Through the Bible - 1 Thessalonians

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from wrath to come. (1:10) > > For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? (2:19) > > For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (4:16–17)

A young church, a brief visit, and a great hope: how Paul taught the Thessalonians to watch, work, and wait for the coming of the Lord.

A Letter Saturated with the Coming of the Lord

First Thessalonians is just five chapters, but very powerful. As you read through it, one of the things you notice is that a key theme is the day of the Lord and the return of the Lord. In fact, at the end of each chapter Paul focuses on the day of the Lord.

In chapter 1 he tells them to wait for God's Son from heaven, Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. At the end of chapter 2 he asks, "For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" At the end of chapter 3 he prays the Lord would establish their hearts unblameable in holiness "at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the saints." The last verses of chapter 4 deal with the second coming, ending, "comfort one another with these words." And at the end of chapter 5 he prays their whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless "unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

So Paul wrote to this church speaking quite a bit about the second coming of our Lord—something the early church looked forward to, something we continue to look forward to, and something Jesus counseled us to watch for to the end. Just before He ascended, in Matthew 28, He commissioned His disciples and promised, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." He constantly directed them toward the last days, His return, His coming.

A Church Born in Three Weeks (Acts 17)

What's interesting is that Paul started this church and taught them about the second coming, yet he was only with them for about three weeks. Acts 17 gives us the background. After the Holy Spirit pushed Paul and Silas west to Macedonia, they planted a church at Philippi, were beaten and kicked out, and came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures. (Acts 17:1–2)

For three Saturdays he reasoned from the Scriptures that Christ had to suffer and rise again, and that "this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ." Some Jews believed, but especially "the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." These were the God-fearers—non-Jews allowed to listen in the synagogue—and when they heard the gospel, they jumped at it.

But the unbelieving Jews were moved with envy, gathered "certain lewd fellows of the baser sort," set the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason. They dragged Jason and others to the rulers, crying, "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." Underline that—it's a wonderful testimony. In my opinion the world is already upside down, and these men were turning it right side up; but to those living an upside-down life, a life turned right side up looks upside down. Because of the fall, men call evil good and good evil, darkness light and light darkness. But the gospel transforms lives, and many of you know God has transformed yours.

"There Is Another King, One Jesus"

The Jews charged that Paul and Silas acted contrary to Caesar's decrees, "saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Notice how they buddied up to Rome when it served them—just as the chief priests did before Pilate, crying, "We have no king but Caesar." It was political expediency. They resented Roman rule, yet used it to their advantage. Here, moved with jealousy and afraid of losing their influence, they used Rome to drive Paul and Silas out.

It's interesting that Paul later writes in Romans that it is our job to stir up the Jews to jealousy—that they would see our relationship with God and the blessings we have received. The brethren in Thessalonica, fearing for Paul's safety, sent him away by night.

As you follow Paul's ministry, you see a real pastor. He didn't just want converts who followed him; he won souls and then grounded them. As he writes, "we gave unto you even our own soul"—treating them like a nursing mother and like a father with his children. He looked at this church as his own family. So being torn away after only a month, before he could fully ground them, produced real anxiety in him, and you feel it throughout this letter.

After Thessalonica, Paul went to Berea and eventually to Corinth, where he spent nearly two years. It was from Corinth, around AD 50–51, that he wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians—some of his earliest letters. (His first was Galatians, written to counter legalists who had infiltrated that church.)

Faith, Hope, and Love (Chapter 1)

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians... Grace be unto you, and peace... We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope. (1:1–3)

As in Colossians, we see the marks of Christian maturity—faith, hope, and love. Paul remembers their work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope. He knew their election of God, "for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost."

These people received the word readily—like water to a traveler in the desert, like land to a storm-tossed sailor. The Gentiles in the synagogue had sat under the law for years, and the law makes us ready for grace. A legalistic standard had been laid before them like a locked door they could never enter, so they were ripe for grace. When Paul preached the gospel, they received it with all readiness, in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.

They didn't merely receive it; they instantly became witnesses. "From you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place." They turned to God from idols—that's repentance—to serve the living and true God, "and to wait for his Son from heaven... even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

Delivered from the Wrath to Come

Notice the past tense in verse 10: Jesus "delivered us from the wrath to come." It hasn't even happened yet, but He has already delivered us, because He took the wrath upon Himself in our place. This theme returns in 5:9: "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."

These believers were readied by the law, received the word with all readiness, became witnesses, turned from idols, and waited patiently—even in affliction. That patient waiting is a key sign of a true convert. Remember the parable of the sower: the seed on stony ground sprang up quickly but was scorched when the sun came. Those are people who receive the word with joy, but when trials come, it burns out.

When we begin to follow the Lord, we can bank on trials. Jesus said, "In this world ye shall have tribulation," but added, "be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Tribulation is a test—only a test—to prove that we are tried and true. Some go through trials and the sun burns them out: "I tried that Jesus thing, it didn't work for me." Obviously they received the wrong kind of good news. But this church didn't burn out.

