First Thessalonians

First Thessalonians.  The Holy Bible.  New King James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Paul covers several topics in this letter to the church at Thessalonica.  The main theme is that Jesus Christ will return and believers should be reassured in that fact.  He mentions the second coming twice before teaching about it in some detail.

Paul praises the church for their faithfulness and godly character in the face of persecution.  Their behavior was a sign to all of their faith in gospel of Jesus Christ.  They could bear troubles with patience because they new He is coming again and He had already rescued them from the judgment he will deliver on His return.

Part of the persecution the church face appears to involve attempts to discredit Paul and the gospel he taught.  He presents two defenses.  First was his conduct during his time in Thessalonica.  He did not try to take advantage of the people, but worked hard to take care of them.  Second, the proof of the gospel was the endurance and faithfulness of the people who believed it.  Paul concludes this section of his letter with another reference to the second coming, stating how much he will delight in them with the Lord at that time.

The letter was prompted in part by Timothy’s visit to Thessalonica and his report on the state of the church there.  Paul is encouraged by what he hears and encourages the Christians to continue in the faith.  It may seem disheartening that he reminded them to live lives of sexual purity, good order, and peace.  A glance around almost any church even today will show how much we need such reminders.

Before wrapping up, Paul gets deeper into the subject of the second coming.  First, he addresses the question of those who die before Christ’s returns.  Is that the end for them?  Will they not be with the Lord?  They though Christ might return in their own lifetime, and were concerned about Christian brothers who had passed away.  Paul reminded them of Christ’s resurrection, and taught that dead Christians would be brought back to life in the same way.  When He comes again, all of His people, alive and dead raised to new life, will join Him.  We don’t need to worry, those who God calls He will keep forever.

The other question about the second coming, one that people still ask, is: When will it happen?  Only God knows.  The rest of us will be caught by surprise.  For Christians, though, this is no cause for fear.  At any moment we could be with the One we long to be with, our God, our Savior, our Helper, with a kind of unveiled intimacy we have barely tasted.  In the meantime, we should live with faith, love, and hope as we have been called.

Paul’s message to these Christians, and by extension to us, is simple.  You believed the truth and God has saved you.  Keep living well.  Don’t worry.  Jesus Christ is coming and we will be with Him.

Paul also wrote

Colossians

First Corinthians

Galatians

Philippians
Romans
Second Corinthians

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Second Thessalonians

Second Thessalonians.  The Holy Bible.  New King James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica continues the themes of the first, especially topics related to the second coming of Christ.  When Christ comes again, it will be with judgment.  Those who do not know God will be destroyed.  Those who know Him will live with Him and glorify Him forever.

It is tempting to say He will destroy the wicked.  However, all of us are wicked.  We’ve all sinned. Some know God.  They have faith in Christ.  God rescues these people, gives them a new life and transforms their character.  It is good to remember that if there is any good is us, it is the work of God, and if we have any real hope, it is in the mercy of God.

Paul also teaches about the antichrist in this book, though use the terms “man of sin,” “son of perdition” and “lawless” one.  This person will claim to be divine and call people to worship him.  He will deceive people with displays of power.  People who do not know God will believe him.

These teachings aren’t intended to scare Christians or make them obsess about end times.  God is in control of when and how Jesus Christ will return and His judgment on the world.

Instead, we should live gratefully because we are saved.  We should hold tight to the truth we received and not let ourselves be deceived by all kinds of teachers who want to draw followers to themselves instead of glorifying God.  We should work productively, live peaceably, and do good works until Christ returns or as long as we live.  We honor God who loves us, our rescuer, with such a life of gratitude and trust.

Paul also wrote

Colossians

First Corinthians

Galatians

Philippians
Romans
Second Corinthians

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Second Kings

In the Hebrew Bible, First and Second Kings are one book.  Collectively, they are a history of the Israelite monarchy.   During most of this period, it is dual monarchies because two southern tribes make up the kingdom of Judah, the remaining tribes being Israel.

