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    Be Ready (1 & 2 Thessalonians): Living in Light of Christ's Return
    Be Ready (1 & 2 Thessalonians): Living in Light of Christ's Return
    Be Ready (1 & 2 Thessalonians): Living in Light of Christ's Return
    Ebook180 pages3 hours

    Be Ready (1 & 2 Thessalonians): Living in Light of Christ's Return

    By Warren W. Wiersbe

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    Experience eternity. Today.

     During His life and ministry, Christ assured the apostles that He would one day return for His people. But how should this future event affect our lives today? In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he reveals that the promise of Christ’s return is more than a doctrine of our faith. It is a remarkable truth that can shape how we live, how we connect, and how we view ministry. Part of Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe’s best-selling “BE” commentary series, Be Ready has now been updated with study questions and a new introduction by Ken Baugh. A respected pastor and Bible teacher, Dr. Wiersbe balances the prophetic with the practical, and shares how Christ’s powerful promise can impact every aspect of life. So be encouraged. Be revived. And Be Ready.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid C Cook
    Release dateAug 1, 2010
    ISBN9781434702456
    Be Ready (1 & 2 Thessalonians): Living in Light of Christ's Return
    Author

    Warren W. Wiersbe

    Warren W. Wiersbe, former pastor of the Moody Church and general director of Back to the Bible, has traveled widely as a Bible teacher and conference speaker. Because of his encouragement to those in ministry, Dr. Wiersbe is often referred to as "the pastor’s pastor." He has ministered in churches and conferences throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Central and South America, and Europe. Dr. Wiersbe has written over 150 books, including the popular BE series of commentaries on every book of the Bible, which has sold more than four million copies. At the 2002 Christian Booksellers Convention, he was awarded the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement Award by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Dr. Wiersbe and his wife, Betty, live in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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      Wiersbe always brings it! Like Dr. Rogers, profound truth, simply stated!

    Book preview

    Be Ready (1 & 2 Thessalonians) - Warren W. Wiersbe

    BE READY

    Published by David C. Cook

    4050 Lee Vance View

    Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

    David C. Cook Distribution Canada

    55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

    David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

    Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

    David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo

    are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

    All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

    no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

    without written permission from the publisher.

    Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.) Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved; PH are taken from J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, revised editions © J. B. Phillips, 1958, 1960, 1972, permission of Macmillan Publishing Co. and Collins Publishers; RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971], Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

    LCCN 2010927436

    ISBN 978-1-4347-6501-7

    eISBN 978-1-4347-0245-6

    © 1979 Warren W. Wiersbe

    First edition of Be Ready published by Victor Books® in 1979

    © Warren W. Wiersbe, ISBN 978-0-89693-773-4

    The Team: Karen Lee-Thorp, Amy Kiechlin, Sarah Schultz, Jack Campbell, and Karen Athen

    Series Cover Design: John Hamilton Design

    Cover Photo: iStockphoto

    Second Edition 2010

    Dedicated with appreciation to friends whose ministry was above and beyond the call of duty:

    Lee and Claudia Gerwin

    Gareth and Bev Nelson

    Evelyn Rankin

    Carol Thiessen

    CONTENTS

    The Big Idea: An Introduction to Be Ready by Ken Baugh

    A Word from the Author

    1. A Church Is Born

    2. What Every Church Should Be (1 Thessalonians 1:1–10)

    3. Helping the Baby Grow Up (1 Thessalonians 2:1–12)

    4. Growing Pains (1 Thessalonians 2:13–20)

    5. Take a Stand! (1 Thessalonians 3:1–13)

    6. How to Please Your Father (1 Thessalonians 4:1–12)

    7. The Comfort of His Coming (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

    8. Don’t Walk in Your Sleep! (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11)

    9. It’s All in the Family (1 Thessalonians 5:12–28)

    10. No Rest for the Wicked (2 Thessalonians 1:1–12)

    11. God’s Timetable (2 Thessalonians 2:1–12)

    12. Nothing but the Truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13—3:5)

    13. Order in the Church (2 Thessalonians 3:6–18)

    The Big Idea

    An Introduction to Be Ready

    by Ken Baugh

    Runners, take your mark.

