{"id":9480,"date":"2023-11-06T17:10:06","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T00:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9480"},"modified":"2023-11-07T13:56:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T20:56:02","slug":"comfort-one-another-with-these-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9480","title":{"rendered":"
Comfort one another with these words<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18&lt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year for the Sundays of November the texts are about the end times as we approach the end of the church year: Christ the King Sunday, which this year is November 26th<\/sup>. The text for this Sunday in November is an end-times text from 1 Thessalonians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we have noted before, scholars are pretty sure this is the first of the letters Paul wrote, and it was written about 50-51 A.D., shortly after he became a Christian and only twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to realize that in those twenty years some Christians had died. Those who were still alive couldn\u2019t quite understand this. After all there was the resurrection and then the Lord was coming again. In fact, Paul himself thought the end was coming in his own generation. He was convinced of that. But because of the delay in Christ\u2019s coming, an argument arose among the Christians in Thessalonica: When Jesus comes, are those who are still alive have an advantage over those who had died because those who are alive would get to meet the Lord first at his second coming? Paul writes: \u201cNo, we who are alive shall not precede those who have fallen asleep\u201d (I Thess 4:15). Rather, the dead in Christ will arise first; then we who are alive who are left, shall be caught up together with them \u201cso we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words\u201d (I Thess 4:18). This Bible passage about the end and we \u201cwho are left\u201d is a key verse for the series of books about the end times called Left Behind <\/em>by Tim LaHaye, a series which has sold millions of copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Paul talks about where people are after death, he says that people are asleep until the final judgment. Then he pivots to saying \u201cBut<\/strong>.\u201d His point is really important as we come to the end of the church year. He writes: But<\/strong> as to the time or the seasons, we don\u2019t know. It\u2019s like the thief in the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is important for us because of volatility of the world today and the likelihood that there are people in our families, neighborhoods, or at work who say: \u201cAh ha, see that the end is coming now. Look at the signs!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we say in response? What do you say to your children about books like Left Behind<\/em>?  Or what do you say in a neighborhood Bible study where this subject comes up? Lately there has been a TV commercial by a pastor named David Jeremiah, promoting his book: The Great Disappearance. Thirty-One Ways to be Rapture Ready. <\/em>What is the appeal of these books like The Great Disappearance <\/em>and Left Behind<\/em>? It is \u201cAh ha! We can figure this out. We can see and we can know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Paul reminds us that the end comes like the thief in the night. It is not only Paul who says this. In the New Testament there are five places (Matt 24:43, 1 Thess 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10, Rev 3:3, 16:15) where this same image of a thief in the night is used. And what\u2019s the point about the thief in the night? If you knew the thief was coming, you would be ready. But how can you be? It\u2019s both hidden and a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul also uses other imagery for the end. He says one day there is peace and security, then suddenly an invasion and war. Or it\u2019s like a mother-to-be who goes into labor early, prematurely. Or it\u2019s like the snare in Luke 21:34, which reads: \u201cTake heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you like a snare.\u201d A snare is a hidden trap for catching birds or animals. You step into the snare and you\u2019re caught. The end is like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We struggle with the fact that there is no warning and we do not know. Life is fragile and who knows what is going to happen at any time? If you have ever been robbed, you know how awful that feels. It happened unexpectedly, and there wasn\u2019t anything you could do about it. Or you\u2019re driving a car when all of a sudden someone hits you. Your world is turned upside down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t know when the end is coming. We recall what Mark 13:32 about these things: \u201cBut of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we say to this? We know we\u2019re are going to die. We all know there is judgment, and yet it seems most people live life like the cow chewing its cud, just going on and on and on. It\u2019s called denying death. Yes, death is coming, but not to me. Or: Later, I\u2019ll deal with it, but now I can put that off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet more serious than the general question of life and death is the question of how one is in relation to God. Many people think: \u201cAfter I die, I must get a second chance. Yes, I believe there is a God, but I\u2019ll deal with that later. For now, I am going to live one world at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also the idea that we can plea bargain with God. We think we can plead: \u201cLord, I wasn\u2019t fully informed. I didn\u2019t really realize. I was really busy. I wasn\u2019t as bad as you know who.\u201d People say: \u201cThere must be a time after death when I can get a second chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wonder what people are thinking of because, like a thief in the night, there is the wrath to come. The wrath is, of course, his judgment on sin and evil. No question about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prompts us to ask ourselves: \u201cWhat about us? Are we ready? Are we really ready? Ready enough? Do I believe correctly? Have I done enough good?\u201d These are all the wrong questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul then has this striking statement (paraphrase): \u201cBut<\/strong> we belong to him.\u201d He says: We have been destined, we have been predestined, we have been chosen. It doesn\u2019t depend on us. It doesn\u2019t depend on all these false religions we cook up about whether we\u2019re good enough or think rightly. Rather, it\u2019s because he has chosen us. He has made us his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Paul starts to talk about darkness and light and being asleep and awake. He writes (paraphrase): We\u2019re not of the night or of darkness, we\u2019re sons and daughters of the light and of the day. We\u2019re not sleeping; we\u2019re awake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pastor once asked Luther Seminary professor Gerhard Forde what was the relationship between sanctification and justification? Forde always had a kind of poker face. He stopped and thought and said: \u201cWell, sanctification is waking up to the fact of justification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the ends times message for us today: Wake up to the fact that you belong to him, as Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians 3:12 \u201c. . . because he has made me his own.\u201d To be ready for the end is to wake up to the fact that we are his, we are children of the light and of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning again with the word but,<\/strong> Paul writes: \u201cBut <\/strong>since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation\u201d (I Thessalonians 5:8). So too for us. Let us put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to all the others? What happens to all those people who are denying death and avoiding the reality of what it\u2019s all about? That\u2019s the Lord\u2019s problem, not ours. We truly do not know, and it\u2019s not up to us to answer that or solve that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it doesn\u2019t mean that we live in terror or live in fear saying: \u201cWhat about me?\u201d He is our Father, and he has made us his own by adoption. Therefore, we can live in true hope and confidence. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18<\/p>\n

Every year for the Sundays of November the texts are about the end times as we approach the end of the church year: Christ the King Sunday, which this year is November 26th. The text for this Sunday in November is an end-times text from 1 Thessalonians.<\/p>\n

As we have noted before, scholars are pretty sure this is the first of the letters Paul wrote, and it was written about 50-51 A.D., shortly after he became a Christian and only twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9480"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9488,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9480\/revisions\/9488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}