*1 Thessalonians 4:18 / *1 Thes. 4:18 -
(*Comfort)
Here the comfort is that dead Christians are not lost, for their souls will come back from heaven with Jesus Christ at His future, Second Coming, and their physical bodies will be resurrected into immortality at that time (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,51-53, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
Similarly, the comfort in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 applies to Christians no matter whether they live or die (1 Thessalonians 5:10-11). For Christians going through any tribulation are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-7; 2 Corinthians 7:4b; 1 Peter 4:12-13). So Christian will be comforted by God even as they go through the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6). They will be waiting for Jesus Christ's Second Coming and the rapture (gathering together) of the Church to Jesus, which will occur immediately after the Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
(See also the first entry under Job above)
~
(Re: Will there really be any comfort in the future Tribulation?)
Yes (Revelation 14:12-13).
(See paragraph 2 of Revelation 14:12 below)
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:2 / *1 Thes. 5:2 -
(Re: *Secret? / *Thief)
1 Thessalonians 5:2 refers to "the day of the Lord"...
(See 2 Thessalonians 2:2 below)
The mistaken, pre-tribulation-rapture view feels that 1 Thessalonians 5:2 supports the idea of an imminent, pre-tribulation, secret coming of Jesus Christ to rapture the Church and begin the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. But not all thieves in the night come secretly, like cat burglars. Some like to rob homes via what is called a home invasion, which is quite obvious, and which can involve the thieves not only stealing, but also killing and destroying (John 10:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10, Revelation 19:7-21).
Jesus Christ's future coming as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2, Matthew 24:43-44, Revelation 16:15) does not mean that He will come secretly, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16), "with a great sound of a trumpet" (Matthew 24:31), and "as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:27,43-44). "Behold, I come as a thief" (Revelation 16:15), "Behold, he cometh with clouds [1 Thessalonians 4:17]; and every eye shall see him" (Revelation 1:7).
(Re: Imminent?)
Similarly, Jesus Christ's coming as a thief in the night does not mean that His coming is imminent. For He cannot come until immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
Also, Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2) means that He will come even upon Christians when they are not expecting Him, if they stop watching (staying awake, spiritually) during the future Tribulation. Compare the if principle of Revelation 3:3. Also, some in the Church will still be alive on the earth during the Tribulation's final stage, still watching (staying awake, spiritually) for Jesus' Second Coming as a thief (Revelation 16:15). So His Second Coming will not overtake them like a thief (1 Thessalonians 5:4, Matthew 24:43).
Regarding Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming as a thief to non-Christians, when they are not expecting Him (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, Matthew 24:39), note that nothing requires that non-Christians will be expecting Jesus' Second Coming after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. For during the Tribulation, non-Christians could come to think that His Second Coming has already occurred (Matthew 24:24-26).
(See also Matthew 24:37 above)
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:3 / *1 Thes. 5:3 -
(*Peace and safety)
1 Thessalonians 5:3 does not require that the eternal judgment of all non-Christians of all times (Revelation 20:11-15) will occur immediately at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 could include reference to when, near the end of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, at the death of God's future, Two Witnesses at the legal end of the future Antichrist's 3.5-year worldwide reign (Revelation 11:8,15, Revelation 13:5-18), non-Christians will rejoice and make merry because they will then be free from the tormenting plagues from the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:10, Revelation 11:6). But little will non-Christians realize that the plagues of the seven vials of God's (temporal) judgment and wrath will then be poured out upon non-Christians directly from heaven (Revelation 16). And then Jesus Christ will return from heaven and bring the Second-Coming (yet still temporal) judgment and wrath of God (Revelation 19:11 to 20:3).
Between the temporal, Second-Coming judgment and wrath of Revelation 19:11 to 20:3 and the eternal judgment and wrath of Revelation 20:11-15 will occur the future Millennium and subsequent Gog/Magog rebellion (Revelation 20:4-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39).
(See also Matthew 24:37 above)
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:4 / *1 Thes. 5:4 -
(Re: Full preterism?)
See the "Full preterism?" section of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 below.
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:9 / *1 Thes. 5:9 -
(*Wrath)
This refers only to wrath which is opposed to salvation, which is God's wrath (John 3:36). For even obedient Christians can suffer the wrath of Satan, which does not affect their salvation from hell (Revelation 12:17, Revelation 2:10). For even if they are killed by Satan, this is no loss for them, but gain, for it brings their still-conscious souls into heaven to be with Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:21,23; 2 Corinthians 5:8). Also, 1 Thessalonians 5:9a applies to anyone who obtains salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:9b), and no matter whether they live or die (1 Thessalonians 5:10).
