[/SIZE];3192704]Hello Jackson123,
I have studied this for years and I don't believe that it is saying what most people interpret it as, which is that the rebellion occurs, the man of lawless is revealed and then the appearing of the Lord and our being gathered to him.
Regarding this, here is a question for you.
"Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come"
In the scripture above, Paul writes to the Thessalonians asking that them not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some teaching allegedly from them saying that "the day of the Lord has already come." What Paul is telling them would then be for the purpose of comforting them. So the question is, how could Paul's words be of comfort if he is telling them that before the church can be gathered, that first there must be a rebellion and the man of lawlessness must be revealed? That surely would not be comforting to the Thessalonians. The Thessalonians are certainly not going to write Paul back and say, "Phew! Thank you Paul for those comforting words."
I believe that the answer to this is understanding that "the day of the Lord" represents two events.
1). The Lord's appearing and the gathering of the church
2). The wrath of God
In 1 Thes.4:13-18, Paul gives a detailed description of the Lord's appearing and the dead being resurrected and the living in Christ being changed and caught up. Then in 1 Thes.5:1 he says the following:
"Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates (of the gathering of the church) we do not need to write to you,for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night."
So, as the scripture above demonstrates, Paul refers to the appearing of our Lord and our being gathered to him as "the day of the Lord."
In the OT "the day of the Lord" is only known as a time of wrath and fierce anger. That said, what initiates the day of the Lord will be the appearing of the Lord and the gathering of the church, followed by the wrath part of the day of the Lord.
In the scripture above, notice that when Paul says "Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him" then in verse 2 he refers to it as "the day of the Lord."
I believe that what is happening here is that Paul starts off referring to "the coming of our Lord and out being gathered to him" and then he is referring to the wrath of God part of the day of the Lord which follows the gathering. That being true, then the order of events would be:
1). The coming of our Lord and our being gathered to him
2). The rebellion
3). The man of lawlessness being revealed
As I mentioned before, being that Paul was comforting the Thessalonians, telling them not to become easily unsettled or alarmed, what could be more unsettling than telling them that the rebellion must first take place and the man of lawlessness must be revealed before they can be gathered to the Lord? That makes no sense whatsoever.
In addition, this order of events would be supported by the following scripture regarding the same event:
"Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming."
In the scripture above, there is "the One" also referred to as "He" who is holding back the full force of lawlessness and the man of lawlessness from being revealed until his proper time. At some point the One who is restraining will be taken out of the way and then that man of lawlessness will be revealed.
Most scholars agree that, the "He" who is restraining is the Holy Spirit working through believers which make up the church. Therefore, when the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, is removed and therefore, the church with Him, so that the full force of sin can be manifest and that man of lawlessness be revealed, then the order of events would match the above as
1). the Holy Spirit being removed and the church with Him and therefore He no longer restraining
2). Then that man of lawlessness will be revealed
As I said, I don't believe that the scripture in question is saying what many claim that it is saying. I personally believe that the church will be gathered and that we will never see the man of lawlessness.
If Paul was trying to comfort the Thessalonians by telling them that before they can be gathered to the Lord, that the rebellion must first take place and the man of lawlessness must be revealed, then he did a terrible job of comforting.
. The only place that the 1 day = 1,000 years with God principle isn't found until 2 Peter 3. God spoke to Adam how many years before this? Did Adam know this principle? Moses records the event how many years before Peter? Did all those generations between Moses and Peter know this principle? Besides, that principle only applies to God, it does not apply to man.