Differences between 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24

Dr. H.Wayne House

I. TheNature of the Problem

Oneof the many battlefields often frequented by eschatological combatants is thequestion as to whether the coming of our Lord spoken of in the Olivet Discourse(most fully given in Matthew 24 but also provided in Mark 13 and Luke 17) isthe same coming as discussed by the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4.Attendant to this dilemma are the similar idea presented in 1 Thessalonians 5and 2 Thessalonians 2.

Posttributionalistsconsider the two passages as referring to the coming of Christ at the end ofseven year period of God's judgments on the earth. On the other hand, pretribulationists,with the exception of Matthew 24:36-44, generally believe that the Mattheanpassage gives information on the current age through the seventieth week ofDaniel, or the seven year tribulation period, up to the coming of Christ injudgment.

TheOlivet Discourse and the 1 Thessalonians 4 passages have many terms and eventsthat appear to refer to the same phenomena and thus serve as the basis ofidentifying 1 Thessalonians 4 with the revelation of Christ at the end of thetribulation rather than a rapture or rescue of the church from the world priorto the time of God's judgment, the Day of the Lord.

Thepurpose of this paper is to subject the identification of the respective twocomings in these passage to discern whether they in fact do refer to coming ofChrist in judgment, or rather to two aspects of the coming of Christ, one torescue His bride from harm's way before judging the world, and the other toreveal Himself as God's Messiah and King to Israel and ruler over the earth.

II. The Similaritiesof the Olivet Discourse (Mt. 24:3-31) and the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians4:13-18.

Thereare at least four types of similarities between the Olivet Discourse and thediscussion in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: (1) both passages have a coming ofChrist mentioned, (2) both have Christ coming in the clouds, (3) both have theangels of God accompanying Christ, (4) and both passages have a gathering of God'speople.

Matt.24:3: "And what will be the sign of Your coming (paresais), and of the endof the age?

Matt.24:3: "For many will come (elusontai) in My name, saying 'I am theChrist,' and will deceive many."

Matt.24:27: "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west,so also will the coming (paresia) of the Son of Man be."

Matt.24:30: "and they will see the Son of Man coming (erchoman) on the cloudsof heaven with power and great glory."

Matt.24:37: "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming (paresia) ofthe Son of Man be."

Matt.24:39: "so also will the coming (paresia)of the Son of Man be."

Matt.24:44: "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming

(erchetai) at an houryou do not expect."

1Thess. 4: "we who are alive and remain until the coming (paresias) of theLord will by no means precede those who are asleep."

Thisexpression is also found in the trial of Jesus when he proclaims before theJewish council in Mark 14:62: "1 am," said Jesus. "And you willsee the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming(erchoman) on the clouds of heaven." (NW)

Matt.24:30: "coming on the clouds (nephelon) of heaven with power and greatglory."

1Thess. 4:17: 'Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together withthem in the clouds (nephelon) to meet the Lord in the air."

Matt.24:31: "He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet"

1Thess. 4:16: "with the voice of an archangel"

Matt.24:31: "And they will gather together His elect from the four winds, fromone end of heaven to the other."

1Thess. 4:17: 'Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together withthem in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."

III. Principles ofInterpretation about Meaning and Significance

A.What makes up a meaning?

Ameaning is a reality expressed by various constituent parts which may or maynot all be expressed in a given statement but are never disparate from themeaning and its parts.

Bythis I mean that when we say that an author means a certain thing in a text, weunderstand that the meaning may have more than one idea included within it butnever contradictory ideas to the meaning. Moreover, in seeking to determine ifthe meaning in one passage of Scripture, like Matthew 24, is the same as themeaning in another passage, like 1 Thessalonians, it is the dissimilaritiesthat must given special attention, not the similarities.

Atype is determined by all those defined elements (traits) that make a thing, orconcept, what it is but not something else.

Forexample, in looking at a physical object to determine its type, we must look atall those elements that go into making it what it is, but we must also look atwhat makes it not something else. A tree and bush illustrate this idea.

1. Differentversus disparate

Alook at the difference between different meaning from disparate meaning may beexplained by looking at Galatians 3:26-28 where the meaning is the status one hasin the Abrahamic regardless of social position one has, whether slave or free,Jew or Greek, male or female. The meaning, though unstated in the text, alsoincludes further implications, namely, whether rich or poor, black or white,parent or child, etc. has any bearing on one's position in Christ These arelegitimate applications consistent with the meaning. Application is meaningconsistently carried into a new situation. Nothing, however, is said or impliedin the passage regarding one's function in the church, an improper applicationoften given.

Weshould use the same kind of analysis in the Olivet Discourse and 1Thessalonians 4.

IV. Dissimilaritiesbetween the Coming of Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and the OlivetDiscourse (Mt 24:3-31)

A. TheTwo Texts are Asking, and Answering, Different Questions

Matthew24 begins with the disciples of Christ going with Him through the temple areaand responding to His comments on the temple's destruction. There questionsregarding the destruction of the temple and His subsequent coming of Messiahwith its attendant ending of the present age giving way to the age of Messiahwere very natural. Christ's answer to clarify His coming in the heavens injudgment after the temple's destruction and at the end of the age (includingthe tribulation period, Daniel's 70th week) deals in detail with thesequestions.

Onthe other hand, Paul the apostle is responding to the matter of the death ofsaints in view of an eager anticipation of an imminent coming of Christ for Hischurch. The natural discussion centers in the certainty of a futureresurrection founded in the redemptive acts of the Savior which takes on aneschatological and apocalyptic dimension, salvation as a future historicalevent.

