Titus 2:13

The blessed hope of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ’s appearing in glory at the Rapture also motivates the sensitive Christian to honor God by his or her behavior now. [Note: See Gary L. Nebeker, "The Theme of Hope in Dispensationalism," Bibliotheca Sacra 158:629 (January-March 2001):30-20.] The Greek verb prosdechomenoi ("looking for") is in the present tense indicating that this waiting should be our characteristic attitude, always ready to welcome the returning Lord. We do not want to feel ashamed when we meet Him face to face (1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:3). In the Greek text one article, "the," introduces both "blessed hope" and "glorious appearing," suggesting that Paul was viewing one event as having two aspects. The blessed hope is the glorious appearing of our Savior.

"In the New Testament hope does not indicate merely what is wished for but what is assured." [Note: Guthrie, p. 199.]

"In light of the concept of the imminent coming of Christ and the fact that the New Testament does teach His imminent coming, we can conclude that the Pretribulation Rapture view is the only view of the Rapture of the church that comfortably fits the New Testament teaching of the imminent coming of Christ. It is the only view that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the 70th week of Daniel 9 or the Tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before His return." [Note: Renald E. Showers, Maranatha: Our Lord, Come! A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church, p. 149. See also Gerald B. Stanton, Kept from the Hour, ch. 6: "The Imminency of the Coming of Christ for the Church," pp. 108-37; and Wayne A. Brindle, "Biblical Evidence for the Imminence of the Rapture," Bibliotheca Sacra 158:630 (April-June 2001):148-49.]

"Paul . . . does not ask us to look for the Tribulation, or the Antichrist, or for persecution and martyrdom, or for death, but for the return of Christ. If any of these events must precede the Rapture, then how can we help looking for them rather than the Lord’s coming? Such a view of the coming of the Lord can at best only induce a very general interest in the ’blessed hope.’" [Note: Henry C. Thiessen, "Will the Church Pass through the Tribulation?" Bibliotheca Sacra 92 (July-September 1935):307.]

"The unusual phrase ’the great God,’ found only here in the New Testament, is best accounted for as a Christological application of an Old Testament description of God." [Note: Griffin, p. 313.]

In other words, Paul described the appearing and glory of one Person, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is another of the passages that clearly states that Jesus Christ is God (cf. John 1:1; John 1:18 [according to some manuscripts]; John 20:28; Romans 9:5; Hebrews 1:8-13; 2 Peter 1:1; and possibly 1 John 5:20). [Note: See Robert M. Bowman Jr., "Jesus Christ, God Manifest: Titus 2:13 Revisited," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 51:4 (December 2008):733-52.]