SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/20/2014 9:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Looking for the Return of Christ
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 Thess.
1:10
Message of the
verse: “10
and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is
Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
In today’s SD we
will be looking at the tenth characteristic of the elect which is the expectant
looking for the return of Christ. I have
mentioned in an earlier SD that Paul mentions the return of our Lord in each chapter
of both Thessalonian letters, and as we will learn each time it is mentioned
does not always mean what we call the Rapture of the Church.
As we begin to look at this tenth characteristic of the
elect that Paul describes in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians we see that
it is a familiar one for true believers as the return of Jesus Christ is a very
important doctrine that the church has.
Let us first of all look at the book of Acts and see how Dr. Luke
describes the return of Christ to heaven and also what the apostles learned
from this: “6 So when they had come
together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are
restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times
or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My
witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
remotest part of the earth." 9 And after He had said these things, He was
lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their
sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going,
behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand
looking into the sky? This
Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same
way as you have watched Him go into heaven." John MacArthur writes “The reference to the
Resurrection establishes the ground for the return of Jesus Christ. God raised Him from the dead because He was
pleased with His sacrifice for sin and because He wanted to exalt Him to the
heavenly throne from which He will
return to exercise His sovereign right to rule as King of Kings.”
Jesus
was taken up to heaven from the Mount of Olives and it is this same place that
He will return. Warren Wiersbe writes
the following on the return of Christ to the earth: “Two aspects of the Lord’s return must be
distinguished. First, Jesus Christ will
come in the air for His Church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). This will usher in a period of Tribulation on
the earth (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). At
the close of the period, He will return to the earth with His church (2 Thessalonians
1:5-10; Rev. 19:11-21), defeat His enemies, and then set up His kingdom (Rev.
20:1-6).” There have been volumes
written about what this short paragraph says, but all of what the paragraph
says is true.
1 Thessalonians was one of the earliest books that Paul
wrote, as it is believed that Galatians was the first book that he wrote, and
this means that there were still many people who had seen and heard firsthand
the things that had happened with the Lord Jesus Christ. As the centuries have past we must rely on
the written Word of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to teach us from
His Word in order to believe these things.
I can testify to the fact that it was this doctrine of the end times
that the Holy Spirit used to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The return of Jesus Christ is the believer’s hope as Paul
writes to Titus about “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation
to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to
live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and
the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”
As believer of Jesus Christ we are a waiting people and
Paul writes about this aspect of waiting much in his letters to the
Thessalonians. The theme of this section is “An Expectant People.” Dr. Wiersbe writes the following on how a
local church should live expectantly: “A local church that truly lives
in the expectation of seeing Jesus Christ at any time will be a vibrant and
victorious group of people. Expecting
the Lord’s return is a great motivation for soul-winning (1 Thess. 2:19-20) and
Christian stability (1 Thess. 3:11-13).
It is a wonderful comfort in sorrow (1 Thess. 4:13-18) and a great
encouragement for godly living (1 Thess. 5:23-14). It is tragic when churches forget this
wonderful doctrine. It is even more
tragic when churches believe it and preach it—but do not practice it.”
I now want to look
at which part of the return of Christ Paul was writing about in this
verse. John MacArthur writes “Rescues
denotes the deliverance the Lord provides.
He is the Rescuer, Deliverer, and Savior of those otherwise headed for
divine judgment and eternal punishment.
In the ancient world, the idea of divine wrath was accepted, but there
was no genuine hope of rescue from it.
By contrast, in the postmodern world the idea of divine wrath is
rejected, so the Rescuer is not needed or heeded. Orge
(wrath) describes God’s settled eternal judgment against sin. Some believe the wrath to come refers to the
Great Tribulation, and see this rescue as the promise of the pretribulation
Rapture, expounded upon later in this epistle.
But the immediate context of Paul’s discussion of election and salvation
rather than eschatology rules out temporal wrath and points to eternal wrath,
as does the wrath mentioned in 5:9—“For God has not destined us for wrath, but
for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
At this time I want to quote both John MacArthur and
Warren Wiersbe in their end commentary on the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. MacArthur writes “These ten marks of the
elect are true of every genuine follower of Christ. But from time to time it is possible for even
true believers to lose touch with those realities in their lives and to live
sinfully inconsistent with their position in the body of Christ. Peter urged his readers, ‘Therefore,
brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and
choosing you’ (2 Peter 2:10). It is not
that they need to convince God—He already knows who constitutes the elect. But there is nothing more assuring for those
who profess faith in Christ than to know their true spiritual condition by
means of these ten spiritual benchmarks.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes:
“What every church should be is what every Christian should be: elect (born again), exemplary (imitation the
right people), enthusiastic (sharing the Gospel with others), and expectant
(daily looking for Jesus Christ to return).
“Perhaps it is time for an inventory.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can’t help but
think about what I quoted in our last SD from Richard Strauss on living a more
simple life and to be more active in spreading the good news of the Gospel, and
to be giving more funds to help those who are doing the same thing. I believe with all of my heart that the Lord
Jesus will return to the earth, first to the clouds above the earth to call His
Church home to be with Him, and then to the Mount of Olives with His saints to
stop the battle of Armageddon. I want to
live like I believe this.
My Steps of Faith for Today: 1 Peter 3:15
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-9
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted
Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The land of Nod” (Genesis
4:16).
Today’s Bible
question: “Nam a Moabite girl.”
Answer in our next SD.
3/20/2014 11:17 AM
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