Good morning friends, today is Tuesday June 4 and we’re reading 1 Thessalonians 5 together in our summer Scripture journey.
I can imagine that as the people of the church in Thessalonica heard this letter from Paul read to them for the first time, their jaws may have been hanging open and their hearts racing by the end of chapter 4. Perhaps there was even applause and shouts of excitement, maybe even music and dancing as they anticipated the return of the Lord Jesus!
Can you hear the excited crowd shouting… “when, when will the Lord Jesus return…tell us when?” And the reader of Paul’s letter perhaps climbing up on a stool or something and asking the people to calm down so he can read the last chapter to them.
“Now brothers, about the times and dates we do not need to write to you…” and as the reader paused to take a breath there, I can just hear the, gasp and shouts, can’t you? “WHAT!!…what do you mean Paul? When will this happen, you can’t leave us hanging here… We want to be ready for Jesus’ return, when, when will it happen?” And once again I see the reader climbing up on the stool and waving his hands to calm the people, so he can continue with Paul’s letter.
“…for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night…” And with those words I can see the older, wiser ones in the crowd start stroking their beards, and nodding to one another.
You see friends, this little phrase “the day of the Lord” was something very special to those who knew the Old Testament Scriptures. Several of Israel’s prophets had written about this special “day of the Lord”… Isaiah 13:6-12; and Joel 2:28-32, and Zephaniah 1:14-18.
The Jews felt certain this special day would be unlike any other. It would be a day in which God would do things never before seen in our world. For centuries the Rabbi’s had taught this “day of the Lord” would be the beginning of God’s reckoning, His judgment on the sin of this world. Finally patient, holy God would retaliate, and the score would be settled, justice would be done, evil and wickedness would receive their just punishment from Almighty, Sovereign, Majestic, Holy God. Down through all the centuries of painful injustice the Jewish people had suffered, can you imagine their anticipation of this great and dreadful ‘day of the Lord’?
So friends, read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 a couple of times this morning and slowly. First read it imagining you are one of those of the Thessalonica church. You have been hanging on every word as you hear the letter read for the first time, as a Jewish Christian.
Now read it a second time, this time as a 21st century Christian. We’ve waited 2000 years for Jesus’ return. Truth is most Christians don’t think about it much, nor have you probably heard anything of this ‘day of the Lord’ for a long time, maybe never. But let verse 9 grab your attention. “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.” What wrath is Paul talking about? Consider these three Scriptures my friends: Romans 1:18 “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Let there be no mistake. God’s wrath, His anger against the wickedness of humanity which has rejected Him and His holiness, when fully poured out in judgment, will be like nothing any of us can imagine. Hell is the ultimate destination and eternal torment of that wrath and all who experience it.
Romans 5:9 “Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him (Jesus).” Jesus took the wrath of God upon Himself when He suffered and died on the cross to pay for our sin! Those who fully trust in Jesus’ full atonement death & resurrection, can be certain we will never experience the outpouring of God’s wrath upon us, Jesus has taken it for us. That’s what propitiation is all about (1 John 2:2)! He took our punishment!
Revelation 6:9 “…They called to the mountains and rocks, ‘fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?” It’s a prophetic, future picture of the pouring out of God’s wrath upon the wickedness of mankind on the earth. It will be unbearable.
Now as we read the Scriptures together this summer, I’m going to try and not lead us into centuries old debate. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 is one of those debates. Is this verse simply restating the truth of Romans 5:9, that Jesus took the wrath of God for those who will trust Him for salvation? Or is it also saying those who are Christians and are alive when God pours out His Revelation 6:9 wrath, will not experience it, because we will be ‘raptured’ up in the 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 return of Jesus we read about yesterday?
Paul takes the last part of chapter 5 not to debate this matter of the “day of the Lord” but instead, call the Christians of Thessalonica, and all who’ve read it over the past 2000 years, to focus on how we are living the authenticity of our life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ every day. Read it carefully, each statement he makes, and give careful attention to vs. 19! We must be careful to NOT douse the fire of the Holy Spirit’s work within us through doubt or spiritual laziness or apathy or dabbling with sin. What is it for you my friends, that tries to extinguish the Spirit’s flame in you?
Finally I must point out one more verse in chapter 5… it’s vs. 23 “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through, May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”
Please see three important things here:
1. Sanctification… it is a work of God, HE does it in the life of a Christian, we don’t sanctify ourselves.
2. Sanctification is a work of holiness… it’s God cleansing us of sin and the stain of sin; it’s God’s purifying us for His usefulness and His glory; it’s an ongoing, ever deeper work of God’s HOLY Spirit in us!
3. Do you see the words “your whole spirit, soul and body…”? That is one of the verses that helps me understand God has made us a tri-part human being when He made us in His image. Body we understand… flesh, blood, bones, growing and ageing and temporary. Soul... I suggest is the combination of our Personality, Intellect, Emotions and Will, all designed by God and given us uniquely as He shaped and formed us in our mother’s womb, and then as we developed in our formative years. Spirit… ah, this is the part of us that is “regenerated” when we are born again (John 3:3-7) and this part of us is the Spiritual part that has relationship with God!
Ok friends… wow, what a powerful letter of 1 Thessalonians, would you agree? Now I hope you’ll read that 5th chapter a few times and let it simmer in your soul & spirit as the Holy Spirit opens your heart and mind to understand and let it permeate you.
Pastor Doug Anderson
262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)