First Mennonite Church
January 25, 2015
Paul and the Coming of the Lord
Text: 1Thessalonians 4:13-18
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
A General Introduction to the Topic
Among the texts and passages I have been asked to consider are passages from 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. The passages I have been asked to teach deal with these topic of “the end-times” as they are popularly called. I know very well that I have not directly addressed this topic in my teachings or sermons. I am fully aware also that many times when this topic is addressed, the main concerns of the Biblical writers, which is to bring comfort and hope to the suffering Jewish people or Christian community of their times, are left out. Many of those who engage in the “exposition” of passages pertaining to the end of times are more focused on deciphering the meaning of the complex symbols and the identity of the enigmatic characters with respect of today’s world history and characters. Again, often times those who engage on this topic also try to decipher our place in history with the purpose of fitting it in a given time-line of events they believe are found in those passages. Critical to their interpretative approach of these passages is their obsession for everything related to the State and people of modern Israel.
The result of that kind of interpretation is not only highly sensationalist but also tacitly ideologically biased. Again, this way of interpreting these passages disregards some basic principles of biblical interpretation and leaves out the original purpose of the biblical writers. Sadly, that way of interpretation is so popular among many prominent Evangelical teachers and is highly preferred by many Christians.
Again, studies of the final events are what theologians call eschatology. This refers to the teachings or doctrines concerning the last events in the future or the end of time or of the world. Another important word related to the topic of eschatology is the word “apocalypse.” This word comes from the Greek verb apokalypto which means “to unveil” or “to reveal.” The Jewish writings on the topic of the end-times are called “apocalyptic writings.” That is because what they wrote about is supposed to have come by way of a revelation of some kind. It may have been revealed to them either through a vision or angel, while in the spirit (Rev. 1:10) or as Paul says, “[when] transported to the third heaven” (2Corinthians 12:2).
There is something we should also remember: it is not only the Jewish people who believed there would be an end of the world. Various religions and philosophies had some kind of end-times view, although not everyone believed in the same way. The Stoics, in the third century before Christ, believed that the world would come to an end with a conflagration in which everything would be destroyed. Many Jewish writings anticipated some kind of an intervention from God in world history in the future. In that divine intervention the “present age” would end and the beginning of the “Age to Come” would give way for the kingdom of God to be established. This kind of phrases was barrowed by New Testament writers. (See Matt. 12:32; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 1:21). The New Age or Age to Come was believed to be a time when God would fully rule over the Earth and eternal peace and righteousness would reign. All forms of evil would be destroyed and all those counted worthy of entry in this kingdom would be transformed. In that case, this view of the last things would not signal the end of God’s work in the world, but the beginning of an eternal phase in which sin and its effect would no longer bring death and suffering as it does in the “present age.”
My focus today is Paul and the second coming of Jesus—the parousia. Parousia is the Greek word used when Paul or the Gospel writers wrote of Jesus at his second coming. The word simply means “presence” or “presence after an absence.” It was the word used when speaking of the arrival of a ruler or king to a city in the Hellenistic Greek world.
The best way to understand 1 and 2 Thessalonians is to understand the historical context in which these letters were written. In fact this is the way we should study every passage in the Bible. Therefore, for us to understand these letters it is of absolute importance to know who wrote them and in this case Paul was the primary author. I said primary because Silvanus and Timothy are also included as senders of the letters (1Thess. 1:1; 2Thess. 1:1). In many instances in the letters the first person plural pronoun “we” appears and in some other instances when Paul wanted to make clear it is he who is saying something, the first person singular pronoun “I” then appears. And so if Paul was the primary author, we also need to try to understand Paul’s view of the coming of the Lord. We also need to accept the fact that Paul did not have or write about one view only. I know that to say that Paul somehow adjusted his eschatological view along the time of his ministry might seem unsettling to some. Yet we need to take notice that even Peter needed to adjust his understanding of Christian faith as time went by in his ministry. It was until chapter 10 of Acts that he understood that Gentiles need not be converted to Judaism before they are fully accepted by God or to become followers of Jesus.
In the case of Paul, his letters reflect changes in his view about the coming of the Lord. In one instance Paul spoke of it as happening during his life time (1Thess. 4:17); at another, as something he would not get to see happen before he died (2Corinthians 4:14; 2Tim. 4:6, 7).
