The Hope of the Gospel (Future: The Tribulation)

 

1 Thessalonians was largely written to explain a misunderstanding about eschatology. And 2 Thessalonians was also largely written to explain a misunderstanding about eschatology.

When we speak of the letters of the New Testament, don't imagine Paul putting his letter into an envelope, putting a stamp on it, and then sticking it in a mailbox. Most likely, one of his friends (perhaps Timothy) had to carry 1 Thessalonians personally from Corinth to Thessalonica. And probably, when that messenger returned, he brought news that there was now a new problem within the Thessalonian church. (Alternatively, news could have reached Paul in some other way.) Some have suggested that some of the people in Thessalonica misunderstood Paul's words in his first letter, leading him to write this one. Barclay compares it to a preacher whose sermon is misunderstood and so has to preach a clarification the next Sunday. Whatever the exact situation, there was confusion and so Paul wrote this letter, and specifically this passage, to help clear things up. And in so doing, he gave us another important glimpse into the future.

(2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

As I said, this passage was largely written to clear up a misunderstanding about eschatology. But to understand what that misunderstanding was will take a roundabout route. To grasp the picture that Paul is painting, we need to take a good look at the central figure of the picture.

Because this is almost a portrait or at least an action shot of an important character, someone Paul refers to as the Man of Sin. Some other versions call him the Man of Lawlessness. Paul also calls him the Son of Perdition or Destruction. That is in verse 3. Down in verse 8 he also calls him That Wicked or “The lawless one” as other translations give it. These terms identify this figure as someone marked by or characterized by sin and lawlessness, and thereby marked for destruction. He is not merely a sinner, but someone fully sold to sin, completely overcome by sin, completely on the side of sin. The TCNT refers to him as “Wickedness Incarnate.” 

Now, let us look at some other verses of scripture: “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” (1 John 2:18) “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” (Revelation 13:1) “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” (Daniel 9:26)

Nearly all modern eschatology is based on the assumption that these four people—the Man of Sin of Thessalonians, the Antichrist of 1 John, the Beast of Revelation, and the Prince of Daniel 9 are all referring to the same person. That is a reasonable theory, but we should remember that it is just a theory; the Bible doesn't explicitly make these connections. Well, except for the Antichrist. Regarding this term, see 1 John 2:22: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” John defines Antichrist as someone who denies God, both the Father and the Son. We might stretch this to say that it is someone who works against or opposes the truth, who opposes God. Therefore, the Man of Sin is, so to speak, the archetypical Antichrist, the supreme or ultimate one as the supreme, final opponent of God's work. 

John's statement in verse 18 seems to imply that there is coming one Antichrist but there are also already many antichrists. This corresponds to Paul's words here. He says the Man of Sin isnot yet revealed, but, in verse 7, he speaks the mystery of iniquity already being at work. In other words, there is already a force at work in the world opposing God, and that force will someday lead to the rise of the Antichrist.

If we assume that the Antichrist is also the Beast, then we need to talk about Revelation. And to talk about Revelation, we need to understand something about the structure of the book. 

Revelation chapter 1 tells of John's meeting with Christ on the island of Patmos. Chapters 2-3 are Christ's messages given through John to the seven churches of Asia who were the original recipients of the book. Then, starting with chapter 4, we have a prolonged vision or series of visions regarding events in heaven and on earth, mostly disasters and catastrophes. There is a question about how we should interpret these visions—the bulk of Revelation from chapter 4 onward. Some take the entire thing as allegorical, as referring to things in the spiritual realm. Others take Revelation as a perspective on history, with some of the events being future while others are past.

However, for our purposes, we are using the futurist interpretation, the belief that most of the events of Revelation are still in the future.

And with Revelation being future, a good chunk of the book deals with the rise of the Beast who, we are assuming, is the same as the Antichrist and the Man of Sin. A good chunk of Revelation, then, parallels this passage in 2 Thessalonians—it refers to the revelation of the Man of Sin and his ultimate defeat. It is traditional in modern eschatology to refer to this period as the Tribulation.

Now, remember what I said before that some identify the Antichrist with the Prince described in Daniel's prophecy. And in that prophecy, we have these words which may refer to the actions of the Prince: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Daniel 9:27) 

If the “he” of this verse is referring to the Antichrist, then it seems that his time of power will be a week which, in Daniel's prophecy, usually means a group of seven years. Therefore we have a common interpretation that the Tribulation will be roughly seven years long, but this is obviously somewhat conjectural.

