Pre-Tribulation

  

“For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:8-10, ESV).

 

Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers, adding Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy to the greeting (1:1)—Silvanus was a Hellenistic Jew, and a Roman citizen that had faith in Yeshua, he was also a prophet (Acts 15:32; 16:37; 1 Pet. 5:12). They were grateful to God for this church, always mentioning them to the Father in their prayers (1:2). This church served Jesus Christ because they had faith in him, they toiled because they loved him, and they were patient in their expectation of the Lord Jesus Christ (1:3). This expectation or hope in Christ being referred to here is in the promise of his coming to receive the believers to himself. It is made clearer in verse ten when he mentions the rapture of the church. James, the half-brother of Jesus, encouraged the church to be patient until the rapture, they were to be patient and strengthen their inner most being because he said the rapture is near (Jam. 5:7-8). The apostle John said that this kind of expectation or hope purifies the believer (1 Jn. 3:2-3). This type of expectation or hope is produced by faith.

Paul tells them that God has chosen them (1:4), meaning that they have been appointed to eternal life (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:1-2). The faith of the believers in Thessalonica spread to the people in Macedonia, Achaia, and everywhere, as they testified to God’s saving grace; therefore, the apostolic team did not have to say much about the Thessalonian’s and their faith because everyone already knew it (1:8). The people that heard and witnessed the Thessalonian’s faith would tell others how they received Paul, Silas, and Timothy (1:9a). They would also tell others how the Thessalonian’s were delivered from pagan cults so they could serve the one and only true God (1:9b). The believers in Thessalonica turned away from pagan worship and began worshiping God the Father, this brought them to the knowledge that Jesus is coming for the church one day (1:10a), he is coming for the body of Christ from heaven (Jn. 14:1-3). They were waiting for Jesus to come and rapture them just like the Corinthian believers were (1 Cor. 1:7-8)—if the first-century believers were anticipating the rapture to happen how much more should the believers in the final days of the church-age be expecting it to happen?

Paul informs them that Jesus will rapture the church before the time of wrath will come (1:10c). They surely would have known that this wrath that is coming refers to Israel’s seventieth-week period (Dan. 9:27), when God will unleash his righteous anger against those that do not obey him; he will punish the world for its wickedness and its evil (Isa. 13:9-13; 34:1-4, 8; Jer. 30:5-7, 23-24; Zeph. 1:14-18)—at least I assume that the apostle would have taught this information to the church, the Jewish believers at that time may have had some knowledge of Israel’s seventieth-week, maybe not so much the Gentile believers, that is why I just take it for granted that he did mention it. Jesus commands the leaders of the household of God, in the final generation of the church-age (Matt. 24:32-34; Mk. 13:28-30; Lk. 21:29-32), to preach and teach his people about the wrath that is coming, among other prophesied endtimes episodes, so that they can one day supervise all that Christ has (Matt. 24:45-47; Lk. 12:42-44). Isaiah refers to this time (Israel’s seventieth-week) as the day of Yahweh’s fierce anger (Isa. 13:13c). Jesus reprimanded the Pharisees and the Sadducees on a certain day, calling them vipers, by saying, “who warned you to flee from the wrath to come” (Matt. 3:7, ASV)? Jesus was referring to the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:7), the seventieth-week of Israel, the day of Yahweh’s fierce anger. Today’s church often hears the time of Jacob’s trouble being referred to as the seven-year Tribulation Period (Matt. 24:9-29; Rev. 6-19; Rom. 2:5; 5:9; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; 1 Thess. 5:9; Rev. 3:10; 6:16-17; 7:14).

Paul would have taught the believers in Thessalonica, and others, the important fact that the seventieth-week of Israel and the Tribulation Period are one and the same time period. Paul was not alive when the apostle John received and recorded the Revelation of Jesus Christ, circa 95 AD, but he had the knowledge that the body of Christ will not enter Israel’s seventieth-week period, this seven-year period of extreme tribulation. This knowledge reveals that the rapture of the church will happen before this time period begins—a pre-tribulation rapture. John’s record of the Revelation of Jesus Christ gives the Jew and the Christian more detail about the time of wrath the prophets of Israel and Judah foretold in their writings.

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