Confidence in the Coming of Jesus
Book of 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4
The Apostle Paul continues with these things of the coming of the Lord from Chapter three verse thirteen.
As Christians we must be encouraged to know that all saints who have gone before us are resting in the presence of the Lord and we are confident that we will see them again at the coming of the Lord.
There may be differences in the many denominations of Christianity, but the return of Jesus Christ is not one of them.
The return of our Lord Jesus is mentioned more than three hundred times in the New Testament.
There are entire chapters given to the discussion of the return of Christ.
In the Book of Matthew Chapters 13, 24 and 25.
In the Book of Mark Chapter 13
In the Book of Luke Chapter 21
In this Book of Thessalonians we are studying now, along with Book Two, the majority of these Scriptures deal with the return of the Lord.
Much of the Book of Revelation deals with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ taught us that His return would be a literal, physical event.
Jesus said He would return just as His disciples seen Him depart.
Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Jesus Christ is returning to take those who love Him back home to His Father's house, which is now our home.
Our mortal bodies will be changed to glorified bodies just as His body.
1Jn_3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
The truth is, we must always be prepared for the coming of our Lord as it could happen at any moment now.
We are approaching the end of the Church Age which means the destruction of this world is very near.
There will be a New Heaven and a New earth because it is sin that has marred both places, both caused by that person known as Satan who is soon to be bound in Hell which is the place God has designed for him.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, "according to his promise", look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
*****1Th 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
1Th 4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
This is what the Church calls today, "The Believer's Walk".
Once we are saved, we are to walk to please God!
We are to live as God tells us how to live by keeping God's commandments.
We are to walk in the will of God for our lives.
We are to walk to please God.
We cannot please God without faith in the truth of His Words.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
If we cannot believe God is who He says He is as described in the Word of God, then we cannot please Him.
If we cannot please Him then He cannot accept us!
*****1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
Paul first mentions sanctification of the body.
What is sanctification? It is God's will that we give ourselves to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christianity is a walk with the Lord Jesus Christ!
To be a Christian is not an ornament that we wear, it is a life always progressing in the will of God for our lives.
The love of God is the mightiest power in the life of each Christian.
We know that God is holy and we must strive to be holy to be more like Him.
Sanctification means we are to resist the passion of lust.
Sanctification means that we know how to control our body.
When we begin to lust, then we will soon become enslaved to lust.
The passion of lust is the way of our world today.
This is why there is such a battle for abortion!
People cannot contain their lust so they need to be able to stop the consequences of that lust.
This is why there is such battle for LGBT movement because people cannot contain their lust.
This is not the way of God!
It is the lifestyle of those who do not know God!
Fornication is any sexual act outside the bonds of a marriage between one man and one woman!
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
1Pe 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
Concupiscence is intense desire always in a bad sense, the passion for sexual lust.
*****1Th 4:6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
1Th 4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
1Th 4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
There are many reasons we are to live pure lives:
1) Immorality defrauds and cheats a brother or sister in Christ.
It either takes a wife from her husband or it takes a husband from his wife.
We know that most of the time that the trust and affection that were once in that marriage cannot be completely recovered.
That marriage and bond of trust is gone forever!
This same thing effects those who are unmarried when fornication takes place.
2) God shall revenge immorality.
Immorality is accepted and even encouraged in our society today.
How can we say it is encouraged? Look at television and films. Look at advertisements and promotions. Look at the way the world dresses. Listen to suggestive words and actions that are acceptable today.
God is going to judge immoral behavior and we have the example of Sodom and Gomorrah.
3) God did not call us to immorality, God called us to holiness!
God would never call a person to do such things. Immorality may be the greatest destructive force in our world today!
Immorality has destroyed the family model that makes societies prosper.
4) Immorality is a sin against God!
When God despises something, it means He rejects it.
The world says the commandments of God are old fashioned and unacceptable in an intellectual and enlightened society.
It is obvious that our societies have crumbled till they do not exist accept in the minds of the wicked.
The world may not be able to do anything to us if we break the commandments of God, but it is a fact unless we repent, we will receive the full vengeance of a Holy God!
Each true Christian is the home of the Holy Spirit and we must not defile the Holy Spirit, we must keep our bodies holy.
It must be our ambition to please God!
*****1Th 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
1Th 4:10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
As we arise every morning the first thought we should have is to please God in our actions each day.
The word used for brotherly love in the Greek is "Philadelphia".
We now that there is a city in America named Philadelphia which was at one time known as the city of "brotherly love".
But brotherly love is the love that is required in the Church just as it is in our families.
Brotherly love is that love of Christians to Christians all around this world.
We cannot allow this world to divide us and it cannot if we all have that same message that comes by the Word of God.
There is only "One Word of God" and it is not to be altered!
Brotherly love is that love that shows this wicked world the love we have within the Church of the Living God!
This is a love that cannot fail because it is a love that should be growing within each of us!
This love “Philadelphia” comes from God to each Christian but our preachers still need to remind us of this love because we need each other to make it through this life we have now before we go home to be with the Lord.
Heaven will be a place of brotherly love.
It is not always easy to show brotherly love in this corrupt world we live in where love is interpreted as "lust".
As Christians we need that strong bond of brotherly love in order to stand against the temptations and our walk through the sufferings of this life.
The greatest threat to the Church is the internal strife that comes as we allow the world to come into the Church and dictate a false narrative.
The Church is sinking today because of worldly philosophies that cause confusion.
Our world is not billions of years old.
Humans have not evolved from monkeys or any other species.
Our climate has been changing from day one.
