John MacArthur saw a difference between the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ. He wrote, "The second coming must be distinguished from the rapture of the church prior to the seven year tribulation. At the rapture Christ comes for His saints. At the second coming He comes with them. At the rapture Christ meets His saints in the air to take them to heaven. At the second coming He descends with them to the earth."
MacArthur further identified a major difference between the rapture and the second coming. He wrote, "There is not a hint of judgment in passages describing the rapture (John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:13-18), but judgment plays a prominent role in the second coming (Rev. 19:11, 15, 17-21).
John MacArthur observed even more obvious differences between the rapture and the second coming of Christ. He states, "The dramatic signs accompanying the second coming such as the darkening of the sun and the moon and the disruptions of the 'powers of the heavens' (Matthew 24:29-30) are not mentioned in the passages describing the rapture."
MacArthur noticed that Revelation 19, which describes the second coming of Christ, "does not mention either a rapture of living believers (1 Cor. 15:51-52), or a resurrection of dead believers (1 Thess. 4:16)." In all these observations, he points out the differences between the rapture of the church before the tribulation and the second coming of Christ after the tribulation.
