Two Groups—Two Returns

There are a number of denominations in the Church today—some of the most prominent ones, in fact—that embrace and espouse some variation of the idea that the Church has replaced Israel, or that the Church is the true Israel, or spiritual Israel, etc. This doctrine is commonly referred to as replacement theology, and also goes by the somewhat more respectable moniker of supersessionism—i.e. the Church has superseded or taken the place of Israel, which has been knocked from its pedestal as God's Chosen People, scratched from God's plan, and relegated to the trash heap of history.

In the first century—especially after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, the seeds of replacement theology began to take root and grow, planted by the writings of men such as Marcion of Sinope (AD 85–160). Marcion undertook a crusade to purge the early Church of what he saw as dangerous and heretical Jewish ideas and influences; and although some may have regarded him as a heretic, his ideas spread and found their way into the writings of some of the most respected early Church fathers. For example, those of Irenaeus in the late second century:

This continued to fester, and eventually blossomed to an even fuller extent in the works of some of the Protestant Reformers in the sixteenth century, chief among them the revered Martin Luther—easily one of the most virulently anti-Semitic men in the history of the Church. Here's a relatively mild taste:

I have discussed replacement theology on several occasions, and my purpose here is not to rehash the same material. I'm sure the great majority of prophetically knowledgeable believers understand the lies and errors of this insidious doctrine, and are aware that God's promises to His Chosen People are eternal and inviolable. They understand that Scripture clearly teaches that the Church and Israel are two separate bodies of people with different origins, purposes, and destinies (here's a quick review of these key points).

At this point, you may be wondering:

"So...if he's not going to get into a scriptural dismantling of replacement theology, then why is he bringing it up in the first place?"

Recently the Lord hit me with a couple of stunning little gems in Scripture, and they are observations that help showcase the foundational scriptural truth that Israel and the Church are two distinct groups:

Two distinct groups to which
the Lord returns at two different
times and in two different ways.

These observations help establish a crystal-clear distinction between Israel and the Church, as well as a crystal-clear distinction between the Second Coming and the Rapture. And they are stunning little gems that had been right there under my nose for decades, but I had just never consciously considered them in the proper light.

A fateful day in the temple

As I'm sure you know, throughout the New Testament Jesus delivers a number of extended teachings, often referred to as discourses. Sometimes He is talking to an audience of common people (which normally included His disciples), sometimes He is talking to a group of Jewish religious leaders, and often He is talking to a mixture of all the above. In some cases, however, He is talking to His disciples in private. Two of the most prominent discourses that the Lord delivers privately to His disciples are commonly referred to as the Olivet Discourse and the Upper Room Discourse.

Jesus delivered both of these discourses to His disciples during Passion Week, the last week of His earthly life. Now, Bible scholars a whole smarter than me debate over the details of what day during that week Jesus did certain things or specific events described in the Gospels occurred, so I'm not going to bother to try and pin down the days with precision. Fortunately, it's not critical to the points I want to make.

That said, however, many believe that it was Tuesday of Passion Week when we find Jesus in the temple teaching in Matthew 22–23. A crowd of people and His disciples are present, and as usual the Jewish religious leaders are there and make one last ditch effort to trap Jesus in His words and damage His reputation in the eyes of the common people, who have been flocking to Him in droves. These revered religious leaders fire their best salvos at Jesus, and each time His answer so transcends their legalistic little thought processes that He leaves them fumbling with their phylacteries.

The Jewish religious leaders have done their utmost to find (or perhaps I should say create the appearance of) a crack or a flaw in Jesus' teaching, and have failed spectacularly at every turn. After Jesus—the Son of God and the Jews' promised Messiah—has silenced them for the last time, however, He turns it back on them and lobs one final bombshell in their face:

Of course, David could call the Messiah both son and Lord because, although Jesus was actually David's descendant in the flesh, He also happened to be the Son of God and the Lord over all—including David.

David's statement only makes sense if the Messiah is literally God in the flesh, and this is the thundering scriptural revelation that had blindsided the Jewish religious leaders for the entirety of Christ's earthly ministry—and appropriately enough it is the bombshell He uses to torch them one last time.

As smoke pours from the ears of the Pharisees, Jesus delivers His final, scathing rebuke of the Jewish religious leaders, and His blistering litany of "Woe to yous" goes on for most of chapter 23.

