And to wait for His Son from heaven,
Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus,
Which delivereth us from the wrath to come.
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying?
Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at His coming?
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you;
To the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep.
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;
Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He that calleth you, Who will also do it.
Dear Heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee that we can call Thee, Abba, Father. It is all because of Thy beloved Son, Who gave Himself for us.
Our Father, with hearts of worship, adoration, and love, we continue in Thy presence. We pray that Thy Holy Spirit will reveal Thy Word to us, that through Thy Word indeed we may see Thy beloved Son, Who is all in all to Thee and to us. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We believe that the whole Bible reveals Christ Jesus to us, and the first letter to the Thessalonians is no exception.
We may entitle this book Seeing Jesus at His Parousia. Now, maybe some of you are not familiar with the word parousia. That is the word translated in this letter to the Thessalonians as “coming.” The Greek word parousia means “presence.”
This first letter to the Thessalonians is the first letter written by the Apostle Paul to the churches, as we have it today.
You remember in Acts 17—or, if you want to go back to Acts 16—you find Paul and his companions as they travelled through Asia. The Spirit of God did not allow them to go to the north, nor to the south, so they went straight to the west until they arrived at Troas, which was a seaport. They could not go any further, because there was the Aegean Sea.
It was during that time, in the night, that the Apostle Paul saw a vision: the vision of Macedonia, calling him to come over and help them. So the next morning Paul and his companions decided that it was from the Lord. They crossed the Aegean and came to Europe.
That was the first time that the gospel of Jesus Christ came into Europe. The first city was Philippi. Paul and his companions were in Philippi for a time. They suffered greatly there. Paul and Silas were thrown into prison because of the preaching of the gospel, but through the labor of the apostles, a church was raised up in Europe as the first church.
Paul and Silas were asked to leave Philippi; they were not allowed to stay there. Most likely, they left the beloved physician Luke behind them, so that he might be able to help that young church in Philippi. What a help he gave to that church.
Paul and Silas continued on until they came to the next city in Macedonia. It was called Thessalonica. Thessalonica was founded in 315 B.C. by Cassander, and he named the city after his wife, who was a sister of Alexander the Great. Today, of course, we know it as Salonica. At that time, it was the capital of Macedonia.
Unlike Philippi, there was a synagogue in that city because a number of Jews resided there. Paul and his companions went into the synagogue, and for three Sabbath days he reasoned with those who worshipped there.
He presented to them the Lord Jesus: how, according to the Scriptures, He must suffer and rise from the dead, and that this Jesus is the Christ. Because of his reasoning in the synagogue, a number of people came to the Lord—quite a number of Greeks, and some women too.
Because of this, the Jews became jealous. They stirred up the city against Paul and his companions. You remember how they took Jason and some of the others, because Paul stayed in his house. They could not find Paul, so they took Jason and others before the rulers.
That very night, the brethren in Thessalonica secretly sent Paul away. He went on to Athens, where he waited for Silas and Timothy to join him.
After Silas and Timothy joined him in Athens, Paul proceeded to Corinth. Before he went to Corinth, he sent Timothy back. The church in Thessalonica had been born through much affliction and tribulation, and after Paul left them, that young church continued to suffer persecution—not from the Jews, but from their own countrymen.
Paul was deeply concerned about them. In 1 Thessalonians, you find that more than once he tried to get back, but he could not do it. He was hindered from going back. Because of his deep concern for that young church, he sent Timothy.
Timothy, being a younger man, was probably not as well noticed by the people. So Timothy was able to go back and visit that young church in tribulation. While Paul was in Corinth, Timothy came back with a good report, telling him how that young church stood fast in the Lord. But they also had some problems.
So Paul wrote this first letter to the Thessalonians, evidently from Corinth. It was not too long after his departure from Thessalonica, because in the letter he said that he was bereaved of them for a little moment.
This was the first letter to any church. In it, Paul was trying to comfort them and encourage them in the Lord.
This young church in Thessalonica, as we have already mentioned, was founded in affliction and tribulation. Yet it had such a good foundation. Why? Because in that young church you find all the essential qualities of Christian life, both individually and corporately.
There are three essential qualities of Christian life, whether you look at it individually as a Christian or corporately as a church. There are three things that are paramount: faith, love, and hope.