Also, nothing requires that the entire future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 will be God's wrath, or that any part of the Tribulation which will be His wrath will be directed against any of the Christians (1 Thessalonians 5:9) who will still be alive on the earth at that time (Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6). Most of the Tribulation could be Satan's wrath working through evil people and natural forces to bring disaster upon the earth, like when Satan was allowed to work through evil people and natural forces to bring disaster on righteous Job (Job 1:12-20), against whom God had no wrath.
The future Tribulation's first five seals (Revelation 6:1-11) will not be God's wrath or judgment, for after the first four seals the Christian martyrs of the fifth seal ask God when He is going to bring His judgment against non-Christians (Revelation 6:10). And the killing of even more Christian martyrs, which the fifth seal foretells will happen sometime after the fifth seal (Revelation 6:11), will not be God's wrath against those Christian martyrs. So Jesus Christ's unsealing of the seals (Revelation 6), the future Tribulation's first stage, does not mean that the events unsealed will be God's wrath, but that they will be permitted by God to happen at that time.
The Tribulation's sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-14) will happen sometime before the future Day of the Lord (Joel 2:31, Revelation 6:12), as in only a few years before. The future Day of the Lord itself will not begin until Jesus Christ's Second Coming (1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10), which will not occur until Revelation 19:7 to 20:6, immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8). Similarly, the future Day of the Lord's wrath (Psalms 110:5) will not begin until Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:19-21).
So the people quoted at the sixth seal (Revelation 6:17), during only the first stage of the future Tribulation, could be just as mistaken as Job was when he said that what was happening to him was God's wrath against him (Job 19:11). Just as what was happening to Job was actually Satan's wrath against him, not God's wrath, so the sixth seal could actually be Satan's wrath, not God's wrath. And just as the writer of the book of Job did not go out of his way to correct Job's mistaken statement in Job 19:11; and just as the apostles John and Matthew did not go out of their way to correct the mistaken statements of the people they quoted in John 7:12b and Matthew 27:63a; so the apostle John could have not gone out of his way to correct the statement of the people he quoted in Revelation 6:17.
After the Tribulation's sixth seal will occur its seventh seal (Revelation 8:1), out of which will come its seven trumpets (Revelation 8:1-2). And nothing requires that any of the first six trumpets' events in Revelation chapters 8 and 9 will be God's wrath. The fifth trumpet's events will be the work of strange locust-like beings from the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 9:2-10), led by a fallen angel from the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 9:11). And the sixth trumpet's events to the end of Revelation 9 will be the work of strange horse-like beings led by four fallen angels who are currently bound in the Euphrates (Revelation 9:14-19). So even though good angels of God will sound the first six trumpets, this could be announcing God's allowing the wrath of Satan to destroy one-third of different things (Revelation 8:7-12, Revelation 9:15,18), just as Satan will subsequently, mid-tribulation, be allowed by God to cause one-third of the angels (that is, his fallen angels) to be cast down to the earth permanently (Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:9).
Revelation chapters 8 and 9 will happen before the future Antichrist's (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's beast's) literal 3.5-year worldwide Luciferian/Satanic reign (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9). And the events in Revelation chapters 8 and 9 could be used by Satan to help prepare the world to welcome that reign. For what Satan could do is first take great pleasure in causing the destruction in each event, but then claim that the destruction is not from him, but from YHWH, and that YHWH is a cruel tyrant god who hates mankind and only wants to make it suffer, while he (Satan, as "Lucifer") only wants the best for mankind (cf. Mark 8:33b). In this way, Satan could deceive the world into actively hating YHWH and worshipping Satan (the dragon) and the Antichrist instead (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9). The Antichrist will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36).
After the Antichrist's literal 3.5-year reign (Revelation 13:5-7) is declared legally over at the sounding of the future Tribulation's seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15), the seven plagues of the seven vials of God's wrath will come out of the heavenly-temple opening of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:19, Revelation 15:5 to 16:1). The vials will then be poured out on the Antichrist's followers as God's judgment for their receiving the Antichrist's mark and worshipping his image (Revelation 16:2), and for their killing of Christians (Revelation 16:6-7, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-13).