But don't miss this: Even though God the Father and God the Son both knew in advance that the Jewish religious leaders would ultimately reject their Messiah, Christ's offer of the kingdom to them was a legitimate offer—it was on the table and theirs for the taking. All they had to do was embrace Jesus as their Messiah and believe His words, and they would have received their promised kingdom in full. In other words:

Christ had come to offer the Jews their promised kingdom, and God isn't in the habit of making insincere offers.

But until this fateful, climactic day in the temple during the final week of Jesus' earthly ministry, their rejection of their Messiah and the kingdom He had come to offer them wasn't complete and fulfilled. It wasn't an accomplished fact—theoretically they could have still come to their senses, changed their minds, and embraced His teaching.

At this moment, Jesus is finished with Israel—He's done with them (for the time being). At this point, it's official:

The nation of Israel has now formally
rejected their Messiah and spurned
the kingdom He came to offer them.

Now it is an accomplished fact. As far as Jesus' dealings with Israel in the context of His earthly ministry are concerned...

It's all over except for a couple three nails and a crown of thorns.

Jesus walks away with His disciples in tow; and as they are leaving, one of the disciples—possibly trying to lighten the mood—pipes up about the beautiful stonework of the temple:

Jesus blows their hair back by foretelling the coming destruction of the temple, which will occur less than 40 years later at the hands of the Romans, to whom the Jewish leaders have fawningly sworn allegiance. And anyone at all familiar with the temple knew it would take decades to rebuild it to anything remotely resembling its current glory.

So, with the disciples still anticipating that Jesus is about to start setting up the kingdom in the near future (a kingdom they know will require an operative temple), they head back to camp on the Mount of Olives—speechless and with heads spinning:

"The temple...DESTROYED?! What is He talking about?!"

They need answers...and later that evening back at camp, they get them.

One group on the Mount of Olives...

Whenever I discuss the Olivet Discourse, I have a strong tendency to refer to Matthew's version—it's the longest and most in-depth of the three versions of it in the Gospels, and it's usually the first one I reach for. So, you might have noticed that I chose to quote from Mark's version this time.

And there is a good reason for that.

There are four places in Scripture where all the disciples are named, and in all four places Peter, James, John, and Andrew are the first four mentioned (Matt. 10:2–4; Mark 3:16–19; Luke 6:13–16; Acts 1:13). They were the first four disciples that Jesus chose, and they are always the first four mentioned (although as a group they are not always listed in the exact same order).

I chose to quote from Mark's version of the Olivet Discourse, however, because of the three versions of it that appear in the Gospels (Matthew 24–25, Mark 13, and Luke 21), only Mark's version mentions one seemingly trivial little fact:

Jesus is only addressing those four disciples, not all 12.

So, when Jesus delivers this celebrated discourse that night on the Mount of Olives, He is speaking privately to only these four disciples: Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John. Only four out of 12.

So these four disciples—Peter, James, John, and Andrew—go to Jesus privately to find out what on earth is going on, and what Jesus' words mean not only for their future as His disciples, but for the future of Israel.

Jesus launches into one of His longest teachings recorded in Scripture (Matt. 24–25), and it is focused on answering His disciples questions about when the destruction of the temple would occur (which is what Jesus had hit them with earlier that afternoon that had triggered this whole sequence of events), and what would be the sign of His return and the end of the current age (and the beginning of the kingdom age). They understood that the kingdom was going to be established, and they no doubt assumed it would happen relatively soon—certainly during their lifetimes.

But now...oh, baby. If the temple was going to be destroyed as Jesus had just revealed to them, then all bets were off—now they had no clue as to when Jesus would establish the kingdom they were anxiously looking forward to being an integral part of.

You might say Jesus gives these four Jewish men a bit more than they bargained for. He goes into the nature of the times that will lead up to the Tribulation, and describes key events that will occur during Daniel's 70th Week—particularly the abomination of desolation carried out in the temple by the Antichrist, the event that will launch the most severe period of judgment Israel will ever know. He gives them a graphic description of His physical return at its climax and the gathering of the Jewish remnant into the land of Israel to be ushered into the kingdom. He also gives them a series of parables concerning what those who survive the Tribulation can expect to occur after His return—who will be granted or denied admission to the kingdom, and so on.

The point is that these four disciples asked Jesus about the future of Israel in the context of His return to establish the earthly kingdom God had promised the Jews, and Jesus speaks to these four Jewish men about the judgment that falls on Israel during the Tribulation before the arrival of that kingdom.

Only f-o-u-r out of 12...

"Oh, for Pete's sake! Four, seven, nine...who cares?! What possible difference does it make?! Sheesh...c'mon Bible Dude, you look like you're about ready to blow a gasket. Out with it already!"

