WHEN DOES CHRIST RETURN?
Part 1
Part 2
It becomes apparent when comparing all
the scriptures that bear on the subject, that redemption, salvation,
resurrection and entering the Kingdom, were all part of the same process that Christians were experiencing
in the first century in anticipation of the return of Christ. All things reached their fulfillment in the
complete dissolution of the Old Covenant system. This complete removal of the old system
opened the way for the complete implementation of the New Covenant system and
the opportunity for eternal life, which the old system could not accomplish.
The whole of God's involvement with man
appears to revolve around moving from the first covenant system, which resulted
in human spiritual death, to a second covenant system that results in spiritual
life. Since we all die physically,
regardless of which covenant we live under, it should be apparent that when
life and death are spoken of in relation to covenant, it is spiritual life or
death that is being addressed.
Therefore, resurrection has to do with moving from the ministration of
spiritual death to the ministration of spiritual life. From a
spiritual body of death to a spiritual body of life. From
the Old Covenant to the New Covenant system.
When Paul speaks of the redemption of
our bodies, he is not speaking of biological resurrection. Paul is speaking of
our sinful nature, which is redeemed through the death and resurrection of
Christ. Let’s once again look at what Paul teaches in his letter to the
Colossians.
Colossians 2:11-14: In Him you were also
circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature (body in KJV), not with a
circumcision done by hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith
in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your
sins and in the uncircumsion of your sinful nature
(“body” in KJV), God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.
Having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and
that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
Paul is writing about spiritual death
versus spiritual life. Spiritual life is given as a result of the forgiveness
of sin. The forgiveness of sin removes the spiritual death penalty, which
results in a new man. In Colossians 3:9-10, Paul speaks of taking off the old
self and putting on the new self. In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul speaks of putting
off the corruptible self and putting on the righteousness of God.
To be forgiven of sin is to experience
resurrection. The forgiveness of sin facilitates the passing from spiritual
death unto spiritual life. It involves the moving from a perishable human
nature to an imperishable spiritual nature. It involves moving from being a
natural man to being a spiritual man. It is that imperishable spiritual man
that enters the kingdom and upon physical death will continue to live for
eternity. A converted Christian is one who has been spiritually born again and
resurrected to spiritual life. For the first century Christian this was a
process in the making as the resurrection to life was not fully available until
the return of Christ in A.D. 70. That’s why Paul said what he did about
striving to attain the resurrection. “I want to know Christ and the power of
the resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like
Him in death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Was Paul talking about becoming like Christ in physical death? No he wasn’t.
Paul knew that he would die physically like everyone else. Paul was talking
about participating in Christ’s destruction of sin death, which would lead to
spiritual resurrection.
In Hebrews 11 we see a contrast between
physical and spiritual resurrection. This passage shares the experiences of Old
Covenant personalities as they looked forward to the promises of salvation.
Hebrews 11:35: Women received back their
dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so
that they might gain a better resurrection.
That better resurrection was in
contrast to the physical resurrection experienced by some in Old Testament
times. This better resurrection was a spiritual resurrection, which equates
with the salvation that the first-century Christians would receive at the
revealing of Christ. The writer of Hebrews declares:
Hebrews 11:39-40: These were all commended for
their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned
something better for us so that only together with us would they be made
perfect.
Being made perfect was accomplished
through the righteousness of Christ applied to us so we could become perfect
before God. This perfection was accomplished at the “last time” when salvation
was consummated at the revealing of Christ. The apostle Peter shows that the
salvation to be revealed in the last time is tied to the revealing of Christ.
We have already shown that the revealing of Christ was considered imminent to
the first-century Christians. Therefore the “last time” was something to occur in
the first century and not thousands of years into the future and counting.
Let’s again look at what Peter said:
1 Peter 1:3-7: Praise be
to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given
us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in
heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming
of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you
greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief
in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth
than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and
may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Here we find Peter teaching that
salvation is something yet future to them. It would
occur at a period called “the last time.” The last time period is tied to the
revealing of Christ. As has been shown, the revealing of Christ is associated
with His return.
RESURRECTION AND THE CORINTHIANS:
The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians
speaks a great deal about resurrection. Most Christians look at Paul’s
references to resurrection in this chapter and conclude he is speaking of
biological resurrection. It is concluded that Paul is discussing the raising of
physical bodies from physical graves at a point in time still future to us. If
this is the case, then Paul is speaking here about rising from the dead in
stark contrast to how he speaks of this subject in many other areas of
scripture, many of which we have already covered in this book.