    These are the words that I heard at the start of every race as a member of my high school track team. I can still remember the routine I went through after hearing this call from the track official. First, I stepped into the starting blocks. These blocks were a type of metal contraption anchored to the ground with spikes that gave the runner a solid starting point. After taking to the blocks, I stretched out my legs, then got into a crouched starting position with my head down and my hands on the ground carefully placed just in front of the starting line. Then I waited with anxious anticipation for the next command from the official: Get set.

    Seconds later, the gun went off, and I exploded out of the blocks, running as fast as I could toward the finish line. As I crossed that finish line, I remember the exhilaration of running my race well. I didn’t always win, but I always did my best.

    Today we are living in the last days before the Lord Jesus returns. We are running the last leg of the race in God’s plan for His church. And over and over again throughout the New Testament we see Jesus’ return as a fundamental expectation. So in a very real sense, every follower of Christ is in the Get set position, awaiting Jesus’ return. Jesus told His disciples to Take their mark when He said:

    In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:2–3 NIV)

    To be fair, many people over the last two thousand years have believed that their generation would be the one to see Jesus’ return. I remember my grandfather was very confident that Jesus would return during his lifetime, and yet he died years ago and Jesus had yet to return.

    Today there are many skeptics who scoff at the idea of Jesus’ return and many believers who are beginning to doubt the teaching throughout the New Testament that Jesus will return quickly. The skeptics and doubters share the same conclusion: Two thousand years of waiting is not the definition of quick. There are even some skeptics who think Christians are naive to believe that after all this time, Jesus is still going to return and that the events of the last days will commence as the Bible says. But I love how God anticipated this cynicism and disbelief. Read carefully the words of the apostle Peter, who said:

    First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. … But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:3–4, 8–9 NIV)

    Peter tells the primary reason for the Lord’s delay: God wants more people to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Savior. And yet even with this clarity, many believers still have questions. They say something like this: It’s great to let the scoffers scoff, and I’m all for standing firm in my belief that Jesus is going to return soon and all, but don’t the skeptics kind of have a point? I mean, I get the whole a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day thing, but it really does seem like Paul and the rest of the apostles believed that Jesus was going to return during their lifetime, and that just seems to contradict what Jesus said about all the signs like in Matthew 24 that would take place before His return. How do I reconcile this?

    That’s a great question, and the answer is simple.

    When the Bible indicates that Jesus can return at any moment and that there will be specific things that must happen before He returns, it is referring to two different events. The sign events in places like Matthew 24 are those things that will happen before Jesus’ second coming to earth, and that is a different event from the rapture of the church. That’s why Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians: to help clear up the confusion about the rapture, which is the Big Idea that runs throughout these letters. Look here at 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 (NIV):

    For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

    Notice the words caught up. Paul wrote these words in Greek, but when the Bible was translated into Latin, the translator used a word from the Latin root rapio. This became the root of our English word rapture. So to be caught up is to be raptured, to be snatched away.

    Now notice how careful Paul is to distinguish the rapture event from that of the second coming. Jesus’ second coming will be a literal descent from heaven to earth once again. But this time Jesus will not come as a baby but as a King with the qualities of a lion, the lion from the tribe of Judah (Isa. 9:6–7; Rev. 5:5) to judge the inhabitants of the earth (Rev. 19:11–16). He will come to reign for a thousand years (Zech. 14:9; Jer. 23:5–6; Rev. 11:15). However, during the rapture, Jesus does not touch down on the earth at all. Instead, He comes in the clouds. Clearly, the rapture and the second coming are two different events.

    Therefore, in regard to the sign events in Matthew 24, these do not point to the rapture of the church but to the second coming of Christ to the earth. And there are no specific signs or prophecies that need to be fulfilled for Jesus to rapture the church. It could happen at any moment. Jesus’ return in the clouds is imminent, and every believer is literally in the Get set position of God’s plan for His church.

