 
 
|
|
|
Synopsis of the Books of the Bible
John Nelson Darby
1800-1882
1 Thessalonians
Introduction
We find in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, and especially in the first
(for in the second it was already needful to guard that freshness from the
perfidious attacks of the enemy), the condition and the hope of the
Christian as such in this world in all its freshness. These two epistles
are the first that Paul wrote, unless we except that to the Galatians, the
date of which is uncertain. Already long occupied with the work, it is only
when this work was considerably advanced that in watching over it he guards
it by means of his writings-writings, as we have seen, various in
character, according to the state of the churches, and according to the
divine wisdom which, by this means, deposited in the scriptures that which
would be necessary for all ages.
Newly converted, the Christians at Thessalonica suffered much from the
persecution of the world-a persecution which the Jews of that place had
already previously stirred up against Paul himself. Happy at the gracious
work there, and rejoicing in the state of his dear children in the faith (a
testimony to which was borne everywhere, even by the world), the apostle
opens his heart; and the Holy Ghost sets forth by his mouth what that
christian condition was upon the earth which was the source of his joy in
the case of the Thessalonians; and what the hope which threw its light upon
the believer's existence, shining around him through his whole life, and
illumining his path in the wilderness. In a word the christian character is
unfolded to our eyes with all its motives and its joys and that in
connection with the testimony of God and the hope which is our strength in
bearing it.
We all know that the doctrine of the coming of Christ, which universally
accompanies the work of the Spirit that attaches our hearts to Him in the
first spring of a new life, is specially presented to us in these two
epistles. And it is not merely formally taught as a doctrine; it is linked
with every spiritual relationship of our souls, it is displayed in all the
circumstances of the Christian's life. We are converted in order to wait
for Him. The joy of the saints in the fruits of their labors is realised in
His presence. It is at the coming of Christ that holiness has all its
value, its measure being seen in that which is then manifested. It is the
consolation when Christians die. It is the unexpected judgment of the
world. It is unto the coming of Christ that God preserves His own in
holiness, and blameless. We shall see these points set forth in detail in
the different chapters of the first epistle. We only point them out here.
In general we shall find that personal relationships, and the expectation
of His appearing, have a remarkable and enlivening freshness in this
epistle in every respect. The Lord is present to the heart-is its object;
and christian affections spring up in the soul, causing the fruits of the
Spirit to abound.
In these two epistles only is an assembly said to be "in God the Father,"
that is to say, planted in this relationship having its moral existence-its
mode of being-in it. The life of the assembly developed itself in the
communion that flowed from this relationship. The Spirit of adoption
characterises it. With the affection of little children the Thessalonians
knew the Father. Thus John says, when speaking of the little children in
Christ, " I write unto you because ye have known the Father." It is the
first introduction into the position of liberty in which Christ has placed
us -liberty before God and in communion with Him. Precious position! to be
as children to One who loves as a Father, with all the liberty and tender
affection of that relationship, according to divine perfection. For here it
is not the adaptation of Christ's human experience to the wants in which He
acquired it (precious as that grace is); it is our introduction into the
unmingled enjoyment of the light, and of the divine affections displayed in
the character of the Father. It is our communion, tender and confiding but
pure, with Him whose love is the source of all blessing. Nor do I doubt
that, freshly brought out of heathenism as the Thessalonians were, the
apostle refers to their knowledge of the one true God the Father in
contrast with their idols.
Chapter 1
The apostle, in declaring (as was his custom) that which he felt respecting
them-the aspect in which they appeared to his heart and mind, speaks
neither of gifts, as to the Corinthians, nor of the grand features of an
exaltation that embraced the Lord and all saints, as to the Ephesians and
even to the Colossians (with the addition of that which their state
required); nor of the brotherly affection and fellowship of love which the
Philippians had manifested in their connection with himself; nor of a faith
that existed apart from his labors, and in communion with which he hoped to
refresh himself, adding to it that which his abundant gifts enabled him to
impart to them, as he writes to the Romans whom he had not yet seen.
Here it is the life itself of the Christian in its first fresh impressions,
in its intrinsic qualities, as it developed itself by the energy of the
Holy Ghost on earth, the life of God here below in them, which he remembers
in his prayers with so much satisfaction and joy. Three great principles,
he tells the Corinthians (l Cor.13) form the basis, and ever abide as the
foundation of this life-faith, hope, and love. Now these three were the
powerful and divine motives of the life of the Thessalonians. This life was
not merely a habit; it flowed, in its outward activities, from immediate
communion with its source. These activities were quickened and maintained
by divine life, and by keeping the eye constantly fixed upon the object of
faith. There was work, and labour, and endurance. There were the same in
Ephesus, as we see it in Revelation 2. But here it was a work of faith,
labour undertaken by love, endurance fed by hope. Faith, hope, and love
are, we have seen, the springs of Christianity in this world. The work, the
labour, the endurance continued at Ephesus, but ceased to be characterised
by these great and mighty principles. The habit continued, but the
communion was wanting They had forsaken their first love.
The first to the Thessalonians is the expression of the living power in
which the assembly is planted: Ephesus, in Revelation 2, of its first
departure from that state.
May our work be a work of faith, drawing its strength, its existence even,
from our communion with God our Father! May it be, each moment, the fruit
of the realisation of that which is invisible, of the life which lives in
the certainty, the immutable certainty, of the word! May it thus bear the
impress of the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ, and be a
testimony to it.
May our labour in service be the fruit of love, not performed merely as
duty and obligation, although it was this, if we know that it is before us
to be done!
May the patience that we must have, in order to go through this wilderness,
be, not the necessity we feel because the path is before us, but an
endurance sustained by the hope that belongs to our view of Jesus by faith,
and that is waiting for Him !
These principles, faith, hope, and love, form our character as Christians:
but it cannot, and ought not to, be formed in us without having objects.
Accordingly the Spirit presents them here. They have a twofold character.
The heart rests by faith on Jesus, waits for Him, counts upon Him, links
itself with Him in its walk. He has walked here below, He represents us in
heaven, He watches over us as the good Shepherd. He loves His own; He
nourishes and cherishes them: our faith and our hope keep Him always in
view. The conscience is before God our Father; it is not in the spirit of
fear: there is no uncertainty as to our relationship. We are the children
of a Father who lovesus perfectly; but we are before God. His light has
authority and power in the conscience: we walk in the sense that His eye is
upon us, in love but upon us. And light makes everything manifest. It
judges all that might weaken the sweet and peaceful realisation of the
presence of God, and our communion with Jesus, and our confidence in Him,
the intimacy of the intercourse between our souls and the Lord. These two
principles are of all importance for abiding peace, for the progress of our
souls. Without them the soul flags. The one sustains confidence, the other
keeps us in the light with a good conscience. Without the latter, faith
(not to say more) loses its liveliness; without the former, the conscience
be comes legal, and we lose spiritual strength, light and ardour.
The apostle reminds them also of the means used by God to produce this
condition, that is, the gospel, the word, brought in power and in much
assurance to the soul by the Holy Ghost. The word had power in their
heart-came to it as the word of God; the Spirit Himself revealed Himself in
it, giving the consciousness of His presence; and the consequence of this
was the full assurance of the truth in all its power, in all its reality.
The apostle's life, his whole conduct, confirmed the testimony which he
bore-formed a part of it. Accordingly (it is always the case) the fruit of
his labors answered in character to him who laboured; the Christianity of
the Thessalonians resembled that of Paul. It was like the walk of the Lord
Himself whom Paul followed so closely. It was " in much affliction," for
the enemy could not bear so plain a testimony, and God granted this grace
to such a testimony, and " with joy of the Holy Ghost."
Happy testimony to the power of the Spirit working in the heart! When this
is so, everything becomes testimony to others. They see that there is in
Christians a power of which they are ignorant, motives which they have not
experienced, a joy which they may scoff at but which they do not possess; a
conduct which strikes them, and which they admire, although they do not
follow it; a patience which shews the impotence of the enemy in striving
against a power that endures everything, and that rejoices in spite of all
his efforts. What can we do with those who allow themselves to be killed
without becoming less joyful, nay, whom it makes more so; who are above all
our motives when left to themselves, and who, if oppressed, possess their
souls in perfect joy in spite of all our opposition; and who are
unconquered by torments, finding in these only an occasion for bearing a
stronger testimony that Christians are beyond our power? At peace, life is
all of it a testimony; death even in torture, is still more so. Such is the
Christian, where Christianity exists in its true power, in its normal
condition according to God-the word (of the gospel) and the presence of the
Spirit, reproduced in the life, in a world estranged from God.
Thus it was with the Thessalonians; and the world, in spite of itself,
became an additional witness to the power of the gospel. An ensample to
believers in other places, they were the subject of report and conversation
to the world, which was never weary of discussing this phenomenon, so new
and so strange, of people who had given up all that governed the human
heart, all to which it was subject, and worshiped one only living and true
God, to whom even the natural conscience bore testimony. The gods of the
heathen were the gods of the passions, not of the conscience. And this gave
a living reality, an actuality, to the position of Christians and to their
religion. They waited for His Son from heaven.