Here you find that young church had all these three elements. They had the work of faith in turning to God from idols. They had the labor of love, to serve the true and living God. And they had endurance of hope because they awaited God’s Son from heaven, Whom God raised from the dead—Jesus, our Deliverer from the coming wrath.
So this young church was very solidly founded. They had all these elements: faith, love, and hope. Even while they continued in tribulation and affliction, they grew in their faith, in their love, and even in their hope.
It was a very beautiful picture of a young church. But, of course, they also had some problems. Paul wrote this first letter to comfort and encourage them in the Lord.
Now, the question may be asked: How are you going to comfort and encourage a young church? What will be the best way to comfort and encourage them?
You find in this first letter to the Thessalonians that the best way to encourage a church under persecution is to remind them, to emphasize to them, and to reinforce to them the coming of the Lord Jesus—the parousia of Christ.
If you go back to history, you find that during the second and third centuries the early church repeatedly entered into persecution. The Roman Empire persecuted Christians during those times.
While these Christians were under persecution, do you know what their watchword was? The greeting word they used toward one another was Maranatha. We know that Maranatha means, “The Lord cometh. The Lord is coming.”
What can comfort people’s hearts in tribulation and under persecution more than the fact that the Lord is coming?
This is not only true in the second and third centuries. You find that it has been true throughout the centuries. Wherever Christians are under persecution—in Europe, Asia, Africa, or wherever, in whatever time it may be—the one thing that strengthens them more than anything else is the fact that the Lord is coming soon.
I want to read to you something written by our beloved Watchman Nee. This hymn was written after the Communists occupied China. It expresses, in a way, the feeling of believers under persecution.
It is a long hymn with seven verses. Of course, he wrote it in Chinese, and it was translated into English. The Chinese is much better, but I am afraid if I read the Chinese, you will not understand. So I will read it in English.
Since long ago at Bethany we parted,
Within my heart there is a ceaseless void;
How can I take my heart down from the world?
How can my song without Thee be enjoyed?In gloomy night I’m keeping lonely vigil,
Grown dull by sorrow and by tears;
Then I recall the promise of Thy coming,
But sigh, “O Lord, why dost Thou not yet appear?”
Though even now I know Thy loving presence,
Yet in my heart there is still a sense of lack;
Enlightening and tender, still Thou sustainest,
Yet I am not fully satisfied.I would not despise Thy peace within;
I still feel lonely.
Despite Thy joy there still remains a sigh;
When I feel most content, the silent yearning
To see Thee face to face becomes an uttered cry.
From generation unto generation,
Nine things have come and gone,
But we have not seen that glorious promise
Passed into fulfillment.How long, how very long, the time has been!
Why cannot we, dear Lord, discern Thy footsteps?
Why are the heavens still so closely sealed?
How long must our waiting be prolonged?
Lord, I recall the many years I have waited
For Thy return;
Yet more, not I alone,
But Thy dear saints throughout many generations,
Beseeching Thee to come back.O may Thou come! The echo through the ages:
“Come, and answer now this mighty corporate cry.”
Throughout the centuries, this has always been the case.
Dear brothers and sisters, the desire and longing for the coming of the Lord is a sure sign of our first love.
We, as God’s people, are, as Paul says, a chaste virgin to one Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. As a virgin engaged to that perfect Man, Christ Jesus, what can be more expressive of that virgin love for Christ than the longing for His return?
We know today that our Lord Jesus is absent from us. Of course, spiritually He is with us. He said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,” and He is with us in the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in us.
Yet, in another sense, we say that our Lord Jesus today is absent. He left us two thousand years ago. He is now in heaven, and we, as His church, are that chaste virgin. If we are in our first love, what can there be but that we long to see Him soon and see Him face to face?
That is a sure sign of first love. Whenever we think that the Lord delays and will not come back, it really reveals that our love has grown cold.
As our Lord Jesus said in the parable, it is the wicked servant who says that his lord delays. Because he believes that the lord will not come back, he begins to live unrighteously—eating, drinking, and beating his fellow servants. But the expectant servant waits for the lord’s return.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we know that in the heart of every believer throughout the centuries, when you are in your first love with the Lord Jesus, no doubt there will be a longing, desire, and yearning in you for the Lord’s return.
It is not wrong in every generation and in every century for Christians to wait for the Lord’s return in their lifetime. Why? Because it is a sure sign of first love.
Especially when believers are in tribulation and under persecution, you find that longing and desire increase. The coming of the Lord becomes a great comfort and encouragement to believers.
