Comforted by the Rapture

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.
​Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22:20

Some doctrines in the Bible are very clear and straightforward to perceive when you come across them. Others are a bit like a puzzle you get from the store; you open the box and there are all the pieces apart. However, from years of experience with building puzzles, you realize that they only fit together in a singular way to make the actual intended picture, beautifully created by the original artist. Yet without fail there are always a few pieces cut very similar in size, and matching in colours so that it is easy to confuse the one for the other, but if you misplace the one here, you end up being confused later over why that little brown speck on the corner of another one, just doesn’t appear to fit with the hue of the surrounding pieces. Even if you found places for all the pieces and you’ve finished your puzzle, if there is but one in the wrong place, sadly your puzzle is not the same as the artist intended. The picture is distorted. The only solution is to scan through the whole picture again until you find that correct piece and change them around.

The study on eschatology and in particular, the rapture, is one of those where you must take all the verses and fit them together and make sure they all speak the same thing. Then you know you’ve got it right, otherwise there will always be a verse or so sticking out somewhere. We will consider some verses, and see how they tie into each other and hopefully the reader will come to a personal conclusion, conviction and belief on what the Holy Bible teach concerning the rapture.

It behoves me straightway though to define a few key terms in a short glossary, and pinpointing a rough timeline of events ensuring every reader understands plainly what is being referred to. This list, in apparent order of occurrence, however contains only some of the frequently used terms and events of the last days. (This list and article is by no means an exhaustive study on this doctrine, so do look out for other verses and terminology as you read your Bible.)

• Doctrine is the name for a teaching with regards to a particular aspect of our faith. And though, in order to avoid controversy, preachers nowadays largely steer clear of most Biblical doctrines, Lord Jesus as well as Paul and John the apostles were quite adamant about doctrine and it’s importance in the life of a Believer. For instance; knowing whether a doctrine is from God (John 7:17), continuing in the apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42), only to be able to have the Father and the Son if we abide in the doctrine of Christ (2 John 1:9), to give attendance to doctrine (1 Timothy 4:13), and to take heed and continue in doctrine with the purpose of not only saving ourselves but also them that hear us (1 Timothy 4:16), and also to mark and avoid them which cause divisions and offences contrary to this doctrine we learn from the Bible (Romans 16:17).
• Eschatology is therefore a doctrine specifically about the end-times, which is almost without exception understood to be the time surrounding the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is about the Last Days (Latter Times, Last Times) [1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 John 2:18] which started in the days of the Apostles and continues on until the creation of the New Heaven and the New Earth, and the Christ, Jesus who is the Lord, reigning from the New Jerusalem. The Bible is from our understanding silent over what takes place in eternity after these great events.
• The Rapture is the sudden catching away of the true believers from off the earth to meet Lord Jesus in the clouds. I will show in this article that this Midnight Cry that “Behold the Bridegroom cometh” (Matthew 25:6), occurs before the Great Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 4:17). It is associated with hope and comfort in the Bible and is called the Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).
• The Judgment Seat of Christ (Judgment of True Believers) is only for Christians (2 Corinthians 5:9-10; Romans 14:10-12) and is when Christ judges us not for salvation, which is a matter settled when one is born again (Romans 3:20-26; 4:1-8,23-25; 1 Peter 1:3-5, Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 3:1-7), but rather he judges us on our works for the gain and loss of rewards such as crowns and reigning positions (2 Timothy 2:12; 1 Peter 5:4 Revelation 2:26; 3:21; 20:4) and whether we’ll be suffering shame (1 John 2:28; 2 John 1:8). This is to examine the believer’s service not to determine his or her salvation (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 4:1-5). The fire that will try our works is the Word of God (Jeremiah 23:29; John 12:48).
• Great Tribulation is a description the Lord Jesus gave to the period of intense judgment which will occur just prior to His coming (Matthew 24:21). It will be worse than any the world has ever seen, rivalled only by the world-wide flood in the days of Noah which was a more drastic but sudden event. It is also called among others the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, (Jeremiah 30:7) and the treading of the winepress of the Wrath of God. (Revelation 14:10,19; 15:1,7; 16:1,19; 19:15) [It is prudent to note that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:9,10 {we being delivered already by salvation}; 5:9; Rom 5:9; Revelation 3:10), and also that it is Jesus the Lord Himself who is treading the winepress. Why would He be pouring out His wrath upon His own Church, His Bride, which is what would happen if there is no Rapture and the Church has to go through the Great Tribulation?] The day of God’s wrath will be upon all the world (Psalm 110:5; Isaiah 13:6-13; Revelation 6:17). This time of Great Tribulation is therefore a period when the troubles are focussed on unbelieving Israel as a nation and the wrath is poured out upon the ungodly world and not the Church. During this time the Beast (Antichrist) rules the earth and causes people to need a mark of which the number is 666 in their right hand or in/upon their foreheads to buy or sell (Revelation 13:16-18; 14:9-11; 20:4). [A very eccentric suggestion is that the many calls to legalise and allow chimeric (human-animal) cell research nowadays, which are already permissible for the first few days of the artificially fertilised embryos, might shed light on why he is called the Beast. Such a chimeric individual would convince many of the technological power of humans and their purported independence from God. These technological advancements in biology may also hold a key to how his deadly wound will be healed. (Revelation 13:3,13,14)]
• The Second Coming (Second Advent) is separate from the Rapture and at the end of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:29,30). This is the return of the Lord Jesus to the mount called Olivet (Mount of Olives) to set up His earthly rule (Zechariah 14). Mount Olivet directly east of Jerusalem is where He ascended from to heaven at His first coming (Acts 1:12, Luke 24:50-52).