Paul’s first letter to the
The Corinthian brethren were Gentiles
who became Christian as a result of hearing and believing the gospel message.
The foundation of that message was the death and resurrection of Christ for the
forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life. To be Christian was to
believe in the resurrection of Christ. The whole focus of the preaching of
Paul, Peter and every other apostle and minister, was the death and
resurrection of Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles became Christian because of
their belief in the resurrection of Christ. Being a Christian was defined by
belief in the resurrection. How then, could some of these Corinthian Christians
question the reality of resurrection?
1 Corinthians 15:12: But if it is
preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say
that there is no resurrection of the dead?
In verses one through eleven of this
chapter, Paul sets out to remind the Corinthians that the gospel he had
preached to them was defined by the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul
relates that it is this gospel that the Corinthians believed and on which the
Corinthian Christians have taken their stand. It would, therefore, appear that
the resurrection of Christ is not what is being questioned. In essence, Paul is
saying that since Christ is preached as having been raised from the dead, which
is what you believe and base your Christianity on, how can some of you say
there is no resurrection of the dead? It is apparent that these Corinthians were not questioning Christ’s resurrection. They
were, however, questioning resurrection of the dead. Paul goes on to show the
absurdity of questioning resurrection of the dead in view of their belief that
Christ was resurrected from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:13-19: If there is no
resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ
has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than
that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified
about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in
fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has
not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is
futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in
Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be
pitied more than all men.
Paul here shows the contradiction that
exists if the dead are not raised. The purpose of the resurrection of Christ
was to facilitate the passing from death unto life for the believer. If a
believer doesn’t believe there is a passing from death unto life, which is what
resurrection is all about, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. Neither will
those who have died in Christ be resurrected. Paul is showing the folly of
their thinking. Paul is saying you can’t believe Christ was resurrected and not
believe that resurrection is now unavailable. The question that remains is, What kind of resurrection do some Corinthians doubt? Are
they thinking in terms of physical bodies rising from graves, or is there
another kind of resurrection being considered? Are those Corinthians that are
questioning resurrection, questioning it only for some and not for others?
It must be remembered that only some Corinthians were questioning resurrection. It’s apparent
they were not questioning Christ’s resurrection. They apparently were not
questioning resurrection for those who died in Christ, as their resurrection
would be assured.
The death of Christ involved the
physical shedding of His blood and His momentary spiritual death. The shedding
of Christ’s blood facilitated forgiveness of sin. The writer to the Hebrews
wrote, “without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). It took both these dynamics to occur for Christ to
facilitate reconciliation with God.
Sin produces both physical and
spiritual death. Spiritual death is immediate while physical death most often
comes later. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God
immediately. They didn’t physically die until much later. We all physically and
spiritually die because of sin. If physical death alone were the payment for
sin, we would all be paying for our own sin because we all physically die.
Christ paid the full penalty for sin. He died physically, shedding His blood,
and He died spiritually when He experienced a separation from God.
Since we all continue to physically die,
it’s apparent that the death of Christ does not free us from physical death.
While it could be argued that our physical death is only temporary, if you believe
that we will be physically resurrected, temporarily or not, we still experience
physical death. Christ said over and over again that those who believe in Him
would never die. Paul reiterated this theme over and over again in his
writings.
When Christ took our sins upon Himself,
it caused Him to experience both physical and spiritual death. After Christ was
resurrected, He could never die again. Christ’s resurrection also set the
process in motion for our never dying again. Since we still physically die, it
should be apparent that it is spiritual death that Christ eliminated. After
Paul shows the Corinthians the absurdity of believing in the resurrection of
Christ and yet denying resurrection, he defines more clearly the significance
of Christ’s resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20: But Christ has
indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep.
Colossians 1:18: And he is the head of
the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the
dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
If physical resurrection is under
consideration here, then Christ was not the firstfruits
or firstborn from the dead. As already covered in this book, there had been
various physical resurrections prior to Christ. Christ Himself performed some.
Being the firstborn from the dead had to do with spiritual rebirth. Christ had
said to Nicodemus that one must be born again. He wasn’t talking about physical
rebirth. When Christ died spiritually, He became the first to be born again
spiritually.
