Paul’s 2 letters to the Thessalonians and the Rapture
I see many teachers talk about 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Most say verses 1-2 refer to the rapture, and the rest are about Jesus’ 2nd Coming, and some say the whole chapter is about Jesus’ 2nd Coming. I wouldn’t want to come across as a snot-nosed brat who thinks she knows everything, but neither of those options make sense to me. Let’s look at the passage and then we’ll talk about it:
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Regardless of your stance on when the rapture takes place, I still don’t get how the first verse of chapter 2 could be anything but the rapture.
2 Thessalonians 2:1 “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him…”
Paul says “our being gathered together to Him.” Paul is talking to believers here, so how could this not be a reassurance that they hadn’t missed the rapture? (The logic isn’t logic-ing in my head)
Side tangent: Believers aren’t destined for the wrath of God.
I’d love to believe that believers are up and away by the time all the scary stuff starts, but the reasoning refuses to stick. If believers aren’t destined to God’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11), then not one believer should fall under it (aka, “tribulation saints”). I don’t care if we think it’s just, God is above such human pettiness. We aren’t “better believers” because we believed before the world turned upside down. Anyone who comes to Christ after the last 7 years begins are just as saved as the rest of the church—which means they are just as eligible for the rewards as the church. In case I haven’t been clear so far: I believe the church does go through a portion of the last 7 years, so the “tribulation saints” are the faithful church. (I’d love nothing more to be proven wrong and appear in heaven before the bad stuff starts, but I’m preparing my heart for the odds of being on earth, not heaven when the shoe falls)
If there are believers on the Earth while the events of Daniel‘s 70th week are unfolding, then said events can’t be God‘s wrath. Not if there are people saved by the blood of Jesus around to experience it.
No matter which stance you take, that fact can’t be rewritten. Believers who are saved by the blood of Jesus, can’t experience God‘s wrath. Regardless of when the rapture happens, the aftermath of the rapture (which is the day of the Lord) CANNOT contain believers saved by the blood of Jesus.
I’d love to have someone explain to me how it’s possible to have believers around for God’s wrath, but no one has done it yet. (Or, if they have, it’s been so condescending that I’m made to feel like a moron, and I stop caring what the person said. AKA, if you disagree with anyone, be a teacher, not a bully. Those people should dig deep and act like Christ, right?)
Side tangent over. Back into Thessalonians!
Within the Pre-Tribulationist’s doctrine, is the belief that Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians talks about the rapture, but the second letter is about the start of Armageddon. I struggle to find the logic in that argument when I read both letters. If you don’t know, I’m autistic, and I love to write, so I live and breathe by logical narrative flows. Whenever I come across something that doesn’t sound logical, it’s like I short circuit.
In other words: [brain.exe has stopped working]
Let’s get into it.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 — We will be caught up (raptured) in the clouds.
Okay. So here we have Paul telling the Thessalonians about the rapture. Chapter 4:16-17 says the Lord himself will descend from heaven. The dead rise first, then the living, and we’ll all meet the Lord in the air.
Then in the next chapter (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11) Paul continues the thought from chapter 4. He says they need to keep watch so the coming of Jesus doesn’t overtake them like a thief (like He will for the unbelievers).
Good. Very few people argue that these passages deal with the rapture of the church. But then the Thessalonians get some snakes in their midst who tell them that they’ve missed the rapture. When Paul learned of this, he sent another letter: 2 Thessalonians.
In this second letter, Paul reassures the church that they have the signs of the Day of Christ (which is the Rapture, that’s the first step of the Day of the Lord). After telling them that they have the signs (Chapter 2:1-12), he lists them, saying “For that day SHALL NOT COME EXCEPT ...” Except what? He tells us:
Except there is a falling away FIRST, and
The man of sin be revealed, who sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
We see the falling away and the Abomination of Desolation in Matthew 24, so we can compare this as a parallel narrative to that description of Jesus’ 2nd Coming.
We also know that the “man of sin” is the Antichrist, and him sitting in the temple marks the midpoint of the 70th Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:27). Which would insinuate that the church would still be on earth until minimally the midpoint. But because no one can know the day or the hour, and because this marks the great tribulation of the saints, we know that there is at least some time beyond the midpoint that the saints will have to endure. That would explain why that time would have to be “cut short” for the sake of the elect (Matthew 24:22).
And this brings me to one of the main differences between a Pre-Wrath view of the rapture, and a Pre-Tribulation view:
Pre-Tribulationists tend to believe that 2 Thessalonians 2 doesn’t deal with the rapture; rather it describes the Second Coming of Christ (in which He binds Satan, and sets up the 1,000-year reign, etc). If that were the case, then Paul’s message makes little-to-no sense. Why would he tell the Thessalonians to take comfort from knowing the signs of Jesus’ coming if no one in the church would be here when the signs happened? It turns a logical reassurance into a whole different message that technically doesn’t apply to the church at all. Why would the church look for Antichrist sitting in the temple if the church isn’t there to see it?
You see why my brain glitches out with that logic? Why tell us to look for the antichrist at all? And if this was meant to be for those left behind from the rapture, then why use it as a means to reassure the Thessalonians that it couldn’t have happened yet?
Worse still, is that some highly-respected preachers say that the “rebellion” or “falling away” described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 IS the rapture. Track with me for a moment, because I’m going to rewrite those first few verses, using that reasoning:
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our rapture, we ask you, not to be alarmed … Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rapture comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed …”
Again, brain glitch. “Don’t worry, the rapture can’t happen until the rapture happens and the antichrist is revealed.” (And people wonder why I’m constantly in a state of utter bewilderment.) Please don’t mis-understand. I’m not mad at people who preach these concepts, I’m just confused. It doesn’t make sense to me, yet people act like it’s so easy to understand.
I won’t name the pastors, because I think that’s rude and uncalled for. Unless I hear someone preach a gospel contrary to “saved by the blood of Jesus, by grace through faith”, I’m not gonna grab them by the neck and shake them around, demanding answers for my poor brain.
The heavenly sign will precede the Day of the LORD. Joel 2:31 (The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible Day of the Lord come.) Only once we’ve seen all of these signs, will the rapture be imminent.
Okay, I think that’s all for now. Thanks for your ears! (or, well, your eyes) If you want to talk about this post, or anything else end times related, hop on my discord to get in touch.
