I very rarely if ever comment in these posts on a biblical verse in a way that you can read the same thing in any study bible. There are thousands of websites out there for that....and take your pick of bible study pamphlets and radio broadcasts to get that good information. I rather try to give perspectives that are not normally heard....and in this post I want to look in a different way at Paul's two letters to the Thessalonians.
These two letters were of the early letters that Paul sent out. A very strong emphasis in both is on the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had the believers actually looking and hoping for Jesus to appear in the sky. Was he surprised as the years rolled on? How do we look at these epistles today? If you are part of a....read the bible in a year plan....which I do not recommened....then you come across Thessalonians a couple of times.....in a year. These plans have taken the Holy Spirit out of your bible study....as in these plans no book in the bible has any significant importance as it relates to what is happening in the world at any point in time.
As a typical year passes....I come back to many books time after time after time....and the letters to the Thessalonians are two of them. I cannot see how the difficult times and the persecution of the people circa 50 AD....are merely windows for us to see what was happening to a congregation at that time. Thessalonians has to speak to us today....and not just as encouraging words relating to what happened to believers two thousand years ago.
Some of Paul's written words were...."wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come"...."For what is our hope.....is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?"...."so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming our our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints,"...."For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God"....."The day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night, For when they say 'Peace and safety' then sudden destruction comes upon them." The first epistle ends with the exhortation that we be preserved blameless...."at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
These letters are short....and the second letter continues to refer to when...."The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven...." Let me pick a date out of nowhere.....1900 for example.... I could have picked 1800 or 1700. As it turns out....this date was a century away from all the prophetic pieces in God's Word coming together....as they are today.....were these two letters then really to the church of 1900? Of course they were....for the entire century that lay before them was increasing evidence of the blessed return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
I want you to explore this question....just as I do. Obviously every Christian in every age is to look to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ....and all believers from the past read these encouragements in their bibles....but are these two letters of Paul's of less importance than the letter to Romans for example? They are totally different in what their purpose was as it relates to the edification of the church in general who reads them....but are we to look at Thessalonians as just two encouraging letters to a local church....a church that was a great example to others....and this during difficult times....or are these letters really part of God's Word.....in that they are written to us today....every bit as much as Romans?
All three of the synoptic gospel books contain the Olivet Discourse....and the coming of our lord Jesus Christ is found throughout the NewTestament. This was not a minor doctrine....for it was part of the life of the believer....and should be part of our lives. So the question that I would encourage the reader here to explore....pertains to these two letters to the Thessalonians....are they for us today.....or were they only to the Thessalonians....therefore just examples of exhortation to us today? When Paul warned the Thessalonians in chapter two of his second letter to them...."Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first".....could that warning have been more for us today than even to the Thessalonians?
Yes....we accept that particular verse as doctrinal truth today.....but do we view that letter as to us? When Paul begins chapter two with...."Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with Him...." do we see Paul here speaking to us....or are we just listening in to words he had for the Thessalonians? We need to resolve this question....and in this post I am only trying to generate some.....not your average bible study....conversation on the topic.
