8. Expectations, Present and Future

LONNIE: Welcome to Exploring the Word. Thanks for joining us as we dig deeper into the riches of the Bible. Today we’re going to focus on a spectacular event in the future. But not everyone sees it in the same way, right Jeannie?

JEANNIE: Right, the event is the second coming of Christ. And some people look at that with quite a bit of skepticism. One of the things that many people wander about goes something like this:

“Isn’t this idea of the Second Coming sort of an escape from reality? A last resort? Should people really spend their lives waiting for this kind of rescue from the sky? Why is the Second Coming called a ‘blessed hope’”?

LONNIE: In other words, is this a healthy kind of hope? Is that what he’s asking?

JEANNIE: I think people like this are basically concerned about living life in the present versus waiting for your life to start someday.

LONNIE: So how does a belief in Christ’s return to this earth relate to living now?

JEANNIE: Right.

LONNIE: Well let’s get some perspective on that question. And the homework assignment we gave should help. Did you read Paul’s two letters to the Thessalonians? We hope you were able to pick up clues about how Paul regarded that event. Let’s look at them right now.

Is the Second Coming a “blessed hope,” or is it a delusion? Does it make our day-to-day life better, or is it just a refuge for people who’ve given up on life here on earth?

Tough questions. They go to the heart of how a Christian lives in the world.

Well, I’ve been studying one place in the Bible that really zeroes in on this subject. I’ve been impressed by the answers that are packed into two short letters, the epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians.

First and Second Thessalonians don’t just tell us what waiting for Christ to return means; they show us how to wait in a healthy way. They embody a remarkable spirit, a special perspective, that I think every human being would love to have.

Paul wrote to believers in Thessalonica around A.D. 51 from the city of Corinth.

Thessalonica was a bustling seaport on the Aegean Sea, an important trade center. With a population of 200,000 it was the largest city in Macedonia---what is now Greece. I’ve visited the site and I think the turquoise water in that bay of Thessalonica is the most beautiful in the world.

Paul had visited the city and preached in its synagogue, causing a big stir. Quite a few Jews and Greeks accepted the gospel. But other opponents formed a mob and Paul had to flee for his life.

These letters were written to encourage a young church which had experienced persecution. First and Second Thessalonians are called the eschatological letters of Paul because they focus on Christ’s second coming.

But, as we’re going to see, they do so in a unique way, a way that turned the world upside down.

The letters to the Thessalonians are the very earliest surviving documents of a movement that changed the course of history. Only the letter to the Galatians may have been penned earlier. They give us glimpses of what life was like at the center of a spiritual revolution.

And do you know what we find? A whole bunch of love and joy. Let’s take a look at how each one of these letters begin. 1 Thessalonians 1:2,3:

“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Paul is excited about what’s happening in the lives of these believers. He’s talking about the quality of their life, the quality of their faith, love and hope.

Now turn to 2 Thessalonians. How does Paul open this letter? 2 Thessalonians 1:3:

“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.”

Every time I think of you, I just have to thank God. That’s a pretty wonderful thing to say, isn’t it? What if someone told you, “I can see your love is just growing by leaps and bounds.” I think that would mean your life was pretty good, right?

This is what you’ll find through the letters to the Thessalonians: generous helpings of love & joy and encouragement.

Does this sound like people with their lives on hold? Does this sound like people who’ve given up on life in this world? I don’t think so.

Paul is affirming good things about the present lives of the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians verse nine he affirms the fact that they have turned from idols to serve the living God, and, verse 10:

“. . .to wait for His Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thess. 1:10

The Thessalonians were waiting for a resurrected Christ, One who conquered death, One who delivers from wrath. This was a very positive expectation. You don’t sense any fear here.

Now move to chapter two, verses 19 and 20. This is beautiful:

“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.” 1 Thess. 2:19,20

Paul is just bursting with great expectations, great expectations about people who are precious to him. They are his pride and joy now, and he is confident that they will be his pride and joy in the presence of Christ at His coming.

