2 Thess 1. The Lord Is Coming to Collect the Life He Made.

Class Outline:

Sunday July 2, 2023

 

At a service in Germany in 1968, Elizabeth Sherrill heard two speakers. The first was a man who had been a prisoner of a concentration camp. He had been brutalized and starved; his father and a brother had died in the camp. The man’s faced and body told the story more eloquently than his words: pain-haunted eyes, shaking hands that could not forget.

 

He was followed at the lectern by a white-haired woman, broad of frame and sensible of shoe, with a face that radiated love, peace, and joy. But the story that these two people related was the same! She, too, had been in a concentration camp, experienced the same savagery, suffered identical losses. The man’s response was easy to understand, but hers?

 

We commented to Corrie about the practicalness of the things she recalled, how her memories seemed to throw a spotlight on problems and decisions we faced here and now. “This is what the past is for. Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”

 

How do you look at the evil people in this world? When you read the news, do you get angry, anxious, vengeful, do you lose your peace?

 

“I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.” [Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place]

 

God is in control. And, the Son of God is returning to not only put a stop to the evil He has allowed to course through His world, but He is going to repay that evil with judgment. If God has such control, is it not obvious that He has a purpose for it? And since that is true, is it not wrong for us to get angry at His purposes?

 

Theme: How do we look at the evil people in this world in light of the coming Christ?

 

We are all in constant need of encouragement. This comes from God through His Word and God the Holy Spirit’s ministry within us and from people whom God uses.

 

Why do we need encouragement so frequently?

 

Both 1 and 2 Thessalonians are letters of encouragement to faithful believers. They are Paul’s first letters in Scripture.

 

In both letters Paul gives thanks for their faith, hope, and love. In the second letter, he is thankful that they are abounding even more in them.

 

In both letters Paul boasts about them to others and their reputation as faithful has spread far.

 

In both letters the Thessalonians (as with Paul and his) are heavily persecuted for the faith, and yet despite this, they remain faithful to the word and they work in love.

 

Paul’s joy comes from seeing their faith and love. Paul’s joy comes from Christ, and when he sees Christ in others, he rejoices.

 

Both letters frequently mention the coming of Christ and the assurance of hope that comes through faith in it.

 

Both letters then contain the exhortation to walk in sanctification - in a manner worthy of the Lord, and to continually do so more and more.

 

Both letters contain eschatology - knowledge of the last days. This is given as a comfort to those who are suffering while they follow Christ with all their hearts. As we will see, Paul, in these letters, is not attempting to state anything other than that the Lord is returning.

 

Chapter one in 2Th summarizes 1Th.

 

2Th 1

Paul and 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 the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; 4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5 This is a plain indication [proof] of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed — for our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

A brief look at the development of the anticipation of Christ in the OT gives us appreciation.

 

In the Book of Judges, we see what happens when there is no virtuous king to lead the people.

 

JDG 21:25

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

 

Without a righteous King, mankind does what he likes.

 

Types in the OT are depictions of realities in our age when Christ has fulfilled His first advent. What does our heart look like when Christ Jesus is not Lord of all?

 

The events in the Book of Ruth take place during the time of the Judges.

 

RUT 1:1

Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land.

 

In a land of utter failure to follow the Lord, Ruth and Boaz are a glimmer of hope.

 

In Ruth we find an even greater glimmer of hope - the kinsman redeemer in Boaz.  

 

RUT 4:17

So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

 

Prophecy of the coming King as our kinsman Redeemer, ISA 54:4-5.

 

ISA 54:4-5

“Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;

          And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;

          But you will forget the shame of your youth,

          And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

5 "For your husband is your Maker,

          Whose name is the Lord of hosts;

          And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

          Who is called the God of all the earth.”

 

And this Kinsman Redeemer would have to suffer beyond imagination in order to wed His bride.

 

ISA 53:4

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

 

Yet, through Ruth there is no king in Israel, and then we encounter 1 Samuel.

 

The Lord finally brings a virtuous king in David. He leads Israel to peace and prosperity - a wonderful and powerful kingdom. But David is not perfect by any means. He cannot be the King, but he is the father of Him who would come.

 

And then comes 2Sa 7. David’s Son is promised an eternal throne. From David would come, someday, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary and Joseph.

 

PSA 37:1-6

Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

2 For they will wither quickly like the grass

And fade like the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light

And your judgment as the noonday.

 

God will judge the unrighteous. Do not fret. Leave that to Him.

 

We want to ask, “What about John?”

 

What about _____?

“What is that to you? You follow Me!” (JOH 21:22)

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me.” (REV 22:12)

 

Communion:

 

JOH 13:5-7

Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter."