The Model Life: Anticipation, Part 1

Take your Bible, if you would, please, and turn to the fourth chapter of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

And as you're turning there, I want to remind you of the words of the wisest man who ever lived. His name is King Solomon. And under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he wrote these words in Ecclesiastes 7, verse number 8, where he said, the end of a matter is better than its beginning. The end of a matter is better than its beginning. That's what Solomon says, and he's right. And Paul would explain that in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 to 18. Why? Because it's all about the coming of Christ, the second coming of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13 reads as follows. Paul says these words. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest of those who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Paul tells us that the end of a matter is better than its beginning. Because those are the words of Solomon and they are true. In other words, the revelation of Jesus is better than the creation of Jesus. The creation was in Genesis chapter 1. But the end of the matter is better than its beginning.

Because one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That is very important. But Paul was looking to comfort the Thessalonians. That's also important. Why? Because he picks up on the promise of Christ in John 14. When the disciples were in despair and they needed comfort on the eve of the crucifixion. What is it that Jesus did? He said in verse number 1 of John 14. Let not your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in me.

For in my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. And I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will receive you unto myself. That where I am there you may be also. Those are the words of comfort that Christ gave to his men on the eve of the crucifixion. Because the blessed hope of the believer is wrapped up in the return of the King. His coming again. In fact, it is so important to realize this. That the Bible speaks voluminously about the coming of the Messiah.

Specifically, the second coming of the Messiah. The unfortunate thing is, is that we don't really believe that the end of the matter is better than its beginning. If so, we would be wrapped up in living in anticipation of his arrival. You see, Paul is trying to describe to us the model life. He's already said that the model life is one of abstinence. That's in verses 1 to 8 of chapter 4. Number 2, the model life is the life of aspiration. Loving abundantly, living appropriately. That's in verses 9 to 12.

And now he says, the third quality of the model life that exemplifies Christ is the life of anticipation.

A life of expectation. Living in anticipation of the coming of Christ. That's the model life. Because the end of the matter is better than its beginning. And the coming of Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 to 18. The translation of the church into glory is the beginning of the end. That's very important to understand that. Unfortunately, most people don't. Most people don't live in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. Most people don't live looking for their blessed hope. Most people don't live looking for that day where this mortal body will become immortal.

This perishable body will become imperishable. Most people don't look forward to the completion of their salvation. Paul says in Romans chapter 11. I'm sorry, Romans chapter 13, verse 11 says. He says this, do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. What does that mean? How can my salvation be nearer to me than when I first believed?

That's because when you were saved, you were set apart under God. You were justified by God. And you live a life of sanctification until the coming of God again. And then you will be glorified. The glorification of your body is the completion of your salvation. That's why we live in anticipation of that day. But the tragedy is that most people don't live in anticipation. Most people don't look forward to the coming of the Messiah. But that is the model life. A life of anticipation. So let me be so bold as to say that the cardinal truth of Christianity is the second coming of the Messiah.

That is the cardinal truth of Christianity. In fact, it is the ultimate truth of Christianity. Why? Because everything is moving toward that end. The end of the matter is better than its beginning. King Solomon knew that. In fact, you could argue... In fact, I would argue this. That the most important doctrine of all the doctrines is the doctrine of eschatology. That is the most important doctrine. It's more important than soteriology. More important than pneumatology, anthropology, hamartiology, ecclesiology, theology.

It's eschatology, the study of end times. It is the most important doctrine. Why? Listen carefully. Because the end of the story is the whole reason for the story. You get that right? The end of the story is the whole reason there is a story. And the end of it climaxes with the arrival of the Messiah. When He comes again, receives His own unto Himself. He comes in judgment. He judges the ungodly. He sets up His kingdom. He rules and reigns for a thousand years. Then He destroys this present heaven and this present earth.

And creates a new heaven and a new earth. And so shall we ever be with the Lord in perfect bliss and harmony. The whole reason for the story is the end of the story. Solomon got it right. That's why he's the wisest man who ever lived. The end of the story or the end of a matter is better than the beginning of the matter. But isn't it interesting that Paul begins this way. Brethren, we do not want you to be ignorant. Or as your text says, if you have the New American Standard, unaware. If you've got the King James, it's ignorant.

We don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. And isn't it really interesting that every time the Bible says, We do not want you to be ignorant.

Or I do not want you to be unaware. Those are the specific areas in which we as the church are the most ignorant and the most unaware. Think about it. The second coming of the Messiah.

