2 Thessalonians – Lesson 1
On Mount Sinai God gave Moses the 1st 5 books of the Bible and then shortly afterward came Joshua. And then there was a break before God gave them more scripture. The themes of those first 6 books go together to teach something important on how man should live.
If you remember the theme of Gen was man is a sinner. And in that book you see everyone sin. You see Jealousy, favoritism, murder, blasphemy, lust, perversion of all kinds, and the list keeps going and going and going. The only exception is Joseph who with his life played a type of Christ.
Exodus’ theme is redemption. They were delivered from bondage after applying the blood of the lamb in faith.
Lev. Theme is worship. So to start the themes teach that man first needs to see he is a sinner and then he needs to get redeemed by the blood of the lamb in faith, and then after that he should worship.
Your life does not stop there. Just as you had a free will to get saved or not, you now have a free will to decide if you are going to live your life in obedience to God or not. And which way you choose has consequences to you in this life.
The next books of Numbers and Due. show this.
In Numbers they choose to not obey and they rebelled and had no victory in this life. They were still saved, and God still took care of them and fed them Mana every day. But they could not enter the victorious Christian life and had to wonder around in the wilderness for 40 years until they all died.
In Due. The next generation made the right choice and obeyed God and they did enter the victorious Christian life. The life where God fights the battles and He provides and He gives the victory.
And finally Joshua which shows that once you do right and decide to obey God and enter the victorious Christian life, that it must be maintained. Sin will stop the victories.
So together they teach that man needs to realize he is a sinner and then get saved and then worship God and then follow and obey God and enter the victorious Christian life and then pay attention and maintain that victorious life.
The first 6 books teach what man needed to know to live the right way like God wanted them to.
Then there is a pause before God gives the next book of Scripture. The pause helps separate the first 6 as a set. The theme of each adding to the theme of the books that came before.
This pattern stops after the first 6 books of the Old Testament.
We see the same type of pattern with the order that the New Testament books were given.
1st came Matthew. Which has the teaching of and the life of Christ and His sacrificial death, then burial, and resurrection. You have to start with the Gospel.
Matthew has the same first truths. Man is a sinner, man needs to get saved and after that man needs to worship Jesus. That is the same truth as Gen, Exodus, and Lev.
After that you need to make a choice about walking with God.
So next in the N.T. comes Galatians. Which is about having zero tolerance for false teaching and false teachers. It is about holding fast to the truth. Do not stray. Do not wander from the truth you have been given in Matthew.
The 3rd book given was James, which is about being a doer of the word and not a hearer only. It is about being real. Actually walk the walk.
And to complete the opening set of New Testament scripture is 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.
The theme of both of them is Jesus is coming back and how we are to live watching for His return.
Paul mentions the return of Jesus in all 5 chapters of 1st Thessalonians.
And in Chapter 3 Paul gives what is the goal that Jesus has for you from the time you get saved until you see Him face to face.
1Th 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
Jesus wants to establish your heart unblameable in holiness before God before you see Him.
Most people get this messed up. They either miss that it is holiness before God and not before man. It truly is a heart matter between you and the Lord.
There are people who want to do things that seem holy to them and their goal in it is to be seen of men. They totally got it all wrong.
The 2nd thing people mess up here is what does unblameable in holiness before God mean. What does that look like? How can you tell if you are on the right track?
You see what that is by reading what Paul wrote from 1 Thess. 3:13 until the end of the book.
And it is nothing like many think.
It is no lying, no cheating, do not defraud others. Walking honestly toward the lost. Do not be lazy. Work. And do it quietly.
Live like what you are and that is children of the light and do not live like the children of the night.
Do not render evil for evil.
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Quench not the Spirit. Do not despise preaching.
Prove all things and hold fast to that which is good.
And abstain from all appearance of evil.
Every one of those things is good and honorable and just and right, and living like that from the heart (remember it is a heart matter) is what being established in holiness before God looks like.
Christians are to live wanting Jesus to do a work in their heart. We are to cooperate with Him changing us. And as He changes our heart then our actions change. How we live changes. What we do and do not do and our priorities change.
And as we grow in Christ our view should be more and more focused on being found doing what Jesus wants us to do when we see Him face to face.
Which will either be when we die or if that trumpet sounds.
That is what 1st Thessalonians was mainly about. And 2nd Thessalonians continues along the same theme of Jesus is coming back and how this fact should be changing our lives in real practical ways.
The book of 2 Thessalonians gives us further instruction about the Lord’s return and how this knowledge should affect our everyday life.
The key words are good, doctrine, and teach.
2nd Thessalonians: Corrects wrong views concerning the second coming, Gives comfort to and encourages the faithful, admonishes the lazy and disorderly, and shows us how to conduct ourselves while we wait on the Lord to return.
