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Tag: thessaloniki

  • Eschatology – a walk from Thessaloniki to the holy city

    Eschatology – a walk from Thessaloniki to the holy city

    Paul has already given the Thessalonians walking instructions to please God more. So why does the Apostle to the gentiles proceed toward eschatology and their walk in the last days?

    1 Thessalonians 4:

    Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

    1 Thessalonians 4:8 LSB
    Sanctification and your Walk Toward Holiness
    Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. – 1 Thessalonians 4:1 ESV

    Paul actually holds the Thessalonians up as an example of brotherly love to other churches.

    But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

    ” Walk properly before outsiders.”

    The Apostle’s letter commends the Thessalonian example of love that makes their witness to OTHER gentiles a genuine light of Christ Jesus.

    Sanctification

    Before we dig into any deep study of the nature of God’s plan for the end times, let’s recall a simple definition from last time critical to understanding why Paul and other Apostles require the GENTILES to walk in purity as faithful followers of the LORD.

    1. consecration, purification,
    2. the effect of consecration: sanctification of heart and life,

    ἁγιασμός hagiasmos, hag-ee-as-mos’; properly, purification, i.e. (the state) purity; concretely (by Hebraism) a purifier:—holiness, sanctification.

    STRONGS G38 – blueletterbible.org

    Note the connection of purity traditionally associated by the JEWS with holiness.

    In many strict applications of Hebrew LAW a Jew (separated to the LORD) could NOT remain pure or HOLY by contact or association with any GENTILE. The BLOOD of THE NEW COVENANT of Jesus Christ changed this!

    The beginning of the last days (and fulfillment of JEWISH Scripture) began with the teaching and Sacrifice of Jesus, God the Father’s Perfect and Holy Son.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    Eschatology

    The term “eschatology” comes from two Greek terms e[scato” and lovgo” meaning (roughly speaking) “last, end, or final” and “study of,” respectively. Theologically speaking, then, the term eschatology refers to “the study of final things” in the Bible. It concerns both personal eschatological issues such as death and the intermediate state as well as themes with a more general or corporate focus. The latter would include such ideas as the return of Christ, resurrection, judgment, tribulation, the millennial kingdom, and the eternal state.

    Bible.org

    Even discussion of your DEATH is eschatological.

    And of course any more complete study of our walk with God before and after death goes beyond the scope of this letter from the apostles to the Thessalonians.

    WHAT NEXT?

    Where does your body go? Does you spirit sleep, go directly to Paradise or wait somewhere this side of the highest Heaven for a Judgment of your mortal life?

    HOW WAS YOUR WALK with JESUS CHRIST so far and until your inevitable DEATH?

    Will HE know you?

    What happens to the earth? 
Will Thessaloniki Greece (or anywhere else) burn up and those who did NOT flee our own City of Destruction face the WRATH of GOD?

 How will we escape the sin of our own disobedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and the judgment of the SON Sacrificed on a CROSS?

    Paul’s warning to the Thessalonians

    WALK TO THE END (even if it is unexpected).

    13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

    Like every faithful follower of Christ Jesus SOME OF YOU HAVE DIED. Do not mourn their loss.

    14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

    Want to talk of JESUS during this walk of these last days?

It's no different TODAY in the year of our Lord 2023 than it was in A.D. 51 for the Thessalonians. 

SOME have died AND Jesus will return for them. BUT WAIT, there's more only for you who walk with the Lord on the Day of His return...

    For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,

    that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

    16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

    And the dead in Christ will rise first.

    Taken UP to the HOLY CITY!

    Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
    and so we will always be with the Lord.

    1 Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 4:17 ESV

    18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

    And in THE END..

    First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians 5:

    Although the apostles to the gentiles Paul, Silas and Timothy encourage these Thessalonian believers to walk in the faith of what they know and have already been taught Paul will later write a second letter addressing these same things.

    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. While people are saying,

    “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

    4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

    I encourage you, even exhort you my fellow believers to READ THE REST of Paul's letter. - RH
    song: "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf? [repeat] from inside our answer: "Not me.'

    Remember the three houses (including the one you thought was safe)?

    a helmet of hope for your walk

    Of course even when SAVED from the evil one CHRIST FOLLOWERS must leave the BIG HOUSE in the CITY of Destruction to WALK a narrow path to the HOLY heavenly New Covenant City of the Lord.

