In my previous study on the eschatology of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonian church, I developed the idea that Paul’s mention of the believers’ gathering together (G1997) at the coming of the Lord (2Thessalonians 2:1) refers not to a physical or literal gathering to Jesus but to a spiritual, covenantal gathering to him. This idea is reinforced with the text in Matthew where Jesus says: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her, how often would I have gathered (G1996) your children together, even as a hen gathers (G1996) her chicks under her wings, and you would not!” (Matthew 23:37). I showed that it simply isn’t possible for this to be literally true, but, in fact, represented Jesus setting aside the Old Covenant (your House is left unto you desolate; Matthew 23:38) in order to establish the New Covenant.
The gathering place was the Promised Land, but specifically, the Promised Land where Israel gathered was the Temple, where the presence of the Lord was understood to be. It was this gathering place, the Temple at Jerusalem, which Jesus foretold he would destroy (Matthew 23:38), and to which the Apostles pointed in utter astonishment to its great stones (Matthew 24:1). Nevertheless, Jesus simply repeated his prophecy (Matthew 24:2), which fueled the Apostles curiosity, causing them to ask the question (Matthew 24:3) that ultimately produced the Olivet Discourse. In that discourse Jesus said:
And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather (G1996) His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Matthew 24:30-31; emphasis mine).
Notice that this is the time: (1) of the coming of the Lord, (2) of his coming in great power and glory, (3) of his coming in the clouds of judgment, when all the tribes of the earth—i.e. Israel—will mourn, (4) of his coming with a great sound of a trumpet, (5) when the gathering of his elect to himself would take place. These are all the constituent elements of 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 2Thessalonians 1:3-10 and 2Thessalonians 2:1, and the Olivet Discourse puts all these things in the context of the destruction of the Jews’ gathering place, i.e. the Temple (Matthew 23:38), because they refused to permit the Lord to gather them in a covenantal relationship with himself (Matthew 23:37).
An interesting point is that in Matthew 24:30-31, Jesus was drawing from the prophecy of Isaiah. In that day Leviathan, the piercing serpent, the crooked serpent, the dragon in the sea shall be slain with a great sword (Isaiah 27:1). This is speaking of the enemy of believers and the Gospel. In a first century context it would point to the Jewish authorities and those who obey them instead of the Gospel. However, it will also be a time when Jacob will take root, and Israel will blossom and fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6; cp. 26:19-20). In other words, it is the time of the resurrection, and when the outcasts of Israel with arise to preach the Gospel and its fruit will cover the earth. It is a time when the iniquity of Jacob would purged and his sins would be forgiven (verse-9), but it will also be a time when the city and the gathering place of the Jews, the Temple, would be destroyed (Isaiah 27:9-10). In that day there would also be the sound of a great trumpet and the gathering of those who were ready to perish would take place (Isaiah 27:13). Thus, showing the constituent elements of the Olivet Prophecy, and therefore those also of both of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, were drawn from the prophecy of Isaiah who predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD.
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