Declaring God’s Mighty Acts

Paul expected “mighty acts” of God in his generation and declared that expectation in his writings. The other apostles did, too. They based their anticipation on Jesus’ statements, especially his Olivet Discourse. He had said the worldwide preaching of the gospel, the abomination of desolation, the great tribulation, his coming, and the collapse of the cosmos would occur in his generation (Matt 24:14, 15, 21, 29, 34). These events would end the Mosaic age and inaugurate the age of Christ’s presence—his parousia—with his church (Matt 24:1–3).

Paul incorporated these soon-coming “mighty acts” of God into his “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11):

This we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming (Gk. parousia) of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4:15–17)

To praise God’s works—to declare his “mighty acts”—we must know how this passage fits within the apostles’ prophetic expectation. Let’s look at six elements of their vision for the future.

First, Paul said the coming of the Lord would happen in his near future. Jesus had said it would occur before some of his hearers tasted death (Matt 16:27–28). The Apostle imitates him; in the “rapture passage,” he twice refers to those of his generation who would be “alive and remain until the coming of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15, 17). In another place, he quoted Habakkuk 2:3, saying to the Hebrews, “For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay” (Heb 10:37 HCSB). James says, “The Lord’s coming is near” (Jam 5:8 HCSB). If Jesus and his apostles said the Lord’s coming would occur in their day, we cannot faithfully declare God’s mighty acts if we say otherwise.

Second, the apostles taught that this coming would bring the kingdom of God. John the Baptist and Jesus had said the kingdom was “at hand” (e.g., Matt 3:2; 4:7). The Lord later said, “There are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt 16:28). Paul based his “rapture passage” on this statement and others like it.

The apostles spoke of the kingdom from this perspective. Paul said, for example, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). He wanted the Thessalonians to walk worthy of God “who is calling you to His own reign and glory” (1 Thess 2:12 YLT). Peter told his hearers to build on their faith, “for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 1:11). This kingdom-entrance would occur at the time of Jesus’ coming—in their generation. 

Third, the apostles equated the coming of the Lord in his kingdom with the coming of salvation. Paul said, “Are they (i.e., angels) not all spirits of service—for ministration being sent forth because of those about to inherit salvation?” (Heb 1:14 YLT). Paul’s last message to the Jews in Rome pertained to the kingdom—“he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God” (Acts 28:23). He remained in prison there two years, “preaching the kingdom of God” (Acts 28:31). In this context, he says, “The salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” (Acts 28:28). According to Paul, the Lord would soon appear (in his kingdom) “for salvation” (Heb 9:28). 

Fourth, this salvation would include escape from judgment. When Paul told Timothy that the Holy Scriptures were able “to make you wise for salvation” (2 Tim 3:15), he added the fact that “the Lord Jesus Christ [was] about to judge living and dead at his appearing and His kingdom” (2 Tim 4:1 YLT). Paul also said, “God … is about to judge living and dead at his manifestation and his reign” (2 Tim 4:1 YLT). And God had “set a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31 YLT). Peter agreed: “The time has come,” he said, “for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Pet 4:17).

Fifth, the apostles referred to these soon-coming events as the coming of glory. Peter, for example, said the former prophets were “searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Pet 1:11). He later speaks of this glory again, calling himself “a witness of the sufferings of the Christ, and of the glory about to be revealed” (1 Pet 5:1 YLT). Paul said his present sufferings were not worthy of being compared with “the glory about to be revealed” in the church (Rom 8:18 YLT).

Sixth, the apostles spoke of the resurrection as near at hand. Paul said he had “hope toward God … that there is about to be a rising again of the dead, both of righteous and unrighteous” (Acts 24:15 YLT). Paul was not saying the bodily resurrection would be in his lifetime; he taught elsewhere that it would occur at the end of Christ’s reign (e.g., 1 Cor 15:22–26). Instead, he taught that the events necessary to establish the messianic age—the age of resurrection—were about to happen. He used prophetic foreshortening to view the result of the new age (i.e., resurrection) at its beginning.

Conclusion

We desire to praise God’s works and declare his mighty acts to future generations. To do so accurately, we must interpret Paul’s “rapture passage” in harmony with the facts I have listed in this post. We must acknowledge that the Apostle was talking about events that would occur in his generation, not (primarily) about those in our future.

I have proposed a prophetic framework—inmillennialism¹—that helps us do that.

1. I document this framework in Michael A. Rogers, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days (Tullahoma, TN: McGahan Publishing House, 2020), 263. This book is available here in hardcopy and here as a PDF. A free summary PDF document of inmillennialism is here.