Rapture: The Thessalonian Key, part 12

,

And now may the Lord direct your hearts

into the love of God

and into the patience of Christ.

2 Thessalonians 3:5, NKJV

In these two brief letters to the Thessalonian church, Paul has systematically laid out his eschatological views, a theology of last things developed through direct revelation from the Lord.  Though each of the other apostles whose epistles are preserved in Scripture will refer in one way or another to the return of Christ, none will do so in as great depth or detail as Paul has done here.  Some will speak of death and the resurrection, but Paul alone will teach the Rapture that bypasses death and delivers the saints of God directly into the presence of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  And apart from John and the Revelation, Paul is the only apostle to lay out a distinguishable timeline of end-time events:  Rapture & Resurrection, the removal of the Restrainer, the reward and rest for believers, the Rise of antichrist and the Wrath of God against the unbelievers, followed finally by the Return of Jesus Christ to earth in power and great glory.

Herein lies the hope of those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

When Jesus comes, we will be delivered from the wrath that is coming, because we have not been appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation.

When Jesus comes, we will be established and secured in holiness and blamelessness and presented before God the Father.

When Jesus comes, we will be caught up in the air--the living and the dead in Christ together--to ever be with the Lord.

When Jesus comes, we will not be surprised or caught unaware, for we are children of the light and children of the day who are fully aware of the signs of the times and the nearness of Christ's return.

When Jesus comes, every part of our physical being and existence will be preserved and made completely blameless in fulfillment of our salvation.

When Jesus comes, he will give us rest from our troubles while he repays with tribulation those who have troubled us.

When Jesus comes, he will be glorified in his saints and admired among all those who believe.

And as Paul closes out his second epistle to the Thessalonians, he gives us this final key to understanding all of these things.

69.  Let us patiently wait for and anticipate His coming--and our going!

Amen.