During the future Antichrist's worldwide reign, Christians will be hated and killed in every nation for refusing to renounce the name of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:9-13). They will be beheaded for refusing to renounce the witness of Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:4), for refusing to accept the antichrist lies that Jesus Himself is not the Christ (1 John 2:22), and that Christ Himself is not in the flesh (2 John 1:7). They will be beheaded for refusing to renounce the sound doctrine of the Bible, the Word of God (Revelation 20:4; 2 Timothy 3:15 to 4:4), for refusing to depart from the Biblical faith and give heed instead to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4:1-2). They will be beheaded for refusing to worship the Antichrist's image (Revelation 20:4, Revelation 13:15). And all of this will be Satan's wrath against Christians (Revelation 12:17), not God's wrath, for Christians are not appointed to God's wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
Even when God's wrath comes in the seven vials (Revelation 16), the future Tribulation's final stage, because Christians are not appointed to God's wrath none of the vials will be directed at any Christians who will still be alive on the earth at that time, still waiting for Jesus Christ's Second Coming as a thief (Revelation 16:15). Instead, they will go into protective chambers which they will have prepared for themselves on the earth (Isaiah 26:20), just as Noah and his family went into the protective ark which they had prepared for themselves on the earth (Genesis 7:11,13).
Jesus Christ will return right after the seventh-and-last vial is completed (Revelation 16:17,19, Revelation 19:2-21, Matthew 24:29-30), and He Himself will bring the Second-Coming wrath of God upon the world (Revelation 19:15-21). But before that Second-Coming wrath begins, Christians will be caught up together/gathered together (raptured) (1 Thessalonians 4:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Matthew 24:31) into the sky to hold a meeting in the air with the returned Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
(See "At that meeting" under Matthew 24:31 above. Also, see the "Protection" section of Revelation 7:4 below)
~
(Re: Does "salvation" in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 mean the rapture, in the sense of "deliverance" from the future Tribulation?)
No, for the apostle Paul, like the rest of the Bible's writers, nowhere says that Christians will be delivered by rapture from the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24.
(See Matthew 24:31 above)
In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, when the apostle Paul uses the original Greek word (soteria: G4991) translated as "salvation", he can include just that, the "salvation" from hell which Christians obtain (Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10; 2 Timothy 3:15), despite any earthly tribulation which they may experience (2 Corinthians 1:4-7; 2 Thessalonians 1:4, John 16:33), even unto death (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 14:12-13).
~
(Re: Can Satan cause *natural disasters to happen?)
Yes, when God allows him to. For Satan killed Job's children in one of their own houses with a windstorm (Job 1:18-19). And Satan burned up Job's sheep and shepherds with a lightning storm (Job 1:16). For Satan is the angelic prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), in the sense of the earth's atmosphere. And Satan also walks about on the earth's surface, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:11 / *1 Thes. 5:11 -
(Comfort)
See 1 Thessalonians 4:18 above.
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:19 / *1 Thes. 5:19 -
Christians can wrongly employ their free will to quench God's Holy Spirit within them (1 Thessalonians 5:19), even to the ultimate loss of their salvation (Hebrews 6:4-8, Romans 8:13). For God is not willing to take Christians' free will away from them and turn them into robots. He wants real children who continue to believe in Him, love Him, and obey Him because they want to, not because He has programmed them to.
(See Hebrews 6:4 below)
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 / *1 Thes. 5:23 -
(Spirit)
"Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen" (Galatians 6:18).
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen" (Philemon 1:25).
"And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat" (Luke 8:55, cf. 1 Kings 17:21-24).
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23b).
The spirit in such verses is the unique human spirit within each individual person.
~
(Re: A triune nature)
Man is neither of a singular nature nor a dual nature but a triune nature, for "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). God is also of a triune nature: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). It could be in at least this triune-nature sense that "God created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27).
(See paragraph 4b of John 1:1,14 above)
~
(Body)
Even the body can be preserved blameless in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (cf. Hebrews 10:22; 1 Corinthians 7:34; 1 Corinthians 6:15a, Luke 11:34-36).
~
(Re: OSAS?)
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 does not require once-saved-always-saved, for God will not sanctify Christians who are wrongly employing their free will to continue in unrepentant sin (Hebrews 10:26-29). God remains faithful toward only those Christians who remain faithful toward Him (2 Timothy 2:12b, Romans 11:20-22).
