1 Thessalonians 5
McGeeCHAPTER 5THEME: The coming of Christ is a rousing hopeIn this final chapter of 1 Thessalonians we see the Christian’s actions in view of the return of Christ. In chapter 1, you will recall, we considered the Christian’s attitude toward the return of Christ. Now, if the attitude does not lead to action, something is radically wrong. The coming of Christ is a rousing hope which leads to action!
1 Thessalonians 5:1
CALL TO BE AWAKE AND ALERT IN VIEW OF CHRIST’S COMINGThe believer in Christ is to be awake and alert in view of Christ’s coming, because the believer will not enter into that awful night of the Great Tribulation period, which is labeled the Day of the Lord. That Day of the Lord begins with night because that is God’s way of marking time. He begins that way in Genesis where it says that the evening and the morning were the first day. God begins in night but moves to light. So the Great Tribulation leads into the glorious millennial reign of Christ when the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings. The Day of the Lord is an expression we need to examine. “Times and seasons” are not the property of the church; they belong to this earth and to an earthly peopleboth Israel and the Gentiles who will be saved in that day. The church is looking for a Person, not for times and seasons. The word for “time” is the Greek chronos, from which we get our English word chronology. The times and seasons or the chronology is not for the church.
1 Thessalonians 5:2
The Lord Jesus does not come to the church like a thief in the night. The church is looking for and waiting for the Lord to come. You don’t wait for a thief and look for him and leave a note for him on the back door when you leave your house"I left the back door open for you, Mr. Thief, and you’ll find the family silver in the third drawer to the right in the dining room." I don’t imagine you have ever left such a note. The chances are that you check everything before you leave the house, making sure that your home is doubly locked. You want to keep the thief out.
So the Lord Jesus does not come as a thief to the church. However, the Lord Jesus does come like a thief to the world after the church has been raptured. As I have said, the Day of the Lord will come suddenly to the earth, and it will begin with the night of the Great Tribulation period; then finally Christ will come personally to this earth. The Day of the Lord will come suddenly
1 Thessalonians 5:3
Do you notice the change of pronouns here? In the first two verses Paul is addressing the “brethren,” and he says that it is not necessary for him to write to them about the times and seasons, because they will have nothing to do with itbelievers will be gone at that time. But here in verse 1Th_5:3 the pronoun changes to “they"“when they shall say, Peace and safety.” Again let me repeat that the Day of the Lord is a period of time which begins with the Great Tribulation and goes through the millennial reign of Christ here upon the earth. There are many passages of Scripture which speak of this. For example, in Isaiah, chapters 12-13, you can read how God moves down in judgment on society and government, on the military and commerce and art and pomp and pride and religion. “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it” (Isa_13:9). It starts out as a day of wrath: “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine” (Isa_13:10). In the prophecy of Joel we are told: “Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come” (Joe_1:15). Joel goes on in chapter 2 to describe it as “a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness …” (Joe_2:2).
That is the picture given to us in the Old Testament. The Day of the Lord is a period which begins with the Great Tribulation and goes through the millennial reign of Christ. That is a theme in the Old Testament. Now the event described in chapter 4the coming of Christ to take the church out of the worldis not even mentioned in the Old Testament. It is there by type, of course, such as the experiences of Enoch and Elijah, both of whom were taken up alive to be with the Lord. But it is not taught in the Old Testament that the Lord Jesus is going to take a company of people out of this earth to be with Himself. This is a glorious, wonderful truth which was revealed first in the Upper Room when the Lord Jesus said, “…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a plcae for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Joh_14:2-3). As far as I know, that is the first time this truth is revealed in the Bible. And Paul developed it in 1 Thessalonians 4. However, in the fifth chapter he is speaking of something which was well known in the Old Testament. “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” It is going to be a big surprise to the world. They are not going to expect it. I believe that the “big lie,” which we will see in the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, is the promise of peace and safety. The Lord Jesus warned of that: “Take heed that no man deceive you.” The world expects to enter a great era of peace, the Millennium, but they will find themselves plunged into the Great Tribulation, which will include the greatest war the world has ever seen. It will come upon them suddenly like a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:4
The rapture of the church actually does two things: (1) It ends this day of grace in which we are today, this calling out a people for His name and bringing many sons home to glory. This is what God is doing in our day. The Rapture not only ends that, but (2) it begins the Day of the Lord. The Great Tribulation will get under way when the church leaves the earth. The one event of the Rapture will end the day of grace and begin the Day of the Lord. It closes one day and opens another. “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” Why won’t it? Well, because we won’t be here. We found in chapter 4 that “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout” and take His church out of the world. “Ye are all the children of light.” In other words, you don’t belong to that dispensation which is coming in the future. You belong to the dispensation of grace in which we are today. Friend, if you do not learn these distinctions which are made in the Scripture, you will be hopelessly confused. I know of no one so hopelessly confused as some theologians in seminaries today. I’ve talked to them. One man told me that he had simply given up on the study of prophecy and would have nothing to do with it. Why? Because he was not willing to sit down and study the entire Scriptures. When the Day of the Lord comes, we are going to be with the Lord. We are not in darkness. That day will not overtake us as a thief in the night. He does not come as a thief to take His church. The church is looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior. Now Paul gives the admonition to the believers
