A very persistent correspondent is unhappy with
my reference ... to the Second Coming in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-
18. This is the famous passage where Paul comforts the
believers whose brothers and sisters in Christ have fallen
asleep and remain asleep in the sleep of death (cp. Ps.
13:3; Dan. 12:2). How will they get into the future
Kingdom? It is a good question. Paul calls his discussion
in 1 Thessalonians 4 a discussion about the Second
Coming (Parousia). In 4:15 he names his topic. It is all
about the Parousia (Second Coming). He expects his
audience to know what that second coming event (the
Greek word Parousia) is like.
Today, however, there is a massive confusion about the Second Coming (Parousia). Many have been lulled into the false idea that there are two second comings, one secret to snatch believers away to heaven and a later one, after seven years, which is public and visible.
That assumption is false. To understand the Parousia correctly, one starts with Jesus. This is precisely what many evangelicals have never learned to do! They have been misled into thinking that perhaps the teaching of Jesus is not for them but for Jews in the future! That is a grand mistake and responsible for all kinds of errors. Start with the teaching of Jesus, the Christian rabbi and lord (John 13:13), and only then proceed to Paul. Salvation is all about obeying Jesus, and Hebrews 5:9 should never be far out of sight. Salvation is for those who obey Jesus. This is a fine summary statement of Christianity. The words of Jesus are the all-important gold standard for all claiming to follow Jesus.
If you begin with Jesus and his instructions to the apostles, and thus, through them, to believers of all the ages, you will find that in Matthew 24 (repeated in Mark 13 and Luke 21) there is a single Parousia event — definitely not two second comings! Jesus was asked about the sign of his Parousia (Second Coming) and the end of the age (Matt. 24:3). The Second Coming of Jesus will bring this present evil worldwide system to its end.
Being an expert teacher, Jesus replied to this excellent question about the sign of his reappearing by saying, “When you see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel standing where he ought not to” (Mark 13:14), then flee at once to the mountains. A moment’s thought will inform us that Jesus knew nothing of a “lift-off” to heaven. On the contrary the Great Tribulation (referencing of course Dan. 12:1), triggered by the appearance of the Abomination, would be the sign for Christians to escape to the mountains. Not a single word about any Parousia of Jesus into the sky to take them to heaven for seven years! It is amazing that the teaching of Jesus has been so terribly disregarded in this important matter of the sequence of events at the end of the age.
Paul customarily taught his recently founded congregations the details of how antichrist would precede the Second Coming (2 Thess. 2:5).
Today many have been mis-taught at a basic level. Believing truth and not falsehood is the essence of true faith (2 Thess. 2:10).
Jesus calls his Parousia a single, splendid, public, visible event, like lightning flashing across the sky (Matt. 24:27). It is as unexpected (for the heedless) as was the flood. But it is visible. 7 million Jehovah’s Witnesses at your door have been told that the Second Coming is invisible and happened in 1914. Such is the capacity of huge masses of Bible readers to be taken in. A future secret coming is no less imaginary and fictional. There is only one Parousia in the New Testament, not two! There is no secret “before-the-Great-Tribulation” Parousia, followed by another one.
The first mistake ... is to ignore the teaching of Jesus in regard to end-time events. Once [one] does this [one] is liable to misunderstand Paul.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul’s subject is the Parousia (Second Coming) (v. 15). It will be the event at which the faithful dead will be resurrected to life from the sleep of death. That data is provided by the greatest of all death and resurrection texts, Daniel 12:2. This great event brings the sleeping dead back to life, via resurrection (the only biblical way of coming back to life).
Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 assumes that the Parousia is known to be the single, public and spectacular event by which Jesus returns to the earth (as [Jesus] said in Matt. 24, etc.). In 1 Thessalonians Paul adds to the information previously given by Jesus. The dead and the surviving Christians will be caught up (raptured) to meet the Lord Jesus at his Parousia, which Jesus has defined as his spectacular return to the earth in Matthew 24.
As Jesus appears in the clouds the dead and living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, escort the royal visitor to the earth, and so be with him forever. Jesus is coming back, since the event in 1 Thessalonians 4 is called the Parousia, Second Coming, and it has been clearly defined by Jesus in Matthew 24 (which my friend failed to take note of). The Parousia is the return of Jesus to this planet, not a “drive-by” event at which he never in fact actually comes back!