We also need to see the context of the Thessalonian church. Paul came to Thessalonica as a result of a vision. And not too long after he was there he had to flee. So in part, his writing of these two letters is his attempt to continue his relationship with them that was so abruptly cut short. But this church was also struggling with hardship, betrayal from former friends, death of its leaders, false teaching, problems with an unruly and disorderly group, and constant persecution. In each and every page of these two letters Paul pressed hard to give the Thessalonians the instructions to correct their situation, as well as the strength and hope they need to confront their struggles. Every word and every thought Paul used in the letters to the Thessalonians had the purpose of guiding them amidst their realities. He also wrote them because he wanted to encourage them in their faith, for he had also gotten good reports about their faith and love.
But that is not the only context we should look at. We should also look at the context of the city of Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a city under the patronage of Rome. It was the capital city of the province of Macedonia and a Roman proconsul resided there. In return for all the political favors from Rome, the citizens of Thessalonica had to publicly pledge loyalty and to pay homage to the Roman Caesar. From time to time Roman officials came to visit Thessalonica and pompous welcoming parades took place. The welcoming entourage would lead in the formalities. Any group within the city hesitant to give honor to Rome would put the whole city in danger of Rome’s anger. Thus the pressure set upon anyone not willing to pledge allegiance and pay homage or worship the Roman emperor became increasingly heavy for the emerging Christian community. The political context is very important to know because it is from the language used within that context that Paul uses to speak about the coming of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Even at this point in time, Paul believed he would be part of those still alive when the Lord’s second coming would take place. Yet he wanted to clarify to his beloved brothers and sisters in Thessalonica that they should not grieve like those who do not have hope with respect of those who have already “fallen asleep.” The guarantee for the believer’s resurrection is the fact that Jesus was risen from the dead. It could be that Paul had not taught these believers about the resurrection before he was forced out of their city. And during Paul’s short time away some of those who had believed the Gospel died. It could be that they all shared with Paul the belief that Jesus would come before they saw death. But now that some had died, they were not only grieving their passing away, but were also confused in light of the promise of witnessing Jesus’ return during their lifetime.
Paul then goes on to assure them that, “According to the word of the Lord” those who would still be alive would not have any advantage over those who have died in the Lord. In fact Paul says to them that the first to be summoned at the return of the Lord would be those who are in the tombs. They would hear the voice of God’s angels and the trumpet sound and would rise first. Paul uses the same verb he uses to describe the resurrection of Jesus as “being brought out from the dead.” The same God who acted in the resurrection of Jesus will be the one who will act in the resurrection of “those who have fallen asleep.” Those called out from their tombs would be like the welcoming entourage to the coming King and those who are alive would go over to the entrance point to join the welcoming committee.
Those who are alive will “be caught up” with those who are just resurrected. The verb used means snatch forcefully, also used when Paul was arrested violently (Acts23:10). It is also used for what happened to Philip in Acts 8:39 after he had spoken with the eunuch. The Spirit snatched him away to another place. Again, it is the same word used by Paul when he saw visions of the third heaven in 2Corinthians 12:2, 4. From such uses in the New Testament we can understand Paul speaking of a sudden transfer whether physically or spiritually.
To meet the Lord in the air
Is that meeting in the air the beginning of a journey into heaven? Or is it in the way that when a royal Roman figure came to visit Thessalonica that he was welcomed at the entrance but continues his way to the public square?
Let us not forget that Paul’s intention in this letter and his words about the coming of the Lord are not to present an outline of the end times. His primary objective is to encourage and give hope to those who were seeing their loved ones die. He wanted to strengthen the faith of those who were persecuted and oppressed because they would not give their allegiance and worship to the Roman emperor. Paul wanted to give direction on how to live and not necessarily of a timeline of events to be on the lookout for. Thus his concluding words: Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Any teaching about the coming of the Lord should have that purpose. It should not be to spread speculations, but to move us to a stronger commitment to live our faith in the midst of our realities. It should be to remind us that our allegiance is to the One who is to come.
We should pray with John of Patmos who wrote:
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelations 22:20). Amen