The Teaching Of 1st Thessalonians

by Martin, J. | Category: The Coming Again Of The Lord Jesus Christ: | Feb 1954

PAUL ON COMFORT AND RE-UNION.

The subject of this article is mainly the "comfort" that is associated with the truth of the Lord's return. It is thought well to outline, very briefly, what we believe with regard to this great event, before dealing specifically with the "comfort-aspect" associated therewith. For, unless certain facts are clearly established from the Scriptures, it might be argued that our hope and our comfort are based on an unsound foundation. A few of the statements to be made in this article will, no doubt, be elaborated in subsequent articles on the all-absorbing subject, the second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be deterred from a study of this subject, either fresh or renewed.

If the frequency of scripture references to the Lord's return is a criterion, it is a wonder to us that for so many long years the subject lay dormant, and that even now a large number do not accept the fact of a personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ. But frequency of statement is not needed to prove any truth of Scripture. The one word of the Lord, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto Myself " (John 14.1, 2), would be fully satisfactory. The apostle Paul, in his epistles, makes (at least) fifty references to the uplifting and comforting truth of the Lord's second coming (in its two stages).

In addition to our Lord's own words, in John 14., spoken before His death, He speaks, in resurrection, to Peter, " If I will that he (the disciple whom Jesus loved) tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (John 21.22). Finally, after the Lord's ascension to glory the apostle John quotes the Lord as saying, "Yea, I come quickly" (Revelation 21.20). This threefold cord cannot be broken.

Another important testimony is that of the heavenly messengers in Acts 1.10, 11, "This Jesus, which was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven." Space forbids a full quotation of such scriptures as the following, which please read: Philippians 3.20, 21, Titus 2.11-18, Hebrews 9.28, James 5.7, and 1 John 2.28. Surely, too, in the joy of worship and giving thanks on the occasion of breaking the bread on each first day of the week, we obtain warm comfort from the words, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till He come" (1 Corinthians 11.26).

No fact in history is more clearly established than the first coming of the Lord. No future event is more emphatically foretold than His second coming. Paul in Hebrews 9.26 states, "Once at the end of the

ages hath He been manifested (appeared, A.V.) to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself"; here is the fulfilment of His long-proclaimed first advent. In Hebrews 9.24, Paul states,

"For Christ entered... into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us."

This took place at His ascension, and covers the present time and His mediatorial service on our behalf. And yet again, in Hebrews 9.28,

"So Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation."

The same vital truths are tersely stated in Titus 2.11-18: "For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men" verse 11, our justification);. "instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world" (verse 12, our sanctification); and "looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (verse 12, our glorification).

The second coming will be in two stages. A comparison of Matthew chapters 24. and 25. with John 14., will reveal that these two stages are distinct and separate. First, He will come to the air for His own blood-bought Church (1 Thessalonians 4.18-18). Then, separated by a time-period of at least seven years, the second stage will take place, when He will return to this earth, and "His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives" (Zechariah 14.4) bringing a host of His saints with Him. The first stage is usually described as "the Rapture," "the blessed hope" of all true believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. The second stage may be termed "His Revelation."

We know little of the time-interval between to-day and the Rapture, other than that in God's reckoning of time, it is but short ... but a little while. To-day we are almost twenty centuries nearer the realization of His comforting promise than when the gracious words were uttered by the Lord Himself.

How does this truth of His return minister comfort? Very present consolation for bereaved ones of the dead in Christ is obtained from the scriptures which assuredly teach that at death the believer who departs this life goes t6 be "with Christ," which is very far better (Philippians 1.28). Then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns unto God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12.7). Sweet indeed as this comfort is, there is, we suggest, a fuller comfort in the truth of the Lord's personal return. It reaches out to the pilgrim still in the body, struggling on through the trying vicissitudes of this life. Even in his most happy moments on earth this hope shines with far brighter beams in his heart as he moves towards the heavenly city. It is this, that the Lord may come while he is still in the body, and, by the wonder of His mighty power, change the mortal body to an immortal body (1 Corinthians 15.58). What may be to many the dread ordeal of dying will thus be avoided by the many who are alive at that coming. There is that further comfort as regards those already "fallen asleep." The separation caused by death is severe, but it is not absolute for them. It caused sorrow to the Thessalonian believers (as it does to all), but they were directed not to sorrow even as the rest, without hope. At this appearing the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible, and with spirit, soul and body re-united, millions of sweet reunions will take place in the air. Closest ties once severed on earth will be welded, never, never to be broken again. What a comfort!

The church of the Thessalonians in God the Father had very quickly learned divine truths in their short period of tuition by the apostle Paul (Acts 17.8).

They had "turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 1.9, 10). No doubt death with its resultant sorrows was the price many of them had to pay for their adherence to the truth. Hearts were heavy. Thus, in his first letter, written just under a quarter of a century after the Lord's ascension to glory, Paul writes these words which have retained their sweetness and comfort over the centuries to us to-day

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in (through, R.V.M.) Jesus will God bring with Him ... For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven... and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we that are alive ... shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4.14-18).

For the Jewish nation, even if they are mainly ignorant of the truth of it, the Rapture is the precursor of hope for them. True, the dark, dark days of Jacob's trouble lie between the Rapture and His visitation to Israel, but the time of their deliverance cannot dawn until the Rapture has taken place. Sad indeed it is for that highly favoured and richly endowed nation that they have sought righteousness not by faith, but by works! May our heart's desire and supplication for them be that many of them will be saved!

What more lies beyond for us, to cheer or sober our hearts? The Judgement Seat of Christ, the marriage of the Lamb, and the successful1 benign and blessed millennial reign on earth. In this latter period the many economic, social, and racial difficulties and troubles that beset the nations to-day will be solved by earth's rightful monarch, the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, however, must occur the Rapture. How uplifting and comforting to the believers of all ages! The labourer for souls will share in the comfort too, for, as Paul foretells, those led to Christ will be a source of glory and joy at His coming (1 Thessalonians 2.20).

Far surpassing all other comforts, will be the realization of looking into those eyes of Immanuel, deep wells of love and comfort when He was here on earth, yet often, too, bathed with tears of sorrow. They shall be radiant with the lustre of heavenly love.

"How shall I meet those eyes?

Mine on Himself I'll cast,

And own myself the Saviour's prize,

Mercy from first to last"

Martin, J. | Feb 1954
The Coming Again Of The Lord Jesus Christ: