry or have children. At the Rapture, every Christian will receive a resurrected body, therefore we can�t be involved in repopulating the earth. So, the Rapture can't occur at the same time as the second coming because no one would be available in natural bodies to repopulate the earth.
Only people in their natural, unresurrected bodies are able to have children. Because the earth's population will be drastically reduced because most people will be killed (or raptured) before Jesus returns, the earth will need to be repopulated. Jesus referred to the millennial kingdom on earth as the 'regeneration' (see Matt. 19:28) which means 'repopulation.'"
In Ezekiel we read, "And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God." Ezekiel 37:21-23
Some may say that this has already taken place in 1948 when Israel became a nation. Yes, but they are a nation without a King. The above verse is speaking of the Second Coming and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the House Of Israel. Now what about the Church of Christ the Bride.
"...the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Zechariah 14:5 The Church will be coming with Christ and not gathered into Jerusalem. If we are to be Raptured when Jesus is coming to the earth, then there would be no time for the Judgment Seat of Christ or the Lamb's Supper. Also why be Rapture up only to come back down at the same time? Makes no sense at all.
Here is an outline of events.
1. The Rapture of the Church to become citizens in heaven.
2. The Tribulation comes and God begins to deal with Israel in judgment and wrath for rejection of Christ.
3. Christ returns as Messiah with the Raptured Church to save Israel and establish the Jewish Kingdom on earth.
4. The elect are gathered together by the angels to greet their new King in Jerusalem and to be given the Holy Spirit for the first time.
For two thousand years the Church has been ready to be Raptured. We Recieved the Holy Spirit, been washed clean of sin, made whole, and have preached the word. During this same time Israel has worshiped other gods, denied Christ as their King and Messiah, have clung to works of the law, and has not been filled with the Holy Spirit. So when Christ returns for His believers, the House of Israel will not be ready and will enter into God's Tribulation Wrath known as the time of "Jacob's (Israel) trouble." Jesus clearly told the Jews that, "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Matthew 21:43
Like green figs, Israel will not be ready when the Lord returns. Only the grapes of the new covenant believers will be ready to be caught up and taken to heaven.
"My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." Song of Solomon 2: 10-13
Praise the name of Jehovah and our Lord Jesus Christ! Let Israel be born again and let us rejoice for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Richard Vizzutti