Smoodock's Blog

With only about one or two weeks of study material left, I’m winding down my study series on Paul’s eschatology of his two epistles to the Thessalonians. As we move from chapter four to chapter five, some folks try to tells us that Paul is either changing the subject or he is simply telling us that we cannot know the time of Jesus’ return, but such an idea is simply ridiculous, and I’ll explain why, as we continue on in our study of chapter five of what we call Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians. He begins by saying: “But of the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you” (1 Thessalonians 5:1).

Why would Paul tell these folks that he had no need to tell them anything concerning the times and the seasons? Well, the subject matter, according to verse-2 is “the day of the Lord,” which, by the way, is the same subject matter Paul was writing about in 1Thessalonians 4:13-18. There, he spoke about the things that would occur at the coming of Christ (which is the Day of the Lord). Remember, as for the time, Paul mentioned we who are alive at the arrival of that event, thus, indicating the imminence of that day. In other words, it would come in their expected lifetime, i.e. their generation (cp. Matthew 23:36; 24:34).

So, if the Thessalonians believers knew (implied by their sorrow over the deaths of their loved ones in 1Thessalonians 4:13) that the Lord would come in their expected lifetime, what does Paul mean by the times and the seasons, and why doesn’t he need to tell them anything about this subject? First of all, when the Lord had come in the past, and even though it was revealed by the prophets of the Lord that he would judge Egypt, Babylon, or Israel, did he give a date? No! of course no dates were given, but the prophecy was given and the people could watch for the fulfillment of what the prophet foretold would occur. An example of this is given in Daniel:

“Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. I thank You, and praise You, O God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and have made known to me now what we asked of You. For You have now made known to us the king’s matter” (Daniel 2:20-23; emphasis mine).

The times and the seasons are in this context the removal and the setting up of kings, and given the larger perspective of Daniel’s prophecy, it is the removal and the setting up of different empires: Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. So the times are to the larger perspective of setting up and removing empires, as the seasons are to the smaller perspective of setting up and removing kings. For our purpose in considering Paul’s meaning in 1Thessalonians 5:1 the times would be the generation which would not pass away before the coming of Christ, and the seasons might be the Caesars or rulers of the Roman Empire during the first century AD—i.e. in whose reign would the Lord come?

Someone may point to Acts 1:7 where Jesus, just before he ascended into heaven, told his disciples it wasn’t for them to know the times or the seasons, which the Father had placed under his authority.[1] The question put to Jesus required a date, but they didn’t remember what Jesus had already told them, namely that not even he knew the date (Mark 13:32). Why didn’t Jesus know? The word for know (G1492) in Mark 13:32 is subjective, that is to know intuitively. If man truly has free will, freedom to repent etc., Jesus couldn’t know, intuitively, whether Jerusalem would be judged very early in that generation or just before the generation past. The fact is, the Jews were almost judged very early, while Theophilus, the son of Annas, officiated as high priest. Nevertheless, he stopped the persecution that began with Stephen (Acts 9:31), when Luke gave him a copy of his Gospel narrative (Luke 1:3), which showed Jerusalem would be judged when armies surrounded her (Luke 21:20). This saved Jerusalem from being destroyed in the late 30s or early 40s of the first century AD. Josephus records how close to war Rome and the Jews were during Theophilus’ reign as high priest.[2]

Thus, Paul is neither changing the subject matter at 1Thessalonians 5:1, nor is he telling the Thessalonians believers it was impossible for them to know the time or the season when the Lord would return, i.e. when the Day of the Lord would arrive. Quite the contrary is true!

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[1] Nevertheless, the very next verse (Acts 1:8) Jesus told them they would be given power (ability to understand) so that they could preach what Jesus told them (viz. Matthew 16:27-28; 23:31, 24:34; cp. Luke 12:35-38).

[2] Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews 18.8.1 [257] and following; Wars of the Jews 2.10.1 [184] and following.