1 Thessalonians 5:6
You see, the rapture of the church, that blessed hope, could take place at any time. Because of this, we should not be sleeping Christians. I heard a song leader down in Georgia, who, in his very quaint way, uttered a great many wise sayings. He was right on target with his remarks. He said, “We are now going to sing ‘Standing on the Promises.’ There are a lot of folk today who are singing ‘Standing on the Promises,’ but they are just sitting on the premises!” And some of them are actually sleeping pillars in the church today. Now Paul is saying that, in view of the fact that the Lord Jesus is going to take His church out of the world before that awful period of tribulation, “let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” The word sober has several meanings. It can mean “to stay sober” in the sense of not using an alcoholic stimulant, but there are also other kinds of drunkenness besides that caused by alcohol or drugs. A lot of people get drunk on power or on the making of money or on the pleasures of this world. The child of God is to stay sober and is to watch. Why? Because these tremendous events are to take place in the future. I believe we are close to the time of the return of the Lord. I don’t know, of course, but I think we are. And I know I can say with Paul: “…for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom_13:11).
1 Thessalonians 5:7
Again he mentions the word sober. Let’s understand that we have a duty to perform. “Putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” This speaks of a soldier’s duty and is a call to that kind of duty. The breastplate of faith and love is to cover the heart, the vital part of the body. The helmet is the hope of salvation. As I write this, it isn’t the style for men or women to wear hatsmost people today go bareheadedbut it should be the style for every Christian to wear the helmet of the hope of salvation. “Faith …love …hope"this is now the third time these key words have appeared in this epistle: the labor of love, the work of faith, the patience of hope. Faith is a saving faith, and a saving faith produces works. Calvin said, “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.” “Faith” looks to the past when we accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. “Love” is for the present, which is the relationship the believer should have with those around him. The “hope of salvation” is that blessed hope of the future. We are not looking for the Great Tribulation period. I don’t see how there could be any rejoicing in that! We are looking for that blessed hope, which is the consummation of our salvation. John writes, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn_3:2). God is not through with me, so don’t you be impatient with me. A little lady down in West Texas in a testimony meeting said, “Most Christians ought to have written on their backs, ‘This is not the best that the grace of God can do.’” I know that I ought to have that written on my back. Since He is not through with me yet, don’t be impatient with me, and I won’t be impatient with youbecause I don’t think He is through with you either. Today we have “the hope of salvation,” which is that He will consummate that which He has begun in us. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php_1:6).
1 Thessalonians 5:9
“God hath not appointed us to wrath"that ought to be clear even to amillennialists, but for some reason they miss the point. God hasn’t appointed us to the day of wrath, the Great Tribulation. It is a time of judgment, and the church is not going through it because Christ bore our judgment. Perhaps you are saying, “McGee, do you think you are good enough to be taken out in the Rapture?” No, I’m not even good enough to be saved. But God saved me by His grace, and when He comes to take His church out of the world, I’m going along with all the superduper saintsbecause of the grace of God. “But to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” God has not destined us for wrath, for the Great Tribulation, but for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:10
Whether we die first or whether we live until His coming, we shall live together with Him. Most of the church has already gone through the doorway of death. What a parade that will be somedaybeginning with Stephen and the apostles, the martyrs, all those who have fallen asleep in Jesus down through the years, and then those who are still alive at His coming, and if you and I are still alive, we will bring up the rear. Thank God, we shall be there by the grace of God! Now what will these wonderful truths do for you? The next verse tells us: “Wherefore comfort yourselves together.” What a comfort all of this is to us as believers!
1 Thessalonians 5:11
COMMANDMENTS FOR CHRISTIANSWe come now to a series of twenty-two commandments for Christians. These are the commandments for believersnot just ten of them but twenty-two of them! Up to the time we are saved, God has us shut up to a cross. That is, God is not asking anything of us except this question: “What will you do with My Son who died for you?” After we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, then God talks to us about our lives. The child of God is not under the Ten Commandments as the way of lifehe is way above it. He is to live on a much higher plane, as we can see by the commandments in this section.
