What is the Parousia And Why Did The People Of Thessaloniki Panic At The Thought Of It?
Good Morning Friends,
Today we look at the Church of God in Thessaloniki almost 2000 years ago. The place is also known as Salonika or Saloniki. Interestingly this place has given Greece some of its greatest musicians, artists, poets and thinkers. It has some of the most beautiful beaches and has some of the finest hotels and best restaurants in northern Greece. Today it is home to the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the International Trade Fair. But something difficult to understand was going on in this birthplace of the early church. To give us guidance we are going to consider part of the Olivet Discourse from the lips of Jesus to give us understanding not only to events that were taking place in this part of the world 2000 years ago, but also to those stretching far into the future beyond even today. Specifically, three momentous occurrences are intertwined in today’s scripture, the role of Rome in the judgement upon Jerusalem, the challenge of the saints in the church of God and the final judgement at the close of the world’s history when Jesus returns. Friends, I have read but not counted myself that are over 2,000 references to the second coming of Jesus in the Bible. For every prophecy concerning the first coming of Christ, that means that there are about eight that look forward to His second. It is that important. And it is presented as a certainty that Jesus will come back and when this happens the final judgment at the close of the world’s history will occur. But there is much to be done in advance to build up the called-out assembly of God. There is much to be revealed. Part of the problem is understanding the one word which we focus on in today’s question. What is the Parousia And Why Did The People Of Thessaloniki Panic At The Thought Of It?
Scripture: As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned. But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 (NRSV)
for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will result in my deliverance. It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith,
Philippians 1:19-25 (NRSV)
Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24:42-51 (NRSV)
Message: Today we read some of the most difficult passages in the whole New Testament because the images used as a way of communicating, though familiar to those to whom Paul was writing, are not all that familiar to most people today. The general picture especially in the passage from Thessalonians is that Paul is telling the people there to not be so shaken up about the thought of the Second Coming. What is clear is that the Thessalonian believers were deeply agitated and disturbed and as such were not much good at doing the work assigned to believers. How the words Paul uses are translated will go far toward determining what position one takes regarding the end times and there are about five different positions that people take on this subject and I am not going to address them here, except to mention that they exist. The cause of the agitation though is a bit puzzling. Something had started them into thinking that the terrible “Day of the Lord” had already begun and that they were already going through it. Kind of like the stories in Left Behind. Maybe the Thessalonians thought the Parousia, the Second Coming had already happened. But much was to come before that Day of the Lord. First there would be rebellion against God and the incarnation of evil as Jesus was the incarnation of good. Paul writes about the lawless one, the Son of Perdition who was to come when the power restraining him would be removed. Maybe Paul was writing about the gift of the Holy Spirit being removed. But I have a little trouble in parsing God. When we remember that the word Parousia means “presence,” as well as “coming” it suggests a series of events during the whole of which time Jesus is present and especially when we pray. If we look at it that way, then this word refers to the Coming of the Lord Jesus and either His second coming at the end of the tribulation period or to His coming in the work to raise His Church prior to the period known as the tribulation. So, the Parousia is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we must look at the context to determine whether it refers to His appearing in the air to rapture or catch away the Church, or whether it refers to His second coming to Earth to setup His millennial kingdom. But the restraining power Paul writes about might well have been also the justice of Rome in the face of angry mobs in the context of today’s scripture and not so much about the end of time. Perhaps that is why the Thessalonians felt as they did. Maybe they thought the rapture had occurred and they had somehow missed it and now the Day of the Lord had arrived or perhaps they thought the order of Rome was going to be removed and the mobs rule. Paul is very careful not to risk giving them a false sense of assurance by glibly saying, “If you believe in Christ then you are safe.” There are many people who believe themselves to be Christians, but they really are not. They have gone along with the outward appearances of Christianity, but they have never surrendered their inner will to the Lord. If Paul had said to such nominal Christians in what is today Thessaloniki that they would certainly have been raptured, he would have sealed them in a false view of their security. So, with that thought we look at the difference between acknowledging the validity of the end times and being preoccupied with them. Today we look at the reality that an urgency in action for the faith is one thing but an undue concern over the end times can be destructive in carrying out our assignments as Christians. In the first letter, Paul had described that day as one of sudden destruction, with no escape possible, as with a woman in travail. The Old Testament prophets had described it as a day of distress and anguish, ruin and devastation. But even Paul’s view on this subject changed over the course of time. In 1 Thessalonians 4:15 Paul is certain it is going to happen in his life time. In 1 Corinthians 7:26-31 he expects Parousia soon but is less certain he will see it happen. In Romans 13 he indicates a postponement of the Second Coming and in Philippians 1:19-25 Paul does not expect to live to see the Parousia. Then, in our Gospel, Jesus reminds us that what is important as we wait for Christ’s return is to be faithful. As usual, anything less than full commitment to God not enough. The power of love must be linked inextricably to the mystery and purpose of the Father manifested in the Son in our experience and God’s gift to us of growth and life in the Holy Spirit. We must realize that no matter how remote this image of the second coming may be from us that it holds nevertheless a certain permanent truth in the reality that despite evil there will be an ultimate triumph of God because God is in control.
Pray we believe that God has prepared a place for us through the work of Christ and engineered in our experience of sanctification the preparation to enter the presence of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of life. Pray in this process that we can be holy and wholly useful to our Lord in building up the Kingdom of God. Pray we realize that we have a purpose before the end comes in sharing the Gospel of the Kingdom to both our neighbors and the nations. Pray we respond to God’s call. Pray we realize that we have not been called to dream only but to fight as well. Pray we realize that the collective work we do is designed to produce consecration on earth and salvation in heaven.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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