It is customary in many parts of the country to label anyone a false teacher who believes Jesus has already come by using Paul’s writing to the saints in Thessalonica. Just because it had not come by the writing of Paul’s letter to Thessalonica, does not mean it did not come later in that same generation. This letter was the first recorded letter we have from Paul, written in the early 50s.
Further, when Paul addresses it, he does not correct their errors by explaining how utterly ridiculous it would be to think that Jesus could have come and gone and still have people walking the earth. The “end” has never been a reference to the end of time or the end of planet earth. Instead, it referred to the end of that age that was coming to naught. Nor was there any explanation given that he couldn’t have come yet because he will establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem when he returns. This is a popular view of our day that if true, would certainly have been a necessary response in this letter.
Instead, he offers to those saints living in Thessalonica a series of events that must take place before he comes. In other words, he gives them signs of His coming. These signs were identifiable and measurable markers that would have to take place before Jesus returns. If they can’t know the time of his coming, and He wouldn’t even come in their lifetime, why offer them signs? Why would Paul and Jesus (Matthew 24) offer signs for an event that they couldn’t possibly see? One sign offered by Paul in the Thessalonian text is a clear reference to Jerusalem’s temple that becomes the headquarters for the man of sin. The temple, which is no longer standing today, was still standing when Paul wrote the letter to Thessalonica in the early fifties. To apply the promise of the second coming to some future date, and ignore their signs, dismiss the time statements as taking place soon, or interpret “soon” as being relative to each human being’s life-span, is a terrible misuse of Scripture.