These commandments are practicalright down where the rubber meets the road. It is a wonderful, glorious thing to keep looking for the coming of Christ, but it is also very important that we keep walking down here on the sidewalks of lifeat home, in the office, in the schoolroom, wherever we are called to walk. The Lord Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (Joh_14:15). There are some Christians who have never listened to His commandments. Well, here are twenty-two of them. They are given like military orders, brief and terse. They are barked out like a second lieutenant would give them to you. We were just told to be sober and to put on the uniform of warfare (see v. 1Th_5:8). Now the orders are given, and they seem to be categorizedthat is, certain ones are related to each other. The first commandment is to “comfort yourselves together,” which means to encourage one another in the faith. The second commandment is to “edify one another.” The Thessalonian believers were already doing that, Paul says, Edify means “to build up one another.” You and I should be a team working together, edifying each other with the Word of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:12
Here are three commandments that seem to belong together. “Know” or understand those who teach the Word of God. It means we should recognize them. When Paul wrote this, he was speaking to the local situation in Thessalonica. He had been with them less than a month. He had won them to Christ and had taught them. A church had been started, we would say, “from scratch.” There wasn’t a believer there before Paul had arrived and presented the gospel to them (see Act_17:2-3).
So all the Thessalonian believers had come to know Christ at about the same time. Now among them certain ones would have been given the gift of teaching. Some would have the gift of preaching and some of helping. Every believer receives a gift when he is saved, and that gift is to be exercised in the body of believers to build up the body of believers. But I have a notion that among the believers in Thessalonica there could have been this attitude: So-and-so and I were saved at the same time. I knew him before he was a believer.
Where did he get the idea that he could teach me? So Paul is telling them that certain men and women had been given certain gifts of leadership, and they should respect them. They should look to them for admonition. We still have the problem today that very few people in the church pay any attention to the teachers God has given them. People say they believe the Bible is the Word of God and they believe every word of it. Then why don’t they obey it? Why don’t they listen when it is being taught? One man said to me very candidly, “I believe the Bible from cover to cover, and I am ignorant of what is between the covers.” Now that is an untenable position to hold. I think if people knew what was between the covers, they would believe it.
But it is a hypocritical position to say you believe it and then be ignorant of what it says. Anyone who says he believes the Bible is the Word of God is obligated to know what it says. Therefore, those who are preaching and teaching the Word of God should have the attention of the believers. Now the fourth commandment is “to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.” I have always appreciated people who love the Word of God because I have found that they become my friends. One of the things I have so appreciated about my radio ministry is the number of friends that God has raised up for me across this country. Many of them have written to say their home is open to me (of course, I can’t accept all those invitations), but when I am in their town, they do nice things for me. They reveal their love. When they reveal that love to meand I’m hard to loveit reveals that they honor the Word of God since I teach the Word of God. Then the fifth commandment: “And be at peace among yourselves.” These all come together in one package. You can’t have everybody running the church. You can’t have everybody running any kind of organization. There must be a certain one with authority. I think one of the great problems in many churches today is a case of the old bromide, “too many cooks spoil the broth.” There needs to be one who is the leader and who is followed. With that arrangement you can have peace. But when everybody is trying to play his own tune, you have anything but harmony and peace! Now here are the sixth through the ninth commandments
1 Thessalonians 5:14
“Warn them that are unruly.” This would naturally follow the fifth commandment: “Be at peace among yourselves.” The “unruly” are those who are out of step. My feeling is that they are loners, and they like to do their own little thing rather than support the work which God is doing. They are to be warned. “Comfort the feebleminded.” What does he mean by “feebleminded”? Well, a better word would be fainthearted. He is not referring to folk with mental problems. But here are folk who are fearful to move out for God, and they need encouraging. There is many a saint today who needs someone to put his arm around him and say, “Brother, you’re going to make it. I’m for you and I am praying for you.” My, what comfort and encouragement that would be to the fearful, the faintheartedand sometimes all of us get discouraged and become fainthearted! “Support the weak” is the eighth commandment. There are folk who are weak in the faith. They cannot get in step because they are little babies. They are not able to march with the rest; so help them. Lift them up, and carry them along. “Be patient toward all men.” That means: Don’t lose your temper. That is so difficult! In business or in our other relationships with people, we meet ungodly, unholy, cantankerous, unsaved people who are definitely trying to trip us or to abuse us in some way, and it becomes very difficult to be patient and not to lose our tempers. But God commands us to be patient with everybody.
