Paul's Thessalonian Letters -- Season Two/Episode Ten: "Like a Thief in the Night" (1 Thess. 5:1-11)

Date-setting has been a problem for God’s people since the days of the apostles.  Church history is full of the accounts of those who, for whatever reason, attempted to figure out when Jesus will return, set dates, and then miserably failed to predict the unpredictable.  Two recent examples should suffice.  Edgar C. Whisenant predicted the Lord’s return in 1988 in his booklet, “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988.”  When that failed, he went for 1989.  When that failed he picked 1993.  And when that failed, he went for 1994.  He died in 2001, preventing any future date-setting.  The first book created quite a stir, and sold lots of copies (4.5 million of them).  Although the later volumes (each with a revised date of Christ’s return) drew less of an audience, Whisenant’s reach was still far larger than anything than any sound theologian has written on the end times before or after.

And there was Harold Camping–a CRC elder–who, in 2005, predicted that Jesus would return on May 21, 2011.  According to Camping, those who were saved would be taken to heaven while five months of fire, brimstone, and plagues will strike the earth, with millions dying under the divine onslaught.  Following his own time-line Camping concluded that on October 21, 2011 (five months after the rapture), final destruction would come upon the world.  When none of this materialized, Camping was completely discredited, his radio empire nearly collapsed, and in response, he called upon Christians to leave their churches because they had all become apostate! By that I take Camping to mean that Christians stopped listening to him and churches were calling him out for his date setting.  So, they were at fault not Camping.

When we turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 of Paul’s Thessalonian letter, and carefully consider what Paul teaches about the Lord’s parousia, (coming) it does not take long to realize that according to Paul, Christ’s return will be like “a thief in the night.”  The Lord’s return will be sudden and unexpected, and will bring about sudden destruction (i.e., final judgment) upon those who do not expect it because they are blissfully indifferent to the awful fate which awaits all those apart from faith in Jesus Christ. 

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/