Why will all these great scientist not tell you that if all pollution is removed from our atmosphere, it will be so hot that we will not be able to live outdoors?
There is always a need to grow increasingly in the Lord and grow more and more in His love for us that we can show to each other.
This great church of the Thessalonians were noted for the love they showed throughout all of Macedonia.
*****1Th 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
1Th 4:12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
What is it to study to be quiet?
We are to put forth the effort to live quiet and peaceable lives.
At the same time, we inflict a real loss to society if we do not speak for the truth, but allow those to say too much who need to say very little or say nothing at all.
This is why there is so much filth in our world today because the Church has been too quiet.
The wicked voices of immorality are speaking the loudest today and they have bent the ears of our liberal government.
We must certainly put forth the effort to live quiet and peaceable lives, but there are times we must take a stand.
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, "that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day", and having done all, "to stand".
It is our duty to mind our own business, but it is also our duty to take care of our families.
We are not to be busybodies nor meddle in the affairs of others nor try to change the direction of this world.
Our job remains to be witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ and take a stand on the truth of God.
If we do this, the Holy Spirit will certainly do what He came upon this earth to do.
If we cannot keep our own affairs straight, then how could we ever change the affairs of others.
We must avoid looking like we are everybody's judge!
If we commit our lives to the truth of the Word of God, we will not have time to meddle in the affairs of others.
We need to work with our own hands to supply the needs of our families so we do not become a burden to the Church.
Very few people have any respect for those who are able to work, but refuse to do so, insisting that someone else should be providing for them.
God has no patience for those who will not work!
Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
2Th_3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
As Christians, we must set the example for working to provide our own needs being able then, to help others who are unable to provide for themselves, but not for those who have the ability to provide for themselves and refuse to do so.
We have far too many things to consider in our lives than to worry about our fellow brothers and sisters and family who have gone on before us.
*****1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
Paul continues with the subject of the return of Jesus Christ.
The same Bible that tells us how to be saved, also teaches us how live throughout eternity with our Savior.
This same Bible that teaches us how we are to live in this life and be good Christians.
This is also the same Bible that tells us of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus will return to this earth to claim all believers to Himself!
Most of the world rejects that there will be an afterlife upon our death, but the world is wrong again.
At the moment of our death, our soul returns to be with our Savior.
2Co_5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
How do we know this?
2Co_4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
The Lord Jesus has resurrection power!
When that soul gets to Heaven there will also be given a temporary body.
Rev_6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
You cannot put a robe upon a soul or a spirit.
We should understand that every Christian alive, and all those who have already gone to Heaven, will gather together with the Lord Jesus when we meet Him in the clouds.
We must not be ignorant of the power of the resurrection of Christ!
The fact of the Lord's return should arouse concern in us for our family members who are not saved, some friends that are not saved, and for the lost in general.
There is absolutely no hope for those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, but for the believer, our hope is in the Lord.
*****1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
No doubt that everyone who goes down by the graveyard a loved one will grieve for them because someone we love is no longer with us.
Our grief will be easier to take, when we know that we will see them again and we will live together throughout eternity in a place where even paradise is not a good enough word to describe it.
All our brothers and sisters in Christ will return with Him when He returns.
This passage is proof that all departed believers are already with Jesus in Heaven.
We do not have to wonder where they are!
To be asleep in Jesus, is not some semi-conscious state or some form of deep sleep as some believe.
Sleep is only a soft word used by believers to describe our departure from this world.
It could be said that while we are asleep in Jesus, then we are no longer suffering from the persecutions of this world.
Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
If we have trusted the Lord in our life time, we can certainly trust in the Lord when we leave this world behind!
We can never die because our Lord Jesus has already died in our place!
This is one of the reasons that there had to be cross in the life of Our Savior.
The body of each believer will first be raised before those who are alive and remain are called to meet the Lord in the air.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
How can we have doubt in the return of Jesus Christ, when He has said so many times that He will certainly return to take us all home to be with Him in the New Heaven.
*****1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be "caught up together" with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
When we deny the return of Jesus Christ we are calling Him a liar.
The Lord Jesus Christ in all His glory will descend from Heaven in that same glorified human body that He ascended back to Heaven.
Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
The Lord Jesus is not returning as a lowly shepherd, but in the Majesty and in Divine power that He alone possesses.
We need only remember that day when our Lord called Lazarus from his tomb.
Joh_11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
When the Lord shouts this time, He will just shout come forth "My" people.
Or if we remember the Hebrew weddings in that day and the parable of the ten virgins. "Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
We can be sure that every child of God will hear this shout even those in the grave.
There will be no unbeliever who will be resurrected at this time for that resurrection occurs on the day of "judgment".
This is what we know of as the White Throne Judgment.
Even the remnants of that believer that has been in the grave for many years will be reunited with that part that has been in Heaven for many years.
1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every believer will hear the shout of our Lord because He is the Captain of our salvation!
Those believers who are alive at the moment of His arrival will then be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
If we are to live with God in His realm, then we must have a body fashioned after His body as no flesh can live in the New Heaven.
2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
That phrase "caught up together" gives us the meaning of the Rapture.
That word "caught" implies, "seized, snatched up by an irresistible force" to be with our Savior amid the clouds such as happened on the day of the transfiguration of our Lord.
Mat 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
So shall we ever be with the Lord!
It is on this wonderful day that we will finally reach perfection!
We will meet all the saints of God who had gone on before us.
We will be reunited with our loved ones and friends who have gone before us.
We will see the Lord Jesus face to face.
We will meet the God of all creation who had this masterful plan of our salvation.
Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
We will never see death because the Lord Jesus Himself died in our place.
Amen