I realized we just covered a lot of territory, so let me summarize what we've said: in 2 Thessalonians Paul prophecies the rise (and fall) of the Antichrist, an individual who will oppose the work of God. The period of the Antichrist's power is commonly called the Tribulation and it is described both here and in Revelation (and it may or may not be seven years in length.) Though there are presently antichrist forces in the world today, the actual rise of the Antichrist and the Tribulation period is still future. That is the general framework we are working with.

So what do we know about the Antichrist? In verse 3 of our text, Paul speaks of there being a great falling away or apostasy or rebellion, a time of dramatic turning away from God. And then he immediately goes on to talk about the revelation of the Antichrist. These may be two separate, unrelated events, but it would also make sense for them to be connected. There will be a rebellion against God and true religion and it is out of that rebellion that the Antichrist will be able to rise up and gain a following.

In verse 4, Paul says that the Antichrist will not only oppose God but exalt himself to a divine position so that he will claim to be God and will receive worship; perhaps literally having a temple for himself. (Some interpret Paul's words as meaning the Antichrist will sit in the temple in Jerusalem; for this to be true, we have to assume that temple to be rebuilt at some point.) Revelation 13:4-6 gives us a similar picture: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” Here we have a picture of the Antichrist receiving worship and blaspheming God.

Many people oppose and blaspheme God. Some even claim a divine or supernatural position. But the Antichrist will actually, to some extent, be able to back up his claim. In verse 9, Paul says that the Antichrist's coming will be "after the working of Satan with all power and sign and lying wonder." When Christ came, He performed signs and wonders and powerful miracles through the power of the Father. When Antichrist comes, he will also perform signs and wonders and powerful miracles through the power of Satan. He will not merely be a bad man, but a man used by and empowered by the Devil.

“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Revelation 13:2-3) We see that the Beast will receive his power and authority from 'the dragon'--if you go back to Revelation 12:9 you see that this is another term for Satan. And the Beast will work some kind of mighty miracle of healing.

Paul says that the Antichrist will oppose God. From Revelation, we see that this will not be a merely abstract or intellectual opposition. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” (Revelation 13:7) We the Antichrist actively persecuting Christians and, physically, overcoming them. There are later verses in Revelation that describe those Christians who triumphantly resisted his power, even at the cost of their lives.

The fact that the antichrist will persecute the church implies that he will not only be a religious figure but will have some sort of political power. This is also suggested in Revelation 13:16-17: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (Revelation 13:16-17) If the antichrist is in a position to limit financial activity to his followers, this would suggest that he is in a position of de facto political authority, whatever his official position.

But though he may have some sort of political power, his real influence is deception. He will have a following of those who have swallowed his lies. Verse 10 speaks of the deception which the Antichrist will affect. The NET Bible translate it that he will come “with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved.”

So we see that he will gain a following by deceiving people. He will lead them astray and he will lead them to destruction. Verse 12 says that his followers will be damned. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:9-10)

The antichrist will deceive and lead astray.  But notice specifically that those who are deceived are those who have already rejected the truth. It is those who do not have a love for truth, who have not been saved, who are perishing—those are the ones that that the Antichrist will deceive. This is also echoed in Revelation, in 13:8: “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” It is those who are not written in the book of the life, that is, those who are not in Christ, who shall worship the beast. He will deceive those who do not have the truth.

And here is something important to note. The Antichrist is, well, against Christ, against God. He is an evil figure rising with Satanic power. But that doesn't mean that his coming in any way threatens God or God's power. Look at the end of our passage, verses 11-12. God is the one who allows these people to be deceived. They rejected the truth and so God gives them into the power of a lie. They rejected the light and so receive darkness. Because they choose sin, they are delivered into the power of sin. God visits on them the worst and most just judgment of all—He gives them what they want. We saw this back in Romans. In Romans 1, God gave man up to sin because man chose to reject God. In Romans 9, God hardened Pharaoh's heart to the truth and good sense because Pharaoh hardened his heart to God. 

