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CONNIE: How’s your Hope Factor today? We hear a lot about the Fear Factor on television, but today as we look at Paul’s letters to the people of Thessalonica, let’s consider our Hope Factor. Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE; Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko. And I want to thank you for tuning in our program today. We’ll be focusing our attention on two of the Apostle Paul’s letters to Christians—in fact the very first of his letters that’s been preserved in the New Testament. You know, Connie, it’s really amazing how much of this great apostle’s thought has come down through the centuries to us in the form of letters written to churches, or to individuals.

CONNIE: I’m really glad he wrote these letters—and that they’ve been preserved for us—I think the Holy Spirit, and probably quite a few angels have been busy through the centuries, making these things didn’t get lost along the way!

LONNIE: There’s no doubt in my mind that the Lord had a lot to do with seeing to it that the thoughts He inspired in His apostle’s mind were protected, and copied over and over again even through the Dark Ages. These epistles to Thessalonica have brought new hope to countless millions. But when you think about it—in our day of faxes, emails, and even text messaging on our cell phones—we probably don’t value the written word as much as people did in Paul’s day.

CONNIE: Writing and sending a letter must have been quite a process back then.

LONNIE: It sure was—especially for a man like Paul. Many scholars believe he had problems with his eyes, and consequently even though he was well-educated, he couldn’t sit down and write his own letters. He needed a scribe.

CONNIE: And when you wanted something to write your letter on, you couldn’t just go out to Office Depot charge a ream of paper on your Visa card, either.

LONNIE: No, you probably had to find a shop down in the market and purchase and expensive scroll of parchment, or perhaps papyrus. And after the letter was written there, was no postal service to deliver it—it had to be sent with a traveler. So, we need to remember that every one of these letters that’s been preserved in the New Testament is something very precious—it took a lot of effort to write it in the first place. A lot of thought went into it.

CONNIE: All the more reason to study Paul’s letters carefully. As we’ve been doing with each of his letters, we’ve invited a biblical scholar to introduce the epistles to the Thessalonians to us. Ken Wade spoke with Dr. Malcolm Maxwell. Let’s listen in.

KEN: I want to welcome you to our program today Dr. Malcolm Maxwell. Dr. Maxwell has recently retired from being the president at Pacific Union College and gone back to what I know him best as, a professor of theology, and I studied under him at Walla Walla College, welcome to our program today.

MALCOLM: It’s nice to be here.

KEN: It’s good to hear your voice with still a small hint of British accent to it! Well, Dr. Maxwell as we look at these two books, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, what are we looking at here?

MALCOLM: The one thing you’re looking at may be the earliest writing’s in the Old Testament.

KEN: Isn’t that fantastic to think that this may be the first thing that was written down that has been preserved in our Bible for the New Testament.

MALCOLM: Go back to 51 A.D. and that’s first Thessalonians, and 2nd Thessalonians was probably written just a few months later.

KEN: So you’re saying that these were written before the Gospels were written, so Paul is not quoting from the Gospels in these or anything.

MALCOLM: That’s right! And it gives us the first insight we have to the beliefs and the teachings of the early Christian church.

KEN: Very interesting. What are some of the things that we pick up on here that Paul is preaching to and writing to these people about?

MALCOLM: Well, over all, both letters are intended to encourage and reassure the Christians in Thessalonica, it deals with practical godliness the kind of thing that Christians were experiencing in their everyday lives, ok back in those days that often included persecution. Some of them were grieving because their loved ones died before Jesus returned and they were afraid that maybe they would lose out on some of the good things that would happen then, still others were backsliding into the paganism they came of.

KEN: The theme of the Second Coming certainly comes up a lot in both of the epistles doesn’t it?

MALCOLM: Very much! It’s a very prominent feature.

KEN: Now, I noticed that you’ve been using the word letter, and I sometimes use letter, sometimes epistle. Give us a little difference here between a letter and an epistle.

MALCOLM: Well, not so many years ago there was a study of this by Dr. Paul Shubert, and he recognized a distinction between an epistle and a letter. They would use a similar format, but an epistle was intended for broad consumption, while a letter was personal and for a restricted audience, and the writings of Paul are pretty much personal and somewhat privete, very specific things are mentioned.

KEN: He wasn’t envisioning that somebody was going to collect these together and bind them with black leather binding in other words?

MALCOLM: I don’t think so. For one thing Paul believed that the second coming of Christ was too soon to need things like that.

KEN: And that kind of comes across in the letter to the Thessalonians, apparently these people have gotten the impression, [of course Paul had to leave Thessalonica pretty quickly], they’ve apparently developed from what he taught them, that hey, Jesus is going to be here next week, or at least next month or something like that.

MALCOLM: It certainly seems that some people interpreted him that way.

KEN: In 2nd Thessalonians he has to write and say, no, there’s certain prophecies that need to be fulfilled and things that need to happen, and in first Thessalonians the thing that I pick up there is you know, when the Second Coming happens you’re going to know it, it’s not going to happen off in the corner somewhere. It’s going to be very noisy, and everybody is going to observe it.

MALCOLM: It will not be mistaken.

