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IT IS sad that some Christians including Pastors today think either Jesus Christ came for His Church during the first century or that He will never return.
The Lord Jesus could not have come during the first century and so He will definitely return to judge the world considering various convincing passages of Scripture.
No one knows the specific year, month, week, day, hour, minutes or second in which the Saviour will suddenly appear just as He disappeared hundreds of years ago, but believers are told about certain events that will herald His coming.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, Paul reminded believers who were in Thessalonica that: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.”
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
Just like what is being done now, Paul had to refute the false teaching that sought to deceive the church in Thessalonica that Christ Jesus had already come or was coming immediately in their day.
The Apostle did not keep quiet over that erroneous teaching that sought to disturb the faith of the church in his day. Paul made it clear that the coming of Christ to gather the saints would be preceded by two great events such as the falling away and the revelation of the man of sin.
The falling away means that there shall be climatic rebellion or apostasy against God. In other words, in that event, many people will greatly rebel against God or leave the Church or stop believing in God. They will greatly mock God, the Bible and Church and eventually abandon or reject God.
The above will be followed by the second event which is the revelation of the man of sin or lawlessness. According to Matthew Henry, “the man of sin not only practices wickedness, but also promotes and commands sin and wickedness in others; and is the son of perdition, because he is devoted to certain destruction, and is the instrument to destroy many others, both in soul and body”
According to Paul, these things will happen before Jesus Christ comes again. And clearly these things have not climatically happened even in our day.
So, let the end-time child of God in Christ Jesus, therefore, remain strong in their faith and love and patiently wait for the Saviour. Lord Jesus, come!
By James Quansah