The same Parousia is given further important details in 2 Thessalonians 1. Paul warns (against the very trap so many have fallen for) that the Parousia cannot happen until certain other events have taken place. First the man of sin (Antichrist) must appear, and then and only then, following the reign of this Man of Sin (the personal Abomination of Desolation of Matt. 24:15, Mark 13:14), will Jesus come back. Once again Paul is discussing the one and only Parousia. He expressly warns, just as Jesus had when he spoke of the sign of the appearing of the Abomination (Mark 13:14), that the Man of Sin must have his time of supremacy before the Second Coming can happen. This is precisely the opposite of the scheme given by Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in their famous books.
Paul is quite lucidly clear. He warns believers, you and me included, that we cannot expect an end to affliction at the hands of the wicked, until “the revelation of Jesus in flaming fire taking vengeance on his enemies” and killing the Antichrist “with the breath of his lips” (2 Thess. 1:7-9; 2:8). Once again the topic is the single Parousia, and far from being a secret event, it is a mighty public spectacle at which Jesus both raises the dead and raptures them into the air and then kills the Man of Sin. Jesus is headed towards the earth and the point of the “rapture” is to allow the faithful to escort the King as he comes to the earth. There are other biblical examples of a body of people going out to meet and escort a distinguished arriving dignitary (Acts 28:15-16; Matt. 25:6).
A serious deception has been wrought on those who have invented a secret preliminary “Second Coming” 7 years earlier than the one and only biblical Parousia (Second Coming) announced by Jesus and Paul. There is no coming of Jesus 7 years before his one and only future Parousia in glory. Our faith is to be built on biblical fact and not on an imaginary, invented “any moment” arrival of Jesus to remove saints from the earth.
Let us summarize. If you begin with the falsehood that Jesus is coming back twice, which means two Parousias, then you will think you have found a secret Parousia in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. This can only happen if one turns a blind eye to the plain and obvious teaching of Jesus in Matthew 24 — that there is going to be ONE dramatic, visible and public Parousia of Jesus, his return to the earth to rule in the Kingdom to be inaugurated by him at that time, worldwide (Rev. 11:15- 18; Luke 21:31).
Once the all-important teaching of Jesus is accepted in Matthew 24 — and of course obedience to Jesus is the basis of salvation in Hebrews 5:9 — then one will not fall into the trap of inventing a secret Parousia in 1 Thessalonians 4. When one arrives at 1 Thessalonians 4 one is supposed to have learned about the sequence of events from the teaching of Jesus. Many churchgoers however are mesmerized by the idea that the teaching of Jesus is somehow unimportant. They then begin with Paul and misunderstand him, forgetting that Paul did not contradict Jesus.
It is a fatal, systematic error to dismiss the teaching of Jesus as relevant only for Jews. Jesus promises the faithful “meek” of all nations that they will inherit the land (Matt. 5:5). They will rule on the earth with Jesus (Rev. 5:10) over surviving mortal nations
(Rev. 2:26; Isa. 19:21-25; Matt. 19:28; Acts 1:6).
It is a pleasant illusion to believe that Jesus is going to come back seven years before he comes bringing the Kingdom of God. But it is not based on Scripture, but on uncritically accepted, popular literature which has been successful in forming (or misinforming) the minds of millions. But then the extraordinary musings of Harold Camping, announcing a now failed Second Coming for May 2011, also raked in millions of dollars! What does this tell us about the judgment of millions of “sincere” members of churches? The dictum of Hosea about a tragic and destructive “lack of knowledge” could well apply to us today (Hos. 4:6).
The need for intelligent, informed study of the words of the Bible should be obvious in view of our present chaotic church community. Nothing is likely to change until Christians become earnest Bereans and work hard at believing what is true and not what is false. Paul warned against the crippling effects of “believing what is false” as opposed to “loving the truth in order to be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10-11). Paul declared that a person is unrighteous if he believes falsehood or in any way suppresses truth. Paul’s confidence resided in his assurance that he had given his converts “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). And he did not mean “whatever this or that congregation might approve as true.” He meant the truth as Jesus and the New Testament teaches it.
Denominational congregations easily delude their community into thinking that all is well, because “we all believe the same things.” This can lead to dangerous delusion and self-satisfaction. A thorough unbiased review would allow darkness to be dispelled and light to increase — the very light of truth which Paul makes a condition of salvation (2 Thess. 2:10-12).
