General Articles

2 Thes. Lesson 1: God’s Final Judgment & Glory :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR7

Chapter 1:1-10

“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 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, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.”

As we recall, this church in Thessalonica was founded in just a few weeks on one of Paul’s earlier journeys. Yet, this church was thriving and growing. Grace and peace from our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Greeks here lead us to understand that the grace we receive is one source; this was clear to the early church and should be clear to us still today (verse 2).

Paul then goes on to say that he is thanking God for them. Paul was one to always be in the thankful mode. Here he was thanking these lovely people for their growing faith and their love towards one another. What an awesome thing to have in a local church! Oh, that more of our churches had this today—faith in the Lord and love for each other! In verse 4, Paul let them know that he boasted of them to other churches.

Just a step back to verse 3: do you and I thank God for each other? Paul thanked God for these people and this church all the time. He was actively thanking God for them. Do we do that? When is the last time that you thanked God for someone in your church, or your home, for that matter?

I can think of many people in the 2 churches I pastor that I thank God for a lot. They are faithful and loving, they love me and His kingdom, they endure great hardships and lots of tough times with grace, and they smile even in the hardest of times. I thank the Lord for them. I thank the Lord for the young man who was saved earlier this year; he was baptized and is faithful. When we came to help this church over 2 years ago, I could not envision him being saved, furthermore attending regularly. But God; He is awesome and wonderful, and He calls all who will accept His love and His salvation His sons. I thank God for an 84-year-old pastor who lives in pain every day, but he attends whenever he can muster the strength. I thank God for his wife who cares for him 24/7; she is in her late 70s, and she is joyful and faithful.

Thank God for the people in your life that love the Lord, boast about them to others, and give God the glory.

  • Growth in Persecution, verses 3-5

I have said this many times, and I have heard it many times; the Lord’s churches grow in persecution. Now, our numbers may dwindle in persecution, but the true believers grow in the midst of troubled times. As far as I can recall, other than the two times we are given numbers in Acts, we do not know the size of any of the NT churches that we read about. We know that they had enough people to form a group, and they grew from there.

We love numbers here in our North American churches, and I can understand the need for numbers. We want to know that we are seeing progress. Missionaries send back reports of every salvation, every baptism, and every Bible and tract they hand out. Once again, there is nothing wrong with that. But we should be just as excited if the man is obeying God and it seems that nothing is happening — say, like Noah. He ended with the same 8 people he started with, but he was obedient. Jesus at one time fed a hillside of thousands, but only very few were in attendance that first resurrection night.

Over the past 2 years, we have seen an attack on the local church in ways that are very subtle. We have had pastors arrested in Alberta, Canada, for holding services; we have had churches fined thousands of dollars for not bowing to the rules of COVID. Here in Canada, one could go to a local Costco or Walmart with hundreds of other people but not attend church with a few for a long time. Over time many got accustomed to sitting on the couch and not actually going to church, and they are not going to return.

Now, at the same time, some churches found a way to actively get to the shut-ins that were ignored for a long time, and there has been a lot of good Bible expository loaded up to various online resources. But actual church attendance is down in many places, and it would seem that we have had a weeding out of the weak or maybe the lost, and the faithful have grown and are growing.

Many can see the framework of the reign of the Anti-Christ being set up right before our eyes, and we can see how easily people, even church people, can be manipulated into doing things to preserve peace and safety. There are some places in the world that are using the vaccine passports as a way to deny even the most basic of rights like buying groceries. The idea that one has to have a mark to buy and sell is being built right before our eyes. The idea that we are to report our neighbors to the authorities for non-compliance is happening right before our eyes. The division of society and the civil unrest that is happening reminds us that hard times are here to stay and that we in the Lord’s churches should brace ourselves for some difficult times.

But, as we see here in this church at Thessalonica, our faith and love should grow as we endure these hardships. We should see our dependence on the Lord grow, our compassion and need for each other should grow, and we should help each other through the difficult times that confront us. These times should bolster our trust that God knows what He is doing and is in complete control.

  • The Righteous Judgment of God, verse 5

We will just introduce ourselves to this today; we will not explore it. God’s judgment was seen clearly in the Thessalonian church as they were purified in these troubled times. As we see their love and faith growing in the midst of trials, it was a testimony that God was at work. The same things that destroy the godless purify the godly. Just as God was working on the godly, He would execute judgment on the godless. He would be faithful to the negative with the same tenacity that He was faithful to the positive.

All too often, we see the evil prosper, and we wonder if God is asleep at the wheel, but He is not. He is moving in us His children, but He will come back to judge this world as well. These defiant and rebellious people will not escape the wrath of God.

Hold on; Jesus is coming to settle things up. And make no mistake, He will. He will come as the conquering King the next time, not as a lowly baby. He will be seen by all, not just a few shepherds. He will rule with a rod of iron, and He will not tolerate evil. These people that we see on TV every day defying God to His face will one day bow down and call Him ‘Lord.’ They will not be able to deny Him.

Hold on, hold fast your faith, and keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Trust His Word and His promises; they will get us through. And, as the world around us becomes more bitter, corrupt, and cynical, we in the Lord’s churches should grow in faith in Him and love towards each other.

Next week we will explore more about God’s judgment and wrath. In the meantime, love each other and be actively thankful for each other; Jesus is coming back soon.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

 

1 Thessalonians 4:18: Encourage One Another :: By Gary W. Ritter

Published on: by RR7

 

(Isaiah 59-61; 1 Thessalonians 4)

There is much misunderstanding about God’s intent with the church in these latter days, whether ignorant or willful. People seem to forget or disregard that true believers are the Bride of Christ. The truth of the matter is that we are special. God has graciously given us the gift of His beloved Son to be joined with Him forever. We who have freely chosen to place our trust in Him are given certain privileges that no one else outside of Christ has. Scripture declares this again and again.