While Christ Himself never sinned, he
virtually became a sinner by taking our sins upon Himself. Paul said in 2
Corinthians 5:21 that, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Becoming the righteousness of
God is to experience a change in spiritual status before God. When sin
separates us from God, it produces spiritual death. Paul speaks of our being
dead in our sins. When Christ took our sins upon Himself, He experienced the
same separation from God that we do. Christ, however, couldn’t remain separated
from God. He personally never sinned. God resurrected Christ from sin death and
restored to Christ his righteous status before God. Our faith in, and
acceptance of, Christ’s sacrifice, is what facilitates our righteous status
before God.
The whole focus of salvation teaching in
Scripture is the elimination of spiritual separation from God. Elimination of
spiritual death is what the salvation process is all about. When the Scripture
discusses death in relation to salvation, it is addressing spiritual death.
Avoidance of physical death and resurrection from physical death is not the
focus of Scripture. The focus of Scripture is our change in spiritual status
before God. Salvation is reconciliation with God. Physical resurrection has
nothing to do with this. Being raised from spiritual death is what salvation is
all about. It is spiritual death and resurrection that Paul is addressing in 1
Corinthians the fifteenth chapter.
1 Corinthians 15:21-26: For since death
came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For
as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits;
then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he
hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion,
authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all
his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
When Paul writes about death in this
passage, he is writing of spiritual death. The scriptures clearly teach that
starting with Adam, all have sinned. Therefore all die. Do we all die
physically? Yes we do. Are we all made physically alive in Christ? No we are
not. Physical death and physical life are not the issue here. Our spiritual
death in Adam is what Christ came to eliminate. Christ was the firstfruits of this process. Next it would be those who
belong to Him at his coming. As shown throughout this book, that coming took
place in the first century. Some of those who belonged to Christ had died
before His return. Others that belonged to Christ were still alive at His
coming. If physical resurrection is the focus here, then how could those alive
at Christ’s coming be resurrected? Whether you look at resurrection as a past
or a future event, resurrection still involves having died and then being
brought back to life. In both 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 Thessalonians 4, it is
shown that some would not have physically died at Christ’s return and yet they
would still be part of the resurrection. It should be apparent that spiritual
resurrection is the focus here.
Paul says, “the
last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). The Greek word
translated “to be” is in the present passive tense. This passage should be
translated “The last enemy being destroyed is death.” Greek scholar Kenneth S. Wuest,
translates this passage this way: “As a last enemy, death is being abolished,
for all things He put in subjection under His feet.” Misplaced Hope author
Samuel M. Frost translates it this way: “The death is the last enemy being
destroyed presently.” Christ spoke of this process in the book of John.
John 5:24-25: I tell you the truth,
whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will
not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth,
a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son
of God and those who hear will live.
Christ speaks of the time being then
present (“has now come”) and also of a time in the future when those that hear
the message of Christ and believe would live. Those living in the present, and
hearing this message were physically alive. Christ wasn’t speaking to
physically dead people. Yet Christ told them that if they hear His words and
believe Him who sent Christ, they have crossed over from death to life. Christ
was speaking to spiritually dead people and showing how they could be
resurrected from that spiritual death.
Death was in the process of being, at
that time, destroyed. The Old Covenant was the ministration of death. It was
this covenant that was being removed and with its removal, death was being
destroyed. If the last enemy to be destroyed is physical death, then that
destruction has not yet taken place as people have continued to physically die
for the past 2,000 years. Yet Paul says that death was being destroyed in the
first century. It was the death of spiritual separation from God that was being
destroyed and that destruction of spiritual death was consummated in the return
of Christ during the Roman-Jewish war. This destruction of spiritual death made
it possible to be spiritually reconciled to God. Physical death and physical
resurrection are not the subject of Paul’s teaching.
Christ at His resurrection became the
first of the firstfruits to receive eternal life.
Those that belonged to Christ at His appearing were the next to be granted
eternal life. The period between the resurrection of Christ and His return was
the period of time when the Old Covenant system of death was being phased out
and replaced with the New Covenant system of life. This is evidenced by the
many scriptural passages that speak of the first-century Christians looking and
waiting for salvation to be revealed at the appearing of Christ. Those that
accepted Christ in the first century received the Spirit of God as a down
payment of salvation. This salvation was consummated in the return of Christ in
A.D. 70. This salvation has been available ever since in Christ.
The first-century Christians were
considered firstfruits of the salvation process.
