Wednesday Bible Study: Peoples of the Epistles, part 8

 

As I began the battle to understand 2 Thessalonians, I ran across the dispute about the authenticity of this book by "scholars" who pride themselves at nitpicking, and claim that it has a less personal tone than the first, and that Paul's theology changes.  Well, like the first book, the main 'theology' as they call it is about, "What about the end times?"  Which really caused me to dig deeper into the concept of the Rapture- the removal of Christians before the Great Tribulation- and I (at times unwillingly) learned some things about it.  But let's take this a step at a time.

In the first book,the main problem was, what happens to those who die BEFORE Jesus comes back; in the second, it's "Somebody told us we missed it, it already happened!"  In the first, Paul comforted them about that the Dead would rise FIRST, and then the living- "We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed", 1 Corinthians 15- would meet the Lord in the clouds.  Those who believe in a Rapture believe that this is not the Second Coming, because it is in the clouds and not touching down on the same ground as He left (Zechariah 14:4); others claim there is but one return, and what Paul describes takes place at that point, when Christ returns to destroy the ungodly.  A pastor that does a Q&A radio show holds to this view, saying that the Rapture concept is a fairly recent one- and I have seen evidence that this is true.  I even asked my pastor about this, and this in part is his reply:

Hi Christopher:

I’m happy to chat further sometime, but my simple answer is this:

No one knows!  (I believe there is some reason to believe in a rapture by the way, but I’m not banking on it.). 

I don’t think it matters HOW it happens but that we are faithful UNTIL it happens!

 

 

 

Which is indeed the point of the matter.  But just from me, the evidence in the scriptures SEEM to point to a Rapture as a second, prior event.  For one, I point out that in Revelation 19, the Marriage Feast Of The Lamb, celebrating the Church becoming Christ's Bride, happens BEFORE the Second Coming.  HOWever, let me bring this up to you.  I have had many dreams (just regular common ordinary ones) in which something happens and I think, oh yeah, that's because THIS happened earlier.  But it wasn't actually IN the dream before- it seems that in dreams, your 'timeline' is like a string you can pile up on top of itself.  I believe vision books like Revelation COULD work that same way- and all the "And after these things" and "And then I saw"s  might just not be arranged in chronological order.  Therefore, in interpreting matters like this, we have to remind ourselves of Paul's "through a mirror darkly" guideline and remember that Pastor Denny indeed hit the nail on the head.

Anyway, the second book and the second question Paul reminding them of what he told them before- there is a progression of signs that have to occur.  The Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the earth (2:6-7); the 'Falling Away' that Christ predicted (Matthew 24:12) begins (2.3); and the Anti-Christ sets himself up as God in the Temple (2:4).  Which makes our sign that we haven't missed it even clearer, since the Temple needs rebuilt!  Paul goes on to explain briefly what will happen when the 'Lawless One' arises, which might go a long way to proving the "one second coming" argument, but again, remember that, if you read the above verses in context carefully, the only thing that you do know is that the Falling Away begins ( though you can deduce this is because the Spirit is removed) and the 'Lawless One' is revealed (though hasn't necessarily declared himself God yet).

So what is causing all these questions?  That is what we can learn from the Thessalonians.  First off, there are a lot of "unruly people" (1 Thess 5:13, 2 Thess 3:6) causing problems.  They are busybodies (2T 3:11) who are idle and gossiping, using the idea of "oh well, we missed it" to avoid work- and keeping the pot stirred.  And the way to defeat this?  Paul gives them two tasks.

First, stand fast only in what they either heard or read from the Apostles.  In other words, STAY IN YOUR BIBLE.  Like I said in a last week's Better Part, we have a great example of obedience in the returning exiles bringing back the Feast of Booths after 1,000 years- just because they actually HEARD the scriptures, and decided to obey them.

Second, pray for others!  If you didn't notice yet, the best way out of any of your own spiritual problems is to pray for someone else.  Nice how God works that!

So if the main problem with the Thessalonians was worrying, their cure applies to us, as well.