Smoodock's Blog

This installment of my study of the eschatology of Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians represents my final study in this series.[1] I may add to these studies later as time and opportunity present themselves, but for now, I will end my study here. My purpose in this study series was to honor the word of God by discovering the eschatology behind Paul’s epistles and presenting what I’ve found, as much as in me that is possible without any preconceived notions on my part. On the contrary, less than four years ago, I, too, was a futurist, looking for the coming of the Lord in my lifetime or certainly in the generation of my children and grandchildren. Many things have changed since then, because of what I discovered in the summer of 2017. I even went back and changed the context of earlier studies and deleted those that couldn’t be revised. I’d do the same once more, if I found I made a mistake by believing covenant eschatology (full preterisem).

In this study series, I’ve tried to demonstrate that 1Thessalonians chapters four and five, where most futurists’ foundation for their eschatology is derived, really points to the first century AD, culminating in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, thereby ending the Old Covenant and establishing the New. I began by studying the chapters 1, 2 & 3 and 2Thessalonians before I considered what Paul says in 1Thessalonians chapters 4 & 5. I discovered Paul mentions only one persecution, one great tribulation, one coming of Christ, one rewarding of the saints, one judgment and wrath upon unbelievers. In short, Paul’s eschatology is a united doctrine throughout his epistles to the Thessalonians. In fact, much of what he claims in these epistles come for the words of Jesus, especially from his Olivet Prophecy.

In the final analysis, Paul is speaking about a covenantal gathering of the living and the raised dead, bringing all into the presence of the Lord. Far from taking believers away from the earth and into heaven, the Lord is represented as coming back to the earth with those believers (the church). Then Paul makes the statement: “…so shall we ever be with the Lord! (1Thessalonians 4:17). In other words, it is the fulfillment of Revelation 21:1-3 where we are told: there is a new heaven and new earth (i.e. a New Covenant) for the first heaven and earth (i.e. the first or Old Covenant) had passed away. The New Jerusalem (the Church) came down out of heaven from God (i.e. from where they had been gathered at the coming of the Lord; cp. 1Thessalonians 4:15-17), showing that the “Tabernacle of God” (i.e. his presence) is with men. He will dwell with them forever, and he will be their God (cp. 1Thessalonians 4:17; 5:10).

What occurred at that time was the restoration of fellowship between heaven and earth, i.e. between God and man, that was lost in Eden, when Adam rebelled and sought independence for the Lord. Fellowship is not removed simply because of sin, for Adam had been sinning prior to Genesis 3. For one thing he lied to Eve about what the Lord had told him. He told Eve that even if she touched the Tree of Knowledge, she would die (cp. Genesis 3:3). Moreover, Adam was with her before she partook of its fruit, but he neither corrected her nor did he prevent her from eating (Genesis 3:6). So, eating of the Tree of Knowledge wasn’t merely sinning, it represented man rebelling from God, in that man would decide for himself what was good and what was evil. In other words what God says was of little importance. This is a sin that cannot be merely forgiven, it must be addressed and judged.

Notice that, although Adam is understood to have lied to Eve (Genesis 3:3), he wasn’t expelled from the Garden (the presence of the Lord). It wasn’t until he reached out and rejected the word of God and sought to decide for himself what was good and what was evil, that he was expelled from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 3:22-24). The Temple at Jerusalem depicted in the Mosaic Covenant what was lost between man and God in the covenant the Lord made with Adam. The Most Holy Place represented the Garden where uninterrupted fellowship with God existed. The veil represented the sword that kept man out of the presence of the Lord. The rest of the Temple precincts represented Eden where Cain and Able lived with their parents, and beyond the Temple precincts is where Cain is pictured as roaming after killing his brother.

This lost fellowship (cp. Ephesians 2:11-12) was restored at the coming of Christ and the gathering of the elect, both living and dead made alive (1Thessalonians 4:17; cp. Ephesians 2:13-19).

Exactly how would such a thing be represented in a future coming of the Lord by a physical Christ in the physical body of a six-foot Jewish male to a physical Jerusalem and a physical Temple, where he would sit on a physical throne to visibly rule the world? How would this “hope” point to and restore what was lost by Adam in the Garden? How does a bunch of atheists, agnostics and unbelievers build the place where fellowship between heaven and earth would be destroyed?

_______________________________________________

[1] I decided to add another, a summary of the series, so the next study is my final study at this time.