• The miraculous defeat of Gog, the land Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, (Ezekiel 38,39) is a Russian confederacy with Iran, Ethiopia, Libya and Turkey along with what appears to be an European/Germanic-nations component as well, attacking Israel when she is at peace. The lack of Israel’s traditional enemies, the Arabs, in this Ezekiel text and the description in Psalm 83 mentioning them all as well as Zephaniah 2, {See the map} seems to indicate a decisive victory for Israel over the Arab nations well prior to this attack by Gog. The defeat of Gog must be fairly shortly before what is known as the Battle of Armageddon at the end of the Great Tribulation, while the Psalm 83 event will likely be at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and might be a key factor in the Antichrist’s peace covenant with Israel (Daniel 9:25-27).
  
• The event described as the Battle of Armageddon [Armageddon is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word for “Mountain of Megiddo”, Har-Megiddo] happens when the Lord Jesus himself reaps the vines of the earth, of all nations (to be cast into the winepress which He himself will tread outside the city of Jerusalem (Revelation 14:14-20; 19:15). The main gathering point of enemy forces appears to be the valley nearby Megiddo, yet the ‘battle’ or rather defeat of them takes place over pretty much the whole of Israel (1,600 furlongs equating to 321.87 kilometre or about 200 miles, Revelation 14:20). The valley is also called Jesreel Valley (Joshua 17:16; Judges 6:33; Hosea 1:5) {See the map}, but is not to be confused with the Valley of Jehoshapat (Joel 3:1-2) and Valley of Decision (Joel 3:13-14) which is an alias of the Kidron Valley between Mt. Olivet and Jerusalem. This is an all-out attack against Israel and Christ by ‘all nations’ and happens at the end of the Great Tribulation, relatively shortly after the defeat of Gog. This is the trigger for the physical return of the Messiah, the Prince (Daniel 9:25) who shall reign as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14; 19:16).
  
• The Day of Christ is the day in which the Lord Jesus takes vengeance in flaming fire on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8.)
  
• The Judgment of the Nations happens at the Second Coming (Matthew 25:31-46) where all nations are judged by Christ Jesus when commencing His earthly Millennial Reign.
  
• The Millennial Reign of Christ (Thousand Year Reign) as the King of all the earth and all nations (Psalm 47:7; Zechariah 14:9,17; Matthew 25:32-34,40; Revelation 17:14; 19:16) starts after the Great Tribulation with the Second Coming and continues for a thousand years wherein Satan is bound in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3), but to be loosed for a little season afterwards. This period is sometimes also referred to as the Day of the LORD [yet in the main the Great Tribulation period is known as the Day of the LORD (Isaiah 2:10-22), although the Day of the LORD is sometimes also even referring to general times of God’s visitation to man subsequently culminating in judgment (Amos 5:18-20)]. The combination of the two events Great Tribulation and Millennial Reign with the judgments along with it are also enveloped and jointly called “that day” or spoken of as “in that day” (Zechariah 2:11; 3:9; 12; 13; 14).
  
• There is another Gog and Magog and All Nations defeat which takes place at the end of the Millennial Reign of Christ. Gog here not being the exact same person as a thousand years earlier but described as Gog and Magog, being thus an identifier of the same nation as opposed to the other nations also present. Deceived by the now loosened Satan, they are defeated when God devours them with fire out of heaven and Satan gets cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:7-10).
  
