 Welcome everyone to our New Testament survey class. I forgot to wish you all in the previous class, but I hope you all had a good Easter and were able to celebrate well. So before we begin, let's just open with prayer and then I'll address, I was supposed to post the video, I know. So I'll just talk about that, but if somebody can open us in prayer please. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we once again thank you for this time of study. As we get into your word Father, we pray that your leaders Lord in your word and let your word bring truth and revelation in our lives Father. We pray that whatever we study will be able to retain and apply the same in our lives Father. We pray for a blessing upon our entire faculty and all the students here in the Bible College. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Thank you. So I was supposed to post a video last week, but I wasn't able to do that. We had a sudden death in our family, so I'll post it this week. So today we'll just cover first and second Thessalonians and then I'll, if I'm able to post before Thursday or otherwise I'll post on Thursday or Friday. Most likely I'll post the video that I was supposed to post last week. Okay. And I'll let you all know once I post it. So today let's just look at first and second Thessalonians. Okay. So I believe this is the first slide. Yeah. Okay. So we'll first begin by just looking a little bit at the city of Thessalonica. So it's still a present day city in Greece known as Thessalonica. Very, very beautiful because it's on the coast. And in the time of the New Testament, it was also because it was near the port. Because it was near the coast, sorry, it had a harbor and a port. So there was a lot of trade happening and a lot of people who lived there were either wealthy and prosperous or it was just a very commercial place because they were dealing with trade all the time. So you see a wide range of people from people who are merchants, traders, two people who are very rich all in the city of Thessalonica. So Paul fits in well there as someone who's also working on the side of doing ministry. And he's able to take his work and also be and also able to minister at the same time there. It was also a place of military importance. Okay. So because of where it was located and it was such an important place that it was called the lap of the Roman Empire by someone named Cicero who was a Roman. He's a very famous Roman philosopher and lawyer and statesman. And so he had talked about the inhabitants of Thessalonica as being so blessed or so spoiled, whatever the word you want to use is, but that they were like they were right in the lap of the Roman Empire. And the population was about 100,000. I think the textbook says 200,000, but you can just make that correction. But it was a large city basically within the city and just outside the city walls. The total population would have come up to about 100,000 people. So it was the province of Macedonia. Now we looked last week at the book of Philippians and Philippi is also another city in Macedonia. So when Paul has the vision of the Macedonian calling him to come to Macedonia, the first city they land in is Philippi. And then from Philippi they go to Thessalonica. So this is the second city in Europe that they visit during their missionary journey. So it was also a very important city because it was connected to Rome through a highway. And although it was under the Roman Empire, it still retained a lot of Greek culture because it was before that under the Greek Empire. So we'll just look first at Act 17-1-10 to read about what happened when Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke land in Thessalonica. So Act 17-1-10, someone can read that for us. Act 17-1-10. Now, when they had passed through Amphiolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ and some of them were persuaded and a great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. But the Jews who were not persuaded became becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city crying out, these who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harboured them and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying there is another king, Jesus, and they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogues of the Jews. Okay, so this is the first entry of the Gospel into Thessalonica. So it gives us a background to what was the start of the church. Some of the things we read was there were some Jews who responded to the Gospel. There were many Greeks, a large number of Greeks and prominent women who came to faith through the preaching. But the Jews who were jealous or who didn't come to faith started to oppose the work that they were doing. And this is when Paul and Silas leave Thessalonica and go to Berea. So once they go to Berea, they begin to preach there. But while they're preaching there, these Jews follow them to Berea and start to cause trouble for them there as well. So we see here that in Thessalonica the Jews were very, very passionate about whatever they believed and very quick to come against the work that Paul was doing. So when we read the book of first Thessalonians, we'll understand how that aspect of the Jews being against the Gospel applies to the church as it continues to grow. Okay, so we'll go into the book. So we know Paul is the author. We see that in 1-1 and 2-18. 