Both First and Second Thessalonians contain some of the most profound and clearest statements of the Lord’s coming (his so-called second coming) that can be found in the New Covenant text. Paul had been forced to leave Thessalonica, because some of the Jewish opposition there had convinced the public authorities that Paul was trying to set himself up as a revolutionary leader to depose Caesar. Because he couldn’t return to visit with his brethren in the city, that is, for as long as the present governors held office in the city (usually officiating for one year), Paul contacted the church in Thessalonica through messengers (Timothy and Silas) who carried both epistles to express his concern for them, because they were also being persecuted, and to answer some troubling questions they had, concerning their newly discovered faith.
Normally, Paul would have spent much more time than he did with a church that he had raised up, but, before he was able to establish them through a through teaching program, he was expelled from the city. Hence his great concern and their ignorance of some rather basic teaching about the faith of Christ. They had been told that those of them who trusted in Christ would never die (John 11:26), but some of their friends and family had died either of natural causes or through the ongoing persecution of the new church by the Jewish authorities in Thessalonica. The brethren were concerned that they had died before Christ came. How was that possible, according to what Christ said, and what would become of them when he did come in his glory?
Obviously, their concern over their dead loved ones implies Paul taught, and they believed, that Jesus would return in their lifetime. There simply isn’t a context for their thinking they would live for 2000 years and counting, until Christ returned. They believed they would live to see the return of Christ, because Jesus said he would come in the glory of the Father with the mighty angels to reward the faithful, and there were some in his audience, when he made that claim, who would live until that day had occurred (Matthew 16:27-28; Mark 8:34; 9:1).
It is simply illogical for any of us to believe that Paul taught that Jesus’ parousia (his coming) was thousands of years away. Why should we believe the Lord’s coming has yet to occur? By what authority do we think that way. If our faith isn’t based upon the word of God, then upon what is it based? Tradition? Do we forget what the Lord said about vain, human tradition? He said it is false and makes the word of God void or of no affect upon the people (Matthew 15:3, 6, 9).
The fact is that Paul mentioned twice and included himself in what he said “we who are alive and remain” until the coming of Christ (1Thessalonians 4:15, 17), proving that his doctrine wasn’t an ambiguous promise of the return of Christ that may take hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of years before the promise of the Lord would be fulfilled. Oh! But we are told, the reason Paul spoke this way was so that in every generation there would be folks who would be ready and waiting for the Lord to keep his promise. Really??? Would anyone believe Christ, if he didn’t resurrect from the dead in three days? Would anyone be waiting for his resurrection to occur for 2000 years and counting? Are their folks still awaiting Houdini to announce he overcame the grave, and if there are, would any of us really take them seriously? Proverbs tells us that hope, postponed, makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12). Why would any of us want to accuse the Lord of wanting to make those who love him sick?
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