• The Great White Throne Judgment however takes place at the end of the Millennial Reign with the casting of the devil into the Lake of Fire just prior to this (Revelation 20:10-15) where the Beast and the False Prophet already are. This judgment applies only to the unsaved dead, the saints having already been resurrected and are reigning with Christ at this point.
  
• The New Heaven and New Earth and New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-2) follows after this.
  

I have found that many people approach the discussion around the end times and especially the rapture with fear, uncertainty and discomfort. Very peculiar indeed when you consider that 1 Thessalonians 4:18 speaks about that “these words” should be used for comforting one another. Therefore, if you are a true born again child of God, it is important that pondering these things should leave you in spiritual comfort and you should look forward to it with a kind of excitement, anticipating it any day and in fact praying for it to occur soon.

So what exactly is the Apostle Paul talking about over here in 1 Thessalonians 4? Review the verses and then let us draw a few conclusions.

“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.”

Paul, here now dispelling spiritual ignorance which itself is not welcome in the life of a Christian, expounds specifically on what the situation is with deceased Christians (“them which are asleep”), so that when we do sorrow for our deceased beloveds we do it with a hope. Notice how the Bible speaks of Christians as not dead, but asleep seeing that they were made spiritually alive in Christ, and will also never experience the lake of fire which is the “second death” (Revelation 20:14). Them will God bring with Him at some future moment when he returns in verse 14. The Bible speaks of them which sleep in Jesus, thus not just any dead, but only the true Christians who are dead; and by implication also not the Christians alive at that time. Now, in verse 15 he explains what that event we are focussing on really is; it is “coming of the Lord”, and here we see the second group of people involved, the living Christians at that point in time on the earth. These will not prevent, or in other words, enter into the happenings of this event before, the raising of the dead. But no, as he clarified in verse 16, the dead in Christ shall rise first!

So we see some way markers here: First the Lord Himself descents, while alongside with this there is a great shout which is either His own or perhaps rather the voice of the archangel, and there is heard a mighty trumpet of God. The dead saints are also now brought with Jesus Christ, here referred to as the Lord Himself (v. 16) and God (v.14). Secondly the dead are suddenly raised. But wait a minute, we have just seen them coming from heaven with God a moment ago, yet now suddenly they are rising from the earth? Well indeed this is exactly what will happen; the souls come from heaven and God then raises their physical bodies from the earth. Now a living body of man can never be without a spirit and soul, therefore immediately after returning from heaven, these souls and spirits of the saints are seen on the earth being raised in living physical bodies.

Then the third step occurs as the currently living Christians are then physically - together with the newly raised, formerly dead Christians - caught up in the clouds. This caught up in the clouds phrase does carry a sense of suddenness and therefore we associate the word rapture with it as when a bird of prey, or raptor as they are also known, flies over the surface of the river and suddenly seize it’s prey from a little below the water. The poor fish didn’t know what hit him, and the next thing he knows he’s sailing through the air with a tremendous back ache. He was raptured from the water. We now see the fourth step. The saints, all of whom are now very much alive from a physical earthly perspective, are meeting the Lord Jesus in the air. Then it is stated that, so shall they ever be with the Lord, therefore they will be in His physical presence evermore. Now the continual remembrance of this promising prophecy is to be used by Christians to comfort one another. Just as a side point though, notice that so far in this passage we have not read about the Lord physically coming in contact with the earth as opposed to the coming of the Lord in Zechariah 14 where His literal feet physically touches the mount of Olives and it cleaves in two.

We also find that in John 14:3 the Lord Jesus promises his disciples that He is going to Heaven to prepare a place for them and that at some point they will be with Him there after He has come back to receive them unto Himself. On the other hand we read in Zechariah 14:4 and onwards as well as Luke 1:32,33 and Revelation 19:11-15 that the Lord Jesus does come back (Second Coming), but here He now comes to rule from earth for a thousand years. So the event where Christ receives His saints unto Him to take them to heaven (Rapture) has to be a different event than and prior to the Second Coming.