2THESS 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2THESS 1:2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2THESS 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2THESS 1:4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
The Thessalonians listened to the word of God and their charity toward each other abounded. This was a great testimony that influenced others. In verse 4 Paul says that they gloried in the Thessalonians in the churches (plural) of God. They knew of their patience and faith.
And notice that all of this abounding love, faith, and patience was not done under perfect circumstances. Quite the opposite. Verse 4 says, “in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure”
They were abounding in love even under persecution. They had a great faith and patience even in tribulations.
God truly does have the grace available for us to live the way He wants us to, even when faced with great persecutions and tribulations. We only need to lean on Him and ask Him to give us the strength we need.
There is something incredible here. Many miss it because they do not consider the timing of the writing of this letter.
Paul witnessed to the Thessalonians on the 2nd missionary journey, they believed and were saved, and the local Jews got so worked up and so angry that Paul had to leave in such a hurry that he got separated from his team and ended up in Athens alone.
Paul is a little concerned about these new Christians who were living in a town that was very hostile to the Gospel.
So he sends Timothy to check on them, and Timothy stays a short time and then reports to Paul with great news. They are doing great. They are walking the walk.
And they are doing it under great persecution. They are living for Christ and doing the work in such a way that other churches were hearing about it. They were being a great example.
But think about this. They have only been saved a short time. A handful of months at most when Timothy visits.
Paul then writes to them 1st Thessalonians. A little time passes and Paul writes to them 2nd Thessalonians. So now it might be a year or so, since Paul told them the gospel and they got saved.
And how are they doing?
2THESS 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2THESS 1:4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
They are still growing. Their love in action (charity) is abounding. They are known for their patience and faith in all their persecutions and tribulations.
And they are having to endure some hard things, and it is day after day, month after month, and now we are maybe a year or so in and they are doing great. Living for Jesus under persecution.
What is the point? Your walk is a growth process after you are saved. The Thessalonians are proof that someone does not have to grow at a snail pace.
God has the grace and the help and the strength available. The Thessalonians made the choice from the get go to live for Jesus. They turned from sin and turned to Jesus and let Him change them and they got busy.
It did not take them years and years to start witnessing, or loving, or giving.
And they did this quick growth under persecution. They did it when conditions were not easy.
What is on display before us is the power of God to work in hearts and change lives. And He is not dependent upon circumstances to do a mighty work.
Jesus does not need sunshine and smooth sailing to change lives like this.
He only needs someone to choose to let Him change their heart and lives. And Jesus did a major work in their hearts in a short time.
2THESS 1:4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2THESS 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
2THESS 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
These Christians were suffering persecutions and tribulations. And they were handling them with patience and faith. We should handle our trials in the same way. And in verse 6 we are told that it is a righteous thing with God to judge those that were persecuting them.
It says that God will recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. God will repay them for the trouble they cause for God’s children. Every single thing that the wicked do to harm His children is seen by Almighty God. He will not forget a single one of them.
And in His time the wicked will be repaid for it. Recompensing the wicked for the harm they do to His children is a righteous thing to God. What would not be right if the wicked were allowed to get away with it. What would not be right is if they did not have to reap what they sow.
Since it is a righteous thing to God to repay the wicked. We know that God will take care of it. God would not be a righteous God if He did not. Since God promises to exact justice, then we need to leave it in His hands. Let Him handle the how and the when. We should never strike out in revenge.
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
And so the Thessalonians chose faith and trust and suffered with patience knowing that in His time God will take care of it.
The wicked will be punished and they will receive rewards for living for Jesus. Faith pleases God.
And know that the trouble we have is temporary. It will end one day.
2THESS 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
There is coming a day of rest from the persecution and tribulation. And that day is when Jesus comes back.
2THESS 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2THESS 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2THESS 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
2THESS 1:11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
2THESS 1:12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Christians live for Jesus and handle persecution and tribulations with patience and faith and trust in the fact that He sees it all and that Jesus will in His time judge it all.
When we do that we give glory to our Lord Jesus.
When we handle hard things like He wants us to with His grace then we give glory to our Lord.
When we live correctly like this world is not our home. Like this world is temporary. When we live looking for His return and that means living accordingly, then we give glory to Jesus.
In a way hard things are an opportunity.
2THESS 1:11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
When a Christian goes thru hard times it sometimes is because God counts you worthy of this calling.
And it is an opportunity for Him to show you his goodness and the work of faith with power.
There are things about the work of faith with power that cannot be taught or shown to you when things are only smooth sailing.
When we have hard times, we need to go to Jesus and ask for His help and for Him to do a work of faith with power in us.
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