No Need of the Times and the Seasons (I Thessalonians 5)

(Class Notes)

• Mystery: The Body of Christ and the Rapture (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
  • Problem - resurrection of believers who had died (I Thessalonians 4:13-14)
    • NOT that they wouldn't be raised; after all, they believed that Christ was raised (I Thessalonians 1:10)
    • They wouldn't be raised at the Rapture (I Corinthians 15:20-28)
  • Solution - Divine revelation concerning the Mystery (I Thessalonians 4:15-17)
    • The Mystery
      • Flesh and blood CANNOT inherit the kingdom of God; we shall NOT ALL sleep, BUT we shall ALL be changed (I Corinthians 15:50-52)
      • The dead will be raised and the living will be changed and sin will be vanquished (I Corinthians 15:53-57)
  • Comfort - we shall ALL be forever with the Lord (I Thessalonians 4:18)
    • Confidence
      • Our labor is NOT in vain in the Lord (I Corinthians 15:58)

• Prophecy: The Nations and the Day of the Lord (I Thessalonians 5:1-3)
  • The times and the seasons are associated with the Day of the Lord
    • The abomination of desolation precipitates the end (Matthew 24:14-15)
    • The Sign of the Son of Man appears AFTER the tribulation of those days (Matthew 24:29-30)
    • The parable of the fig tree tells what needs to take place prior to the fulfillment of the above two things (Matthew 24:32-33)
  • The Day of the Lord succeeds the Day of Man
    • The "Times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24) are figured in the image of a man that is destroyed by a stone cut without hands, which becomes a mountain that fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:34-35,44-45)
    • The "Times of the Gentiles" - the Day of Man, ends when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of Christ in the Day of the Lord (Revelation 11:15-19)
  • The Day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night (II Peter 3:10)
    • The Flood in the Day of Noah came as a thief in the night (Matthew 24:36-44)
  • The Day of the Lord includes ALL the events of the tribulation period as eyewitnessed by the apostle John (Revelation 1:9-11), which increase in intensity as do the birth pangs of a woman
    • The beginning of sorrows (Matthew 24:8)
    • Great tribulation (Matthew 24:21-22)

• Separation: The Body of Christ from the Day of the Lord (I Thessalonians 5:4-7)
  • ALL believers are of the Day and will NOT be around for the tribulation night and, therefore, as children of the Light should be alert for opportunities to share that Light with those in darkness (Ephesians 5:14-17 cf. Colossians 4:5-6)

• Deliverance: The Body of Christ from the Day of the Lord (I Thessalonians 5:8-11)
  • ALL believers should be sober and armed
    • Breastplate of faith (I Thessalonians 5:8 cf. I Thessalonians 1:8) and love (I Thessalonians 5:8 cf. I Thessalonians 1:9)
    • Helmet of the hope of salvation (I Thessalonians 5:8-9 cf. I Thessalonians 1:10)
  • ALL believers will be delivered from the wrath to come (I Thessalonians 1:10 cf. Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7), whether sober or not, which is a real comfort as opposed to concern (I Thessalonians 5:6,10-11 cp. Matthew 25:1-13)

Study Outline

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