My Notes on the book of 1 Thessalonians. – Chapter 4
Paul begins chapter 4 with “Finally.” Paul wants to reiterate some essential truths to the Church in Thessalonica, and it’s a truth spoken to all Christians. “How you ought to walk and to please God.” Paul will list a few items that we as Christians should follow, and we follow these principles not because it is a checklist or a good work to get us into heaven. We follow these principles because of our love for Jesus, and they are the fruit of our Christian faith. Verse 3 – “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his/her own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles, who do not know God.”
Let’s start in the very beginning, when God created Adam and Eve. “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”- Genesis 2:24. Jesus reiterates this point in Matthew 19:3-13, and Mark 10:6.
I have heard from Christians and non-Christians that Jesus never says anything about saving yourself for marriage, or Jesus doesn’t speak on sexuality. The Pharisees were testing Jesus in Matthew 19 about divorce and asking him if it was okay. What was Jesus’ response? He said, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female….” Jesus doesn’t hide from these questions. He is God in the flesh, he was with God and is God. Jesus does not hide from anything. He answers everything straight on. Jesus goes on and says, “Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh .”Jesus is quoting from the book of Genesis 2:24. He continues and says, “what therefore God has joined together, let not man separate .”Marriage is a blessing from God, our creator. It is a huge deal when you decide to get married. You should be in it for the long haul, to death. The only reason Jesus may agree with divorce is sexual immorality. And remember what Paul said, don’t lust or pursue sexual immorality like the Gentiles. Once you give your life to God through Jesus, the Holy Spirit will be your guide. When you marry, as a believer in Christ, your desire needs to be to your husband or wife. No one else!
What does God say on the matter of sexual immorality? Reference Exodus Chapter 18, Acts 15:29; Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 5:28; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Corinthians 7:2; Ephesians 5:5; and 1 Peter 2:11. This is but a snippet of verses you can reference on sexual immorality.
Verse 9 – Now, on the matter of brotherly love, you have no need for us to write you about this, for God has taught you how to love one another. Paul is saying that the Church in Thessalonica is doing a great job of showing love to each other. My guess is that they were just like the first Church in Jerusalem in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit first came upon the new converts. Everyone was taking care of one another, and no one was in need because people loved one another. Those who gave their life to Jesus realized there was more to life than getting ahead. If someone had a need, the Christian brothers and sisters helped fill that need.
Paul then makes a great statement in verse 11: aspire to live quietly, mind your own affairs, and work with your hands, verse 12 – so that you may walk properly before outsiders and depend on no one. Aspire to live quietly. In our day and age, it is challenging for people to stay quiet. Everyone has something to say, there are people who think their way is the right way, and they want to tell the whole world how one should live or not live. The funny thing is you can tell the entire world. You have social media, and with this technology, someone in Australia can know what someone in California has said. But Paul says to aspire to stay quiet and mind your affairs. This means just because you may disagree with someone doesn’t mean that you must tell them you disagree. Stay out of other people’s business. Do you want people in your business? Maybe you do, but if you are letting other people speak life into you, are you allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you and guide you? Are you staying quiet and reading God’s word? I tell my kids that the way you get to know God is to read His word. That is the best way to understand how we are to live our lives for Him. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands” what are His commands, you ask? Well, I would encourage you to open your Bible and read. That is the only way you will know. There is no shortcut, and there is no life hack. There is no “how to” booklet or three-step plan on how to grow closer to Almighty Jesus. You must read His Word, the Bible
Now, we come to verse 13 – this is the part of Pauls letter I shared at the beginning of the Study of 1 Thessalonians that Paul explains to the people the rapture. You may be wondering, does the Bible actually say the word “rapture”? Actually, yes, it does; rapture is another word for caught up. The Greek word translated as “caught up” is harpazo. It means “to catch up, grasp hastily, snatch, grab hold of, transport, or rapture.”
