Look at the Book

The blessed hope for which we wait is not a secret rapture, but the terrible, awful, and glorious event of Christ’s return.

To avoid being influenced by false teachings about the second coming, the apostle Paul calls for careful thinking.

What does it mean when the Bible says that Jesus will come “like a thief in the night”?

The glory of Christ shines through every resolve for good and work of faith because he empowers them according to his grace.

Every good work in the Christian life is rooted in the grace of God, empowered by the person of God, and designed for the glory of God.

God ordains that his people are made worthy of his calling through the faithful prayers of his people.

The goal of all creation and redemption is fulfilled when Christ is glorified in his saints and his saints marvel at his glory.

You were made to see the glory of God in Christ and to be with him forever. This is what the damned will lose.

God is glorious and God is just. These realities ought to guide our thinking about hell, not our limited ideas of what seems fair.

Those who do not know God are those who suppress the knowledge of him. So do you know him?

When Jesus returns, he will give relief to those who obey the gospel and wreak vengeance on those who do not.

When Christ returns with his mighty angels, he will exercise full justice, repaying the afflicters with affliction and the afflicted with relief.

God’s work to provide relief for his afflicted people is not only a matter of his mercy, but of his justice.

The mystery of the kingdom of God is that it’s already here and yet it’s still coming.

God uses afflictions to transform his church and thus make her fit for the kingdom of heaven.

Witnessing growing faith and love should result in exultation to God and exultation to one another about God.

Faith and love (and growth in each) are the gifts of God, and therefore it is fitting that we thank him for both.

God’s grace does more than secure our pardon; it empowers us to walk in the good works he has prepared for us to do.

To be in God means to have all the immeasurably great benefits of his electing and keeping love.

The church is not the building Christians worship in. It is the people whom God has called to himself through the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have much of our New Testament because of Paul’s relational, spiritual, and theological vigilance on behalf of the churches he planted.

The New Testament does not convey the mere opinions of men but the very words the risen Christ wanted his church to hear.

First Thessalonians is a letter that affirms the election of the saints and calls them to live holy lives as they anticipate the longed-for return of Christ.

The apostle Paul made himself clear that the entire church needed to read this letter.

The command to greet one another with a holy kiss is a call to grow in expressions of true, holy, familial affection in the church.

The prayers of ordinary Christians are the means God uses to cause his word to run and be exalted in the world.

What is the connection between God’s effectual calling of believers and his constant keeping of believers? His faithfulness.

By faith we are reconciled to God, and by faith we pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Paul sometimes describes humans as body and soul, sometimes as body, soul, and spirit. What does man consist of?

One way to quench the Spirit is to have a cynical attitude towards spiritual gifts that he gives to the church.

While it may seem that sorrow and joy are exclusive, there is a pervasive joy and a pervasive thankfulness that is available in every circumstance.

How can Christians always rejoice, give thanks, pray, and do good towards others? By resting in God’s goodness towards them in Christ.

The strength to do good towards all, even our enemies, comes from an unshakeable hope in the reward God has promised.

Patience with others comes through trusting in the providence of God to turn every detour into a pathway to something better.

The call to serving others in the church — admonishing, encouraging, and helping them — is not a call to misery. It’s a call to joy.

We must never belittle or overlook the fact that God employs human means to strengthen his church.

Christian idleness is unloving to outsiders because it sets a bad example. It is unloving to insiders because it adds to their burdens.

Love looks on those who are doing the work of God with high esteem, and on those who are sinning with a longing to see them honor God.

Because God loves the church, he has provided a leadership made up of elders and deacons.

In a healthy church, the elders labor, exercise authority, and admonish the members, and the members respect and esteem the elders.

First Thessalonians 5:6–11 is a gravestone text. It reminds believers that wrath is not their destiny, but unending life with Christ.

Drunk people make bad soldiers and sleepy people make poor watchmen. That is why we need to remain spiritually awake and sober.

Power for Christian obedience lies in being reminded of our new identity in God. Who we are grounds what we ought to do.

What does it mean that saints are sons of light? It means that spiritual light shines in our loves, our wills, and our works.

What is the day of the Lord? And how does this day relate to the arrival of the kingdom of God?

What does Paul mean when he says that the last day “will come like a thief in the night”? And how do we remain ready?

Whether we will be alive when Christ returns is not for us to know. Rather, we ought to focus on living faithfully in the present age.

Does the Bible teach that believers still on earth will experience a rapture when Jesus returns?

The dead in Christ are not going to miss out on the spectacular return of Jesus to earth. All the saints will participate in this event together.

The promise of the resurrection doesn’t minimize grief, but it does provide a ballast so Christians can grieve with hope.