1 Thess 4-5 Definite Plan for the End

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God Has a Definite Plan for the End

Intro: California has 20 Volcanoes. Yosemite has five of them on the eastern side of the park, more in the Inyo National Forest in Mono like and Mammoth Mountain. Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. Many of the volcanoes are considered dormant but places like Lassen, that last erupted in 1915, still has evidence that it is still doing something beneath the surface with active steam vents, hot springs, and bubbling pools of hot mud are still found elsewhere in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

No one can say when, but it is almost certain that the Lassen area will experience volcanic eruptions again. And you can go to the park, walk around the sulfur springs and see the beautiful landscape but you forget that the lava is flowing beneath the ground and may erupt at any time. But it's been so long that you just think that mount Shasta is a mountain.

It is the same with the life of a believer. We know that one day this world will end, but it hasn’t happened yet so maybe it’s just nothing or not true. For the church at Thessalonica, it is the equivalent of living in about 1920 a few year after the Lassen eruption and still waiting for it to erupt again. They were taught that Jesus was going to return and they were waiting for that return. But they had some questions. The most important on was. What happens to the people who accepted Christ as their Lord. And Savior,but have since passed away.

Read Verses:

Big Idea: God is Preparing Us for the End

I. God Comforts Us in the End (4:13-18)

We know we are not on this world permanently. The promise of Scripture is that believers will be called up into heaven with The Son of Man when he comes on a cloud. And the promise is that all believers will be resurrected. Paul gives us the order of how it will happen from what he calls the word of the Lord.

First, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangels voice and and the trumpet of God.

Second, the dead in Christ will rise first

Third, those who are still alive will be caught up together and meet the Lord in the air.

The dead wil be resurrected like Jesus was resurrected.

Jesus explains in

28 Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

If you have lost loved ones, or if Jesus does not come back in our lifetime, we will be raised up and join not only your family who is still alive, but more importantly we are all meeting up with God in heaven.

This is what is known as the rapture. The rapture will be unexpected.there are no one 100 percent clear signs. Jesus says there wil be wars and rumors of wars but that is not the time.

Louis Berkhof explains that the Bible intimates that the measure of surprise at the second coming of Christ will be in an inverse ratio to the measure of their watchfulness. Theologian Millard Erickson says “The Coming will happen so fast, there will be no time to prepare.”

Application: Our souls must be prepared because when the trumpet calls, that is the final bell.

How do we get prepared? There are steps we take during natural disasters. For fires or volcanoes, you have all of your papers in a safe or a box that you can grab, and maybe you have a bag packed or at least a suitcase handy to grab it in case you have to evacuate.

For believers our spiritual bag is already packed and your ticket is purchased. You are just waiting for the flight. For non believers, we have to help them pack their bags and put their important papers in the fireproof safe. We have to explain the Gospel to them.

The Holy Spirit will stamp their passport if they are able to get on the plane.

People can make guesses as to when the world will end and Jesus will come back. There are several signs, but we can only guess as to when the wars and. Rumors of wars are the real signs until it is too late. So no matter where you think the tribulation will happen, and for that matter when the rapture takes place the undoubtable fact is that the rapture will take place.

When I was in Quito, Ecuador, there was a Volcano that started smoking and venting for about a month or two before I left. About two months after I left, it blew a huge cloud of ash out of the top and all over the city, but no lava or huge explosions that we think of with volcanic eruptions.

Paul is telling the Thessalonians that this rapture will take place and they should encourage each other that God’s word is true and even though it wont take place in their lifetime, it will eventually take place.

TS: Because God is watching the game clock so to speak and he knows how much time I left

II. God Knows the End Will Come (5:1-5)

Paul transitions to the next end times event known as the Day of the Lord. He says you yourselves know very well that the day ill come just like a thief in the night.

People will say peace and security, but then sudden destruction will come upon them.

People will say the volcano won’t erupt any time soon. Everything is peace and security. Everything is fine and we have plenty of time before Jesus comes back.so i can delay my acceptance of Jesus a little longer.

But Paul is warning the people who are unbelievers will not escape the wrath of God. But he encourages the church by saying you brothers ad sisters are not in the dark. For this day to surprise you liked their. You are awake.You are standing watch and so you wont be surprised by the arrival of Jesus.

For volcanoes they now have a lot of sensors everywhere so they can monitor the seismic movement ona regular basis and they can put out warnings as early as possible.

There are three positions for the rapture Pretribulation before the seven years mentioned in Daniel ,mid tribulation, so at the three and half year mark, and the post tribulation position so after the 7 years but Before the Day of the Lord arrives, there will be a tribulation and most likely we will live though a portion of it if not all of it.