Most believers accept this and acknowledge that we are the elect of Christ. We have a positional relationship with Him that is absolutely unique and without precedence. God loves us. Jesus is our Savior and Lord. He is our older brother and bridegroom. God has grafted us into His family. We are adopted children in the Lord. Given this understanding, you would think that we would have uniform agreement as to the character of God.

Surely, for those of us walking in obedience to Him, there is no need for His correction or rebuke, let alone for punishment. Why is one punished and receives the wrath of God? It’s because he was disobedient, engaged in sexual immorality, followed idols, or chose any path but the one that leads through the straight gate. This is clearly seen through the witness of Israel in the Old Testament.

Why then, if these are the reasons to be on the receiving end of God’s anger, do New Testament believers think we must go through some or all of the Tribulation? When Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, he certainly didn’t believe those saints were destined to endure God’s wrath. He taught them for a limited time, only about three weeks, yet he made sure they knew about the hope of the return of Jesus. For that reason, he urged them multiple times to obey God in all they did. We see this in several verses of 1 Thessalonians 4:

v1 – how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more

v3 – that you abstain from sexual immorality

v4 – that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor

v5 – not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles

v6 – that no one transgress and wrong his brother

v7 – God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness

v8 – whoever disregards this disregards not man but God

v9 – you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another

v10 – we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more

What was Paul’s reason for emphasizing righteousness in this church to the extent that he did? It was because of what he had taught about the promise of hope they had in Jesus Christ. In fact, they were so concerned about this that they asked Paul about their believing loved ones who had died. Did they have the same promise of resurrection and redemption from this earth as the living believers did?

Paul had to remind them that he had spoken of this while there teaching them. Just so they had no doubts, he reiterated that teaching so that they wouldn’t be uninformed (1 Thessalonians 4:13). In this epistle, he declared that all would rise when Christ returned, first those asleep in the Lord (i.e., believers who had died), and then the living.

What an amazing promise! Can you imagine? As 1 Thessalonians 4:17 joyfully says:

“… we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them [the dead in Christ] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Paul was saying to this church: “Don’t blow it! Examine yourselves. Be sure that your heart toward God is pure. He will deliver you from this alien world.”

There is nothing Paul says regarding a faithful church walking in obedience to God that even hints that its congregation of true believers must face God’s wrath. This is the hope that children of God have. Remember, just a few paragraphs earlier in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, what Paul said about our Lord. We are:

“… to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

What does it mean to wait? It means to complete a process that intensifies for the coming of something that is expected (Strong’s #362). That sure sounds like birth pains to me with an anticipated delivery, i.e., the Rapture. Wrath is something that teems or swells. It’s not a sudden outburst; rather, it’s fixed or controlled, a passionate feeling against sin (Strong’s #3709), i.e., the Tribulation.

Are true believers in Christ subject to this rising tide of God’s anger? Of course not. Jesus took all our sins upon Himself. Just as the preceding verse says, He has delivered us from the wrath to come.

And what is that coming wrath? It is a day, as Isaiah 24:6 says, that:

“… a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.”

Does this sound like a time that we who love God will be forced to endure? Surely this is a time of wrath from which the Lord delivers us.

And that’s the point. The pre-Tribulation Rapture is the only position that should make any sense to blood-bought believers in Jesus Christ. While the earth suffers its just punishment for its iniquities, we whose sins have been forgiven will spend the seven years of the Tribulation in the chambers of heaven with the Lord, safe and secure from all harm.

It’s for this reason that Paul can exhort this believing church in 1 Thessalonians 4:18:

“Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

And what an encouragement it is!

[Author Note: Briefly, I want to set the stage for you as to the nature of most of my articles in this season. Each year I read the Bible through completely at least once – that has been my practice since I came to the Lord in 2005. I remain astounded at what God has done in my life because of that discipline! Each day I read from both the Old and New Testaments. I choose a verse from one of those passages and write my commentary and reflection based on that. In the title of my article, you’ll see the verse I chose. In addition, you’ll see the reading for that day if you’d like to follow along with greater context.]

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Gary W. Ritter is a lay pastor, Bible teacher, and prolific author. His Whirlwind Series comprises three books: Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind, and There Is A Time. These books are contained in the collected volume of the Whirlwind Omnibus. Gary has been given the Christian Redemptive Fiction award for three novels: The Tattooed Cat, Alien Revelation, and for his collaboration with Terry James in writing The Minion Protocols, the third book in James’ Second Coming Chronicles.

Earlier this year, Gary released a four-volume set of Awaken Bible Study Notes that comment verse-by-verse through Scripture from a Biblical prophetic lens. He is currently editing a sequel to Alien Revelation called Alien Zombie Plague, which he plans to release later in the fall of 2021. Recently, Gary wrote a novella for the new Kindle Vella platform. That story is called Tribulation Rising: Seal Judgments – The Coming Apocalypse. This seven-part short work can be found at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099Z462WD.

Each day this year, Gary has been writing commentary and reflections based on his reading through the Bible in a year. The intent in all his writings is to bring a strong Christian witness to what people read. You can see all his books and blog articles and reach him at his website:www.GaryRitter.com or his Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/gritter3390. You can also see his older video Bible teachings on his Gary Ritter YouTube channel – look for the fish symbol, and more recently on Rumble on his Awaken Bible Prophecy channel: https://rumble.com/c/c-783217.