These are stressful times to be alive. Are you troubled about the future? If you are, you might have some good reasons to be. It seems like we are in the end times. And people are always trying to read the signs of the times and predict when Jesus will return. Troubling times lead to wild prophetic predictions. Make no mistake about it, Jesus is coming again. We don’t know when!
2 Thessalonians was written to correct prophetic errors.
For those who are foolhardy enough to make predictions, good luck.
Get Ready, Jesus is Coming Soon 1
Are you prepared for Jesus Coming?
Bible prophecy has an essential purpose: to bring hope and comfort.
The terminology of Jesus Second Advent.
The Coming – παρουσία parousia coming, presence, an arrival.
This is talking about the future visible return from heaven of Jesus.
It can refer to His coming at the end of the tribulation (Matthew 24)
It can refer to the rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4).
The Gathering – ἐπισυναγωγή episunagoge gathering together.
Who is being gathered here? This is OUR gathering together to Him.
This is what we call His coming FOR the saints. 1 Thess 4:15-19
It is not his coming WITH His saints. 1 Thess 3:13, Rev 19:14.
The Day of Christ.
The Day of the Lord is a period time at the end of time.
All end time events are included in the term “The Day of the Lord.”
The day of Christ is the coming of Christ for His saints.
Be Careful Who You Listen to 1-2
Have you ever been afraid that you will be left behind?
Jesus coming is good news for the Christian, not bad news.
Shaken – σαλεύω saleuo – to agitate the mind, to disturb one’s peace.
troubled – θροέω throeo – to trouble is to frighten, or alarm needlessly.
The rapture should bring comfort not dread. 1 Thess 4:16-18
Be Discerning, You Haven’t Been Left Behind 2
There are many false prophets and false predictions.
Three erroneous sources of information we should stay away from.
Wrong Spirit – “do not believe every spirit.” 1 John 4:1
There are only two sources of information.
If it is true, it comes from God and His Word!
Wrong Message –Beware of who you listen to.
Wrong Book – Our source of authority is the Bible!
Before you read other books, you must be grounded in the Word of God.
While other voices may deceive, God’s Word is the Truth.
Get ready! Jesus is coming again. Don’t let current events or confusing teaching shake your faith. Instead of listening to the wisdom of the world, get into the Word of God, let it dwell richly in you, and profoundly change you, and you will discover that the truth will set you free!
These are stressful times to be alive. Ever since the pandemic of 2020, which saw fear explode like lightning, we’ve been a little bit off kilter. The same year, a contentious election year, chaos spread, fueled by lawlessness, riots and bizarre reporting. That was a very bad year.
Now, four years later, let me ask you this: are you still as troubled about the future as you were then? If you are, you might have some good reasons to be.
There are numerous indications that this year is shaping up to be a doozy of an election year. And the world situation is looking more and more like World War III.
Russia has been at war with Ukraine, and taxpayers have been footing the bill to the tune of 74 billion dollars in military and humanitarian aid.[i] What’s that going to do to the economy? My personal economy feels like they’ve taken the cash right out of my bank account to pay for it.
Just a few days ago, on April 13, Iran launched nearly 350 attack drones and missiles against Israel in the ongoing Israeli, Hamas war.[ii] That day the stock market tanked. It’s still dropping.
And let’s not forget the eclipse! Some Christian prophecy teachers have claimed that the eclipse was a sign of imminent judgment on America. The line of the eclipse made a big X across the United States and intersected on a city called RAPTURE, Indiana. What a coincidence that is.
People are always trying to read the signs of the times and predict when Jesus will return. And I get it. Troubling times lead to wild prophetic predictions. It has happened before, and it will happen again. Here are a few lessons from history:
In the 1830s Seventh Day Adventists predicted that Jesus would return in the Spring of 1844. But He didn’t. That became known as the Great Disappointment.[iii] Seventh Day Adventists quickly pivoted and claimed that, oops we misunderstood the times and misunderstood prophecy, instead of coming to earth that year, Jesus really went into the Holy of Holy’s in heaven to begin a thing called the Investigative Judgment.