1-1 says, Paul, Silas and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you. So right there we have both the author and the recipients who are the Thessalonians, the church of Thessalonica. And we see here Paul adding, if you remember last week when we looked at Philippians and Colossians, we saw Paul adding Timothy in his letters. He said Paul and Timothy to the church. Now we see that he's also included Silas probably because Silas was with him when he went to Thessalonica to preach the Gospel. So the letter is written by Paul, but he includes Silas and Timothy in the greeting in the beginning. We also see in chapter 2 verse 18 a reference to himself. And as we look through the book, we'll read a few of these verses. So the occasion for writing, okay, Paul had sent Timothy to the church to see how they were doing. So we saw that they were persecuted by the Jews. They left Thessalonica and they went away to Berea. He later on sends Timothy back to check up on the church to see how they're doing and Timothy returns with the report. And so Paul is writing this letter as a kind of an encouragement to the church based on Timothy's report to the church. And what is interesting is that this whole letter actually is a very positive letter. There isn't much rebuking. So we saw that also with the book of Philippians, the letter to the Philippians that it was a very positive letter. Even here we'll see that in 1 Thessalonians. In 2 Thessalonians, there's a little bit of correction, but it's still not about like how we see in 1 and 2 Corinthians. There's a lot of sin. There's a lot of culture that has come into the church, the outside culture that has influenced the church. We don't see that in these books. Okay, so some of the main things that he'll cover is the sorrow of the Thessalonians over departed saints. And some of the false accusations that had come against him. The letter was written from Corinth. So while Paul was in Corinth, he writes this letter around AD 51. So it's one of the earliest epistles that were written. And some of the unique features, it talks a lot about the second coming of Christ. So a lot of information about the rapture is included in 1 Thessalonians. It also has no quotations from the Old Testament. And it's also a very simple letter. It doesn't have a lot of theology like some of Paul's other epistles. The theme of 1 Thessalonians, Christian life in relation to the second coming. So that is the main focus. We'll see both in 1 and 2 Thessalonians a focus on the second coming of Christ. Why do you think that Paul is focusing on that? Considering what we read in Acts 17, why do you think Paul would be focusing on the second coming of Christ in these letters? You get a clue from the keyword that's written there as well. We were earlier discussing about how people were very being discomforted with regard to the loss of their loved ones. So when you're saying about comfort, it's about the assurance of the second coming of the Lord and the people who have tried will rise again. So specifically to do with persecution. So we read in Acts 17 that there was persecution that arose when the gospel was preached and Paul and Silas had to leave because of that. So that persecution continued to be present in the church. Now we don't know if a lot of these deaths that happened were a result of the persecution. But Paul is using the second coming of Christ to comfort the people to say that whatever you're experiencing here, the suffering you're experiencing here is temporary. Christ is going to return. And so you can continue steadfast in your faith now knowing that Christ is coming back and He is going to rescue us from all that we have suffered. So we'll just read this if someone can read 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10. That contains some of the main things that 1 Thessalonians talks about. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. And to wait for His Son from whom He raised from the dead. Even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Okay, so some key things. They turned away from their idols. They waited for Christ's return and believing that Jesus will rescue them from the tribulation that is to come or the wrath that is to come against those who do not believe. Okay, so we'll see a little bit of that contrast in the book between those who believe and those who don't believe. 1 Thessalonians, some of the books we can compare it to 1 Corinthians 15 talks about how living believers will be transformed at Christ's return. In the twinkle of an eye our bodies will be transformed when Christ comes back. 1 Thessalonians on the other hand talks about how the dead will be raised when Christ returns. So 1 Thessalonians focuses on those who died in Christ. Philippians and Philemon along with 1 Thessalonians are very positive letters. So there's no nothing that is rebuking, nothing that is controversial. It's all very appreciative of the churches to which they're written. 2 Thessalonians explains why those who died in Christ won't miss out on the rapture. And 2 Thessalonians talks about why believers won't be in the tribulation. So the tribulation and rapture are two things that are covered in 1 Thessalonians. So we'll just look at an outline. So all of these letters are quite small. So there's just a little bit that we have to cover. It begins in chapter 1 with the usual greeting to the church. Then it starts to talk about the church itself. The church at Thessalonica talks about he praises the church. He talks about the church as an example. If we can read chapter 1 verses 4 to 5. 1 Thessalonians 1, 4 to 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 4. Knowing beloved brethren, your election by God was 5. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of man we were among you for your sake. So here it's talking about how when they preached the gospel there was a deep conviction. The people who responded like we read in Acts 17, a large number of the God fearing Greeks came to faith. So there was deep conviction. There was a move of the Holy Spirit that came when they preached the gospel there. And the church became imitators of Paul. They saw Paul's life and they started to live the way Paul and Silas were living. Then 8 to 10 is where he talks about the church's example of how they were living out their faith and how their faith itself had been so powerful that other cities and other churches in Macedonia had heard about their faith and had heard about this church. In chapter 2 he talks about his relationship to the church. So first he begins with his own ministry. He talks about how his ministry was one that was done in honesty, righteousness with a true concern for them, like a father cares for his children. So he uses both the language of father and mother. Being concerned as a parent for the church. The second he talks about is how the church responded to him. The church accepted him even in the midst of their suffering. Even in