Page 18 - Watchman- What of the Night
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which He raises from the dead those individuals who have ―seen the Son and believed

                   on Him that sent Him.‖ The synchronization of these two events is seen again in the
                   Apostle Paul‘s discourse in Romans eight:
                     ―For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creation  waiteth  for  the  (revealing)
                   manifestation of the sons of God…Because the creation itself shall be delivered from

                   the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God… And not
                   only it, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
                   groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our
                   bodies.‖ vss.19-23

                     Here the restoration of the cosmic order and the redemption of the bodies of the
                   ―Sons of God,‖ the righteous dead, are unmistakably identified as to time.
                     It  would  seem  that  the  words  of  the  omniscient  Christ,  speaking  of  this  great
                   event—the  resurrection  of  the  natural  creation  and  of  those  who  are  possessors  of

                   eternal life, and solemnly declaring four times in one discourse that it is to be at the
                   last day, would be sufficient to establish the point beyond cavil. But the advocates of
                   the Darby theory of a pre-tribulation rapture who have filled the people of God with
                   this false and unscriptural notion, seem not to hesitate to stultify the plain words of the

                   Savior in  the interests of their theory,  and insist  that the ―last  day‖ is  an extended
                   period that can be placed three and one-half  years  earlier  than the last day, and is
                   followed by the manifestation of the man of sin and the greatest orgy of evil the world
                   has ever seen.

                       It is conceivable and even probable that when the day of His appearing has come
                   and the sleeping saints are raised and the few surviving ones raptured to meet Him as
                   He comes to earth, His whole work of judgment and restoration will not be completed
                   within the span of twenty-four hours, but ―The great and dreadful day of the Lord‖

                   having  come,  there  can  be  no  turning  back,  but  a  speedy  completion  of  all  things
                   leading up to the inauguration of His glorious reign.
                     The word used in the singular with the adjective ―last‖ means just what it indicates,
                   the last day of this age and the reign of the ―god of this age.‖ When used in the plural

                   ―in the last days,‖ it obviously means the final or closing period of days. But He never
                   says of the resurrection, ―I will raise him up in the last days,‖ but ―at the last day,‖
                   and (let us remember) ―where the resurrection is, there will the rapture be also.‖
                     ―The last days‖ are to be succeeded by ―the last day,‖ and it is on that last day that

                   the sudden and startling event, which is to be ―In a moment, in the twinkling of an
                   eye,‖  will occur. That  it is  also  designated  as  being  ―at  the last  trump,‖ is  another
                   significant point, and identifies unmistakably its time position in the final program.
                   The trump or trumpet  is found  in  Matt.24:31, I  Cor.15:52,  I Thess.  4:16,  and Rev.

                   11:15. In the latter instance the word ―trumpet‖ does not appear in English, but the

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