1 Thessalonians Lesson 8: The God Who Comforts Us :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR7 Category:General Articles, Sean Gooding

 

Chapter 5:1-11

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

6 “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

Once again, thank you for your encouraging emails. It is always good to know that someone is reading these articles. I certainly enjoy writing them, and over the past 11 years and more, with about 6 of those being on Rapture Ready, it has been and continues to be a pleasure.

The idea of making sure that we are working until Jesus comes to get us is very important. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that the very reason that God is patient is that He wants ALL to come to repentance. God is not the ogre that many atheists make Him out to be, but He is graciously and lovingly patient with a rebellious and thankless world, a world that has rejected His love, scoffed at His Son, and made a mockery of His grace. Yet, rather than shuffle them and us, without Jesus, off to hell as we deserve, He patiently waits, allowing as many as possible to live in His loving Heaven and under His eternal protection.

God knew that the life of saved people would at times be very difficult. His own Son, Jesus, had a very difficult life here on earth. The very people who claimed to be for God, the Pharisees, hated Him and turned a large part of the Jews against Him. They eventually killed Him using the hands of the Roman soldiers. Jesus warned us that the peoples of the world system would treat us as they treated Him. For hundreds of years, the true churches of the Lord — from the one formed in Jerusalem to the churches of the Dark Ages, the churches in Russia, many parts of Europe and elsewhere — were hunted and hurt, many killed because of the truth. They, the true churches, refused to identify with Rome or England later on, and they were made illegal; many were executed, imprisoned and hurt over many, many centuries.

The exploits of the NT churches were laid out in a book called The Trail of Blood, an excellent read but not for the faint of heart at times. One Cardinal was quoted as saying that had not the RC Church hunted the Baptists for 1,200 years, they would have overrun the RC church by now.

Satan is a brilliant strategist, and he saw that pain and suffering did not quell the growth of the churches, so he set about to destroy by calm and comfort. For the past century, the churches of the world have enjoyed relative peace and safety. New laws and freedoms made our lives easier and easier; we could expand, and we did. More missionaries and more churches, more outreach and more expansion. However, all alongside the growth, the Devil has planted false churches. We have seen so much heresy and the power of greed, money and prestige take over the Lord’s churches, and for many, the need for expansion choked out the truth of the Gospel.

As we get closer and closer to the return of Jesus, it is very possible that we that are in the Lord’s churches will experience more and more trouble. Paul – well, really, the Holy Spirit using Paul’s hands – gives us words and instructions to be comforted with.

  • We will not be Over Taken by ‘That Day,’ verses 1-5

Paul will explore two kinds of people here in these verses. People who live in the Light and those that live in the darkness. Depending on where you live, ‘That Day’ will be different for you. We in the Light know that the day of the Lord will come as a ‘thief in the night,’ not to us but the people who live in Darkness; they will see That Day as a thief in the night. If you take the time to go back and read Matthew 24, you will see that Jesus uses the phrase, “do not be deceived” often. He is warning His people to make sure that we are read up and watching so as not to be deceived. Jesus told us in the Gospels that ‘That Day’ will come when the world is just like it was in the Days of Noah.

What marked the Days of Noah? In Genesis 6:5, we find the answer; “that every imagination of the thoughts of his hearts was only evil continually.” Wow, we are there for sure today! We can see evil in the people in our leadership, we see evil in our society, and it seems that we only promote evil right now. I just saw an article about a school taking a day trip to a Gay Club, actually taking students there. Another had drag queens doing lap dances. And just last week or so, we heard of an incident where a young man claiming to be ‘transgendered’ had raped or at least sexually assaulted girls in the school or schools he attended.

We see the rampant evil in our governments, the corruption and the thievery. We see lying as a way of life for many in power. We find out years later that there were vast cover-ups to protect those that broke the law. Even now, 58 years later, they will not let us have the true story of what happened to JFK. We are beginning to find out that there have been large payments used to cover up sexual misconduct in the halls of government. And soon, we are to see the former governor of NY arrested and charged with sexual misconduct. Those of us that are of the Light should be able to see these things and not be caught off guard, not be dismayed, and not be discouraged to think that evil had won. The people of Noah’s day thought evil had won until the rain started to fall. Then only those who obeyed God lived.

All too often in our churches today, we do not teach about the end times and about what to look for. Many Christians have never even read the Book of the Revelation, which promises a blessing for just reading it. Yet, after just about 3 weeks, and some say 3 months here in Thessalonica, Paul was broaching the end times. He had and was preparing them for the end. He was teaching about the Rapture and the need for God’s people to keep an eye open and to know what to look for so that we are not caught off-guard. Sadly, too many churches today do not teach about the end and that we should live in anticipation of Jesus’ return.

Hiebert tells us that ‘The Day of the Lord’ is a familiar Old Testament expression that denotes a time when God would intervene in the history of man to judge His enemies, deliver His people, and establish His Kingdom. The Rapture is just the beginning of a long journey of 7 years to the establishment of the Kingdom here on earth.

  • A Thief in the Night, verses 2-3

Today we see brazen thievery in broad daylight. But in Jesus’ day, most of the thievery was done by night. There is still a lot of that today as well. A good thief must be good at stealth and good at secrets. The day of the Lord will be just like that, sudden; no one will know when it is going to happen, and we cannot set any dates. This is an important doctrine. If you see or hear any preacher, pastor, or so-called modern-day prophet setting a date for the Lord’s return, the Rapture or the Day of the Lord, they are liars. Paul tells us that The Day will come as a thief in the night. Our job is to be ready and to be doing the Kingdom business of sharing the Gospel.

