IX. Paul Outlines Present Restraint and Coming Apostasy

Paul, too, after his conversion, addressing the Athenians, declares concerning the nations of the earth, that God had “determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:26), and leads on into a declaration of the coming day of judgment (verse 31). By the time Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, so thorough had been his instruction to the church in these matters that he could assert:PFF1 150.2

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1, 2.PFF1 150.3

Scholars generally agree that First and Second Thessalonians were the earliest Pauline writings to be penned, and were probably the first New Testament writings to be circulated about the middle of the first century. ^{11For a “Panoramic View of First Century” table with approximate chronological order of New Testament writings, see pages 98, 99. This will aid in following the chronological unfoldment of New Testament prophetic interpretation.} Paul, who comes second only to John in the fullness and scope of his prophecies, begins his prophecies in the contemporary rule of Rome—Babylon, Persia, and Greece having passed into history. The then-present “letting” or restraining power impeding the development of the “mystery of iniquity,” the great falling away which was already beginning in the expanding Christian church, was interpreted in the early church as the Roman Empire. Already, before Paul wrote, he had given the Thessalonians thorough oral instruction concerning the sequence of events and their position in the prophetic out line from the then-present Roman Empire onward to the second advent. ^{12See 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8 for the sequence: the mystery of iniquity already working, the present hindering power, the future removal of the restraining power, the revealing of the wicked one, the final destruction of this evil power at the second advent.}PFF1 150.4

In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul had stressed the resurrection of the righteous dead and the translation of the righteous living at the second coming of Christ:PFF1 151.1

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.PFF1 151.2

He continues concerning “the times and the seasons” (1 Thessalonians 5:1), noting the suddenness of the arrival of this “day of the Lord” “as a thief in the night,” bringing destruction to the children of darkness.PFF1 151.3

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” Verses 3, 4.PFF1 151.4

It was because some of the Thessalonians misunderstood this, evidently thinking that Christ might yet return in their own day, that the apostle wrote his second epistle, specifically addressing those “who are troubled” (2 Thessalonians 1:7), in order to correct this misapprehension concerning the time of Christ’s second advent to glorify His saints and to destroy the wicked (verses 8-10). They were not to be troubled by the thought that “the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thessalonians 2:2), for—PFF1 151.5

“That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” Verses 3, 4.PFF1 151.6

Note next his express words—how he had told them orally of these things here referred to, and how they already knew the facts concerning the then-present withholding power in retarding the appearance of the coming apostasy:PFF1 151.7

“Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ^{13W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, in The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, volume 1, page 403, render it; “Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I often told you this?”} And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” Verses 5-8.PFF1 151.8

Many of Paul’s contemporaries were expecting a future God-opposing tyrant who would persecute the saints, an idea which could have been conceived from certain passages in Daniel, such as chapters 7 and 8. But Paul identified this Antichrist, under the name of the “man of sin,” as a religious power, seducing people into apostasy—not a political tyrant as the Jewish apocalyptic literature described. Paul’s reference to the then-present power, followed by the great apostasy in the church and the revelation of the seducing power which lasts until the second advent, must have reminded his readers of Daniel’s prophetic outline of the ages from their day on—the sequence of the Roman Empire, the great apostasy, and the second advent.PFF1 152.1

Antedating the written word of the New Testament was this sort of oral explanation of the leading prophecies later contained in it, as derived from Christ, from the book of Daniel, from the apostles, from revelation, and from contemporary Jewish teaching. This period of oral instruction had continued for probably two decades when Paul wrote, “When I was yet with you, I told you these things”—that is, about the “man of sin” whose appearance the letting or hindering power would retard. The masked conflict between these two forces was a matter of common knowledge in the Thessalonian church. So what Paul first taught by word of mouth he now confirmed by epistle. He adds, “Hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15PFF1 152.2

Spiritual gifts, including the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:10-14; Ephesians 4:8-13), were a little later declared by Paul to be for the perfecting of the saints and the unifying of the faith. They were all given in part, until that which is perfect is come at the second advent (1 Corinthians 13:9, 10), when we shall see the fullness of light and truth, with no need for intervening agencies of the Spirit between. That glorious day was to be brought about through the resurrection at the last trump and through the advent. (1 Corinthians 15:23-26, 51-54.)PFF1 152.3

Then, in First Timothy, Paul stresses latter-day departures from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1), and likewise, in his second letter warns of latter-day formalism and spiritual waywardness (2 Timothy 3:1-5), and turning away from sound doctrine just before the end (2 Timothy 4:1-4).PFF1 153.1

Again and again Paul stresses the time element in prophecy, as in Galatians 4:4. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Again, God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” (Acts 17:26.) And to the Ephesians he writes: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ.” Ephesians 1:10.PFF1 153.2

Paul says little, specifically, about God’s future kingdom of glory; he refers more often to the kingdom of grace. But he tells the Thessalonians that they are called “unto His kingdom of glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12), and speaks elsewhere of the time when Christ will finally deliver the kingdom to God the Father, when He has conquered the last enemy, death. And 2 Timothy 4:1 locates the time—when Christ “shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His king dom.” The same chapter also refers to “His heavenly kingdom.”PFF1 153.3

Paul speaks of the future restoration of the whole creation (Romans 8:19-23) in connection with the “redemption of our body.” But he does not cite the Messianic kingdom promises for an earthly reign during a thousand years. His reference to the heavenly Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26) is very brief. He uses it to explain the difference between literal Israel of the flesh and spiritual Israel of faith. He firmly believes that the Old Testament prophecies to Israel apply to the Christian church, for he reiterates the statement that true Israel, to whom belong the covenants and the promises, is not the nation descended literally from Abraham but the seed of Abraham by faith, who are the Christians, both Jewish and Gentile alike. (See Romans 4:13; 9:4, 6-8; 2:28, 29; 11:16 ff; Galatians 3:16-19, 29.)PFF1 153.4