They are not the only ones. Jehovah witnesses predicted that Jesus would return in 1914, and then again in 1925. But He didn’t. When 1925 passed uneventfully, attendance dropped dramatically.[iv] Jehovah’s Witnesses quickly pivoted and claimed that, oops we mistakenly thought Jesus was coming physically to earth, when all along it was an invisible coming![v]
And they are not the only ones. There have been many mistaken predictions about Jesus coming. And yet, make no mistake about it, Jesus is coming again. We don’t know when! But what we do know is that 2 Thessalonians was written to correct these kinds of prophetic errors. There are several errors that Paul set out to correct, and the first one is this.
Let me phrase it this way, Paul might have said: For those who are foolhardy enough to make predictions, good luck, the Day of Christ’s coming is not yet. Jesus has not come and left you behind. So don’t get all shook up about it.
Let’s start with a simple truth that the New Testament repeats over and over:
Get Ready, Jesus is Coming Soon 1
Are you prepared for Jesus Coming? There is so much confusion in the Christian world about end times events that you will never find anything near a consensus on what’s really going to happen. And because of that, numerous pastors won’t even teach on this subject.
It is a shame that the enemy has done such a good job at sowing discord and disagreement among Christians that it causes some people to skip over and miss out on some of the most important scriptures in the Bible!
We can’t afford to let that happen. Bible prophecy has an essential purpose: It is meant bring hope, comfort, and encouragement and lead us to a place of readiness! I find that the only safe thing to do is to study diligently and let the Bible speak for itself. That’s what we are going to attempt to do today.
And Paul was not shy when it came to teaching on prophetic subjects. Look at 2:1
Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled.
Some people find prophecy concerning, but Paul was afraid that we might not concern ourselves with it the way we should. We should pay close attention to prophecy, and we should get ourselves prepared for Jesus coming.
Now let’s understand some of the terminology of Jesus Second Advent. There are three words used in these verses that we need to understand. Coming. Gathering. And the Day of Christ.
The Coming – παρουσία parousia coming, presence, an arrival. This is talking about the future visible return from heaven of Jesus. The Second Coming is not a single event, but rather a series of events. It can refer to either His second coming at the end of the 7-year tribulation period (Matthew 24:27, 37, 39), or to His coming to rapture His Church prior to the 7-year period known as the tribulation (1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 4). It is a generic word for His Coming, so we must look at the context to determine its meaning.
The Gathering – ἐπισυναγωγή episunagoge gathering together. Let’s ask the question, who is being gathered here? Israel? No. Unbelievers? No. In this case the coming refers to OUR gathering together to Him. This is what we call His coming FOR the saints. It is the same thing referenced in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-19 where the Lord descends with a shout, the dead in Christ rise, and then we who are alive and remain are caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. It is different than his coming WITH His saints referenced in 1 Thess 3:13 and Revelation 19:14, where Jesus comes with his saints to judge the world.
The Day of Christ – The Day of Christ is found in verse 2. Some of your Bibles call this “The Day of the Lord.” Most manuscripts call it the Day of Christ. This is the only time we have the Day of Christ referenced in the New Testament. That brings us to another day. The Day of the Lord.
Now the Day of the Lord is a period time at the end of time. Some people see a parallel between the 7 days of creation and the earth’s history. God created the universe in six days, and rested on the 7th day. So far we have had approximately 6000 years of recorded history, and the last 1000 years yet to come is known as the thousand year reign of Christ. All the end time events, the Great Tribulation, the Return of Christ and the Millennial Reign of Christ are all included in the term we call “The Day of the Lord.” It is the broad day, when God sets all things to rights.
As I see it, The day of Christ is not to be confused with the Day of the Lord. Let me see if we can show you, from the context what the Day of Christ is. In Verse 1, Paul told us he would be talking to us CONCERNING the coming of the lord and our gathering to him… and then we are told not to be shaken, as though that day, or the Day of Christ had already come!
All this is to say that the day of Christ is the day when Christ returns FOR his saints. Jesus is coming again soon! The next event on the prophetic horizon is the coming of Christ FOR His Saints. Get Ready!
