Dr. Thomas Constable defines the doctrine of imminence: “Many people throughout church history have confused the teaching of the apostles that Christ could come at any moment (for believers at the Rapture) and the unbiblical idea that He would come at any moment. The first correct view is the doctrine of imminence, but the second incorrect view involves date setting.”1The Expository Notes of Dr. Constable by Dr. Thomas Constable. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. (Electronic Version) Dr. John F. Walvoord echoes this view: “Thousands of Bible-believing Christians believe that the coming of the Lord for His church is imminent; that is, it could happen any day, any moment. They believe when this event takes place that Christians will be translated, receiving instantly glorious bodies suited for life in heaven. At the same moment, the dead in Christ will be raised from their graves and with those translated will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Thus will begin an eternity of bliss in the presence of the Lord.”2Will The Church Go Through The Tribulation? By Dr. John F. Walvoord. https://bible.org/seriespage/chapter-6-will-church-go-through-tribulation So, from this, we can define the doctrine of imminence as, “the coming of the Lord for His church is imminent; that is, it could happen any day, any moment.” That is, the doctrine of imminence teaches that Christ could return at any moment. According to imminence teachers, there are no prophetic events that must take place between the day we are living in and the return of Christ. This teaching is what sets pretribulationalism apart from all other eschatological views.
Walvoord goes on to make this rather bold statement: “The hope of the imminent return of the Lord is as old as the church.”3ibid As evidence, he says that, “Paul exhorted the Thessalonians ‘to wait for his Son from heaven’ (1 Thess. 1:10).” He points out that they, “were told to ‘comfort one another with these words’ (2 Thess. 4:18).” He goes on, “Paul wrote Titus that Christians should be ‘looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:13).” And that, “The Apostle John records late in the first century the words of Christ to the disciples the night before He was crucified: ‘I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also’ (John 14:3).” To Walvoord, in each of these references Paul and John are teaching the Christian community to expect the “any moment” return of Christ. So let’s take a look at these references and see if they do, in fact, teach that, “the coming of the Lord for His church is imminent” and that His coming could happen any day, any moment. It is implied that there are no prophetic events that must take place between the time when Thessalonians, Titus the Gospel of John were written and the coming of the Lord. But is that Scriptural?
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 in the ESV reads: “…you [the Thessalonians] turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” As you can see, Paul did indeed say that the Thessalonians were waiting for Jesus to come from heaven. He does not exactly exhort them to wait for Him. But he did say that they were doing so. So, at first blush, we might be tempted to agree with Dr. Walvoord that they were waiting for the “any moment” return of Christ. But is that the case? When I was a kid, I would start waiting for the coming of Christmas in October as the weather began to become cooler. But that does not mean that it would come at “any moment.” There was still Halloween and Thanksgiving between mid-October and December 25th. Similarly, the fact the Thessalonians were waiting for the coming of the Lord says nothing about when He will return. Neither does it say anything about just how many events might, or might not, take place before His return.
In fact, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, while addressing the coming of the Lord, Paul writes: “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day [the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ]4see 2Thess. 2:1 will not come, unless the rebellion comes first… The word translated “rebellion” here in the ESV, is apostasia. According to Dr. Thomas Constable, “The English word “apostasy” is a transliteration of the Greek word apostasia. By definition an apostasy is a departure, an abandoning of a position formerly held (cf. Jos. 22:22 in the LXX; Acts 21:21).” 5The Expository Notes of Dr. Constable by Dr. Thomas Constable. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. (Electronic Version) The word, apostasia, is only found one other time in the NT. In Acts 21:21 it is translated “forsake.” There Paul is accused of teaching the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake 6”defect from truth of” Strong #G646 Moses.7”Lit., apostasy from Moses” according to Word Studies in the New Testament by M. R. Vincent. Ron Wallace makes this point: “Every time the noun [apostasia] is used in the LXX, it carries the meaning of ideological departure8 See Josh. 22:22; 2 Chron. 29:19; 33:19; Ezra 4:19; Jer. 2:19 in the LXX.. APOSTASIA: Greek word group comes first,9”But it [the apostasy] is to be first (prōton) before Christ comes again.” Word Pictures in the New Testament by A. T. Robertson. 2 Thessalonians 2:3. (Electronic Version). Here the word “unless” is and the man of lawlessness is revealed…(2Thess. 2:3). This agrees with what the Lord said Himself in Matt. 24. There, when describing the events of His coming, He says that there will be deception, and wars and famines and earthquakes (Matt. 24:5-7). These, He calls “the beginning of the birth pains” (Matt. 24:8). He says “Then” (24:9), that is after the birth pains, the persecutions will begin and as a result “many will fall away” (24:10, ESV). Could this be what Paul was referring to in 2 Thessalonians? Dr. Thomas Constable says “This persecution will lead many disciples to turn away from the faith…”10The Expository Notes of Dr. Constable. Matthew 24:9-13. (Electronic Version) The Great Apostasy refers to a significant falling away from the Christian faith. Pastor and author, Paul Carter, agrees. He says: “The Great Apostasy refers to a significant falling away from the Christian faith. This isn’t a rebellion against the government by unbelievers, this is a rebellion against Christian belief and practice, by previously believing and associating people. This appears to be the near consensus of most reformed and evangelical scholars.”1110 Things You Should Know about the Great Apostasy by Paul Carter. https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-great-apostasy/. Pastor Carter goes on to quote Anthony Hoekema: “The apostasy will occur within the ranks of the members of the visible church.” and G.K. Beal: “The point Paul appears to be making is that the visible church community, within which true saints exist, will become so apostate that it will be dominantly filled with people who profess to be Christian but really are not. The church will continue to profess to be Christian but most in it will actually not be true believers.” The Good News Bible (GNB) has: “Many will give up their faith at that time; they will betray one another and hate one another.” The International Standard Version (ISV) has: “Then many people will fall away, will betray one another, and will hate one another.” Let us explore Matthew 24 a bit further. After declaring that the “gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations…” Jesus says, “then shall the end come” (24:14). And in the very next verse, he, like Paul, says that the next event to take place is “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet” (Matt. 24:15). So, just as Paul has said, there will first be a “falling away” (KJV); a “rebellion” (ESV), and then the man of lawlessness is revealed. Jesus says that the events that take place immediately after this “revealing,” will cause “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).12Daniel 7:25 says, “And he [the man of lawlessness] shall speak great words against the most High.” (“He shall speak as if he were God.”Adam Clark), and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand (“to be persecuted.”, JFB) until a time and times and the dividing of time.
