These passages deal with the resurrection of the dead and the return of Jesus. I don't often preach about the End of the Age, but these texts provide a great chance to look closely at what the Bible says about it...
Please comment on what you think when you read this...
What does Jesus mean when he tells us to "keep awake?"
What does it mean for us to take sufficient oil with us?
What feelings stir in you as you read the Thessalonians passage?
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.
16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Matthew 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
8 The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
9 But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.'
12 But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
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2 comments:
Aren't these passages traditionally understood as a reminder to stay vigilant? Illustrations like this are hard for me to apply, and maybe you can relate, because they seem to have been written with the expectation that Christ would return much, much sooner than 2,000 years later.
It should be that their urgency would increase with the passing of time, but I don't think that has happened. Rather, I think their urgency has been lost, and our anticipation of Christ's return diluted by a lack of perspective.
Poober,
This text becomes more and more relevant as the time of Christ's return grows longer.
What does it mean to "Be Prepared" for Jesus' return?
What does the lamp oil refer to in the parable?
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