I was saving this, OK? The prophet Zechariah prophesied about the end-times, and most Bible commentators believe he is speaking of the believing Jewish remnant during the Tribulation in the following passage—and I fully agree:

It is quite clear that Zechariah is saying that during the Great Tribulation (the "fire" that "refines" God's people), two-thirds of the Jewish people "shall be cut off and die," and one-third of them will be "brought through the fire" and "refined as silver." And make no mistake:

That one-third of the Jewish people is the
believing Jewish remnant—those Jews who
come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation.

And that night on the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John, and Andrew represent four out of 12, or one-third of Jesus' disciples.

Coincidence? You know better than that.

I am convinced beyond unconvincing that the Holy Spirit is giving us a subtle yet unmistakable clue that as Jesus delivers His discourse concerning the conditions that will characterize the run-up to the Tribulation, the judgments that will befall Israel during the worst of it, and His physical return at its climax to establish the kingdom God promised His people Israel, He is speaking to one-third of His disciples as being prophetically representative of the Jewish remnant, which according to the prophet Zechariah comprises one-third of the Jewish people during the Great Tribulation.

I might add that the fact that these four disciples were the first disciples Jesus chose also speaks to their role as representing the Jewish remnant on another level because God chose Israel first, before the Church.

But just a couple of days later, Jesus would deliver a very different discourse to His disciples.

...and another group in the Upper Room

Later during Passion Week, the night Jesus was arrested by the Romans and the night before He was crucified, Jesus and His disciples made it a point to have the traditional Passover meal together.

They arranged to hold their Passover meal in the "upper room" of a dwelling in Jerusalem, which in those days was a room on the second floor (or possibly just the rooftop covered with a canopy) that often served as a guestroom, and which could also be used for special gatherings and such. Typically such rooms could be accessed outside the home so as to not disturb those inside.

Although the Upper Room Discourse is often described as including John 13–17, note that it's clear that not all of this material occurs within the confines of the Upper Room. In fact, according to some commentators, only chapter 14 occurs in the Upper Room (personally, I am inclined to see much of chapter 13 also occurring at the meal). In spite of that, however, these five chapters are often all included as part of the same discourse since everything in them occurs within the flow of events on the same evening.

This is Jesus' farewell address to His beloved disciples, and He shares some powerful truths with them. One of the themes that Jesus touches on is the fact that He is leaving, and they won't be able to follow Him until later:

Peter asks the Lord straight out where He is going, and note with care how Jesus answers his question in verse 36: "Where I am going, you can't follow now, but you will follow afterwards."

My, what an intriguing answer. OK, let's think this through:

Q. Where is Jesus going?

A. Back to heaven.

Q. How is going to get there?

A. He will ascend up into the clouds and keep on going (at the Ascension).

Q. How are the disciples going to follow Him?

A. Apparently they, too, will ascend up into the clouds and keep on going.

Then, just a couple of verses later, Jesus follows this up with an even more widely acknowledged (but equally veiled) reference to the Rapture, as if to hammer home the thought He had introduced:

Jesus makes another cryptic reference to this idea that they will see Him again in "a little while" in chapter 16, and it leaves the disciples just as perplexed:

My friends, these can be absolutely nothing but veiled references to the Rapture, the event where not only the disciples (who will be among the dead in Christ who shall rise first), but also those of us who are alive and remain shall ascend up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and then keep on going the rest of the way to heaven with the Lord leading the way (1 Thess. 4:16–17). I see no other reasonable way to interpret these passages.

This is when Jesus returns to receive us to Himself so that He can take us to a place He has prepared for us: the New Jerusalem.

Up, up, and away: Notice that the Upper Room Discourse is delivered in the Upper Room (duh...), and while Jesus and His disciples are in that Upper Room they are elevated some distance up off the ground (in other words, it's called an "upper room" for a reason). But my oh my, what an appropriate place to hint at the event where Jesus will lift the body of Christ up off the ground and into the air to be with Him forever. (Pardon me while I do some watchman-style fist-pumping...)

Oh, it gets better. Note that those four disciples were sitting on good ol' terra firma at the Olivet Discourse where they represented the Jewish remnant, listening to the Lord teach about His return at the Second Coming to establish His kingdom on earth. Later, the disciples were elevated up above the ground at the Upper Room Discourse where they represented the Church, listening to the Lord hint at the Rapture where He will take them to heaven.

I have discussed this in a previous article, but this gives further subtle, elegant testimony to the fact that Israel is God's earthly people, while the Church is God's heavenly people.

