John 6:34

Title: Give us this bread

Anyone who desires the bread that gives eternal life must also be aware of the need for others to come and believe in the Lord Jesus.

Salvation is a personal experience, but it is also a universal cause, so the Christian has to reach out to the world with the gospel, and plan his life to include God and the people whom his life might touch.

This is truly the good news, in the sense that it includes the whole world and not the self alone.

John 2:16

Title: To those who sold doves

Even in his righteous indignation the Lord Jesus didn’t want anyone to suffer loss. Had he released the doves, it would have been difficult to recover the birds.

The Lord is exceedingly gracious, but worship must never be a venue to advance any business interest or serve as a platform to market merchandise or a social cause.

Worship is a stage, and the whole congregation performs for the pleasure of God.

We don’t worship Sunday after Sunday to be blessed.

We worship because we have already been blessed.

[The Argument of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Against the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory]

Scripture explains Scripture.

This article, as part of a series, will try to shed light on the relationship between the two Thessalonian letters, which is the key to understanding (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), although other verses outside these two missives can prove helpful as well.

Let us first put on record the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory:

That the Lord Jesus would come in the clouds to fetch the Church in time for the beginning of the 7-year Tribulation Period, take all believers to heaven, where a Marriage Supper will take place, then return to earth with the saints seven years later; and while all this is happening, halfway into the Tribulation Period, the Anti-Christ would be revealed, to be destroyed at the 2^nd phase of the Lord’s return.

Simply said, the Rapture Theory teaches two separate and distinct phases of the Lord’s return.

The problem in this interpretation is the failure of Rapture adherents to place 2^nd Thessalonians in its proper perspective.

WHY THE SECOND LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS?

One of the purposes of Paul in writing a second missive to the church in Thessalonica was to correct a misunderstanding concerning the Lord’s return (1 Thess. 4:13-18). It seems that a letter, supposed to have emanated from the Apostles, had been circulating among the believers claiming that the Lord had already returned, causing alarm in the church.

So it is clear that 2^nd Thessalonians (2 Thess. 2:1-4) is an amplified explanation of (1 Thess. 4:13-18). The Apostle Paul is not providing a new set of signs for another event, but is merely giving a detailed clarification of the circumstances surrounding (1 Thess. 4:13-18), and the following facts could be gleaned from (2 Thess. 2:1-4):

1) That the coming (1 Thess. 4:13-18) would be a time of being gathered to the Lord

2) That the day would not come until the Apostasy occurs

3) That the Anti-Christ would be revealed first before that day (1 Thess. 4:13-18) comes

The Apostle Paul even puts himself as part of the event (2 Thess. 2:1) “that our being gathered to Him”, which unmistakably points back to (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

So (1 Thess. 4:13-18) will not happen until the Apostasy occurs and the Anti-Christ is revealed, and since the coming of the Lord Jesus as described in (1 Thess. 4:13-18) will result in the destruction of all who reject God (2 Thess. 1:5-10), and the day also when the Lord will be glorified in His holy people (2 Thess. 1:10), then it must necessarily occur at the end of the Tribulation Period.

Will the church go through the Tribulation Period?

Although this will be the subject of another article, let me give you a couple of verses to this effect.

(John 17:15,20)

15 I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the evil.

20 And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,

(Isa 26:19-21)

19 But your dead will live;

their bodies will rise.

You who dwell in the dust,

wake up and shout for joy.

Your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her;

she will conceal her slain no longer.