A Second Letter to the Thessalonians - Study 1/13/11
A Second Letter to the Thessalonians
I remember when I was dating my wife and we were millions of miles apart. I was in the USA and she was in Nigeria. We resorted to letter writing (before the age of cell phones and emails) to get to know each other and to communicate our feelings and the things that are so important to us. I could not wait for the next letter after receiving and replying to her previous letter.
I can relate to Apostle Paul’s longing for his dear Thessalonians and the need to communicate life to them. Remember that by the special grace of God, Paul with Silas and Timothy birthed the Thessalonians Church. Like a new mother, Paul was chased out of town by persecution that separated him from the young infant Church. The first Letter to the Thessalonians was very powerful and very personal. If you have not spent good time reading it, I encourage you to do so.
One of the major themes of Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians addressed their great desire and EXPECTATION of the soon return of Jesus Christ for His Church (the second coming). In the First Letter also we encountered two other reoccurring themes – the Thessalonians work/walk on faith and their labor of love for one another and all people. Paul wrote to encourage the Thessalonians in these matters and to correct some errors in belief.
In this second Letter, Paul continues on the same themes but narrowed his instruction to differentiate the suddenness of Christ return and the immediacy of his return. Paul wrote the second Letter to correct the error in equating suddenness to immediacy. A good portion of the Second Letter is devoted to things that will take place such as the coming and prominence of the Lawless one before the return of Christ.
This Letter is perfect for our time when you can look around and sense the gradual edging into this period when lawlessness will abound. This Second Letter is very challenging in terms of dealing with the theological interpretation of the end times. I welcome you to dig deep with me and study to understand the times we are in. All through the Letter you will sense and appreciate Paul’s love for the Thessalonians which were evident in his prayers for the Thessalonians. May we today be known by our love for one another and for all God’s people.
Let us all just read the Letter on a go without stop. It only takes less than 15 minutes to read the entire 3 chapters of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians. Here is the first chapter and please finish the remaining two chapters. Please read and reread the Letter many times. You will be surprised how God can show you things and speak to your particular situation. May God bless you as you read His Holy Word. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 1
1 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,[b] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.[c]
I remember when I was dating my wife and we were millions of miles apart. I was in the USA and she was in Nigeria. We resorted to letter writing (before the age of cell phones and emails) to get to know each other and to communicate our feelings and the things that are so important to us. I could not wait for the next letter after receiving and replying to her previous letter.
I can relate to Apostle Paul’s longing for his dear Thessalonians and the need to communicate life to them. Remember that by the special grace of God, Paul with Silas and Timothy birthed the Thessalonians Church. Like a new mother, Paul was chased out of town by persecution that separated him from the young infant Church. The first Letter to the Thessalonians was very powerful and very personal. If you have not spent good time reading it, I encourage you to do so.
One of the major themes of Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians addressed their great desire and EXPECTATION of the soon return of Jesus Christ for His Church (the second coming). In the First Letter also we encountered two other reoccurring themes – the Thessalonians work/walk on faith and their labor of love for one another and all people. Paul wrote to encourage the Thessalonians in these matters and to correct some errors in belief.
In this second Letter, Paul continues on the same themes but narrowed his instruction to differentiate the suddenness of Christ return and the immediacy of his return. Paul wrote the second Letter to correct the error in equating suddenness to immediacy. A good portion of the Second Letter is devoted to things that will take place such as the coming and prominence of the Lawless one before the return of Christ.
This Letter is perfect for our time when you can look around and sense the gradual edging into this period when lawlessness will abound. This Second Letter is very challenging in terms of dealing with the theological interpretation of the end times. I welcome you to dig deep with me and study to understand the times we are in. All through the Letter you will sense and appreciate Paul’s love for the Thessalonians which were evident in his prayers for the Thessalonians. May we today be known by our love for one another and for all God’s people.
Let us all just read the Letter on a go without stop. It only takes less than 15 minutes to read the entire 3 chapters of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians. Here is the first chapter and please finish the remaining two chapters. Please read and reread the Letter many times. You will be surprised how God can show you things and speak to your particular situation. May God bless you as you read His Holy Word. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 1
1 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,[b] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.[c]
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