I hesitated to throw this in because it's not something that can be backed up 100 percent by Scripture, but still. Many Bible scholars and historians hold to the traditional belief that the Last Supper was held in a structure located a short distance from the temple in the City of David, aka Mount Zion, known as the Cenacle (Latin for "dining room"). Of course, it's also possible that the actual site of Jesus' farewell dinner with His disciples has been lost to the sands of time, and I have no desire to try to convince anyone either way. With so many phony historical landmarks around the world, I tend to be a bit skeptical about such things. But I admit it's not outside the realm of possibility the Cenacle is the real deal.

In addition, however, many of these same Bible scholars and historians believe that when the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples and other believers on the day of Pentecost, they were all gathered together in the Cenacle: the same room where the Last Supper had been held two months earlier. Scripture isn't much help here, since it just says they were all together in the same house (Acts 2:1–2), but it doesn't say what house.

But here's the thing: If they really were in the same room on the day of Pentecost that the Last Supper was held in (whether it was the Cenacle or some other location), then the events during Passion Week that we have discussed and the conception of the Church that followed all fit together into a stunning prophetic mosaic. Consider...

• At the Olivet Discourse, Jesus speaks to the first four disciples He chose who represent the Jewish remnant, and tells them about His physical return to earth at the Second Coming to establish their promised earthly kingdom at the conclusion of the Tribulation. And where exactly does He return at His Second Coming to fulfill that promise? To the same place He is speaking to them: the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1–4).

• At the Last Supper, Jesus speaks to all of His true disciples who now represent the Church, and tells them He is leaving and that they will follow Him at some unspecified future time, hinting at the Rapture. He also tells them that He will send them the Holy Spirit, who conceives the Church about two months later. And where does the Holy Spirit come to fulfill that promise? To the same place He is speaking to them: the Upper Room.

Mind. Blown.

Now, speaking of potential references to the Rapture in Jesus' teaching, I feel compelled to administer a smackdown to a pervasive interpretive blunder that litters wide swaths of end-time teaching throughout the Church.

Take your pick: Many people try with all their might to read the Church and the Rapture into the Olivet Discourse, particularly in Matthew 24, where Jesus is describing the Second Coming and the Jewish remnant being gathered into the land of Israel to be ushered into their kingdom. This is in direct fulfillment of about a half dozen Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled here (some almost verbatim) and are fulfilled nowhere else in Scripture:

Q1. Does it actually say they are being gathered to heaven, as in the Rapture?

A. No, because they aren't. They are the Jewish remnant being gathered into the land of Israel. I realize that it doesn't actually say that either; but if you don't believe me, read the Old Testament prophecies I linked to above.

Q2. Does the word "elect" always refer to the Church?

A. No, it simply means "chosen" and the referent depends on the context. And what is the context in the Olivet Discourse? One hundred percent Israel.

Oh, it gets worse for post-tribbers—they have an even bigger problem. About 20-odd years later, Paul introduces the Rapture as a "mystery" (1 Cor. 15:51–53). In Greek, he calls it a musterion, which refers to something previously hidden that is only now being revealed by God for the first time. That can mean only one thing: If Jesus is giving us a graphic description of the Rapture in the Olivet Discourse as post-tribbers want so badly to believe, then either Jesus or Paul is flat-out wrong. Take your pick.

As I mentioned, after Jesus tells His disciples He is going to prepare a place for them and will return to receive them to Himself to be with Him where He is (John 14:1–3), Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit, who will conceive the Church in a little less than two months on the day of Pentecost:

Jesus is speaking to all of His true disciples, minus Judas Iscariot, who has already left the meal to secretly meet with the chief priests to arrange to betray the Lord later that night. (Why 30 pieces of silver?) What I want you to see, however, is that at this point during Passion Week, He is now speaking to these 11 believing disciples in the Upper Room Discourse as being representative of the Church, which is going to be conceived in a couple of months when the Holy Spirit is dispatched to earth to indwell believers.

So, first Jesus addresses His disciples (one-third of them, corresponding to one-third of the Jews who will constitute the believing Jewish remnant) and answers their questions about the future of Israel in the end times. Jesus proceeds to go into the lead-up to Daniel's 70th Week, the Antichrist's desecration of the temple at its midpoint, the judgments of the Great Tribulation that will befall the Jews, His return to earth to launch Israel's kingdom, how Tribulation survivors will be granted or denied entrance into the kingdom based on their actions during the Tribulation, etc.