(See the "NOSAS" section of Hebrews 3:6 below)
~
(Re: *Full Preterism?)
1 Thessalonians 5:23 did not require that the first century AD Thessalonian Christians whom the apostle Paul was originally addressing would be preserved physically "alive" until Jesus Christ's Second Coming, which remains unfulfilled today. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 only required that their whole spirit, soul and body would be preserved "blameless" until the Second Coming, no matter whether their body was still alive by that time or had been in a grave for thousands of years.
~
(Re: *Consciousness)
Materialists think that consciousness can involve only that which is physical, and that it arises by having a certain number of neuronal connections in one's brain. So some scientists could be trying to create a supercomputer with enough (perhaps a trillion) neural network connections so that (they hope) it will become conscious. But the Bible shows that humans are more than just physical bodies (1 Thessalonians 5:23). And human souls can have consciousness outside of their bodies, whether their bodies are still alive (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) or have died (Revelation 6:9-10, Luke 16:22b-23). Also, angels have consciousness, even though they can be referred to simply as "spirits" (Hebrews 1:7).
So consciousness per se is not something which requires a certain number of neuronal connections but can be based on something even more fundamental: spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). All consciousness being ultimately based on spirit would make sense, for God is an infinite Spirit and an infinite consciousness (John 4:24, Psalms 139:7-10, Jeremiah 23:24). And if spirit is the same as consciousness, then every kind of created thing can have some consciousness (Revelation 5:13, Mark 4:39-41, Luke 17:6, Matthew 17:20), for everything exists within God (Acts 17:28), having been brought into and maintained in existence by God's Spirit (Psalms 104:30).
A scientific way to think of this would be that the relationship between the spiritual and the physical may be analogous to the relationship between energy and matter. That is, just as the relationship of energy to matter is summarized by the equation e=mc², which means that immense amounts of energy are congealed and compacted, as it were, to form each tiny particle of matter, so the relationship between spirit and energy could theoretically be summarized by, for example, the equation s=ec³, meaning that immense amounts of spirit may be congealed and compacted, as it were, to form each tiny photon of energy. And if all matter is based on energy, and all energy is based on spirit, and all spirit is consciousness, then all matter is ultimately based on consciousness, and so all matter can have some consciousness. This would explain how a puff of wind, a wave of water, a tree or a mountain can obey a human command (Mark 4:39-41, Luke 17:6, Matthew 17:20), and how every kind of created thing can worship God (Revelation 5:13, Psalms 148, Luke 19:40). It would also explain how the simple act of conscious observation can affect the results of quantum-level experiments.
(See also Ecclesiastes 11:5 above)
Also, materialist humans desiring to create a machine-consciousness could merely result in their own slavery to that machine. That is, the desire to expand artificial intelligence through "machine learning" in the pursuit of more and more profits by major internet and computer corporations, with their increasingly "smart assistants", could ultimately result in the slavery of all of mankind to a single, seemingly-omniscient machine, which could be the future "image of the beast" (Revelation 13:15).
(See Revelation 13:14 below)
And this enslaving machine-intelligence having begun its development in the human pursuit of corporate profits will only be further proof that:
1 Timothy 6:10 . . . the love of money is the root of all evil . . .
--
*2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 / *2 Thes. 1:6 / *2 Thes. 1:7 / *2 Thes. 1:8 -
(Re: Amillennialism?)
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 refers to Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, which will occur before the future Millennium (Revelation 19:7 to 20:6, Zechariah 14:3-21). 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 does not say that "all" non-Christians will be killed by Jesus at His Second Coming, for some non-Christians will be left alive by Him (Matthew 24:39b-40) and they will enter the Millennium (Zechariah 14:16-19). Also, the "vengeance" and "everlasting destruction" at the Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) will not be the lake of fire and brimstone (of Revelation 21:8) for everyone killed by Jesus, just as "the vengeance of eternal fire" which came upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 1:7) was not the lake of fire and brimstone for those killed. For only the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") and his False Prophet will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone at Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:20). Other non-Christians will not be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone until after they have been physically resurrected and judged at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). Between the Second Coming (Revelation 19:7 to 20:3) and the Great White Throne Judgment will occur the Millennium (Revelation 20:4-6) and the subsequent Gog/Magog rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39).
