IN FLAMING FIRE

1
IN FLAMING FIRE!

• TO YOU WHO ARE TROUBLED, REST, WITH US, WHEN THE
  LORD JESUS SHALL BE REVEALED FROM HEAVEN, IN
  FLAMING FIRE TAKING VENGEANCE ON THOSE WHO KNOW
  NOT GOD AND THAT DO NOT OBEY THE GOSPEL, WHO
  SHALL BE PUNISHED WITH EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION
  FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

2
PERSECUTION AND PAROUSIA

• THESSALONIANS BEING PERSECUTED
• 1 THESS. 215-17
• 2 THESS. 14F THLIPSIS FOUR TIMES (PRESENT
  PARTICIPLE)
• THLIPSIS MT. 249 JUST AS JESUS PREDICTED!!
• NOT CANCER, FINANCIAL, TEEN AGERS, NOT NORMAL
  HUMAN EXPERIENCE- PERSECUTION!!

3
PAULS PROMISE

• TO YOU WHO ARE TROUBLED, REST
• TROUBLED- THLIPSIS- PRESSURE (ARNDT, THAYER)
• REST- ANESIS - RELIEF FROM PRESSURE (ARNDT,
  THAYER, ET. AL)
• NOT REWARD!!

4
PAULS PROMISE

• PAUL PROMISED THE LIVING, BREATHING THESSALONIAN
  CHRISTIANS OF THE FIRST CENTURY, BEING PERSECUTED
  FOR THE NAME OF CHRIST, THAT THEY WOULD BE GIVEN
  RELIEF FROM THAT PERSECUTION!
• WHEN?

5
RELIEF WHEN?

• WHEN THE LORD JESUS IS REVEALED FROM HEAVEN IN
  FLAMING FIRE TAKING VENGEANCE ON THOSE THAT KNOW
  NOT GOD!
• THESSALONIANS WOULD RECEIVE RELIEF FROM
  PERSECUTION WHEN THE LORD CAME!
• DID HE COME?
• DID HE GIVE THEM RELIEF?
• YES OR NO?

6
CHOICES

• IF CHRIST DID NOT COME IN THE FIRST CENTURY
• 1.) THESSALONIANS ARE STILL ALIVE AND UNDER
  THLIPSIS.
• 2.) PAUL LIED
• 3.) INSPIRATION FAILS
• 4.) CHRIST FALSE
• RELIEF WHEN THE LORD JESUS IS REVEALED FROM
  HEAVEN!

7
(No Transcript)
8
1 THES 2 AND 2 THES 1

• WRITTEN TO THE SAME CHURCH
• WRITTEN ABOUT THE SAME PROBLEM (THLIPSIS)
• SAME PROMISE GIVEN
• RELIEF FROM PERSECUTION- AT THE PAROUSIA, WHEN
  ISRAEL JUDGED, FOR PERSECUTING THE SAINTS!!

9
(No Transcript)
10
ARGUMENT

• 1 THESS. 413-18 AND 2 THESS. 14F SPEAK OF SAME
  TIME AND EVENT.
• BUT 2 THESS. 1 IS THE SAME AS 1 THESS 215FTHE
  AVENGING OF THE SUFFERING OF THE CHRISTIANS
• 1 THESSALONIANS 215F A.D. 70
• THEREFORE, 1 THESS. 413F A.D. 70.

11
ARGUMENT

• THE DEAD (SOME OF THE DEAD), OF 1 THS. 4 WERE
  MARTYRS (1 THS. 215 2 THS. 1)
• THE MARTYRS WERE TO BE VINDICATED IN A.D. 70 (MT.
  23-24)
• THEREFORE THE DEAD OF 1 THS. 4 WOULD BE
  VINDICATED IN A.D. 70

12
Jesus, Isaiah 2-4, and Thessalonians

• Luke 2328-31 And a great multitude of the
  people followed Him, and women who also mourned
  and lamented Him. 28 But Jesus, turning to them,
  said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for
  Me, but weep for yourselves and for your
  children. 29 "For indeed the days are coming in
  which they will say, Blessed are the barren,
  wombs that never bore, and breasts which never
  nursed! 30 "Then they will begin to say to the
  mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover
  us!" 31 "For if they do these things in the
  green wood, what will be done in the dry?"

13
Jesus and Isaiah 2-4

• Jesus alludes directly to Isaiah 29f 19f.
• His citation is almost universally applied to the
  impending fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
• Thus, Jesus applied Isaiah to his judgment coming
  against Jerusalem for killing him.