Happy indeed were those Christians whose walk and whole existence made of
the world itself a witness for the truth, who were so distinct in their
confession, so consistent in their life, that an apostle did not need to
speak of that which he had preached, of that which he had been among them.
The world spoke of it for him and for them.
A few words on the testimony itself, which, simple as it may be, is of
great importance,and contains principles of great moral depth. It forms
the basis of the whole life, and of all the christian affections also, that
are unfolded in the Epistle, which, besides this development, contains only
a special revelation of the circumstances and the order of the coming of
Christ to call His people to Himself, and of the difference between that
event and the day of the Lord to judge the world, although this latter
follows on the former.
That which the apostle points out, as the testimony borne by the faithful
walk of the Thessalonians, contained three principal subjects: 1st, they
had forsaken their idols to serve the living and true God; 2nd, they were
waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He had raised from among the dead;
3rd, the Son was a safeguard from the wrath which was to be revealed.
An immense fact-simple but of vast import-characterises Christianity. It
gives us a positive object; and this object is nothing less. than God
Himself. Human nature may discover the folly of that which is false. We
scorn false gods and graven images; but we cannot get beyond ourselves, we
cannot reveal anything to ourselves. One of the most renowned names of
antiquity is pleased to tell us, that all would go well if men followed
nature (it is manifest that they could not rise above it); and, in fact, he
would be in the right if man were not fallen. But to require man to follow
nature is a proof that he is fallen, that he has degraded himself below the
normal state of that nature. He does not follow it in the walk that suits
its constitution. All is in disorder. Self-will carries him away, and acts
in his passions. Man has forsaken God, and has lost the power and centre of
attraction that kept him in his place and everything in his own nature in
its place. Man cannot recover himself, he cannot direct himself; for, apart
from God, there is nothing but self-will that guides man. There are many
objects that furnish occasion for the acting of the passions and the will;
but there is no object which, as a centre, gives him a regular, constant,
and durable moral position in relationship with that object, so that his
character should bear its stamp and value. Man must either have a moral
centre, capable of forming him as a moral being, by attracting him to
itself and filling his affections, so that he shall be the reflex of that
object; or he must act in self-will, and then he is the sport of his
passions; or, which is the necessary consequence, he is the slave of any
object that takes possession of his will. A creature, who is a moral being,
cannot subsist without an object. To be self-sufficing is the
characteristic of God.
The equilibrium which subsisted in the unconsciousness of good and evil is
lost. Man no longer walks as man, having nothing in his mind outside his
normal condition, outside that which he possessed; not having a will, or,
which comes to the same thing, having a will that desired nothing more than
it possessed, but that gratefully enjoyed all that was, already
appropriated to its nature, and especially the companionship of a being
like himself, a help who had his own nature, and who answered to his
heart-blessing God for everything.
Now man wills. While he has lost that which formed the sphere of his
enjoyment, there is in him an activity which seeks, which is become unable
to rest without aiming at, something farther; which has already, as will,
thrown itself into a sphere that it does not fill, in which it lacks
intelligence to apprehend all that is there and power to realise even that
which it desires. Man, and all that has been his, no longer suffices man as
enjoyment. He still needs an object. This object will either be above or
below the man. If it be below, he degrades himself below himself; and it is
this indeed which has taken place. He no longer lives according even to
nature (as he to whom I have alluded says), a state which the apostle has
described in the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans with all the
horrors of the plain truth. If this object be above himself and below God,
there is still nothing to govern his nature, nothing that puts him morally
in his place. A good being could not take this place to exclude God from
it. If a bad object gains it, he becomes to the man, a god, who shuts out
the true God, and degrades man in his highest relationship-the worst of all
degradations. This too has taken place. And since these beings are but
creatures, they only can govern man by that which exists, and by that which
acts upon him. This is to say, they are the gods of his passions. They
degrade the idea of the Divinity: they degrade the practical life of
humanity into slavery to the passions (which are never satisfied, and which
invent evil when they are surfeited with excess in that which is natural to
them) and are thus left without resource. Such in fact was the condition of
man under Paganism.
Man, and above all, man having knowledge of good and evil, should have God
for his object; and as an object that his heart can entertain with
pleasure, and on which his affections can be exercised: other wise he is
lost. The gospel-Christianity-has given him this, God, who fills all
things, who is the source of, in whom is centered, all blessing, all
good-God, who is all love, who has all power, who embraces everything in
His knowledge, because everything (except the forsaking of Himself) is but
the fruit of His mind and will-God has revealed Himself in Christ to man,
in order that his heart, occupied with with Him, with perfect confidence in
His goodness, may know Him, may enjoy His presence, and reflect His
character.
The sin and misery of man have but lent occasion to an infinitely more
complete development of what this God is, and of the perfection of His
nature, in love, in wisdom, and in power. But we are here considering only
the fact, that He has given Himself to man for an object. Nevertheless,
although the misery of man has but given room for a much more admirable
revelation of God, yet God Himself must have an object worthy of Himself to
be the subject of His purposes, and in order to unfold all His affections.
This object is the glory of His Son-His Son Himself. A being of an inferior
nature could not have been this to Him, although God can glorify Himself in
His grace to such and one. The object of the affections, and the affections
that are exercised with regard to it, are necessarily correlative. Thus God
has displayed His sovereign and immense grace with regard to that which was
the most wretched, the most unworthy, the most necessitous; and He has
displayed all the majesty of His being, all the excellence of His nature,
in connection with an object in whom He could find all His delight, and
exhibit all that He is in the glory of His nature. But it is as
man-marvelous truth in the eternal counsels of God!-that this object of God
the Father's delight has taken His place in this glorious revelation by
which God makes Himself known to His creatures. God has ordained and
prepared man for this, Thus the heart that is taught by the Spirit knows
God as revealed in this immense grace, in the love that comes down from the
throne of God to the ruin and misery of the sinner; he finds himself, in
Christ, in the knowledge and in the enjoyment of the love which God has for
the object of His eternal delight, who also is worthy of being so; of the
communications by which He testifies that love (John 17:7,8); and, finally,
of the glory which is its public demonstration before the universe. This
latter part of our ineffable blessedness is the subject of Christ's
communications at the end of John's Gospel. (Chaps 14, 16, and, in
particular 17)
From the moment that the sinner is converted and believes the gospel, and
(to complete his state, I must add) is sealed with the Holy Ghost, now that
the blessed Lord has wrought redemption, he is introduced -as to the
principle of his life-into this position, into these relationships with
God. He is perhaps but a child; but the Father whom he knows, the love into
which he has entered, the Saviour on whom his eyes are opened, are the same
whom he will enjoy when he shall know as he is known. He is a Christian; he
is turned from idols to God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.
We may observe, that the subject here is not the power which converts, nor
the source of life. Of these other passages speak clearly. Here it is the
character of the life in its manifestation. Now this depends on its
objects. Life is exercised and unfolded in connection with its objects, and
thus characterises itself. The source from which it flows makes it capable
of enjoying it; but an intrinsic life which has no object on which it
depends is not the life of a creature. Such life as that is the prerogative
of God. This shews the folly of those who would have a subjective life, as
they say, without its having a positively objective character; for this
subjective state depends on the object with which it is occupied. It is the
characteristic of God to be the source of His own thoughts without an
object-to be, and to be self-sufficing (because He is perfection, and the
centre and source of everything), and to create objects unto Himself, if He
would have any without Himself. In a word, although receiving a life from
God which is capable of enjoying Him, the moral character of man cannot be
formed in him without an object that imparts it to him.
Now God has given Himself to us for an object, and has revealed Himself in
Christ. If we occupy ourselves with God in Himself (supposing always that
He had thus revealed Himself), the subject is too vast. It is an infinite
joy; but in that which is simply infinite there is something wanting to a
creature, although it is his highest prerogative to enjoy it. It is
necessary to him on the one hand, in order that he may be in his place, and
that God may have His place in regard to him, and on the other hand that
which exalts him so admirably. It must be so; and it is the privilege given
unto us, and given unto us in a priceless intimacy, for we are children,
and we dwell in God, and God in us; but with this in itself there is a
certain weight upon the heart in the sense of God alone. We read of "a far
more exceeding and abundant weight
of glory." It must be so: His majesty must be maintained when we think of
Him as God, His authority over the conscience. The heart-God has so formed
it-needs something which will not lower its affections, but which may have
the character of companion and friend, at least to which it has access in
that character.
It is this which we have in Christ, our precious Saviour. He is an object
near to us. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. He has called us
friends; all that He has heard from His Father He has made known to us. Is
He then a means of our eyes being turned away from God ? On the contrary,
it is in Him that God is manifested, in Him that even the angels see God.
It is He who, being in the bosom of the Father, reveals to us His God and
Father in this sweet relationship, and as He knows Him Himself. And not
only this, but He is in the Father, and the Father in Him, so that He who
has seen Him has seen the Father. He reveals God to us, instead of turning
us away from Him. In grace He has already revealed Him, and we wait for the
revelation of glory in Him. Already also on the earth, from the moment that
He was born, the angels celebrated the good pleasure of God in man, for the
object of His eternal delight had become a man. And now He has accomplished
the work which makes possible the introduction of others, of sinners, into
the enjoyment with Himself of this favour of God. Once enemies, "we are
reconciled to God by the death of His Son."