There is a warning here. It is a dangerous thing to reject the truth because without truth we have no safety against lies. One cannot choose to be partially deceived. A boat without engine or sail can never make port. But there is also an important promise and encouragement. Even with the rise of the antichrist, with what seems to be the worst moment of history, God is still the one in control; not the antichrist, not Satan.

This is something of a side note, but I do want to say this. When I was younger, in the late 90s and early 2000s, I heard a lot about eschatology around the church. There was a general consensus that we were living very close to the events of end times. And with that belief, there was this overarching belief that we could not and should not expect to see revival or any real spiritual change in the world; that God would work less and less as we approached the end; that it was just inevitable that everything become worse. 

And I don't think there is any scriptural ground for that belief, regardless of your eschatology. God is in control of the world now; some people are following Him and some people oppose Him. And what do we see even during the Tribulation? God is in control of the world; some people are following Him and some people oppose Him. God will be at work in this world until there is no world left for Him to work in. And even in the destruction of the world, God is still in control.

Speaking of which, there is something else to note about the Antichrist. We mentioned before that there is already an antichrist force at work in the world. But that force is not absolute. It is kept in check. In verses 5-6, Paul reminds his readers of something he talked about while he was at Thessalonica—something that we unfortunately don't know. But we see at least this much—he had told them about something which “withholdeth” the Antichrist. In other words, there was something preventing the Antichrist from rising, something which held back this Satanic tendency. The Antichrist cannot come until the right time. In verse 7, Paul says: “he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” That is a very strange statement in modern English, but the idea is simple enough—there is something or someone that prevents the antichrist from rising; there is something or someone blocking the way. And he will keep blocking the way until he is removed and then (and only then) the antichrist will appear. NET Bible: “For the hidden power of lawlessness is already at work. However, the one who holds him back will do so until he is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8a)

Though apparently Paul and the Thessalonians knew who or what this mysterious agent was, we do not. The most common suggestion seems to be that it is civil government. With all the evils of civil governments, it remains true that they do help to curb evil in the world. And it is easy to imagine that if there was a widespread collapse of governments across the world, that would be the perfect opportunity for a powerful, charismatic individual to gain a widespread, cultic following.

Alternatively, it could be something within the spiritual world. We know from the Bible—especially from the book of Daniel—that there is a spiritual world, the realm of angels and demons, and that within this world there is conflict that impacts the realm of man. The antichrist force Paul speaks of is obviously a spiritual force, so it makes sense that the thing that holds it back is also some kind of spiritual entity, something like an angel.

But whatever is this restraining influence, ultimately it is God who is in control. When Satan attacked Job, he could do nothing until God gave him permission and he could only do what God allowed. Satan will only gain this sort of ascendancy over the world when God allows him.

So we have this picture of the Antichrist, a figure who will rise up and oppose God, who will set himself up as a God and will deceive people by supernatural power. He will speak blasphemous words, probably very loud and obnoxious words. But he will not speak the last word.

Look at verse 8. After the Antichrist is revealed, “the Lord shall consume [him] with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” The Antichrist cannot rise until God allows him. And when the time is right, God will defeat him.The main point here is that Jesus does win in the end. Christ will overthrow Antichrist. Jude describes this victory: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15) God will come and have victory. And He comes with his saints; this may mean angels, but it may also refer to His church. When Jesus comes to take away His church, it isn't an escape, it isn't that God just gives up and tries to pull His people to safety. It is a preparation for war. 

It is really tempting to picture this in narrative terms, like a novel. We have our hero and our villain, and obviously in the next-to-last chapter you need the big climactic battle where the hero defeats the villain once and for all.

And the picture sort of fits. The problem is that for there to be a big climactic battle, the two sides have to be evenly matched. And in this case, they aren't. Paul says that Jesus will overcome the Antichrist "with the spirit of his mouth." The word spirit may be a reference to the Holy Spirit. But the word spirit in Greek is the same as the word breath, which is how most other translations render it. So the picture is that Jesus only needs to breathe to overcome the antichrist. Again, the end of the verse says the antichrist will be destroyed by the brightness of his coming. Vincent comments: “The mere appearance of Christ destroys the adversary.”