In his commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (1548), Calvin writes: “He [Paul] says that the day of Christ will not come, until the world has fallen into apostasy, and the reign of Antichrist has obtained a footing in the Church; for as to the exposition that some have given of this passage, as referring to the down fall of the Roman empire, it is too silly to require a lengthened refutation…Paul, therefore, employs the term apostasy to mean — a treacherous departure from God, and that not on the part of one or a few individuals, but such as would spread itself far and wide among a large multitude of persons…Paul, therefore, predicts a certain general revolt of the visible Church.”13This quote is from What is the Ἀποστασία of 2 Thessalonians 2:3? Anthony T . Hopkins. https://www.academia.edu/42702613/What_is_the_%E1%BC%88%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B1_of_2_Thessalonians_2_3
Commentator Albert Barnes discussing 2 Thessalonians 2:3, says: “There is scarcely any passage of the New Testament which has given occasion to greater diversity of opinion than this. Though the reference seems to be plain, and there is scarcely any prophecy of the Bible apparently more obvious and easy in its general interpretation…” He continues, “The word [apostasia] means a departing from, or a defection; see the verb used in 1Tim. 4:1, ‘Some shall depart from the faith’ – ἀποστήσονται apostēsontai…see also Heb. 3:12; Luke 8:13; Acts 5:37. The reference here is evidently to some general falling away, or to some great religious apostasy that was to occur, and which would be under one head, leader, or dynasty, and which would involve many in the same departure from the faith, and in the same destruction.” 14Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes. 2 Thessalonians 2:3. (Electronic Version)
Just adding fuel to the fire, I quote from Dr. Alan S. Bandy 15Alan S. Bandy (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of New Testament and Greek at Oklahoma Baptist University. who says, “The return of Christ is also imminent, meaning it is near and when it comes it will happen quickly…The imminent return of Christ, however, does not mean it could happen at any moment without any preconditioned fulfillment of prophecies or signs. Paul told the Thessalonians they were children of the light, and therefore they would not be taken by sudden surprise, like a thief (1Thes. 5:1–5). There are at least three events that are mentioned as taking place before the second coming: (1) the gospel preached to all the nations; (2) the great [sic] tribulation and the great apostasy; and (3) the coming of the Antichrist…Imminence does not necessitate suddenness devoid of potential indicators.”16The Return of Christ An Essay By Alan S. Bandy. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-return-of-christ/
As amazing as it may seem, some attempt to define apostasia as referring to a pretribulational rapture. 17See Apostasia Does NOT Mean ‘Physical Departure’. Addressing this unsupportable claim, author Anthony T . Hopkins, at the end of his in depth study of the word apostasia, says, “As we have seen, the view that the word ἀποστασία [apostasia] refers to a (pretribulational) rapture, as advanced by English, MacRae, Wuest, (initially) Walvoord18Walvoord has changed his view on the possibility that apostasia refers to the pretribulational rapture and admits that it means “a falling way.”, Lewis, Tan, Boice, Ellisen, Wood, Davey, House, Ice, and LaHaye, has little to commend it, and it is rejected by other writers and scholars from within the dispensationalist school, such as Walvoord (on second and soberer thoughts), Hiebert, Feinberg, and Combs. In order to bolster this understanding of the word ἀποστασία, an entirely fictional view of the beliefs of earlier translators of the Bible has been fabricated, according to which they understood the reference of the word to be to a (pretribulational) rapture and that the “deviant” reading was unheard of until the scholars who produced the King James Version (with ill-intent) substituted the word, “departing”, with the word “falling away”. Little attempt has been made to research what earlier translators actually believed with regard to the word ἀποστασία, and when their views are in fact examined it swiftly becomes apparent that by the word “departure” they understood a “falling away” from the faith in line with the KJV reading. The reference of the term ἀποστασία can be found in the context itself (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12), and this understanding is confirmed in Revelation 13:1, 3–6, 11–15, and in view of this it is surprising that anyone could have taken any other view.”19What is the Ἀποστασία of 2 Thessalonians 2:3? by Anthony T . Hopkins. https://www.academia.edu/42702613/What_is_the_Ἀποστασία_of_2_Thessalonians_2_3
So Paul says that before the coming of Christ can take place there must first come a great falling away or apostasy from the faith. It appears that this apostasy will take place as the result of great persecution at the hands of the Antichrist as he takes control of the economic, political and religious systems of the world. And it is fitting that Paul would say that the second thing that must take place before Christ will return is that the Antichrist; the man of lawlessness, will boldly declare himself to be God. This will take place at the mid-point of Daniel’s 70th week.
With all of this considered, it is my prayer that you can see that the “Doctrine of Imminence” is left without a leg to stand on when understood in the light of Scripture. Sadly, far too many in the West hold this notion to be true even despite the evidence to the contrary.
“I consider further comment to be superfluous.”20ibid
For more on the falling away and antichrist 2 Thessalonians 2:3 see https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-second-coming-not-before-the-man-of-lawlessness
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