Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM Worship

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Marty Broadwell

Summary of the Last Day

📘 Sermon Information

Sermon Title: The Last Day New Testament Exposition (inferred)

Preacher: (Not mentioned)

Date: 2025-09-14 Sunday PM Worship

Chapter/Topic: The Last Day — 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 (study of Paul’s teaching on the second coming and related pastoral exhortations)

🧠Key Learnings

Knowledge point 1: The immediate pastoral context — why Paul wrote about the Last Day

Paul wrote to a very young church (Thessalonica), established during his second missionary journey, whose members had been converted recently and were experiencing persecution and death among their number. He addresses their confusion and grief about believers who had died ("fallen asleep") and gives clear, literal teaching about the fate of the dead and the sequence of events at Christ’s return to provide hope and pastoral consolation.

Detailed explanation:

• The Thessalonian church had only weeks or months of instruction and faced persecution; thus they lacked knowledge about the sequence of end-time events.
• Paul intentionally uses plain, literal language to steady new believers rather than introduce figurative or speculative images.
• The pastoral aim is therapeutic and directive: remove paralyzing ignorance, replace despair with hope grounded in the resurrection power that raised Jesus.

Example: Timothy’s report prompted Paul to write; Paul addresses their mourning over deceased members and clarifies that those dead in Christ will not be left behind.

Knowledge point 2: The literal sequence Paul describes for the Lord’s return (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

Paul sets out a concrete sequence: the Lord descends with shout/archangel/trumpet; the dead in Christ rise first; then the living believers are "caught up" with them in the clouds to meet the Lord; believers will be forever with the Lord. This is presented as revelation ("by the word of the Lord") to remove ignorance and to comfort.

Detailed explanation:

• "Fallen asleep" = deceased believers; sleep imagery conveys temporary state and hope of waking (resurrection).
• "By the word of the Lord" indicates apostolic revelation/inspiration and continuity with Jesus’ teaching.
• The event is public, triumphant, and instantaneous in effect (trumpet, shout) — not a gradual or hidden process.

Example: Paul contrasts Christian hope with the sorrow of those “who have no hope,” instructing them to "comfort one another with these words."

Knowledge point 3: The unexpectedness of the Day of the Lord and the necessity of readiness (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11)

Paul stresses that the Day of the Lord comes "as a thief in the night" — its exact time is unknown — so believers must be watchful, sober, and morally alert. He contrasts spiritual vigilance with spiritual sleep or drunkenness, urging believers to live as "sons of light" and to put on the "breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation."

Detailed explanation:

• Two senses of “times” (chronos) and “seasons” (kairos) show Paul won’t give precise dates nor full surrounding signs; instead, the reality requires constant preparedness.
• The thief image emphasizes suddenness and lack of opportunity for last-minute repentance for the wicked; for believers, it implies active watchfulness and moral sobriety.
• The armor language points to protective spiritual dispositions (faith, love, hope) as practical preparation.

Example: Paul’s practical commands — don’t sleep, be sober, put on protective virtues — function as daily disciplines anticipating Christ’s return.

Knowledge point 4: The pastoral and communal application — comforting, exhorting, and building one another (parakaleo)

Paul repeatedly uses the exhortation/comfort verb (parakaleo). The word carries forceful, relational urging — to call alongside, encourage, admonish, strengthen, and build up — not merely to soothe. The instruction is explicitly communal: believers are to comfort and exhort one another with the truth of the resurrection and return.

Detailed explanation:

• Parakaleo appears frequently in 1 & 2 Thessalonians; it’s both pastoral and mobilizing (urge, implore, encourage).
• Comfort here both reduces despair at loss and channels grief into mutual edification and mission.
• The “one another” shape of these commands makes community care the primary vehicle for readiness and consolation.

Example: "Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thess. 4:18) and the closing exhortations of 5:12–22 (parallels to fatherly instruction) show the social ethic Paul expects.

Knowledge point 5: Broader New Testament consistency and notable absences

Paul’s teaching aligns with other NT texts (Jesus’ sayings, John 5:28–29, 1 Cor 15, 2 Thessalonians, 2 Peter 3) regarding a future resurrection, judgment, and new creation. Notably absent in Paul’s plain teaching are ideas common in later or speculative systems: a secret rapture where only some vanish leaving others to continue on, post-mortem opportunities for repentance, a prolonged earthly reign of Christ requiring specific national/Israelite signs, or multi-stage salvations — Paul’s portrait is decisive, public, and culminative.