Wrath and Tribulation Are Not the Same

Something else, though, happened. Trials came, and they seemed to have expected they wouldn't have to go through them—that they'd be taken out first. So Paul writes both letters to explain that wrath and tribulation are not the same thing. This is one of the great misunderstandings in the American evangelical church today: we tend to associate wrath and tribulation, assuming we'll never experience difficulty because we're not appointed to wrath. But they are not the same, or Jesus would not have promised tribulation. This church was suffering, had misunderstood the teaching on the second coming, and figured they shouldn't have to go through it. Paul encourages them: you haven't missed it, and you are not appointed to wrath.

For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: but even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. (2:1–2)

Paul came to them still bruised from Philippi. If God never allowed His people to suffer, why was Paul beaten with rods, shipwrecked, and persecuted so often? He preached boldly even amid difficulty, "not as pleasing men, but God." Like the apostles in Acts—"shall we obey God or man?"—Paul came to please God.

This is important for the church in America. The gospel is offensive to those who are perishing, a stumbling block to those going to hell—and it should be. We don't want them to go to hell; we want to set a stumbling block in their path so they stop. Paul didn't follow daily polls to avoid ruffling feathers. We don't seek to offend through our personality or attitude, but if the bold preaching of God's word challenges someone on their way to hell, then so be it.

Pleasing God Is a Matter of Faith

Paul exhorts the church in 4:1 to walk so as to please God, just as he sought to please God and held himself up as an example. How do we please God? Hebrews 11 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God—by faith.

So pleasing God is simple: faith. All the works flow from faith. Paul remembered their "work of faith." Our works are a byproduct of faith, but it is the faith that pleases God—because, as Philippians 2 says, "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." It's very hard to be a man-pleaser; you can please some people some of the time, but never all the people all the time—especially around the holidays. Paul told servants in Ephesians and Colossians not to be men-pleasers. We seek to please God, and the works follow. A new heart given by faith produces new works—a desire to obey God.

God Tries Our Hearts

For God is witness... For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: nor of men sought we glory. (2:5–6)

Paul says God tries our hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is desperately wicked—who can know it?—and verse 10 says God searches and tries it. David prayed, "Try my heart." Often we don't know what's in our hearts until a fiery trial brings it to the surface—wrath, anger, malice. Sometimes we grow spiritually arrogant until a trial exposes something that embarrasses us. God already knows it's there; He wants us to see it so we can confess it and He can continue to purge it from our lives.

Paul didn't use flattering words to win them—that's how the enemy works, cunningly deceiving people. He didn't seek glory for himself. Instead, "we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children... we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." His passion for these believers shines through. He labored night and day at tentmaking so as not to be a burden, behaving holily, justly, and unblameably—a witness in deeds as well as words.

He exhorted, comforted, and charged them "as a father doth his children." Both the gentle tending of a mother and the charge of a father are important in leading the church. And why? "That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." His whole aim was mature believers walking worthy of the Lord.

God's Word Works Effectually

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (2:13)

God's word works effectually in those who believe. Isaiah 55 says His word will not return void but will accomplish what He sent it to do. The word transforms us as we study it—not just on Sunday, but daily. "How shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." It is a light unto our path.

These Gentile believers suffered from their own countrymen just as the Judean churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and who forbade the apostles to preach to the Gentiles, "to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." Notice the contrast: in 1:10 and 5:9, believers are delivered from wrath; here, wrath comes to the uttermost upon those who persecute the body of Christ and suppress the truth. Romans 1 says the wrath of God is revealed against all who suppress the truth—and these were trying to hold it back. As we look at our nation, there are people seeking to suppress the truth, and God's wrath will come upon them. But you and I are not appointed to wrath.

Paul's Pastoral Heart (Chapter 3)

Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; and sent Timotheus... to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith. (3:1–2)

Twice Paul says he "could no longer forbear" (3:1, 3:5). I think it was Paul especially who couldn't stand it any longer. He was a pastor who longed for these people to be rooted and grounded, not a fly-by-night evangelist leaving unfathered children. That pastoral heart is why we have his thirteen letters—he wanted the church equipped. He didn't know that 2,000 years later we'd still be equipped by his ministry, but thank God for the heart He gave him.

Paul sent Timothy to know their faith, "lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain." We've seen this concern in Galatians 4 and Isaiah 49—the dread of laboring in vain. A farmer knows if he labors in vain when there's no harvest, like the vineyard of Isaiah 5 that brought forth wild grapes. Paul didn't want to be one who labored in vain, so he sent Timothy—and Timothy brought back good tidings.

"I Would Not Have You Ignorant" (Chapter 4)

This letter divides in two. Chapters 1–3 deal with Paul's experience among the Thessalonians and after he left; chapters 4–5 contain his exhortations and instruction—to walk honestly, to abstain from fornication, to possess their vessels in sanctification and honor, to defraud no one, to abound more and more.

Then in 4:13 comes the great declaration about the second coming. Paul says, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren." He uses that phrase four times in his letters—about spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12), about God's plan for Israel (Romans 11), and here. And this is not merely his opinion: "this we say unto you by the word of the Lord" (4:15).

