THE "ANY MOMENT" COMING OF CHRIST MYTH

By Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama)

May 26, 2010

People have asked me many times; what do you believe about the coming of the Lord for the church? My answer is simple; I believe what Paul says about it. If you want to know what I believe read Paul’s epistles. What ever he says is what I believe. In this article we will exam and comment on what Paul says about the coming of the Lord for the church in 2 Thessalonians 2. After reading and commenting on these verses you will see what I believe.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-9
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 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.
3 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;
4 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.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what holdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 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:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

According to verse 5 Paul reminds the Thessalonians of what he taught them about the coming of Christ for the church. It appears they forgot what he said when he was with them in Acts 17. They were all shook up according to verse 2 because someone had taught them that Christ was about to come back at any moment. Paul writes these words to correct that false teaching. According to verse 5 what Paul wrote in these verses is what he had taught them when he was with them in Thessalonica in Acts 17. In these verses Paul reminds them and us what he had said about the coming of Christ for the church.

----(a) In verse 1 he tells us that the hope of the church is; the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him.

Notice that Paul calls the hope of the church; the coming of Christ. As a matter of fact Paul calls the hope of the church the coming of Christ eleven (11) times in his epistles. Eleven times Paul uses the words coming or come in reference to the hope of the church.

If this is true doesn’t this mean that the coming of Christ for the church is the second coming of Christ? Christ came the first time to die for sinners. He will come the second time for the saints. If that is true this means that the coming of Christ for the church has to be the second coming of Christ. Paul calls it the second coming of Christ in Hebrews 9:28 where he wrote; So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

If the coming of Christ for the church is the second coming of Christ how many times will Christ come in the future? Once. If there is more than one coming of Christ in the future, as some teach, then which one is the second coming? If there is more then one coming of Christ in the future wouldn’t that make three comings of Christ? Where did Paul or anyone ever say that Christ would come three times? You can‘t have a second coming after the second coming and the hope of the church is clearly called the coming of Christ.

----(b) The rapture of the church is called the day of Christ in verse 2. The day of Christ in verse two is when the Lord comes to gather us unto himself. The hope of the church is not only called the day of Christ, but it is also called the:

-Day of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 5:2
-The day of our Lord Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 1:8
-The day of the Lord Jesus in 2 Corinthians 1:14
-The day of Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:6.

I mention this because there are some who say that the day of Christ and the day of the Lord are two different days or events. But what about the other days? Are they all different days and events also? No. They are different titles to describe one day and one event, the coming of Christ for the church. Remember; Christ is the Lord and the Lord is Christ and the day of the Lord is the day of Christ and vice versa.

----(c) The coming of Christ to gather the church unto himself which Paul calls the day of Christ is not at hand.

The Thessalonians thought it was at hand or about to take place and Paul plainly tells them it was not. He even said that those who taught them that it was at hand or could happen at any moment were deceiving them in verse 3. These are very serious words for those who teach that the coming of Christ can take place at any moment. The any moment rapture theory is proven false by what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:2-3. Those who teach this theory had better consider what they are saying in light of what Paul said in this chapter about the day of Christ which is the hope of the church.

----(d) There are three events that must first come to pass before the day of Christ in 2 Thessalonians 2.

In verse 3-4 Paul says that the day of Christ, which is the coming of Christ for the church in verse 1: 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.

The three things that Paul says that must first come to pass before the day of Christ are;

(1) A falling away which is a major apostasy will precede the day of Christ which is Christ’s coming. It is the same apostasy the Spirit through Paul predicted in 1 Timothy 4:1. (The Greek word for falling away is apostasia and even if you can’t read Greek you can see what that word means)

(2) The man of sin must be revealed the son of perdition before the day of Christ. This of course is a reference to the anti christ. Paul plainly tells them and us that the antichrist will come before and not after the day of Christ. This answers the question as to whether or not the church will witness the antichrist. According to Paul the answer is obviously yes.

(3) The antichrist will sit down in the temple of God in Jerusalem and claim to be God before the day of Christ. The church will not only witness the revelation of the antichrist, but will see him seated in the temple of God in Jerusalem claiming to be God.

These are the three reasons why Paul told the Thessalonians that the day of Christ was not at hand. Until these things take place no one can say that the day of Christ which is Christ’s coming for the church is at hand.

Even though this is not mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2 there are other outstanding events connected with the revelation of the antichrist and the temple of God that must also come to pass before the day of Christ.

In Daniel 7 there is kingdom composed of 10 nations that will have ten kings prophesied to devour the whole world and become its supreme ruler. In Daniel 7:8 the antichrist is prophesied to come up among them which means he will come to power in one of the 10 nations that compose the fourth beast of Daniel 7, (It will be Assyria) But Daniel 7:24 says he will rise to power after them which means the fourth kingdom rises to power before the antichrist. When he comes to power he will overthrow it and he alone will become the supreme ruler of the kingdoms of this world. (Rev. 13:7)

If the antichrist is revealed before the day of Christ then the fourth kingdom of Daniel 7 must first come to power before the day of Christ also because the antichrist rises to power after them.

If the antichrist sits in the temple of God and claims to be God before the day of Christ this also means that the temple must first be rebuilt before the Lord comes to gather us unto himself.

These are just some of the reasons why Paul told them and us that the day of Christ which is Christ’s coming for the church is not at hand. Those who say it at hand are deceiving people whether they know it or not and the so called pre tribulation rapture is a myth.