-
Next entry / Prior / Table of Contents
Dec 22, 2018
(*Comfort)
Here the comfort is that dead Christians are not lost, for their souls will come back from heaven with Jesus Christ at His future, Second Coming, and their physical bodies will be resurrected into immortality at that time (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,51-53, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
Similarly, the comfort in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 applies to Christians no matter whether they live or die (1 Thessalonians 5:10-11). For Christians going through any tribulation are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-7; 2 Corinthians 7:4b; 1 Peter 4:12-13). So Christian will be comforted by God even as they go through the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6). They will be waiting for Jesus Christ's Second Coming and the rapture (gathering together) of the Church to Jesus, which will occur immediately after the Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
(See also the first entry under Job above)
~
(Re: Will there really be any comfort in the future Tribulation?)
Yes (Revelation 14:12-13).
(See paragraph 2 of Revelation 14:12 below)
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:2 / *1 Thes. 5:2 -
(Re: *Secret? / *Thief)
1 Thessalonians 5:2 refers to "the day of the Lord"...
(See 2 Thessalonians 2:2 below)
The mistaken, pre-tribulation-rapture view feels that 1 Thessalonians 5:2 supports the idea of an imminent, pre-tribulation, secret coming of Jesus Christ to rapture the Church and begin the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. But not all thieves in the night come secretly, like cat burglars. Some like to rob homes via what is called a home invasion, which is quite obvious, and which can involve the thieves not only stealing, but also killing and destroying (John 10:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10, Revelation 19:7-21).
Jesus Christ's future coming as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2, Matthew 24:43-44, Revelation 16:15) does not mean that He will come secretly, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16), "with a great sound of a trumpet" (Matthew 24:31), and "as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:27,43-44). "Behold, I come as a thief" (Revelation 16:15), "Behold, he cometh with clouds [1 Thessalonians 4:17]; and every eye shall see him" (Revelation 1:7).
(Re: Imminent?)
Similarly, Jesus Christ's coming as a thief in the night does not mean that His coming is imminent. For He cannot come until immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Revelation 19:7 to 20:6).
Also, Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2) means that He will come even upon Christians when they are not expecting Him, if they stop watching (staying awake, spiritually) during the future Tribulation. Compare the if principle of Revelation 3:3. Also, some in the Church will still be alive on the earth during the Tribulation's final stage, still watching (staying awake, spiritually) for Jesus' Second Coming as a thief (Revelation 16:15). So His Second Coming will not overtake them like a thief (1 Thessalonians 5:4, Matthew 24:43).
Regarding Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming as a thief to non-Christians, when they are not expecting Him (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, Matthew 24:39), note that nothing requires that non-Christians will be expecting Jesus' Second Coming after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24. For during the Tribulation, non-Christians could come to think that His Second Coming has already occurred (Matthew 24:24-26).
(See also Matthew 24:37 above)
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:3 / *1 Thes. 5:3 -
(*Peace and safety)
1 Thessalonians 5:3 does not require that the eternal judgment of all non-Christians of all times (Revelation 20:11-15) will occur immediately at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 could include reference to when, near the end of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, at the death of God's future, Two Witnesses at the legal end of the future Antichrist's 3.5-year worldwide reign (Revelation 11:8,15, Revelation 13:5-18), non-Christians will rejoice and make merry because they will then be free from the tormenting plagues from the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:10, Revelation 11:6). But little will non-Christians realize that the plagues of the seven vials of God's (temporal) judgment and wrath will then be poured out upon non-Christians directly from heaven (Revelation 16). And then Jesus Christ will return from heaven and bring the Second-Coming (yet still temporal) judgment and wrath of God (Revelation 19:11 to 20:3).
Between the temporal, Second-Coming judgment and wrath of Revelation 19:11 to 20:3 and the eternal judgment and wrath of Revelation 20:11-15 will occur the future Millennium and subsequent Gog/Magog rebellion (Revelation 20:4-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39).
(See also Matthew 24:37 above)
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:4 / *1 Thes. 5:4 -
(Re: Full preterism?)
See the "Full preterism?" section of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 below.
--
*1 Thessalonians 5:9 / *1 Thes. 5:9 -
(*Wrath)
This refers only to wrath which is opposed to salvation, which is God's wrath (John 3:36). For even obedient Christians can suffer the wrath of Satan, which does not affect their salvation from hell (Revelation 12:17, Revelation 2:10). For even if they are killed by Satan, this is no loss for them, but gain, for it brings their still-conscious souls into heaven to be with Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:21,23; 2 Corinthians 5:8). Also, 1 Thessalonians 5:9a applies to anyone who obtains salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:9b), and no matter whether they live or die (1 Thessalonians 5:10).