KEN: How does Paul come across in this particular letter in your reading of it, and what kind of a person is he?

MALCOLM: One of the things that strikes me in this letter is the warm, tender, loving relationship that Paul felt for these folks.

KEN: I tend to think of Paul as sort of a tough, hard-bitten sort of a fellow, but he comes across very, what does he call himself, a mother or a nurse, or something…

MALCOLM: That’s right, he described himself as a father to his children, and a mother to his children. I think that if Paul was hard bitten as you put it, that he wouldn’t be very successful. It was because he really loved these people that he was able to win them.

KEN: He really did, he got to their hearts. Well I thank you very much Dr. Maxwell for sharing your insights with us on the books of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and may the Lord continue to bless you in your ministry at PUC.

MALCOLM: Thank you! May the Lord bless you in your work.

CONNIE: Amen! Thank you King’s Heralds, for adding a musical touch to our theme of hope today.

LONNIE: As Christians, our hope is focused on the second coming of Jesus—the time when we’ll be united with our dearest Friend. Paul called it “The Blessed Hope” in his epistle to Titus. But you know, there are a lot of different ideas out there, about when and how Jesus will return.

CONNIE: The idea of a “rapture”—when Christians will suddenly disappear from earth—has become quite popular lately. But many Christians have doubts about whether that’s what the Bible really teaches.

LONNIE: And rightly so—as I pointed out in the evangelistic series we recently completed, the idea of a “secret rapture” is a real newcomer in Christian theology—it doesn’t have much of a history or “pedigree.” And that’s the reason we’ve chosen to offer a little booklet called The Rapture—A Second Look as part of our program today.

CONNIE: We’d like you to have a copy of this booklet—as background reading for thinking about the second coming of Jesus. And we’re making them available free, to anyone who calls our toll-free number this week and asks for it. That number is 1-800-872-0055.

LONNIE: I hope you’ll give us a call, or write to us this week. We’ll give our mailing address a bit later.

CONNIE: Right now, though, let’s listen to Lonnie’s message for today, “Thessalonians, Epistles of Hope.”

Thessalonians—Epistles of Hope

"I just hope . . . they're going to find my Joseph out there," the tearful mother of an American Prisoner of War told reporters in early April “I have faith that he is alive and waiting to be rescued—I feel it in my heart. . . . . But I want good news."

Meanwhile in Iraq her son, Army Specialist Joseph Neal Hudson, was being shuttled from place to place by his captors in a huge game of hot-potato. Sleeping in a different place almost every night. It seemed that no one wanted to be caught holding Joe and the other six American soldier’s prisoner.

Back home in America, yellow ribbons sprouted from oak, pine, maple, and eucalyptus trees all up and down the nation’s avenues.

Parents, wives, and loved-ones kept their eyes glued to television screens, flipping from one news channel to another, hoping for some word. Hoping that by some miracle “their” soldiers would be rescued soon.

Shoshanna Johnson was one of the soldiers being held. In the last hectic days of the war, as sounds of bombing diminished, and as she was hustled from prison to prison, she began to grow more worried. She could see the desperation in her captors’ eyes. And hope began to fade. “I was getting to the point,” she said, “where I believed they would have killed us.” [AP]

No one knew whether the next day would bring the prisoners liberty, or death.

Then came those words Shauna and Joe and the others will never forget. “If you’re an American, stand up!” Shouted by a burly U. S. Marine who had just kicked down the door of the house where they were being held. “I would have been willing to kiss the bottom of that man’s foot,” one of the prisoners told reporters later.

Weakened by her three-week ordeal, and still suffering the effects of a gunshot wound in her feet, Johnson couldn’t exactly leap to her feet. But stand up, she did.

Though she’d had her moments of fear, she had not given up hope that someone would come looking for her—someone would rescue her.

And her faith and hope had paid off. In just the twinkling of an eye, everything had changed. She had gone from Prisoner of War to Hero of War. And she was headed home.

Let me ask you, today, and friend. As we open the Bible and turn to the Apostle Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians. How’s your hope? How’s your faith?

Do you feel like you’re in prison—a prisoner of war in the cosmic battle between Christ and Satan? Do you sometimes feel like Satan is jerking you around, moving you from place to, trying to keep you out of reach of rescue?

Have you begun to wonder whether God really cares? Do you feel like maybe you’ve been forgotten—abandoned? Just another casualty of war?

That’s the way the Thessalonians were feeling when Paul wrote to them.

They were brand new Christians, with little experience in spiritual battles. And Satan was doing everything he could to shake their faith.

The battle had begun just a few months earlier, when three Jewish travelers showed up in the Macedonian seaport known as Thessalonica. Today it’s known as Salonika, and it’s still a busy, bustling port on the east coast of Greece.

The three travelers hurried to the local synagogue and began to share some exciting news.

Standing in front of the synagogue, the group’s leader, Paul, began to give the assembled congregation a Bible study like they had never heard before. His topic: The coming of the Messiah.