Christ was the first of the firstfruits to be born
from the dead. Christian converts made up the remainder of the firstfruits in the first century. This firstfruits
designation was especially applicable to Israelites who accepted Christ. As
cited above in Romans 11:16, the Christian Jews of the first century were
considered the firstfruits of a much larger group
involving the rest of
James 1:18: He chose to give us birth
through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Christ explained to Nicodemus that to be
born again involved a spiritual event. James uses the word birth in connection
with being firstfruits of all God created. The firstfruits were to receive salvation at the appearing of
Christ. This association of rebirth and firstfruits
shows the spiritual nature of this event. We find the firstfruits
motif prominent in the yearly harvest festival of Old Covenant
The coming of the end as described in 1
Corinthians 15:24, shows the continuum of events leading to the destruction of
death through the complete removal of the Old Covenant system which was the
basis for death. Christ reigned through His Church during the forty years
between His resurrection and His return. It was during this period of time that
the old system was being removed and the new system was being implemented. This
was synonymous with moving from death unto life, a process that was consummated
with Christ’s return in the first century.
Paul wrote that Christ must reign until
all enemies were destroyed. The last enemy to be destroyed would be death. That
enemy was not completely destroyed at the cross or at the resurrection. If it
were, there would be no reason for Paul to speak in terms of its first being
destroyed at Christ’s coming. Neither would there be reason for first-century
Christians to be looking to a future revealing of Christ to bring them
salvation from death. Christ put the final nail in the coffin of death with his
appearing and intervention in A.D. 70. If the reign and coming of Christ are
still future to us, then death has yet to be destroyed and we will not be given
eternal life until sometime in the future. Such a conclusion runs contrary to
everything the scriptures teach about salvation.
The Christian community of the first
century, in being the firstfruits of eternal life,
became the forerunners of the much greater harvest of the rest of
1 Corinthians 15:29: Now if there is no
resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are
not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
Baptism is symbolic of being buried with
Christ in His death to sin, and rising with Christ in His resurrection to life.
Baptism is not symbolic of passing from physical death to physical life.
Baptism symbolizes passing from spiritual death to spiritual life. Paul is
speaking of the Corinthians being baptized as a symbol of the removal of sin
death, not only for themselves, but also as a setting
of the stage for the raising of the spiritually dead at the appearing of
Christ. It was through the firstfruit accomplishment
of Christ and the firstfruit resurrection of
Christian converts that the harvest of those long dead was brought in. Paul is
saying that if the dead are not raised, then those being baptized are being
baptized in vain. If they are being baptized in vain, then those who have died
have no hope either.
In examining the issue of some
Corinthians denying resurrection, it appears some believed that salvation had
been denied to
How Are the Dead Raised?
Having established that resurrection is
a matter of rising from sin death, Paul continues to discuss resurrection in 1
Corinthians 15 by dealing with potential questions about how the dead are
raised. If indeed it is spiritual death that we rise from, how is this
accomplished?
1 Corinthians 15:35-38: But someone may
ask, ‘How are the dead raised? [Present passive is used here to signify “being
raised.”] With what kind of body will they come?’ How foolish! What you sow
does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body
that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God
gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own
body.
Paul shows that what is sown must first
die before it can come to life. Paul cannot be referring to physical bodies in
his seed analogy. With physical death, the body that is sown is already dead
when it is laid in the grave. A seed is alive when sown and first dies while in
the soil in the process of facilitating a new life. The seed and the plant it produces
are in continuity, insomuch as the seed provides the raw materials for the new
plant and therefore becomes part of the new plant. Paul’s seed analogy
parallels that of baptism. In baptism we bury the natural man so that the new
spiritual man can be raised in newness of life.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV): But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned.
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
When Paul speaks of the natural man or
the natural body, he is referring to the body of sin and death. This body must
be buried before the new spiritual body of life is able to rise up. Paul is not
writing about biological death. Our biological death does not atone for our
sins and we cannot rise from biological death to a sinless status before God.
Paul is speaking of the death of our sinful nature through Christ. We bury that
sinful nature in accepting the sacrifice of Christ and are consequently raised
to a righteous status before God. In so doing, we become a new creation in
Christ. The old that is gone is the old sinful status before God. The new is
the righteous status attained through Christ.
The reader is asked to carefully read
Romans chapter 4 through Romans chapter 8. In these chapters, Paul discusses
the putting to death of our sinful nature through the death of Christ. Paul
shows how the sinful nature is the body of sin that is buried in Christ. The
burial of the body of sin results in rising to a new status of life in Christ.
Paul is not writing in these passages about biological death; he is writing of
sin death generated by our inability to keep the law. The body of death
encompasses the law system. Christ came to replace the law system with the
grace system. It is the grace system that facilitates the spiritual body of
life.
