1 Thessalonians 4:1-18
1 Furthermore then we beseecha you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 That no man go beyond and defraudb his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
8 He therefore that despiseth,c despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not preventd them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comforte one another with these words.
THE LORD'S PRESENCE
12 Paul gives us the true motive and incentive of a holy life and a steadfast faith. It springs from the overflow of love to our fellow saints and to all others as well. It looks forward to the presence of Him Who does not decide by the outward appearance, but rewards according to the secret motives of the heart. The presence of our Lord is to be understood in its plainest literal sense. This is His absence. Whenever He is actually near and known, He will be present.
ASKING AND ENTREATING
3 Looseness in marriage relations is one of the saddest spots on the history of mankind. The gods of the nations were most offensive in this regard and their reputed misdeeds gave ample excuse for the trespasses of their devotees. Besides this the religious ceremonies and rites by which they were worshiped gave sanction to the most debasing excesses and abuses. No wonder the apostle speaks plainly and sharply. He will allow no trifling. Each one is to have his own wife and is not to interfere with his brother in this matter. No doubt the apostle refers to special customs and abuses in Thessalonica.
WRITING NOT NECESSARY
9 One of the earliest impulses of the new life of the believer is to love his fellow saints. We are taught by God. It is instinctive and should be fostered and encouraged. Let us not allow party lines and differences in details to divide between us and all who have the same life and harbor the same love.
11 In the midst of such a great spiritual awakening as occurred at Thessalonica there is a temptation to neglect the necessary duties of life and mistake enthusiasm and noise for the quiet yet powerful operations of the spirit. The apostle urges them to attend to their own affairs and provide for their needs, so that their enemies will not find occasion to reproach them.
THE LORD'S PRESENCE
THOSE REPOSING
13 We do not sorrow when our dear ones are literally reposing. The reference is to death under a most beautiful figure for the distressed Thessalonian saints. The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that all who are His will likewise be raised. Until Paul received this revelation, the only resurrection of the saints was the "resurrection of life" (Joh_5:29) called the "former" resurrection (Rev_20:5), at the beginning of the thousand years, after the judgment period. Then the Lord comes down to earth. The saints are not snatched into the air. But this resurrection follows the Lord's presence in the air long before His coming to the earth. It precedes the great judgment era which ushers in the day of Jehovah. Being justified in the blood of Christ, we shall be saved from God's indignation through Him (Rom_5:9). God has not assigned us to indignation but to the procuring of salvation (1Th_5:9). This new revelation is further unfolded to the Corinthians (1Co_15:51), where the secret is disclosed that the living, as well as the dead, will be changed. Both will be given incorruptible, spiritual, celestial bodies, without which, indeed, they could hardly meet Him in the air. The crowning glory of this blessed expectation was made known to the Philippians. These bodies of humiliation will be transfigured to conform them to that glorious body which blinded Paul when first he beheld Him (Php_3:21; Act_9:3; Act_9:8; Act_9:18).
17 "We, the living." Paul does not insist that he must survive to the advent, any more than he meant to assert positively that he should die when he said the Lord Jesus "shall raise us up" (2Co_4:14).
2 This is man's day (1Co_4:3). It is near its end. The day of Jehovah, with its awful divine judgments, is fast approaching. It will give no notice of its coming. On the contrary, it will seem unnecessary and impossible. Is it not true that never, in the history of the race, was there such a hope and expectation of the end of war? The parliament of nations, the reduction of armaments, the federation of the world-are we not always hoping for peace and security?