Second Kings covers a period of about 250 years.  It begins in the reign of Ahaziah.  It ends with the fall of Judah to Babylon.

Fall is an appropriate word.  The book describes the decline of the Israelite monarchy.  It is strongly associated with moral decline and apostasy.  Israel was called out to be God’s people.  Instead, they worshiped the gods of the people who occupied the land before them or of their neighbors.  Sometimes this idol worship was introduced and encouraged by the kings.  Some of the practices associated with these foreign religions included temple prostitution, sodomy, and child sacrifice.

When God established ancient Israel as a nation, he made a covenant with them.  If they followed Him, He would cause them to prosper in the land He gave to them.  If they did not, and especially if they abandoned Him to worship other gods and do evil, he would cut them off from the land and let their enemies overcome them.  That is exactly what happened.

Israel, the northern kingdom, succumbed first.  It fell during the reign of Hoshea.  It became a vassal state to Assyria.  More than that, the Assyrians removed the Israelite population to other lands and resettled Israel with people from across its empire.  Chapter 17 is an indictment against Israel, listing its crimes the judgment of expulsion from the land.

God did not let Israel go easily.  Much of the first half of the book is devoted to the exploits of Elijah and Elisha.  These prophets called people back to God and stood up against the influence of false religions.  Later, Isaiah would warn against the coming captivity to Assyria.

Judah held out longer, in part probably because of fitful reforms by kings such as Hezekiah and Josiah.   None of the kings of Israel committed themselves to god, but some of the kings of Judah turned their hearts to God, restoring the worship of God and sometimes even breaking down the idols of false gods.  Even so, they fell like their brothers to the north.

Babylon was the empire that overtook Judah during the reign of Zedekiah.  Zedekiah himself was appointed by Babylon after it took his nephew Jehoiachin as a prisoner.  Babylon also moved much of the population.  The poor were left to tend the farms, but anyone with status, military skill, training in crafts, or education was moved to Babylon to serve there.  The Israelite monarchy was finally broken and replaced with a Babylonian governor.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Deuteronomy

First and Second Samuel

First Kings

Second Kings.  The Holy Bible.  New King James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

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Lamentations

The Book of Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah. He predicted the final fall of Judah during the reign of Zedekiah. Toward the end of Lamentations, he also predicts God’s restoration of the nation.

Most of the book, as you would expect from the title, expresses Jeremiah’s mourning for his fallen nation. He understands that God has abandoned Judah to a predatory empire because the nation had long abandoned him. As he mourned the nation, he wept for it. As he preached to the captives, he wept for their condition. He knew that his country would suffer under a long occupation, and he wept for that.

The different sections of the book have overlapping themes. Some of these themes are: the catastrophe coming to Judah is a result of the people’s sins, that God loved them but they rejected His love, the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, and the time to come when God would relent and restore the nation.

Even in the midst of all this gloom, Jeremiah holds onto a glimmer of hope. He trusts in God’s mercy. He knows that when the people turn their heart to God again, he will gladly gather them back together and restore them.

The book is organized as five poems. In the original language, four are acrostics with each verse starting with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order (similar mnemonic devices are used elsewhere in the Bible, especially in poems).

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Jeremiah

Second Chronicles

Second Kings

Second Peter

Peter writes this letter towards the end of his life.  As he anticipates his death, he wanted to use all his remaining time to remind people of the Gospel and what it means for them.  This letter is meant to be a reminder that will continue after Peter’s death.

In many ways, this is a letter of warning.  Peter as spent his life preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching Christians to hold to the truth and live by it.  However, even in the first generation of the church, there were people who sought exploit the opportunities they saw in this new religion to get followers, wealth and power for themselves.

Peter reminded these Jewish Christians he wrote to that there were false prophets in the Old Testament days.  Similarly, false preachers would try to deceive the church.  They needed to be on guard, because these false preachers would be stirring orators who make big promises.  They would have an appealing look, sound and message.

