No scripture says all the unsaved are destroyed at the return of Jesus Christ, although some think 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 shows that to be the truth. It is not. This is one of those classic texts Peter may have had in mind when he wrote that Paul wrote some things that are difficult to understand by the spiritually unstable and those ignorant of God’s revelation contained in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. Also, the King James Version fails to accurately translate the Greek in a couple of the verses in 2 Thessalonians 2.
Keep in mind the divine revelation afforded us in the 14th chapter of Zechariah. That chapter speaks of the coming “day of the Lord” (verse 1). It speaks of that being the time when the Lord goes forth to fight against the nations that have followed Satan’s delusions (verse 3). The next verse tells of how His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives the day of His return. Verse 5 says “the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” “And it shall be in that day (not a thousand years later) that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former {eastern} sea (the Dead Sea), and half toward the hinder {western} sea (the Mediterranean Sea) in summer and in winter shall it be (or year round)” (verse 8). Then verse 9 says, “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth, IN THAT DAY (not a thousand years later) shall there be one Lord, and His name one. Then verse 10 clearly says “All the land shall be turned as a plain…lifted up, AND INHABITED…And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited” (verse 11).
And if you keep reading the next few verses, you learn what Paul also knew in writing the Thessalonian believers that it is the armies that are coming against Jerusalem who are destroyed in an instant at Christ’s return. (See verses 12 through 14). But then notice verse 16: “And it shall come to pass THAT EVERY ONE THAT IS LEFT OF ALL THE NATIONS, WHICH CAME AGAINST JERUSALEM, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (when they will be carefully instructed in the truth and the ways of the Lord).” The ones that are left are the non-combatants. They are NOT killed by the brightness of the Lord’s return. They survive and live over into the thousand year reign of Christ ON THIS EARTH, being instructed in the ways of God year by year at the Feast of Tabernacles – the ONLY one of God’s seven annual feasts that was a teaching feast! (See Nehemiah Chapter 8).
Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley