What Can We Learn About the Second Coming of Jesus from 1 & 2 Thessalonians?

December 12th, 2025

While the core of the Gospel is Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), it wouldn’t really be “good news” (which is what the term “Gospel” means) if there weren’t more to it. From the core proceeds even more good news: we can participate in Jesus’ triumph over death by dying to sin, being buried with Jesus in the waters of baptism, and being raised from those waters to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). Though baptism “now saves us” from sin (1 Peter 3:21) through Jesus’ blood (Romans 5:9), death still remains a reality (Hebrews 9:27). Perhaps the best news of all then is that Jesus will return, bring the dead back to life (John 5:28-29), and allow the saved to experience His eternal triumph over death (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Perhaps more than any congregation in the inspired record, the church at Thessalonica truly struggled to understand the Second Coming of Jesus. At first, they seem to have been afraid that if they died before Jesus returned, they would somehow miss out on the benefits of His return. Even after they overcame that belief, they struggled with the timeline of Jesus’ return, believing that Jesus was coming soon, to the point that some had evidently quit their jobs, perhaps in anticipation for His coming. Over the course of two epistles, Paul worked to correct these understandings and make the fact of the Second Coming the good news God intended for it to be.

The follow is a list of things that can be gleaned from 1 and 2 Thessalonians about Jesus’ Second Coming. While some of this information, particularly Paul’s statements about the “man of sin,” might leave us with more questions, it shouldn’t leave us with any doubt as to the reality of Jesus’ return and its implications for us.

Turning to God in faith (1 Thessalonians 1:9) involves “wait[ing] for His Son from Heaven… even Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
Jesus will deliver us at His return from “the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
Our hope, joy, and crown of rejoicing will be (or should be) our fellow Christians at Jesus coming (1 Thessalonians 2:19)
Our prayer, like Paul’s, should be that both we and our fellow Christians have hearts that are established as “blameless in holiness” at Jesus’ coming (1 Thessalonians 3:13)
Jesus will return “with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13)
A belief in Jesus’ resurrection should lead us to believe that “those who sleep in Jesus” will be brought with Jesus to be raised from the dead at His return (1 Thessalonians 4:14)
There is no benefit to being alive at the Second Coming; in fact, the living will not “precede” (go before) the dead to meet Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:15)
The sequence of Jesus’ coming is as follows:
- First, Jesus will descend from Heaven accompanied by three sounds: a shout; the voice of an archangel, and the trumpet of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
- Second, the dead in Christ will rise from the dead and then rise to the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
- Third, the living will rise to meet Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
- This will usher in eternity, when “we shall always be with the Lord’ (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
The Second Coming is a reality that should bring comfort (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
The Lord will come “as a thief in the night,” which should lead Christians to be unconcerned with “the times and the seasons” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2)
The Lord will come unexpectedly, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
Though the Lord comes unexpectedly, the Day should not catch us off guard (1 Thessalonians 5:4)
The Day should inspire sober minded preparations and focus on salvation rather than wrath or any fear of death (1 Thessalonians 5:5-11)
It is right to desire holistic wellness for ourselves and others unto the coming of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
The Lord will one day be revealed “from Heaven with His mighty angels” (2 Thessalonians 1:7)
Jesus will punish a) “those who do not know God” and b) “those who do not obey the Gospel” when He returns (2 Thessalonians 1:8) with “everlasting destruction" (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
Christians shouldn’t fear or anticipate any secretive coming of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)
Several events will precede the Second Coming of the Lord:
- A falling away (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
- The man of sin, the son of perdition, being revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
- Whatever is restraining the “man of sin” being taken away (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7) leading to the man of sin, the lawless one, being revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
When the Lord comes, He will consume the lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
Salvation at the Lord’s coming is about receiving “the love of the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10)