Jesus taught a single Parousia event and promised to keep the faithful from evil, but not by taking them out of the world: “I am not praying that You should take them out of the world but that You should protect them from the Evil One” (John 17:15).
The above article was taken from Focus on the Kingdom, July 2011.
Today, however, there is a massive confusion about the Second Coming (Parousia). Many have been lulled into the false idea that there are two second comings, one secret to snatch believers away to heaven and a later one, after seven years, which is public and visible.
That assumption is false. To understand the Parousia correctly, one starts with Jesus. This is precisely what many evangelicals have never learned to do! They have been misled into thinking that perhaps the teaching of Jesus is not for them but for Jews in the future! That is a grand mistake and responsible for all kinds of errors. Start with the teaching of Jesus, the Christian rabbi and lord (John 13:13), and only then proceed to Paul. Salvation is all about obeying Jesus, and Hebrews 5:9 should never be far out of sight. Salvation is for those who obey Jesus. This is a fine summary statement of Christianity. The words of Jesus are the all-important gold standard for all claiming to follow Jesus.
If you begin with Jesus and his instructions to the apostles, and thus, through them, to believers of all the ages, you will find that in Matthew 24 (repeated in Mark 13 and Luke 21) there is a single Parousia event — definitely not two second comings! Jesus was asked about the sign of his Parousia (Second Coming) and the end of the age (Matt. 24:3). The Second Coming of Jesus will bring this present evil worldwide system to its end.
Being an expert teacher, Jesus replied to this excellent question about the sign of his reappearing by saying, “When you see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel standing where he ought not to” (Mark 13:14), then flee at once to the mountains. A moment’s thought will inform us that Jesus knew nothing of a “lift-off” to heaven. On the contrary the Great Tribulation (referencing of course Dan. 12:1), triggered by the appearance of the Abomination, would be the sign for Christians to escape to the mountains. Not a single word about any Parousia of Jesus into the sky to take them to heaven for seven years! It is amazing that the teaching of Jesus has been so terribly disregarded in this important matter of the sequence of events at the end of the age.
Paul customarily taught his recently founded congregations the details of how antichrist would precede the Second Coming (2 Thess. 2:5).
Today many have been mis-taught at a basic level. Believing truth and not falsehood is the essence of true faith (2 Thess. 2:10).
Jesus calls his Parousia a single, splendid, public, visible event, like lightning flashing across the sky (Matt. 24:27). It is as unexpected (for the heedless) as was the flood. But it is visible. 7 million Jehovah’s Witnesses at your door have been told that the Second Coming is invisible and happened in 1914. Such is the capacity of huge masses of Bible readers to be taken in. A future secret coming is no less imaginary and fictional. There is only one Parousia in the New Testament, not two! There is no secret “before-the-Great-Tribulation” Parousia, followed by another one.
The first mistake ... is to ignore the teaching of Jesus in regard to end-time events. Once [one] does this [one] is liable to misunderstand Paul.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul’s subject is the Parousia (Second Coming) (v. 15). It will be the event at which the faithful dead will be resurrected to life from the sleep of death. That data is provided by the greatest of all death and resurrection texts, Daniel 12:2. This great event brings the sleeping dead back to life, via resurrection (the only biblical way of coming back to life).
Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 assumes that the Parousia is known to be the single, public and spectacular event by which Jesus returns to the earth (as [Jesus] said in Matt. 24, etc.). In 1 Thessalonians Paul adds to the information previously given by Jesus. The dead and the surviving Christians will be caught up (raptured) to meet the Lord Jesus at his Parousia, which Jesus has defined as his spectacular return to the earth in Matthew 24.
As Jesus appears in the clouds the dead and living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, escort the royal visitor to the earth, and so be with him forever. Jesus is coming back, since the event in 1 Thessalonians 4 is called the Parousia, Second Coming, and it has been clearly defined by Jesus in Matthew 24 (which my friend failed to take note of). The Parousia is the return of Jesus to this planet, not a “drive-by” event at which he never in fact actually comes back!