Paul says in verse 13, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope .”14 “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep .”Now, as believers in Jesus, we know that when we die, we are instantly transported to heaven with King Jesus. Paul states it perfectly in 2 Corinthians 5:8 – to be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord. We know that when the Apostle Stephen was in the process of being stoned, he saw the Lord. I am not even sure he felt the torture of death. He was instantaneously transported to the Lord Jesus. When Paul says, “those who are asleep,” he is talking about the physical body; our spirit is presented to the Lord Jesus Christ when we die. Our flesh, skin, and body may be dead, but that is not our end. What Paul is explaining to the Church is the rapture. The Thessalonians were not sure if those who had already died would not be “raptured” or caught up when the Lord calls his children home, meaning their bodies. It may be strange to understand, but when we die, we leave our bodies behind on this earth. Just like the verse tells us in Ecclesiastes 12:7 – “and the dust returns to earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
The dust is our physical bodies, and the spirit is that which God gave us. However, if you do not trust your life in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will not be in your soul, and that is sad.
As believers in Jesus, when we die, we should refer to it as falling asleep. Return to the book of Acts with me and go to Chapter 7, verses 54 to 60. Our brother in Christ, Stephen, was giving a powerful testimony about the Gospel, and at the very end of his passionate speech, he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man (Jesus) standing at the right hand of God.” Then drop to verse 60, “And when he has said this, he fell asleep.” Stephen’s spirit was instantly with Jesus in heaven with God. But his physical body was asleep. Asleep until the “harpazo” of the Church. “For Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” – verse 14.
This is the Church, the rapture of the Church. From when Jesus rose from the dead, and the Holy Spirit was given to the church saints. From Stephen to those who have slept 2000 years ago, their physical body will be resurrected. This body of people is the Church. Now those who were before Jesus, the Old Testament Saints, whether Jew or Gentile, their physical bodies will not be resurrected until after the Tribulation, the 7- year period. Let us reference Daniel 12:2; this is not the Christian Church; these are the Old Testament saints and sinners. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Remember, there are two categories of believers. There are the Old Testament Saints, those who looked forward to the Messiah, who is Jesus, and those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus. The Bible is clear. Jesus told his disciples who were a part of the nation Israel they will be baptized by the Holy Spirit and put into the body of believers, which is the “Church.” Acts 1:5
If you have the question of why the Old Testament Saints won’t be resurrected when Jesus comes to take the Church out of the world before the 7-year tribulation. Please look at verse 16…. “And the dead in Christ shall rise first .”After the 7-year Tribulation, Christ will come and establish his Church and Daniel 12:2 begins.
I know I gave a lot of information, and there is still much more information, but I must move on. Let me point out that when Jesus comes to rapture the Church, I believe there is a misconception of Angels announcing his triumphal entry, and the Angels will be using horns or trumpets. Let me read you the passage of scripture. “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” – verse 16. Let’s also read Revelation 1:10; the Apostle Jonh writes, “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” Jesus doesn’t need anything or anyone to call his children to him. He uses his voice, powerful, like a trumpet, mighty like the voice of an archangel. Jesus needs no introduction; he calls his kids home, and his kids know his voice.
Verse 17 – Then we who are alive and left – this is believers who are alive on planet earth when Jesus comes to take us home. Those alive, body, and soul will be taken. Going back to verse 15, Paul says, “those who are alive or left will not precede those who have fallen asleep .”Meaning, that those physical bodies of believers who are asleep will start the wave using a sports term, from Stephen to the disciples, and all those who trusted their life to Jesus from 2000 years ago to those who are lucky enough to be raptured in present time, whenever that may be.
Paul is writing this to the Church because they were unsure of these things. Have you ever thought that some churches do not teach on the rapture? I mean, Paul spent three weeks with the Church of Thessalonica. Three weeks!!! Paul went over everything and didn’t want them to be uninformed. How many Christians today are uninformed about the harpazo of the Church?
In my next post, we will conclude the Book of 1 Thessalonians with chapter 5. See you soon!