THE APOSTLE PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS

1. THE APOSTLE PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS

2. BE PREPARED!!!

3. THE PROBLEM – THE THESSALONIANS MIS-UNDERSTOOD WHAT PAUL HAD TAUGHT THEM REGARDING THE IMMINENT RETURN OF CHRIST. • THEY BELIEVED THAT THE RETURN OF CHRIST WAS IMMINENT. • THEY BELIEVED THAT IT COULD HAPPEN IN THEIR LIFETIME. • HOWEVER, THEY WERE VERY CONCERNED, ABOUT THEIR LOVED ONES WHO HAD DIED. • WOULD THEY RECEIVE THEIR RESURRECTION BODIES AT THE RAPTURE? • WOULD THEY HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE TRIBULATION? • WOULD THEY MISS THE RAPTURE ALTOGETHER? “BUT I WOULD NOT HAVE YOU TO BE UNINFORMED, BRETHREN, “ (1 THESS. 4:13-18))

4. WHAT IS THE RAPTURE? • THE RAPTURE IS MOST CLEARLY PRESENTED IN 1 THESS. 4:13-18. • SPECIFICALLY, IN VERSE 17, “THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN SHALL BE CAUGHT UPTOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS, TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR: AND SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH THE LORD. “ • THE ENGLISH PHRASE “CAUGHT UP” IS FROM THE GREEK WORD “HARPÁZÔ,” WHICH MEANS “TO SEIZE UPON WITH FORCE” OR “TO SNATCH UP.” • SO, AT THE RAPTURE, YOU AND I, WILL BE “SNATCHED UP/CAUGHT UP” IN THE AIR . “IN A MOMENT, IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE, AT THE LAST TRUMP: “ (1 COR. 15:52) “CAN THE RAPTURE HAPPEN TODAY?

5. WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF IMMINENCY? (DR. RENALD E. SHOWERS) • “HANGING OVER ONE’S HEAD;” “READY TO BEFALL OR OVERTAKE ONE;” “CLOSE AT HAND IN ITS INCIDENCE.” IN OTHER WORDS, AN IMMINENT EVENT IS ONE THAT IS ALWAYS HANGING OVERHEAD, IS CONSTANTLY READY TO BEFALL OR OVERTAKE A PERSON, IS ALWAYS CLOSE AT HAND IN THE SENSE THAT IT CAN HAPPEN AT ANY MOMEMT. • AN IMMINENT EVENT CAN HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT. NOTHING MUST HAPPEN FIRST! • OTHER THINGS MAY HAPPEN BEFORE THE EVENT, BUT NOTHING ELSE MUST TAKE PLACE BEFORE THE EVENT HAPPENS. • IF SOMETHING ELSE MUST TAKE PLACE BEFORE AN EVENT CAN HAPPEN, THEN THAT EVENT IS NOT IMMINENT.

6. SINCE WE NEVER KNOW EXACTLY WHEN AN IMMINENT EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE, WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR IT TO HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT. • WE CANNOT LEGITIMATELY SET OR IMPLY A DATE FOR ITS HAPPENING. A SPECIFIC DATE FOR AN IMMINENT EVENT IS CONTRARY TO THE CONCEPT THAT THE EVENT COULD HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT. • WE CANNOT LEGITIMATELY SAY THAT AN IMMINENT EVENT WILL HAPPEN “SOON.” THE TERM “SOON” IMPLIES THAT AN EVENT MUST TAKE PLACE “WITHIN A SHORT TIME.” • AN IMMINENT EVENT MAY TAKE PLACE WITHIN A SHORT TIME, BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO DO SO IN ORDER TO BE IMMINENT. • THEREFORE, “IMMINENT” IS NOT EQUAL TO “SOON.”