However, false teachers will be empty of substance.  Their appeal is not to the heart seeking God, but to the flesh seeking to satisfy its lust, though they will try to disguise it.  Watchful believers will recognize them by their sinful habits, covetousness, and lust.

The best guard against false teachers is to always remind ourselves of the truth.  We are blessed to have the Word of God to test what we hear and no whether it is good or bad.  We should remember that God is faithful, and if it seems that He is slow in coming, He is not.  He promised to come again, to judge the world, to destroy what is evil, and to give His people eternal life with Him.  We should be diligent in Christ-like character and good works, leaving little room for sin or the temptations presented by false preachers.

An interesting note is the bit of reconciliation Peter attempts to broker at the end of this letter.  Paul was not a popular figure among the Jewish Christians.  Peter validates Paul’s teaching and mission.  It is a gracious thing for an old man to do after being one of the most prominent people in the church since its founding.  He is more concerned with the truth, the continuation of faithful preaching, and the purity of the people than his position.  If his reputation has value to him, it is in the opportunity it affords him to direct people to faithful, true teaching that will be around when he is gone.

Peter also wrote

First Peter

Second Peter.  The Holy Bible.  New King James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

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Isaiah

Isaiah was a prophet in Judah during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He was active during the Assyrian occupation of Israel, sometime around 745 to 695 B.C. In particular, he advised Hezekiah, who is known for tearing down idols permitted by previous kings and for turning back the advances of Assyrian King Sennacherib.

Like many prophets, much of Isaiah’s message is a call to repentance and return to God. This call was heightened by the Assyrian takeover of Israel, the northern sister kingdom to Judah. Isaiah’s prophecies, and the interpretation of the writers of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, is that the fall of Israel was due to its abandonment of God and embrace of idolatry and other sins. If Judah wanted to avoid that fate, it would need to return to God.

Isaiah had a long career as a prophet, so his writings address many events of his day. These were generally threats of foreign aggression against Judah, particularly from Assyria and its allies. He also warned against alliances with Egypt because if its instability. He predicts the eventual fall of Jerusalem and it rebuilding under another empire.

He is also known for prophecies of the Messiah. These texts are often intermingled with texts referring at one moment the nation of Israel as God’s servant and next to the coming Messiah in the same terms.  It’s necessary to read these passages in the context of the surrounding text to sort out when Isaiah is referring to which entity. Both Matthew and John refer to Isaiah in their gospels.

Note that much of Isaiah is written in the form of poems or songs. Sometimes he is speaking very directly to a particular nation or person about specific issues or events that are present or predicted. At other times, nations or peoples may be stand-ins for concepts or other future peoples with similar roles or viewpoints. Much of this can be sorted out by careful reading of the text and by reference to the historical books of the Old Testament.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Ezra

Nehemiah

Second Chronicles

Second Kings

Isaiah. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Major Prophets

The major prophets are the longest books in the prophecy section of the Old Testament. These are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations and Ezekiel.

These books were written toward the end of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and into the period of captivity to foreign empires. The main themes of the major prophets were: the fall of Israel and Judah to foreign powers, the eventual return of the people after a period of captivity, and the coming of the messiah.

The fall of the kingdoms is attributed to the sin of the people and their leaders. They abandoned God, pursued whatever their lusts desired, oppressed weak and poor people, and relied on alliances with foreign powers. They would be enslaved to foreign empires for 70 years.

Some of these prophets were active during the period of captivity. As much as earlier prophecies were warnings, God’s message in this time was focused on comfort and His plan to restore the people to the land from which they were taken.

Isaiah in particularly provides many messages of the messiah who will restore a true, lasting relationship with God. Christians see evidence in these prophecies for the claims of Jesus Christ, and some New Testament writers point to passages from Isaiah as evidence to believe Him.

If you’re interested in the major prophets, you may also be interested it

Daniel

Ezra

Hebrews

Nehemiah

Second Chronicles

Second Kings