Thesselonian Overniew
We are reading 2 books today! I am sure you paid attention that one of the towns Paul visited was Thessalonica. Paul founded a church there after a very brief visit on his second missionary journey. In the Macedonia area, this town was very large, second to Athens, with a population of about 200,000. Why was this town so crowded? Remember when I described several times the “Dispersion” (Diaspora) after the Jews were released from exile, well this area was very wealthy and rich in culture so many Jewish descendant migrated there rather than back to Jerusalem. However it seems the church was predominantly Gentile.
This is a time of great persecution to the believers. There were zealous Jews, and Roman authorities that would torture a believer in Christ. I remember hearing once a story in church about Christians were dipped in tar, tied to stakes and then lit on fire to light up the gardens in the Palaces. Professed believers in Christ risked being stoned, beat, crucified and tortured. Paul knew this well since he once sat on the council that voted FOR it. He now stood on the other side of the Cross.
This letter was to encourage the believers of Thessalonica AND to assure them of Christ’s return. Actually, Christ’s return will be mentioned over 20 times in just todays’ read. Paul gives us a way of living that will prepare us for the Second coming of Christ with exhortations and ends with benedictions and prayers.
We have a hope. Not we hope, we have A HOPE that Christ will come back and we as believers will spend an eternity in his presence.
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