Follow-up on last Sunday evening’s discussion of “Imminency”

Tying up more loose ends from last Sunday…

To see the questions and my comment on what was discussed click https://roberttalley.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/hello-world/

• A question something like this was asked, “Did not some of the early believers wonder if they had missed the Rapture?”

I managed to completely bungle this question (or maybe it was a comment). The question was referring to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3. In this chapter, the coming of Christ and the day of the Lord seem to be synonymous. The day of the Lord includes more than just the coming of Christ but includes according to the Old Testament, the judgment on the nations and the turning of the Jewish remnant as a nation to God. The context indicates that they thought they were in the time of judgment, the day of the Lord, commonly known as the Great Tribulation. It may or may not indicate that they thought they had missed the Rapture.

• The last question (that I did not deal with at all): How does Matthew 24 fit in with “imminency” as seen from Revelation 1:1, 3?

Revelation 1:1, 3 are dealing with the events that are leading up to Christ’s coming in Revelation 1:7 as well as the events after His coming. Matthew 24:30 is describing the same event as Revelation 1:7 (see also Zechariah 12:10 in its context). Imminency (or as some would prefer to characterize it, “expectancy”) is referring to the whole row of events that are described in Revelation 4 onward and Matthew 24:15-25:46. Imminency then is referring not just to the Rapture but to the whole “end time” period. This is also consistent with Paul’s teachings in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:5 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 8-12. None of these passages tell us plainly when the Rapture is ordered in relation to the Tribulation.

• I got the impression after the service that some understand “imminency” to be a doctrine of “dispensationalism”.

This depends on whether imminency is applied just to the Rapture or whether to all the endtime events surrounding Christ’s coming. In the description under #2, imminency is not necessarily dispensational. Most adherents of other views would also believe in imminency. Obviously, that is not the way the term is used in discussions about the endtimes but it is more biblical. On the other hand, the biblical definition does not weight the discussion in the direction of any one viewpoint. That is, however, a discussion for another day 🙂