It is thus that God has reconciled us to Himself. By faith thus knowing
God, we " turn from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for
his Son from heaven." The living and true God is the object of our joyful
service. His Son, whom we know, who knows us, who will have us to be where
He is, who has identified us with His own glory and His glory with us, He
who is a glorified man for ever and firstborn among many brethren, is the
object of our expectation. We expect Him from heaven, for our hopes are
there, and there the seat of our joy.
We have the infinity of a God of love, the intimacy and the glory of Him
who has taken part in all our infirmities, and, without sin, has borne all
our sins. What a portion is ours !
But there was another side of the truth. Creatures are responsible; and,
however great His love and His patience, God cannot allow evil nor contempt
of His authority: if He did, all would be confusion and misery. God Himself
would lose His place. There is a judgment; there is wrath to come. We were
responsible; we have failed. How then shall we enjoy God and the Son in the
way that I have spoken of?
Here comes in the application of the third truth of which the apostle
speaks: "Which delivered us from the wrath to come." The work of Christ has
perfectly sheltered us from this wrath; He took our place in responsibility
on the cross to put away sin for us by the sacrifice of Himself.
These then are the three great elements of christian life. We serve the
living and the true God, having forsaken our idols outward or inward. We
expect Jesus for glory; for this sight of God makes us feel what this world
is, and we know Jesus. As to our sins and our conscience, we are perfectly
cleansed; we fear nothing. The life and walk of the Thessalonians was a
testimony to these truths.
Chapter 2
Having established these great principles, the apostle, with an open and
overflowing heart, appeals to his whole walk among them as a proof of his
having walked in the same spirit as in their own case he was rejoicing in.
It was not that he exhorted others, while availing himself of their
affection, for his own advantage. It was not that he encouraged them to
endure afflictions, without having courage himself to undergo the same.
Ill-treated and insulted at Philippi, he was bold in God to renew his
attacks on the kingdom of darkness at Thessalonica, and that with great
energy. He had not used flattering words to win them; he had set the truth
before them, as being himself the servant of God. He had worked with his
own hands, that he might not be burdensome to them. All was before God in
the light and by the energy of the Holy Ghost, and in a spirit of
devotedness; even as he desired that they should walk as they knew he had
walked among them, as holily, justly, and unblamably; as also he had
exhorted them, with all affection and tenderness, to walk worthy of God,
who had called them unto His own kingdom and glory.
We see again in this expression the close relationship of the Christian, in
his individual character, with God. He has his portion in God's own kingdom
and glory, and his conduct should become such a position. Here it is his
own position in relationship with God, as before it was his relationship
with God and the Lord Jesus.
The apostle then speaks of the means by which this world of new thoughts
was acquired by the Christian. It was that God had spoken to reveal Himself
and His counsels. God had committed the gospel to Paul (chap 2:4), and he
had acted as being in the presence of God, and responsible to Him.
The Thessalonians also, on their part, had received the word, not as the
word of Paul, but as the word of God Himself addressed to them by the mouth
of Paul. It is interesting, as for us also a serious thought, to observe
that (with regard to the manifestation of the power of God down here),
although the work is of God, the fruit of His servants' labors answers to
the character and depth of that labour itself Thus the bonds of grace are
established, and communion; there is mutual understanding. The work
manifests the workman. The labourer rejoices in that which his heart had
desired for the souls that are the fruit of his labour; and these know how
to appreciate the walk and the work of the labourer, acknowledging the
power of grace in him who was the means of bringing them into this
position; and the one and the others, knowing God, rejoice in the
fellowship of His grace.
Paul was very largely with God in his own soul and in his work. The
Thessalonians had in consequence received the word in the same power; and
they with him, were thus in communion with God according to that power and
that intimacy.
We see here, in passing, the Jews deprived of this relationship with God,
the remnant of that people received, and suffering from the enmity of the
mass. The elect from among the Gentiles awakened, on their part, the
hostility of their fellow-countrymen by the testimony which they bore
against the prince of this world in their christian walk, and by their
confession of a heavenly Christ-a Christ whom the world had rejected.
The religion of the Jews had become pure jealousy of others. The pretension
to the exclusive possession of religious privileges-very precious when they
enjoyed it with God as a testimony of His favour-was nothing but a spring
of hatred, when God in the fullness of His sovereign grace chose to bless
others who had a right to nothing. By this exclusive pretension they denied
the rights of God, who had formerly chosen them as a people; they denied
His grace, according to which He acted towards sinners, and which would
have been the source of better blessings for themselves. But meantime their
refusal to come in had transferred the scene of our hopes and our joys from
earth to heaven, where we know the Lord, and where He will remain until He
comes to assert His claims over the earth. Before He asserts them, He will
take us to Himself.
Meanwhile the word of God is the source of our confidence-the revelation of
glory, of truth, and of love. It is mighty in them that believe. The Jews
are set aside. By their opposition to grace towards the Gentiles, they had
taken the position of enmity against God in grace, and wrath was come upon
them to the uttermost. It was not yet executed; but they had put themselves
in this position. It was not only that they had broken the law, they had
already killed their prophets who were sent to them in grace; they had
already slain the Christ, Jesus the Lord. Sovereign grace alone could bring
in a remedy. This they resisted; because, according to that grace, God was
good to the Gentiles, and granted to them, at the same time as to
themselves, better privileges than those which they had forfeited. Wrath
therefore was finally come upon them as a nation. Christians were now in
the enjoyment of better privileges in place of the Jews.
It is not here the moment for explaining the future dealings of God with
the remnant of that people. The apostle speaks here of the people, in order
to shew that the only ones in relation with God were Christians-those who
had received the word. It was the reception of the word by faith, and
nothing else, which brought souls really into relationship with God.
Hereditary privileges were found to be , in their nature, opposition to
grace and sovereignty, and thus to the character and rights of God Himself;
for God is sovereign, and God is love.
The word reveals grace; it is obeyed by believing it. And, brought into
relationship with God, the Christian walks in His communion and in His
ways, and waits for the Son, in whom He has revealed Himself to men. This
is the fruit of that which the Christian has received through believing-an
efficacious principle of life, and a light from God for the way.
The apostle blessed God that it was thus with the Thessalonians; and,
having made this point clear, he returns to the joy of his communion with
them in the positive blessing which the revelation of God in their hearts
by the word had brought them, He would gladly have seen them to enjoy this
communion in intercourse with them face to face; but as long as it was by
the word only that the knowledge of God was obtained- in a word by faith-as
long as the Lord was absent, another result flowed from this fact; namely,
that these joys were mingled with conflict-conflict however, which,
although to the eye of man interrupting enjoyment, made it more sweet, more
real, preserved its heavenly character, and made the Lord Himself, from
whom they could not be separated, the center,m the common point in which
hearts were united, with the consciousness that they were in the
wilderness, and that they were awaiting a scene and a time in which evil
and the enemy's power would no longer be, but where Christ would be all.
Joyful hope, holy happiness, powerful link of the heart to Christ! When He
shall be all, our joy will be complete, and all saints will possess it.
Paul wished to have seen them again, and had so even twice, but Satan
hindered it. The time should come when he would fully enjoy both them and
his labour among them, by seeing them in full possession of glory at the
coming of Christ.
In the apostle himself, when at Thessalonica, christian life was fully
developed in love and in holiness. He had been among them in tenderness, as
a mother cherishes her children; ready to impart not only the gospel to
them but even his own life, so dear were they to him. He had been at the
same time holy and without blame in all his conduct. What energy of life
and love springing up by the power of God, regardless of all the
consequences save the blessing of the elect and the glory of God! This is
true christian life. The heart, not filled with questionings through
unbelief but strong in faith, counts on God in order to serve God. Thus
love is free, beside oneself for God, prudent and full of consideration
only for the good of others. And what bonds this creates! Persecution only
hastens the work by compelling to go elsewhere, when perhaps the labourer
would be tempted to enjoy the fruits of his labour in the society of those
who had been blessed through him. (Compare chap. 2:2) Though absent, the
apostle's heart was still bound to them; he remembered his beloved ones; he
prayed for them; he blessed God for the grace bestowed on them; assuring
himself with joy, when he thought of it, of their portion in glory as the
elect of God. (Chap 1:3,4; 2:13)
The bond remained firm; and, the way to present enjoyment of personal
communion being obstructed by the devices of Satan (by permission of God),
his heart rose higher, and sought the full satisfaction of the want
produced in it by love, in the moment when a Christ present in His power
should have removed all obstacles and accomplished the purposes of God with
respect to the saints; when His love should have borne all its precious
fruits in them; and when Paul and his dear children in the faith should
enjoy together all that grace and the power of the Spirit should have
wrought in them. Unable for the moment to satisfy the desires of his heart
by seeing them, it was to that hour that Paul looked. And observe that, if
he does so, it is because his heart was already filled with it for himself.