We are most ignorant about eschatology, last things, end times. And Paul says, I don't want you to fall in that category. I don't want you to be unaware. I don't want you to be ignorant about these things. That's so important. A number of years ago, a guy came to me and said, Hey, you know what, Pastor? I don't believe in the rapture of the church. I said, you don't? He says, no. I said, okay, tell me why you don't believe in the rapture of the church. He says, I don't believe in the rapture of the church because the word rapture is not in the Bible.

I said, okay. If you're going to reason that way, then I would surmise that you don't believe in the Trinity either. He says, well, what do you mean? Well, the word Trinity is not in the Bible. Do you not believe in the triune nature of God, that God is one manifested himself in three persons? He goes, well, of course I believe that. But I said, the word Trinity is not in the Bible. So how can you believe if the word's not there? He says, well, the concept of the triune nature of God is there. I said, oh, that's very interesting.

I said, but by your belief, I would assume that you don't believe in the Bible either. He says, of course I believe in the Bible. I said, no, you don't, because the word Bible is not in the Bible. So you must not believe in the Bible. He says, oh, come on. I said, so I took him to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13. Oh, by the way, before he said that, I said, how did you come to this conclusion? He said, I read a book. I said, you read a book. I said, can I tell you what the wisest man who ever lived said about reading a book?

He said, yeah. So I took him, of course, to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verse 12. Solomon says, be warned. The writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. I said, that's what I think about you reading the book. You can read a lot of books. But if you don't read the Bible, if you don't understand the true wisdom of God that only comes through the Scriptures, I'm not against reading books. I've got a lot of books. Have you ever been to my office?

I have thousands of books in my office. I'm not against reading books. But you must have the wisdom of God. That's why Solomon goes on to say, you've got to fear God and keep His commandments. You've got to live in the fear of God all day long, and you've got to know what He says to keep His commandments. So I took him to Ephesians, chapter 4, the text that we're reading today. And I read to him verse number 17. It says, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds.

That word caught up is the word harpazo. I said, do you know what harpazo means? He said, no, I don't. I said it means an irresistible act, a violent snatching. That's what it means. Now if you read the Latin Vulgate, it has the word rapturo in it, where we get our English word rape, which is a violent act. Interesting, isn't it? But it means caught up, harpazo. Now think about this. It's also used in Matthew 11 to speak about how people are forcing their way into the kingdom, an act of violence to get into the kingdom.

It's spoken of in John 10 about how the thief comes and snatches away, the wolf comes and snatches away the sheep. Or John 10, where it talks about how no one can snatch you out of the Father's hand. It speaks to the eternal security of the believer. It's also used in Acts 8 to speak of Philip, who was snatched away, caught up from the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch to land in Caesarea there on the Mediterranean Sea. It's also used in 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul was harpazo. He was caught up to the third heavens.

He was violently snatched away from the earth up into the heavens. There's something unique about the snatching away of the church. And so I said to him, do you know there are three passages that speak about this? He said, no. I said, well, there's 1 Thessalonians 4, there's John 14, and there's 1 Corinthians 15. Those three chapters deal with the catching away or the snatching away of the church. And notice, there is no judgment in those three passages.

None. No judgment of God. But at the revelation of Christ, when He comes a second time at the end of the tribulation, Matthew 24, Matthew 25, Matthew 13, 2 Thessalonians 1, Revelation 19, when He comes, He comes in judgment.

Because there's a unique difference between the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, and the day of God. He said, I didn't know there were three of those in the Bible. I said, there is. There's a day of the Lord, there's a day of Christ, and there's a day of God. The day of the Lord, 19 times in the Old Testament, 6 times in the New Testament, the day of the Lord speaks of the judgment of God upon the ungodly. The day of Christ speaks about the blessing of God upon the godly. And the day of God speaks of eternity because God has it all under control.

It's in 2 Peter 3. But you must decipher between the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, and the day of God. I said, so the concept is uniquely there because in three passages, all dealing with the catching away of the church, when we change in 1 Corinthians 15, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, I said, there is no judgment in any of those. Why? Because the saints are taking in the glory. But when Jesus comes down to the earth, there's judgment. In the passages that speak about that, all center around the judgment of God upon the ungodly.

And there's a unique difference between them. Now listen. Why do I tell you that? Because for the most part, we are unaware, and we are ignorant about things surrounding the second coming of Christ.