While we are not to set dates, as children of the Light, we are not to be surprised by the arrival of The Day; rather, we should be looking for it with diligence and anticipation.

In Matthew 16: 1-3, Jesus criticized the religious leaders of the day for not being able to recognize the signs of the times. Why were they blind? The vast majority of them, if not all at the time, were children of the Darkness. But as children of the Light, we are to live prepared for the unexpected. The people who live in the darkness, blinded by their sin and rejection of God’s grace, are trying to create peace and safety on earth without Jesus. This is impossible with sinful men. We are corrupt at best, and dead people cannot produce life, furthermore, a good life. But when the leaders of the world promise us ‘peace and safety,’ beware that the time of The Day is near. They are trying to do what only God can and will do.

The Rapture is part one of the whole Day of the Lord. The first part told to us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is that we will “meet the Lord in the air.” The second part seen in Zechariah 14:5 is Jesus coming with the saints. These events are 7 years apart at least; together, they make up The Day of the Lord. In that time, God will judge His enemies, rescue His people, and pave the way for the establishment of the Kingdom that Jesus will rule from Jerusalem. Paul tells us that as we get closer and closer to The Day, the signs will be like the labor pains in a woman who is giving birth.

Just over 2 weeks ago, we got a call from our daughter, and she was experiencing labor pains. It was very early, in the wee hours of the morning, and she went to the local hospital. But it was not until about 12 hours later that she gave birth to our first grandbaby. Well, The Day of the Lord will be like this; we will see signs, then more clear signs, then very deliberate signs, then the Trumpet sounds and The Day begins.

We will come back to this text next week. There is so much more to investigate, but I want to leave you with Paul’s words of comfort from verse 11. ‘Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

Let us help each other to be ready for The Day. We did not miss it; God did not forget us, and He certainly did not change His mind. Rather, He is doing what a Loving, gracious God does. He is being patient, waiting for as many as possible to receive Jesus’ awesome gift of salvation. So let us edify to build each other up, encourage each other, and comfort each other. God knows how to care for the righteous in Jesus, and for sure, He will not judge the righteous with the evil ones. This we know for sure, and we will explore more of this next week as we revisit these verses.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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Spiritual Persecution :: By Daniel Payne

Published on: by RR7 Category:Dan Payne, General Articles

2 Thessalonians 1:4, “So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.”

Most true Bible-believing Christians living in America today are very aware of the terrible physical persecution being experienced by some of their fellow believers in certain places around the world. Places like China, Africa, and the Middle East, just to name a few.

Since we do not know the day that the Lord will call us up to heaven with a shout, we can’t help but wonder why so many of our fellow believers overseas are experiencing such terrible persecution while we have, for the most part, remained safe and at peace for generations here in America.

Most of us are also very aware that if the direction America is currently moving in doesn’t change course very soon, we may find ourselves facing similar persecution right here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

While we firmly believe in God’s promise that we will not experience His wrath during the judgment of the Tribulation, we realize that we will face increasing tribulation and persecution prior to the coming of the Lord for His bride.

It is true that physical violence against true believers is terrible persecution. It is also true that the increasing strength of the spiritual war being waged against true believers is another form of persecution.

“For that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:8).

The more familiar KJV: “(for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds).”

God’s servants are called to let our lights shine for Christ in the world. We’re called to be in the world but not of the world.

At the same time, if we who love God and believe His Word simply view the world around us, we can’t help but be tormented in our souls by the moral depravity that is exponentially increasing against our beliefs.

If we who love God and believe His Word attempt to watch or listen to any form of media, we’re bombarded by things in direct opposition to our beliefs on a daily basis. Not only are our eyes and ears filled with things fundamentally adverse to our core values, we are openly condemned as being hateful for simply believing what we believe.

(Ironically, true believers are condemned by those who condemn the lives of their own future children to death via abortion.)

When we who believe in the Word of God disagree with certain behavior that is publicly declared as righteous—even though it goes against the Word of God—we are accused of being a danger to humanity. We are also accused of hating the people engaging in the immoral behavior.

The accusations of hate are the opposite of the truth for genuine believers who truly follow the Lord’s commandments to love our enemies. True believers who love the Lord are only doing the very same thing that those who hate God’s laws are doing: standing up for our rights to believe what we believe.

Those who hate the moral code of God’s Word declare genuine followers of Jesus Christ as their enemies. In contrast, true Bible-believing Christians should “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed” (2 Peter 3:15-16).

Those who hate true believers get around our loving message of the Gospel by saying that we are hateful by simply believing what we believe and living according to our beliefs. They say that our beliefs are exclusive as opposed to being inclusive.

In a nutshell, the world says that putting the Gospel of Jesus Christ ahead of its own social gospel is hatred.

The following are a few examples of the “hate” that true Christians are accused of:

  • We believe that salvation is only through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
  • We stand against tyranny.
  • We stand against killing unborn human beings.
  • We will not condemn an entire race (white, Jewish, etc.) because we believe, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
  • We believe the true science of climate change (i.e., the sun is by far the main physical influence on earth’s climate, the same climate that the fossil record shows was actually warmer in the distant past), not the world’s own version of a future apocalypse caused by trucks and hamburgers, etc.

While we do not know just how much more persecution the Father will allow those of us who love His Son to suffer, we do know—as the convergence of the signs is signifying—He will likely be sending His Son to take us to the place He has prepared for us very soon.

John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

In closing, here is a great lesson provided to us by the Lord through the Apostle Paul on how we can endure trials and tribulation while we continue to live for Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-10, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

“And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us.”