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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The True Hope: "Rapture" or Resurrection?, #25
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (II Thessalonians 2:1)
Second Thessalonians, Chapter Two
There is no question whether the coming of the Lord will occur before or after Antichrist and the great tribulation. Paul told us clearly the Lord will not return until Antichrist has had his day.
Notice the expression "our gathering together unto him."
Other descriptions of the parousia describe our being gathered together to the Lord.
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. (I Thessalonians 4:17)
This is a gathering together unto Him.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven [of the heavens] to the other. (Matthew 24:31)
This is a gathering together unto Him.
The Lord told us when Matthew 24:31 (above) will take place:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (Matthew 24:29)
We shall be gathered together to be with the Lord "immediately after the tribulation of those days."
But let us continue in Second Thessalonians.
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (II Thessalonians 2:2)
"The day of Christ." "The day of the Lord."
First Thessalonians 5:2, referring back to I Thessalonians 4:13-17, terms the event "the day of the Lord."
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (I Thessalonians 5:2)
"That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled."
It is clear the Apostles of the Lamb did not preach an any-moment coming of the Lord. In fact, they were warning the Thessalonians against this attitude.
Would any conscientious Bible student maintain that Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to avoid being shaken in mind or upset that the day of Christ was going to take place momentarily, while at the same time advising them that at any moment there would be a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God?
Or, if Paul was teaching that the coming described in II Thessalonians is to take place seven years after the coming mentioned in I Thessalonians, then the Thessalonian Christians would understand that they would not be here when the Lord came. Why, then, would Paul caution them about being shaken in mind concerning the nearness of the day of the Lord, the day of Christ? This is highly unlikely.
To be continued.