WWUTT 526 In God Our Father From God Our Father?

2 Thessalonians and the Day of the Lord

The Thessalonian church is once again confused about some things related to the day of the Lord. So Paul writes another letter to them. And the way he starts his letter is to comfort them with the grace of God through Jesus Christ when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing. And if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. Well, we are moving into 2 Thessalonians today. And I'm gonna go ahead and start reading through the entire first chapter. Paul identifies himself and Silvanus and Timothy, just like at the start of 1 Thessalonians, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers as his right, because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed.

To this end, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every good work of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.".

Boy, what a Christ-exalting chapter there. Whether that is in his deliverance of the saints or his destruction of the ungodly, Paul really exalting Christ in the powerful wording that he presents here.

In this introduction to this letter, all of chapter one is basically introduction. It's like a third introduction and then chapter two talking more about the day of the Lord and a call to stand firm. And then we have yet more instructions to the Thessalonians in chapter three, similar to what we saw in the latter half of chapter five in his first letter.

Now, what is the occasion for this letter? Why is Paul writing yet another letter to the Thessalonians? Well, I kind of talked about this a little when we were in chapter five, when I mentioned that at the start of chapter five of 1 Thessalonians, Paul says, "'Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.'".

The irony when we read that, I talked about this when we were going through chapter five, the irony is that if you know 2 Thessalonians, Paul realizes in his next letter that he did need to say something to them about the times and the seasons.

Here's what's happened between 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians. Someone has written a letter to the church in Thessalonica pretending to either be an apostle or they've even pretended to be the apostle Paul.

And Paul mentions that in this letter. In chapter two, he says, "'Don't be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.'".

So a person pretending to be either Paul or Silvanus or Timothy or some other kind of apostle, they've just written and said, hey, I'm an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they've written to the church in Thessalonica and told them the day of the Lord has already happened.

Now, where this letter comes from, we don't know. Who it was that did this, when it took place, we don't know for sure. In fact, there's only suggestions of it here in the letter. Maybe it was from someone in Thessalonica who was making fun of the Christians.

Maybe it was one of the Jews who clearly hated Paul and they hated that Jesus Christ was being exalted as the Messiah among the churches. Maybe it was somebody who was passing through, some philosopher that wanted to attract people to himself.

The Christians were causing a problem for him. So he made himself up to be an apostle and said that the day of the Lord had already taken place to try to disband the Christians and maybe attract some of them to his school of philosophy again.

Maybe it could have been a reason like that. All of that would be totally speculative. We don't know for sure. We just know that the Thessalonians were shaken in their faith and understanding concerning the day of the Lord.

Yet again, they were troubled by this with Paul's first letter, but it was for a different reason. They thought that their brothers and sisters in Christ who had preceded them in death would not be with them on the day of the Lord.

They had missed out. They had already died. So they weren't gonna have a chance to participate on that day or even see that day take place. So Paul wrote to them the first time to correct their understanding of death and telling them that the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are left will be caught up together with them in the air.

But he says again in that first letter about the times and the seasons, you don't have any reason to have any of this written to you. You don't need to know about the signs and all this because we've already told you about that and you already know.

But then they were so fooled by this other letter from someone pretending to be an apostle and claiming that the day of the Lord had taken place that now in this next letter, Paul realizes, okay, I guess we do need to talk about those things to expect.

What will be the signs and the seasons preceding the Lord's coming? I said, I didn't need to write that to you. Apparently we do. Here's a refresher. So then he comes back into teaching these things again, which he's taught to them once before, didn't think he had to address in his first letter, but now clearly he does.

So then we have 2 Thessalonians 2, which is known for teaching about the man of lawlessness or who is known as the Antichrist and the great apostasy or the great falling away. And we'll talk about those things when we get to chapter two.

So that's really the main cause for Paul's writing this letter to the Thessalonians. Once again, instructing them about what will take place concerning the day of the Lord. And while he's writing this letter, he addresses some other matters that he did in fact address in the first letter.

And that particularly concerning the work ethic of the Thessalonians there in Thessalonica, not only the character that they present in front of the pagans, in front of those who are unbelievers, but even also how they are to conduct themselves among the brothers and sisters of Christ when it comes to work.

And that's in chapter three. So we'll get to that there. But this chapter, once again, this first chapter just opening up, exalting the glory of God, so much so that Paul kind of gives his introduction twice.