Also, nothing requires that the entire future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 will be God's wrath, or that any part of the Tribulation which will be His wrath will be directed against any of the Christians (1 Thessalonians 5:9) who will still be alive on the earth at that time (Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6). Most of the Tribulation could be Satan's wrath working through evil people and natural forces to bring disaster upon the earth, like when Satan was allowed to work through evil people and natural forces to bring disaster on righteous Job (Job 1:12-20), against whom God had no wrath.
The future Tribulation's first five seals (Revelation 6:1-11) will not be God's wrath or judgment, for after the first four seals the Christian martyrs of the fifth seal ask God when He is going to bring His judgment against non-Christians (Revelation 6:10). And the killing of even more Christian martyrs, which the fifth seal foretells will happen sometime after the fifth seal (Revelation 6:11), will not be God's wrath against those Christian martyrs. So Jesus Christ's unsealing of the seals (Revelation 6), the future Tribulation's first stage, does not mean that the events unsealed will be God's wrath, but that they will be permitted by God to happen at that time.
The Tribulation's sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-14) will happen sometime before the future Day of the Lord (Joel 2:31, Revelation 6:12), as in only a few years before. The future Day of the Lord itself will not begin until Jesus Christ's Second Coming (1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10), which will not occur until Revelation 19:7 to 20:6, immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8). Similarly, the future Day of the Lord's wrath (Psalms 110:5) will not begin until Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:19-21).
So the people quoted at the sixth seal (Revelation 6:17), during only the first stage of the future Tribulation, could be just as mistaken as Job was when he said that what was happening to him was God's wrath against him (Job 19:11). Just as what was happening to Job was actually Satan's wrath against him, not God's wrath, so the sixth seal could actually be Satan's wrath, not God's wrath. And just as the writer of the book of Job did not go out of his way to correct Job's mistaken statement in Job 19:11; and just as the apostles John and Matthew did not go out of their way to correct the mistaken statements of the people they quoted in John 7:12b and Matthew 27:63a; so the apostle John could have not gone out of his way to correct the statement of the people he quoted in Revelation 6:17.
After the Tribulation's sixth seal will occur its seventh seal (Revelation 8:1), out of which will come its seven trumpets (Revelation 8:1-2). And nothing requires that any of the first six trumpets' events in Revelation chapters 8 and 9 will be God's wrath. The fifth trumpet's events will be the work of strange locust-like beings from the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 9:2-10), led by a fallen angel from the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 9:11). And the sixth trumpet's events to the end of Revelation 9 will be the work of strange horse-like beings led by four fallen angels who are currently bound in the Euphrates (Revelation 9:14-19). So even though good angels of God will sound the first six trumpets, this could be announcing God's allowing the wrath of Satan to destroy one-third of different things (Revelation 8:7-12, Revelation 9:15,18), just as Satan will subsequently, mid-tribulation, be allowed by God to cause one-third of the angels (that is, his fallen angels) to be cast down to the earth permanently (Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:9).
Revelation chapters 8 and 9 will happen before the future Antichrist's (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's beast's) literal 3.5-year worldwide Luciferian/Satanic reign (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9). And the events in Revelation chapters 8 and 9 could be used by Satan to help prepare the world to welcome that reign. For what Satan could do is first take great pleasure in causing the destruction in each event, but then claim that the destruction is not from him, but from YHWH, and that YHWH is a cruel tyrant god who hates mankind and only wants to make it suffer, while he (Satan, as "Lucifer") only wants the best for mankind (cf. Mark 8:33b). In this way, Satan could deceive the world into actively hating YHWH and worshipping Satan (the dragon) and the Antichrist instead (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9). The Antichrist will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36).
After the Antichrist's literal 3.5-year reign (Revelation 13:5-7) is declared legally over at the sounding of the future Tribulation's seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15), the seven plagues of the seven vials of God's wrath will come out of the heavenly-temple opening of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:19, Revelation 15:5 to 16:1). The vials will then be poured out on the Antichrist's followers as God's judgment for their receiving the Antichrist's mark and worshipping his image (Revelation 16:2), and for their killing of Christians (Revelation 16:6-7, Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-13).
