Those of us, who have undertaken this study of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonian church, have discovered that the orthodox view of Jesus return to this earth as a time-ending, earth burning event is simply untenable. First of all, throughout Paul’s message before 1Thessalonians 4 and after 1Thessalonians 4 (including what we call Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians) comes to us in a first century AD context. It was about people, believers and unbelievers who lived in the first century, persecution that occurred during the first century, the beginning of the New Covenant in the first century, the destruction of the Jew’s Temple in the first century, the Jewish apostasy of the first century, and the Man of Sin and his restraining all arising out of the first century AD. The fact is, that unless we are willing to believe in a 2000 year old man living in Europe today, and that folks could be fooled that a time-ending, earth-burning event could have happen yesterday and gone unnoticed by us, then most Christians have been fooled into believing an untenable eschatology.
We are now ready to look at chapter four of what comes to us as Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, the last six verses of the chapter. Verse-13 reads as follows:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
In this text we have Paul wanting to comfort the believers at Thessalonica, because they were distraught over the passing of some of their loved ones. On the face, why would believers be troubled over the passing of their loved ones before the return of Christ, if they knew his return wouldn’t occur in their lifetimes. In fact, he wouldn’t return for at least 2000 years. Yet, if this was Paul’s eschatology, he doesn’t tell them: “Wait, Jesus won’t return until sometime in the far, distant future. We’ll all be dead and buried by that time.” He doesn’t correct their misunderstanding in that manner. Why wouldn’t he do that, if such were the case? After all, the word of God does tell us that Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). The idea that one must continue to hope for Christ’s return in one’s lifetime, only for his coming not to occur generation after generation, is simply cruel and untenable. So, why, if Paul knew the believers were simply distraught over a hopeless doctrine, why didn’t he simply correct them? The orthodox belief that we should continuously hope for Christ’s return in our lifetime, generation after generation, is simply wrong. It doesn’t come from the word of God. In fact the word of God tells us the opposite is true (Job 19:25-27; cp. Proverbs 13:12).
Why, then, were the Thessalonians so distraught over the fact that some of their loved ones had died prior to the coming of Christ? How does Paul reply to their grief?
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.(1Thessalonians 4:14)
The reply for their grief that their loved ones had fallen is that they will rise from the dead! A disbelief in the resurrection was a major doctrine, held by both gentiles and Jews during the first century AD, and such an understanding contradicts the word of God. The Sadducees held such a belief and Jesus confronted them concerning it (Matthew 22:31-32). Keep in mind that Paul was expelled from Thessalonica long before he intended to leave. This is one reason why he was so distraught over not being able to see them. They were an immature church, not being taught all they should have understood about the Gospel. While they knew enough to desire to be in Christ, they simply didn’t understand their full inheritance in him. They believed that in this life only they had hope in Christ (1Corinthians 15:19). They simply brought the Sadducean doctrine of no resurrection into their new found faith in Christ, believing at his return they’d be rewarded. However, believers had died before his return! What would become of them? They had died, not receiving the promises (Hebrews 11:39) It is to this false doctrine that Paul replied in 1Thessalonians 4:14). Their hopeless grief over their fallen loved ones makes sense only, if they believed their loved ones **had** to have remained alive until the return of Christ, if they would share in the rewards he brought with him (Revelation 22:12).
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