And maybe you noticed that as we were reading through it. So he presents himself, Silvanus and Timothy, once again, as the authors of this letter. Paul is writing it along with Silvanus and Timothy because of the work that they've done with the Thessalonians.

They've cared for this church just as much, have actually made more visits to Thessalonica than Paul has. So they're familiar with Silas and Timothy, and he brings them in at the start of this letter along with himself who is writing.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. And again, this letter is being written from Corinth. So just like the first letter was written from Corinth, this one was written shortly after. So within that 18 month span of time that Paul was in Corinth building that church, he wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians and then this second letter to them as well.

And some scholars have speculated that these are the earliest letters of Paul that we have a record of. He had probably written things before this, but as far as what we have and what made it into canon in the New Testament, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are probably Paul's earliest letters.

The only thing that could be written before this, at least as far as what we've got in the body of work that we have from Paul, would be the letter to the Galatians. Because some have said Galatians was his first letter or it may have come shortly after 2nd Thessalonians.

So anyway, kind of depends on where you fall on the dating on some of these letters. But we know 1st and 2nd Thessalonians were early works of Paul because they were written while he was in Corinth during that second missionary journey.

So then he says here, this is still verse one, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ, verse two, grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's not unintentionally trying to be redundant here. He is saying to the Thessalonians, as we are, so as you are. We are in the grace and love of God our father through the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that because of who we are.

That's what Paul is saying to the Thessalonians. I am an apostle, Silas and Timothy, my servants who have been to you, your servants to check up on you and continue to teach you even as you are being persecuted in your faith and you endure in the midst of facing the affliction that has come upon you.

And so just as you look upon us as men of God, carriers of the word of God, so you also are recipients of this same grace. You are under the same love of God our father in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is a unique love that we have with God, the father, who is the possessor of all things and has given all things to his son, Jesus Christ.

We have this relationship with God through the son. No one has a relationship with God in any other way, shape or form. Without John 14, six, without Jesus saying or having the written record of Jesus saying, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the father, but by me. This statement that Paul is making with the Thessalonians in this letter that he is writing to them is that same affirmation. No one gets to the father except through the son, Jesus Christ.

And this was a recurring theme with John. We see it multiple times over the course of his gospel and even in his letters. John 5, 21, for as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will.

A few verses later, John 5, 26, for as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself. 1 John 2, 22 is where we read that if someone rejects the father, they don't have the son either.

He who rejects the father and the son is a liar and an antichrist. No one who denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father also. So no one knows God unless they know Jesus Christ.

And what does this have to do with what we're reading here in 2 Thessalonians? Well, simply to illustrate that this was an apostolic teaching. It wasn't something that was exclusive to John or to his letters.

Paul is presenting the same theology here with the Thessalonians at the start of this letter. And this is a teaching that flies in the face of oneness teaching or of Unitarians, those who would deny the triune nature of God.

Guess what? They don't know God because they do not know the son. They do not know the father. They are liars and antichrists according to what John has written. Also the Mormons who do not know the Christ who is revealed by the father.

They don't know the biblical Jesus. They have no fellowship with God, none. And they themselves most certainly will not become gods as the Mormon faith teaches. Likewise also in the Jehovah's witnesses.

They believe Jesus is an angel. They do not believe him to be God. Therefore they do not know God the father. They have no access to God for they do not know the son of God, Jesus Christ. They redefine the son as somebody else entirely.

Therefore they do not know God. Muslims, though they might be monotheistic, they claim to worship one God. They do not know the son of God, Jesus Christ. Therefore they have no access to this God whom they call Allah.

He is not God for he is not the father of the son. There is no relationship with God among anyone in the Muslim faith. The only way that anyone ever has a relationship with God who knows God the father, who can call upon him as father, the only way a person has this is if they know the son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus prayed to his father in Matthew chapter 11. I thank you father, Lord of heaven and earth that you've hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, father, for such was your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. And so Paul, in this introduction to the Thessalonians, you probably didn't realize that in this redundant statement there was such deep theology going on here.

But in this introduction to the Thessalonians, he is assuring them that they know God because they know Jesus Christ and the son has revealed the father to them and therefore they have fellowship with God through Christ.