Look at Revelation 19:19-20 which seems to picture this same event: “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” We have the beast and his armies gather together to fight against “him that sat on the horse” which is Jesus, as we see earlier in the chapter. And then in the next verse, prisoners are being taken and punished. We have the setup for the battle and the aftermath of the battle, but no battle. And maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but I think that's because as soon as Jesus shows up, the battle is over. Even the Antichrist, with all the power of Satan behind him, cannot stand before Christ long enough to make a reasonable stand.

So, to summarize, someday the Antichrist will rise, when God allows the restraining force to be removed—seemingly this will come out of a time of great apostasy or religious rebellion. He will claim divine status and use Satanic power to deceive those who have rejected the truth, as well as also having some sort of political power. He will oppose and fight against God's people. But in the end, he will be destroyed by Jesus. This all takes place in a period usually called the Tribulation which may be seven years in length.

Now, we have to consider the most controversial aspect of this whole thing. The question is: when does all of this happen—when does the Tribulation happen—in relation to the Rapture.

In modern eschatology, the most common belief is in a PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE; that is, that the rapture happens first; God's people are glorified and carried out of this world, and then the Antichrist rises and gains a following amid the confusion which would assumably follow such an event. Many believe that the force Paul mentions in verses 6-7, that thing which prevents the Antichrist from rising, is the church, and once the church is out of the way, nothing will stop the rise of evil. On this view, the victory of Christ, the moment when Christ comes from Heaven to defeat the Antichrist is a separate event from the Rapture when Christ comes from Heaven to raise his church.

What reasons are there for believing the Rapture will take place before the tribulation and the rise of the antichrist?

The main reason is this. “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” (Matthew 24:42) Warnings like this occur throughout the New Testament, even in the Thessalonian letters. As we talked about in our previous article, the Bible makes it very clear that we do not know when the Rapture will occur. But if the Rapture comes after the Tribulation, then we CAN say, at least, when it will not occur. We can't say: 'It could happen today', if it can't happen until after the Tribulation. And if the Tribulation is actually seven years long, you could fix the date pretty close, (assuming we could pinpoint the beginning of the Tribulation, which is unlikely.)

A second reason has to do with Revelation. If assume that the bulk of Revelation, from chapter 4 onward, is describing the Tribulation, then a large part of what happens is God pouring out his judgment on the world. It makes more sense that God would first remove His people from the world before He pours out judgment, as He allowed Noah to board the Ark before the rain began to fall.

However, another viewpoint is that the Rapture will happen after the tribulation, in other words, that it is a POST-TRIBULATION RAPTURE. The Antichrist will rise and institute his reign of terror and, at the end, Christ will return to resurrect and transform His church and, with them at His side, will overthrow the Antichrist and his followers. 

What arguments are there for believing in a post-tribulation rapture?

As we saw earlier, one of the things the Antichrist will do is make war with and persecute the saints of God, even to the point of martyring some of them. There clearly still is a church, there are Christians on earth even during the Tribulation. So who are these people if the church has already been taken away from earth? Will new people be saved after the Rapture and so form a new church? But then, at some point, these people would have to be resurrected, so we have to suppose that there is a second Resurrection for God's people. This is entirely possible, but there is no clear Biblical evidence to support such an idea.

But since there clearly are Christians living on earth during the Tribulation, as we see in Revelation, this nullifies the point about Christians not being on earth when God's wrath is poured out. And this parallels what we see throughout history. God's people were still in Egypt when God poured out the plagues. There were still some true to God in Israel when the Babylonians invaded. Now, in those cases, God did protect His people—Israel did not receive the brunt of most of the plagues, though they were still in Egypt. Jeremiah, at least, was protected and kept safe through the Babylonian invasion. And from Revelation, we see that God's people will be protected from at least some of the judgments that are poured out. “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” (Revelation 16:1-2) Notice that this disease comes ONLY on those who are the followers of the antichrist and on no one else.

And now we have to come back to the actual context of our passage. Paul wrote the letter of 2 Thessalonians because he didn't want the church at Thessalonica to be “shaken in mind or... troubled.” Robertson says that “shaken” means to be agitated, to shake like grass in the wind and “troubled” means “to be a state of nervous excitement” like someone who has just received a shock. There was clearly some kind of stir and hubbub in the church and this was related to eschatology. Someone or something was stirring up the church; there was a message or a supposed supernatural revelation or a letter claiming to be from Paul—whether this was a forgery or just a misunderstanding of 1 Thessalonians. Paul may have thrown all three of these possibilities together because he actually didn't know what had started the trouble. But there was trouble.