    8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

    9 For God has not destined us for wrath,

    but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

    Eschatology - a walk of these last days from any city of destruction to the HOLY City.

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

  • Three Weeks in Thessalonica- Acts 17

    Three Weeks in Thessalonica- Acts 17

    Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

    Acts of the Apostles 17:1 ESV
    Luke summarizes an 80-90 mile [~130 km] journey from Philippi by these apostles of Christ in a single verse.

    ~ A.D. 50 – Philippi to Thessalonica (by land)

    • Silas and Paulos, who are Roman citizens, as these apostles of the Messiah have just reminded Roman magistrates in Philippi;
    • with Timotheus, a Greek Jew and fellow follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Once again in the city of their second stop in Europe the context of culture comes into play.

    Whereas Philippi (which they have just left after unjust imprisonment and a freeing sign from God) was a ROMAN city on Macedonian soil, Thessalonica is more Greek (in a sense) and has a Jewish place of worship.

    ACTS 17 of the apostles Paul and Silas

    So as in Cypress on Paul's first missionary journey and in most of the large cities of both missions to Asia, Thessalonica has a synagogue where Jews may gather, exchange thoughts and worship God.

    2 And Paul went in, as was his custom..

    Again Paul, Silas and Timothy would have listened to the prescribed Scriptures of the day and then would have discussed their relevance to the Gospel of the Messiah Yeshua.

AND once again on the next Sabbath Saulos, Silas and Timotheus would have repeated this customary worship routine of the Sabbath at the synagogue in Thessalonica.

    No doubt many of the Thessalonians became convinced by these three apostles during these three weeks that Jesus IS risen from the grave and that many Jews have witnessed this Good News of His resurrection.

    (And then, they might confidently add, we have witnessed the many such signs including those last month in Philippi.)

    Signs of Release from the Bondage of Culture
    And the men and women we baptized were Romans, including our jailer!

    .. and on three Sabbath days he [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead,

    “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

    ACTS 17:3b

    – Did Saulos of Tarsus PREACH IT IN HEBREW to the JEWS?

    Did Paulos PROCLAIM IT from the Greek Septuagint?

    • For that would be how Jewish Thessalonians knew their Scripture of the Old Testament better than you and I
    • Faithful Jews took the Old Covenant of God’s written word to heart.

    Were these Jews converted to their own Messiah by Paul’s reasoning with them perhaps daily for three weeks?

    This Christ whom I Preach

    .. he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

    Acts 17:2b-3 ESV

     4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 

    When the gentile Physician Luke records in his second account that, 'many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women' joined Paul and Silas, he refers not to Jews but to local Hellenist gentiles of Thessalonica - local Greeks.

    Saul of Tarsus, first a Jew, also a Roman, goes to the Jews first AND when they refuse to listen to reason from their own Scripture about the Messiah of Israel, Savior of sinners in all the world, these Apostles and disciples of Yeshua PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED in their own HOME Churches, the public squares and to any of the places a humble created people of any origin gather to seek our Lord and only Savior.

    5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

    Why would they attack 'the house of Jason' (who is first mentioned here)? 

Jason is a Jew who certainly also worshipped in the Thessalonian synagogue and who apparently hosted these three travelers as had Lydia hosted them in Philippi. Some commentators suggest that Jason may be related to Paul.

Like back in Philippi, or contemporarily like those crashing the doors of the US Capitol, this lynch mob (so to speak) wants to rule over the city and throw their opponents out of town.

    6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting,

    “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

    Another King, Jesus

    “KING Jesus in v. 7 is just an accusation

    Worldly god claimants would use the same title for JESUS as Pontius Pilate when the GOVERNOR asks his accused prisonor:

    Are you a king?

    Paul, Silas, Timothy and Christian disciples of the Lord Jesus addressed the Risen Messiah as Christ or Lord!

    In fact, “Caesar is lord” and “Jesus, king of the Jews“ (like Herod was) were ROMAN labels. Except here, as false accusations these are not in any way legitimate Jewish labels OR acknowledgement of a Roman emperor.

    Caesar is Lord evoked emotional reaction to SOME Jews, but others compromised their faith to acknowledge that any MAN other than the LORD God Almighty could be THEIR Lord.

    view of Roman Arch and Rotunda in Thessalonica

    Thessalonica

    Θεσσαλονίκη

    Thessalonica founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, who named it after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and sister of Alexander the Great.

