Bible Study - 05/20/2020

Nihil Omnino Christo - This Latin phrase is the motto of St. Benedict's College in Trinidad. It is printed as a crest on the left pockets of all shirt uniforms and proudly worn by every student. From the ages 11 years through 18, I attended that high school and to this day, I cherish fond memories of my 7 years at St. Benedict's. There, I enjoyed watching sports, (my physical size prevented my own participation) engaged in musical productions and suffered through painful academia. Very infrequently I chose to attend my school's Friday morning, Roman Catholic mass where "The Apostle's Creed" became carved into my understanding. I recommend that everyone access, read and study The Apostle's Creed as doing so would require no more than 15 minutes of your time. Further, how comforting it is to be often reminded of my Alma Mater's motto, Nihil Omnino Christo - Christ is Above All.

Good Wednesday to all!

Today, as promised, I wish to encourage all of you to embark with me on a most exciting adventure. Some months ago, and during our study of Paul's 1st epistle to the Corinthian church, I may have pointed out a verse from chapter 15 that we must revisit. Verse 52 is so very loaded that fair treatment of it can only be done in a separate study. If perhaps I failed to point that out to you during our reading of the 15th chapter, I apologize.

I hope you remember that the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians is the single most renowned 'Resurrection' chapter in the entire bible. Here, after discussing our Lord's resurrection and the chronological order of the various resurrection events, Paul addresses the mystery of the event. Some 2000 years ago, our Lord rose from the dead three days (measured by Jewish calculation, any part of a day is counted as a day) subsequent to His crucifixion. The next resurrection miracle that we can look forward to is that of deceased believers. At that future event, known also as the 'rapture' of the church, not only will the dead believers in Jesus Christ be raised to life in incorruptible bodies, but the living believers will be instantly changed into immortal beings.

Allow me to first establish the distinction between the rapture event and the return of Jesus. In the rapture, those who have completely trusted in the finished work of Christ will all receive their glorified, permanent bodies fit for a glorious eternity. At least 7 years following this event, our Lord Jesus Christ makes His physical appearance on the earth over which He will reign for 1000 years. Multiple scripture verses in both the Old and New Covenants speak to this reality. Daniel, Zechariah and John's Apocalypse are often cited for these references.

Paul describes the rapture as a mystery in verse 51 - "Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (die) but we shall all be changed..."

This rapture doctrine is indeed a mystery - a truth hidden in the past but revealed in the New Testament. It is noteworthy that no mention of the rapture of the church can be found in the Old Testament. The first mention was in the 14th chapter of John's gospel, verses 1 - 3. Paul further details a description of the rapture in 1st Thessalonians 4: 13 - 18. Other parts of the NT that either directly refer to or allude to this great future event will be referenced as we progress through this study.

Verse 52 begins with "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye..." - This is Paul's way of emphasizing the brevity of the rapture event. In other words, it will not be stretched out over a few minutes, hours or days; nor does it happen over a measurable period of time, but rather, is instantaneous. More will be said on this later.

The next few words in verse 52 are the ones on which we wish to focus this lesson.

"....AT THE LAST TRUMPET. FOR THE TRUMPET WILL SOUND..."

Paul talks about "the last trumpet!" This is a clear indication of timing. Evidently, there will be one or more trumpet blasts, but the final blast immediately precedes the resurrection event. What message is the Holy Spirit conveying through the apostle's pen? Is He giving us some kind of hint as to the timing of the rapture? We know that our Lord said in Matthew 24:36 "...But of that day and hour, no one knows..." Jesus was obviously here talking about His 2nd advent and it would be futile for us to try setting dates for it. Many have misunderstood Matthew 24:36, thinking that our Lord was talking about the rapture and some have foolishly even suggested rapture dates. But the Lord is NOT talking about the rapture and our setting of dates either for the rapture or the 2nd advent would be foolhardy.

That said, Jesus did not leave us in complete ignorance regarding the last days. For the most part, the entire chapters of Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13 are red-lettered messages concerning last-day happenings. One can therefore reasonably make the case that although the hour, day, week, month or even year of the rapture remains unknown, eschatological (Last day) signs heralding those future events are found throughout the NT.

I am very interested in the trumpet blasts that Paul described and particularly curious as to the meaning of the LAST trumpet.

As proposed earlier, the word "last" infers a chronological connotation. I am convinced that a knowledge and understanding of the term "Last Trumpet" would in fact provide us with a most decent notion of rapture timing.

Now, the following is your homework assignment:

What did the apostle Paul mean by the "Last Trumpet"?

During the next 2 or 3 days, please feel free to communicate with each other to discuss your thoughts and answers. I am sure that Sisters Norma, Miranda, Kecia and Delia would contribute grossly wrong suggestions of their own as would brother Carl and pastor Brinker. Ensure that you talk with deacons George, Ken and Fletcher for additional wrong answers.

Once your discussions are over and you have all decided on your answers, appoint deacon JT to share your conclusions with me so that I can experience some COVID-19 lock-down frustration. Remind deacon JT to include his own version of a wrong answer as well.

In order to move toward further exploration of this topic, your home work exercise must be completed with responses sent to me no later than next Tuesday. Enjoy!

Pastor Chandroo