Second Coming of Christ Window
The first record of general excitement among non-Jewish Christians in hope of apocalyptic end-of-world second coming of Jesus Christ and Judgment Day is in Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians (Thessalonians 2: 1-42): "Brothers in regard to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ…We ask you not to be unduly agitated and refrain from falling into a state of nervous excitement over any statement purporting to come from us…alleging that the Day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way…"
Paul had the good sense to urge the Thessalonians (a congregation, consisting mostly of gentile converts to Christianity) to overcome their excitement over rumors of Judgment Day and the second coming of Jesus. He reminds them of the details of the teaching he had imparted to them on his previous visit concerning the order of end-time events. According to Paul, the end will come only after the Falling Away ("Great Tribulation") or Rebellion against God by a man referred to as the Antichrist in Christian end-time teaching. The Christian teaching of the Antichrist is largely derived from the Book of Daniel, the most influential apocalyptic book in the Christian teaching before the Book of Revelation was written by John. The Book of Revelation borrows its fantastic imagery from the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel refers to the Antichrist, in relationship to what it describes as "abomination that maketh desolate," a reference, most likely, to Antiochus IV Epiphanes' (175-163 B.C.) infamous act of desecration of the Jewish temple by the sacrifice of a pig on the sacred temple altar, which provoked the Maccabean revolt. Paul refers to this Antichrist personality as the "man of sin," "son of perdition," who "exalts himself above everything called God."
What did Paul mean by the "power which restrains" the Antichrist and delays his coming? A great deal of theological speculation on Paul's likely reference has been foisted on a suggestible Christian audience on this subject. But it seems that the most likely explanation is that Paul's missionary outreach itself was the "restraining power." The early Christian missionaries had obviously believed that the Gospel must first be preached as "witness to all the nations" before the end comes. Paul's sense of urgency in his missionary journeys is connected with his conviction that the Gospel must first be preached to the nations before the end comes.
One of the most puzzling decisions Paul took in his entire Christian missionary career may well be explained by his anxiety to complete his mission quickly and help hasten the Day of the Lord (i.e. Judgment Day). That Paul saw his mission of evangelizing "the world" as the "power restraining" the revelation of the "man of sin" might explain his insistence on appealing to Caesar when he was brought before Governor Fetus, King Agrippa and his sister-wife Bernice after the fracas with a Jewish mob in Jerusalem. It appears that Paul had seen, in the situation, an opportunity of a short-cut route for his ministry in bringing the message of the risen Christ to the highest level in the empire–the Caesar's court. And whether he later regretted his decision to appeal to Caesar, we may only speculate, for it turned out for him a shunting route to the lions in the Roman amphitheaters.
The Christian Antichrist is, of course, the Christian version of the cross-cultural mythological personality who stands as eternal adversary to the forces of good on the cosmic scale, in the battle of the "Dusk of the gods." (Ragnarok in Norse mythology). The Ancient Egyptians called the Antichrist Seth (and identified him with the mythological Devil-Serpent or Apep Dragon). In Persian mythology, he was Ahriman locked in cosmic battle with Ahura Mazda (Cosmic God of light and good). The adversary is associated with the Midgrad serpent in Norse mythology. In the Sigurd myth the adversary is Fafner. The Greeks called the mythological adversary Typhoon (in the Heracles story he is Hydra). In Hebrew scriptures the adversary is identified as Leviathan or Behemoth (Isaiah 27:1 and Psalm 74: 14)). In Hebrew folk tradition the adversary was Belial and those identified in league with him were referred to as "sons of Belial."
Thus, we see that Judgment Day and end-time apocalyptic scenarios were ubiquitous in "pagan" religious traditions. Paul's pagan converts in Thessaloniki were already familiar with Armageddon-apocalypse mythological scenarios before their conversion to Christianity; and that explains their ready excitability at rumors that the end-time apocalypse event had come.
In this series of articles we shall being doing a synopsis of the history of Judgment Day hysteria in the history of the Christian religion.
Read Part 2: Failed Predictions of Jesus Christ's Second Coming: Montanists and the Ecumenical Council (100-1000 A.D.)
Reading:
1. Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians, Chapter 2.
2. Geddes and Grosset (1997); Ancient Egypt: Myth and History.
JohnThomas Didymus is the author of "Confessions of God: The Gospel According to St. JohnThomas Didymus" (Read a Free Three Chapters Excerpt)
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