Detailed explanation:

• NT consistency: resurrection of the dead, public revelation of Christ, judgment according to deeds, final renewal of creation.
• Absences: Paul does not endorse hidden mid-course stages, special select ascensions that leave others, or doctrinal systems that require modern re-interpretation of basic texts.
• Paul's plainness is tailored for new Christians; hence literal, clear claims are used rather than heavily symbolic apocalyptic language.

Example: John 5:28–29 (“all who are in the graves will hear His voice…”) parallels Paul’s “dead in Christ will rise first” language.

 

 

 

✏️ Key Concepts

Concept 1: “Fallen asleep” (sleep as death with hope)

Definition: A biblical euphemism for death that emphasizes transience and hope of resurrection rather than annihilation.

Key Points:

• Common NT idiom (Stephen, Lazarus).
• Conveys Christian assurance of waking (resurrection) because of Christ’s resurrection.
• Used to comfort mourners: death is not final for believers.

Example / Analogy: The instructor noted Lazarus and Stephen as scriptural examples where "sleep" denotes death —— (speaker).

Concept 2: “Coming / Parousia / Day of the Lord”

Definition: The public, manifested arrival of Christ at the end of the age, bringing vindication for the righteous and judgment for the wicked.

Key Points:

• Parousia implies a visible presence with purpose (rescue/judgment).
• Associated imagery: shout, archangel’s voice, trumpet (military/kingly victory language).
• Comes unexpectedly (“as a thief”), so timing is unknown (chronos vs. kairos distinction).

Example / Analogy: Paul’s description: Lord descends with shout, archangel voice, trumpet; dead in Christ rise first (1 Thess. 4) —— (speaker).

Concept 3: “Caught up” (harpazo / rapture language)

Definition: A sudden snatching up of living believers to meet the Lord in the air together with the resurrected righteous.

Key Points:

• Implies instantaneous divine action, not voluntary boarding.
• Occurs after the dead are raised (“dead rise first”).
• Communal: both risen and living believers meet the Lord together.

Example / Analogy: The instructor referenced Acts 1 — Jesus taken up in a cloud and the angel’s promise “He will come back” as a reverse of that ascension image —— (speaker).

Concept 4: “Parakaleo” (exhort/comfort/encourage)

Definition: A Greek verb used by Paul meaning to call alongside — to urge, comfort, exhort, and strengthen others.

Key Points:

• Multifaceted: consolation + forceful urging toward action.
• Occurs frequently in 1 & 2 Thessalonians (verb and noun forms).
• The Christian response to eschatological truth is communal exhortation and mutual edification.

Example / Analogy: Paul’s repeated command: “Comfort one another with these words” — not merely soothe, but actively encourage and build up —— (speaker).

Concept 5: “Watchfulness and sobriety” (practical readiness)

Definition: Ethical and spiritual states (alertness and self-control) expected of believers who live in light of Christ’s coming.

Key Points:

• Contrasts with “sleep” (apathy) and “drunkenness” (loss of sobriety).
• Armor metaphors (breastplate: faith & love; helmet: hope of salvation) = protective virtues.
• Readiness is lived out in daily conduct, relationships, and mission.

Example / Analogy: Paul’s commands “Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us be sober” and “put on the breastplate of faith and love” —— (speaker).

🔄 Q&A/Discussion

Question 1: Did the Thessalonians really not know about resurrection and Christ’s coming? Answer 1: They knew Jesus rose (Paul had preached that) but lacked specific teaching about sequence and what happens to deceased believers at Christ’s return. Paul thus explicitly instructs to remove ignorance and comfort them.

Question 2: Does Paul contradict himself when he sometimes speaks of “we who are alive” and elsewhere says all die and get new bodies? Answer 2: No necessary contradiction — Paul uses first-person plural as the believing community (“we”) while teaching that some will be alive at Christ’s coming and some will have died and be raised. Other passages (1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 5) clarify that all will receive resurrection bodies.

📚 Assignments

• Read closely 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 and note every use of parakaleo (exhort/comfort) — list the contexts and how Paul expects believers to respond.
• Compare 1 Thessalonians 4–5 with John 5:28–29 and 1 Corinthians 15: summarize points of agreement about resurrection sequence and public judgment.
• Reflect (short paragraph): Identify one personal preoccupation (worry/ambition/disappointment). Write how the exhortations to “comfort one another,” “be sober,” and “earnestly desire the coming of the Lord” would change your response to that concern.