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"Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with
the brightness of His coming" (2: 3-12).
This takes us back to the first chapter, unless we are to understand that upon two
separate occasions the Lord shall be revealed in flaming fire taking vengeance. As we
have no warrant for this suggestion, we conclude that the "tribulation" from which these
believers should find "rest" at the coming of the Lord is the tribulation connected with
the "man of sin" of chapter 2: This tribulation is "such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matt. 24: 21). This unparalleled
intensity of tribulation irresistibly takes us back to Dan. 12:, where Michael the
archangel is connected with a time of trouble "such as never was since there was a nation
even to that same time". Unless we can believe the contradiction of two unprecedented
times of trouble, I Thess. 4: and II Thess. 1: & 2: must be inseparable and refer to one
event. This being so, the hope of I & II Thessalonians coincides with that of
Matt. 24:, for we have the same events foretold in each case:--
1.
The desolation in the holy place (Matt. 24: 15 and II Thess. 2: 4).
2.
The great tribulation (Matt. 24: 21 and II Thess. 1: 6, 7; I Thess 4: 16;
Dan. 12: 1).
3.
The false Christs and false prophets (Matt. 24: 24 and II Thess. 2: 3-8).
4.
The great signs and miracles (Matt. 24: 24 and II Thess. 2: 9, 10).
5.
The brightness of His coming (Matt. 24: 27 and II Thess. 1: 8, 2: 8).
6.
The coming of the Lord after the tribulation, and the "gathering" of His "elect"
(Matt. 24: 29-31; II Thess 2: 1, episunago).
7.
The angels and the trumpet (Matt. 24: 31; I Thess 4: 17, 3: 13; II Thess. 1: 7).
8.
The parable of the fig tree. "When ye see . . . . . . . it is near" (Matt. 24: 32, 33;
II Thess. 2: 1-9).
The attempt to divorce the hope of Israel from that of the church of the Acts fails
completely. No attempt to do so would have been made if it had been recognized that the
church of the one body came into being after Acts 28: The church of Thessalonica
held the teaching of Matt. 24: and Dan. 12: as their own, and knew that their hope
found its setting amid the "blood and fire and pillars of smoke" of the Pentecostal
remnant. This leads us to the day of the Lord, the great unveiling, and the book of the
revelation of Jesus Christ.