The Future Hope

I THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 - 5:11

Verse 13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

Verse 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

Verse 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

Verse 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Verse 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Verse 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Chapter 5, verse 1, But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

It doesn’t take a Godly person long to know that this is a most wicked time – a time just before the return of the Lord.

I Timothy 4:1-3 – Catholics

II Timothy 3:1-7 – Perilous times of the last days.

Verse 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

I Thessalonians 4:16 – The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout…

Psalm 50 – What Jesus will shout when he comes in the rapture. (I understand this passage can also apply to Israel – There was 400 silent years, then Jesus came, not in judgment, but Israel rejected him, therefore they faced the judgment of God in 70 AD as Titus took over the land). When Jesus comes the saved will face the judgment of God – II Timothy 4:1 – Christ shall judge the quick at his appearing and the dead at his kingdom.

Psalm 29 describes the voice of the Lord.

Verse 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

As a baby is conceived, then grows in the womb of his mother for 9 months, so there is a set time for this world to continue. When the time is come, the baby is born, and when the time is come for the end of the world, sudden destruction comes, and none shall escape.

I had a man tell me one time that a woman was pregnant and the baby dissolved away to nothing. I think that man was crazy.

Verse 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

I pray that God will not allow me to get used to the darkness. When I first enter a dark room from a lighted room, I cannot see anything but darkness. If I stand still for a little while, it isn’t long before I get used to the darkness and am able to make out shapes and forms of the objects in the room. I can even be in complete darkness and still get around in the room if I am able to remember where furniture is placed, or where the items are in the drawer. I can go in and out of darkness and not think too much about it.

God help me to not get used to the darkness of this world, to the sin of this world. God help me to be an over comer and a su-comer.

I need to judge this world by the word of God, and not by what I think, or especially what the world thinks.

Verse 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Verse 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

The disciples slept in the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus prayed. And the time was short until Jesus was crucified.

There is a possibility we will be asleep shortly before the Lord comes back. May God help us to be awake and looking for his return.

Verse 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

Verse 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Verse 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Many people use this verse as a excuse to not be faithful to God, and to continue in sin. But they are showing their lack of faith, and possibly their lost condition, not the mercy or grace of God.

Verse 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

Verse 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Our comfort is in being together with Christ, not in rectifying the sins of this world, or the passing of laws, which make people Christian.

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Is there any hard feelings you need to get rid of before the rapture of the saints?

Is there any work you should be doing before Jesus comes again? Today – right now – is the time to do that work – if you are ever going to do it. Give of the strength of your youth to the Lord – you will never regret it.