The power of the Spirit, acting in accordance with the truth, always leads
the heart to that hour. It impels the heart to labour in love in the midst
of this world, causes thus the opposition of the darkness of this world to
the light (whether on the part of man or of the prince of darkness) to be
realised, and makes us always feel the need of that day of light, when evil
shall no longer be present to hinder the happiness of the new man in his
enjoyment of that which is good, in his communion with those dear to God,
and above all, in the enjoyment of the presence of his glorified Saviour,
who has loved him, and who (for the exercise of his faith) is at present
hidden from him.
It is He who is the source and object of all these affections, who sustains
and nourishes them, who attracts them ever to Himself by His perfections
and by His love, and, in the sorrows of the christian life, carries the
heart onward thus to the day of our being with Himself, to the day of His
coming, when the heart will be free to occupy itself with all that binds us
to Him without interruption. This thought of His presence has the mastery,
when the heart is fresh in the divine joy of redemption. We find this here.
We are converted to wait for Him (chap 1); we shall enjoy the communion of
saints, and the fruit of our labors when He returns (chap 2); that day
gives its force and its measure to our thoughts respecting holiness (chap
3); it destroys the anguish of heart which would otherwise accompany the
death of the saints (chap 4); it is for that day we are kept. (chap 5) The
coming of the Lord, the presence of Jesus, fills therefore the believer's
heart, when life is springing up in its freshness-fills it with a joyous
hope, the fulfillment of which shines bright before our eyes, there where
all our desires will be accomplished.
To return to the end of chapter 2, the link which Satan sought to break by
interrupting its enjoyment was but the rather strengthened by bring
connected with the coming of the Lord. The current of the Spirit, against
which he had been allowed to set up this dike, though turned from its
natural bed, could not be stopped, for its waters ever flow; they gushed
out in waves that enriched all around them, taking their course towards
that sea which contained the fullness of those waters and fed the source
from which they sprang.
It should be observed here, that the special fruits of our labors are not
lost; they are found again at the coming of Christ. Our chief personal joy
is to see the Lord Himself and to be like Him. This is the portion of all
saints; but there are particular fruits in connection with the work of the
Spirit in us and by us. At Thessalonica the spiritual energy of the apostle
had brought a number of souls to God and to wait for Jesus, and into a
close union in the truth with Himself. This energy would be crowned at the
coming of Christ by the presence of these believers in the glory as the
fruit of his labors. God would thus crown the apostle's work by bearing a
striking testimony to its faithfulness in the presence of all these saints
in glory; and the love which had wrought in Paul's heart would be satisfied
by seeing its object in glory and in the presence of Jesus. They would be
his glory and joy. This thought drew yet closer the bonds that united them,
and comforted the apostle in the midst of his toils and sufferings.
Chapter 3
Now this forced removal of the apostle as the chief labourer, without
weakening the bond between him and the disciples, formed other links which
would consolidate and strengthen the assembly, knitting it together by that
which every joint supplied. This is connected (all things are but the
instruments of the power and wisdom of God) with the circumstances of which
the Acts of the Apostles give us the principal details.
After the persecutions excited by the Jews the apostle made a short stay at
Thessalonica, and was then obliged to leave that city and go to Berea. Even
there the Jews of Thessalonica followed him, and influenced those of Berea,
so that the Berean brethren had to provide for his safety. The person to
whom they committed him brought him to Athens; Silas and Timotheus remained
at Berea for the moment, but soon at his command rejoined him at Athens.
Meantime a violent persecution raged against the Christians at
Thessalonica, a city of importance, in which, as it appears, the Jews had
already exercised a considerable measure of influence over the heathen
population-an influence that was undermined by the progress of
Christianity, which the Jews in their blindness rejected.
The apostle, learning this state of things from Silas and Timotheus, was
concerned at the danger his new converts ran in being shaken in faith by
the difficulties that beset their path while they were still young in the
faith. His affection would not allow him to rest without putting himself in
communication with them, and already from Athens he had sent Timotheus to in
quire into their condition, and to establish their hearts by reminding them
that while yet with them he had told them these things would happen. During
his absence Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, where Timotheus again
comforted him by the good tidings he brought from Thessalonica, and the
apostle resumed his labors at Corinth with renewed energy and courage. (See
Acts 18:5)
On the arrival of Timotheus Paul wrote this letter. Timotheus had informed
him of the good state of the Thessalonian Christians-that they held fast
the faith, that they greatly desired to see the apostle, and that they
walked together in love. In the midst of his sorrows, and of the opposition
of men-in a word, of the afflictions of the gospel-the apostle's spirit is
refreshed by these tidings. He is himself strengthened, for if the faith of
the labourer is the means of blessing to souls, and in general the measure
of the outward character of the work, the faith of the Christians who are
the fruit of his labors, and who correspond to it is in return a source of
strength and encouragement to the labourer; even as their prayers are a
great means of blessing to him.
Love finds in their spiritual welfare both its food and its joy; faith,
that which sustains and strengthens it. The word of God is felt in it. "I
live," says the apostle, "if ye stand fast in the Lord. "What thanks," he
adds, "can we render to God for you, for all the joy wherewith we rejoice
for your sakes before God?" Beautiful and affecting picture of the effect
of the operation of the Spirit of God, delivering souls from the corruption
of the world, and producing the purest affections, the greatest
self-renunciation for the sake of others, the greatest joy in their
happiness-divine joy, realised before God Himself, and the value of which
was appreciated in His presence by the spiritual heart that abode in it,
the heart which, on the part of that God of love, had been the means of its
existence.
What a bond is the bond of the Spirit! How selfishness is forgotten, and
disappears in the joy of such affections! The apostle, animated by this
affection, which increased instead of growing weary by its exercise, and by
the satisfaction it received in the happiness of others, desires so much
the more, from the Thessalonians being thus sustained, to see them again;
not now for the purpose of strengthening them, but to build upon that which
was already so established, and to complete their spiritual instruction by
imparting that which was yet lacking to their faith. But he is, and he
ought to be, a labourer and not a master (God makes us feel this), and he
depends entirely on God for his work, and for the edification of others. In
fact years passed away before he saw the Thessalonians again. He remained a
long time at Corinth, where the Lord had much people; he re-visited
Jerusalem, then all Asia Minor where he had laboured earlier; thence he
went to Ephesus, where he abode nearly three years; and after that he saw
the Thessalonians again, when he left that city to go to Corinth, taking
his journey by the way of Macedonia, in order not to visit Corinth before
the restoration of the Christians there to order.
"God himself "-it is thus that the apostle's desire and his submission to
the will of God expresses itself -"God himself direct our way unto you."
His desire is not vague. He refers to God as to his Father, the source of
all these holy affections, Him who holds the place of Father to us, and
orders all things with a view to the good of His children, according to
that perfect wisdom which embraces all things and all His children at once.
"Our God and Father himself," the apostle says. But there is another
consideration-not, assuredly, in opposition to this, for God is one, but
which has another and less individual character: and he adds-"And our Lord
Jesus Christ." Christ is Son over God's house, and besides joy and blessing
and individual affection, there was the progress, the welfare, and the
development of the whole assembly to be considered. These two parts of
Christianity act assuredly upon each other.
Where the operation of the Spirit is full and unhindered, the well-being of
the assembly and the individual affections are in harmony. If anything is
lacking in the one, God uses the failure itself to act powerfully on the
other. If the assembly as a whole is weak, individual faith is exercised in
a special manner, and more immediately upon God Himself. There are no
Elijahs and Elishas in the reign of Solomon. On the other hand the watchful
care of the assembly by those divinely engaged in it is the true energy of
its spiritual organization, strengthens the life, and re-awakens the
spiritual affections of its slumbering members. But the two things are
different. Therefore the apostle adds to "our God and Father," "and our
Lord Jesus Christ," who, as we have said according to Hebrews 3, is a Son
over His house. It is a blessing that our path depends on the love of a
Father, who is God Himself, acting-according to the tender affections
expressed by that name; and, as to the well-being of the assembly, that it
depends on the government of a Lord like Jesus, who loves it with a perfect
love: and who, although He took such a place, is the God who created all
things, the Man who has all power in heaven and on earth, to whom
Christians are the objects of incessant and faithful care-care which He
expends in order to bring the assembly finally unto Himself in glory
according to the counsels of God.
Such then was the apostle's first wish, and such were they with regard to
whom he formed it, Meanwhile he must leave his beloved Thessalonians to the
immediate care of the Lord on whom he depended (compare Acts 20:32) To that
his heart turns May God "direct my way to come to you. And the Lord make
you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all." And
his heart could present its affection for them, as the pattern of that
which they ought to feel for others. This power of love maintains the heart
in the presence of God and makes it find its joy in the light of His
presence and earnestly desire that all saints may be in His presence, their
hearts fitted for it and there. For God is love, and the exercise of love
in the Christian's heart (fruit of the presence and the operation of the
Spirit) is in fact the effect of the presence of God; and at the same time
it makes us feel His presence, so that it keeps us before Him and maintains
sensible communion in the heart. Love may suffer and thereby prove its
strength, but we are speaking of the spontaneous exercise of love towards
the objects which God presents to it.