The same Parousia is given further important details in 2 Thessalonians 1. Paul warns (against the very trap so many have fallen for) that the Parousia cannot happen until certain other events have taken place. First the man of sin (Antichrist) must appear, and then and only then, following the reign of this Man of Sin (the personal Abomination of Desolation of Matt. 24:15, Mark 13:14), will Jesus come back. Once again Paul is discussing the one and only Parousia. He expressly warns, just as Jesus had when he spoke of the sign of the appearing of the Abomination (Mark 13:14), that the Man of Sin must have his time of supremacy before the Second Coming can happen. This is precisely the opposite of the scheme given by Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in their famous books.
Paul is quite lucidly clear. He warns believers, you and me included, that we cannot expect an end to affliction at the hands of the wicked, until “the revelation of Jesus in flaming fire taking vengeance on his enemies” and killing the Antichrist “with the breath of his lips” (2 Thess. 1:7-9; 2:8). Once again the topic is the single Parousia, and far from being a secret event, it is a mighty public spectacle at which Jesus both raises the dead and raptures them into the air and then kills the Man of Sin. Jesus is headed towards the earth and the point of the “rapture” is to allow the faithful to escort the King as he comes to the earth. There are other biblical examples of a body of people going out to meet and escort a distinguished arriving dignitary (Acts 28:15-16; Matt. 25:6).
A serious deception has been wrought on those who have invented a secret preliminary “Second Coming” 7 years earlier than the one and only biblical Parousia (Second Coming) announced by Jesus and Paul. There is no coming of Jesus 7 years before his one and only future Parousia in glory. Our faith is to be built on biblical fact and not on an imaginary, invented “any moment” arrival of Jesus to remove saints from the earth.
Let us summarize. If you begin with the falsehood that Jesus is coming back twice, which means two Parousias, then you will think you have found a secret Parousia in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. This can only happen if one turns a blind eye to the plain and obvious teaching of Jesus in Matthew 24 — that there is going to be ONE dramatic, visible and public Parousia of Jesus, his return to the earth to rule in the Kingdom to be inaugurated by him at that time, worldwide (Rev. 11:15- 18; Luke 21:31).
Once the all-important teaching of Jesus is accepted in Matthew 24 — and of course obedience to Jesus is the basis of salvation in Hebrews 5:9 — then one will not fall into the trap of inventing a secret Parousia in 1 Thessalonians 4. When one arrives at 1 Thessalonians 4 one is supposed to have learned about the sequence of events from the teaching of Jesus. Many churchgoers however are mesmerized by the idea that the teaching of Jesus is somehow unimportant. They then begin with Paul and misunderstand him, forgetting that Paul did not contradict Jesus.
It is a fatal, systematic error to dismiss the teaching of Jesus as relevant only for Jews. Jesus promises the faithful “meek” of all nations that they will inherit the land (Matt. 5:5). They will rule on the earth with Jesus (Rev. 5:10) over surviving mortal nations
(Rev. 2:26; Isa. 19:21-25; Matt. 19:28; Acts 1:6).
It is a pleasant illusion to believe that Jesus is going to come back seven years before he comes bringing the Kingdom of God. But it is not based on Scripture, but on uncritically accepted, popular literature which has been successful in forming (or misinforming) the minds of millions. But then the extraordinary musings of Harold Camping, announcing a now failed Second Coming for May 2011, also raked in millions of dollars! What does this tell us about the judgment of millions of “sincere” members of churches? The dictum of Hosea about a tragic and destructive “lack of knowledge” could well apply to us today (Hos. 4:6).
The need for intelligent, informed study of the words of the Bible should be obvious in view of our present chaotic church community. Nothing is likely to change until Christians become earnest Bereans and work hard at believing what is true and not what is false. Paul warned against the crippling effects of “believing what is false” as opposed to “loving the truth in order to be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10-11). Paul declared that a person is unrighteous if he believes falsehood or in any way suppresses truth. Paul’s confidence resided in his assurance that he had given his converts “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). And he did not mean “whatever this or that congregation might approve as true.” He meant the truth as Jesus and the New Testament teaches it.
Denominational congregations easily delude their community into thinking that all is well, because “we all believe the same things.” This can lead to dangerous delusion and self-satisfaction. A thorough unbiased review would allow darkness to be dispelled and light to increase — the very light of truth which Paul makes a condition of salvation (2 Thess. 2:10-12).
Jesus taught a single Parousia event and promised to keep the faithful from evil, but not by taking them out of the world: “I am not praying that You should take them out of the world but that You should protect them from the Evil One” (John 17:15).
The above article was taken from Focus on the Kingdom, July 2011.
