As I said, this is the literal "day" in which Christ returns for his Church, in connection with Daniel's presentation of the coming of the Son of Man in a particular moment in time when the Antichrist has been persecuting God's People for 3.5 years. So he is coming on a *literal day* to put an end to the 3.5 years of abuse that the Antichrist is doing to God's people. I cannot, therefore, be a "period of time," and it certainly cannot include the "Tribulation Period," since Christ is there depicted as coming to *terminate* that time period!
Though that makes sense, it is not reasonably fit into this particular context, nor is it true of biblical eschatology overall. It makes total sense to say that if Christians believed they would be spared these tribulations at Christ's coming, they might think that they missed his coming if they continued to experience them.
The trouble with that is, that's not what is being said. That is what *you're saying* it says! You are adding all kinds of elements to Paul's message that simply aren't there in the text.
For example, nowhere is it said that Christians would be spared tribulation by Christ's coming. Rather, Paul assumes that Christians already know that Christ is coming to terminate Antichrist's reign at the end of a 3.5 years period. There is nothing at all, in the Scriptures, that say Christians are spared tribulation before that time!
The problem with Pretribbers is that they say Tribulation equals God's Wrath, and that's not accurate. It is true that God pours wrath out on unbelievers, and not on believers. But it is not true that believers are exempt from experiencing some of the problems in this world that falls upon us all because of the sins of unbelievers.
We go through hurricanes, earthquakes, wars, and illnesses all due to human sin. But we've been forgiven our sins, and have repented. Still, God asks us to go through these troubles in order to testify to Him in an ungodly world, in hopes that some will repent.
Going through tribulation, thus, is *not* going through God's wrath. But it is going through what unbelievers are experiencing as God's wrath. We shouldn't get it confused. Nor does God's wrath always mean that there can be no repentance. Jews have been going through God's punishment, or "wrath," for 2000 years. And still God is offering them repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.
So this false claim that there was Christian belief that Christ's coming would end our tribulations is false. That would happen, as Paul said, only after the destruction of Antichrist. That is the whole message of the book, which you completely are ignoring!
Again, it is completely unnatural to define "the day of Christ's coming for the Church" as an "extended time period." It is a *moment in time* in which Christ delivers the Church from the persecutions of the Antichrist, as depicted in Dan 7. Dan 7 is the obvious basis for all of this eschatology because it is the *only* place in the OT that deals this specifically with the subject.
No, this does not properly represent the argument, which explains why you feel it's foolish. The argument is much more rational than you are putting it. It's like this.
Paul was arguing in the same vein that Jesus had presented it, that false Christs would come. This means Christians are to expect false Millennial movements, Christians who claim to *be* the Kingdom of God arrived, people who believe that God is bringing authority to earth before the real arrival of the Kingdom of God.
We are to watch out for these. It isn't in the least irrational or foolish, since there have been a number of millennial movements in history, and cults, like the JWs, who think they are God's Kingdom active on earth. And there is even a "Kingdom Now" movement today, in which so-called "prophets" are claiming they are doing spiritual things with the authority of God when they are *not* doing those things!
This is a carnal display of power in the name of "spirituality," but is actually a false representation of Christ and his Kingdom. It is claiming faith to overcome Satan in this world, faith to assume prosperity and blessings against satanic opposition, etc. etc. But in reality, Satan and the Antichrist are given to "defeat" the saints in the present age, in some respects. In other respects, Satan can *never* defeat the Church. But our victory today is not carnal, but spiritual, and that is the message here.
Paul is warning us what Jesus had already said, that he didn't come to take us out of the world and its tribulations, that in the world we would, while we are still in the world, experience tribulations. This isn't experiencing God's wrath against us, but rather, our experiencing God's judgment against a rebellious, independent world. And some will be saved through our testimony. That's why we're called upon to "endure to the end!"
So those who were nearly being deceived by Christians who thought they were exercising this eschatological authority were informed that we are not given such power in the present age. Until Christ comes again there will be antichrists trying to usurp God and His authority in heaven. They will ultimately be defeated at Christ's Kingdom, and until that time comes we are to be aware of this kind of carnality and deception.
