1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.
8 And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, 9 for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. 10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.
A major theme of the 1st Thessalonian epistle is the return of Jesus Christ. Paul and the other early church leaders were anticipating this return to be soon. They remembered Jesus’ words, “…I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you,…” (John 14:2-3) and were looking forward to His return.
As I read these verses, I believe they were expecting Christ’s return in their lifetime. It didn’t happen. Only God knows how soon. Soon is on His infinite terms and not our finite minds.
What I also believe is that our expectation should be just like those of the early church. We should expect Christ’s return in our lifetime. This is not a prediction. It is a statement of our need to be ready at any moment.
Christ is coming again and we best not be caught with the oil in our lamps on empty. We should be filled with the Holy Spirit … always ready for Christ’s return.
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