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
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