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FIRST THESSALONIANS
Look, Up in the Air, It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane.
No Way, It’s Jesus!
Can it be Month #25 already in our sprint through the Bible where we virtually hear God say to us, “You’ve got mail!” We’re peering into God’s ancient, holy Handbook, seen by most as being out-of-touch with our wired world.
If how we believe determines how we behave, then how we see the future does too, i.e., how we invest, spend, save, treat people, care for or abuse our bodies -- everything. People do weird things when they feel they “have no future.” Exhibit A I -- the next newscast.
Those who trust the God of the Bible and follow His only Son Jesus Christ basically rest upon a 3-legged stool spanning past and future:
1. They believe history’s landmark event was 2,000 years ago when God entered Time as an Infant born in Bethlehem, lived there 33 years, was crucified, came back to life three days later, and forty days later repaired to heaven.
2. They believe His death on the cross paid the hefty price God required in order for your sins and mine to be forever forgiven. Now we have but to agree with Him that we’re sinners and accept, by faith, God’s free gift of forgiveness.
3. And they believe Christ will reappear on earth, and all who’ve ever lived will openly confess, “Yep, He’s who He said He is.”
Resting on this stool, there’s no room for anxiety about one’s past orfuture. Instead, we lean forward, waiting expectantly to see what God will do next.Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” By coming today, you’re a card-carrying life-examiner.
Circling the Bible at Web Speed
Each month we attempt to recap the entire Bible in about three minutes, something only one who’s non compos mentis would ever try! Today, thanks to Al Doyle, we’ll tackle this feat in just … count ‘em, 5-0 words! Their author is anonymous. Probably Calvin Coolidge, at his windiest. Here is “The Bible in Fifty Words:”
God made, Adam bit, Noah arked, Abraham split,
Joseph ruled, Jacob fooled, Bush talked, Moses balked;
Pharaoh plagued, people walked.
Sea divided, tablets guided, Promise Landed.
Saul freaked, David peeked, prophets warned, Jesus born.
God walked, love talked, anger crucified, hope died.
Love rose, Spirit flamed, Word spread, God remained.
You’ll find a rapid-fire, book-by-book highlights reel* of what we’ve covered to date in this “Discovering the Bible” series at the end of today’s notes. Later, if you wish, you can eyeball this breezy overview of the Old and New Testaments.
Paul, Not the Fab Four Paul, But the Fab One!
Besides Jesus Christ, surely no single person has impacted the world more than Paul, born Saul of Tarsus, whom we meet in Acts ch. 7.
Stephen, about to become the first Christian martyr, is facing his accusers, testifying from the OT that Jesus, now back in heaven, is indeed the Messiah. Steven’s sentence is a hail of stones. Dr. Luke, the author of Acts, says the executioners tossed their coats at the feet of a young accomplice named Saul.
This lad was born a Roman citizen and a Jew, of the vaunted tribe of Benjamin. As was customary, he had two names: Saul, his Jewish handle, and Paul, his Gentile moniker.
Saul gets off on this Christian bashing and begins dragging them off to prison, becoming a bit of an extremist, a fanatic resolved to flush the memory of Christ and His followers.
While he’s traveling to Damascus to grab more Christians, a fairly dramatic intervention occurs. Suddenly a laser beam from heaven hits him, and a voice says, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” C’mon, was this really the voice of God? Let’s check out Saul’s answer: “Who are You, Lord?" The voice responds, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."
Shazam! Saul stands up, realizes he’s suddenly blind and is led to Damascus where now, as Paul, he learns that he’s been chosen to speak for God “before Gentiles, kings and sons of Israel."
Sure enough, Paul is miraculously morphed into Christianity’s first missionary, doing a 180 that would make Tara Lipinski dizzy. This brilliant Jew, respected member of Israel’s highest court, bent on executing anyone who claims that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, is NOW willing to be beaten, jailed and killed himself just to tell others about the love of Christ!
Imagine the word-of-mouth Paul faces when he strolls into a town where there might be a few Christian believers! They regard him not as superhero Batman -- but as the Joker or Fiddler! If God can transform Saul, He can change anybody. Even us.
Paul embarks on three salvation safaris around the eastern and northern Mediterranean, founding young churches. Ultimately, he’s arrested and shipped off in chains to Rome in A.D. 60-61. He’s released, jailed again and executed about A.D. 67 for speaking openly about Jesus, an act of treason in the Roman Empire.
Welcome to Thessalonica. Now Beat It!
Now it’s 18 years after Christ was crucified by Roman soldiers, had come back to life and returned to heaven. Nero’s predecessor Claudius, a member of the Caesars, Rome’s wealthiest family of noblemen, was imperator (emperor). Claudius ruled from A.D. 41-54 over the Roman Empire bounded by Britain, Morocco, Egypt and the Black Sea.
