Paul, Signs and Seasons
Paul did not provide a detailed outline of the “signs and seasons.” Instead, considering the future, he exhorted believers to live righteously now.
Certainly, Paul wrote about the “coming” of Jesus. His
return is foundational to the faith, and salvation remains incomplete until he returns
to resurrect the dead and ushers in the New Creation. And the Apostle did describe
key events that will coincide with that day, including the resurrection of dead
believers, the consummation of the kingdom, the cessation of death, and the
judgment of the wicked - (1 Corinthians 15:20-28, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
But his list of “signs” that will precede the coming of Jesus
is brief. Paul’s descriptions of sin and deceivers “waxing
worse and worse” and similar warnings are too general to pin to specific
events and chronologies. Every era of Church history has been plagued with
false teachers, false teachings, and apostasy - (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
The closest Paul came to providing a
list of recognizable “signs” was his warning to the Thessalonians that the “Day
of the Lord” would not come before the arrival of the “man of
lawlessness” and the “apostasy.” But his purpose was not to present
specific “signs” by which Christians could calculate the nearness of the “end,”
but instead, he was arguing why that day had NOT yet come. The fact that the “lawless
one” had not appeared demonstrated that the “Day of the Lord” was not imminent.
How much time would transpire between these
two events and the arrival of that day he did not say - (2 Thessalonians
2:1-4).
In only one passage did Paul discuss the
“times and seasons” in his first letter to the
Thessalonians:
- (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) - “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that anything be written to you; For you yourselves perfectly well know that the day of the Lord is coming as a thief in the night. As soon as they begin to say, ‘Peace! and safety,’ then suddenly, upon them comes destruction, just as the birth pains unto her that is with child, and in no way will they escape.”
This statement followed the paragraph where Paul provided
needed explanations about the “coming” of Jesus that was necessitated
by the Thessalonian’s incomplete knowledge of final events. But in the present
passage, he expressed that there was no need to provide details about the “times
and seasons” because they already knew “accurately”
that the “Day of the Lord” would come like a “thief in the night.”
The point of the analogy was the necessity to be ready always for that day. No one
could know where and when a thief might strike, and so would be the case with
the sudden and unexpected arrival of the Lord - (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Luke 12:37-40).
Paul was certain that the Thessalonians would not be
taken by surprise by the arrival of that day, not because they knew all the “signs
and seasons,” but because they were “children of the light” and lived
accordingly. Therefore, they were prepared for his sudden arrival, and that day
would not overtake them “like a thief in the night.”
As for the wicked, they would continue to live as if
nothing out of the ordinary would ever occur until it was too late, and thus, “sudden
destruction will overtake them.” The analogy used by Jesus to the “days of Noah and of Lot” is echoed in Paul’s statement.
The point made by Jesus was not that life before his
return would replicate the conditions before the Flood, but that men women would
be going about their daily routines until the “day of the Son of Man” arrived
suddenly, resulting in their destruction. What will matter on that day is not detailed
knowledge about “signs and seasons,” but being in a right relationship
with Jesus in the present.
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