July 27 2011, 8:37 am | Danny Jones
In our study of I Thessalonians called Awaken, your King is coming; we see reminders that Christ is returning. But why and for what? I realize that because most people don’t see themselves as theologians and feel overwhelmed by prophecy, and therefore live very confused about the future. But Paul tells this church to encourage each other with these things. How can I encourage with something I don’t understand. (Remember, we are all theologians, believing and living what we understand God to be and do. This is theology. Even unbelievers are theologians. Not understanding theology is not an option for us. We go on living bad theology as a result.) The primary issue of I Thess 4:13-18 is that Paul is answering the question of the resurrection and what happens next. This church believed that to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord. (I Cor. 5:8) But the issue here was what will happen with our physical bodies. Why the need for bodies? If the dead are living in the spirit in a spiritual world, why would they need a body? The purpose of a body is for a physical world, and these believers knew this. The pivotal point of Judeo-Christian belief is the hope of resurrection. This was so from the earliest writings Job 19:25,26, Isaiah 26:19 right up to the teaching of Paul I Cor. 15:51. For the Thessalonians, this hope of resurrection and the concern for those who had died revealed that they, as all other believers in the first century, believed in the imminent return of Christ to the earth to set up a Kingdom. This a new thought, as it had been the message of the prophets like Amos 9:11-12, the message of Gabriel Luke 1:32, the message of Christ Luke 21:29-31, and the message of John Rev. 20:4. Paul understood this, so his response to them was not an answer to whether the dead would go to heaven, but rather whether they would have bodies in this kingdom. Paul uses the Amos passage in Acts 15:13-18 arguing before the Jerusalem church that the Kingdom would also involve gentile believers along with Jewish.
Was the first century church theologically confused or did they understand that a literal kingdom, where bodies are necessary, was coming. With two predominate views on eschatology today, the first question for us is whether there will be a literal kingdom that believers will be part of (premillennial), or if prophetic writings are primarily symbolic and that we are living them now (amillennial). The purpose of this post is not to argue those two positions. However, one thought on interpretation of Scripture is that our default assumption needs to be a literal interpretation unless it is obviously a symbolic principle or teaching i.e. the harlot of Revelation is not talking about one woman. To make symbolic interpretation the default opens us to possibility of randomly choosing what is literal and symbolic, giving license to the creation of any theology we desire. My purpose here, however, is to say that a belief of a literal kingdom involving believers would necessitate the return of Christ to call out the living believers, resurrect the dead believers, and the transform this creation that has been groaning for since man’s plunge into sin. According to I Cor. 15:51, this will happen when the trumpet and the loud sound of Christ’s coming is made known to “every eye who will see him.” The trumpet is about the resurrection and the resurrection is about bodies that come to life on earth for a kingdom in which they will reign together with Christ.
Jesus talked extensively about when this would happen in Matt. 24,25, Luke 21, and Mark 13. He talks of signs, all of which have or could be fulfilled in a moment, making his return immediately possible. In Mark 13: 29 Jesus says that when these things happen, you know that the summer (the coming of the Kingdom) is near. This is not a reference to distance, but to time. God, however, will establish this kingdom at a time that no one knows, not even Christ himself. Mark 13:32 This leaves us with a question regarding the tribulation and what some believers for the past 120 years have called the pre-tribulation rapture. This is the teaching of a secret coming of Christ for believers to take them to be with him during seven years of judgment. I Thess. 4:17 is the primary passage that might indicate a secret rapture, due to the Greek word Parousia, which can mean taken up, called out, snatched away. It definitely implies a moving of living bodies, but not definitively answers to where. The words clouds and air in this verse have brought confusion, but could also bring clarity. “Clouds” means the fluffy white things, but is also the word used throughout scripture to refer to the glory of God or the cloud surrounding him, whether on Mount Sinai, in the tabernacle, or when a voice came from a “cloud” saying, “this is my beloved son…”. This word cloud is also used in Hebrew 12:1 to refer to the host of believers who have gone ahead in death. So the point of this cloud could be in reference to quality and content, rather than geography. This is also seen in the word “air”. Two Greek words are used for air. One refers to the sky where the birds fly. This is not the word used here. The word used is the air around us that we breathe. It is the space around us. So, could verse 17 be saying that Christ comes to snatch us to the space around himself in the cloud of his presence and the host of believers to begin a Kingdom that will never end? This is the first resurrection of Revelation 20:5, which says “they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” It would seem from this verse that there is so missing space between these two event. Whether it is motivated out of theological questions about the difference between the Church and God’s reestablishing his work with Israel or an early adaptation of a prosperity gospel that says God would never allow his children to have to suffer under the hand of his judgment, this rapturing secretly of believers out of the tribulation seems to lack substantial biblical teaching to support this.
But is this even the issue? What is the significance of all of this for us? Jesus made clear in his teachings again and again that he is looking for faithful servants who will be ready to rule and reign with him in a Kingdom that will never end. Parable after parable talks about the servant who was faithful in little and then entrusted with much. Luke 19:17 adds an interesting thought to this when the master says, “Well done, my good servant!” his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ This is obviously about ruling and reigning with the master, which is what the millennial kingdom is all about. In order to rule, you have to have a place that needs ruling (which heaven obviously doesn’t), and there must be people who need ruling (which the earth will for at least another 1000 years until the second resurrection and judgment Rev. 20:5 which will be for unbelievers). Everything I do in this life is determining my role in the Kingdom of God, a role determined by faithfulness in small things. God doesn’t make this complicated. It’s about faithfulness in small things, but the result is ruling over cities. Someone will have to be mayor of New York in the Kingdom. I very well could be a mother of 3 who has been faithful with what she was given and is entrust with greater responsibility. In Revelation 2:26,27 this is clear. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations--He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery'--just as I have received authority from my Father. This is a significant entrusting of authority.
Do I think I will be more likely to surrender to Christ’s rule in a physical kingdom than I am in a spiritual kingdom right now, where his Spirit lives inside me to lead me into truth? Why? Christ is looking for surrender and faithfulness that comes from a heart full of love for the Savior who will reign in righteousness and calls me to reign with him. Christ is coming. Awaken bride. We will be with him forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.