Monday, March 16, 2015
Chronological New Testament Study Day 58
2 Thessalonians 1; 2 Thessalonians 2; 2 Thessalonians 3; 1 Thessalonians
1; 1 Thessalonians 2; 1 Thessalonians 3; 1 Thessalonians 4; 1 Thessalonians 5
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the
Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace
and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We
ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith
is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is
increasing. 4 Therefore, among God's churches we boast about
your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are
enduring. 5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right,
and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you
are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to
those who trouble you 7and 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. 8 He will punish those
who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They
will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of
the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 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. 11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that
our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may
fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12 We
pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you
in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become
easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have
come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don't
let anyone deceive you in any way, for [that day will not come] until the
rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over
everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in
God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don't you
remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And
now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper
time. 7 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. 8 And then 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. 9 The coming of the lawless one
will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of
counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort
of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused
to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God
sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and
so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have
delighted in wickedness. 13 But we ought always to thank God
for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you
to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in
the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that
you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So
then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you,
whether by word of mouth or by letter. 16 May our Lord Jesus
Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us
eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts
and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
1 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the
Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 And
pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has
faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and
protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the
Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5 May
the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. 6 In
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from
every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you
received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to
follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor
did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked
night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of
you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to
such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10 For
even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not
work, he shall not eat." 11 We hear that some among you are
idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people
we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread
they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing
what is right. 14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in
this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that
he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but
warn him as a brother. 16 Now may the Lord of peace himself
give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.17 I,
Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in
all my letters. This is how I write. 18 The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all.
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the
Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to
you. 2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in
our prayers. 3We continually remember before our God and Father
your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance
inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know,
brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our
gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy
Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You
became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you
welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And
so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The
Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith
in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything
about it, 9for they themselves report what kind of reception you
gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
1 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a
failure. 2 We had previously suffered and been insulted in
Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his
gospel in spite of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make
does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On
the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.
We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You
know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is
our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from men, not
from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to
you, 7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for
her little children. 8 We loved you so much that we were
delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well,
because you had become so dear to us. 9 Surely you remember,
brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a
burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10You
are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were
among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with
each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12encouraging,
comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his
kingdom and glory. 13 And we also thank God continually
because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you
accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God,
which is at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers,
became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You
suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from
the Jews, 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and
also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 16 in
their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be
saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of
God has come upon them at last. 17 But, brothers, when we were
torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our
intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we
wanted to come to you--certainly I, Paul, did, again and again--but Satan
stopped us. 19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in
which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not
you? 20Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to
be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our
brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to
strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one
would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined
for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling
you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For
this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your
faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our
efforts might have been useless. 6 But Timothy has just now
come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has
told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see
us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers, in
all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your
faith. 8For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the
Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all
the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night
and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is
lacking in your faith. 11 Now may our God and Father himself
and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May
the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone
else, just as ours does for you.13 May he strengthen your hearts so
that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when
our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order
to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the
Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what
instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It
is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual
immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own
body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate
lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this
matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will
punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For
God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore,
he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his
Holy Spirit. 9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to
write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And
in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you,
brothers, to do so more and more. 11 Make it your ambition to
lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just
as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect
of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.13 Brothers,
we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve
like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that
Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus
those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the
Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the
coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore
encourage each other with these words.
1 Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to
write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the
Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are
saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly,
as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.4 But
you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a
thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We
do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let
us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7 For
those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But
since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and
love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For
God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are
awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore
encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 12 Now
we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over
you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the
highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.14 And
we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the
weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays
back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone
else. 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do
not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with
contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid
every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace,
sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one
who calls you is faithful and he will do it. 25 Brothers, pray
for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I
charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Revelation 4
Revelation 4 (New International Version, ©2010)
Revelation 4
The Throne in Heaven
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,'[b] who was, and is, and is to come."
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Revelation 4
The Throne in Heaven
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,'[b] who was, and is, and is to come."
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
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