    So, the million-dollar question is this: Are you ready for the rapture? Are you waiting eagerly for the gun to go off, or should I say for the trumpet call of God to announce His return? Whether you’re confused, afraid, or just don’t feel ready for the Lord’s return, keep reading, because this commentary will help you Be Ready to go!

    ***

    Dr. Wiersbe’s commentaries have been a source of guidance and strength to me over the many years that I have been a pastor. His unique style is not overly academic, but theologically sound. He explains the deep truths of Scripture in a way that everyone can understand and apply. Whether you’re a Bible scholar or a brand-new believer in Christ, you will benefit, as I have, from Warren’s insights. With your Bible in one hand and Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary in the other, you will be able to accurately unpack the deep truths of God’s Word and learn how to apply them to your life.

    Drink deeply, my friend, of the truths of God’s Word, for in them you will find Jesus Christ, and there is freedom, peace, assurance, and joy.

    —Ken Baugh

    Pastor of Coast Hills Community Church

    Aliso Viejo, California

    A Word from the Author

    The two major themes in 1 and 2 Thessalonians are dear to my heart: the return of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the local church.

    In these two letters, Paul balances the prophetical and the practical. He insists that the doctrine of the return of Jesus Christ be more than a doctrine—that it be a dynamic in our lives and in the ministry of our churches.

    For the first edition of this book, I want to thank Henry Jacobsen, who got the BE series started, and James Adair, editorial director of Victor Books at the time, who encouraged me to keep it going.

    Christ is coming soon. Be Ready!

    —Warren W. Wiersbe

    A SUGGESTED OUTLINE OF THE BOOKS OF 1 & 2 THESSALONIANS

    Theme: The coming of Christ for the church and the day of the Lord

    Key verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:9–10; 2 Thessalonians 2:1–2

    I. Paul Remembers (1 Thessalonians 1—3)

    A. How the church was born (1 Thessalonians 1)

    B. How the church was nurtured (1 Thessalonians 2)

    C. How the church was established (1 Thessalonians 3)

    II. Paul Exhorts (1 Thessalonians 4—5)

    (How the church should walk)

    A. In holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:1–8)

    B. In harmony (1 Thessalonians 4:9–10)

    C. In honesty (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12)

    D. In hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13—5:11)

    E. In helpfulness (1 Thessalonians 5:12–28)

    III. Encouragement in Suffering (2 Thessalonians 1)

    A. Praise (2 Thessalonians 1:1–4)

    B. Promise (2 Thessalonians 1:5–10)

    C. Prayer (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12)

    IV. Enlightenment in Teaching (2 Thessalonians 2)

    A. How the man of sin appears (2 Thessalonians 2:1–7)

    B. How the Son of God appears (2 Thessalonians 2:8–12)

    C. How the child of God should live (2 Thessalonians 2:13–17)

    V. Enablement in Living (2 Thessalonians 3)

    A. Obey the Word (2 Thessalonians 3:1–6)

    B. Follow our example (2 Thessalonians 3:7–9)

    C. Discipline the unruly (2 Thessalonians 3:10–15)

    D. Closing benediction (2 Thessalonians 3:16–18)

    Chapter One

    A Church Is Born

    A father took his son to a large city museum, thinking that the visit would entertain the boy. But for two hours the lad did nothing but sigh and complain. Finally in desperation he said to his father, "Dad, let’s go someplace where things are real!"

    Some people feel that way when they read the Bible. They think they are in a religious museum, looking at ancient artifacts that have no meaning for life in today’s scientific world. But they are wrong. No book published has more meaning for our lives, and more relevance to our problems, than the Bible. No wonder William Lyon Phelps, for years called Yale’s most inspiring professor, said, I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without a Bible.

    Two of Paul’s earliest letters are 1 and 2 Thessalonians. (It is possible that Galatians was written first.) These

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