Now, being thus the development of the divine nature in us, and the
sustainment of our hearts in communion with God Himself, love is the bond
of perfectness, the true means of holiness, when it is real. The heart is
kept, far away from the flesh and its thoughts, in the pure light of the
presence of God which the soul thus enjoys. For this reason the apostle
prays, while waiting to give them more light, that the Lord would increase
love in them in order to establish their hearts unblamable in holiness
before God even our Father in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ with
all His saints. Here we find again the two great principles of which I
spoke at the end of chapter 1: God in the perfection of His nature; and the
Lord Jesus in the intimacy of His connection with us-God however as Father,
and Jesus as Lord. We are before God, and Jesus comes with His saints. He
has brought them to perfection: they are with Him and thus before God known
in the relationship of Father.
Observe also that everything refers to this hope: it was an actual and
present expectation. If they were converted it was to serve God and to wait
for His Son from heaven. Everything related to that wondrous moment when He
should come. That which holiness was would be demonstrated when they should
be before God, and the saints would be with their Head; moreover manifested
with Him in glory, even as then they should also fully enjoy the fruit of
their labour, and the reward of love in the joy of all those whom they had
loved.
The scene which would be the consummation of the work is presented here in
all its moral bearing. We are before God, in His presence, where holiness
is demonstrated in its true character; we are there for perfect communion
with God in the light, where the connection of holiness with His nature and
with the manifestation of Himself is apparent; even as this manifestation
is in connection with the development of a nature in us, which by grace
sets us in relationship with Him.
"Unblamable," he says, "in holiness," and in holiness "before God." He is
light. What immense joy, what power, through grace, in this thought, for
the time present, to keep ourselves manifested before Him! But only love,
known in Him, can do this.
But also we add "Our Father." It is a known and real relationship, which
has its own peculiar character, a relationship of love. It is not a thing
to be acquired, and holiness is not the means of acquiring it. Holiness is
the character of our relationship with God, inasmuch as we have received
His nature as His children, and it is the revelation of the perfection of
that nature in Him in love. Love itself has given us that nature, and has
placed us in that relationship; practical holiness is its exercise in
communion with God, having fellowship with Him in His presence according to
the love which we thus know, that is, God Himself as He has revealed
Himself towards us.
But the heart is not alone: there is companionship in this joy and in this
perfection; and above all it is with Jesus Himself. He will come, He will
be present, and not only He who is the Head, but all the saints with Him
will be there also. It will be the accomplishment of the ways of God
respecting those whom He had given to Jesus. We shall see Him in His glory,
the glory which He has taken in connection with His coming for us. We shall
see all the saints in whom He will be admired, and see them in the
perfection which our hearts desire for them now.
Observe also that love makes us rise above the difficulties, the
persecutions, the fears, which the enemy seeks to produce. Occupied with
God, happy in Him, this weight of affliction is not felt. The strength of
God is in the heart; the walk is sensibly connected with the eternal
happiness possessed with Him, and the affliction is felt to be but light
and for a moment. Nor this only; we suffer for Christ's sake: it is joy
with Him, it is intimacy of communion, if we know how to appreciate it, and
all is invested with the glory and salvation that are found at the end-"at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints."
In reading this passage one cannot but observe the immediate and living way
in which the Lord's coming is linked with daily practical life, so that the
perfect light of that day is thrown upon the hourly path of the present
time. By the exercise of love they were to be established in holiness
before God at the coming of Christ. From one day to another, that day was
looked for as the consummation and the only term they contemplated to the
ordinary life of each day here below. How this brought the soul into the
presence of God! Moreover, as I havealready in part observed, they lived
in a known relationship with God which gave room for this confidence. He
was their Father; He is ours. The relationship of the saints to Jesus was
equally known. The saints were "his saints." They were all to come with
Him. They were associated with His glory. There is nothing equivocal in the
expression. Jesus, the Lord, coming with all His saints, allows us to think
of no other event than His return in glory. Then also will He be glorified
in His saints, who will already have rejoined Him to be for ever with Him.
It will be the day of their manifestation as of His.
The apostle then turns to the dangers that beset the Thessalonians in
consequence of their former habits (and which were still those of the
persons that surrounded them), habits in direct contradiction to the holy
and heavenly joy of which he spoke. He had already shewn them how they were
to walk and to please God. In this way he had himself walked among them.
(chap 2:10) He would exhort them to a similar conduct with all the weight
that his own walk gave him, even as he would desire their growth in love
according to the affection he had for them. (Compare Acts 26:29) It is this
which gives authority to the exhortation, and to all the words of a servant
of the Lord.
The apostle takes up especially the subject of purity, for the pagan morals
were so corrupt that impurity was not even accounted to be sin. It appears
strange to us that such an exhortation should have been needful to such
lively Christians as the Thessalonians; but we do not make allowance enough
for the power of those habits in which persons have been brought up, and
which become as it were a part of our nature and of the current of our
thoughts, and for the action of two distinct natures under the influence of
these, though the allowance or cultivation of one soon deadens the other.
But the motives given here shew upon what entirely new ground, as regards
the commonest morality, Christianity places us. The body was but as a
vessel to be used at will for whatever service they chose. They were to
possess this vessel instead of allowing themselves to be carried away by
the desires of the flesh; because they knew God. They were not to deceive
their brethren in these things,
for the Lord would take vengeance. God has called us to holiness: it is
with Him that we have to do; and if any one despised his brother, taking
advantage of his feebleness of mind to encroach upon his rights in this
respect, it would be to despise not man but God, who would Himself remember
it, and who has given us His Spirit; and to act thus would be to despise
that Spirit, both in one's self and in one's brother in whom He also
dwells. He who was wronged in this way was not only the husband of a wife,
he was the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost and ought to be respected as
such. On what high ground Christianity places a man, and that in connection
with our best affections !
As touching brotherly love-that new mainspring of their life-it was not
necessary to exhort them: God Himself had taught them, and they were an
example of love to all. Only let them abound in it even more and more;
walking quietly, working with their own hands, so as to be in no man's
debt, that in this respect also the Lord might be glorified.
Such were the apostle's exhortations. That which follows is an absolutely
new revelation for their encouragement and consolation.
We have seen that the Thessalonians were always expecting the Lord. It was
their near and immediate hope in connection with their daily life. They
were constantly expecting Him to take them to Himself They had been
converted to wait for the Son of God from heaven. Now (from want of
instruction) it appeared to them that the saints who had recently died
would not be with them to be caught up. The apostle clears up this point,
and distinguishes between the coming of Christ to take up His own, and His
day, which was a day of judgment to the world. They were not to be troubled
with regard to those who had died in Christ as those who
had no hope were troubled. And the reason which he gives for this is a
proof of the strict connection of their entire spiritual life with the
expectation of Christ's personal return to bring them into heavenly glory.
The apostle, in comforting them with regard to their brethren who had
lately died, does not say a word of the survivors rejoining them in heaven.
They are maintained in the thought that they were still to look for the
Lord during their lifetime to transform them into His glorious image.
(Compare 2 Cor. 5 and 1 Cor. 15) An especial revelation was required to
make them understand that those who had previously died would equally have
their part in that event. Their part, so to speak, would resemble that of
Christ. He has died, and He has risen again. And so will it be with them.
And when He should return in glory, God would bring them-even as He would
bring the others, that is, the living-with Him.
Upon this the apostle gives some more detailed explanation of the Lord's
coming in the form of express revelation, shewing how they would be with
Him so as to come with Him when He appears. The living will not take
precedence of those who sleep in Jesus. The Lord Himself will come as the
Head of His heavenly army, dispersed for a time, to gather them to Himself.
He gives the word. The voice of the archangel passes it on, and the trumpet
of God is sounded. The dead in Christ will rise first, that is to say,
before the living go up. Then we who shall be alive and remain shall go
with them, all together, in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So
shall we be for ever with the Lord.
It was that that the Lord Himself ascended; for in all things we are to be
like Him-an important circumstance here. Whether transformed or raised from
the dead, we shall all go up in the clouds. It was in the clouds that He
ascended, and thus we shall be ever
with Him.
In this part of the passage, where he explains the details of our ascension
to the Lord in the air nothing is said of His coming down to the earth; it
is our going up (as He went up) to be with Him.
Neither, as far as concerns us, does the apostle go farther than our
gathering together to be for ever with Him. Nothing is said either of
judgment or of manifestation; but only the fact of our heavenly association
with Him in that we leave the earth precisely as He left it. This is very
precious. There is this difference: He went up in His own full right, He
ascended; as to us, His voice calls the dead, and they come forth from the
grave, and, the living being changed, all are caught up together. It is a
solemn act of God's power, which seals the Christians' life and the work of
God, and brings the former into the glory of Christ as His heavenly
companions. Glorious privilege! Precious grace! To lose sight of it
destroys the proper character of our joy and of our hope.
Other consequences follow, which are the result of His manifestation; but
that is our portion, our hope. We leave the earth as He did, we shall for
ever be with Him.
It is with these words that we are to comfort our selves if believers die-
fall asleep in Jesus. They shall return with Him when He shall be
manifested; but, as regards their own portion, they will go away as He
went, whether raised from the dead or transformed, to be for ever with the
Lord.
