But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. [1 Thess 4:13-18 NKJV].
The brethren and sisters at Thessalonica had been brought to Christ, but the Apostles had hurriedly left due to persecution. Thus there were new converts who knew the basics but were as babes in Christ and knew little of the main teaching of the Church. There were no Bibles such as we have today to learn from, leaving a fertile ground from which to spring error and worry. It was not an easy time for Christians with persecution rife and lack of knowledge common. To encourage and help the Thessalonians, when Paul arrived in Corinth he settled down to write to them, outlining answers to some of their fears and problems that were consuming them.
They knew one day Christ would come back and take those who loved the Lord taken to Heaven. However they were worried about those who had already died. I wonder how many believers are today worried about the future. They see the world around them collapsing into chaos and disasters on every hand, with storms, flooding, earthquakes and life in general threatening them and their children’s future. Yet the Church in general is neglecting the Scriptures of the Bible which will enlighten them. Why the second coming is not being taught in the Churches I do not know, but at this moment it is being neglected. We know that Satan is alive and well, but that he is worried that more people will be saved and the Church will grow more and more. He has created the Moslem, Hindu and other religions to pull people away from believing in Jesus but as events progress he is becoming more militant. He has promoted the LGBT agenda far beyond the number of people it represents, promoted abortion which instead of being used for health reasons is now being used like pruning fruit trees willy nilly.
Now Satan is working on the Church, trying to destroy the belief in the inerrancy of the Scriptures, so Church leaders will teach heresy, and Satan is trying to destroy marriages, and definitely trying to stop the teaching of the “End Times”, which illustrates the damage Satan will try and do, which will come to judgement for Satan and his angels and his followers. As the Bible says many times “God has said it, it will happen”. Satan has set out from the days of the “Garden of Eden” right up to the present day to destroy and disrupt Gods plans. He persuaded Adam and Eve to disobey God so that sin entered into the world. Their reward was being thrown out of the lovely “Garden of Eden”, knowing that one day they would die. They had their first born son, Cain, who became the first murderer when he murdered his brother.
Satan created such an attitude in the world that God destroyed it, [Gen 6], and only saved Noah and his family. It was not long before some of the descendants got together and again they sinned, defying Gods command and doing what they wanted to do instead of doing what God had commanded them. Then later on God appointed Abraham to head a selected chosen people who God could keep as His chosen ones, and be His source of a future redeemer, Satan did all in his power to cause them to disobey God and destroy them where they were scattered throughout the world. Many times over the years the Jews faced annihilation, with Hitler the latest, although at the moment Israel is the subject of persecution by the rest of the world particularly the Arab nations round about. Now Iran [Persia] and local neighbours are planning to destroy Israel.
Then Jesus came to this earth lived as a man although being God, and allowed mankind to crucify Him. Satan thought he had won, but God is much stronger. Jesus was raised from the dead, conquering sin and death, the just dying in place of the unjust to pay the price of our sin. Satan is only an angel, he is not God, although he tries to behave like him, he is only a rather evil angel. Satan and other evil angels have tried to destroy Gods work so that he can take over the world. Let us not forget that God created Satan in the first place and gave him free will. Satan got too big for his boots and rebelled against God, and tried to make himself equal with God, which he will never do and is destined for his fate in the eternal fire. He will try it again as the Beast of Revelation and meet his fate in the Lake of Fire.
At the Rapture, the Lord Jesus will come to take His children, the Church, home to be with Him forever. Matthew Chapter 25 covers this event, and warns what will happen when we reject so great a salvation. The Church has been to Jesus, washed their robes white in the blood and sacrifice of Calvary. As the old Hymn says “have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you trusting in the Lord this hour are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” For if you have not you will be left behind when Jesus comes again. Are you ready for our Lord, He might call us from the clouds to come to him any day, to be with Him in Heaven for ever. Are you ready, with your lamp burning and a longing for Jesus?
Brian Papworth
Representative for PWMI in the South Pacific