Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Distinctiveness of Believers' Destiny (1 Thess. 5:9-11)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/12/2014 9:18 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  The Distinctiveness of Believers’ Destiny

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

            Message of the verses:  “9  For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10  who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”

            Not only is our behavior different than that of unbelievers, but our destiny is also different from unbelievers.  Paul says that we are not destined for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, and the reason for this is because He died for us and it makes no difference if our bodies are asleep in the grave or if we are alive when the Lord comes in the Rapture of the church, we will be with Him forever, and this gives us reasons to encourage one another and also build up the faith in one another.  The Thessalonians were going through persecutions at this time and this was something that they needed to hear.

            In our study of 1 Thessalonians so far we have gone over the order of what will happen in the end times, but for sake of review I will briefly mention it as it has to do with what we see in these three verses.  First of all we know that the Lord Jesus Christ came to planet earth a little over two thousand years ago as He was born to Mary His earthly mother who was a virgin.  We do not know much about His growing up years other than what little we see in Luke’s gospel, that He grew up: Luke 2:51  “And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”  Jesus came the first time to die on the cross for our sins, which He accomplished.  While on earth He told His disciples that He would return again to first of all gather those who were a part of the Church age, and then come in judgment at the end of the age.  These are the things we have been looking at while studying this letter to the Thessalonians, and will continue to study when we begin the second letter Paul wrote to them. 

The Old Testament has prophecies of both the first and second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but as we look at it, it can be compared to looking off in the distance and seeing two mountain tops, but not realizing that between them lies a valley, and that valley represents the age of the Church, for it was not seen by the OT prophets, but was in the plan of God all of the time. 

Nothing has to happen in order to have our Lord return for His Bride, the church, with the exception of having the last person saved in order to complete the Church.  However as we learned earlier there are things that have to happen in order for the Day of the Lord to take place, and we saw that first of all there will be a falling away from the Lord, and things that do with the Lord, and then the antichrist will be revealed so that he and his false prophet along with Satan will bring the word to the point of destruction, and then the Lord will return to stop the last battle, the battle of Armageddon. 

Paul tells the Thessalonians that they were not destined for this wrath that was to come, but for salvation.  Now we know that persecutions have been happening to believers ever since the Lord left to go to heaven, and they will continue as seen in different parts of the world today, but this is not the Day of the Lord, and all true believers will go in the Rapture and thus will not be a part of this event.  Warren Wiersbe writes about “The nature of the Tribulation.”  “This is the time when God will judge the Gentile nations and also purge Israel and prepare her for the coming of her Messiah.  The ‘earth-dwellers’ will taste of God’s wrath (Rev. 3:10) and not those whose citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20).  God will judge the earth-dwellers for their iniquity (Isa. 26:20-21).  But He has already judge believer’s sins on the cross.”

Now that we know how things will end Paul writes that we are to encourage one another, and we are also are to tell others about what the Bible says will happen.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  If there is one thing that I enjoy doing it is telling others about what the Bible has to say about the end times, and how they can become a part of the Rapture so that they will not have to go through the tribulation period. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have been thinking about doing another Bible Study on the end times in the neighborhood that I live in, and thus I need to pray about this before I just jump right into it.  I desire to pray about this.

Memory verses for the week:  Colossians 3:1-5.

1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  2 Set you mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth.  3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.  5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amount to idolatry.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Israel” (Genesis 32:28).

Today’s Bible Question:  “Why were the Sadducees especially grieved by the teaching of the Apostles?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/12/2014 10:46 AM 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment