the first resurrection and be caught up
when the Lord comes.

There are two passages which are generally quoted to support the
teaching of a partial rapture. The first is taken to support the
theory that it is a question of worthiness, and the second passage is
claimed to make clear that only those will be caught up who look for
the Lord.

Luke xxi:36 is the first passage. "Watch ye therefore and pray always,
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all the things that shall
come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man." Our Lord spoke these
words in connection with the prophecies concerning the end of the age
when the earth and the heavens shall be shaken and when He will come as
Son of Man in a cloud with power and glory. The title of our Lord, Son
of Man, gives us His relation to the earth. When He was here in His
humiliation He was Son of Man, when He comes in exaltation He comes as
Son of Man. Nowhere is it said of the members of the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ that they will stand before the Son of Man. The
exhortation is one which concerns the Jewish remnant, the 144,000 in
the Book of Revelation. They will be in the earth during that time of
trouble and with them it will be the question of faithfulness to the
end to be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man. The
disciples whom our Lord addressed in these words represent in type that
Jewish remnant.

Hebrews ix:28: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;
and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without
sin unto salvation." This passage has been made to prove that only
those who wait for Him will be taken up. The whole passage shows the
three appearings of the Christ. He appeared on the earth to put away
sin by sacrificing Himself. He appears now in the presence of God for
us. He will appear the second time. This is unquestionably the
glorious appearing spoken of in Titus ii:13, "The glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." _He_ who appeared and
_He_ who appears in the presence of God will be the _same_ who comes
back to the earth. Of course when He actually returns from heaven into
the habitable earth, as the firstborn, bringing many sons to glory (all
His saints with Him) there will be such who wait and look for Him and
to them He comes for salvation, and these are the believing Jews. Of
this we read in Isaiah xxv:9: "And it shall be said in that day, Lo
this is o