Saturday Oct 2 7:30-8pm William Bell Coming of the Lord 2 Thes p4

Hello and welcome once again to the All Things Fulfilled broadcast presented to you by the Rains Road Church of Christ located at 33 East Rains Road in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm William Bell and for the next few minutes we're going to be talking about the coming of the Lord in Second Thessalonians. This is part four of our series and we're delighted that you've tuned in with us today. We encourage you to tune in every Saturday from 7 30 until 8 pm Eastern Time from 6 30 to 7 pm Central Time for the All Things Fulfilled broadcast. Also, we encourage you to come out and visit with us at the Rains Road Church of Christ whenever you're in the Memphis area. Our address is 33 East Rains Road and our morning Bible study begins at 10 am, the morning worship at 11 am, and our evening midweek service is at 7 pm. So with all of that, we want to thank you for tuning in today and we're going to be getting underway with our broadcast. Now, let's talk about Second Thessalonians and the coming of the Lord. On last week, we left off sharing with you about the coming in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1 and we mentioned two things there. We talked about one, the parrhesia of the Lord, and we also talked about the gathering of the saints, the gathering of Israel in the last days, and we gave you several passages on that. So I want us to just be reminded, and if you need to go back and watch the previous video, we definitely encourage you to do that. But you have the coming of the Lord, the parrhesia in verse 1, and along with the coming of the Lord is the gathering. The Bible says our gathering to him. Now that means it was Paul who was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin along with other Israelites who were being gathered in the first century with a view to the coming of the Lord. So we cannot separate or sever or disconnect the gathering from the time of the coming of the Lord. And of course you see that in the old covenant scriptures as well as those in the new. And we're going to show you a passage in the New Testament that ties all of this together. But the next thing that we talked about was the fact that the Thessalonians believed that the coming of the Lord was already present, that it had already occurred. Now mind you, they're talking about a time in the first century, it is around 50 to 51 AD. And they're saying that the coming of the Lord has already occurred. Now obviously they were mistaken. But we are not to confuse that with what might have occurred later. But we're looking at it from the time frame in which they were saying it, which was a time in the first century. And we want to draw your attention to that so that you are fully aware of what was going on. So let me read verse 2. He says, 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. So he says, look, you didn't get this from us. You didn't get this from some spirit. You didn't get this through a letter that we wrote, or word from us, that Christ had already come. And how do we understand this to be saying that Christ had already come on the part of the church at Thessalonica? It's because of the use of the term had come. Notice how it's written in the New King James Version. Now the King James Version might say is at hand. Some translations may say is just at hand. But the term actually means to be present. And I gave you several passages. I'm going to repeat those that we gave on the previous week. We started in Romans chapter 8, where the text says, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, the word present in Romans chapter 8 and verse 38 is the same word that is used in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 2 that says the Lord's coming was already present. Now the Bible doesn't say that in terms of teaching it. The Thessalonians believed that it was already present. And we're going to discuss some of the implications of a belief that the coming of the Lord had already occurred because that's going to have a tremendous impact on the thinking that people have today regarding the coming of the Lord. But also I believe there's another occurrence even in the book of Romans, which is verse 18, where he says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time. So the word present there is the same word. If memory serves me correctly, I do encourage you to go back and check it out. You can look up Strong's Concordance. You can go to Bible Hub, pull the verse, do the interlinear, and you can check and see if that's it. But I think it's verse 18 as well as verse 38. So that would be two occurrences in the epistle to the Romans. Then you have another occurrence in the third chapter of 1 Corinthians. So let's read verses 21 and 22. The Bible says, Therefore, let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours. Notice he says things present or things about to come. So there were things that were present. He said they all belong to the church. And he says even the things that were to come belong to the believers as well. So there's another use of the term present. It's the same word. So when you see that word, we're talking about something that had already occurred or at least believed to have already occurred, and therefore it was present. That was the belief of the Thessalonians concerning the coming of the Lord in 50 AD, 50 to 51 AD. Now the next occurrence we have is Galatians chapter 1 and the verse is 4. So here's what the Bible says. Who gave himself for our sins, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God and our Father. That he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. So there's the word histame again and it's used in the perfect tense in 2 Thessalonians, histame, but it's the same term. It means to already be present, something already standing in. Then we're going to go to the second epistle to Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. And the Bible says, but know this, this is the one that I usually forget because it doesn't use the word present. But when you look it up in the original, you will see that that is precisely what the word is. It's the same word. They just translated it differently by saying perilous times will come. But the Bible says, but know this, that in the last days, perilous times will be present. So in the last days, they were already in the last days. And that means that the perilous times were present. And so perilous times would be present, but either way, the word present is there. And so it means that in the last days, those things would be present. They wouldn't be some time to come after the last days. Then the last one that we want to mention is in Hebrews chapter 9 and the verse is 9. Hebrews chapter 9 and the verse is 9. And here we have the Bible talking about those things that pertain to Israel's old covenant. He says, it was symbolic for the present time. That's the time in which they were still offering the in the temple, where the temple was still standing. And that's critical to our lesson as we continue to study. But he says it was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience. All right. Because they were concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. So what was imposed on Israel? The keeping of those sacrifices, those washings, et cetera, all of those things that pertain to the law. So those were the present things. And so in second Thessalonians, when Paul writes to the church there and says to them, they were not to be soon shaken in mind, either by word or by spirit or by letter as if from us, as though the day of Christ was present. So the question is, why did the Thessalonians believe that the coming of the Lord was present? And since they did believe that, what are the implications for the kind of coming they understood it to be? Now let's look at this. This is AD 50. The transatlantic slave trade has never been imagined or thought of. It had