For instance, we know that 1 Thessalonians 4 gives us the plan of His return. John 14 gives us the promise of His return. And 1 Corinthians 15 gives us the particulars of His return. And there's no judgment in there because He comes back to take His own home to be with Him. And then there's a saying in Revelation 19 called the marriage supper of the Lamb, because that takes place in glory as the bride is presented to the Father. In Revelation 19, we come back with Him because the bride now has to be presented to the world.

If you understand Jewish weddings, you understand the coming of the Messiah, which is very important to understanding eschatology. Listen, if you get Israel wrong, you get the end wrong. If you get Israel right, you get the end right. If you get Israel right, the end is clear and non-confusing. If you get Israel wrong, the end is all muddled, and you got to do spiritual gymnastics around all kinds of texts to come up with your doctrine. So if you get Israel right because Israelology determines your eschatology, you need to get Israel right, because if you don't, you'll never get the end right.

That's why Paul says, do not be ignorant, brethren, about those who have fallen asleep. Why? Because there's coming a day when Christ is going to come back. He's going to receive you to Himself. Isn't it interesting that he says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 1, brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts, but are we not the most ignorant and unaware of spiritual gifts? How do we know that? Well, we know that because, first of all, none of us, or very few people, know where they're found in the Bible.

And then once you know where they're found, you can't define them. And once you can define them, can you distinguish between the speaking gifts, the serving gifts, the sign gifts, right, and the spiritually gifted men who are given to the church? Can you discern between those? And if you can, and you know that you have a gift, are you using and serving your gift in the local body as we speak? Because if you're not, you are ignorant about spiritual gifts. You are unaware of spiritual gifts. Because, you see, if you're not using the gift that God gave you, you're living in disobedience to God.

And that's a sin. You understand that. But yet we find ourselves ignorant of the second coming, ignorant of spiritual gifts.

Oh, by the way, Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 10, verse number 1, Brethren, I don't want you to be unaware or ignorant about the sins of Israel. But you know what? We find ourselves very ignorant about the sins of Israel. How do we know that? Because he talks about their idolatry, their immorality, and then he talks about how they grumbled and mumbled and complained and murmured, and God killed 14,700 of them. If we weren't ignorant about the sins of Israel, guess what? We'd stop murmuring. We'd stop complaining.

We'd stop bellyaching because we knew that God was serious about people who do that. Very important. Paul would go on and say in 2 Corinthians 8, Do not be ignorant of the sufferings of Paul. Right? The sufferings of Paul. Why? Because when you suffer and you go through hardship, if you know what Paul did, how Paul handled it, then you're able to handle your suffering and your hardship, your difficulty, and your pain. Paul would go on to say in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 11, Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant about Satan's devices.

But are we not ignorant about Satan's devices? How he causes discord, how he causes disruption, how he causes disunity, how he causes disbelief, how he causes destruction in families, how he sets out to destroy our testimony. We find ourselves very ignorant of Satan's devices, and that's unfortunate. And then he goes on to say in Romans 1, verse 13, I don't want you to be ignorant about the stimulus for preaching the gospel. Why? Because you need to preach the gospel. Listen, if we were not ignorant about the stimulus for preaching the gospel, every one of us would be involved in preaching the gospel every single day of our lives.

But because we're not, we can say we are unaware and we are ignorant of the stimulus for preaching the gospel. And then lastly, he says in Romans 11, Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant about the salvation of Israel. So important. But a lot of people are. That Israel is God's elect, and God's going to save that nation. Zachariah chapter 12. And Paul says, you know, so many times we are ignorant about the salvation of Israel, but you can't afford to be. Why? Because the end of the matter is better than its beginning.

And how you interpret who Israel is and what Israel does determines how you interpret the end times. That is so incredibly important. So, having said that, turn me to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. In Acts chapter 1, Jesus has just risen from the dead. And spent the last 40 days talking to his disciples about things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Now I want you to think about this. You're on the Mount of Olives. You're with Jesus. Not for a 40 minute sermon. Not for 40 hours. You're with him for 40 days.

That's a lot of hours. And Jesus is only going to talk to you about one thing. What? The end of the matter is better than its beginning. So I'm going to talk to you about the coming kingdom of God. 40 days. And you sat and you listened. And you heard. And you listened intently. And if you were a real super Christian, you took copious notes. And you made sure that you wrote down everything Jesus said. Right? And so you're all excited about it. And then when it's all said and done, the disciples have one question.

Only one. They don't have many. Just one question. So if you were with Jesus for 40 days, and all he did was talk to you about the coming kingdom of God, what would be the one question you would ask him? Well, that's what the disciples do. They ask him one question. It's found in verse number 6 of Acts chapter 1. It says, So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? That's the question. That's the only question they ask after 40 days of being taught about the coming kingdom of God.

