And May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, (13) so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. (4:1) Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus, that you should abound more and more, just as you received it from us how you ought to walk and please God. (2) for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

The letter to the Thessalonians was written by the apostle Paul who was driven from that city by the Jews who were provoked by Paul’s effective ministry. Paul’s concern for the baby Christians there prompted him to send Timothy to check on their spiritual condition. Timothy’s good report that the converted there were standing firm in their faith resulted in this first letter. Our verses today tell us that in a few short months there was an amazing depth of teaching – great was the evidence of God working in them. The verses speak of the goals for spiritual stability which are faith in Christ, love for God and one another. The letter is noteworthy for its authoritative tone and emphasis on pleasing God as foundation for Christian external behavior.
in Christ, in faith, we are now members of God’s family – this is our spiritual reality. True faith is not just mental assent to the gospel. The faithful must be changed and have different desires; must delight in God and His Word. They turn from sin and seek to obey the Lord and please Him with thankfulness for free grace. God’s commands are not burdens but the path to religious Liberty which is NOT legalism. Freedom in Christ does not mean to follow the flesh but rather freedom from sin. Christ Jesus is the source of absolute moral truth in a culture of relativism. We are justified in Christ and now are on the walk of sanctification to be holy or separate as children of God.
We are to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves – the best remedy against evil acts is brotherly love. When we forget this or cease to pray we can feel distance from God. Then comes the question: Who moved?

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, (6) and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (7) Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. (8) “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the “Almighty.”

The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John who, while banished to the Island of Patmos at the end of his life, wrote down his divine vision of the consummation of all things; a time when the kingdom of God is finally and completely established. It is a prophetic book, symbolic in language and is primarily the revelation of the person and glory of Jesus Christ. John wrote of things he had seen; present and future things.

The Lord is the faithful witness. He is the firstborn from the dead. Jesus is the Prince of the kings of the earth which is His title and glory. Verse 5 and 6 deals with what He has done for us (believers) and what He has made us and what we shall be with Him. In verse 7 for the first time in this book the visible second coming of Jesus Christ is announced. By special divine intervention Christ will return physically and every eye will see Him – this verse announces THE climactic event of Revelation which is the second coming of Christ. This also presents the triune God as Lord of time – past, present and future – who is faithful to His promises and powerful enough to to bring them to pass. Here God confirmed His eternity and omnipotence – He is the alpha and Omega which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. God created this world and set the universe in place and will conclude it according to His will. Jesus Christ, the returning Lord, is in complete control and authority: He IS the almighty.

At the second coming the Lord is coming for His own. Some shall rejoice and some shall wait in horror and despair of the awful judgment – for them His return will be sorrowful as the “too late” reality of those who rejected Christ and who will be then be faced with an eternity without Him. I return to C.S. Lewis who writes in ‘The Great Divorce’: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done”, and those to whom God says in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there would be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”

God is speaking in these verses. He has put His seal on it. Even so, Amen.

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. (12) But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, (13) from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. (14) For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (18) Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

The author of Hebrews is unknown. In our verses today we study the conclusion of the theological argument begun in chapter one. The author warns the original Christian Jewish readers not to revert to Judaism with its sacrificial system as they would forfeit what Christ Jesus had secured for them. His death fulfilled the old system which kept worshippers from drawing near to God. Through Christ believers receive what the law could not do – total forgiveness. In Christ, because of His once for all sacrifice of Himself, the believers have perfect standing with God and free access to God’s presence.

The author of Hebrews warns not to go to the shadows meaning to any system that devises human works to atone for sins. The law saved no one and was repeated year after year. Aaronic priests stood daily and ministered daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifice. There was no final forgiveness in that system. The priest of the Old Testament stood; Jesus Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father – this was not so much in finality as the acceptability of His sacrifice. Christ has perfected forever those believers who are being set apart. The work by which believers are saved is absolutely and wholly of God. The will of man is not part of this – it’s not our work or our experience. Our standing or position before God as believers is in Christ; even our worst sins do not eradicate our positional forgiveness as children of God.

