The Thessalonians and Christ’s return

This is the fifth in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.

Paul faces uncertainty in his obedience to Christ. As he boldly takes the gospel to the Gentiles, he is imprisoned, beaten, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, heckled, mocked, opposed by Jewish zealots and pagan idolators alike, worried for the spiritual health of the churches he has planted, and forced to defend his apostleship against the rising tide of false teachers who have infiltrated the Christian community. 

Paul may not know what tomorrow brings, but he’s steadfast in his faith in Christ and stands certain of the Savior’s return. 

In the previous column, we looked at Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Here, we examine one key passage from the apostle’s two letters to the Thessalonians. 

While preaching Jesus as Messiah in Thessalonica, Paul is accused of proclaiming a king other than Caesar (Acts 17:7). Now, the young church in that city suffers persecution. But Paul cheers them on with the promise of a future hope that includes Christians who already have died. The apostle addresses Christ’s return in several places (1 Thess. 1:9-10; 2:19-20; 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:2, 23; 2 Thess. 2:1-3, 8).

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Satan: Tempter

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

In Homer’s Odyssey, the sirens are three mysterious women who live on an island. When ships pass, the sirens stand on the cliffs above and sing. Their hauntingly beautiful voices lure sailors to steer their vessels closer to shore until eventually they shipwreck on the rocky coast.

Odysseus is curious to hear the sirens’ songs as well, yet he knows the dangers. He orders his men to tie him to the ship’s mast as they approach the island. Then he instructs them to plug their own ears with beeswax. 

As expected, when Odysseus hears the sirens’ call, he demands to be untied, but his shipmates obey his earlier command and bind him more tightly to the mast. Finally, they release him when the sirens’ song is no longer heard.

This ancient myth illustrates how the powerful pull of temptation is common to all people. We know all too well the perils of flirting with danger. Temptation is common to every human being. It was well-known to Jesus. Yet, despite being tempted in every way common to humanity, he emerged unscathed (Heb. 4:15).

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When Jesus Returns, He Will Right Every Wrong

A while back, Benjamin Hawkins, editor of The Pathway, interviewed me about What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus. You can read the entire interview here. Excerpts are posted below.

Ben: You’ve written several books in recent years, covering a wide range of topics from Satan and the Trinity, to the afterlife, same-sex attraction and Islam, as well as other topics. What has been your goal in producing these books?

Rob: My goal for each book has been to provide a biblically faithful, readable, and relevant resource for Missouri Baptists to use in personal or group study. I’m very grateful to our executive director, Dr. John Yeats, for helping establish High Street Press, the publishing imprint of the MBC. He is a champion of our churches and greatly wants to see biblical literacy grow in all our congregations.

Ben: Which of these books have impacted you most deeply on a personal level? Why?

Rob: I would say What Every Christian Should Know About Satan has had the most profound personal impact on me. Over the months of study and writing about the evil one’s different names and titles, I became more aware of his subtle attacks on me and on other followers of Jesus. 

Satan prefers a surgical knife to a bludgeon, and in tiny increments he keeps God’s people from enjoying their walk with Christ and from being fruitful citizens of his kingdom. For unbelievers, on the other hand, Satan blinds them to the truth of the gospel and thus keeps them bound in his realm of darkness. 

While there is much to fear from the evil one, we may be confident that Christ conquered him through his death, burial, and resurrection. Satan is a prowling lion, as the apostle Peter writes (1 Pet. 5:8), but he’s a lion on a leash, and his days are numbered. For this reason, we should not ascribe to him more power than he’s due, nor carelessly think he has no ability to do us great harm.

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Satan: Murderer by proxy

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

As a general observation, Satan does not appear to murder directly, although he could – with God’s permission. Rather, the evil one carries out his murderous pursuits through various agents. We might say the evil one commits murder by proxy. 

A few examples: When God permits Satan to test Job, the evil one uses the Sabeans and Chaldeans to kill Job’s stock, as well as some of Job’s servants (Job 1:15, 17). Satan then employs fire from heaven and a great whirlwind to kill more of Job’s servants and all of his children (Job 1:16, 18-19). He incites David to take a census of Israel, resulting in the deaths of many people (2 Sam. 24; 1 Chron. 21). He uses Roman and Jewish authorities, along with a back-stabbing apostle, to bring about the death of Jesus (Luke 22:3; John 13:2, 27). And he fills the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie against the Holy Spirit, resulting in their deaths (Acts 5:1-11). 

And there’s more.

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What have we done with the Christmas story?

Christians love to hear and tell the traditional Christmas story. The birth of Jesus includes Mary and Joseph seeking shelter on a winter night, no room in the inn, a baby born in a stable, and angels visiting lowly shepherds nearby.

But our modern telling of the account in Luke 2:1-20 embraces critical flaws, according to Kenneth E. Bailey, who spent 40 years teaching the New Testament in the Middle East and who authored Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels.

According to Bailey, a careful reading of the text, along with an understanding of Jewish culture, illuminate five biblical truths that challenge our Westernized version of the Christmas story:
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