Paul mentioned the coming of the Lord in every chapter of his first letter to the church in Thessalonica.
In the first chapter, Paul said, “To wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from among the dead, Jesus, our Deliverer from the coming wrath.”
When the Thessalonians turned away from idols unto God, that was the past. In the present, they served the true and living God. In other words, it is not only that you turn from idols to God, but now, what are you doing? You serve the true and living God.
This is what we ought to do. This is what we are doing. This is what we ought to be occupied with. We are here to serve the true and living God.
While we are serving Him, of course there will be difficulties, opposition, tribulations, and problems. But we are able to persevere. Why? Because we have a blessed hope. We wait for the Son of God to return from heaven.
When He returns from heaven, He will deliver us from the coming wrath.
In Hebrews 9:28, it is said that our Lord Jesus was once offered to bear our sins; but for the second time He will appear unto them that look for Him, without sin, unto salvation.
In other words, one day the wrath of God will come upon this earth. But, dear brothers and sisters, before that coming wrath, our Lord Jesus will return. He will deliver us from the coming wrath.
He will come the second time without sin, because our sins have already been forgiven. It is for salvation. That is our blessed hope.
In the second chapter Paul said, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not ye also before our Lord Jesus at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy.”
Paul, to the Thessalonians, was like a father; at the same time, he was like a nursing mother to these Thessalonian believers. He not only preached the gospel to them, but he willingly gave himself to them.
What was the reward of his faith? He did not look for his reward now. Instead, he looked for his reward there and then, at the coming of the Lord Jesus.
He was looking forward to that day when he would appear before the presence of the Lord. When he appeared before the Lord’s presence, he would be able to present the Thessalonian believers to the Lord as his gift of love.
These believers were his hope, his joy, and his crown of glorying.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you love the Lord, surely you would like to present to Him something to show your love. Surely you would like to know what it is that He wants more than anything else.
Our Lord Jesus desires people to be redeemed and perfected by His grace. If this is what the Lord desires more than anything else, then this should be our expression of love.
No cost was too great for the Apostle Paul if only he could present these people as his love to Christ. I do believe no cost is too great for any one of us if we can present people perfect and complete in Christ.
That will be our joy, our crown, and our glory.
In the third chapter, Paul encouraged the Thessalonian believers to increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all, to the confirming of their hearts, unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
Now he turns to the Thessalonian believers themselves. One day, at the coming of the Lord Jesus, we shall all be together in His presence. Whether we can stand in His presence unblameable in holiness before God—that is the question.
One day we will all be gathered. One day, as Paul says, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. One day we will all be judged according to our works.
Now remember: the judgment seat of Christ is different from the judgment of the great white throne. Do not be afraid.
The judgment of the great white throne, as we find in Revelation 20, is the final judgment. It is the judgment of all the dead throughout the ages. It is a judgment according to the works everyone did during his lifetime. Everything will be judged.
It is called the great white throne. A throne speaks of judicial judgment. It is great and white, showing that the judgment is of such purity. Who could stand before such a judgment? It is a judgment of life and death—of eternal life or eternal death.
The Bible says that according to God’s appointment, everyone will die, and after death comes judgment. That is the judgment referred to: the judgment of the great white throne. It is the judgment of eternal life and eternal death.
But, dear brothers and sisters, those who have believed in the Lord Jesus will never stand before that great white throne. Why? Because that judgment our Lord Jesus took upon Himself on Calvary’s cross.
While He was on Calvary’s cross, He bore our sins in His body. There He was judged in our stead. He tasted death for every man. Therefore, because He has already taken the judgment for us, there is no more judgment and no more condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. Thank God for that.
But that does not mean we will not be judged. We will still be judged—not as creatures before the Creator, but as children in the family of God.
It is called the judgment seat of Christ. It is not a throne; it is a seat. The word for seat in Greek is bema.
According to Eastern tradition, there are big family clans. In a clan you have the head of the family, perhaps a grandfather or great-grandfather. Once in a while there will be a family gathering. The whole family will be called to a meeting.
Usually, it will be in a big room. On one side of the room there is a raised place called a bema. The head of the family sits on that bema, and the rest of the family stands before him. There he judges the members of the family.
Some members of the family have done something that brings glory to the name of the family, and there they are commended and rewarded. But some may have done something that brings disgrace to the family, and there these members will be rebuked and even chastened.
