This small section continues thoughts brought up in Parts 4 & 5. You've already seen Scriptures that show that the "Day of the Lord" is not a single day. (If you read the Bible through, you'll see many others) In addition to those passages, I'd like to add one more, specifically to point that the world does NOT end in an instant.

I do not know how common this teaching is, or even if all Lutheran churches teach this. My own pastors teach that the last person that will be saved is added to the Church through faith, and then, poof, we are caught up to heaven, and the world ends. One pastor even said that scripture teaches that the world ends "in the twinkling of an eye." This is where the Bible talks about the "twinkling of an eye":

But, of course, this says nothing about the world ending in an instant – just that we will be changed in an instant. The only thing that I could find in the Bible that even remotely implied that the world might end in an instant was from 2 Peter:

But, this is talking about the "day of the Lord." Remember those parallel passages that I showed you in previous sections? The ones that equate the beginning of "day of the Lord" with the Great Tribulation? This verse is saying that the "day of the Lord" will come like a thief. Paul says the same thing:

That phrase, like labor pains upon a woman with child, is all through the Bible. Nearly every description of the "day of the Lord" includes this phrase. Now, I can tell you, as a mother of two children, that those first pains DO come as a surprise. You know that the time is nearly at hand, but you don’t know exactly WHEN. Then, suddenly, there they are. But, from that point on, you know exactly what’s happening. You can watch a clock and know when to expect the next one. And, try as you might, you can NOT escape. You’ve got to see it through.

Now, in line with the discussion on hints of the rapture, look at this verse carefully:

The destruction is not for US, as believers. It’s for THEM – the unbelievers. What destruction? The "Day of the Lord" destruction. The wrath of God destruction. The Book of Revelation spells out that wrath.

Let’s talk about those Thessalonians. Paul visited them only once, and was only able to stay 3-4 weeks. He was there for three Sabbaths before he had to escape people that were trying to kill him. These were brand new Christians, then. Apparently part of what he considered essential training for new Christians was to learn about the end of the age. Later, he wrote them a letter – 1 Thessalonians. A while later, he wrote them a second letter. In between, they evidently got another letter that seemed to be from Paul – one that said that the "Day of the Lord" had already come. The second letter from Paul addresses the thoughts raised by the false letter:

If the world was going to end in an instant, if that’s what "the day of the Lord" meant, and that’s what Paul taught, then how could the Thessalonians have believed for a second that they were IN the day of the Lord? And, if for some reason, they just became confused, why doesn’t Paul remind them that everything would be gone, poof, if it was the "day of the Lord?" Instead, he reminds them of this:

Let me interject here, totally just for fun (you’ll notice that I did not include it in any rapture hints), that the word translated "apostasy" can also be translated "departure" and, in fact, our earliest English Bibles translated it that way.

OK, why were they upset? Peter seems to imply that it’s something to be looking forward to:

That’s as believers, of course. Unbelieving Israel should not look forward to it:

Amo 5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light.

OK, let’s think this through. We’ve already been through the idea that the beginning of the "Day of the Lord" = "The Great Tribulation" = "the wrath of God" and that the Tribulation IS of a specific duration. The Thessalonians were upset with the idea that it had arrived. They had already been told by Paul that they didn’t have to worry about wrath:

So, why were they upset? They were facing persecution, and they would continue to face persecution. What was different? Really think about this from a Lutheran perspective. The world is supposed to end in an instant. If so, why didn’t Paul remind them of that? As Lutherans, we still believe that we, as believers, will be "caught up" before the world is destroyed. If the Thessalonians knew that the world did NOT end in an instant, but expected to be caught up before the destruction fell . . . would they be upset if they thought the day of the Lord had started? Is it possible that they were upset because they expected to be raptured BEFORE the day of the Lord? I don’t know. Maybe there’s a perfectly plausible reason that I haven’t thought of. Any ideas? In any case, the world ending in an instant idea totally makes no sense here.

Continue on to Part 7 - Will this present world come to an end at Jesus' return?

Back to Introduction

Back to Part 1 - Conversion of the Jews

Back to Part 2 - The restoration of Israel and earthly reign of Messiah

Back to Part 3 - Questions about the Antichrist - Already fully fulfilled in the Papacy?

Back to Part 4 - The Tribulation - A specific period?

Back to Part 5 - So how can Jesus come like a thief?

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