I. Prophecy of Judgment on "this generation"
Paul |
Synoptic Jesus |
| For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they have constantly been filling up the measure of their sins; but God's wrath has overtaken them at last. ( 1 Thess 2:14-16) | Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, "I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute, so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. (Q [Luke] 11:49-51) |
II. From Son of Man to Lord?
Paul |
Synoptic Jesus |
Synoptic Jesus |
| For this we declare to you by the word of the
Lord,
that we who are alive, who are left until the appearance of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. |
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, |
"For the Son of Man is to come |
| For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. | and they will see "the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven" with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, | with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. |
| Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. (4:15-17) | and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matt 24:30-31; cf. Mark 13:26-27) | Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matt 16:27-28; cf. Mark 8:38 - 9:1) |
| Now concerning the times and the seasons,
brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.
For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. (5:1-5) |
"But know this:
if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." (QLuke 12:39-40 ) |
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So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. (5:6-7) |
Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?" And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says to himself, "My master is delayed in coming,' and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. (Q [Luke] 12:41-46) | |
III. Prophecy of the Apocalyptic Last Judgment: Apocalyptic Ethics (Matt 25:31-46)