This is necessary not only as a friendly, brotherly Christian greeting, but also to set the stage for some of the things that Paul's going to talk about over the course of this letter. Exalting the glory of Christ and the authority of his judgment that we read about here in this first chapter, the faith of the saints whom he will deliver and contrasting that with the lostness of unbelievers that's talked about in the next chapter, in the second chapter, and then calling them, calling the Thessalonians, calling the saints and Christians to submit to the authority of the instruction of Christ and his apostles, which Paul gets to in chapter three.

If you are part of the kingdom of God and you know that you must be in submission to the order of the king, then here is the instruction that the king has set before you that you must follow. And Paul in that third chapter also says that if you see anyone who does not receive these words of ours, because the words that we carry are the words of God.

The words that come from the apostle is the word that God has spoken. If you see someone who does not follow this word that we have instructed you in, have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed.

This is second Thessalonians three verses 14 and 15. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. So this is all presenting Christ as king and the instructions that he gives are imperatives for every believer to follow.

And if you know Christ, then you have fellowship with God. And if you know God, then you must obey his commands. And the evidence of the faith that you have must be in that you live out the instructions of the king in every aspect of your life.

Even when it comes to the work that you do, your daily job and task is in submission to the order of the king that has been given to all of his disciples and subjects. Everyone who is a Christian who follows in the order of King Jesus must do what it is that the king has ordered you to do.

And this is an evidence that you are in his love. It's not something that you do begrudgingly. Oh, here I am. I guess I gotta serve somebody. I gotta be under some king, so I'm gonna be under Jesus and I guess I just gotta do what he says.

You do these things with joy knowing that he is the ultimate king who will put all of his enemies under his feet and deliver those who have been faithful to him, delivering them even out of the persecutions that they have undergone, which is definitely something that pertains to the Thessalonians being afflicted for this faith in Christ that they have.

All of this being implied in this introduction, believe it or not, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. Grace comes to you and peace with God comes to you.

The wrath of God satisfied the wrath that you deserve because of the sins and transgressions that you had committed against God. Remember we read in 1 Thessalonians that they formerly worshiped false gods, but had since repented of that and worshiped the true and living God.

And this grace that has been given to you, this deliverance from your sins, the peace that you now have with God because of the atoning sacrifice of Christ that is upon you, this has come to you from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace you have received from the Father in the Son. This is the deep theology even within this simple introduction at the start of 2 Thessalonians. It was a comfort, it was a reassurance to these Christians who had been persecuted that they are under the grace of God and they have peace with God through Jesus Christ.

And you know, sometimes as a pastor, when I stand at the pulpit and I preach a sermon, there are times I feel like I'm being ridiculously redundant. How many times have I said this and yet it's usually those sermons in which somebody will come up to me and say, that was exactly what I needed to hear today.

And here I am trudging through this world, wondering, does God even consider me? Am I even loved by God? What is this life for? And here I have received the promises of God through the spoken word of God from the pulpit of Jesus Christ that I am under his grace and have peace with God because of what Christ has done for me on the cross.

Resurrected from the grave, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for me before God the Father. This is what you have in Jesus Christ, all of his saints. So rest, rest from your anxiety and your woe, this affliction that has come upon you by the world.

And Jesus goes on even to talk about that in that section in Matthew 11 that I was reading to you earlier. All things have been handed over to me by my Father and no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him and then says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Let us pray, God our Father in heaven, your name is holy, your name is great.

Your name is above all the earth, above all the heavens, all things belong to you. All things have been handed to the Son who is the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn from the dead so that all who are in Christ will likewise rise again from the dead, receiving a resurrection that is like his and will be united with him in his eternal kingdom.

God, we thank you for the peace that has been given to us, the wrath of God that has been satisfied, our sins have been forgiven and now we have peace with God, we have access to God, our prayers are heard right now because of what Jesus has done for us by his death on the cross.

Thank you for this grace that you have given to us, we are not deserving of it and yet you have shown us this love and kindness anyway and I pray that in our faithfulness to God, we do the things that you have told us to do with great joy, knowing that the world can do nothing to us, we cannot be separated from this love of God that we have in Jesus Christ, it is a love that never ends and we are safe and secure in the bonds of peace and so Lord, continue to lead us and guide us according to the rules of the king and we follow them with great joy in the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of a church family committed to gospel teaching and we thank you for including us in your Bible learning.

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