This brings us to the first great principle we discover about the Second Coming in Thessalonians. It’s a positive expectation about the future—based on positive expectations in the present. Positive expectation—present & future.

In other words, there’s a lot of love and joy now; there’s going to be a lot of love and joy in the future.

This is the complete opposite of individuals who constantly picture bright mansions in heaven because their home life is so miserable now, people who keep talking about streets of gold someday because the quality of their life is so impoverished today.

The hope we feel brimming up in these letters to the Thessalonians is a hope based on what God is doing in their lives right now.
You sense that among individuals who share their hope in the Second Coming today.

Now let’s move to the second great principle we find in these joyful epistles. Each chapter in 1 Thessalonians actually ends with a reference to the Second Coming. Here is the reference in chapter four, verses 16-18. Paul is answering a question about believers who have died, who have, as he says, fallen 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.” 1 Thess. 4:16-18

Notice one thing here. This is a very real event for Paul. It’s not just something he imagines may happen. It’s not something hazy way off in the future. No, Paul can hear the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God. Paul can see Jesus Himself descending in the clouds. He can see believers rising to meet Christ.

In other words, this is a very specific expectation.

Many people in our world today have only a vague expectation about life beyond the grave, about the fate of their lost loved ones. People hope there’s some kind of better world somewhere. People pray there’s a light of some kind at the end of the tunnel.

Well friends, there’s a big difference between specific expectations and vague expectations. It’s like the difference between $100,000 in the bank and, “Hey, I’ve got some land in Florida…”

When the future is clear, when the future is in focus, we don’t have to keep guessing about it, we don’t have to keep hoping against hope. Sometimes people invest so much time fretting about the next world, instead of living in this world, precisely because the next world is so hazy. They keep trying to get a clear picture.

Paul pictures a very specific scene, a very specific hope—the second coming of Jesus Christ, a spectacular event which every eye will see.

And again, this specific expectation about the future was based on specific things in the present. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:5:

“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. . .”

In other words, the gospel you accepted isn’t just a nice theory. It’s not just words. It does things; specific things. It comes with power. It performs miracles. It changes lives. The Holy Spirit creates all this love and joy.

And so, these present miracles enable us to believe in a future miracle.

Specific expectation – present & future

The wonderful, specific things God is doing in the present set us up for God’s specific invasion of human history in the future.

OK, let’s move to the final principle we find in Thessalonians about waiting in hope—and living in the present.

Paul gives his friends a special challenge in chapter two of 1 Thessalonians. Look at verse 11. He is charging each one of them “as a father does his own children.” Charging them, verse 12:

“. . . that you would have a walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”

Paul urges the Thessalonians to “walk worthy,” to live worthy of the God who calls them into a glorious kingdom. The same challenge is echoed in 2 Thessalonians 1:11:

“Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness . . .”

Worthy of this calling, this high calling.

In other words, Paul is saying, “If you’re headed toward heaven, live lives touched by heaven. Live lives that express the grace of God’s kingdom. Live lives that express the love and joy in God’s kingdom. Live lives that reflect a holy God.”

Here in these letters you can see that the hope of Christ’s return is an inspiring expectation.

That is, it inspires us to live better lives, nobler lives, purer lives.

The fact is, people live like where they’re headed. Have you ever seen a car full of guys headed to a football game? Pretty noisy, aren’t they? Pretty rowdy—even if other people on the road are very subdued. Well that’s where they’re headed---to a noisy, rowdy football stadium.

Have you seen people on the way to the opera or the symphony? Pretty composed group, right? They’re dressed a certain way. They tend to behave in a certain polite, dignified way---even if people around them are rowdy. They behave like where they’re headed.

So, Thessalonians points out, heading toward a glorious destination should lift our spirits. It should inspire us to aim a little higher, to walk with clearer purpose.

Interestingly enough, Paul urged his friends, the Thessalonians, to lead quiet, productive lives—in view of Christ’s soon return. He recommended good, honest work. The nearness of Christ’s return doesn’t bring life to a standstill. It’s supposed to inspire us, inspire us to accomplish something, inspire us to be useful, inspire us to reflect God’s qualities.

