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A striking feature about the Thessalonian letters is that each
chapter in both letters ends with a reference to the coming of the
Lord. To these early believers the great hope lay in His coming
again. They believed what the angels had said to the disciples on the
Mount of Olives, "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you
into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into
heaven" (Acts 1:11). It was the ever-present hope of the early
church, and that hope became the dominant theme of the Thessalonian
letters.
Their answer to the threat of personal death
was a firm belief in Jesus' resurrection. Jesus had said,
"Because I live, you will live also" (John 14:19). Now they
were to "wait for His Son from heaven" (1 Thess. 1:10).
The Thessalonians were confident of their
victory over death, and they did not fear what Paul called "the
wrath to come" (v.10). This is not a reference to hell. In John
5:24, Jesus had said, "He who hears My word and believes in Him
who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment,
but has passed from death into life." These faithful believers
had learned from Paul that they would not face that judgment. Here,
he is referring to a coming period of wrath on earth from which they
could also be assured of deliverance by their Lord.
In the Old Testament, this period is called
"the great and terrible day of the Lord" (Joel 2:31). It is
a time when God's judgments will rain down on the earth. Jesus
Himself described it as the "great tribulation, such as has not
been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever
shall be" (Matt. 24:21). That time is yet ahead. But throughout
these letters we learn that God has a plan to deliver His own from
"the wrath to come." Christians will have victory, even
over the approaching crisis of the world.
More than the certainty of heaven or escape
from the agony of living is the promise that He who is coming again
even now rules in the affairs of men. Intertwined with the promise of
John 14 is the assurance that He will come to live within us. Jesus
said, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you"
(v.18). The wonderful paradox for Christians is that though the
kingdom of Christ is still to come when Jesus will return to this
earth, He is already here with us now. He is leading us, fulfilling
us, ministering to us, guarding us, and, even now, ruling in earthly
affairs.
What does this mean to us today? Simply this:
Christians have no business being discouraged, defeated, or
despairing. If we succumb to any of these moods, it is because we
have forgotten the great truths proclaimed in Paul's letter. But
there in troubled Thessalonica these truths were living, vital, and
fragrant in the hearts of the believers. Surely, in our dark hour of
history, God is calling us back to the fundamentals of the Christian
life--faith, hope, and love.
Curtis
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