Kollel BeHaalotcha

Kollel BeHaalotcha

First Thessalonians chapter 5

Second Thessalonians chapter 1

First Thessalonians, continued:

First Th 5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you.

They didn’t need it written to them because they all knew or were in the process of learning Elohim’s festival calendar, which we re-inact every year and is the blueprint for prophetic interpretation.  The Parousia is represented by the Yom Teruah (Rosh HaShanah), the Feast of Trumpets on Tishri 1^st.  This is the “last trump” the sages wrote plainly about – the “first trump” being Shavuot and the “Great Trump” being Yom Kippur.  These ideas were well known in Hebrew liturgy and prophetic thought.  He didn’t need to tell them what they already knew.

Thessalonians, continued:

First Th 5:2  For you yourselves know well that the day of Adonai comes like a thief in the night.

First Th 5:3  For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.

First Th 5:4  But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.

The point here is precisely that we, Obedient Believers, should KNOW Elohim’s calendar and KNOW where we are in His prophetic timeline.  We cannot know the day or the hour of the Parousia because like all days which are Rosh Chodesh, the new moon has to be sighted and verified as being seen and consecrated in Jerusalem before the Moedim can be declared, which can be either on the 29^th or 30^th of Elul and anytime within an hour or so after sunset, or even be completely put off to the next day on the 29^th if there are clouds.

Another point that is often lost on English commentators is that the Parousia will happen at the Rosh Chodesh IN JERUSALEM – meaning if you are on the East Coast of the USA, you must subtract about 7 hours from the expected time of Jerusalem’s sunset, meaning (depending upon whether or not your community is on daylight savings time, and whether or not Israel also is) the time may be anywhere from 11am-1pm during daylight hours prior to Yom Teruah being declared in New York!  Out on the west coast, subtract another 4 hours, which bring you to sometime around 7-8am the moring before.  In East Asia, it would still be the night before!  We aren’t used to thinking about or ordering our lives on Jerusalem time.  It gives me a headache just thinking about it.

Thessalonians, continued:

First Th 5:5  You are all children of light, and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness,

First Th 5:6  so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.

First Th 5:7  For those who sleep, sleep in the night, and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.

First Th 5:8  But let us, since we belong to the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

First Th 5:9  For Elohim didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Adonai Yeshua the Messiah,

First Th 5:10  who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

We will, of course, experience birth pangs, but we were promised in Isaiah, in Revelation, and here in Thessalonians that Obedient Believers will NOT experience the Tribulation itself.  That is the wrath that we are hidden from per both John and Isaiah, besides Paul.

But do not imagine this will be like the “Left Behind” book series.  They imagined millions of people disappearing, and every young child.  That scenario doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.  Only children with at least one Obedient Believing parent are considered “holy,” according to Paul (1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.).

And the only adults who are part of the Bride of Messiah are Obedient, that is, observant of the written Torah, Believers.  No one else will be included in the Parousia.   At present there are only about half a million people who profess to be Obedient Believers, and only about half of them truly are Torah observant as best they can be in this day and age with no Temple.  That means of the nearly 7 Billion people on this planet, maybe 250,000, a very small remnant, will be included in the Parousia.  If it weren’t for the angel and the Shofar that everyone on earth will hear, most people would never have known it had happened.  The Shofar, however, will tell them that they missed the boat (so to speak) and must now endure the Tribulation.  You can bet at that point many millions will repent and be saved.  We also know 144,000 Israelite youths will be sealed with a special seal and given a direct mission to teach Torah and preach Yeshua.  But the fate of the vast majority of those left behind will, as the books portrayed, be martyrdom and wrath of the Beast, the False Messiah, and his False Prophet.

Thessalonians, continued:

First Th 5:11  Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.

First Th 5:12  But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in Adonai, and admonish you,

First Th 5:13  and to respect and honor them in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

First Th 5:14  We exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient toward all.

First Th 5:15  See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good, for one another, and for all.

First Th 5:16  Rejoice always.

First Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

First Th 5:18  In everything give thanks, for this is the will of Elohim in Messiah Yeshua toward you.

First Th 5:19  Don’t quench the Spirit.

First Th 5:20  Don’t despise prophesies.

First Th 5:21  Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

First Th 5:22  Abstain from every form of evil.

First Th 5:23  May the Elohim of shalom Himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of Adonai Yeshua the Messiah.

First Th 5:24  He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

First Th 5:25  Brothers, pray for us.

First Th 5:26  Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

First Th 5:27  I solemnly charge you by Adonai that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.

First Th 5:28  The grace of our Adonai Yeshua the Messiah be with you. Amein.

Second Thessalonians, continued:

Second Th 1:1 Sha’ul, Sila, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in Elohim our Father, and Adonai Yeshua the Messiah:

Second Th 1:2  Grace to you and shalom from Elohim our Father and Adonai Yeshua the Messiah.

Second Th 1:3  We are bound to always give thanks to Elohim for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds;

Second Th 1:4  so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of Elohim for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.

Second Th 1:5  This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of Elohim, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of Elohim, for which you also suffer.

Second Th 1:6  Since it is a righteous thing with Elohim to repay affliction to those who afflict you,

Second Th 1:7  and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when Adonai Yeshua is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

Second Th 1:8  giving vengeance to those who don’t know Elohim, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of Adonai Yeshua,

Second Th 1:9  who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of Adonai and from the glory of his might,

Second Th 1:10  when he comes to be glorified in his holy ones, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day.

As we see here again plainly, those who do NOT believe and who do NOT obey Torah will have wrath poured out on them during the Tribulation and especially those still alive at the advent of the King of Kings.  The phrase “the Good News” may or may not be original to the text, but it is certain that the whole message of the “Good News” was REPENTANCE from sin, not continuing to live in sin.  And sin, by definition, is the transgression of the Torah.  Grace is NOT license for sin.

Thessalonians, continued:

Second Th 1:11  To this end we also pray always for you, that our Elohim may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power;

Second Th 1:12  that the name of Adonai Yeshua may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our Elohim and Adonai Yeshua the Messiah.

Next week:  Shelach LeCha