The whole focus of the Christian system
is a change in status before God. Sin separates us from God. Perfect
righteousness reconciles us to God. Since we can’t produce perfect
righteousness, Christ did it for us. It’s His righteousness that is applied to
us and is what makes us reconciled to God. Our being reconciled to God is to
pass from death unto life. It is the putting off of the mortal, perishable
natural body of death and the putting on of the spiritual body of life.
1 Corinthians 15:42-49: So will it be
with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is
raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown
in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So
it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being, the last Adam, a life
giving spirit.’ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after
that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man
from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as
is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we
have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of
the man from heaven.
It should be noted that the phrase, “so
will it be with the resurrection of the dead” is better translated, “so also
the resurrection of the dead.” There are no future tense verbs in this passage.
Phrases such as “is sown,” and “is raised,” in the Greek, are in the present
tense and mean, “are being sown” and “are being raised.” This all shows how
this change was a present process at the time Paul was addressing this issue.
When Paul writes of bearing the likeness of the man from heaven as opposed to
the likeness of the earthly man, Paul was not writing of biological likeness.
Christ bore the biological likeness of Adam just as we do. Christ did not bear
the nature of Adam like we do. The goal of first-century Christians, as should
be our goal, was to replace the nature of Adam with the nature of Christ. This
change in nature became fully available at the return of Christ in the first
century. Bearing the nature of Christ is what resurrection is all about.
Paul wrote of the natural body of sin
and death being raised to a spiritual body of life. A change
from the earthly nature to the heavenly nature. This is not something
that happens as a yet in the future biological, physical resurrection. This
happened for the first-century Christians when Christ returned in A.D. 70 to
bring salvation to those waiting for Him. The living Christians were given a
new nature, which included eternal life to be resident within them. Those
Christians who had died were raised to eternal life in the heavenly realm. This
raising to life is also what brings us into the spiritual
1 Corinthians 15:50: I declare to you, brothers,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable
inherit the imperishable.
Paul shows we cannot be in the Kingdom
as flesh and blood, perishable beings. If physical resurrection is the focus
here, then nobody, except Christ, has entered the Kingdom to this very day. Yet
this would run contrary to the scriptural evidence that the Kingdom is a
present reality for Christians. As shown in the chapter on the Kingdom, the
Kingdom is spiritual in nature and is entered into at the spiritual level.
Christ came to raise
1 Corinthians 15:51-57: Listen, I tell
you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-in a flash, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet
will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable,
and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the
imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written
will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death is
your victory? Where, O death is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul says, “we will not all sleep.” The
“we” he is addressing are the Corinthian Christians. Paul is not addressing
people living thousands of years into the future. Paul is speaking of an event
that he anticipated would take place shortly before some of those he was
addressing would die. Paul says the “we” will be changed. That change for the
“we” would take place at the same time the dead in Christ were receiving their
change. It was at this moment in history that Christ consummated the process of
change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The power of sin to produce
eternal death was broken. The victory over death was won and continues won to
this day.
RESURRECTION AND THE THESSALONIANS:
Paul addresses the Thessalonian
Christians in much the same way regarding the return of Christ and the
resurrection. Is Paul addressing a different kind of return and resurrection
with the Thessalonians from the one he is with the Corinthians? Let’s take a
look at how he addresses the Thessalonians regarding this matter.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17: Brothers, we do
not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the
rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so
we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who
are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have
fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud
command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Throughout this book we have cited dozens
of scriptural passages that show the return of Christ was going to occur in the
lifetime of the first-century Church. Christ taught that this event would occur
before the generation He was addressing would pass. The apostles all taught
that the return of Christ was about to occur. As covered previously, the Thessalonian Christians were expecting relief from
persecutions when Christ returned. Now Paul is telling them that some of them
would be alive at Christ’s coming. The context is clearly first century. Paul
is not speaking of Christians thousands of years into the future still being
alive at a yet future return of Christ. Paul is speaking about an event that
would occur while some of those he was addressing would still be alive. Paul’s
reference to meeting in the clouds is symbolic language. As shown earlier in
this book, such language was commonly used by scriptural writers to describe
the power and glory of God as He intervenes in the affairs of men. The birth,
death, resurrection and return of Christ in the first century were the most
significant interventions of God in the affairs of men since creation. This
intervention brought redemption through reconciliation with God. This
redemption has been available ever since.