That's it. Notice it's not a why question. Notice it's not a who question. Notice it's not a what question.

Notice it is a when question. Is it at this time you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Why is that important? The word restore, in all Jewish literature without exception, is an eschatological term dealing with the coming promise of Abrahamic and Davidic kingdoms. Without exception. So the disciples know, and they're Jewish, are asking the right question. Is it now at this time? Notice what they don't ask.

They don't say, Lord, why is it you're not going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Why is it you're going to redeem a group of people, and they now are all going to replace us as Israel, and they are going to receive the promises? That's called replacement theology. Lord, why is it you taught us for 40 days on replacement theology? They didn't ask that question. They say, Lord, why did you teach us about supersessionism? That the church now supersedes Israel in the plan of God, and now the church is the fulfillment of all the promises given to Israel because Israel apostatized the faith.

They didn't ask that question. They didn't ask it. They asked, when is it now time for you, notice it's he who brings the kingdom, right, for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?

It's a very important question. It's the most important question the disciples ever asked. Now notice Jesus' response.

He says this. It is not for you to know times or epics, which the Father has fixed by his own authority. That's a really unique answer. Now I want you to think this through with me for a second.

You will note that all throughout the ministry of Jesus, he never, ever had difficulty rebuking his disciples, did he? Remember in Mark 9 when the disciples couldn't cast a demon out of a young boy? And Jesus said to them, Oh, foolish and unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? He rebuked them. How about when he was on the boat and they were fearful for their lives, they woke him up, and he calmed the sea, and he said, Why are you such cowards? Why do you of all people have no faith?

He had no problem rebuking his disciples. In Matthew 16, he said to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. Wow. So Jesus has no problems rebuking his disciples. So if they got the question wrong, don't you think that at this point he would rebuke them and say, No, no, you guys, you didn't listen.

You got it all wrong. There's not going to be a literal kingdom for Israel. There's not going to be a son of David sitting on the throne of his father David, ruling from Jerusalem. That's not good. You guys didn't listen.

What is wrong with you guys? How come your ears are dull of hearing? How come you didn't get it after 40 days? He didn't say that. But what he says is important. It's not for you to know the times or the epics. It's not for you to know the chronos or the kairos. It's not enough for you to know the exact moment, nor is it for you to know the events surrounding the coming of the kingdom because the father has fixed that time in his own mind. It's a fixed time. He assures them the time is coming. See that?

Very, very important. You see, on this day in Acts 1, four things happen to the disciples. Number one, he curtails their curiosity.

That's what he does. He curtails their curiosity. He tells them it's not for you to know the times or epics, which the father has fixed in his own time frame. The Lord's in charge of this. He's got it all under control. He curtailed their curiosity. And then number two, he promised them power.

He says these words, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will receive power. That's important. He promises them power. And note, and when he promises them this power, he's telling them that this is a reality. This is going to come upon you. This is what it's all about. In order to help you understand what it is that's going to happen, I promise you power because it's not about what you're going to do. It's about who you're going to be. You will receive power and you will become my witnesses.

He doesn't say you're going to go out and do witnessing. He says you're going to be witnesses. You're going to be martyrs. You're going to be my martyrs. So he promises them power. He curtails their curiosity. He says you're going to be witnesses, not just in Jerusalem, but Judea and Samaria and the uttermost part of the world. The third thing he does is he reassures his return.

For it says in verse number eight, nine, and after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. Do you understand the implications of that?

Listen carefully. They had seen a resurrection, the resurrection of Lazarus, the resurrection of Jairus' daughter, the resurrection of the widow's son at Nain. They had seen three resurrections before Jesus himself was resurrected. But they had never, ever, ever seen a body lift up off the ground and ascend into heaven. That was totally foreign. They had never seen anything like that ever. That's why they stand looking into the sky. They're like, this is unbelievable. How does this happen? What is he doing?

Where is he going? They had never seen anything like that ever before. So two men in white apparel. They might be angels. They might not be angels. They might be Enoch and Elijah. I don't know. They might be the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11. I don't know. They might be Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration who came back. These two men in white, don't know. Doesn't say they're angels. It says two men in white apparel. I'm not going to start a new church over whether they're angels or whether they're not angels.

That's for sure. But they say, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? Do you not know that this same Jesus is going to return in the same manner in which he left? He reassured his return. And then number four, he motivated their ministry. He motivated their ministry. Why? All you got to do is read the next verse. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet. Number one, they walked obediently.

