Up to the writing of 1st Thessalonians, the hope of God's people was the Lord's return in power and glory to establish His kingdom. This had been presented in John the Baptist's preaching and our Lord's own ministry, as the Gospels record. It was the subject of the apostles' inquiry after the Lord's resurrection (Acts 1:6,7), and of angelic message at His ascension (ver. 11), and of the preaching recorded in the Acts 2:32-36; 3:12-21, etc. In connection with this coming certain signs were given whereby they would know that the time was near. They knew that certain conditions must come in, and certain events take place, and they knew that before the Lord returned they were to be witnesses for Him, and to preach the gospel to all nations. Thus they were, undoubtedly, sure of a certain lapse of time between His departure and His return; but not knowing the exact time of His return they were to "watch" that they might be ready. "The day of the Lord " and "the day of the Son of Man " are connected with this phase of His return, as the Lord affirms in His ministry. Thus it seems evident that the any-moment coming of the Lord could not have been the hope of the Lord's people in the earliest days of their history.

As suggested, there could be no change in this view until the apostle wrote his two Thessalonian epistles. Then, by new revelation, the order and relation of events were clearly defined. First, it is said, they were waiting for the Son from heaven; then, they knew they were called to the kingdom and glory, and they are assured that the Lord will come with all His saints.

How about those who had died ? A mystery was revealed here :the dead in Christ are to rise, and with the living changed, unite in one company to meet the Lord in the air, and therefore can return with Him at the appointed time (Col. 3:4).

The coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him introduce in one way " the day of the Lord." By the very secrecy of the Rapture, that day is to steal upon the world as a thief, and they will not know it until sudden destruction falls upon them. Now if the Rapture and the Day follow in this immediate fashion, let us in view of this consider what the apostle makes known in 2 Thessalonians.

He says, the day will not come unless the apostasy first come, and the man of sin be revealed; and, note, the revealing of this man, is hindered by a present restraining power. When this power is removed, the man of sin will be revealed coming in the power and deceit of Satan. Here we have three events-the apostasy, the man of sin, the restraining power; the latter evidently stands between the apostasy and the man of sin.

Now let us ask, first of all, What is this restraining power ? It resists and keeps in check the energy of Satan who brings in Antichrist. As it cannot be of man, it must be God's power, present in this world where the revelation of the man of sin is to take place. It can be no other than the Spirit of God who is now present in this world, who indwells every believer-the whole Church. When will this restraining power be removed ? When the temple in which He dwells-the Church-is taken away, at the Rapture. This is the one event which stands between us and the full manifestation of Satan's power in the world. Some will say the apostasy must first come, and the condition of the last days develop. The point is that Scripture shows that the apostasy and all the features of the last days, as referred to in the New Testament, had come before the last apostle passed away; so that there was no event to intervene between that time and the Rapture, and thus the secret introduction of the day of the Lord; none, therefore, can be looked for by us.

It seems clear, in the light in which Scripture records the history of the Church's early days, that an immediate return of the Lord could not be looked for, because of certain prior events to take place; yet this in no wise prevented a continual attitude of waiting, for the hour was not known. If nothing
else, one thing was to be done-the preaching to all nations; but this had been accomplished even before the close of the apostolic age.

Let us briefly review the scriptural evidence. Both Paul, Peter, and Jude announce that in the last days there would be scoffers, seducers, evil men – false teachers who would rise up among Christ's disciples. These warnings were written some thirty years after our Lord's departure to heaven, about A. D. 65 or 67. Jude indeed says that such were already present; and because of it he wrote, instructing the saints to earnestly contend for the faith. John, writing about twenty-five years later, affirms the fulfilment of these warnings in his days. The testimony of Scripture is clear, that apostasy had already come in before the close of the apostolic age. Scarcely twenty years after Paul had announced to the Thessalonians the coming apostasy, declaring that the mystery of lawlessness was already working, he must lament that "all they who are in Asia had turned away from him." Then the addresses to the seven churches, which came some twenty-five years later, further emphasized and enlarged upon these conditions which had so generally spread and increased.

Every feature of the last days, then, was present at that time; one event alone remained to take place, namely:the removal of the Restrainer (the Spirit of God and the Church in which He dwells); then "the man of sin " would be revealed, when all the final forms of evil culminate. Therefore the last days, as the apostles speak of them, were present before the close of their time; everything was ripe for the final form of evil, which alone has been prevented (ever since) by the One who restrains not being removed. We therefore can say that, to faith, the coming of the Lord became a momental expectation ever since. James even declares, about thirty-five years before John wrote, that "the coming of the Lord is drawn nigh" (J. N. D.). And may not these considerations give more meaning to the Lord's words about John, when Peter questioned Him about his fellow-disciple, than we have been accustomed to attach to them (John 21 :23) ? In John's day the Lord's coming was at the very door, and it had become both a threat and a promise to the Church.

But why this long delay of more than eighteen centuries since John wrote? "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness ; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

May this blessed hope rise with greater brightness in our hearts with its sanctifying power, while, as we wait, we can also rejoice that the longsuffering of our Saviour-God is salvation.