But only family members can attend such a meeting. If you are not a family member, you cannot attend that meeting.
So, dear brothers and sisters, one day at the coming of the Lord Jesus, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He is our elder Brother, the Head of the family, and we will all stand before Him.
We shall be judged according to what we have done on this earth. Remember, it is not for going to heaven. It is not for eternal life or eternal death, because you have that already.
It is to see whether, as members of the family, we have glorified the name of the family or brought the family name into shame. There we will be judged, either to be rewarded or, as in 1 Corinthians 3, if all our labors are hay, stubble, and wood, they will be burned. Yet we ourselves shall be saved.
When we are gathered with the Lord in His presence, is it not good if we can present ourselves before Him unblameable in holiness?
Unblameable in holiness simply means holy—separated for God. That is in the heart. In other words, in your heart you are completely separated unto God.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Scripture never preaches sinless perfection. There is only one Man Who is sinlessly perfect: our Lord Jesus. There is none else.
What is mentioned here is not sinless perfection; it is a perfect heart. Do you remember that David had a perfect heart? David certainly was not perfect, but thank God, he had a perfect heart. That is what God is looking for.
Do we have a perfect heart toward God? Is our heart toward God divided? Do we really love Him with all our heart? Even though we sometimes fall, sometimes fail, and sometimes stumble, in our hearts are we holy for Him? Are we totally unto Him? Have we given our heart to Him?
That is what He is looking for. When God judges our works, it is according to the heart, because God does not look as man looks. He looks upon the heart.
By His grace, when we stand before Him unblameable in holiness before God, what a joy that will be.
In chapter 4, these Thessalonian believers had a problem. Some of the new believers died.
Because they were looking forward to the coming of the Lord, when some of them died a problem arose. They did not understand the truth. They thought that those who died had missed the opportunity; that when the Lord came, they would not participate, or that they would be secondary to those living at the coming of the Lord.
Because of this, they were sorrowing. Paul tried to comfort their hearts with the truth. He said, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord.”
You cannot find this particular word of the Lord in the Gospels. It was not included there. How then did Paul say, “By the word of the Lord”? Either he received a direct revelation from the Lord, as sometimes he did, or there was an oral tradition among the disciples that was not recorded. Either could be.
In other words, there is the word of the Lord. There is the truth: those who have fallen asleep in Christ, at the coming of the Lord, will rise up first. They will be first in the resurrection.
Those who live and remain will then be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
So their problem was solved. Those who could not wait until the Lord comes and had gone to sleep in Christ will be resurrected. Then those who live and remain will be caught together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord.
Finally, in chapter 5, we find: “Now the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it.”
That is the will of God for us: that we may be preserved—spirit and soul and body—blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is coming. When He comes, may we find ourselves preserved blameless—our spirit, soul, and body.
May our spirit be preserved blameless in the sense that our spirit is one with the Holy Spirit. We do not grieve Him. We do not quench Him. But we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
May our soul be preserved blameless in the sense that we love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. May our body be preserved blameless, that this body may be a living sacrifice here on earth to do His will.
Brothers and sisters, this is the will of God for us.
It is true that we cannot preserve ourselves. The God of peace, Who sanctifies us, is able to preserve us.
Our Lord Jesus is not only able to save us; He is able to save us to the uttermost. Our Savior is our Keeper. He gave His life to us. He gave His Spirit to us. By the grace of God, He is able to keep us until that day.
As the Apostle Paul said, “I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
In other words, on our part, we need to commit ourselves to Him. There is the preservation of the saints, the perseverance of the saints—not that we can keep ourselves or preserve ourselves, but that we commit ourselves to Him Who is our Keeper, God.
What confidence!
Finally, I would like to share with you something concerning this matter of the parousia of Christ—the coming of the Lord.
The word “coming” is used in such a broad way. In Greek there are several words translated “coming,” but especially you find this word parousia used in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
As a matter of fact, this word is used twenty-four times in the New Testament: seven times in relation to others, and seventeen times related to Christ.
This word parousia means “presence.” It includes the idea of arrival and, consequently, a presence.
Those who know Greek tell us that the word parousia, meaning presence, speaks of a period—not just one day, but a period which covers a series of events.
This is important for understanding the second coming of our Lord Jesus, because today there is much confusion among God’s people concerning the second coming.