Jesus said, go back to Jerusalem. Wait for the promise of the Spirit. So they walked obediently. They obeyed, right? There was a motivation. There was an anticipation that Jesus was going to return. So they walked obediently. If you read Luke's account, after he blessed them, they worshiped joyously and continually. If you read the book of Acts, you realize that they witnessed enthusiastically. Why? Because, number four, they waited expectantly for the coming of the Messiah. See that? He motivated them to ministry.

Why? Because everything about the efficiency of your ministry lies within the imminency of Christ's return. That's why. The efficiency of every ministry lies in the imminency of Christ's return. That Jesus could come at any moment. No man knows the day. No man knows the hour. And every generation from Acts chapter 1 has lived in expectancy. Lived in anticipation that Jesus could come at any moment to take them home to be with him to rule and reign in eternity forever and ever. So Paul comes along and says, brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant.

I don't want you to be unaware. I don't want you to be caught off guard. You need to know this. Because in order for you to live the kind of life that models to everyone else around you, that you are a believing Christian who loves the Lord, you must live in anticipation of this event. Because this event is the beginning of the end. You see, there are no signs leading up to the translation of the church into glory. It's an imminent event. It's a word that means to happen at any moment. It's a word that literally means to hang over.

In other words, this is hanging over you. So at any moment this could happen. You just don't know when it's going to happen. But there are no signs that will ever happen when it comes to the rapture of the church, the translation of the church, the violent snatching of the church out of this demonic world, out of Satan's grasp into glory. There is no sign. But, but, for the day of the Lord, there is a plethora of signs that the Lord gives. All you got to do is read Revelation 6 to 19. All you got to do is read Matthew chapter 24.

And the Lord details all the different signs that are going to take place before he comes again in judgment. Why? That's because of his grace and mercy. He wants people to know he's coming again. But even that, no one knows the day nor the hour of his return. No one knows. Because the hour is fixed in the Father's mind as to when that's going to happen. So we gather together on a day like today, on the Lord's day, to celebrate the Lord's table. And why do we celebrate the Lord's table? Number one, so we can look inward, we can look backward, and we can look upward.

We look inward for self-examination. Paul says, let a man examine himself so that he doesn't eat and drink of the Lord's table in an unworthy manner. So we look inward. But we look inward because we're looking backward to our redemption in Christ, where he bought us there at Calvary. We look backward at the apex of human redemption so that we can look forward to the climax of human redemption. See? We look backward to realize, Lord, this is what you did. Now I'm looking forward because the completion of my salvation, the return of the King, the glorification of my body, it's going to take place.

I don't know when, but I know it's going to happen because Jesus promised it. And that is the only cure for whatever crisis you are engaged in. That's it. There is no other cure for your crisis. How do I know that? Because when the disciples were distraught, Jesus gave them one promise. I'm coming back. I'm coming back and I'm going to take you to my home because in my home there are many dwelling places. And there you will be with me forever. That's how he handled their crisis. And that's exactly how the Apostle Paul and every other apostle would handle their crisis from that day forward.

Jesus is coming again. I will say it to you again. It is the most important doctrine in Christianity. People say to me all the time, yeah, the end doesn't matter. It's all going to pan out in the end anyway. You didn't read what Solomon said. And surely you didn't read what Jesus said. But that's the case. Eschatology is the most important doctrine. Because the end of the story is the whole reason for the story. That's just so clear. So simple to understand. This is our blessed hope. This is our anticipation.

This is what we can't wait to experience. That's why the Thessalonians were so distraught. Because their Christian friends had died. And they're going to miss the arrival of the Messiah. What's going to happen to them? And so Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. Let me tell you about those who have fallen asleep.

Do you know that when Jesus died and rose again, he transferred death to sleep for the believer? Did you know that? Next week we'll talk more about that. But he transferred death to sleep. Because when you die, your soul lives. But your body sleeps until a resurrection. And then that resurrection and soul are put together. And you have what is called a glorified, risen body like your Lord's. That's our blessed hope. That's our future. That's where the world's going. That's why the Bible says, the end of a matter is better than its beginning.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for today. We are a blessed people to be able to study the word of God. Please, Lord, move us on toward maturity in Christ. That we might live for you and honor you. Help us, Lord, to walk obediently. Help us to worship joyously and continually. Help us, Lord, to witness enthusiastically. Simply because we wait expectantly for Jesus to come again. We pray in your name, amen.