1 Thessalonians 1:10 (NIV) and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
If you have read any of my commentaries on 1 Thessalonians you may have heard this on several occasions; Paul seems to have only spoken to these people on 3 occasions. He did this in the synagogue, therefore the gentiles were effectively excluded from the direct impact of Paul's messages. This is not a put down on Paul, but it means that any effect that the gospel message had on the gentiles was only by assimilation from the Jews that experienced a new life in Christ.
"and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead -.."
If I sit under some ministry and they preach a revelation from the word that is new to me. Perhaps it has an immediate impact, but my memory is short now and it takes repetition for something to get stuck in my brain, not to mention my spirit, but that is my interpretation.
Why would you wait for something that you did not believe in? You wouldn't.
If you only had 3 sessions with a group would you preach the same message to them, or would you try to cover as much ground as possible?
"-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath."
It becomes glaringly apparent that he preached that we were to be rescued. The word rapture does not occur in the Greek, but the concept does in the word harpazo, which means a snatching away. Rapture derives from the Latin Vulgate and is the word rapio, meaning a snatching away.
What are we being snatched away from? Some sort of coming wrath.
We here in America have no idea what wrath is, but we are going to learn. In places like the Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt, or Somalia where followers of Christ are brutally murdered because they believe in something other than Islam. It is only the fact that we maintain law and order in this nation that prevents those that follow the Islamic mandates, as our current President does, from carrying out those mandates. Oh sure, they will tell you that they are a peaceful religion, but lying for the benefit of Allah is one of those mandates. I am telling you, and you can take it prophetically or not, the day is coming when killing you for being a follower of Christ will be the right thing to do. It is quite possible that the great snatching away of Christ's followers will be the trigger for all this.
When we think of escaping the tribulation, I cannot help thinking that "the tribulation" is such a relative thing. Clearly there are those that are not escaping tribulation. Having a house, and your dreams of success, taken away from you is defined as tribulation for some. There are people in this world that, if they are lucky, make just enough money on a daily basis, to eat one bowl of some kind of soup. So what you consider tribulation means nothing to them. You think tribulation is not being to get your text messages for ten minutes.
Consider: Israel escapes from Egypt. Several million people take off with the Pharaoh and his army in hot pursuit. God has promised them an escape from the wrath of Egypt, and yet they are confronted by a body of water that creates it own tribulation. Do you realize that they had to confront this tribulation? The priests had to step into the water. That would mean that our religious leadership is going to have to step into the fire slightly ahead of the rest of us, leading the way.
If this is a type of our own salvation to come, then it may be that the tribulation to come will make it right up to our doorsteps. If that is the case, what will you do?
If you have read any of my commentaries on 1 Thessalonians you may have heard this on several occasions; Paul seems to have only spoken to these people on 3 occasions. He did this in the synagogue, therefore the gentiles were effectively excluded from the direct impact of Paul's messages. This is not a put down on Paul, but it means that any effect that the gospel message had on the gentiles was only by assimilation from the Jews that experienced a new life in Christ.
"and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead -.."
If I sit under some ministry and they preach a revelation from the word that is new to me. Perhaps it has an immediate impact, but my memory is short now and it takes repetition for something to get stuck in my brain, not to mention my spirit, but that is my interpretation.
Why would you wait for something that you did not believe in? You wouldn't.
If you only had 3 sessions with a group would you preach the same message to them, or would you try to cover as much ground as possible?
"-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath."
It becomes glaringly apparent that he preached that we were to be rescued. The word rapture does not occur in the Greek, but the concept does in the word harpazo, which means a snatching away. Rapture derives from the Latin Vulgate and is the word rapio, meaning a snatching away.
What are we being snatched away from? Some sort of coming wrath.
We here in America have no idea what wrath is, but we are going to learn. In places like the Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt, or Somalia where followers of Christ are brutally murdered because they believe in something other than Islam. It is only the fact that we maintain law and order in this nation that prevents those that follow the Islamic mandates, as our current President does, from carrying out those mandates. Oh sure, they will tell you that they are a peaceful religion, but lying for the benefit of Allah is one of those mandates. I am telling you, and you can take it prophetically or not, the day is coming when killing you for being a follower of Christ will be the right thing to do. It is quite possible that the great snatching away of Christ's followers will be the trigger for all this.
When we think of escaping the tribulation, I cannot help thinking that "the tribulation" is such a relative thing. Clearly there are those that are not escaping tribulation. Having a house, and your dreams of success, taken away from you is defined as tribulation for some. There are people in this world that, if they are lucky, make just enough money on a daily basis, to eat one bowl of some kind of soup. So what you consider tribulation means nothing to them. You think tribulation is not being to get your text messages for ten minutes.
Consider: Israel escapes from Egypt. Several million people take off with the Pharaoh and his army in hot pursuit. God has promised them an escape from the wrath of Egypt, and yet they are confronted by a body of water that creates it own tribulation. Do you realize that they had to confront this tribulation? The priests had to step into the water. That would mean that our religious leadership is going to have to step into the fire slightly ahead of the rest of us, leading the way.
If this is a type of our own salvation to come, then it may be that the tribulation to come will make it right up to our doorsteps. If that is the case, what will you do?
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