the midst of their persecution they accepted and received him in Silas. The third part he talks about his concern for the church. So this is why Timothy is sent to check on how the church is doing. He wants to make sure that they have continued to remain in the faith because he knows of the persecution that they've been facing. And he encourages them to continue to remain steadfast and so that he ends with a prayer for the church here. The next part is titled the problem of the church but if we read through these chapters we'll see that Paul is not really correcting them. He's only saying, I know you already know this but I want you to grow in it more. So there isn't clear evidence that the church was in sin or practicing anything that was sinful. Rather he's just encouraging them to continue to walk in purity, continue to walk in the way that they are walking. So the things he addresses here are sexual purity, social conduct, so loving one another, working. So that is one thing we'll see repeated even in 2nd Thessalonians making sure they are working for a living, that they are not just remaining idle. And through their work to be witnesses to people outside the church. Then he talks about this is where we see the teaching on the rapture. So maybe we can read that state of the Christian dead chapter 4 verses 13 to 18 if someone can read that for us. But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep lest you sorrow as others who have no hope for if you believe that Jesus died and rose again even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Thank you. So this is the teaching on the rapture itself specifically to do with those who have already died. So they were very sorrowful over the people within the church who had died. This is possibly or probably actually related to persecution and so he is comforting them with these words. And then from here he says okay the dead will be raised in Christ and we too will be caught up with them and then he goes into chapter 5 to say how should we live in light of Christ's return? So Christ is coming but we have to continue to walk in holiness until the time that Christ comes. Then in chapter 5 he also addresses church officers and then he closes with a final exhortation and conclusion. We will just read verses 23 and 24 of chapter 5. So one can read that for us. May God himself. Now may the Lord God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful who also will do it. Thank you. So we see on these verses sort of like a summary of what he talks about. So one aspect of Christ's coming is the hope that we have in the midst of our suffering. The second aspect is that we continue to walk in holiness. That we allow the Holy Spirit to continue to sanctify us and we walk in that holiness until Christ's return. So with that we come to the end of first Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians builds on what first Thessalonians talks about. So this letter is sent out to the church and then there are certain issues that rise up in the church basically that they have misunderstood a few things that Paul has talked about. So he further explains them in the second book. And mostly about the day of the Lord and the tribulation. Again we see that Paul, Silas and Timothy are named as the writers of the letter and at the end of the letter Paul writes his greeting with his own hand. This letter is again written in AD 51. So just a few months after that first letter is written he writes this letter to explain what he had written in the first letter. The same written to the church at Thessalonica and the theme here is fully focused on the day of the Lord. So first Thessalonians also focuses on holy living but this letter is specifically focused on the rapture and tribulation. So if someone can read this for us, second Thessalonians 1, 6 to 10 that's kind of the main part of what the book talks about. God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shout out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. On the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you because you believed our testimony to you. Thank you. So here continue teaching on the persecutors and the persecuted, right? So with Christ's coming, those who are persecuting the church will be paid back for their unbelief and the church will be rewarded for their faith. So this is the encouragement that he is giving the church in 2nd Thessalonians. And we'll see that these believers actually, there was some teaching that had come into the church saying Christ has already come back. So in their mind it was that the rapture has already happened. But Paul is writing here to tell them that don't believe anyone who says anything like that. When Christ comes, we will all know. And here he describes some of the things that will happen before Christ's return. And he talks about the Antichrist coming. So an outline of the letter, it begins with encouragement. So that's what we read. Praise for the church, God's judgment over the wicked and reward for the church. And then he prays for the church at the end of this chapter. In chapter 2, we see detail about the Antichrist coming. So maybe we can read that. Chapter 2 verses 1 to 12. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you brothers and sisters not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us. Whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Do not let anyone deceive you in any way for that they will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or his worship so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. Don't you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawlessness and the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sent them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. Thank you. So here Paul is correcting some wrong teaching that had come into the church and clarifying what he said in his first letter. So he was talking about the rapture happening and they thought that the rapture had already happened so he is telling them don't be deceived. This is what needs to happen before Christ returns and then he talks about the Antichrist coming. After that he goes into a little bit