And the trouble was the belief that “the day of Christ is at hand.” There is a division among commentators and translators regarding whether the phrase translated “at hand” means near at hand, about to happen or already present, actually here. But either way, it indicates something very near.

The question is, what exactly is it that the Thessalonians believed? What did it mean that some of them thought the day of Christ was at hand or had already come? It is unlikely that it meant that believed the world had already been destroyed and the new heavens and new earth created. That would be a difficult heresy for anyone to swallow.

The most plausible explanation is that they believed the Rapture had already taken place and they had been left behind or that they believed the Rapture was about to take place, that it was near and would happen any minute. Notice that verse 1 specifies the subject matter at hand: “The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and... our gathering together unto him.” Our gathering together unto Him almost certainly means the Rapture. That would seem to be the subject under discussion and the issue that had caused problems within the church.

There is a passage in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, where Paul harps on the importance of work and gives warning against people who are lazy, idol, or troublemakers. Many have theorized that some in the Thessalonian church were so convinced that Christ was about to return that they had quit their jobs and were doing nothing but standing around waiting for the Rapture.

And if that is the case—if the hubbub and problem within the Thessalonian concerned the Rapture—then we need to see what Paul says in verse 3: “That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.” If “that day” means the Rapture, then Paul is saying that the Rapture happens after the Tribulation, or at least after the Tribulation begins. If this interpretation is right, then the entire point of this passage is to show that the Rapture happens after the Tribulation.

Does this then negate the repeated Biblical commands to watch and be ready because we do not know the time when Christ will return?

I don't think so, for two reasons. We know now that Christ did not return in the time of Paul. None of those to whom this letter was written lived to see the Rapture. But they passed out of this world. And for many of them, that passing may have come suddenly and unexpectedly like a thief in the night. Life is uncertain enough that no eschatology is an excuse for careless living.

Secondly, the need to watch and pray is equally urgent if the Tribulation happens before the Rapture. The Tribulation is going to be one of the most climactic periods of human history; a time of unparalleled turmoil. And it will be a time when Christians, particularly, will be persecuted and put under pressure. It will be a time when it will be difficult to survive, physically speaking, and remain true to God; it is a time when many Christians will give their life for their beliefs. In other words, it will be a time, perhaps more than any other time, when Christians must bring their spiritual A-game, when they will have to be at the top of their form.

This will be a time of testing. Remember what we said before: one of the main actions of the Antichrist will be to deceive. Those who have rejected the truth of God's word will be liable to his deception. The Tribulation will be, in its essence, a time of testing—a time that will try and reveal what is truly in people's hearts, where they really stand. That is why must be ready. We have to watch and pray because this time of testing will come and it could come at any time. 

There is also a third viewpoint is that of the MID-TRIBULATION RAPTURE; which is the belief that the Antichrist will rise and the events of the Tribulation will begin, but at some point during it, the church will be raptured, and the Antichrist and his followers will be left alone on earth to face the last phases of God's judgment. I'm really not sure about the Biblical basis of this view, but it does avoid some of the problems of both other views. It fits with Paul's statement that the day of the Lord cannot come until after the rise of the Antichrist, but it also means that we do not know when the rapture will take place.

But on any of these views, the Tribulation and the Rapture go together; they can be grouped as almost a single event, regardless of their sequence. Whether the rapture begins the tribulation or ends it or is a central component of it, these two events are closely connected.

Whatever the sequence of these events, we must live in a readiness for them; in a readiness to stand before Christ and (perhaps) to stand against antichrist. And whatever the sequence of these events, we can live in hope, hope that in the end, Christ will return for His people, hope that Christ will defeat the enemy.

The hope and the warning is for all Christians. That was the point of Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians. Even those Christians who die before the Rapture will still share in its glory. And by the same token, all people must live in readiness since, one way or another, all will stand before God and give an account to Him.

When we were studying the Rapture, I tried to emphasize the point that we do not know when it will occur. God very distinctly and deliberately did not and has not told us. And since (if we are right in all our assumptions thus far) the Rapture is immediately before, after, or during the Tribulation, then it follows that we do not and cannot know when the Tribulation occurs. Whatever you believe about the relative position of these two events, we do not and cannot know with certainty where they will happen in relation to us, beyond the fact that they WILL happen.