    An important metropolis by the Roman period

    source Wikipedia

    The same claim that offends the Jews, JESUS IS LORD, also offends those who worship MANY gods out of our own selfish motives to worship only our SELF by choosing which gods to which we will bow down. INCLUDING:

    ROMANS, who worship Caesar as a god and Greeks, who in addition to celebrating many gods worship their own philosophies of self-deduced knowledge.

    SOON we will travel to Corinth where Paul will later write to the church:

    For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

    ~ A.D. 55 – from the first letter of Paul to the Church at Corinth – Corinthians 1:22-24 ESV

    Time to move on from Thessalonica

    • “These men have turned the world upside down
    • Jason has received them
    • they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar
    • saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

    8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

    9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

    The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea..

    ACTS of the apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy — To Be Continued…

  • Persevering the Social Distancing of Virtual Relationship

    Persevering the Social Distancing of Virtual Relationship

    Letters to a Distanced Church

    A quick glance at the map reveals many first century churches near the Aegean Sea, a long voyage from Jerusalem.

    Believers of The Way had to depend on distant leaders to sow and nurture virtual relationships:

    • to each other,
    • to other churches (many in local or nearby homes)
    • and to distant Shepherds of Christ like Peter and Paul.

    The Apostles embraced these saints of so many distant churches with Christ’s love. They loved their flocks through letters and by occasional visits of their founding fathers (Apostles and other disciples of Jesus). Each of these mission churches had its own shepherd, sometimes a father of the household where they met.

    Like the Gospels, Church Letters (Epistles) arrived by messenger or with its own pastor (Shepherd or father) returning from Jerusalem, Rome or other place where the Apostles could encourage them in Christ.

    A voyage to Thessalonica from Rome or Jerusalem is about the same distance.

    Pastoral letters (from the Shepherds or Church Fathers) would be read in as many of the churches along its route as practically possible.

    Do you suppose that the saints of the Church in Thessaloniki suffered social distancing from their local friends, neighbors and businesses?

    YES. In fact many early Christians were socially distanced from their own communities and neighbors due to threat of persecution or even death.

    2 Thessalonians

    from the Church Fathers of the First Century

    Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

    To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

    Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is only fitting, because your faith is increasing abundantly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another grows ever greater…

    Hear Paul’s heart for them and note how these socially distanced Christians coped with a new reality much different than before.

    4 As a result, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God:

    • for your perseverance and faith
    • in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.

    This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you indeed are suffering.

    Commentary on a too-familiar setting
    • Does this also encourage you in your social isolation from the brothers and sisters of Christ’s Church?

    Picture this background from commentary of John MacArthur:

    ..pressure and persecution had also increased. The seeds of false doctrine concerning the Lord had been sown, and the people were behaving disorderly.

    So Paul wrote to his beloved flock who were: 1) discouraged by persecution and needed incentive to persevere; 2) deceived by false teachers who confused them about the Lord’s return; and 3) disobedient to divine commands, particularly by refusing to work.

    Who witnesses Christ’s love in you?

    Our own 21st century community also watches us, even as the Lord Jesus assures His distant lambs held near in every era,

    “In the world you have tribulation, G2347 but take courage; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 NASB

    There’s that PRESSURE AGAIN.
    COVID – the Affliction of Social Distancing – 2
    Pressure from Affliction – ours and our loved ones.

    Paul assures the Church of Relief & Retribution

    For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict G2346 you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted G2346 and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

    2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 NASB

    Sinners AFFLICTED — Sinners without hope as once we were.

    SEPARATED by our sin, DISTANCED from the Lord God never seeking Christ Jesus, the Savior who cleanses our soul.

    Afflicted by others, but also sinners spared from Judgment by the mercy of the Lord Jesus.

    • COVID – Social Distancing for a time known to the Lord.
    • Judgment – Just punishment separating sinners from God forever.
    • COVID will end, replaced by other pandemics of the world’s sin.
    • Judgment will come to the unrepentant after our mortal time expires.

    These people will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power..

    2 Thessalonians 1:9 NASB

    Yet in Christ, our Lord and Savior, with the Presence of the Holy Spirit; even now — in these days of affliction — we draw near to the love and light which shines through the darkness of this world.

    Amen.