Thessalonians—Thorn, Thistle, and Throne

God’s people have always been persecuted by those outside the covenant. And the Thessalonian church was under active persecution that resulted in the suffering and death of some church members. Paul told them that their persecution was proof of their faithfulness. In addition, they did not need to worry about those who had died in the persecution. They were secure in Christ because of Christ’s faithfulness to persevere His people. Paul wasn’t concerned about them, he was writing to those who were still in Thessalonica in the meantime. What should they be doing? How should they live in Christ?

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian church was probably the first Christian letter he wrote, and the earliest book of the New Testament. It was Paul’s first effort to write about what he believed. And the Thessalonian church was actively being persecuted when he wrote it. Some of the Thessalonian Christians had lost their lives during that persecution. In fact, Paul himself had to flee for his life from Thessalonica during one of his visits. The situation there did not lend itself to calm, rational discussion of the issues, but rather fueled inflamed and exaggerated language—hyperbole, or as biblical scholars call it: apocalypticlanguage.

The Bible is no stranger to apocalyptic language. And because the New Testament is a response to the Old Testament, familiarity with Old Testament forms, styles, and stories is required, not optional. Approaching the New Testament without being grounded in the Old Testament is a recipe for misunderstanding. Both the context and the content of apocalyptic literature are full of conflict, catastrophe, persecution, and judgment.
The most fundamental issue of the Bible is as applicable today as it has ever been. The problem of sin and the hope for redemption remain in the bosom of everyone alive today. This is the eternal hope that fuels apocalyptic literature and end-times scenarios and prophecies in every age. Our world today is not only not an exception to this, but apocalyptic language and concerns dominate the twenty-first century, mostly in the form that we know as global warming, the fear that humanity is the cause of an impending catastrophic climate change on one side, and Dispensationalism in the churches on the other.