2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”
On Monday morning, I was sitting at my desk, looking out the window that faces our front courtyard, and I was able to watch the sunrise. The orange colors in the sky were magnificent above the roofline of the next-door neighbor’s house. But it dissipated after only a few minutes. Seeing the beauty of God’s creation happened quickly and became a memory of that sunrise. The vivid orange rays in the sky were gone, and the sky became light blue, and fifteen minutes later, there was a cloud cover over the daylight. It reminded me that when Christ returns, it will happen quickly, just like this sunrise.
The people in Thessalonica had a continual fear and were upset – alarmed, centering around the idea that the day of the Lord had already come. A false claim had gone out to the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord had already happened, and they somehow had missed the rapture. Paul is writing to correct that confusion and urged them to stand firm (2 Thess. 2:15) to the teachings of the truth.
We also have much confusion and distractions during our current political issues, government, and the ongoing pandemic (Covid, Delta variant, Omnicron, new virus surges), health status, and false teachers of our day. Could this be Satan’s ploy of filling people’s minds with fears of guilt, shame, frustration, and failures? But God is still in control and is omniscient. Nothing is a mystery to Him. According to His timeline, he knows all past, present, and future events. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Paul states, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, who the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.” Jesus is coming back soon and is one day sooner than yesterday. Paul gives reassurance to these believers that are in contrast to people who have rejected the gospel because they chose to believe in Christ and to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior; they will go to spend eternity with the Lord when He returns just as He said. That gives us courage, strength, hope, and peace, and to be ready at any moment. We need to encourage one another to pray constantly, think on what is true, stand firm in our faith, be aware of false teachers, and to thank God for His comfort, grace and help during difficult circumstances. Let it be known.
Question to ask, “How am I being distracted from knowing and experiencing God’s presence today? How has the Lord shown me His grace, mercy, and love throughout my day, so I can, in turn, show it to others?” That beautiful sunset I saw on Monday morning disappeared in the blink of my eyes. When Christ returns, it will be like that, and it is one day sooner than yesterday. Shalom.
Listen to Danny Gokey sing Jesus People (Lyrics) 8/24/21.