THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE APPEARING - THE PAROUSIA - THE REVELATION - THE RESURRECTION
Notice by the color coding how Paul interconnects these accounts showing they all point to the same time and unfolding event. The ‘day of the Lord,’ is ‘the day of the revealing of the Son of Man,’ is ‘the parousia of God’s awaited Son, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself from heaven.’ It is the day of the resurrection when the mighty angels gather together his elect (“chosen ones”) and judgment is executed upon those that know not God. The time when the living and resurrected saints gather together unto Christ in the air and subsequently accompany him as his entourage back to earth, just as a King returning to his city would be met by his welcoming subjects going out to meet him and escorting him back, while the guilty await their just due within. (There is no u-turn back to heaven—that was the fantastical idea of Larkin and others.) This most monumental event will happen “after” (not before) the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, the Antichrist, the King of the North, the Abomination of Desolation has come, and stands where he should not be (Mark 13:14; 2 Thess. 2:4), whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his presence..(2 Thess 2:8). The living saints (“you brethren”) will not be taken by surprise, for it has been foretold them (1 Thess. 5:4), making clear that they will not be in heaven while this is going on, but in contrast are given relief by the appearing presence of the awaited Son of God revealed from heaven (2 Thess. 1:7). Paul indicated that if a “message” says “the day of the Lord” has come prior to the apostasy and the man of lawlessness coming, that is a deception to be avoided at all cost. Paul spoke by the “the word of Lord” (Jesus in Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21) who said the elect (chosen ones) would be “gathered together,” (1 Thess. 4:17; 2 Thess. 5:10; 2 Thess. 2:1) after the “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21, 29) (not an amateur tribulation) at the parousia of the son of Man. First, many will falsely claim to be the Messiah and also false prophets will arrogate knowledge of his ‘out of view’ whereabouts with them— “Here is the Christ,” (Mark 13:21) in other words, ‘here with me’ (i.e. a “false Messiah”—Jesus and Paul both warn against this). Finally there will be the parousia of the man of lawlessness himself just before the parousia of the son of Man. Paul’s account accords perfectly with the word of the Lord. The Lord never alludes to a secret rapture disconnected from the day of the Lord which is the time of the resurrection.
Jesus and Paul drew upon the firm admonition to not be deceived stated in Deut. 13:1-3. As the time draws near, you are subject to being put to the test to see if your love for God is true.
Deut. 13: 1 If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Jesus and Paul drew upon the firm admonition to not be deceived stated in Deut. 13:1-3. As the time draws near, you are subject to being put to the test to see if your love for God is true.
Deut. 13: 1 If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.