In Christ the faithful have complete and final pardon from sin: past, present and future. The new covenant is the final covenant – the new sacrifice of Christ is the final sacrifice and no replacement is necessary. We have eternal access to God in Christ. I’m closing with Romans 8:1 – ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.’

(24) For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; (25) not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another ——(26) He then would had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of all ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (27) And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, (28) so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The author of Hebrews is unknown. In verse 27, chapter 9, we study how Christ died but once and bore our iniquities – the primary concern of the author is objective salvation focused on the saving work of Christ. His atonement was made according to the eternal plan and will of God. From the fall of Adam to the end of the world no man is pardoned but through Christ’s offering Himself to God as sacrifice for sin.
God has appointed that sinful man shall die once and after this, judgment. Nothing shall then make any alteration in status or condition for at death man’s final state is determined. Just as Christ died but once so man dies but once. Death will come to all. Immediately after death our destiny will be made known to us. This is not the formal act of judgment day – that day will not change this former day but then all deeds will be made known. (Christ will not die in the future to make atonement for all will be fixed.) Our appointment for death was because of sin. Death is a finality – a complete and final end to our life on earth, followed by judgment where we are held accountable. The decision at death is irrevocable. There is no second chance to prepare, to seek pardon, to repair evil caused – no second chance to ask forgiveness. When man passes through death he/she passes through forever into the eternal world where our destiny will be made known. There will be no further opportunity to embrace the Savior who was rejected here on earth. All is fixed in judgment.
There is a short story about a servant sent by his master to the market in Baghdad. In the marketplace he was jostled by death disguised as a woman and he felt death made a threatening gesture. The servant ran back to the master to ask for loan of a horse to escape to Samarra where he felt death couldn’t find him. The master then went to the marketplace where he approached death and asked why she made a threatening gesture; death replied she was only surprised to see the servant as she had an appointment with him that night in Samarra.

Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. (24) But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. (25) Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (26) For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; (27) who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (28) For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

The author of Hebrews is unknown. He/she wanted the original reader – written to Christian Jews – to NOT return to Judaism because of persecution and in our verses today he/she is contrasting Jesus as our once for all High priest as superior to the Levitical priesthood with its temporary and sacrificial system. Because of the Fall, man is born dead in sin – hopeless and helpless and by nature children of the wrath of God who cannot save themselves. The perfect justice of God demands payment for sin and the eternal plan of God – in perfect love – sent His own Son to be the sinless and forever High Priest offering Himself as sacrifice as satisfaction for sin in God’s perfect justice. The Levitical priests had to be replaced because of death; they first sacrificed for their own sins and then represented the people. The Jewish priests were an earthly priesthood who by themselves and by the law could make nothing perfect. The law was without power to save. Jesus didn’t need a sacrifice because He is without sin. He became the sacrifice for others. He lives forever and is exalted to above the heavens. In His resurrection, ascension and glorification, Jesus is the supreme perfection of the perpetual High Priest. He is the same today as to the first century Christians.

The priesthood of Christ is not a thing of time or change – He is not of the world like Adam. His is a priesthood not on earth and a priest who has no end of days. All before Christ was imperfect and could not bring atonement or bring us close to God which is the eternal purpose of Jesus. The priesthood of Christ was established by oath of God while Aaron’s was not; Jesus became the guarantee of the better covenant. He will live forever, saves completely and KEEPS His own by His priestly intercession. His acceptable sacrifice accomplished all. He stands alone – has no predecessor, no successor – and is the perfect High Priest who is able to save. In Him we can draw near to God in boldness. Atonement has been made for our sin and no other offering is needed.

In Christ the obligation of the law was dissolved and the faithful, saved in Christ by grace, are partakers of the heavenly calling. Amen.