About 230 miles north of Athens, on the sparkling Aegean Sea, was Thessalonica, founded in 315 B.C. and named for Salonika, Alexander the Great’s half-sis. With a head count in Paul’s day of 200,000, it’s known today as Thessaloniki, or Salonika, Greece’s second largest city, serving more than 2,000 years as economic and cultural capital of the province of Macedonia. Under Roman rule, it was an independent city, not a Roman colony.
It was located on the Egnatian Way, part of the Mediterranean’s Main Street which originated back East in Byzantium (today’s Istanbul, Turkey) and stretched westward, skipping the Adriatic Sea and continuing on as the Appian Way from southeast Italy up to Rome. Along this route moved armies and merchants between the world’s great trade centers.
Thessalonica’s demos were heavily Jewish with many Gentiles who’d been turned off by Greek paganism, opting instead for Judaism’s ethical belief in the one, true God.
Road warriors Paul, Silas and Timothy arrive in A.D. 50 on their second missionary junket (Acts 17:1-15). At the synagogue Paul, a well-trained teacher, preaches for three straight Sabbaths, pointing out that the OT’s coming Messiah was indeed the God/Man Jesus.
Many Jews and Greeks who hear Paul are persuaded and choose to believe in Christ. However, the city’s Jewish leaders become jealous of Paul’s success, seeing it as a threat to Judaism. So they hire troublemakers to attack Jason’s home where Paul was hanging out.
Not finding Public Enemy #1, they collar Jason and friends, hauling them before the city council politarchs where the accused -- plus Paul and Silas -- are pronounced guilty of treason against Caesar, for professing allegiance to another king, Jesus.
Things turn dicey, so friends hustle Paul and Silas outta Dodge to Berea, 40 miles west, where the local gentry is “more open-minded … and listen eagerly to Paul’s message.” In hot pursuit some hacked-off Jews from Thessalonica ignite trouble for Paul in Berea, sending him scrambling on to Athens out of harm’s way.
Remembering Thessalonica
(and how to spell it)
Despite having been run out of town, Paul recalls the Thessalonians with great pleasure. They were a model church, coping with persecution from hard-line religious tormentors, thanks to their faith, hope, love and perseverance.
The book (actually a letter) we zero in on today, First Thessalonians, was penned by Paul in A.D. 51 while in Corinth in southern Greece. Both Thessalonian letters are probably the earliest written books in the N.T. Paul had grown increasingly concerned about how the young Thessalonian converts were faring under intense persecution. So he sends Timothy to check on their plight, and to remind them that God is making arrangements in heaven for a mega-reunion of the family of faith, both living and dead. And in light of that, that sweet bye-and-bye out to impact how they live in the nasty now-and-now.
In ch. 1 Paul is grateful for the Thessalonians’ remarkable spiritual emergence from heathenism to hope in Christ alone. They’d literally turned from their sin and unbelief, choosing to make Christ Numero Uno in their lives. Their metamorphosis was the buzz of the country. In any era folks are looking for Christ-followers who are the “real deals,” who walk the talk. Let’s read ch. 1.
Paul rebuts his critics’ slanderous smears. Restrained from returning to Thessalonica, he fears for this young church’s spiritual and physical survival. Let’s do ch. 2.
Timothy arrives in Corinth bearing good news about the believers back in T-town who’ve bravely stood true to God. Today as hostility toward Christians is resulting in wholesale genocide in places like China and Egypt, this letter offers increasingly relevant encouragement. Paul prays that this congregation’s new love for Christ will keep growing. Let’s read ch. 3.
Aware that Gentiles had not been raised under the moral Mosaic Law, Paul explains Christ’s teaching re sexual and social behavior. The 1st century’s obsession with guilt-free, free love predated Woodstock. Anything-goes sexual gratification was as common as breathing. One report says, “In fact, there was no such thing as marriage.” Priestesses in Greek temples were often prostitutes, and a moral puritan was a freak, a real “ThessaBALONEYian!”
Most religions hype clean living -- Buddhism, Islam, Christianity. But Christ teaches us how to live a morally pure life not under rules, but through a relationship. Knowing, loving and serving Jesus, we naturally desire to please God, not out of fear but out of gratitude.
This chapter’s last six verses are the Bible’s telescoped teaching on “the Rapture,” the return of Christ to whisk His followers away to heaven prior to that 7-year nightmare called “the great Tribulation.” This is not the much ballyhooed “Second Coming” when Christ returns to earth to set up his 1,000-year Millennium reign.
The Second Coming, says the Bible, will take the world totally unawares, “like a thief in the night.” Paul warns that we should not assume life will always be biz-as-usual. We should know God’s plan for time and eternity and, surprise surprise, act accordingly.
Hit the Pause button here to say that this is the whole purpose of our little series. The deal is -- only the person who’s swapped his sin for Christ’s forgiveness can live confidently, at peace, secure knowing that God’s handling everything re life, death and beyond the grave. It’s not a bad way to live.