When Paul preached about the Messiah, he used texts they had never heard applied in that way before—texts that pointed to the suffering servant who would bear the sins of the world upon Himself and die as the Lamb of God to bring forgiveness. And other texts that affirmed that, after dying as atonement for the sins of the world, the Messiah would rise again and return to heaven.

But the most exciting part of Paul’s message came when he revealed that the things predicted in Scripture had already come true. You can read the story in Acts 17.

After walking his listeners through the texts about the suffering, dying, and rising Messiah, Paul began to talk about a Man named Jesus who had recently lived in Israel. Then I can picture the apostle—up there in front of the synagogue—pausing for effect. . . . Waiting till every eye was fixed on him. . . . . Then making his announcement: “‘this is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you!’ ” (Acts 17:3, NRSV).

Imagine the shockwave that rippled through the meeting that day. Things would never be the same in Synagogue Thessalonica.

The congregation soon split into opposing factions. Some followed Paul, Silas, and Timothy the three out-of-town visitors, and continued to listen to them.

But there was another faction who vigorously opposed them. So vigorously in fact that before long they had incited a riot, leading a mob to attack the house where the Christian missionaries were staying, and dragging their host into court, claiming that he was harboring people who were breaking Roman law by proclaiming a king other than Caesar.

The civil disturbance was so serious that Paul and his companions were forced to leave town.

But they left behind them a brand new Christian congregation made up of those Jews who had accepted their message, plus many Gentiles who had given up worship of idols to become Christians.

Whatever their background, all had accepted the Good News about Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

And one more thing as well.

They had accepted the exciting news that Jesus was going to come back soon to take His children to heaven.

Their enthusiasm for the return of Jesus was so intense that whenever people thought of the Thessalonian church, that’s what came to mind. Paul told them that all over Macedonia and Greece people were talking about “how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10, NKJV). Paul assured them that He prayed for them that God would establish their hearts “blameless before our . . . Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13, NKJV).

The Thessalonians really looked forward to Jesus’ return.

But one thing troubled them. Paul’s time in their town was cut short, and he didn’t have time to explain everything to them, so when a crisis hit the church—in the form of the death of one or more members—the others were worried. Did this mean that those who had died wouldn’t get to go home with Jesus?

And do you know what? I’m glad they were worried about that. Because in response to their fears Paul wrote one of the most precious passages about the Second Coming in all of the New Testament. It’s so precious in fact that it is quoted at almost every Christian funeral to this day. Here it is, in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 “We wish you not to remain in ignorance, brothers, about those who sleep in death; you should not grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope” (NEB).

Don’t be hopeless, he says. Because your friends who have died haven’t lost out on the hope I told you about. Not at all. In fact when Christ returns “the dead in Christ will rise first!” Then, [after they’ve all been resurrected], 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 [all of us] shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, NKJV).

What wonderful reassurance that must have brought to that fledgling church in Thessalonica!

And let me tell you something more about them. They didn’t lose their focus on the Second Coming after Paul’s assurances. In fact, the book of Second Thessalonians is Paul’s response to another of their concerns. They’d heard rumors that maybe Jesus had already returned, and had left them behind! Paul wrote to them again, assuring them that such a thing couldn’t have happened without their knowing about it!

The Second Coming wouldn’t be something that would happen just off in a corner somewhere. For one thing it would be a very noisy event—seen and heard all over the world—as he’d described it in his first letter. Now in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 he reminded them that they could expect to see prophecies fulfilled, a final great conflict between the powers of good and evil, and final deception sweeping across the whole earth, before that day would come.

Don’t be discouraged, Paul wrote. You’ll definitely know it when Jesus comes! And you’ll be going home with Him!

I can imagine that Paul’s letters brought a great deal of comfort and joy to those brand new Christians in Thessalonica.

They can still bring comfort to Christians today. If we read them.

The books are also full of practical wisdom. 1 Thessalonians 1 is especially inspiring and enlightening for those of us who want to be successful good-news-spreaders like Paul. In verse 5, Paul writes “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 men we were among you for your sake” (NKJV).

In other words, Paul’s evangelistic method involved much more than just standing up in front of a congregation and preaching to them. When he came into their town, he lived right with the people. They were able to see who he really was—how he lived. How he responded to slights, to persecution, criticism. That he didn’t lord it over them as though he were someone special because he was a preacher. He lived right down among the people, working as a tentmaker to support himself. And he was able to say to them, Follow my example. “You became followers of us and of the Lord . . . so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe” (1 Thessalonians 1:6, 7, NKJV).

By setting a good example for the people, Paul was able to teach his converts to be exemplary Christians. How important this is. How essential for successful Christian ministry. True ministry involves a lot more than preaching the truth. It requires us to live the truth—as Jesus did. And as Paul did. They lived their lives as teachers—with the people—on their level—setting an example that even the humblest member could safely follow.

Friend, as you study through the Bible for yourself, as you read Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, try to put yourself in those early believers’ place. Rekindle in your own heart the all-important hope of the second coming of Jesus. And consider how Jesus would have you live among your neighbors and friends as an example of what it means tobelieve in Jesus. Give your life to Him anew—place your hope in Him anew—as we allwait for His return together.