Paul's Passing Thoughts

After many years of in-depth study, I still hold to a pre-tribulation view. I believe God will come for his children unexpectedly before a time period of great tribulation that will precede his visible second coming. I believe this because there are two time periods and two expectations which can be seen in Matthew 24.

If you want to know the scoop on the return of Christ, sit in on the teaching that he gave the disciples in response to a question:

3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Note that Jesus did not have the same attitude toward last things like many teachers today. The response to this one question is a massive teaching. Not only that, he follows up with three parables in chapter 25 that show an important relationship between sanctification and eschatology. Some estimate that last things are 25% of all scripture, but you wouldn’t know it today.

Jesus begins by explaining one of the time periods in Matthew 24:4-8:

4Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

This time will begin and will be marked with people being alarmed by quickly changing events. Jesus says the end is not yet, these are like birth pangs that gradually intensify into a major tribulation:

9″Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

21For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.

Jesus then says the following in regard to the signs he explained:

32″From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

Whatever time this is, it precedes His visible coming to the earth. If those days are not cut short, no flesh will survive [verse 21]. Also, when these signs all come together, His arrival is at the “very gates.” In other words, his arrival is to be expected in the very short term when these signs are present.

Now Christ moves on to explain a different time period:

36″No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42″Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

This is obviously a time period of business as usual as opposed to the other time period. They are drastically different. It is also a time when Christ is not expected to come but will. One expectation has no sign, it is imminent, we are to be ready at all times. The other expectation intensifies and increases as the severe elements of tribulation also increase. Two times, two expectations.

But what is expected? If it is a return of Christ, it is glorification or for all practical purposes, a resurrection. Let’s read 2Thessalonians 2:1-5;

1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?

Please not that in regard to what Paul had taught them in the past, The Thessalonians believed that there was a resurrection that they could miss and still be alive. Therefore, there are 2 resurrections in the mix.
Unless that’s true, this passage makes no sense if you read it carefully. The phony letter was probably sent in regard to some persecution they were suffering at the time. Paul writes them and says the present time does not match what he specifically taught them, especially in regard to the antichrist. But does this necessarily mean that Christians will not be in the Tribulation period? Yes, I think it does. Each resurrection has it’s own expectations and they thought they missed the first one. The one that has no signs, other than being a time when we don’t expect it, is obviously the first resurrection that they thought they missed in regards to Paul’s teachings.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Let me close with some sanctified speculation out of Luke 17: 26-34”

26″Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28″It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30″It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32Remember Lot’s wife! 33Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

I think Noah and Lot represent the first resurrection, or when we are suddenly raptured up to be with the Lord whether dead or alive. I think lot’s wife represents those left behind. If they loose their life, they will gain it. If they hang on to their life [she looked back], they will loose it. Also remember what Christ said to those who are found waiting in Luke 21: 34-36:

34″Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Christ also had this cryptic but encouraging promise for the faithful church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10;

10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

paul