1 Tessalonicenses 5
George MacDonald · Citado em PreceptAustin
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MacDonald says that one way to examine everything carefully is to ask "What does the Lord think about this? How does it appear in His presence? Every area of life comes under the searchlight (what a picture of "dokimazo"!)—conversation, standard of living, clothes, books, business, pleasures, entertainments, furniture, friendships, vacations, cars, and sports. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson) Paul prays for the saints at Philippi (and a good model prayer for us today) "that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve (dokimazo) (continually like a "spiritual metallurgist" assaying the things in their lives that were of real value, as to discern that which was true and genuine) the things that are excellent (some things are good and others are better - the good is often the enemy of the best. Dokimazo speaks of investigating to determine which is the best), in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ." (see notes Philippians 1:9; 1:10) Note that in context we are to sift and test prophetic utterances. Dokimazo conveys the idea of proving a thing whether it is worthy or not, whether genuine or not. In the present context all prophetic utterances need to be tested to avoid erroneous teaching or false doctrine from entering into the assembly. In the church, one of the chief functions of the elders or overseers is to be continually "holding fast (present tense = continually holding himself face to face as it were with the trustworthy Word of God!) the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict." (Titus 1:9-note) If you are an elder, you will be held accountable for whether or not you fulfilled this function and examined everything (every Sunday School teacher, every video series no matter whose ministry it is from, every seminar speaker, every Bible study, every song the worship leader holds forth as Scripturally sound and edifying, etc) carefully, for as Paul warned the Ephesian elders (truth practical to all elders) "savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Acts 20:29-30-note). Holding fast the faithful word is vital if one is going to be equipped to test everything carefully! Isaiah speaks to the importance of the plumbline of God's Word declaring "To the law and to the testimony! (that is, the written Word of God, the only absolute and trustworthy standard which provides all the counsel and guidance we need) If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (Isaiah 8:20) John
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MacDonald observes that here at the end of this epistle Paul "seems to point to the Judgment Seat (see bema) of Christ, which follows the Rapture (see harpazo). At that time, the Christian’s life, service, and testimony will be reviewed, and he will be rewarded or suffer loss. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson) While I certainly would agree with the excellent commentator William MacDonald, there is no question that the certainty of Christ's Second Coming at the end of the Great Tribulation (the last 3.5 years of the 7 year period of testing) just prior to the establishment of His Millennial Kingdom will also be a blessed stabilizing hope to those individuals who experience new birth in the hard to bear seven year period known as the Tribulation or Daniel's Seventieth Week. For more discussion of the relationship of the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ see the comparison of the Rapture versus the Second Coming. Oswald Chambers - Intercessory introspection - And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. 1 Thess. 5:23. - “Your whole spirit …” The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get at. Read the 139th Psalm; the Psalmist implies—‘Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature—Thou Who art the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at—my God, search me out.’ Do we believe that God can garrison the imagination far beyond where we can go? “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin’ —if that means in conscious experience only, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been made obtuse by sin will say he is not conscious of sin. Cleansing from sin is to the very heights and depths of our spirit if we will keep in the light as God is in the light, and the very Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirits. It is only when we are garrisoned by God with the stupendous sanctity of the Holy Spirit, that spirit, soul and body are preserved in unspotted integrity, undeserving of censure in God’s sight, until Jesus comes. We do not allow our minds to dwell as they should on these great massive truths of God. Oswald Chambers - Instantaneous and insistent sanctification - And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. 1 Thess. 5:23–24 . - When we pray to be sanctified, are we prepared to face the standard of these verses? We take the term sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared for what sanctification will cost? It will cost an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of all our interests in God. Sanctification means intense concentration on God’s point of view. It means every power of body, soul and spirit chained and kept for God’s purpose only. Are we prepared for God to do in us all that He separated us for? And then after His work is done in us, are we prepared to separate ourselves to God even as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself.” The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s standpoint. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled Him will rule us. Are we prepared for what that will cost? It will cost everything that is not of God in us. Are we prepared to be caught up into the swing of this prayer of the apostle Paul’s? Are we prepared to say—‘Lord make me as holy as You can make a sinner saved by grace’? Jesus has prayed that we might be one with Him as He is one with the Father. The one and only characteristic of the Holy Ghost in a man is a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, and freedom from everything that is unlike Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s ministrations in us? THE GREAT PHYSICIAN - 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23 - May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Is there no balm in Gilead?” asked Jeremiah. “Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of … my people?” (Jeremiah 8:22). Gilead, a region east of the Jordan, was famous for its medicinal salve, but Jeremiah warned that not even Gilead’s balm could heal the soul. But the Great Physician can heal. He can give physical healing, and we should pray for one another to be healed (James 5:16). God sometimes heals miraculously and other times through medical science. Sometimes He doesn’t grant physical healing because He has other plans and purposes for us (2 Corinthians 12:8–9). He can give emotional healing. When Jeremiah was devastated by the terror of war, he felt like a man mangled by a lion or trapped in a tomb. But as he recalled God’s unfailing mercy, hope returned to his heart (Lamentations 3:6, 10, 21–24). The Lord can give spiritual healing. “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Whatever your need, the Great Physician now is near, the sympathizing Jesus. (David Jeremiah - Sanctuary) Alexander