And again, it’s about the present and the future. We’re inspired about a future, glorious life with God, because God energizes us to be productive in the present.

Why is the second coming of Christ called the “blessed hope” in the New Testament? These letters to the Thessalonians show us the answer. We live best when we live in positive expectation, confident about God’s grace now and in the future.

We live best with specific expectations, with a clear picture of what is to come.

And we live best with inspiring expectations, challenged to live like where we’re going.

JEANNIE: You know Lonnie, my picture of the Second Coming has changed through the years. I have to admit it used to be a pretty scary thing to think about.

LONNIE: I had those same fears when I was a kid. You never thought you were quite ready for the big event.

JEANNIE: But now it’s just this spectacular welcome home I look forward to.

A few years back I attended a Presidential inauguration in Washington with my sister. And that evening we witnessed the most spectacular display of fireworks I've ever seen. We were standing on the Mall between the Capitol building and the Washington Monument. The skies just lit up everywhere we looked. Every scene looked like the grand finale, but it just kept going for half an hour.

Well, I really got choked up. But it was thinking about something bigger than an inauguration. I said to my sister, "It looks like Jesus is coming back for us!" It was overwhelming joy to gaze up at that sky and realize that was only a fraction of what it will be like when Jesus really does come back.

LONNIE: What decision should you make in the light of that spectacular coming event, in the light of Thessalonians? Let me share some rather sobering words that Paul shares, again, with the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2, Paul writes that,

“. . . the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.”

In other words, the Second Coming is going to surprise a lot of people, shock a lot of people. They’re just not at all ready for the sky to open up and the trumpet to sound and Jesus Christ to descend in glory.

It doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t have to be that way for any of us. Look down a few verses. Verses four and five:

“But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day.” 1 Thess. 5:4,5

Jesus comes as a thief, only if you’re in the dark, that is, only if you’re hiding. If you’re shutting your eyes, instead of looking up, it’s a big surprise. If you’re asleep, that is if you’re spiritually asleep, then, yes, Christ’s return is quite a wake up call.

But then, it’s too late to wake up. Too late to get a life—in Jesus Christ.

Children of light have a destiny: salvation in Jesus Christ. We don't keep a sharp lookout because God is trying to sneak up on us. No, we’re alert, we’re expectant, because we’re confident of our destiny. It’s a friend who’s coming. It’s the One who gave up His life for us who’s coming. He is coming to claim what he purchased at such great cost.

There is great comfort in this bright hope. We can encourage one another with this great expectation. We can find peace in knowing---this is where history is headed. This is where my life is headed.

So let’s wake up. Let’s get a life. I believe you want to be a child of light, a child of the day, someone who lives with great expectations. You can be part of a kingdom of grace—in the present and in the future. You can be part of a kingdom of heaven—in the present and in the future. You can rejoice and exult in great expectations.

So I invite you to make a decision right now—to start looking up, to live with positive expectations, inspiring expectations. I invite you to take to heart the promise of a Christ who’s coming back for you. I invite you to be part of the most glorious event this world has ever seen. Let’s pray.

Dear Father, thank you for the joy and love that flows out from these early Christian letters. We open ourselves right now to this spirit of love and joy and thankfulness. We open ourselves to Christ’s Spirit. And we take the “blessed hope” into our hearts right now. We affirm by faith that the second coming of Jesus Christ is the biggest event on the horizon. It’s where we’re headed. And we want to live like where we’re headed. In the name of Jesus, amen.

JEANNIE: Let’s talk just a moment about our next program and our homework assignment.

LONNIE: We’d like you to look over the last two chapters in the Bible, Revelation 21 and 22. And as you read, we’d like you to jot down something. Write down what you learn about heaven from these chapters. What’s life going to be like there? Look for specific clues.

JEANNIE: Remember, Revelation 21 and 22 for our next program, the last two chapters of the Bible.

LONNIE: Until next week, God bless you and yours. And remember, never stop exploring the Word.