During the future Antichrist's worldwide reign, Christians will be hated and killed in every nation for refusing to renounce the name of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:9-13). They will be beheaded for refusing to renounce the witness of Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:4), for refusing to accept the antichrist lies that Jesus Himself is not the Christ (1 John 2:22), and that Christ Himself is not in the flesh (2 John 1:7). They will be beheaded for refusing to renounce the sound doctrine of the Bible, the Word of God (Revelation 20:4; 2 Timothy 3:15 to 4:4), for refusing to depart from the Biblical faith and give heed instead to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils (1 Timothy 4:1-2). They will be beheaded for refusing to worship the Antichrist's image (Revelation 20:4, Revelation 13:15). And all of this will be Satan's wrath against Christians (Revelation 12:17), not God's wrath, for Christians are not appointed to God's wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
Even when God's wrath comes in the seven vials (Revelation 16), the future Tribulation's final stage, because Christians are not appointed to God's wrath none of the vials will be directed at any Christians who will still be alive on the earth at that time, still waiting for Jesus Christ's Second Coming as a thief (Revelation 16:15). Instead, they will go into protective chambers which they will have prepared for themselves on the earth (Isaiah 26:20), just as Noah and his family went into the protective ark which they had prepared for themselves on the earth (Genesis 7:11,13).
Jesus Christ will return right after the seventh-and-last vial is completed (Revelation 16:17,19, Revelation 19:2-21, Matthew 24:29-30), and He Himself will bring the Second-Coming wrath of God upon the world (Revelation 19:15-21). But before that Second-Coming wrath begins, Christians will be caught up together/gathered together (raptured) (1 Thessalonians 4:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Matthew 24:31) into the sky to hold a meeting in the air with the returned Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
(See "At that meeting" under Matthew 24:31 above. Also, see the "Protection" section of Revelation 7:4 below)
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(Re: Does "salvation" in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 mean the rapture, in the sense of "deliverance" from the future Tribulation?)
No, for the apostle Paul, like the rest of the Bible's writers, nowhere says that Christians will be delivered by rapture from the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24.
(See Matthew 24:31 above)
In 1 Thessalonians 5:9, when the apostle Paul uses the original Greek word (soteria: G4991) translated as "salvation", he can include just that, the "salvation" from hell which Christians obtain (Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10; 2 Timothy 3:15), despite any earthly tribulation which they may experience (2 Corinthians 1:4-7; 2 Thessalonians 1:4, John 16:33), even unto death (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, Matthew 24:9-13, Revelation 14:12-13).
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(Re: Can Satan cause *natural disasters to happen?)
Yes, when God allows him to. For Satan killed Job's children in one of their own houses with a windstorm (Job 1:18-19). And Satan burned up Job's sheep and shepherds with a lightning storm (Job 1:16). For Satan is the angelic prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), in the sense of the earth's atmosphere. And Satan also walks about on the earth's surface, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).
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*1 Thessalonians 5:11 / *1 Thes. 5:11 -
(Comfort)
See 1 Thessalonians 4:18 above.
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*1 Thessalonians 5:19 / *1 Thes. 5:19 -
Christians can wrongly employ their free will to quench God's Holy Spirit within them (1 Thessalonians 5:19), even to the ultimate loss of their salvation (Hebrews 6:4-8, Romans 8:13). For God is not willing to take Christians' free will away from them and turn them into robots. He wants real children who continue to believe in Him, love Him, and obey Him because they want to, not because He has programmed them to.
(See Hebrews 6:4 below)
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*1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 / *1 Thes. 5:23 -
(Spirit)
"Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen" (Galatians 6:18).
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen" (Philemon 1:25).
"And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat" (Luke 8:55, cf. 1 Kings 17:21-24).
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23b).
The spirit in such verses is the unique human spirit within each individual person.
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(Re: A triune nature)
Man is neither of a singular nature nor a dual nature but a triune nature, for "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). God is also of a triune nature: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). It could be in at least this triune-nature sense that "God created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27).
(See paragraph 4b of John 1:1,14 above)
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(Body)
Even the body can be preserved blameless in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (cf. Hebrews 10:22; 1 Corinthians 7:34; 1 Corinthians 6:15a, Luke 11:34-36).
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(Re: OSAS?)
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 does not require once-saved-always-saved, for God will not sanctify Christians who are wrongly employing their free will to continue in unrepentant sin (Hebrews 10:26-29). God remains faithful toward only those Christians who remain faithful toward Him (2 Timothy 2:12b, Romans 11:20-22).