All the rest refers to His government of the earth: an important subject, a
part of His glory; and we also take part in it. But it is not our own
peculiar portion. This is, to be with Him, to be like Him, and even (when
the time shall come) to quit in the same manner as Himself the world which
rejected Him, and which has rejected us, and which is to be judged.
I repeat it: to lose sight of this is to lose our essential portion. All
lies in the words, "so shall we ever be with the Lord." The apostle has
here explained how this will take place.
Remark here, that verses 15-18 are a parenthesis, and that chapter 5:1
follows on chapter 4:14; chapter 5 shewing what He will do when He brings
the saints with Him according to chapter 4:14.
In this important passage then we find the Christian living in an
expectation of the Lord, which is connected with his daily life and which
completes it. Death then is only an accessory which may take place, and
which does not deprive the Christian of his portion when his Master shall
return. The proper expectation of the Christian is entirely separated from
all which follows the manifestation of Christ, and which is in connection
with the government of this world.
The Lord comes in Person to receive us to Himself; He does not send. With
full authority over death, which He has conquered, and with the trump of
God, He calls together His own from the grave; and these, with the living
(transformed), go to meet Him in the air. Our departure from the world
exactly resembles His own: we leave the world, to which we do not belong,
to go to heaven. Once there, we have attained our portion. We are like
Christ, we are forever with Him, but He will bring His own with Him, when
He shall appear. This then was the true comfort in the case of a
Christian's death, and by no means put aside the daily expectation of the
Lord from heaven. On the contrary this way of viewing the subject confirmed
it. The dead saint did not lose his rights by dying-by sleeping in Jesus;
he should be the first object of his Lord's attention when He came to
assemble His own. Nevertheless the place from which they go forth to meet
Him is the earth. The dead should be raised-this was the first thing- that
they might be ready to go with the others; and then from this earth all
would depart together to be with Christ in heaven. This point of view is
all important, in order to apprehend the true character of that moment when
all our hopes will be consummated.
Chapter 5
The Lord's coming again into this world assumes therefore a very different
character from that of a vague object of hope to a believer as a period of
glory. In chapter 5 the apostle speaks of it, but in order to distinguish
between the position of Christians and that of the careless and unbelieving
inhabitants of the earth. The Christian, alive and taught of the Lord, ever
expects the Master. There are times and seasons; it is not needful to speak
to him concerning them. But (and he knows it) the day of the Lord will come
and like a thief in the night, but not for him: he is of the day; he has
part in the glory which will appear in order to execute judgment on the
unbelieving world. Believers are the children of light; and this light
which is the judgment of unbelievers, is the expression of the glory of
God-a glory which cannot endure evil, and which, when it shall appear, will
banish it from the earth. The Christian is of the day that will judge and
destroy the wicked and wickedness itself from off the face of the earth.
Christ is the Sun of righteousness, and the faithful will shine as the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
The world will say, "Peace and safety," and in all security will believe in
the continuance of its prosperity and the success of its designs, and the
day will come suddenly upon them. (Compare 2 Peter 3:3.) The Lord Himself
has often declared it. (Matt. 14:36-44; Mark 13:33-36; Luke 12:40, &c.;
17:26, &c.; 21:35, &c.)
It is a very solemn thing to see that the professing church (Rev. 3:3)
which says that it lives and is in the truth, which has not Thyatira's
character of corruption, is yet to be treated as the world-at least, unless
it repents.
We may perhaps wonder to find the Lord saying of a time like this, that
men's hearts will be failing them for fear, and for looking after those
things that are coming on the earth. (Luke 21:26) But we see the two
principles-both security and fear-already existing. Progress, success, the
long continuance of a new development of human nature-this is the language
of those who mock at the Lord's coming; and yet beneath it all, what fears
for the future are at the same time possessing and weighing down the heart!
I use the word "principles," because I do not believe that the moment of
which the Lord speaks is yet come. But the shadow of coming events falls
upon the heart. Blessed are they that belong to another world!
The apostle applies this difference of position- namely, that we belong to
the day, and that it cannot therefore come upon us as a thief-to the
character and walk of the Christian. Being a child of the light he is to
walk as such. He lives in the clay, though all is night and darkness around
him. One does not sleep in the day. They that sleep sleep in the night:
they that are drunken are drunken in the night; these are the works of
darkness. A Christian, the child of the day, must watch and be sober,
clothing himself with all that constitutes the perfection of that mode of
being which belongs to his position-namely, with faith and love and
hope-principles which impart courage and give him confidence for pressing
onwards. He has the breastplate of faith and love; he goes straight forward
therefore against the enemy. He has the hope of this glorious salvation,
which will bring him entire deliverance, as his helmet; so that he can lift
up his head without fear in the midst of danger. We see that the apostle
here brings to mind the three great principles of 1 Corinthians 13 to
characterise the courage and steadfastness of the Christian, as at the
beginning he shewed that they were the mainspring of daily walk.
Faith and love naturally connect us with God, revealed as He is in Jesus as
the principle of communion; so that we walk with confidence in Him: His
presence gives us strength. By faith He is the glorious object before our
eyes. By love He dwells in us, and we realise what He is. Hope fixes our
eyes especially on Christ, who is coming to bring us into the enjoyment of
glory with Himself.
Consequently the apostle speaks thus: "For God hath not appointed us to
wrath " (love is understood by faith, that which God wills-His mind
respecting us) "but to obtain salvation." It is this which we hope for; and
he speaks of salvation as the final deliverance "by our Lord Jesus Christ
:" and he naturally adds, "who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep"
(have died before His coming or be then alive), " we should live together
with Him." Death does not deprive us of this deliverance and glory; for
Jesus died. Death became the means of obtaining them for us; and if we die,
we shall equally live with Him. He died for us, in our stead, in order
that, happen what may, we should live with Him. Everything that hindered it
is put out of our way and has lost its power; and, more than lost its
power, has become a guarantee of our unhindered enjoyment of the full life
of Christ in glory; so that we may comfort ourselves -and more than that,
we may build ourselves up- with these glorious truths, through which God
meets all our wants and all our necessities. This (ver. 10) is the end of
the special revelation with regard to those who sleep before the coming of
the Lord Jesus, beginning with chapter 4:13.
I would here call the reader's attention to the way in which the apostle
speaks of the Lord's coming in the different chapters of this epistle. It
will be noticed that the Spirit does not present the church here as a body.
Life is the subject-that of each Christian therefore individually: a very
important point assuredly.
In chapter 1 the expectation of the Lord is presented in a general way as
characterising the Christian. They are converted to serve the living and
true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. Here it is the object itself
that is presented, the Person of the Lord. God's own Son shall come, and
shall satisfy all the heart's desire. This is neither His kingdom, nor the
judgment, nor even rest; it is the Son of God; and this Son of God is
Jesus, risen from among the dead, and who has delivered us from the wrath
to come; for wrath is coming. Each believer therefore expects for himself
the Son of God-expects Him from heaven.
In chapter 2 it is association with the saints, joy in the saints at the
coming of Christ.
In chapter 3 responsibility is more the subject- responsibility in liberty
and in joy; but still a position before God in connection with the
Christian's walk and life here below. The Lord's appearing is the measure
and test time of holiness. The testimony rendered by God to this life, by
giving it its natural place, takes place when Christ is manifested with all
His saints. It is not here His coming for us, but His coming with us. This
distinction between the two events always exists. For Christians even and
for the church, that which refers to responsibility is always found in
connection with the appearing of the Lord; our joy, with His coming to take
us to Himself.
Thus far then, we have the general expectation of the Lord in Person, His
Son from heaven; love satisfied at His coming as regards others; holiness
in its full value and full development. In chapter 4 it is not the
connection of life with its full development in our being actually with
Christ, but victory over death (which is no barrier to this); and, at the
same time, the strengthening and establishment of hope in our common
departure hence, similarly to that of Jesus, to be for ever with Him.
The exhortations that conclude the epistle are brief; the mighty action of
the life of God in these dear disciples made them comparatively little
needed. Exhortation is always good. There was nothing among them to blame.
Happy condition! They were perhaps not sufficiently instructed for a large
development of doctrine (the apostle hoped to see them for that purpose);
but there was enough of life, a personal relationship with God sufficiently
true and real, to build them up on that ground. To him that hath shall more
be given. The apostle could rejoice with them and confirm their hope and
add to it some details as a revelation from God. The assembly in all ages
is profited by it.
In the Epistle to the Philippians we see life in the Spirit rising above
all circumstances, as the fruit of long experience of the goodness and
faithfulness of God; and thus shewing its remarkable power when the help of
the saints had failed, and the apostle was in
distress, his life in danger, after four years' imprisonment, by a
merciless tyrant. It is then that he decides his case by the interests of
the assembly. It is then that he can proclaim, that we ought always to
rejoice in the Lord, and that Christ is all things to him, to live is
Christ, death a gain to him. It is then that he can do all things through
Him who strengthens him. This he has learnt. In Thessalonians we have the
freshness of the fountain near to its source; the energy of the first
spring of life in the believer's soul, presenting all the beauty and purity
and vigour of its first verdure under the influence of the sun that had
risen upon them and made the sap of life rise, the first manifestations of
which had not been deteriorated by contact with the world or by an
enfeebled view of invisible things.