not occurred. So for those of you who want to claim that the gathering is related to the transatlantic slave trade, you're absolutely as far away from the truth of this scripture as that time was away from Paul. There's no way that the gathering in chapter two and verse one has anything to do with the transatlantic slave trade. Paul wasn't on a slave ship, okay? The Bible says concerning the coming of the Lord, the parousia, and our gathering together to him. Now look, that's an ungetterable argument or statement. I mean, you don't really have to argue anything. I'm not arguing anything, not arguing anything. It's just a statement of scripture. Now, why would you want to try to argue that away? Why would you want to deny it? For those of you who are dispensationalists and you think that God is going to gather all Israel back into the land, this text is slapping you in the face. Pow, pow, pow. It's slapping you in the face because it says this is connected to the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to him. Paul and those in the first century were gathering together. And yet you want to run around and tell us and the rest of the world that there is going to be some future gathering of Israel when they were already gathering in the first century. Remember, Paul was an Israelite. And we've given you scriptures in previous lessons about the gathering. But they just believe that it had already come. Well, if they believe that it had already come, could they have believed that it had anything to do with the transatlantic slave trade? No, no, no, no, no. Could they have believed that it had anything to do with the 12 tribes going back into the land of Israel? Hello. We have a note for you. Israel, that is the southern kingdom, was already in the land at the time. They didn't see. And remember, we talked about Jews who were in Thessalonica. Go back and read Acts 17. These were the Jews who were persecuting the church, who were claiming that those who had turned the world upside down had come there also. Where had they come? To Thessalonica in Greece. Greece is not the land of Israel, but there were Jews there. There were Greeks and Israelites there, but they weren't being gathered back into the land. And yet they were being gathered because if they were coming to Christ, they were being gathered. That's what the text says concerning the coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him. So they could have had an idea that they were going back into the land. As a matter of fact, on that point, let me just throw this out there for good measure. In the 13th chapter of the book of Hebrews, a book where even Judah is leaving the city, leaving Jerusalem. Think about that. Here they are a few years later in the first century. Still, they are leaving Jerusalem. Does that sound like now? Wait a minute. They're being gathered, but they're leaving Jerusalem. Did you get it? They're being gathered according to second Thessalonians two, and even in the book of Hebrews, but they're leaving Jerusalem. Let me go ahead and give you the text in Hebrews that shows you they were gathering Hebrews 10 and the verse is 25. The scripture says not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as is the manner of some. See, some were forsaking that gathering, but exhorting one another so much the more as you see the day approaching. See, that day was still approaching. That's why the Thessalonians had gotten it wrong thinking that it had already come. But Paul writing in AD 64, some 14 years later said that the day was coming, but they were still gathering, but they were leaving Jerusalem. So you have the Jews outside of Israel, not coming into Jerusalem. And then you have the Jews who were in Jerusalem, leaving Jerusalem. And yet the Bible says that they were being gathered to Christ with a view to his Pharisee. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time for us to become woke as they say, as it relates to the scriptures and their discussion of the gathering. Now in Hebrews 13, the scripture says, and this is a direct contrast between being in that city of Jerusalem and then where they were going. The scripture says in verse 12, therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. What camp? The camp of Israel, of national Israel. Let us go outside the camp. They weren't trying to go into the camp. They were going outside the camp. Now you can't twist these scriptures. You might do it in front of your camps, but you can't do it in front of those who are woke. The Bible says, therefore, let us go forth to him. See, that's exactly what second Thessalonians two and verse one says now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to him. Now, if you're not gathering to Yeshua, if you're not gathering to the Messiah, to whom are you gathering? They were gathering to him. Let us go forth to him outside the camp. Look, he told them to go outside the camp. And if you guys want to be with the truth, speaking to the Hebrew Israelites at this point, you need to go outside the camp because you're not going to find it inside the camp. If you're talking about going back to the land of Israel, what happened to those who were supposed to go in 2019 when they claimed the 400 years were up? What about that group? 2019 came and now it's gone and they're still sitting in the same place they were before. And Christ didn't come, did he? Verse 14 says, for here, where in that camp, for here, we have no continuing city, but we seek the one about to come. That's not the transatlantic slave trade. There was a city about to come. Mind you, that's the same one Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were looking for. For they looked for a city that had foundations whose builder and maker was God. They were leaving the literal city of Jerusalem. They were going outside the camp to Christ, but outside the camp, they left the camp behind. He says, for here, we have no continuing city. It was not going to continue. Write that down. But we seek the one about to come. Now in verse two, he says, they were not to be soon shaken in mind, but or be troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. You see, they were following Jesus's words who told them to get out of the city. And that's why they were leaving the camp behind because they knew the city was about to be destroyed. Now he says, they are believing that Jesus had already come. So what does that mean with regard to our current concepts that most people have regarding the coming of the Lord? Well, number one, it did not mean that they were expecting Acts 1.11 to be fulfilled with Jesus literally riding on a cloud because nothing like that had happened. They hadn't seen anything like that. They didn't say anything about it. So their concept of the coming of the Lord was not of something visible that they could see coming out of the sky. And yet that's what most people preach and teach regarding the coming of the Lord. You see, there's some insights here that we can gain into their perspective of the nature of the coming of the Lord. We talked about the Lord coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God. They didn't believe that the Lord had come with literal flaming fire, but they believe he had come. But where's the fire? It's nowhere around them. Number three, they didn't believe that the physical world was going to be destroyed as people impose on second Peter chapter three. They didn't believe that. Yet they believe that Jesus had come. That must mean they had a different concept of the nature of Jesus's coming than do we. And when you look at Paul's correction, you ask yourself, where does he ever say anything about the nature of the coming of the Lord? As if to say, well, don't you Thessalonians know that you've got it all wrong, that Jesus is supposed to come with a flaming sword, with fire, riding on a literal white horse. Don't you know that he was to come to the literal scene of the coming of the Lord?