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Book of 1 Thessalonians
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1 Thessalonians 4
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King James Version
Living to Please God
1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
Believers Who
Have Died
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Bible Commentary on verses 13 - 17
13 Paul by the Holy Spirit is
comforting those who know believers who have died. Note Paul says
they have fallen asleep just as Jesus said Lazarus was asleep. He
did not say they went home to be with the Lord. If that were true
why would they need hope for those who had died, if they are with
Jesus already what are you hoping for? Dead believers going to
heaven is never implied or stated in this entire passage. The next
verse will clear up what the hope is for.
14 Paul has declared what we
are to hope for. That Jesus will resurrect those who have fallen
asleep in Him, when He comes back. God has promised that He will
not leave them here when He returns to get us. If they were in
heaven with Jesus what would we be hoping for; that Jesus doesn't
leave them there??? The hope is that they won't be left here on
earth because they died before His return, as we shall see in the
remainder of these verses.
15 This verse declares that those who are alive will not be
raised into the heavens without those who have fallen asleep, at the
Lord's coming.
16 Jesus is coming down from heaven
where He has been for 2000 years preparing a place for us. He
comes as He declared in His own words with the holy angels of God
to gather His people to Himself. Clearly Paul declares the dead in
Christ to be rising from their sleep. Jesus and the angels are
coming down and the dead are rising.
17 This verse declares the all
important hope that we have in Jesus. Paul says we the living will
be caught up together with them who have been raised from the
dead. We the living and the dead, all who have believed in Jesus
will MEET Him in the air at His second coming.2
References and notes
1. King James Authorized Version
2.
Yeshua's Kingdom: Guiding Christians
into eternity - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 - http://www.yeshuaskingdom.org/18.html
3. The Bible Says ... - http://www.projectrestore.com/library/thishope/12_bible_says.htm
4. Matthew Henry Bible Commentary -
http://eword.gospelcom.net/comments/1thessalonians/mh/1thessalonians5.htm
5. The Adam Clarke Commentary - http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=1th&chapter=004&verse=001#1Th4_1
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Ancient City of Corinth
Vs 1,2 The apostle exhorts them to attend to the directions
which he had already given them, that they might know how to
walk and please God.