A reading of the full context of Paul’s
letter to the Thessalonian Christians should make it
apparent Paul was addressing what he believed to be a first-century event in
speaking of Christ’s return and being raised to meet Him. Let’s look at what
Paul says just a little farther along in this same letter.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-4: Now, brothers,
about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are
saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor
pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not
in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
Paul has just told the Thessalonian Christians that when Christ comes, the dead
would rise and those of them still alive would also be caught up to be with
Christ. Now Paul is telling these same Christians that Christ will come as a
thief in the night. Has Paul changed the subject here? Has Paul suddenly
shifted from discussing a return of Christ involving the saints rising to meet
Him, to discussing some other coming that would be totally unexpected? If, as
is largely believed by much of present day Christendom, Paul is speaking about
Christ coming as a thief in the night as an event yet future to us, then these Thessalonian Christians are still alive and living among us
today. That, obviously, is not the case.
Paul said very straightforwardly, “But
you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a
thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4). How could this day not surprise the Thessalonian Christians like a thief if they are all dead
in their graves and this event was to first take place thousands of years into
the future? Paul is obviously telling these Christians that because they live
in the light of the truth, they will see the day of Christ approaching while
others will not. They would escape the coming destruction while others would
not.
This destruction is the same destruction
prophesied by Christ and all the apostles. This is the wrath to come that John
the Baptist spoke about. This destruction and wrath to come was the
Roman-Jewish War of A.D. 66 to 73 that physically destroyed the temple and the
city of
1 Thessalonians 5:23: May God himself,
the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul
and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here again Paul speaks of these Thessalonian Christians being alive at the coming of
Christ. Paul speaks of their “whole spirit, soul and body” being kept blameless
(preserved blameless in the KJV) at the return of Christ. You don’t find any
preserved bodies of Thessalonian Christians walking
around in the 21st century still waiting for Christ to appear. It should be
obvious that Paul is anticipating a first-century event.
In this letter to the Thessalonian Christians, Paul speaks of the persecutions
being experienced from those opposed to the gospel message. Paul then speaks of
these persecutors experiencing the coming wrath and destruction while those
responding to the gospel would be granted salvation. In chapter one, verse ten, Paul speaks of them waiting for Christ to appear in
order to rescue them from the coming wrath. In chapter five, verse nine; Paul
speaks of the Thessalonian Christians not being
appointed to experience the coming wrath but instead salvation through Christ.
The entire context of this letter
relates to an event about to occur. Even if one disagrees with the perspective
of resurrection discussed in this book, the fact remains that the return of
Christ and the resurrection had to take place in some fashion in the first
century. The wrath and destruction that the Thessalonians were to escape was
not a wrath and destruction to occur thousands of years into the future. Such a
conclusion would be ludicrous.
In Paul’s letters to both the Thessalonian and the Corinthian Christians, Paul is
addressing resurrection within the context of an imminent return of Christ.
This return brought wrath and destruction upon those in opposition to the
gospel. This return brought salvation to those that received the gospel. This
return also provided salvation to the dead in Christ, those who had accepted
the gospel message but who died before Christ’s return.
The scriptures indicate that many who
had died in past generations would also rise up at the time of Christ’s return.
Some would rise to life while others would rise to condemnation. The dynamics
associated with this process are unclear in Scripture. The fate of the unsaved
dead, both past and future, is a subject for a separate investigation and
therefore is not addressed in this book. Neither will I address the issue of
eternal conscious punishment for the wicked versus their eternal annihilation.
This, too, is an issue for a separate investigation.
For the reader that desires to explore
in greater detail the foregoing view of resurrection, I recommend The Cross and
The Parousia of Christ, by Max King. The word “Parousia” is a Greek word
translated as “coming” in the New Testament narrative. Its basic meaning is
presence. It is interesting that the New Testament writers used this word to
describe the coming of Christ. In his Companion Bible, Bullinger
footnotes “Parousia” in Matthew 24:3 to explain that the “Papyri show that from
the Ptolemaic period down to the second century A.D. the word is traced in the
East as a technical expression for the arrival or visit of the King or
emperor.” This Greek word can also mean the coming of a “divinity who makes his presence felt by a revelation of his power.”
(See, A Greek-English Lexicon, by Arndt, Gingrich and Bauer).
Christ did make His presence felt by the
revelation of His power and glory in resurrecting us out of the old age of
eternal death into the new age of eternal life. Christ continues to be present
as He facilitates reconciliation with God, which is resurrection to eternal life