Now Is The Time To Preach On Prophecy

I often hear church leaders profess that preaching on prophecy or the second coming of Christ to a church made up of young or small minded believers would be a waste of time. Give them something practical (said in so many words), they tell me!

Yet, when the subject of the Second Coming of Christ is taught in the Bible, it is quite remarkable on how the Bible gives clear practical applications to follow – whether one is mature in the faith or young.

Check this out.

When the Apostle Paul preached the word in Thessalonica he spent a relatively short time there. If you study the Book of Acts and attempt to arrive at the period of time that he spent in the city of Thessalonica, the time itself was very short term.  

We are told for example that he reasoned in the Synagogue for three

Sabbath days or three weeks (Acts 17:2).  This was Paul’s initial ministry to the Jews.  Buy many of the Jews did not believe and formed a mob bent on persecuting Paul and his helpers (v. 5). However, a great many of the Gentiles who heard Paul believed (v. 4).  It is reasonable to conclude that Paul may have spent a longer time equipping and strengthening the Gentile believers as he helped form a church.  However, most scholars agree that Paul’s time in Thessalonica was between four to six months at the most.

When Paul wrote a follow up letter to this church because he was unable to visit them personally, he wrote: Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, ² not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. ³ Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? (2 Thess. 2:1-5).

During Paul’s short 4-6 months time with these believers, here is a sample of what he taught them. He taught them about –

1.  The Second Coming of Christ – v. 1: “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2.  The Rapture – v. 1: “and our being gathered together with Him” (cf. 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

3.  The Day of the Lord or the Tribulation Period – v. 2: “to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.”

4.  Deception and apostasy – v. 3: “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first.”

5.  The coming of the antichrist – vv. 3b-4: “and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Then in verse 5, Paul says, “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” 

Here was a church that would undergo severe persecution. They were newly formed. What would pastors do in a case like this?

Now if there’s anything that we would tell someone today NOT to do, it is to take a group of people who do not know much about Scripture and instruct them in prophecy. We would tell them what they need is the simple things of the word of God. They need to know the simple truths of the person of Christ. They need simple truths of the work of Christ. They simple truths of how to live the Christian life, but to talk about the man of sin, and the beast, and the kingdom, and the tribulation, and the antichrist. Well that is very, very unwise.  But that’s exactly what Paul did!

We’re told that the Rapture is a comforting hope (1 Thess. 4:18).  It is a purifying hope (1 John 3:3).  And it is a blessed hope (Titus 2:13).  But despite these references and there’s so much more, some pastors erroneously conclude that prophecy and the second coming of Christ should be regulated to the college classroom. 

Why do some pastors hold on to such thinking? Three reasons:

1.  Fear – too much controversy which may start trouble in the church.

2.  Ignorance – some need to be taught themselves about such things.

3.  Low view of Scriptures – some believe that it is their own agenda for the church which consist of a regulated spiritual diet that is best for the people. Yet, they fail to grasp the fact that the people do not belong to them. They are merely shepherds or stewards of the people.  They are to present the people one day before the Lord as healthy saints who have been given a full diet of all the Word and not just some chosen sections or topics.

So as we move closer to the realization of the end times and the soon return of Jesus, the one group of people who could really benefit are kept in the dark.