Let us examine 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 for the next conclusive point. After describing the Second Coming in chapter 1 verses 7-10, he gives a more general summery of what will happen in the end times. We need to work by a process of elimination to place it all in it’s correct place. Speaking about our gathering unto the Lord Jesus Christ (vs. 1) he goes on to speak of the Day of Christ (vs. 2) more particularly and mentions that “that day shall not come” until a time of apostasy has arrived and that the man of sin, the son of perdition, the Antichrist be revealed (vs. 3). But we see that the Holy Spirit whose influence is currently present by God’s Church on the earth and the Restrainer of the mystery of iniquity will be taken out of the way and then shall that Wicked be revealed. If the Holy Spirit is not present on the earth, the Church would surely not be able to survive. The Holy Spirit came into the world on Pentecost in Acts 2 to empower the Church for the Great Commission (Acts 1:8) in this special dispensation. We understand though from Romans 8:9 that the Holy Spirit will have to be present in the personal lives of the believers who come to saving faith during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 7:3-17; 14:1-7), yet He will not be so prevalent in the general everyday politics, business and church as He has been over the last two thousand years. Everything official and social will be absolutely entrenched in an antichrist spirit, the start of which we are witnessing even today. Just go into town, our churches, our schools, read the newspaper or watch the news if you have any doubts about that.

Here are a few more arguments for the Rapture not merely being a separate event from the Second Coming, but a specific event seven years, or very slightly more, earlier, so as to have it occur before the Great Tribulation. This doctrine is commonly called a Pre-Tribulational Rapture or Pre-Trib Rapture for short:

