Nor does it "work" to disregard 1Th3:13 (in the CONTEXT of 1Th4) simply because it doesn't happen to jive with "your [
post-trib Rapture] take on things".
I'm going to say this in love and try to explain in such a way that you can grasp what I'm meaning...
... remember as a kid, doing one of those "Connect the Dots" pages, that once completed (
connecting dots 1 through 100) it would form a complete picture?
What I see you doing is "connecting"
dots 1, 10, and 100 (forming a sort of zig-zag set of jagged lines) because you think they "look similar" (1, 10, 100--they DO kinda "look similar"). But you are missing so many dots (in the proper sequence all the numbers of "1 to 100") that you are coming up short of seeing "the whole [
correct] picture".
If you want to discuss the ideas of
"THIRD" in relation to the word
"COME" (re: Jesus), then see John 21:13-14
WHICH USES THOSE TWO WORDS (re: Him)... all [times] of which took place "after He was risen from the dead".
In Scripture, there is no text referencing "[His]
SECOND coming/advent" (it is a LABEL used by us/ppl to help communicate what it is we are referring to, when discussing biblical Subjects... i.e. a man made designation--
which CAN at times cause confusion).
BTW, Heb10:28's "
a second time apart from sin shall appear" isn't saying "[His] Second ADVENT/COMING"(as though, in contrast to "His FIRST advent/coming");
The FIRST TIME "apart from sin" that He appeared [passive] was AFTER His resurrection.
So you do
not believe that
1Cor15:20 (re: His resurrection)
saying "FIRSTFRUIT" (in that verse), was
a literal fulfillment of Leviticus 23:10-12 ON "FIRSTFRUIT" [ON THAT EXACT DATE] (please read that context)?
He fulfilled Ex12:3,5,6 (the selection of the lamb) ON THE VERY DAY prescribed (Nisan 10--what we call Palm Sunday) and was examined for those prescribed days (see Ex12:6);
He fulfilled Passover;
Why are you thinking He did not fulfill Lev23:10-12 (FIRSTFRUIT), when 1Cor15:20 SAYS this, and when Jesus Himself TOLD Mary Magdalene "I ASCEND [active]"... yet later that very evening (way late in the evening) He ENCOURAGED THEM to touch Him (whereas the REASON He had told MM NOT to touch Him was
BECAUSE ["FOR"] He had "NOT YET ASCENDED"... AND He told her to "GO... and SAY UNTO" them this fact... which she did. Why tell MM to go say to them
what He could say to them Himself later that very day at the evening meal IF He was referring to the "40-days LATER" event of Him traveling up to Heaven in Acts 1?)
Yeah, He SAID to her "I ASCEND"... and HE DID! (ON [and FULFILLING] THE VERY DATE OF "FIRSTFRUIT" - Lev23:10-12 / 1Cor15:20!)
And yet, IN SCRIPTURE we see:
--"[...thou, Bethlehem Ephratah... out of thee]
shall he COME forth unto me
that is to be ruler in Israel..." - Micah 5:2; and
--"...behold,
thy King COMETH unto thee: ...riding upon an ass..." - Zechariah 9:9 [see Lk19:41-44];
So here we see
two DISTINCT "comings" (of Him) that were
THIRTY-SOME YEARS apart (iow, they were not IDENTICAL "comings" but distinct--though all falling under the umbrella of what *we* LABEL His First Advent)
"
ON the last day... of this world" is NOT a BIBLICAL phrase.
One will not find that idea being conveyed in the passages using the phrase "the last day" you are drawing from.
What you are missing here is:
--this passage CONNECTS BACK with Isaiah 27:
9,12-13 (
about a SPECIFIC THING)...
--so Isaiah 27:
9 (of that context) CONNECTS with both Romans 11:
27 (and context); as well as Daniel 9:
24 [parts] and its context pertaining to "____ ARE DETERMINED UPON *
thy* [Daniel's] people, AND UPON *thy* [Daniel's] holy city"--the PEOPLE WHO HAVE been "judicially SCATTERED"... TO THE "FOUR WINDS" (and WHO will be
gathered FROM THENCE in this Matt24:29-31 passage);
Notice the "GREAT" trumpet sound which also CONNECTS these TWO passages;
Notice that
THEY will be "gathered" (by ANGELS that HE "SHALL SEND" to do so)
"ONE BY ONE" (not AS ONE, as *WE* [/the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY] will be!)
"The Church WHICH IS HIS BODY" is NOT who've been
judicially scattered (see Eph1:20-23
WHEN [as to ITS existence]).
You are conflating DISTINCT things simply because they LOOK SIMILAR (
numbers 1, 10, and 100), but consequently are missing the big picture (the correct SEQUENCE of "connecting ALL the dots," not merely the few you are "connecting" in a zig-zag [insufficient] kind of manner).
Do not "leave out" 1Th3:13... which CONNECTS with both "the BEMA of Christ" for REWARD/AWARD (which is designated solely for "the Church WHICH IS HIS BODY"), like when Paul said he will receive a "CROWN /
stephanos"
*IN THAT DAY* (and not to him only), which is not referring to the day he DIES... and CONNECTS ALSO with what we SEE being SHOWN in Rev4:4c (crowns /
stephanous")!
And this is just for starters! lol (we're, like, on "dot number 4" at this point!
)
