Many Christians believe that the coming of Christ would be an ‘end of history’ event. Some call it the ‘end of time,’ but is it? If the return of Christ would really be the end of time or the end of human history, what would we make of Daniel’s prophecy about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a huge image that pointed to the four great empires prior to the birth of Christ (see chapter 2)? Remember, it was the vision of the head of gold (Babylon), arms and breast of silver (Persia), a belly and hips of brass, (Greece) and legs of iron (Rome). Daniel offered his interpretation: “in the days of these kings” (i.e. in the days of the Roman emperors) “shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed…” (Daniel 2:44). Now, if the Kingdom of God on earth would never be destroyed (i.e. would never end), how can we possibly say there would be an end of time or an end of human history? This is the kind of inquiry I am seeking to make, as I study the eschatology of Paul’s Thessalonian epistles, because most Christian scholars see the coming of Christ in 1Thessalonians 4 as an end time event, but how can that be?
Unless we completely separate chapter four of Paul first letter to the Thessalonians from the context of everything else he writes in both epistles, we must conclude that chapter four points to the coming of the Lord in 70 AD to judge Jerusalem and destroy the Temple there, thus ending the Old Covenant age. This is the end of the age that the Apostles inquired about in Matthew 24:3, and what Jesus pointed to in Matthew 28:20. It was never meant to be seen as “the end of the world” or the “end of time,” as understood by so many today.
We’ve gone through what is called Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, commenting on the time references in the first three chapters and at the end of chapter five. We’ll eventually get to chapter four, but for now we’re looking at what we know as Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians. Notice what Paul says in chapter one:
So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day (2 Thessalonians 1:4-10; emphasis mine).
Notice that Paul speaks of an ongoing persecution at Thessalonica in the first century AD. The KJV has Paul telling the believers there to “rest with us” (verse-7), but actually the word translated rest (anesis; G425) is a noun not a verb. The sense is: “it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” and rest to you who are troubled together with us. Therefore, the text seems to conclude that the persecuted believers will be given rest (Hebrews 4:7, 9) at about the same time their persecutors will be punished for not entering that rest (cp. Hebrews 4:2), that is, at the coming of Christ (2Thessalonians 1:7)
Paul is saying both he and the Thessalonians were persecuted together. The persecution mentioned is not one that would occur 2000 years later. He also tells those believers who are at that time being persecuted that the very ones who are troubling them (i.e. the Jewish authorities and those who obey them) would be punished by God with everlasting banishment from the presence of the Lord.
Think about what this means. Banishment from the presence of the Lord in the context of the first century AD would mean God’ presence in the Temple would be removed from the Jews. The Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant would come to a sudden end with the destruction of that Temple. Thus, the Lord’s New Covenant would be publicly established with those who obey the Gospel—both believing Jews and believing gentiles, when “he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and be admired in all them who believe” (verse-10), and this is in perfect harmony with 1Thessalonians 2:14-16, which is also a reference to the Lord’s judgment upon the Jews in 70 AD. The vindication of the disciples of Jesus is that they would be the only ones left with a covenant after 70 AD, in that **they** are the Temple of his Presence, and **they** (i.e. Jesus disciples) bear the Lord to the whole world, wherever they go, and this will never end, according to Daniel 2:44.
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