Even with all of the extremely terrible things that we will have to suffer, the wrath that Gods will demonstrate will be nothing like what people will suffer during the day of the Lord. Joel chapter 2 describes the Day of the Lord.

2 Blow the horn in Zion;

sound the alarm on my holy mountain!

Let all the residents of the land tremble,

for the day of the Lord is coming;

in fact, it is near—

2 a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and total darkness,

like the dawn spreading over the mountains;

a great and strong people appears,

such as never existed in ages past

and never will again

in all the generations to come.

3 A fire devours in front of them,

and behind them a flame blazes.

The land in front of them

is like the garden of Eden,

but behind them,

it is like a desert wasteland;

there is no escape from them.

4 Their appearance is like that of horses,

and they gallop like war horses.

5 They bound on the tops of the mountains.

Their sound is like the sound of chariots,

like the sound of fiery flames consuming stubble,

like a mighty army deployed for war.

6 Nations writhe in horror before them;

all faces turn pale.

7 They attack as warriors attack;

they scale walls as men of war do.

Each goes on his own path,

and they do not change their course.

8 They do not push each other;

each proceeds on his own path.

They dodge the arrows, never stopping.

9 They storm the city;

they run on the wall;

they climb into the houses;

they enter through the windows like thieves.

10 The earth quakes before them;

the sky shakes.

The sun and moon grow dark,

and the stars cease their shining.

11 The Lord makes his voice heard

in the presence of his army.

His camp is very large;

those who carry out his command are powerful.

Indeed, the day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful—

who can endure it?

Application: We are free from God’s wrath, but not suffering.

Jesus suffered and he took God’s wrath for the believer. That is what frees us from having to withstand the second death takes about in Revelation. The lake of Fire. Paul explains this in verse 9 actually when he says For God did not appoint us to wrath,but obtain salvation.

But we are called to be like Christ and so we must suffer with him. ;-7 says You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this,[b] even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

TS: This suffering and our watchfulness allows us to be ready for when the Lord Calls us home at the end of the Age.

III. God Wants us to Be Ready (5:6-11)

Paul wants the Christians to be self controlled, to put non the armor of God.Why? Because we are on duty. Paul says the those who get drunk do it t night because it s the dark, no on can see and you are off of work. But for us, there is never any time we are not on duty. And Paul is pretty straightforward about this.

You are a Christian 24/7. Not just on Sunday’s. When you deploy to a war zone you can never not pay attention and be ready for an attack. You have to wear your body armor pretty much all the time. Just in case there is an attack. If you live in the south, you stay ready for hurricane evacuations and if you live in the Northeast, you always have bread and milk on hand for when a blizzard snows you in for a few days.

Application: We have to Get Ready, Be Ready and Stay Ready

Getting Ready is becoming saved. This is the point of justification that has been worked out with the Work of Christ’s death on the cross, and you arriving at the point of time that You understand from the help of God the Holy Spirit, that you are saved. You are made alive in Christ.

In the military, this is the training you receive before you

You have to Be Ready. The image of the thief that Paul uses earlier in chapter 5 also occurs as a description of the coming of the Lord in the Gospels (; ) and in and ; . We know the end is coming some time. The church at thesslonica was ready and they figured the end was coming soon.

We put cameras up in the church and you can buy Home security systems or even a doorbell that will alert you and you can talk to the people.

Your readiness is only as good as you Maintain the system. Sometimes you see on Police shows that a store owner has a camera, but it doesn’t actually work and its not used. It’s only for show. The Ring doorbell camera has a battery but it needs to be charged periodically. Because the camera may fool some people, but you know that it is a shell and it is for show. And so do the criminals who don’t care about the camera.

God did not save you so you could pretend to be a Christian, he saved you to tell other people about Christ and to live a redeemed life. To tell people the good news that God performed in your life with His work on the cross.

Conclusion:

Paul’s words are as applicable when they were written as they are for us today. We ar still waiting, but the idea that our loved ones and us will be called to live with Christ in His Kingdom. That should comfort us because we will avoid God’s wrath but not all the suffering.

God knows the end will come and we can be comforted by that idea as well. Because this world will not be forever, but we are told that His Kingdom will endure forever.

But in the mean time God wants us to be ready for his return because it is a matter of obedience as much as it is a matter of just readiness.

The Volcanoes won’t stay dormant forever,but we must be prepared for when it erupts.We know we live near one that can explode At any minute and be ready to leave when it does.

Lord’s Supper