B. Thesense of urgency in 1 Thessalonians versus watchfulness toward the future inthe Olivet Discourse

In1 Thessalonians 4:13 we observe that the apostle has a sense of urgency toexplain the matter of the coming of Christ to receive His church in view of thedeep concern of the Thessalonians over the death of some of the believers. Theexperience of the church within its own community, then, is in view, notcataclysmic events occurring in the world or in nature.

In Matthew 24, theconcern is about events in the world around, from

persecution totribulation, events in nature, the destruction of the temple, the rise ofantichrist and antichrists.

C Theimportance of the death and resurrection of Christ salvific

conceptsin 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 versus the in the Olivet Discourse

Theessence of the kerygma, the death and resurrection of Christ is pivotal in

1 Thessalonians andserve as the foundation for, the teaching of Christ's coming with those who haddied to be reunited with their bodies as well as with living believers. Thesalvation offered is not merely deliverance from the physical wrath of God butescape from that wrath relates to the soteriological dimensions of Jesus Christin His death and resurrection. A similar idea is found in a later book by Paul,1 Corinthians, where the certainty of the resurrection directly depends on thereality of the resurrection of Jesus.

Inthe Olivet Discourse the coming does not impinge on the ketygma but on theMessiah's nature and mission of judgment. The closest one gets is the statementof the gospel of the kingdom, but this is stated in general terms rather than"the gospel" as described by Paul in Romans 1:16. The comes to gatherHis elect for sure, but the emphasis is not on gathering them to Him in the airand the elect are not resurrected ones, but the Jews, most likely, scattered inthe diasporas to the four corners of the earth (v. 31). His coming, as well, isprimarily not one of comfort, but one that brings mourning (v. 30) and judgmenton the earth (probably vv. 36-41; v. 29).

D. Thegathering together and catching up (1 Thess. 4 & 2 Thess 2) versus beingtaken away (cf. Jn 14:3) & left in the Olivet Discourse (cf. Lk 17)

Theterminology of the removal of the church from the earth is "catchingup" and being "gathered together" with Christ. On the otherhand, Matthew 24 speaks about being taken away in judgment. It should begranted that this terminology closely resembles words used of the rapture in 1and 2 Thessalonians (gathered) and John 14:3 (receive, paralambano), but theassociation is not exact. The gathering in 1 Thessalonians is gathered togetherwith Christ (and 2 Thess 2:1 by previous reference of 1 Thessalonians 4)whereas the mention in Matthew 24 speaks only of being gathered together byangels, without reference to where the gathering occurs. The use of paralambanoin John 14:3 is dearly in the context of Christ's coming for His disciples,whereas the paralambano in Matthew 24 is in a strong context of judgment(compare Luke 17:26ff).

Itwould be well here to mention the mistake of Robert Gundry in arguing that theuse of katabano requires coming to the earth in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The wordis not consistently used this way in the literature. Moreover the figure of aking coming to rescue His people, fight a war, and victoriously entering intoan enemy city to rule fits well the coming in two aspects of rescue andrevelation, with a war in between.

E. TheSon of man theme (Dan 7, etc.) in the Olivet Discourse versus the Lord andSavior in 1 Thess. 4

TheSon of man theme is found throughout chapter 24 of Matthew (and paralleltexts), strongly picking up the theme of Daniel 7 and 9. Such a Messianicdesignation would not be missed on the disciples nor on the Sanhedrin atChrist's trial (mentioned earlier). This theme is totally missing from therapture passages in 1 and 2 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians 15.

1Thessalonians begins with a statement of deliverance for the people of God fromthe coming wrath (1:10). Such an idea is present in both chapters 4 and 5 whenspeaking of the church at the coming of Christ. He rescues His people; they arenot to endure the wrath He will bring on the earth but will be taken out ofharms way. Certainly they could be kept by God through the time of wrath (asare the two witnesses and the 144,000 Jewish converts), but He has differentplans for His bride. On the other hand, the major emphasis in Olivet Discourseis His coming as Son of man to execute judgment and assert the Ps 2, 110 andthe Daniel 7 passage kind of Messianic role.

G. Archangelsand the great shout in 1 Thessalonians 4 and angels and a shout in Matthew 24

Ahost of angels is present in the gospel of Matthew (24), their function togetherthe elect throughout the earth. No such role is mentioned in 1 Thessalonians.They rise with the shout of the Christ, very similar to His shout for Lazarusto rise from the dead. Only the archangel, possibly Gabriel in view of

the trumpet,

V. Identificationof the Second Coming in judgment with the Olivet Discourse and 1 Thessalonians5 and 2 Thessalonians 2 and that of 1 Thessalonians 4 with 2 Thessalonians 2and 1 Corinthians 15

A. TheRevelation of Christ Passages

1. Judgment in Mt 24,Mk 13,2 Thess. 2, 1 Thess. 5

2. Day and nightthemes in Mt 24, Mk 13,2 Thes 2, 1 Thess 5

3. Tribulation in Mt24, Mk 13,2 Thess 2, 1 Thess 5

B. TheRescue by Christ Passages

1. Resurrection in 1Thess 4 and 1 Cor 15

2. Rapture in 1 Thess.4 and 2 Thess 2

3. Mystery in 1 Thess 4 (revelation), 2Thess 2:1-2 (revelation), and I

Cor. 15:50-58(mystery)

VI. Conclusionof the Matter