Probably the question you are most often asked is this: “When will the Lord be coming? Are there more prophecies to be fulfilled before the Lord can come, or can the Lord Jesus come now?”
This is a very practical question. If there are more prophecies to be fulfilled before the Lord can come, then we need to look at the prophecies and not look for the Lord, because He could not come until those prophecies have been fulfilled.
But if the Lord can come at any time, even before some prophecies are yet fulfilled, then what should we do? Watch for Him, not for events.
Now, what are you watching? I find Christians today are watching for the fulfillment of prophecy. I do believe in prophecy. I do believe all these prophecies will be fulfilled. But, dear friends, we are to watch for Him, not watch for events.
Why? Because nobody knows the time. The Lord Himself said nobody knows. Nobody knows the hour, nobody knows the date, nobody knows the season. Only the Father knows. So do not try to know.
In church history, people have tried to calculate the hour when the Lord would come, and they have been wrong every time.
Some have said there are seven dispensations, and the last thousand years is a sabbath of a thousand years. Now we are toward the end of six thousand years, therefore—well, there may be some reason for that, but nobody knows.
One thing He says is that when you see these things happening, you will know the general atmosphere of His coming.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that the general atmosphere is coming still more upon us? If you read Matthew 24, you hear of wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and all these things. They are but the beginning of birth pains; it is not yet the end.
When you find wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and all these turmoils in the world, you know that the world is going through birth pains, going to give birth to something.
When a woman is in labor, you know it is near. It may not be immediate, but it is not far away. When birth comes nearer, you find that the pains become shorter and more intense.
From the time our Lord Jesus spoke these things until our time has been about two thousand years. During these two thousand years, these things have been happening, intensifying and broadening.
Our Lord Jesus said that as were the days of Noah, so shall be the days of the coming of the Son of Man. The word “coming” there is parousia.
Can we doubt that the general atmosphere today is becoming more and more like the days of Noah—corruption, wickedness, and the imagination of man’s heart continually evil?
The Lord said, when you see the fig tree putting forth its leaves, then you know that summer is near. When you see these things, you know that the Son of Man is near, even at the doors.
We know the fig tree represents the nation of Israel. For two thousand years, the Jewish people were without a nation and without a government. God preserved them through persecution. In 1948, the nation of Israel was established.
If our interpretation is correct, in Luke 21 the Lord said that Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Jerusalem for the first time passed out of the hands of the Gentiles into Jewish hands.
You look at the political situation, the economic situation, the moral situation, and the situation of Christianity, and you cannot help but sense the general atmosphere of the parousia.
In this period there are still many prophecies to be fulfilled. Parousia means a period, and there are a number of events instead of only one event. Yet, dear brothers and sisters, the conclusion has already begun.
We do not know. Maybe ten years from now; we do not know. One day, suddenly, in the world, one will be taken and one left.
The beginning of the parousia involves the overcomers. These are the man-child, raptured to the throne. It is from the ground to the air, and from the air to the throne.
Then Michael and his angels fight against Satan and his angels, because the air is Satan’s headquarters. Satan and his angels are cast down from the air to the earth. The air is cleared.
Then you find the kingdom of evil upon this earth: Satan, the beast, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. This leads into the great tribulation.
If you have a field of wheat, you cannot reap all the wheat at one time. Some ripen first. When the reapers come, they reap the firstfruits first.
According to the Jewish law of Moses, the firstfruits were brought to the temple and presented to God. They are always the pledge of the harvest to come.
Then, finally, you find the harvest. The Son of Man with the golden crown holds the golden sickle.
Those who have fallen asleep in Christ will rise first, and those who live and remain will be caught up—not to the throne, but to the air—to meet the Lord in the air. That is where the judgment seat of Christ will be.
Afterward, when the tribulation is over, the Lord comes from heaven to the earth with His saints.
It is not a battle between nation and nation. It is a battle between Christ and Satan’s kingdom.
That is the end of the parousia. It begins like a thief. Then ultimately the Lord comes openly and visibly.
His coming is in two stages: the coming invisible and the coming visible. From the throne to the clouds is invisible; from the clouds to Mount Olivet is visible. The whole period is called parousia: His arrival and His presence.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are awaiting the Lord Jesus’ presence. Even though today, spiritually, we do enjoy His presence, there is still a longing that we may see Him.
One day we shall see Jesus. We shall see Him as He is. We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
May He preserve in us the yearning and the desire that He may come.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.