Rapture Or 2nd Coming?

Q

I have read where you have said on multiple occasions that Mark 13:32 “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” is not talking about the rapture but about the 2nd coming. I have really come to respect and enjoy your teachings over the last few months, and while I do not doubt what you are saying is true, I also do not see why that verse has to be talking about the 2nd coming and not rapture. Can you set me straight on this?

A

You have to stay true to the context of the passage. In Mark 13:14 the Lord mentioned the Abomination of Desolation. In verse 19 He said that would mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Starting in Mark 13:24 he was speaking of the time following the Great Tribulation. In verse 26-27 He described the 2nd Coming with the Sun and Moon going dark, stars falling from the sky, and men standing on Earth watching Him come. Verse 27 states that some of His elect will be coming with Him from Heaven and others will meet Him on Earth.

This does not compare with Paul’s description of the rapture in 1 Thes 4:16-17. Neither does it conform to his statement in 1 Cor. 15:52-53 that the rapture would happen “in the twinkling of an eye” or his promise that the Lord would rescue the Church from God’s Wrath (1 Thes. 1:10). Therefore the day He was speaking of in verse 32 is the day of the 2nd Coming.