Smoodock's Blog

In my previous study I developed the idea that both Paul’s man of sin and the great falling away, both of which were to occur before the day of the Lord… “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 2:3), were matters that he drew from the words of Christ, spoken during his public ministry before his crucifixion (cp. 1Thessalonians 4:15). As we considered Paul’s declaration we discovered Paul’s eschatology was first disclosed in what we call Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:12). Nevertheless, Jesus, himself declared that he could do nothing of himself (John 5:19). That is, he did not come to simply do as he pleased (John 5:30). Rather, there were things said about him and his work in the Old Covenant, and these things had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). Therefore, in a larger sense, Paul’s eschatology is found first in the word of God in the Old Covenant text, as that text pointed to Jesus and his work.

The constituent elements of the Day of the Lord that Paul preached, as we find them in his Thessalonians epistles, he tells us were based upon what Jesus, himself had taught (1Thessalonians 4:15), and as we discovered in a previous study, each one of them can be found in the Olivet Discourse. Below is a chart, which shows how all these things fit together:

Clearly, one is able to see that Jesus’ eschatology is the same as that found in the Prophets. More could be added, but this will suffice for the purpose of this study. It is also obvious that the prophecy of Daniel 12:1-2 links the Great Tribulation to the resurrection of the just and the unjust. There isn’t a 2000 year separation from the tribulation and the final judgment, which is preached by so many today. Jesus claimed that the tribulation would be so great that there would be none like it in history, and, if the Lord had not shortened the days of the tribulation, no flesh (i.e. no Jew) would have been saved alive out of that period (Matthew 24:21-22), and he seems to base his words on Daniel’s prophecy:

“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has never occurred since the beginning of the nation until then. But at that time your people—everyone who is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake—some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:1-2; emphasis mine).

“There will be a time of distress such as has never occurred since the beginning of the nation until then” – Daniel is speaking of the history of the Jewish nation, not all nations. It would be a period of time unequaled in Jewish history, and Jesus places the time of this trouble in the first century AD (Matthew 24:21-22), and, since Daniel puts the time of the resurrection in with the time of the unparalleled trouble of the Jews, the resurrection had to have occurred also in the first century AD.

If this is true (and if it isn’t what Scripture would the critic use to deny it?), how could anyone in his right mind be convinced that the orthodox eschatology which claims the coming of the Lord is a time-ending, earth burning event, had already occurred, as Paul warned the Thessalonians not to believe (2Thessalonians 2:1-2)? No one in his right mind would ever believe such a thing.

Rather, the resurrection is a spiritual event, not a physical, grave opening, body awakening event. Whatever body folks would have in the resurrection isn’t said. However, the gathering of the elect, both living and dead is a covenantal event. The Old Covenant was brought to an abrupt end when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70 AD. The Temple was the Old Covenant gathering place for the Jews. The New Covenant gathering place is IN CHRIST. Christ is put for the Promised Land, and in particular the Temple (cp. John 2:19-21).