DAY NINETY:
The Coming of the Lord
Today's passage is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and glorious passages in the whole Bible. This is where our hope lies as Christians. We look for the day when Jesus will set the last things straight and we'll be with Him for eternity. Yet this passage has also stirred much controversy over the past century. The sign above (click on it if you'd like to enlarge it) puts a date of May 21, 2011 for the return of Christ. That was exactly three years ago on Wednesday, and we're still waiting.
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope." Enough time had passed that the first generation of Christians was passing off the scene. They had hoped to see His glorious return before they died. Now false teachers are shaking the faith of those who remain, claiming that the resurrection had already occurred (2 Timothy 2:18). Just what is the status of those who die in the Lord? Paul told the Thessalonians that he didn't want them to be "uninformed." The word literally means ignorant. He didn't want them to fret and speculate. He wants them to be certain, so that while they shed tears for their loved ones, they won't grieve uncontrollably, like the pagans around them. Christians mourn with hope in their hearts.
"For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep." Don't let those false teachers shake your composure. Those who have died in faith are not gone forever. Further, they will have an honored position before those who are alive at His coming. They will be first.
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." There won't be any doubt, any mystery, when Jesus comes back! The whole world will see it. That trumpet will sound and the dead will rise. Then we too will rise to meet the Lord and the departed saints in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever!
These verses gave rise to the term "rapture," which you hear all the time on Christian TV and radio. The popular Left Behind series of novels are based on this premise. In the last century and a half Dispensationalism has shaped how many Bible-believing Christians understand Scripture. A dispensation is a period of God's activity, each of which has different purposes and rules. Read the article I've linked to above if you want to learn more about the whole of Dispensationalism. Today we'll concentrate on these verses. Dispensationalists believe that Jesus will return secretly before He returns publicly. At this secret coming He will resurrect those who have died in faith and then catch up (rapture) the faithful who are still alive. After that comes a seven-year period called the Great Tribulation, a time when the Antichrist will take power. At the end of the seven years Jesus will return publicly and reign on the earth for 1,000 years (the Millennium). Then Satan will lead one last rebellion. After the devil is defeated Jesus will institute the new heave and earth.
This teaching of the Rapture has, I believe, distracted Christians from what we should be doing while on this earth. First, let me say that I see nowhere in the Bible that Jesus will return secretly. Every passage that mentions His coming says that everyone will see it. Likewise, the Bible does speak of a time of tribulation before Christ's return. But we're in it right now, and have been for almost 2,000 years. Revelation 7:14, which comes well ahead of when the Rapture is supposed to take place, says, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Try telling the Christians in North Korea, or Iraq, or Syria, or Sudan, that they're not in the great tribulation! This doctrine of the Rapture grew up in a time of prosperity, when it was respectable to be a Christian. The Rapture offers escape from suffering when Jesus comes back, but does nothing to prepare us for suffering in this life. It encourages us to forego planning for the future. Jesus will come back before I need an education, life insurance, etc. The Bible teachers who promote this view point to the signs of the times to prove that Christ's return is near. Those signs keep changing as they pass while Christ hasn't returned. For instance, I read Hal Lindsey's book Late Great Planet Earth in the mid-70s. He argued that Jesus would come within a generation of the founding of the modern state of Israel, and since a biblical generation is 40 years Jesus would come back by 1988. He also taught that the ten horns of the Beast described in Revelation were the nations of the European Common Market. There were nine members when he wrote. He said that the tenth nation to join would complete the Beast and set the stage for the Rapture and the Great Tribulation that would follow. The tenth nation (Ireland) joined, then more and more nations. The European Union has 28 members now, and still no Rapture.
Paul sought to calm all the anxious speculation around the Lord's return. "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." When the disciples asked Jesus if He was now restoring the kingdom to Israel, He replied, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8) He told them not to sit around and speculate but to get out and work! No one knows when He will come, so the best thing we can do is to be ready. That means taking care of business and occupying until He comes.
"But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." Paul encouraged his readers (and us, as I always remind you) to live a life worthy of Christ. Live in His light and behave like children of the day.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him." This is another statement of the Gospel in a nutshell. Jesus died for us so that we could escape God's rightful wrath and find salvation in Him. It makes no difference if you die before Jesus returns or if you're there to see it. Either way we'll be with Him!
I skipped over 4:18 deliberately because I want to consider it together with 5:11. 4:18 says, "Therefore encourage one another with these words," and 5:11 says, "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." Encourage. We've seen that word before. It means to come alongside and help. This is why we need one another in the Body of Christ. We live in a time when you can receive lots of spiritual nourishment from the Internet. You can watch the very best preachers of our time deliver wonderful sermons (I have a few that I like to watch on my day off). But even the best preacher can take you only so far. We need each other for encouragement in the hard times. We need each other to hone us into stronger disciples. Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." And we especially need one another when we stand at the gravesite of someone we loved. Our busy world gives us lots of reasons to slack off on our involvement in the Body of Christ. But Hebrews 10:24-25 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Here's a song from Steve Green's children's album that drives this point home:
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