The Judgment at Christ’s Coming (1 Thess 2:5-12)
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 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.
How should we interpret the above verses? Should we interpret literally, figuratively, symbolically, poetically or allegorically?
There are ‘Christians’ who say that we can’t take the Bible literally. They will tell you that a literal interpretation of the Bible is only a 500 year old (young?) tradition.
Folks, not only should the above verses be taken literally, all of Scripture should be taken literally. If we start picking apart the Scriptures and saying, “This one I like, so it must be a literal statement. This one I don’t like, so it must be symbolic or figurative.” we undermine the Holy Word of God and make Him out a liar.
When we study and read the Scriptures we must absolutely ask ourselves what the writer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was trying to tell us.
God tells us to rightly handle His Word correctly (2 Tim 2:15). In order to do this we must understand all contexts in which the Scripture was written.
Did the disciples take God’s Word literal? You bet they did. Did Jesus take the Scriptures literal? You bet He did! Jesus quoted the Word of God to Satan when rebuking him. Jesus brought up Jonah to the Pharisee’s (You know, that whole man in the belly of a fish thing).
Please…….Please……..somebody tell me how to interpret the above verses any way but literally.
Oh what a terrible day it will be for those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please take God at His Word. He is angry at sin and sinners and will crush them on the Day of Judgment. Sin is transgressing God’s Law. Lying, stealing, adultery, blaspheming, making a graven image and so on, is sin. God hates this.
You don’t have to be crushed and condemned eternally in Hell. God did something awesome for you. God clothed Himself in flesh and walked a perfect sinless life. He allowed Himself to be taken by sinful man and to be brutally tortured and hung on a cross. He died on that cross and three days later God raised Jesus from the dead.
He did this awesome thing so you could have forgiveness of your sins.
Repent today and trust in Christ to save you. If you are still breathing its not too late.
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8 comments:
And people will fight tooth and nail for the right to continue living in their sins! Homosexuals do not want to believe the Bible when it says no homosexual will inherit the kingdom of heaven. If they don't go there, that means they are headed for hell. They don't have to go there, all they have to do is REPENT of their sins and put off the old self. When they claim that the bible cannot be taken literally, all they are doing is making excuses for living in their sins. I pray that Scripture will come alive to them. They are playing with a loaded gun and it is aimed right at themselves. The pastors or priests who are teaching the lie will judged even more harshly. I am with you on this one brother.
Repent and put your faith and trust in Jesus alone before it is too late!
Can't help but notice again the false connection between believing scripture literally and salvation on the one hand and the total determination to ignore the different genre and function of varius scriptural writins on the other.
Still, I've cracked this one myself and tqken a leaf out of the books of others.
Scripture is inerrant and it means what I say.
Works for you, works for me.
On that scripture, I take some of the following away:
Our great gospel privilege is, that God has called us to his kingdom and glory. The great gospel duty is, that we walk worthy of God. We should live as becomes those called with such a high and holy calling. Our great business is to honour, serve, and please God, and to seek to be worthy of him.
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I do have to say that I am a little confused by the post.
You state the following:
When we study and read the Scriptures we must absolutely ask ourselves what the writer, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was trying to tell us.
Why this gets confusing to me, how can you hold to a literal understanding in one hand and try to interpet in the other ?
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Do you not have to look at who the writer was, who the audience was and what style he was writing to ?
Jesus also told people that there were some scripture that was more important than others.
Jeff -
Thanks for the comments -
*Why this gets confusing to me, how can you hold to a literal understanding in one hand and try to interpet in the other ?*
I'm speaking about the context of what the writer was writing about.
*Jesus also told people that there were some scripture that was more important than others.*
Which verses are you refering to where Jesus said this?
Wayne:
Matthew 22
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, " YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: "What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David."
He said to them, "Then how does David (AH)in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying, THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET"
"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his son?" No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.
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From this exchange, I think (I know that Brian does not like that and I apologize) that we can learn a few powerful things and one of those is that we need to put priority on certain Scripture when we are preaching and teaching in our churches - we have a limited time with people.
Jesus boiled down 613 laws very quickly and percisely and made that the emphasis
Jeff-
Thanks!
I’m sure if everyone loved the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind there would be no need for the Law. But remember who the Law is for……
1 Tim 1:8-10
But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
To love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind should be number one for all Christians. But for the ungodly the Law is used to crush sinners and send them to the foot of the cross at Calvary. There, through repentance and trusting in Christ, God will save them from His wrath on the Day of Judgment!
Wayne:
I understand what you are saying. You are right, if everyone followed / lived out those two commandments; we would be living in a much better state now than what weare doing.
My only hesitation on your comments is that in alot of cases that is not what the LAW is being used for.
In Jesus time, the Pharisees and other religious leaders were beating God / Jesus followers over the head with the Law.
The were accussing the Jesus followers of not following/honoring God because they were not following the "letter of the law".
Jesus tried to put a stop to that.
Today, I see many Christians beating other Christians over the head with the Law and I think that is wrong.
True Jeff......
Not only were the Pharisee's trying to keep the letter of the law, they were abusing their power by lording the law over the people.
When the God’s Law is used correctly on sinners, they will be convicted of their sins. Once they realize that their sins have cast a bull’s-eye on themselves for a direct hit from God’s wrath on Judgment Day, then the good news of the Gospel will make sense!
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