• The Rapture is the resurrection of all believers who died up to that time (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). We know they are all believers because it speaks about those inheriting the Kingdom of God in vs. 50. Also note that 1 Thessalonians 4:16 speaks about the “dead in Christ”.
  • The Second Coming which takes place with the Battle of Armageddon, when the Antichrist and False Prophet are judged, has only those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which went through the Great Tribulation not taking the Mark of the Beast, living again and reigning with Christ a thousand years, during which time Satan is bound in the Bottomless Pit; and only then are the unsaved raised to judgment. This resurrection of these Christians is called the First Resurrection yet we have already seen the armies of Christians which were in Heaven, washed clean, following Him on white horses (Revelation 19:13,14,19,20:6,12-15).
• The Rapture has the bodies of the Saints alive and those resurrected being changed from corruptible to incorruptible, mortal to immortal (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-53).
  • The Second Coming has them coming with Christ, so their bodies are already immortal (Zechariah 14:5; Revelation 19:11-14).
• In the days of Noah and Lot people were living at ease and enjoying their lives and their sin, not worried by the thoughts of God’s judgment. And so it shall even be before the Rapture (Luke 17:26-30).
  • The Second Coming happens when the World is in the biggest mess it ever was since the flood in our forefather Noah’s time. The greatest time of tribulations and torments are upon the earth just prior to the Second Coming in the form of the Seven Trumpets and Seven Vials (Daniel 12:1,2; Matthew 24:21-22; Revelation 6; 9:13-19; 16; 19:11-21). [It is interesting to note that the description of a vial is even today associated with the container of a small amount of medicine. I have recently read of a particular medicine costing a small fortune per vial (which was the actual scientific term used) of only 300 milligram. So I think that the idea is here that even in this judgment God is still only giving the world it’s medicine in but a measured amount. What must it be like then if He truly comes at us in full force? Dean J.W. Burgon described a vial as follows: “The φιάλη,—if we must needs talk like Antiquaries—is a circular, almost flat and very shallow vessel,—of which the contents can be discharged in an instant. It was used in pouring out libations (drinks poured out as an offering). There is, at that back of it, in the centre, a hollow for the first joint of the forefinger to rest in. Patera the Latins called it. Specimens are to be seen in abundance.” Thus the historic origin of the word (φιάλην) is of a small type of saucer almost, not a bowl as many teach these days.]
• The Rapture will catch everyone by surprise, even the Church as she is sleeping with very little expectation of her Bridegroom’s imminent return (Matthew 24:36,44; 25:5; Mark 13:35,36).
  • Amidst of the Great Tribulation and world-wide devastation going on everyone are seeing the signs and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ, even the Antichrist is ready to make war against Jerusalem and against the Lord Jesus Christ (Zechariah 14:1,2; Matthew 24:33; Revelation 19:19).
• The Blessed Hope is another name of our Rapture (Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2,3) whereas having to go through a tribulation wherein most of the Christians will be dying and having to flee the Antichrist’s militaristic forces whose task it will be to ensure all worship the Beast, can by no means be seen as any kind of hope (Revelation 13:15-17). For the Rapture to happen after the Great Tribulation at Armageddon does also not make sense, because the Lord’s coming then (Second Coming) and the surrounding events only take place in Israel. Another point which would douse the Blessed Hope very quickly is if the Church would regard that if she has to go through the Great Tribulation, she would also be subject to the torment of the locust/scorpion-like creatures in Revelation 9:1-11 for five months which only those 144,000 Israelite men with the seal of God in their foreheads will escape.
• The early church was taught to expect the Rapture at any moment (Matthew 24:42-44; Luke 12:35-40; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:9,10; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:28; James 5:7-9; Revelation 1:3). Whereas the Second Coming needs the prior fulfilment of certain prophecies before it can occur, such as; Israel had to be back in their land as a sovereign nation, Antichrist has to be revealed and the Great Tribulation has to play out first, etc. () Therefore there has to be a Pre-Tribulational Rapture which can occur at any moment (before the Great Tribulation as the name implies), otherwise we don’t need to expect His coming imminently, we can just wait out the seven years of the Tribulation and then start watching at the end.
• The Pre-Tribulational Rapture encourages us to purify ourselves as we expect it any moment so that we won’t be ashamed before Him at His coming, because there is no time to waste in delaying the preaching of the Gospel. No more time to live in sin with the expectation to have ample time to repent in a more “convenient season” (1 John 2:28; 3:3). In Matthew 24:48,49 and Luke 12:45-47 we see however what the effect will be if we know that the Lord will only return after the seven year tribulation, we will become slack and careless, because that is just the nature of man and the state of him.
• When was the last time you have looked up at the clouds and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come quickly, and prayed for His soon return? We are, together with God’s Holy Spirit, to pray for the Lord to hasten His return and to come receive His children to Himself (Revelation 22:17,20), yet there is no pleasure to God in us asking for Him to come and bring the judgment of the Second Coming (Ezekiel 33:11; Amos 5:18-20), as it will be a very dark day with no brightness in it. Should we be required to pray for Christ to return in judgment before or even during the Great Tribulation, we will be requesting judgment for the sin of the Antichrist and the ungodly nations which has not yet come to the full until the Great Tribulation is complete.
• Two events in Heaven, occurring during the Great Tribulation on earth and before the Second Coming, requires the presence of the Church. These are the Judgment Seat of Christ and also the Marriage of the Lamb to His Bride (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 19:7-9). How do we know the timing of the Judgment Seat of Christ? Well because we see that at the Second Coming the Church is described as the armies of Heaven who have been clothed in fine linen white and clean, returning with Christ. (Revelation 19:14) [Noting that cleansing is something the angels did not need and would be ubiquitous and the description superfluous if the term, armies of heaven, referred to them.] Thus any inspection and judging of the Saints has to happen before this Second Coming to ensure that indeed they are dressed in clean robes by then. By applying the same logic we can only conclude that the Marriage of the Lamb must occur after the Judgment Seat of Christ.
• The Church will be troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; (Matthew 16:18; 2 Corinthians 4:8,9) yet those saved during the Great Tribulation will be overcome by the Antichrist (Revelation 13:7).
• We find the Church absent from the earth during the Great Tribulation described in Revelation in chapters 4 to 18. In chapters 1 to 3 she is part of the main focal point and then again in chapter 19 she returns with the Lord Jesus to the earth to judge it. In Revelation 6 and 8 we see the prayers of Saints which are calling for the avenging of their blood on them that dwell on the earth. It is intriguing to consider that whereas Israel prayed such prayers many times (see among other places the book of Psalms), the Church was commanded by the Lord Jesus to pray for her enemies, not against them. The main witness for the LORD during the Great Tribulation is also Israel, not the Church (Revelation 7).
• The Church-age believers are also promised mansions in Heaven (John 14:1-3) which would not be fulfilled if there is not a Rapture prior to the Second Coming, since then Christ comes and sets up His earthly Millennial kingdom and we reign here with Him. We are a heavenly people with a heavenly hope (Ephesians 1; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1-4).
• In Ephesians 3:1-11 we discover that the Church is a mystery not clearly revealed in the Old Testament but which was hid in God to make known the manifold wisdom of Him even in heavenly places. Therefore all the Great Tribulation events described in the Old Testament (Gog and Magog, Armageddon etc.) all applies to God’s chosen people, Israel, and not the Church. Israel has been partially blinded until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (Romans 11:25).
• The woman in Revelation 12 bringing forth Christ and being subsequently persecuted by “the great dragon... that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” must be the nation of Israel, seeing that Christ established the Church and the Church did not bring forth Christ. So the dragon goes after Israel during the Great Tribulation.

So writing from Athens, the Apostle Paul gave us advice on how to prepare and be ready for this coming Blessed Hope of ours in chapter five of his first epistle to the Thessalonians. Note the emphasised pronouns and what is the situation with Christians versus the ungodly.
“1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 25 Brethren, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. 27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”

And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
Mark 13:37

Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:20

Credit goes to Way of Life and The Berean Call ministries for many of these arguments and scripture references.