Getting ready for the second coming?

1 Thessalonians 3.11-13.

If you read 1 Thessalonians 3 in its entirety—and maybe read the whole book like the letter it is, instead of breaking it up into paragraphs, then analyzing the crap out of each paragraph, much like preachers in a sermon series, or me in these articles—you notice how Paul, Silas, and Timothy went on and on and on about how they missed the Thessalonians, fretted about the Thessalonians, wanted so very badly to visit the Thessalonians (well not so much Timothy; he was just there), and were thrilled to pieces about how well the Thessalonians were doing.

So in today’s paragraph, they finally wrap all that up.

1 Thessalonians 3.11-13 KWL

11 God himself, and our Father, and our Master Jesus,

has hopefully directed our path to you.

12 The Master hopefully provided more than enough for you,

in love for one another and for all, just as we also have for you.

13 All to strengthen your blameless minds in holiness before God our Father.

Namely at the second coming of our Master Jesus with all his saints. Amen.

And y’notice they start to move to the next subject-area of the letter: The second coming.

The word the apostles used is παρουσίᾳ/parusía, “coming” or “arrival.” Jesus’s first coming is the time from his birth to his rapture. His second is when he takes over the world. Yes, he makes various visits to individual Christians, like Paul Ac 9.3-6 and Ananias Ac 9.10 and John. Rv 1.12-13 But those aren’t proper comings, ’cause they’re not appearances to everyone. In the second coming, Jesus comes back the same way he left Ac 1.11 —in the clouds with great power. Mk 13.26

Yeah, there are various weird interpretations of what the second coming consists of. No doubt you know one or two. So did the Thessalonians.

What the second coming consists of.

The most common first-century idea of the second coming was that Messiah is gonna take over the world. Most Christians today don’t think that way; they think it’s the end of the world, where Jesus returns, the earth goes kablooey, and we live forever with him in heaven. Evangelicals are split between that idea and the Darbyist idea: Jesus raptures all the Christians, breaks the remaining pagans under seven years of great tribulation, then comes back and rules the world for the millennium.

But first-century Christians started with the ideas of first-century Pharisees—who also believed Messiah would take over the world, but incorrectly believed Jesus wasn’t this Messiah, and assumed there’d only be one coming. To their minds, Messiah would come like an invading general. Like Alexander of Macedon conquering Persia.

The Roman practice was to send word to a city: The Romans are coming! But rather than fear for their lives, Roman messengers framed this as good news, an εὐαγγέλιον/evanghélion, a gospel. The general, their evangelists insisted, was a good man on a righteous campaign to defeat evil. He was kind and benevolent, and his rule would bring ’em peace and prosperity—if they surrendered. If not, it was gonna be hell. Crucifixions would line every street.

If you’re noticing some similarities between these ideas and the New Testament gospels, you’re meant to. The gospels of Christ Jesus deliberately did the very same thing; the authors swiped the Roman idea. But unlike the Romans, they had actual good news. Jesus is a good man, on a righteous campaign to defeat evil. He truly is kind and benevolent, and his rule truly does bring peace and prosperity. And not Roman-style peace, where they crucified everybody who resisted; true peace, established in the hearts of Christ Jesus’s followers.

The apostles’ worry was the Thessalonians wouldn’t be ready for Jesus’s invasion. ’Cause the way we get ready is to live in Christ’s kingdom now. To follow his Sermon on the Mount, love our neighbors, love our enemies, share the good news, and produce good fruit. When Jesus arrives, he’s gonna rapture us to join his invading army as he sets foot on the earth to take possession. But if we’re not ready to join that army… we might find ourselves among the conquered, instead of among the conquerors.

Until Timothy had reported back to Paul and Silas, the apostles had no idea whether the Thessalonians were still on Jesus’s side, living in anticipation of his invasion—or gone astray, and joined the enemy’s side. You know, like Christianists who think since they’ve pledged allegiance to Jesus, they’re automatically ready to help run his kingdom. They don’t even live under it now! They’re so not ready.

Good and faithful servants of our King have been following his orders. They’ve been holy and blameless, 1Th 3.13 as opposed to wicked and lazy servants who are living their own way, following their own made-up rules instead of Jesus. Smacking around their fellow servants, making themselves comfortable, living like pagans while pretending to be righteous. Mt 24.49 They assume once their Master returns, they’re saved by grace, so he’ll graciously let ’em into his kingdom. And he may. In Jesus’s story of just such a wicked and lazy servant, he doesn’t.

Matthew 24.48-51 KJV

48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“Shall cut him asunder” is διχοτομήσει αὐτὸν/dihotomísei aftón, literally “will bisect him,” but that’s a Greek idiom for giving someone a severe flogging, much like our idiom “tear him a new one”—you’re not literally gonna tear anybody a new anything. His mercy is wide, but I don’t think it’s wise of any of us to experiment to see just how wide it is. Jesus is gonna put such people where they don’t want to go. If he generously lets ’em in his kingdom, they’ll be the least in it. Mt 5.19

So the apostles were anxious lest the Thessalonians miss out on God’s kingdom, and be disappointed in the second coming instead of thrilled. Timothy’s report indicated the Thessalonians were on the right path. God was reading them for Jesus’s coming. I hope he’s likewise preparing us for the same thing… for we still don’t know when he’s coming. The sooner the better!