There is quite a school of prophetic thought that stresses the

distinction of the coming of the Lord 'for' and the coming of the Lord 'with'

His saints.  Supposing for the purpose of argument we accept this view, how

does it stand examination?  The Thessalonians were waiting for God's Son from

heaven (1:10), and exercising the patience of hope (1:3).  They were told

that their loved ones who had died would not meet the Lord earlier or later

than those living at the time, but that both living and dead would be caught

up together to meet the Lord in the air (4:15,16).  Well then, what are we to

make of 1 Thessalonians 3:13:

'To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before

God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all

His saints'.

If these 'saints' are His redeemed people, and if the Thessalonians

were to wait for the Lord to come with all His redeemed people, then what

place do the Thessalonians occupy?  They were redeemed, they certainly were

not the unwatchful who might have been left behind, for they were to be

established 'unblameable in holiness', and if such can be left behind, who

then shall go?  The distinction between 'coming for' and 'coming with'

excludes those to whom the apostle wrote and contradicts the express

statements of 1 Thessalonians 4:15,16 and 5:10.  If we take 1 Thessalonians

3:13 to speak of the 'holy ones', the 'saints' of Deuteronomy 33 and of

Enoch's prophecy, we have the coming of the Lord With His angels and For His

people set before us with clearness and without contradictory statements.

It is interesting to note that the Sinaitic MS. reads: 'ten thousand of

His holy angels'.  The angels that shall come at the end of the age are

doubtless the same that were instrumental in bringing about the overthrow of

Genesis 1 and all the divine interpositions through the ages, until the last

that is recorded in the Revelation:

'And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses,

clothed in fine linen, white and clean ... and the beast was taken, and

with him the false prophet ... These both were cast alive into a lake

of fire burning with brimstone' (Rev. 19:14 -20).

When once we are clear as to the fact that 'the saints' of Enoch's

prophecy are the holy angels, we begin to realize their relation in the

context with the fallen angels.  Moreover, the structure shows that Michael

the archangel is placed in correspondence with the Lord and His angels, and

both in conflict with Satan.  Enoch's prophecy, with its reference to Genesis

1:2, taken in conjunction with 2 Peter 3,* where it is stated that the world

that then was, was destroyed by water, and the heavens and earth which are

now shall be destroyed by fire, lifts the doctrine of the Second Coming into

its true place in the purpose of the ages.  There has been a tendency to look

upon the Second Coming as a kind of afterthought, the next best thing that

could be done in the circumstances.  What we call 'the Second Coming' was

demanded by the purpose of the ages, whether Israel had received their

Messiah and His prior presentation or not.  Let the scoffers say what they

*

It is highly probable that Peter speaks of the Flood, but the flood of

Genesis 6 is but an echo of the 'deep' of Genesis 1, and both

catastrophies are associated with the fall of angels.