of teaching. This is again to encourage the believers to continue in their faith. Although they are being persecuted he talks about the judgment that is to come against those who are persecuting them and he encourages them to walk in the truth to continue to walk in faith. He closes with a warning against ideal believers. We see this repeated again from 1 Thessalonians again in 2 Thessalonians here. He focuses a little bit more on it and then closes with a greeting. So both of these epistles focus on Christ's return. That is the major theme in these two books. So to help them keep their eyes on Jesus who is coming back and to help them recognize that their present day lives should be lived with that view in perspective that Christ is coming back. So whether it's in suffering or whether it's walking in holiness both those things should be lived in the light of Christ's return. So that's the end of 2 Thessalonians. We can stop here if anyone has any questions, thoughts. You're welcome to share. Sure, brother Warren, you can go ahead. Unfortunately, not to do with what we've just learned. It's out of context. I just wanted to ask a question about Easter. I've heard, as believers, a lot of people call it Resurrection Day because of the pagan connotation to Easter. But I mean, I've seen a lot of believers also use Easter. So I'm just wondering what is correct and what is not if it took you to ask this now. Okay. Let me just repeat your question. So you've heard people referring to Easter as Resurrection Sunday, right? And basically saying that using Easter is like a wrong or inappropriate way to talk about. Yeah, that's right. Because they were saying that Easter is linked to the pagan extra, you know, that sort of thing. I mean, it's been circulating social media for years. Yes. So yes, it is linked to a pagan goddess. And so when people came from that worship of that God to faith in Christ, they replaced that festival with a celebration of the resurrection, but they kept the same name of Easter. So a lot of people say it's better to call it Resurrection Sunday. So I think we're in this in between phase of there's still a large group of people who still refer to it as Easter. And so if you say Resurrection Sunday or Resurrection Day, they may not even know exactly what you're talking about. They may not recognize that you're talking about Easter. I wouldn't say that it's like it's wrong in terms of morally wrong or it's not a it's not something that is sinful. Resurrection Day definitely gives a better description of what we're celebrating. If you're saying Easter, since it refers to that God, since it refers to a pagan God, and since it doesn't really describe what we're celebrating, Resurrection Day may be a better way to refer to it. But in terms of right and wrong, there's nothing wrong in terms of like morality. If you refer to it as Easter is what I would say. Yes, that's and also Easter is a little more familiar to people outside the church as well. So again, if we're referencing Resurrection Sunday, that may not be something that other people understand is Easter. That's really good. Thank you very much. I had a similar understanding that when we can refer to it as Resurrection Sunday when we're talking to believers, but the wider audience who are not familiar with it will find it a bit odd. So it's okay to refer to it as Easter when we're talking to the other wider audience. Yes, and a lot. No problem. I think, yeah, the main thing is to, I mean, to even whoever we're talking to be able to share what is the true message behind it or what is the true hope that we are celebrating, that's the main thing that we want to be highlighted. So the words that we use may be different, but the message that we're communicating in it is important. Yeah, any other questions? Thank you, brother. Sister, is the falling away refers to the rapture of the church? The, what, sorry? Falling away. Falling away, is it? Yeah. Is it refer to rapture of the church? Is that from one of the verses we read? Yeah. Can you give me the reference, sorry? About the Antichrist, you know, we read that in that the falling away, is it refers to the rapture of church? I'm not sure. I don't think so. Okay, let me just, so in second, this is in second Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians. Okay. So it says here, okay, so talks about the Antichrist coming. Talks about verse six, now you know what is holding him back so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the ways. Is that what you are referring to? No, sister, there was a falling away. Okay. I don't think it's referring to the rapture, it's after this that he talks about it. So he says, so it's talking about judgment on those who are wicked after the lawless one is revealed. And before that it's saying, yeah, it was basically saying that Christ has not returned. Before Christ returns, the Antichrist must come. And this is how the Antichrist will come. And he talks about that. And then talks about the judgment that will follow once he returns, once the Antichrist comes, Christ will return. And there will be judgment on the wicked. So this specifically is not talking about the rapture. But verse six and seven, one of the interpretations of that is that the church is the one that is holding back the coming of the Antichrist. And when the church is raptured is when this judgment will happen. And so that is where it mentions the rapture. It is in the second Thessalonians, second chapter. It says here, I let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. This is the one I was talking about. The rebellion occurs and the man will okay, okay. This is talking about the Antichrist himself rebelling. And then he talks about how he will rebel, he will oppose, he will exalt himself over everything that is called God. And that is how he will be revealed as the Antichrist. So the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed. Okay, sister. Thank you. No problem. Okay. Any other questions, anything you would like to share? In that case, we can close and I'll see you all on Thursday and I'll also let you know once the video, once I post the video. Thank you. Thank you, sister.