He is addressing them as the Jewish remnant,
and speaks of His return at the Second Coming
to inaugurate their promised earthly kingdom.

Then a couple evenings later, Jesus addresses all of His true, believing disciples and tells them He is going to leave, but will send them the Holy Spirit—the event that conceives the Church on the day of Pentecost about two months after that. He responds to their questions as to why they can't follow Him where He is going, and simply reassures them they will follow Him a little later. He tells them He is going to prepare a place for them, and that He will return to take them to be with Him where He is.

He is addressing them as the Church,
and speaks of His return at the Rapture
to take them to a place He has prepared.

The point is that Jesus' description of these two returns couldn't possibly be any different. A few have made valiant efforts to massage these two returns to make it sound as if Jesus is referring to the same event, but such efforts fall flat as a latke.

• After the Jews finally and officially reject Jesus as their Messiah and spurn the offer of the kingdom, He proceeds to describe His return after the completion of the judgments of the Tribulation to establish Israel's promised kingdom to a group of His disciples who prophetically represent the Jewish remnant, who will be gathered into that kingdom when He returns.

• Then, with His dealings with Israel temporarily set aside, Jesus tells His believing disciples who now represent the Church that He is going to leave, but He will send them the Holy Spirit, which launches the Church Age. He tells them He is going to prepare a place for them, and that He will return at some unspecified time in the future to take them to be with Him where He is.

These two discourses Jesus delivered during the last week of His earthly life underscore with stunning clarity two fundamental truths that many in the Church today need to get their heads around—and the sooner the better:

1. Israel and the Church are two distinct groups.

2. He will return to these two distinct groups at two different times and in two different ways.

The title says it all:

Two groups—two returns.

Finally, notice that during Passion Week, Jesus describes His return at the Second Coming in the Olivet Discourse first, and then later hints at His return at the Rapture in the Upper Room Discourse. But note that in the end times, these two returns occur in the reverse order—a mirror image of this:

• The Rapture occurs first, before the Tribulation.

• The Second Coming occurs second, after the Tribulation.

This makes perfect sense, however, because although Jesus spoke in regard to the coming Church Age after He spoke about the Second Coming, the Church Age must be closed out before Israel is plunged into the Tribulation and receives her kingdom at the Second Coming because throughout Scripture God deals directly with the Church and Israel separately. (Not to mention the fact that the Church is promised point blank in Rev. 3:10 to be removed from the time and place of the Tribulation.)

Woe to you

My heart aches for the Jewish people, because they have been taught so much for so long that simply isn't so. For two thousand years, they have been taught a completely reinvented version of Judaism, and it is one based on deliberate misinterpretations and obfuscations of what Scripture actually teaches. Much of this was originally contrived in order to protect the reputations of Jewish religious leaders who had been responsible for the execution of the Messiah. And what has this accomplished? It has left the Jewish people estranged from a God who loves them and who will keep His promises to them—guaranteed.

Those promises include the fact that He has restored them as a nation in the land He gave them for a reason, and that is to bless them and fulfill His promises to them. He will soon turn their hearts back to Him once again and restore them to a relationship with Him. He will purge them, as the prophet Zechariah said, and bring a believing remnant through the fire of the Great Tribulation to ultimately be refined like silver and live in peace with Him and their true Messiah in the kingdom He promised them so long ago.

My heart also aches for many people in the Church today, who have also been taught so much for so long that simply isn't so.

• They have been taught that God has broken His Word and abandoned Israel, the apple of His eye.

• They have been taught by many popular preachers that everything centers on the glorious, victorious Church.

• They have been taught that we are living in the kingdom now, or will be as soon as we get out there and make the world a better place and clean up this mess we've made down here on earth.

• They have been taught that the Jewish people and the nation of Israel have been discarded like so much trash because God is so enamored with the Church in their place.

And on and on it goes.

There are times when it strikes me that a substantial portion of today's Church deserves a few choice "Woe to yous" every bit as much as the Jewish religious leaders did in Matthew 23. If not more so.

But the ultimate "Woe to you" should be addressed to those in the world—those who have rejected the grace and mercy that a holy, just, loving God has expressed to them through Christ, and as a result are on track to be plunged into the terrifying judgments of the Tribulation. In other words:

Woe to you who miss out on Christ's first return, which is His return to receive the Church to Himself prior to the judgments of the Tribulation.

Seek Him, know Him, trust Him. Today. Don't miss His first return.

Believe me, you don't want any part of what leads to the second.

Greg Lauer — DEC '22

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