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (4:13)

"Asleep" refers to death. Clearly some believers in Thessalonica had died, and the church didn't know what to think. Paul had taught them the Lord would return, and now they feared that brother so-and-so had missed it. Paul says: don't sorrow as those who have no hope. I've used this passage at many funerals for believers. Like David in 2 Samuel 12, who rose, worshiped, and ate after his child died—"I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me"—we grieve, but not as those without hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (4:14)

If we believe Jesus rose, then believers who die will be brought back with Him. They didn't miss it. Read 1 Corinthians 15 for clarity on the resurrection, and 2 Corinthians 5: "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Paul is filling in the blanks of what they hadn't received in three weeks.

Caught Up to Meet the Lord

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. (4:16)

The voice of the archangel—I believe it means a strong, triumphant shout of victory. What does an archangel's voice sound like? The nearest picture is Isaiah 6, where the seraphim cry "Holy, holy, holy," and the very doorposts of heaven's temple are shaken by that voice. I'm pretty sure heaven's building standards exceed ours, yet that voice made the structure tremble.

The dead in Christ rise first because they are already present with the Lord. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." "Caught up" translates the Greek harpazo; the Latin Vulgate renders it rapturos—hence "rapture." This is a great and awesome expectation. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." The prophetic promise is a comfort, especially in trial: this life is not all there is. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and if we're alive when He returns, we'll be caught up in the twinkling of an eye.

Watching, Not Checking Out

The church has long discussed when the rapture occurs—pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib. I'm not going to tell you what to believe or even what I believe here. Calvary Chapel typically teaches the pre-trib view, but it's important to recognize all three. In 2 Thessalonians 2 we'll see that the day of the Lord won't come until "a falling away" first—the apostasia, Christians departing from the faith.

My concern is this: if the church began going through the tribulation and a charismatic world leader arose amid earthquakes and famines, some would say, "That pre-trib teaching wasn't true; you lied to me," and depart from the faith. I believe wholeheartedly in the rapture, and I believe Scripture leaves the exact timing somewhat unclear on purpose—so that we keep watching and waiting. As I've heard it said, we pray for pre and prepare for post.

The danger is real. When the Thessalonians decided the coming was imminent, they stopped working, and Paul had to write 2 Thessalonians to say: get going, the work's not over. Some of you remember when a book claimed "88 reasons" the rapture would happen in 1988; people dropped out of college and quit working—and forgot 2 Thessalonians, which says it's time to get to work. There remains much land to be possessed. I sure hope the Lord comes for His church before the tribulation and we have the marriage supper of the Lamb—I think a good case can be made for it. But until then we must be about the Father's business.

The Day of the Lord and the Children of Light (Chapter 5)

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (5:1–2)

"Times and seasons" is prophetic language for the coming of the Lord. People have used "thief in the night" to say the rapture takes us by surprise, but read the context. The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night upon them—those who say "Peace and safety," upon whom sudden destruction comes, and "they shall not escape."

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day. (5:4–5)

The day overtakes the unwatchful as a thief, but not believers. We are of the day. "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." It all comes back to watching, being sober, and being about the Lord's business—"putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." There again: faith, hope, and love.

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. (5:9)

We will not experience the wrath of God. That wrath is revealed from heaven against all who suppress the truth—but the watchful, who preach the truth, are not appointed to wrath. Whether we are awake or asleep—alive at His coming or already with Him—"we should live together with him." So, again, "comfort yourselves together, and edify one another."

Final Exhortations and Blessing

Paul finishes almost like a machine gun, firing off exhortations: know and esteem those who labor among you, be at peace, warn the unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all. Render to no man evil for evil; follow that which is good. "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks." Don't quench the Spirit, don't despise prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil.

Yes, the Lord will return and take His church out of the world, and we look forward to it—but until then there is work to be done. And note: we can try to grab lists from Scripture, thinking that if we just do these things we'll be holy, neglecting that it is God who sanctifies us. The lists won't make you righteous; the Lord will.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. (5:23–24)

Underline that. As Paul told Philippi (1:6), He who began a good work in you will complete it. "Brethren, pray for us"—and I'd throw that out to you, pray for those who lead and teach you. Paul charges, "I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." That is why we study this book to this day. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You that You are faithful and will complete the work You started in us. You are a great and awesome God, able to sanctify us completely—body, soul, and spirit—and preserve us blameless until the day You come. We thank You that You are even now working in us to will and to do Your good pleasure. Give us an expectation and excitement for Your coming, but also boldness to preach the truth of the gospel until You come. Continue to sanctify us and help us walk in righteousness—not checking out to find a mountaintop to wait on, but re-engaging in the work You've called us to, all the while praying, "Lord Jesus, come." We look forward to Your soon return and believe it will be soon. And even if You do not rapture Your church in our lifetime, each of us will have that encounter with You where we breathe our last in this life and our first in eternity. Just as Stephen in Acts 7, about to be absent from the body, was immediately present with You—seeing the heavens open and You standing, waiting—so each of us one day will see that. We look forward to it, in Jesus' name. Amen.