In talking about the rapture, I stated that it is an act of God. It will happen when God chooses and not before. Therefore, there is little to nothing we can do to calculate its timing. And as strange as this statement sounds, there is a sense in which the rise of the Antichrist is also an act of God. He cannot come until God allows him. Paul's words seem to suggest that, if it were not for God's restraining hand, the antichrist would have already risen thousands of years ago. For that reason, attempting to fix the date of the tribulation based on events in the world around us is tentative at best.

I say all that to say this: I think we should always live with the recognition that these events—the Tribulation and the Rapture, regardless of their order—could happen any time; they could happen today. That is our warning and our hope. Even if you believe, as some do, that they COULDN'T happen yet--that there are other prophecies that must be fulfilled first-- that is uncertain enough that you would be wise to at least consider the possibility of an imminent eschatological upset. We may all live to see these events unfold.

But by the same token, I think we should always live with the recognition that these events might not happen in our life time. Since we do not know when they will happen, we cannot know for certain that they will happen within our lifespan which we do not know either. This is what Peter said about these events: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9) Peter is reminding his readers that even though God delays His coming, it isn't because He has forgotten or stopped caring about His promises. It is because God works on His own timetable and for His own purposes which do not always align with ours.

We should remember that these events may be very soon and then again they may not. The reason for remembering that they may be soon is obvious. But I think it is also important to remember that they might not.

There are two reasons for this. First, because we must, in any event, go on living our lives. We must make preparations for the future and lay out plans that may not see fruition for ten years or a hundred years. Rick Nanez tells the story of a family he knew who convinced their son not to go to Bible college because they were sure the Lord would return so soon it wouldn't be worth the trouble. We cannot live life like that and I don't think God expects us to. 

Second, because our hope shouldn't be in eschatology but in Christ. Paul writes as if he expected Jesus to return in His lifetime. That didn't happen, but that doesn't mean his hope was invalid or misguided. We are here today, talking about our hope and expectation of Christ's return. If a hundred years go by and we have all passed from the scene, and Christ hasn't returned, that shouldn't mean our hope was invalid or misguided. If it does, then we have not put our hope in Christ, but instead in our own ability to calculate when He will return.

Our hope isn't (or, at least shouldn't be) in some prediction or guess about when Christ will return, but in the fact that Christ will return. Throughout this study, I have been trying to give you my best understanding of scripture, but even if we are wrong about some of these details, the underlying truth is Christ—that Christ is our victory and our hope. That is the important truth, not the specific situations in which that victory and hope are manifested.

That is why the whole question of timing is of secondary importance. If we are alive during the Tribulation, then we will face the opposition of Satan and we will overcome him by the power of Christ. And if the Tribulation doesn't happen in our lifetime, we will still face the opposition of Satan and we will still be able to overcome him by the power of Christ. Jesus will not suddenly become our victory at the Rapture or during the Tribulation; if we are in Christ, then He already is. Jesus told Martha that “I am the Resurrection” not “Someday in two thousand years I will be the Resurrection.” He is already our victory over sin and over death.

And this reality—that our faith is in Christ and not in eschatology—has a secondary meaning. The Bible repeatedly reminds us that we must be ready to stand before Christ, that we must be ready to give an account of our life. We have a hope of reward, but also the fear of punishment, of disapproval, of not being ready for that examination. That fear and that hope is an intrinsic part of the Christian experience as presented in the New Testament. But it is not the whole of it. There is, or at least there ought to be, more to our Christian experience than just the fear of hell and the hope of heaven.

I'm not a parent, so on this, those of you who are can correct me, but my thought would be that as a parent, you want your children to love and obey you for more reasons than just a hope of reward or fear of punishment. Discipline is an integral part of the parent-child relationship, but you would certainly hope there is more at play in the relationship than just that. Our life as Christians should be based on more than just a fear of the end of the world; we should be striving for more than merely to be “rapture ready.” 

In the present, as in the future, our focus should be on Jesus. Even if Jesus doesn't return for another 2000 years, that doesn't change our faith or hope, because even in 2000 years, Jesus will not change for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.