The Rapture comes down prior to this seismic, world-ending-as-we-know-it Tribulation (or “Day of the Lord” as it’s called in the O.T.) climaxing with the Battle of Armageddon. Paul offers great hope to people who’ve chosen to trade their sins for Christ’s forgiveness, because he promises that they’ll miss this global pillaging that’s sandwiched in between the Rapture and the Millennium.
Hey, it may overload your circuits, but here’s the scenario. The angel Gabriel blows a trumpet lick heard ‘round the world. Then in all His grandeur Christ descends from heaven, surrounded by the millions who’ve died trusting in Him. Next, those believers alive on earth are suddenly drawn up to Him not by David Oreck’s supervac, but by God Himself! Then Jesus takes this huge host of believers to be with Him forever! That’s the good news. The tragic news is that even more will be left behind, destined to spend eternity in a spot the Bible calls “hell.” Whatever it is, it won’t be Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays. Let’s read this watershed passage, ch. 4.
Paul’s last chapter says there’s no need for Christ’s followers to fear this worldwide Tribulation since they’re guaranteed (there’s George Zimmer again!) to escape God’s wrath, based solely on having confessed that they are sinners who need a Saviour, then having accepted God’s total forgiveness, giving them a new, undeserved standing as His kids. That doesn’t come from attending a church, going through some formal ceremony in a church, or even driving by a church! Forgiveness of our sins and a new friendship with God Himself is strictly a gift of His grace, not a reward for being a good guy. It’s ours only by simply believing what God says in this holy Book. Paul’s closing counsel is timeless, priceless and universal. Let’s read. Ch. 5.
Nordy’s Notes
December 1, 1998
*The Bible at a Glance
The World Wide Web offers a quickie tour of the Bible, the best-read book of all time, at ( Crunching it even further, here’s a drive-by at NASCAR speeds.
This “book of books” (literally the meaning of the word “Bible”) comes in two sections. The Old Testament (OT), in its 39 books written in Hebrew and Aramaic, chronicles events, basically surrounding early Israel, from Creation up to about 400 years before the birth of Christ.
Written over 14 centuries by some 40 different authors, this Book epitomizes true diversity , yet it all hangs together in one, powerful, coherent story -- something only God could pull off.
The OT opens with Genesis, the first book of five called the Pentateuch, or the Torah, written by Moses. Here’s the account of the creation of the world, of the plants and animals, sky and seas, continents and our earliest ancestors, Adam and Eve. This couple chooses to disobey God, an act of their free will, resulting in their banishment from the idyllic Garden of Eden, a state of perfection that God had created for all mankind to live in.
Their “original sin,” passed on to each mortal thereafter, resulted in some 5,000 years now of war, hatred and strife. Some historians say only 250 of those years have brought relative peace to our planet. The last book in the Bible, Revelation, vividly portrays Earth’s final battle that ushers in a peaceful, positive, everlasting future for those who’ve placed their faith in God through Jesus Christ.
Back to Genesis, we see Noah building an ark to save pairs of animals and his family from the great flood, believe to have covered the entire earth. At the Tower of Babel, designed as an icon of one world government, God breaks up the nations, causing each to begin speaking in a different language.
Then Abram, later changed to Abraham, is chosen by God to be the father of the Jewish race through whom God would provide the world with a Messiah, a Saviour, to redeem (buy back) their right standing with God, paying for our forgiveness by dying on a Roman cross.
In the second book, Exodus, we find the Jews enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt, then escaping across the Red Sea on dry ground, wandering for forty years in the Arabian wilderness where God gives Moses the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
Book three is Leviticus, containing laws and statutes by which God wanted the Jews to live once He brought them to the Promised Land, Canaan (today’s nation of Israel).
Book four, Numbers, records details of the Israeli tribes’ wanderings between Egypt and Canaan.
In book Five, Deuteronomy, Moses dies at age 120 and appoints Joshua as his successor.
The Books of History begin with Joshua under whom the Israelites launch a centuries-long ordeal to occupy their Promised Land.
Judges tells the sad tale of Israel’s falling away from God into three centuries of idolatry. Judges were strong leaders appointed by God Himself to lead His people out of their sin-caused predicaments.
Ruth tells of a Jewish girl working in the grain fields whose offspring included Israel's most famous kings, David and Solomon and a line that led to Joseph, husband of Mary who gave birth to Jesus Christ.
In 1st and 2nd Samuel the Israelites demand from God and get a monarchy begun by Saul, David and Solomon.
1st and 2nd Kings tell of the break-up of the Jewish kingdom after Solomon dies. The northern tribes kept the name Israel while the southern tribes were known as Judah. In the late 8th century B.C. Assyria invaded Israel, taking its citizens captive. 120 years later Babylon (modern Iraq) attacked Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, seizing its people.
1st and 2nd Chronicles zoom in on events in Samuel and Kings.
Ezra sees the Babylonian Empire falling in 539 B.C. to the Medes and Persians, allowing the Jewish prisoners to return home.
Nehemiah describes the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Esther is the touching story of a Jewish maiden who becomes queen and saves her people from being slaughtered in Persia (today’s Iran).