The apostle desired that the disciples should acknowledge those who
laboured among them and guided them in grace and admonished them, and
esteem them greatly for their work's sake. The operation of God always
attracts a soul that is moved by the Holy Ghost, and commands its attention
and its respect: on this foundation the apostle builds his exhortation. It
is not office which is in question here (if such existed), but the work
which attracted and attached the heart. They ought to be known:
spirituality acknowledged this operation of God. Love, devotedness, the
answer to the need of souls, patience in dealing with them on the part of
God -all this commended itself to the believer's heart: and it blessed God
for the care He bestowed upon His children. God acted in the labourer and
in the hearts of the faithful. Blessed be God, it is an ever existing
principle, and one that never grows weaker !
The same Spirit produced peace among themselves. This grace was of great
value. If love appreciated the work of God in the labourer, it would esteem
the bother as in the presence of God: self-will would not act.
Now this renunciation of self-will, and this practical sense of the
operation and presence of God, gives power to warn the unruly, to comfort
the fearful, to help the weak, and to be patient towards all. The apostle
exhorts them to it. Communion with God is the power and His word the guide
in so doing. In no case were they to render evil for evil, but to follow
that which was good among themselves and towards all. All this conduct
depends on communion with God, on His presence with us, which makes us
superior to evil. He is this in love; and we can be so by walking with Him.
Such were the apostle's exhortations to guide their walk with others. As
regards their personal state, joy, prayer, thanksgiving in all things,
these should be their characteristics. With respect to the public actings
of the Spirit in their midst, the apostle's exhortations to these simple
and happy Christians were equally brief. They were not to hinder the action
of the Spirit in their midst (for this is the meaning of quenching the
Spirit); nor to despise that which He might say to them, even by the mouth
of the most simple, if He were pleased to use it. Being spiritual they
could judge all things. They were therefore not to receive everything that
presented itself, even in the name of the Spirit, but to prove all things.
They were to hold fast that which was good; those who by faith have
received the truth of the word do not waver. One is not ever learning the
truth of that which one has learnt from God. As to evil, they were to
abstain from it in all its forms. Such were the apostle's brief
exhortations to these Christians who indeed rejoiced his heart. And in
truth it is a fine picture of christian walk, which we find here so
livingly portrayed in the apostle's communications.
He concludes his epistle by commending them to the God of peace, that they
might be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord Jesus.
After an epistle like this his heart turned readily to the God of peace;
for we enjoy peace in the presence of God-not only peace of conscience but
peace of heart.
In the previous part we found the activity of love in the heart; that is to
say, God present and acting in us, who are viewed as partaking, at the same
time, of the divine nature, which is the spring of that holiness which will
be manifested in all its perfection before God at the coming of Jesus with
all His saints. Here it is the God of peace, to whom the apostle looks for
the accomplishment of this work. There it was the activity of a divine
principle in us-a principle connected with the presence of God and our
communion with Him. Here it is the perfect rest of heart in which holiness
develops itself. The absence of peace in the heart arises from the activity
of the passions and the will, increased by the sense of powerlessness to
satisfy or even to gratify them.
But in God all is peace. He can be active in love; He can glorify Himself
by creating what He will; He can act in judgment to cast out the evil that
is before His eyes. But He rests ever in Himself, and both in good and in
evil He knows the end from the beginning and is undisturbed. When He fills
the heart, He imparts this rest to us: we cannot rest in ourselves; we
cannot find rest of heart in the actings of our passions, either without an
object or upon an object, nor in the rending and destructive energy of our
own will. We find our rest in God-not the rest that implies weariness, but
rest of heart in the possession of all that we desire, and of that which
even forms our desires and fully satisfies them, in the possession of an
object in which conscience has nothing to reproach us and has but to be
silent, in the certainty that it is the Supreme Good which the heart is
enjoying, the supreme and only authority to whose will it responds-and that
will is love towards us. God bestows rest, peace. He is never called the
God of joy. He gives us joy truly, and we ought to rejoice; but joy implies
something surprising, unexpected, exceptional, at least in contrast with,
and in consequence of, evil. The peace that we possess, that which
satisfies us, has no element of this kind, nothing which is in contrast,
nothing which disturbs. It is more deep, more perfect, than joy. It is more
the satisfaction of a nature in that which perfectly answers to it, and in
which it develops itself, without any contrast being necessary to enhance
the satisfaction of a heart that has not all which it desires, or of which
it is capable.
God, as we have said, rests thus in Himself-is this rest for Himself. He
gives us, and is for us, this entire peace. The conscience being perfect
through the work of Christ who has made peace and reconciled us to God, the
new nature-and consequently the heart-finds its perfect satisfaction in
God, and the will is silent; moreover, it has nothing further to desire.
It is not only that God meets the desires that we have: He is the source of
new desires to the new man by the revelation of Himself in love.
He is both the source of the nature and its infinite object; and that, in
love. It is His part to be so. It is more than creation; it is
reconciliation, which is more than creation, because there is in it more
development of love, that is to say, of God: and it is thus that we know
God. It is that which He is essentially in Christ.
In the angels He glorifies Himself in creation: they excel us in strength.
In Christians He glorifies Himself in reconciliation, to make them the
first fruits of His new creation, when He shall have reconciled all things
in heaven and on earth by Christ. Therefore it is written "Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the children sons of God" They have
His nature and His character.
It is in these relationships with God-or rather it is God in these
relationships with us in peace, in His communion, who develops
sanctification, our inward conformity of affection and intelligence (and
consequently of outward conduct) with Him and His will. "The God of peace
himself sanctify you wholly." May there be nothing in us that does not
yield to this benignant influence of peace which we enjoy in communion with
God! May no power or force in us own anything but Himself! In all things
may He be our all, so that He only may rule in our hearts!
He has brought us perfectly into this place of blessedness in Christ and by
His work. There is nothing between us and God but the exercise of His love,
the enjoyment of our happiness, and the worship of our hearts. We are the
proof before Him, the testimony, the fruit, of the accomplishment of all
that He holds most precious, of that which has perfectly glorified Him, of
that in which He delights, and of the glory of the One who has accomplished
it, namely, of Christ, and of His work. We are the fruit of the redemption
that Christ has accomplished, and the objects of the satisfaction which God
must feel in the exercise of His love.
God in grace is the God of peace for us; for here divine righteousness
finds its satisfaction, and love its perfect exercise.
The apostle now prays that, in this character, God may work in us to make
everything respond to Himself thus revealed. Here only is this development
of humanity given-"body, soul, and spirit." The object is assuredly not
metaphysical, but to express man in all the parts of his being; the vessel
by which he expresses that which he is, the natural affections of his soul,
the elevated workings of his mind, through which he is above the animals
and in intelligent relationship with God. May God be found in each, as the
mover, spring, and guide!
In general the words "soul and spirit" are used without making any
distinction between them, for the soul of man was formed very differently
from that of animals in that God breathed into his nostrils the breath
(spirit) of life, and it was thus that man became a living soul. Therefore
it suffices to say soul as to man, and the other is supposed. Or, in saying
spirit, in this sense the elevated character of his soul is expressed. The
animal has also its natural affections, has a living soul, attaches itself,
knows the persons who do it good, devotes itself to its master, loves him,
will even give its life for him; but it has not that which can be in
relationship with God (alas ! which can set itself at enmity against Him),
which can occupy itself with things outside its own nature as the master of
others.
The Spirit then wills that man, reconciled with God, should be consecrated,
in every part of his being to the God who has brought him into relationship
with Himself by the revelation of His love, and by the work of His grace,
and that nothing in the man should admit an object beneath the divine
nature of which he is partaker; so that he should thus be preserved
blameless unto the coming of Christ.
Let us observe here, that it is in no wise beneath the new nature in us to
perform our duties faithfully in all the various relationships in which God
has placed us; but quite the contrary. That which is required is to bring
God into them, His authority, and the intelligence which that imparts.
Therefore it is said to husbands to live with their wives according to
knowledge," or intelligence; that is to say, not only with human and
natural affections (which, as things are, do not by themselves even
maintain their place), but as before God and conscious of His will. It may
be that God may call us, in connection with the extraordinary work of His
grace, to consecrate ourselves entirely to it; but otherwise the will of
God is accomplished in the relationships in which He has placed us, and divi
ne intelligence and obedience to God are developed in them. Finally God has
called us to this life of holiness with Himself; He is faithful, and He
will accomplish it. May He enable us to cleave to Him, that we may realise
it!
Observe again here, how the coming of Christ is introduced, and the
expectation of this coming, as an integral part of christian life.
"Blameless," it says, "at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The life
which had developed itself in obedience and holiness meets the Lord at His
coming. Death is not in question. The life which we have found is to be
such when He appears. The man, in every part of his being, moved by this
life, is found there blameless when Jesus comes. Death was overcome (not
yet destroyed): a new life is ours. This life, and the man living of this
life, are found, with their Head and Source, in the glory. Then will the
weakness disappear which is connected with his present condition. That
which is mortal shall be swallowed up of life: that is all. We are
Christ's: He is our life. We wait for Him, that we may be with Him, and
that He may perfect all things in the glory.
