The Thessalonian Epistles
The Day of the Lord
Lesson XVI
2 Thessalonians 1
Written: April 5, 2005
Our
conviction is growing that for a true Christian believer no subject should be
of more interest or more importance than that of the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ. This subject should take
precedence over all others after the matter of one’s personal salvation is
settled. When one has turned to God as
did these Thessalonian believers, it is a most natural result for that one to
be looking for the Lord from Heaven.
We
have, in our own writing and teaching endeavoured to prove by Scripture, that
the First Advent of Jesus Christ was not one event but rather a series of well
defined events, all foretold by the Old Testament Prophets. In like manner, the Second Advent of Jesus
Christ is not one event but is presented also as a series of events.
John 7:40-43
(40) Many of the people therefore, when they heard this
saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
(41) Others said, This is the Christ. But some said,
Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
(42) Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of
the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
(43) So there was a division among the people because of
him.
At
the time of the First Advent of Jesus Christ there was a division among the
people because they could not reconcile the predicted events before they were
fulfilled. For we read in John 7:40-43
“Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth
this is the Prophet. Others said, This
is the Christ. But some said, shall
Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the
scripture said, that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of
The
people in this scripture knew certain facts about him. Messiah would be born in
The
Messenger promised in Malachi 3:1 did come in the person of John the Baptizer
as foretold Matthew 11:10.
Malachi 3:1
(1) Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall
prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he
shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Matthew 11:10
(10) For this is [he], of whom it is written, Behold, I
send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Jesus
was born in
Micah 5:2
(2) But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me
[that] is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old,
from everlasting.
Matthew 2:1
(1) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the
days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
As
foretold by Isaiah the Prophet in Isaiah 52:13,14, Jesus became the Suffering
Servant.
Isaiah 52:13-14
(13) Behold, my
servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very
high.
(14) As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so
marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
He
fulfilled the prediction of Zechariah by riding into Jerusalem on a colt the
foal of an ass Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:1-10.
Zechariah 9:9
(9) Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he [is] just, and
having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass.
Matthew 21:1-10
(1) And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come
to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
(2) Saying unto them, Go into the village over against
you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose
[them], and bring [them] unto me.
(3) And if any [man] say ought unto you, ye shall say,
The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
(4) All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophet, saying,
(5) Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh
unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
(6) And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded
them,
(7) And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them
their clothes, and they set [him] thereon.
(8) And a very great multitude spread their garments in
the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed [them] in the
way.
(9) And the multitudes that went before, and that
followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed [is] he that
cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
(10) And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city
was moved, saying, Who is this?
He
suffered, died, was buried as predicted by Isaiah (Isaiah 53:1-12) and He rose again as
foretold in Psalm 16:9,10.
Isaiah 53:1-12
(1) Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm
of the LORD revealed?
(2) For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we
shall see him, [there] is no beauty that we should desire him.
(3) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.
(4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
(5) But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he] was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed
(6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
(7) He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
(8) He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who
shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
(9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich
in his death; because he had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in his
mouth.
(10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put
him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his]
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
his hand.
(11) He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall
be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he
shall bear their iniquities.
(12) Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the
great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured
out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Psalm 16:9-10
(9) Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth:
my flesh also shall rest in hope.
(10) For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
These
are just some of the predicted events that together make up the events of the
First Advent of Christ. The events were
fulfilled in a reasonable order. What we
now see clearly the prophets only saw obscurely.
We
restate these facts for emphasis. The Ascension
was not possible apart from the Resurrection.
Resurrection from a grave was not possible without a death and burial. Physical
death could not have been without human life.
And human life is only possible by a human birth. So now we see clearly what those before the
events took place could not see. He was
born. He lived. He died.
He was buried. He arose and then
ascended back to Heaven. These are all
now facts of history all true believers believe. Thus it will be when the Second Advent of
Jesus takes place. A series of events
will fall into a planned order.
There
are many predictions of a Second Advent of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament as
well as those of the First Advent. The
New Testament, having recorded the fulfillments of First Advent predictions has
only prophecies and predictions of the Second Advent events for the simple
reason that it was written after the First Advent had become history.
Both
letters to the Thessalonians contain major predictions about the events of the
Second Advent. And these we continue to
observe.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
(13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope.
(14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
(15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep.
(16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first:
(17) Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall
we ever be with the Lord.
(18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
The
major event predicted in the first Thessalonian Epistle is that of the Rapture
as fully described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
On the part of some believers there seems to be difficulty in accepting
the teaching that the Rapture is but an event of the Second Advent, and not in itself being the Second
Advent. However, as we see it, the
Rapture is the major theme of 1 Thessalonians.
2 Peter 3:3-4
(3) Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last
days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
(4) And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the
beginning of the creation.
Recently
in the context of the deception of the last days, a brother said if a Bible
Teacher or preacher does not believe in the Rapture everything else he or she
says should be questioned. I am coming
more and more to that conclusion in fact I wonder if the day will come when
only those who believe in the Rapture will remain orthodox. I say this in the light of what is happening
in many of the Churches. There is not
only a departure from but a denial of the Rapture. Based on 2 Peter 3:3-4, we learned in 1938
that the prominent characteristic of the Church’s last days will be a denial
of the Coming of the Lord.
When
we come to 2 Thessalonians, the major emphasis is not the Rapture but rather
the events that follow the Rapture, events that have to do with the Second
Advent of Jesus, all associated with the Day of the Lord. Man’s day will soon be ended and the Lord’s Great
Day will take its place.
We
outline the book as follows:
1. Chapter one tells of Christ’s coming in
flaming fire to take vengeance on this ungodly world. This is certainly not what takes place at the
time of the Rapture.
2. Chapter two, the major subject of which is
that of the appearance and reign of the man of sin before the Second Coming of
Jesus Christ. This one will be destroyed
by Christ’s Coming (verse 8). Notice
that Paul says, “He had told them these things” (verse 6). Paul did not neglect to teach young
believer’s Bible prophecy!
3. Chapter three: exhortations to Saints as to
their responsibilities in the light of these events. All prophetic events are written to encourage
saints to live their lives in view of eternal realities.
As
I write these words I am reminded of an oft-repeated prayer of my dear
father: “Lord, help us to live today
with eternal values in view.” That is
the desire of my heart.