In Thessalonica, today’s Salonika, the apostle... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
1 Corinthians 15:51–52

In Thessalonica, today’s Salonika, the apostle Paul stopped twice. He preached there in the synagogue. Quite a few Jews, but also Greeks, came to faith. Later, Paul wrote two letters to this young church.

In the first letter, Paul addresses a burning question of the Thessalonians. Surely the apostle had spoken to them of the Christian hope, which Jesus Himself described thus: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). Jesus Christ will come again to take all who believe in Him to Himself in the glory of heaven. But the Thessalonians asked themselves: What happens to the believers who had then already “fallen asleep”?

The apostle’s answer was this: “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 by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17).

The epoch of God’s grace is drawing to a close. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed worldwide for almost 2,000 years. Surely there are many millions of “dead in Christ” by now. They will all be resurrected and raptured together with the living believers when Jesus returns. What an event! After that, it will no longer be possible for those who are left behind to escape God’s judgment. Therefore, get your affairs in order with God today!

Today’s reading: Ezekiel 36:16-38 · Psalms 136:13-26