Be Careful Who You Listen to
Earlier in our service, we sang the song titled, “I wish we’d all been ready.” One of the repeated lyrics of the song is “there’s no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you’ve been left behind!”
Some people don’t like the idea of the Rapture, because, they say it causes paranoia, or the fear that you’ll be left behind. Why would the rapture cause paranoia among church goers, unless there are some here who truly haven’t trusted Christ as Savior. Because the rapture is meant to bring comfort, not anxiety, hope not dread. Yet some of the Thessalonians thought that the event had already happened and that they were left behind.
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled,
His coming is good news for the Christian not bad news!
Don’t be shaken – σαλεύω saleuo – a motion, similar to the idea of a shaking produced by winds, storms, or waves, to agitate the mind, to disturb one’s peace.
Don’t be troubled – θροέω throeo – to trouble is to frighten, or alarm needlessly.
Let me tell you what the rapture should do. 1 Thess 4:16-18
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 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. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
2 Peter 3:4 calls this “the promise of His coming.” Titus 2:13 calls it the “blessed hope and glorious appearing.” John 14 says, “Let not your heart be troubled; I’m going to prepare a place for you.” And 2 Timothy 4:8 promises that there is a crown of righteousness waiting for all who love His appearing.
For the Christian, Prophecy is encouraging, not disturbing. a proper understanding of the end times leads to comfort, hope, peace, encouragement and joy. But an improper understanding will lead you astray!
Be Discerning, You Haven’t Been Left Behind
There are many false prophets and false prophecies and false predictions. This is what Paul was combating!
we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as if the day of Christ had already come
And Paul mentions three erroneous sources of information that we should stay away from.
Wrong Spirit – Some of you may be following the Wrong Spirit. 1 John 4:1 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
By spirit, we mean that there are only two sources of information: true or false. If it is true, it comes from God and God’s Word, if it is in error, it ultimately can be traced back to Satan. Believe me, you don’t want to be responsible for promoting doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1)! Test the Spirit of a man against the Word of God!
Wrong Message – Some of us are listening to the Wrong Message. Beware of who you listen to. I know so many Christians who are listening to incredible, amazing, powerful, false teachers! They are on the radio, TV, the internet, youtube, and everywhere you look. They even say some good things! But they are leading thousands astray.
Wrong Book – And likewise, some are reading the Wrong Book. Paul’s letters became our books of the Bible. Let me give you an example. I know of a Bible Study where they are discussing a book about how to live in a post Christian era. They asked me to review the book. I couldn’t find one single Bible verse in the book! Should we read or study the book? Any book that doesn’t have God’s Word as its final authority is potentially putting you in danger of buying into non-biblical ideas. Here’s a thought! Maybe you should study the Bible! What a novel idea!
Do you think I’m going overboard? Ask the Apostle Paul. There are numerous books, messages and prophecy teachers with numerous points of view on the end times. And we Christians should be aware that our viewpoint isn’t the only one. We probably should be acquainted with other viewpoints.
But before you go checking out the competition, so to speak, you must be so grounded in the Word of God, and in teachings and doctrines of the New Testament, that you will be able to spot error and you will be able to compare everything with Scripture. Otherwise you are in danger of having your heart shaken and your mind troubled because you don’t know what to believe. While other voices may deceive God’s Word is the one Truth you can depend on. Until you are rock solid, grounded in the firm foundation of the Word of God, don’t go nosing around in the enemies account.
Paul put it this way, when talking about being grounded in the Gospel: Galatians 1:6-9
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
Get ready! Jesus is coming again. Don’t let current events or confusing teaching shake your faith. Instead of listening to the wisdom of the world, get into the Word of God, let it dwell richly in you, and profoundly change you, and you will discover that the truth will set you free!
[i] https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts
[ii] https://www.axios.com/2024/04/17/israel-iran-attack-retaliate-strike-postponed
[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment
[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfulfilled_Watch_Tower_Society_predictions#:~:text=In%20his%20ethnographic%20study%20of,kids’%20names%20down%20for%20school.
[v] https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/1800s.php