(See the "NOSAS" section of Hebrews 3:6 below)
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(Re: *Full Preterism?)
1 Thessalonians 5:23 did not require that the first century AD Thessalonian Christians whom the apostle Paul was originally addressing would be preserved physically "alive" until Jesus Christ's Second Coming, which remains unfulfilled today. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 only required that their whole spirit, soul and body would be preserved "blameless" until the Second Coming, no matter whether their body was still alive by that time or had been in a grave for thousands of years.
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(Re: *Consciousness)
Materialists think that consciousness can involve only that which is physical, and that it arises by having a certain number of neuronal connections in one's brain. So some scientists could be trying to create a supercomputer with enough (perhaps a trillion) neural network connections so that (they hope) it will become conscious. But the Bible shows that humans are more than just physical bodies (1 Thessalonians 5:23). And human souls can have consciousness outside of their bodies, whether their bodies are still alive (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) or have died (Revelation 6:9-10, Luke 16:22b-23). Also, angels have consciousness, even though they can be referred to simply as "spirits" (Hebrews 1:7).
So consciousness per se is not something which requires a certain number of neuronal connections but can be based on something even more fundamental: spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). All consciousness being ultimately based on spirit would make sense, for God is an infinite Spirit and an infinite consciousness (John 4:24, Psalms 139:7-10, Jeremiah 23:24). And if spirit is the same as consciousness, then every kind of created thing can have some consciousness (Revelation 5:13, Mark 4:39-41, Luke 17:6, Matthew 17:20), for everything exists within God (Acts 17:28), having been brought into and maintained in existence by God's Spirit (Psalms 104:30).
A scientific way to think of this would be that the relationship between the spiritual and the physical may be analogous to the relationship between energy and matter. That is, just as the relationship of energy to matter is summarized by the equation e=mc², which means that immense amounts of energy are congealed and compacted, as it were, to form each tiny particle of matter, so the relationship between spirit and energy could theoretically be summarized by, for example, the equation s=ec³, meaning that immense amounts of spirit may be congealed and compacted, as it were, to form each tiny photon of energy. And if all matter is based on energy, and all energy is based on spirit, and all spirit is consciousness, then all matter is ultimately based on consciousness, and so all matter can have some consciousness. This would explain how a puff of wind, a wave of water, a tree or a mountain can obey a human command (Mark 4:39-41, Luke 17:6, Matthew 17:20), and how every kind of created thing can worship God (Revelation 5:13, Psalms 148, Luke 19:40). It would also explain how the simple act of conscious observation can affect the results of quantum-level experiments.
(See also Ecclesiastes 11:5 above)
Also, materialist humans desiring to create a machine-consciousness could merely result in their own slavery to that machine. That is, the desire to expand artificial intelligence through "machine learning" in the pursuit of more and more profits by major internet and computer corporations, with their increasingly "smart assistants", could ultimately result in the slavery of all of mankind to a single, seemingly-omniscient machine, which could be the future "image of the beast" (Revelation 13:15).
(See Revelation 13:14 below)
And this enslaving machine-intelligence having begun its development in the human pursuit of corporate profits will only be further proof that:
1 Timothy 6:10 . . . the love of money is the root of all evil . . .
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*2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 / *2 Thes. 1:6 / *2 Thes. 1:7 / *2 Thes. 1:8 -
(Re: Amillennialism?)
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 refers to Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming, which will occur before the future Millennium (Revelation 19:7 to 20:6, Zechariah 14:3-21). 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 does not say that "all" non-Christians will be killed by Jesus at His Second Coming, for some non-Christians will be left alive by Him (Matthew 24:39b-40) and they will enter the Millennium (Zechariah 14:16-19). Also, the "vengeance" and "everlasting destruction" at the Second Coming (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) will not be the lake of fire and brimstone (of Revelation 21:8) for everyone killed by Jesus, just as "the vengeance of eternal fire" which came upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 1:7) was not the lake of fire and brimstone for those killed. For only the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") and his False Prophet will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone at Jesus' Second Coming (Revelation 19:20). Other non-Christians will not be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone until after they have been physically resurrected and judged at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). Between the Second Coming (Revelation 19:7 to 20:3) and the Great White Throne Judgment will occur the Millennium (Revelation 20:4-6) and the subsequent Gog/Magog rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39).
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