The Lord Will Return
Aka
Living with Hope
1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
International Sunday School Lesson
April 21, 2013
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
There is great consistency within the Bible, in fact you and I rely upon that infallible part of God’s word so that we can better understand what we are studying, how we are to live and what we should expect.
Just as Jesus in His words talked about the end of the age so does Paul as he refers to it as the Day of the Lord. Paul is talking to the Thessalonians but it applies very clearly to us because that day has not yet come. I know that is about as obvious a statement as one could make but just like the Thessalonians people today fear dying but Christians need reminding that they have hope unlike the world.
Our faith rests upon Christ’s resurrection because even if we were to die like Christ we will be resurrected. When? Paul calls it the Day of the Lord and Jesus in John 6 referred not it just once but four times as the “last day.”
Jesus told us in Matthew 24 that “all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” And Paul said “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever”.
Paul said we should encourage one another with this news. My goodness, talk about an understatement! But just as Paul had to remind the Thessalonians we need reminding of our hope and the remaining reason for his stressing it was because of the big one Jesus stressed in Matthew 24 and the one I stressed in my 3-17-13 commentary --DECEIT. It is referred to in today’s scripture as “peace and safety”.
People have been fed a reinvented gospel that lulls people into a false sense of security that Jesus clearly warned against as does Paul here.
So being aware of that you can be on guard and prepared; confident that when He comes you’ll be ready and waiting!
For Discussion:
1. Read Matthew 24
2. Read my commentary for the March 17 lesson on this blog
3. Discuss how the world and those in it will be surprised when this happens but Christians should not be
4. Discuss the consistency of God’s word
5. Share other examples from the Bible where a matter can be studied in different places within the Bible
6. Discuss the fear and the hope
7. Share examples of those though near death sharing their hope
8. Discuss things that Christians should be aware of similar to this “peace and safety”
4-28-13: The Lord Will Triumph aka Hope Comes from God’s Grace 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 8-17 or 2:1-3, 9-17
5-5-13: Living Hope 1 Peter 1:3-16 or 1:3-12
5-12-13: Sure Hope aka Equipped with Hope 2 Peter 1:2-15, 20, 21 or 1:4-14
5-19-13: Active Hope aka Hope through Stewardship 1 Peter 4:1-11
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment