In my previous study of the context of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, I made the point that either Paul had an absurd way of explaining New Covenant doctrine, or the orthodox understanding of the Day of the Lord could not be correct. Not only is it wrong, but it represents the teaching of men in the context of Jesus argument with the Pharisees in Mark 7:9-13. The Pharisees, remember, taught their own understanding and in doing so annulled the word of God. This is what is occurring today, when folks are taught that the Day of the Lord is a time-ending, earth burning event in which human history would come to an abrupt close. Yet, the Bible never teaches anything like this.
Keep in mind what Paul wrote to the believers at Thessalonica:
And we ask you, brethren, in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together unto him, be not quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither through spirit, neither through word, neither through letters as through us, as that the Day of Christ hath arrived; Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, (2Thessalonians 2:1-3; emphasis mine)
Let’s consider the falling away and the man of sin. How did Paul know there would be a falling away, and how did he come to understand that the Day of the Lord or the Day of Christ (who is our Lord) couldn’t arrive until this falling away occurred and the man of sin had come upon the scene. Where did Paul get his eschatology? He tells us in what we call his first letter to the Thessalonians:
For we declare to you what the Lord has told us to say: We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died. (1Thessalonians 4:15; emphasis mine)
If this is true, where do we find Jesus speaking of the man of sin / lawlessness and the falling away or apostasy? We find it in the Olivet Prophecy:
“At that time they will deliver you up to punishment and will put you to death; and you will be objects of hatred to all the nations because you are called by my name. Then WILL MANY STUMBLE AND FALL, and they will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and lead multitudes astray; and because of the prevalent disregard of God’s law the love of the great majority will grow cold; but those who stand firm to the End shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:9-13)
In this text, Jesus is describing events which would eventually lead to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which took place in 70 AD. Moreover, we also need to keep in mind that the persecution Jesus foretold, which would be against his disciples would come at the command of the Jewish authorities, for Mark adds: “They will deliver you up to Sanhedrins; you will be brought into synagogues and cruelly beaten” (Mark 13:9). This was possible only during the first century AD, when the first three persecutions of the church were begun by the authority of the Jewish high priest.[1] Thus, this puts the texts quoted above (2Thessalonians 2:1-3 and 1Thessalonians 4:15) squarely in the first century AD.
What we discover in the Olivet Prophecy, namely, in Jesus’ teaching about “the love of the majority” growing cold (verse-12), is the great falling away or the apostasy that Paul taught (2Thessalonians 2:3), and Paul’s man of lawlessness or man of sin is seen in Jesus’ teaching that the majority would fall away, because of the “prevalent disregard of God’s Law” (Matthew 24:12). Thus, there is absolutely no indication anywhere in Paul’s writings that there would be a Day of the Lord sometime in the distant future, 2000 years (and counting) away. All these things came to pass during the first century and prior to 70 AD.
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[1] See Acts 8:1; 9:1-2; and Acts 12:1-4 for the first two major persecutions, and the third is mentioned by Josephus, the first century Jewish historian: Antiquities of the Jews; 20.9.1 (197-203).
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