Let us also here examine a little into that which this passage teaches us
with regard to sanctification. It is connected indeed with a nature, but it
is linked with an object; and it depends for its realisation on the
operation of another, namely, of God Himself; and it is founded on a
perfect work of reconciliation with God already accomplished. Inasmuch as
it is founded on an accomplished reconciliation, into which we enter by the
reception of a new nature, the scriptures consider Christians as already
perfectly sanctified in Christ. It is practically carried out by the
operation of the Holy Ghost, who, in imparting this nature, separates us-as
thus born again-entirely from the world. It is important to maintain this
truth, and to stand very clearly and distinctly on this ground: otherwise
practical sanctification soon becomes detached from a new nature received,
and is but the amelioration of the natural man and then it is quite legal,
a return-after reconciliation-into doubt and uncertainty, because, though
justified, the man is not accounted meet for heaven-this depends on
progress so that justification does not give peace with God. Scripture
says, "Giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet for the
inheritance of the saints in light." Progress there is, but it is not in
scripture connected with meetness. The thief was meet for Paradise and went
there. Such views are an enfeebling, not to say destructive, of the work of
redemption, that is, of its appreciation in our hearts by faith.
We are then sanctified (it is thus the scripture most frequently speaks) by
God the Father, by the blood and the offering of Christ, and by the
Spirit-that is to say, we are set apart for God personally and for ever. In
this point of view justification is presented in the word as consequent
upon sanctification, a thing into which we enter through it. Taken up as
sinners in the world, we are set apart by the Holy Ghost to enjoy all the
efficacy of the work of Christ according to the counsels of the Father: set
apart by the communication of a new life, no doubt, but placed by this
setting apart in the enjoyment of all that Christ has gained for us. I say
again, It is very important to hold fast this truth both for the glory of
God and for our own peace: but the Spirit of God in this epistle does not
speak of it in this point of view, but of the practical realisation of the
development of this life of separation from the world and from evil. He
speaks of this divine development in the inner man, which makes
sanctification a real and intelligent condition of soul, a state of
practical communion with God, according to that nature and to the
revelation of God with which it is connected.
In this respect we find indeed a principle of life which works in us-that
which is called a subjective state: but it is impossible to separate this
operation in us from an object (man would be God if it were so), nor
consequently from a continual work of God in us that holds us in communion
with that object, which is God Himself. Accordingly it is through the truth
by the word, whether at first in the communication of life, or in detail
all along our path. "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth."
Man, we know, has degraded himself. He has enslaved himself to the lusts of
the animal part of his being. But how? By departing from God. God does not
sanctify man apart from the knowledge of Himself, leaving man still at a
distance from Him; but, while giving him a new nature which is capable of
it, by giving to this nature (which cannot even exist without it) an
object-Himself, He does not make man independent, as he wished to be: the
new man is the dependent man; it is his perfection-Jesus Christ exemplified
this in His life. The new man is a man dependent in his affections, who
desires to be so, who delights in, and cannot be happy without being so,
and whose dependence is on love, while still obedient as a dependent being
ought to be.
Thus they who are sanctified possess a nature that is holy in its desires
and its tastes. It is the divine nature in them, the life of Christ. But
they do not cease to be men. They have God revealed in Christ for their
object. Sanctification is developed in communion with God, and in
affections which go back to Christ, and which wait for Him. But the new
nature cannot reveal an object to itself; and still less, could it have its
object by setting God aside at its will. It is dependent on God for the
revelation of Himself. His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost whom He has given us; and the same Spirit takes of the things of
Christ and communicates them to us. Thus we grow in the knowledge of God,
being strengthened mightily by His Spirit in the inner man, that we may
"comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth,
and height; and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," and be
filled unto the fullness of God. Thus, " we all with open face beholding
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
as by the Spirit of the Lord." "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also may be sanctified through the truth."
We see by these passages, which might be multiplied, that we are dependent
on an object, and that we are dependent on the strength of another. Love
acts in order to work in us according to this need.
Our setting apart for God, which is complete (for it is by means of a
nature that is purely of Himself, and in absolute responsibility to Him,
for we are no longer our own, but are bought with a price, and sanctified
by the blood of Christ according to the will of God who will have us for
His own), places us in a relationship, the development of which (by an
increasing knowledge of God, who is the object of our new nature) is
practical sanctification, wrought in us by the power of the Holy Ghost, the
witness in us of the love of God. He attaches the heart to God, ever
revealing Him more and more, and at the same time unfolding the glory of
Christ and all the divine qualities that were displayed in Him in human
nature, thus forming ours as born of God.
Therefore it is, as we have seen in this epistle, that love, working in us,
is the means of sanctification. (Chap. 3:12,13) It is the activity of the
new nature, of the divine nature in us; and that connected with the
presence of God; for he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God. And in this
chapter 5 the saints are commended to God Himself, that He may work it in
them; while we are always set in view of the glorious objects of our faith
in order to accomplish it.
We may here more particularly call the reader's attention to these objects.
They are, God Himself, and the coming of Christ: on the one hand, communion
with God; on the other, waiting for Christ. It is most evident that
communion with God is the practical position of the highest sanctification.
He who knows that we shall see Jesus as He now is, and be like Him,
purifies himself even as He is pure. By our communion with the God of peace
we are wholly sanctified. If God is practically our all, we are altogether
holy. (We are not speaking of any change in the flesh, which can neither be
subjected to God nor please Him.) The thought of Christ and His coming
preserves us practically, and in detail, and intelligently, blameless. It
is God Himself who thus preserves us, and who works in us to occupy our
hearts and cause us continually to grow.
But this point deserves yet a few more words. The freshness of christian
life in the Thessalonians made it, as it were, more objective; so that
these objects are prominent, and very distinctly recognised by the heart.
We have already said that they are God the Father, and the Lord Jesus. With
reference to the communion of love with the saints as his crown and glory,
he speaks only of the Lord Jesus. This has a special character of reward,
although a reward in which love reigns. Jesus Himself had the joy that was
set before Him as sustainment in His sufferings, a joy which thus was
personal to Himself. The apostle also, as regarded his work and labour,
waited with Christ for its fruit. Besides this case of the apostle (chap.
2), we find God Himself and Jesus as the object before us, and the joy of
communion with God-and this, in the relationship of Father-and with Christ,
whose glory and position we share through grace.
Thus it is only in the two epistles to the Thessalonians that we find the
expression "to the church which is in God the Father."
The sphere of their communion is thus shewn, founded on the relationship in
which they found themselves with God Himself in the character of Father. (1
Thess. 1:3, 9, 10; 3:13; 4:15,16; and here v. 23.) It is important to
remark, that the more vigorous and living Christianity is, the more
objective it is. It is but saying that God and the Lord Jesus have a
greater place in our thoughts; and that we rest more really upon them. This
Epistle to the Thessalonians is the part of scripture which instructs on
this point; and it is a means of judging many a fallacy in the heart, and
of giving a great simplicity to our Christianity.
The apostle closes his epistle by asking for the prayers of the brethren,
saluting them with the confidence of affection, and conjuring them to have
his epistle read to all the holy brethren. His heart forgot none of them.
He would be in relationship with all according to this spiritual affection
and personal bond. Apostle towards all of them, he would have them
recognize those who laboured among them, but he maintained withal his own
relationship. His was a heart which embraced all the revealed counsels of
God on the one hand, and did not lose sight of the least of His saints on
the other.
It remains to take notice of one interesting circumstance as to the manner
in which the apostle instructs them. He takes, in the first chapter, the
truths which were precious to their heart, but were still somewhat vaguely
seized by their intelligence, and as to which they were indeed fallen into
mistakes, and employs them (in the clearness in which he possessed them
himself) in his practical instructions, and applies them to known and
experienced relationships, that their souls might be well established on
positive truth, and clear as to its use, before he touched on their error
and the mistakes they had made. They waited for His Son from heaven. This
they already possessed clearly in their hearts; but they would be in the
presence of God when Jesus comes with all His saints. This was clearing up
a very important point without directly touching the error. Their heart got
straight as to the truth in its practical application to what the heart
possessed. They understood what it was to be before God the Father. It was
much more intimate and real than a manifestation of terrestrial and finite
glory. Further they would be before God when Jesus came with all His
saints: a simple truth which demonstrated itself to the heart by the simple
fact that Jesus could not have some only of His assembly. The heart seized
this truth without an effort; yet in doing so it was established, as was
the understanding also, in what made the whole truth clear, and that in
way of the relationship of the Thessalonians to Christ and those that were
His. The joy even of the apostle in meeting them all (those who had died
consequently, as well as the living) at the coming of Jesus, placed the
soul on an entirely different ground from that of being found here, and
blessed by the arrival of Jesus when they were here below.
Thus enlightened, confirmed, established, in the real bearing of the truth
which they possessed already by a development of it which connected itself
with their best affections and with their most intimate spiritual
knowledge, founded on their communion with God they were ready with certain
fixed basis of truth to enter on and set aside without difficulty an error
which was not in accord with what they now knew how to appreciate at its
just value, as forming park of their moral possessions. Special revelation
made all clear as to details. This manner of proceeding is very
Instructive.
|
|
|