7. IN LIGHT OF THE MEANING OF THE TERM IMMINENT WE CAN CONCLUDE, • THE NEXT COMING OF CHRIST IS ALWAYS HANGING OVERHEAD, IS CONSTANTLY READY TO BEFALL OR OVERTAKE US, IS ALWAYS CLOSE AT HAND IN THE SENSE THAT IT CAN HAPPEN AT ANY MOMEMT. • OTHER THINGS MAY HAPPEN BEFORE CHRIST’S COMING, BUT NOTHING ELSE MUST TAKE PLACE BEFORE IT TAKES PLACE. • IF SOMETHING ELSE MUST TAKE PLACE BEFORE IT CAN TAKE PLACE, THEN CHRIST’S COMING ISNOT IMMINENT. • THE NECESSITY OF SOMETHING ELSE TAKING PLACE FIRST DESTROYS THE CONCEPT OF THE IMMINENT COMING OF CHRIST.

8. BECAUSE WE DO NOT KNOW EXACTLY WHEN CHRIST WILL COME, THREE THINGS ARE TRUE. • FIRST, WE CANNOT COUNT ON A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME TRANSPIRING BEFORE CHRIST’S COMING; THEREFORE, WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR THAT EVENT TO HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT. • SECOND, WE CANNOT LEGITIMATELY SET A DATE FOR CHRIST’S COMING. • THIRD, WE CANNOT LEGITIMATELY SAY THAT CHRIST’S COMING WILL HAPPEN SOON. AGAIN, IT MAY HAPPEN SOON, BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO IN ORDER TO BE IMMINENT. • CHRISTIANS SHOULD HAVE AN EXPECTANT ATTITUDE TOWARD CHRIST’S COMING. WE SHOULD CONSTANTLY LOOK FORWARD TO, LOOK OUT FOR, OR WAIT FOR THAT EVENT.

9. SO, YES!, IS THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION, “CAN THE RAPTURE HAPPEN TODAY?” • BUT, WE SHOULD DO AS THE BEREANS DID! “THESE WERE MORE NOBLE THAN THOSE IN THESSALONICA, IN THAT THEY RECEIVED THE WORD WITH ALL READINESS OF MIND, AND SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY, WHETHER THOSE THINGS WERE SO. (ACTS 17:11) • WHAT NEW TESTAMENT PASSAGES TEACH THIS TRUTH? “AWAITING EAGERLY THE REVELATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.” (1 COR. 1:7) “MARANATHA [OUR LORD, COME].” (1 COR. 16:22) “FOR OUR CITIZENSHIP IS IN HEAVEN, FROM WHICH ALSO WE EAGERLY WAIT FOR A SAVIOR, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.” (PHIL. 3:20)

10. “THE LORD IS NEAR.” (PHIL. 4:5) “TO WAIT FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVEN.” (1 THESS. 1:10) “FOR THIS WE SAY TO YOU BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, THAT WE WHO ARE ALIVE, AND REMAIN UNTIL THE COMING OF THE LORD, SHALL NOT PRECEDE THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP. FOR THE LORD HIMSELF WILL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL AND WITH THE TRUMPET OF GOD; AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST. THEN WE WHO ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN SHALL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR, AND THUS WE SHALL ALWAYS BE WITH THE LORD. THEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS..” (1 THESS. 4:15-18

11. “SO THEN LET US NOT SLEEP AS OTHERS DO, BUT LET US BE ALERT AND SOBER.” (1 THESS. 5:6) “THAT YOU KEEP THE COMMANDMENT WITHOUT STAIN OR REPROACH UNTIL THE APPEARING OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.” (1 TIM. 6:14) “LOOKING FOR THE BLESSED HOPE AND THE APPEARING OF THE GLORY OF OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR, CHRIST JESUS.” (TITUS 2:13) “SO CHRIST . . . SHALL APPEAR A SECOND TIME FOR SALVATION WITHOUT REFERENCE TO SIN, TO THOSE WHO EAGERLY AWAIT HIM.” (HEB. 9:28) • “BE PATIENT, THEREFORE, BRETHREN, UNTIL THE COMING OF THE LORD . . . FOR THE COMING OF THE LORD IS AT HAND . . . BEHOLD, THE JUDGE IS STANDING RIGHT AT THE DOOR.” (JAS. 5:7-9) • “I AM COMING QUICKLY!.” (REV. 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20)