14
IMPORTANT FACT

• PAULS ESCHATOLOGY (2 THES. 1!), WAS NOTHING BUT
  THE HOPE OF ISRAEL
• ACTS 2414- THE PROPHETS THE LAW-
  (resurrection)
• ACTS 2622-NO OTHER THING THAN MOSES AND PROPHETS
• MATTHEW 517-18!!

15
ISAIAH 2-4 AND 2 THESS.

• 2 THES 19 IS ISAIAH 2-4 (DIRECT QUOTE 210-12,
  19f-- LXX)
• BUT THE COMING OF ISAIAH 2-4 WOULD BE FULFILLED
  IN THE LAST DAYS WHEN ISRAEL JUDGED FOR HER BLOOD
  GUILT (IS.44? and Lk 2328f)
• ISRAEL JUDGED FOR BLOODGUILT IN A.D. 70 (MT. 23)
• THEREFORE, 2 THESSALONIANS 1 A.D. 70

16
THE CONNECTIONS

• ISAIAH 2-4 2 THES. 1
• BUT ISAIAH 2-4 MT.23 AND MT. 23 A.D. 70.
• THEREFORE 2 THS. 1 A.D 70
• FURTHERMORE
• MT. 23 1 THS. 215F
• BUT 1 THES. 2 2 THS 1
• THEREFORE, 2 THS 1 A.D. 70

17
Jesus, Paul, Isaiah- Thess.

• Jesus cited the prediction of the Day of the Lord
  in Isaiah 2 and applied it to the fall of
  Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
• Paul quotes from the same verses that Jesus cites
  (2 Thess. 19- part b).
• If Jesus applied Isaiah 2 to his coming in
  judgment of Israel for killing him, what is our
  justification for saying that Paul quoted from
  the same verse, on the same theme, to speak of a
  coming of the Lord totally unrelated to what
  Jesus predicted?

18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
2 THESSALONIANS AND THE PAROUSIA

• CHURCH NOT ON EARTH AT THE 2ND COMING (PENTECOST,
  WALVOORD).
• CHURCH NOT IN OR DELIVERED FROM THE GREAT
  TRIBULATION
• BUT, 2 THESSALONIANS 1 IS THE 2ND
  COMING-PROMISING RELIEF TO THE CHURCH--FROM
  TRIBULATION!

21
SUFFERING AND RELIEF

• ROMANS 8 SUFFERING OF THIS PRESENT TIME- GLORY
  ABOUT TO BE REVEALED
• 2 COR. 416- FOR A MOMENT- EXCEEDING GLORY
• HEBREWS 10- GREAT STRUGGLE OF SUFFERING-A BETTER,
  SUBSTANCE- V. 37!
• JAMES 5- BE PATIENT- PAROUSIA HAS DRAWN NEAR!
• 1 PETER 1- YOU ARE IN TRIALS- FOR A LITTLE WHILE
• REVELATION- BROTHER IN THLIPSIS- LORD IS AT HAND!

22
THE ISSUES STATED

• ISRAEL WAS THE PERSECUTOR OF THE THESSALONIAN
  CHURCH (ACTS 17 1 THS 2)
• MILLENNIALISM HAS NO PLACE FOR THIS DURING THE
  TRIBULATION PERIOD.
• PAUL WAS WRITING TO LIVING HUMANS EXPERIENCING
  PERSECUTION AT THE HANDS OF THE JEWS.
• PAUL PROMISED THEM RELIEF FROM THAT PERSECUTION!
• WAS PAULS PROMISE FALSE? (MT. 23)

23
REMEMBER!

• REMEMBER OUR QUESTION
• DID JESUS COME, IN FLAMING FIRE, IN THE LIFETIME
  OF THE 1ST CENTURY THESSALONIANS, AND GIVE THEM
  RELIEF FROM THEIR PERSECUTION?
• YES??
• NO??

24
SUMMARY

• THESS. BEING PERSECUTED.
• PAUL PROMISED RELIEF
• RELIEF AT PAROUSIA
• 1 THS. 215 / 2 THS. 1
• MATTHEW 23 AND THES.
• THESSALONIANS AND ISAIAH
• MT. 13 AND THESSALONIANS
• PAROUSIA IN A.D. 70!

25
Conclusion

• It is an indisputable fact of history that in the
  war of 66-70. the Jews, who had been persecuting
  the Christians on an organized scale, suddenly
  became the persecuted!
• The tables were turned the persecutors became
  the persecuted!
• This is precisely what Paul predicted!
• Prophecy fulfilled!
• Jesus vindicated.
• Scripture confirmed!