Imminence: John twice affirms, “it is the last hour.” He reminds us that the time of Christ is imminent. Since the first coming of Christ, the kingdom of God has been at hand (Matt. 4:17). For the people of God, Jesus’ return will mean the rapture and entrance into His presence,[1] yet for those who reject Him, it will be the outpouring of the wrath of God, “the day of the Lord.” The eager hope of the church is that God will save the remnant of Israel[2] and the church be joined with them as one holy bride for our eternal union with Christ.[3]
The True Christ: Jesus is the only true Messiah (“the Christ”), the eternal Son of God incarnate. Anyone who denies Him as the Christ (2:22), the Son of God (2:23), speaks from the spirit of the antichrist (4:2-3). All such deniers pave the way for the antichrist, who wishes to usurp the place of God and His Christ (2 Thess. 2:4; Matt. 24:23). At the very heart of the Christian gospel is our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (1:2; 5:20). May we know, embrace, and hold fast to the true Christ whose words and works are indelibly recorded in Scripture.
[1] The word “rapture” is from the Latin translation of “caught up” in 1 Thess. 4:17, which is also described in 1 Cor. 15:51-52. This event signals the commencement of “the day of the Lord” (1 Thess. 5:2), when the judgment of God is unleashed upon this world. The timing of this event is presented in Scripture as totally unknown and unpredictable, with no signs to precede it (1 Thess. 5:1-3). This is the anticipation of the church (Phil. 3:20; 4:5; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 10:37; James 5:8; Rev. 22:20), our removal from earth before the tribulation.
[2] Cf. Rom. 11:25-29. Some have asserted that premillennial eschatology and the resumption of God’s plan for Israel (a.k.a., Restorationism or Christian Zionism) are inventions of the 19th century by John Nelson Darby, but this is false. Instead, this was the dominant conviction in church history whenever faithful believers earnestly studied the Bible: “premillennialism was the dominant view in the first centuries of Church history, amillennialism was dominant in the next thirteen centuries, but premillennialism was making a comeback, especially in the Puritan circles” (William C. Watson, Dispensationalism Before Darby [Silverton: Lampion Press, 2015], 11). This resurgence of premillennialism was advocated by the reformer Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor, and a long list of Puritans of the centuries that followed. They upheld the plain sense of the OT and saw God’s plans for Israel as yet future (ibid, 15ff.). Many also taught the rapture (ibid, 135ff.).
[3] Christ weds only one bride (Eph. 5:31-32; Rev. 19:7) and has one flock (John 10:16), comprised of both the church and Israel (Eph. 2:14-20). This reality is portrayed as the twelve gates (for the tribes of Israel) and the twelve foundation stones (for the apostles of the church) in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12-14).