He Shall Have Dominion

at his ascension. This glorious event is mentioned in a number of Scripture
passages. 24
When the Lord returns at his second advent, this will signal the end
of history. Paul notes that when Christ returns, the end will come: “Christ
the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then
comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father” (1Co
25
15:23–24a). This is why Scripture calls the era we have been living in
since Christ’s incarnational coming “the last days” (Heb 1:1–2): no
26
remaining days of history follow them. The resurrection occurs on the
“last day” (Jn 6:39–40, 44, 54; 11:24) at the “last trumpet” (1Co 15:52).
Christ’s second coming does not open a whole new redemptive historical
era known as the millennium. Rather, it concludes history.
Consequently, just as the beginning of history involves Christ (Jn 1:3;
Col 1:16), so will history’s end (1Co 15:23–24). He is the “Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rev 1:8; cf. 1:11; 21:6; 22:13). (Below
I will survey a few of the major concomitant events associated with his
second advent.)
A Dispensational Distortion
Scripture teaches that Christ’s eschatological return is a singular,
visible, glorious event. Dispensationalism, with its systemic
pandemonium, however, teaches multiple literal, bodily eschatological
comings of Christ from heaven to earth. The initial one is the “rapture,”
which is a secret coming. As Ryrie states: 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 “cannot
refer to the Second Coming of Christ because that event was not a
mystery unrevealed in the Old Testament. The reference is to something
distinct, that is, the rapture of the Church before the tribulation.” First
27
Thessalonians 4:13–18 “speaks of the same event.” “The rapture as
expressed in 1 Thessalonians 4 seems to be a private event involving the
24. For example, to list but a few: Mt 13:30, 39–43; 24:36–24:56; 1Co 11:26;
15:23–24, 51–52; Php 3:20–21; Col 3:4; 1Th 4:13–17; Tit 2:13; Rev 20:9.
25. See early discussion of this passage in the preceding chapter (pp. 255ff).
26. See the next chapter (“Eschatological Features”) for a discussion of the last
days.
27. Ryrie, Basis of the Premillennial Faith, 133. Other dispensationalists agree:
PSB 1363. PEBP 309. DPT 337. Walvoord, PKH,, 481. Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come,
248–249 and Things to, 206–207. Thomas L. Constable, “1 Thessalonians,” BKC,
2:704. Benjamin C. Chapman, “1 Thessalonians,” Liberty Commentary: New Testament,
586.