1 Thessalonians 5:15
Now here is the tenth commandment: “See that none render evil for evil unto any man.” In other words, don’t fight one another. The eleventh"but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.” There are three philosophies of life or three standards of conduct. The pagan world operates on a philosophy which does evil in spite of good. In other words, you get the other fellow before he gets you. Use any kind of method. He may have treated you well, but if you can get the advantage over him, do that. That is pagan and heathen philosophy. Then there is the standard of the so-called refined, cultured, and educated world. That is, do good to those who do good to you. The political parties in our country operate on that principle. If one person helps a man to get into political office, the politician reciprocates by offering the man a job or office. You take care of your own. That is the philosophy of the so-called civilized world. Jesus said, “And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same” (Luk_6:33). The Christian is to live under a different standard. We are to do good to those who do evil to us. That is contrary to the natural man. The minute someone hits us, we just naturally want to hit him back. This is the philosophy that Paul is talking about"See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good"even to those who do evil to you. Now the twelfth commandment
1 Thessalonians 5:16
I think these next three commandments go together. “Rejoice” does not mean to be happy. This is not the happy hour that he is talking abouthappy is not a New Testament word. This is a joy in the Lord as Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Php_4:4). My, what a commandment! You won’t find that in the Ten Commandments! The child of God has no right to go around with a sour puss. The child of God has no right to be a cantankerous individual. If you a child of God, you are to rejoice evermore! That, incidentally, is a fruit of the Holy Spiritlove, joy, peace. If you cannot rejoice, then begin reading the Word of God and calling on God to put joy in your heart. He will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
This has to do with an attitude of prayer. I don’t think this means that one is to stay on his knees all the time. But it means to pray regularly and to be constantly in the attitude of prayer. Associated with that is this fourteenth commandment
1 Thessalonians 5:18
This tells us to “give thanks” in all circumstances, not just once a year, but all the time. This “is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” If you come to me and ask what is the will of God for you, I can tell you three specific things that are the will of God for you: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything. That is the will of God for you. Now the fifteenth
1 Thessalonians 5:19
One of the figures that is used for the Holy Spirit is fire. How do you quench a fire? You dampen it down and don’t let it burn. To quench the Spirit means that you refuse to do the will of God; that is, you are not listening to the Holy Spirit. You refuse to let the Holy Spirit be your Guide to lead you. You and I quench the Holy Spirit when we take matters into our own hands. This is the same teaching that Paul gave to the Ephesian believers: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph_4:30). You cannot grieve a thing; you grieve a Person. The Holy Spirit is a Person, and He is grieved by sin in our lives. Also, He is quenched when we step out of the will of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:20
Do not look down upon Bible study as something that is beneath you. Do not be indifferent to the Word of God. We have a lot of folk who are in Christian service, but they are ignorant of the Bible and they look down on Bible study. Occasionally I hear such a person saying, “You just spend all your time in Bible study and you don’t do anything. What you need to do is get out and get busy.” Well, what is needed is to get busy studying the Word of God, and after you do that you will see how to get busy and really be effective. We had a Bible study downtown in Los Angeles, averaging fifteen hundred people every Thursday night over a period of twenty-one yearswhat a thrill that was! What a privilege that was! But sometimes folk would make a remark like, “You need to get out and do something, not just go to sit and listen to the Bible.” The interesting thing is that those people who came to sit and listen to the Bible did go out and do something. There are several hundred of those people who are out on the mission field; there are several hundred who are witnessing for God; and there are several hundred in the ministry. I notice that the boys who do not study the Word of God run down like an eight-day clock. Their ministries don’t last too long. The sixteenth commandment which Paul gives the Thessalonians is “despise not prophesyings,” that is, the teaching of the Word of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:21
“Prove all things.” Don’t be taken in. To put it crudely, don’t be a sucker. Don’t be misled into supporting a project just because somebody sends you a picture of pathetic looking orphans. Don’t contribute to things you know nothing about. Don’t fall for some promotion job. Investigate. Investigate anything to which you give your support. Christians ought not to be gullible. We are to prove all things. This also means that we are not to be taken in by flattery. There are many deceivers in the world. “Hold fast that which is good.” Hold to that which is true and genuine.
1 Thessalonians 5:22
This nineteenth commandment is the answer for questionable pastimes and amusements. If there is any question in your mind whether something is right or wrong, then it is wrong for you. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Now notice that man is a truine being
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Man is a triune being; body, soul (mind), and spirit. “Sanctify you wholly"not perfectly, but we are to reach a place of maturation. We should not continue to be babes in Christ; we should be growing to maturity.
1 Thessalonians 5:24
You can depend upon God.
1 Thessalonians 5:25
This twentieth command is to pray for those who give out the gospel. You can’t pray for Paul today, but you can pray for me, and I would appreciate it. You can pray for your pastor and your missionaries. I know they would appreciate it also.
1 Thessalonians 5:26
This is a commandment, too. Just make sure it is a holy kiss! In our culture and with our customs, a warm handshake will do.
1 Thessalonians 5:27
That is the twenty-second commandment, and I have obeyed it by quoting this entire epistle to you!
1 Thessalonians 5:28
And I pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with you my beloved.