Reading for Today:

• Jeremiah 13:1 Chapter 13 1 Thus saith Jehovah unto me, Go, and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water. –14:22
• Psalms 118:15-20 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous: The right hand of Jehovah doeth valiantly. 16 The right hand of Jehovah is exalted: The right hand of Jehovah doeth valiantly. 17 I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of Jehovah. 18 Jehovah hath chastened me sore; But he hath not given me over unto death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will enter into them, I will give thanks unto Jehovah. 20 This is the gate of Jehovah; The righteous shall enter into it.
• Proverbs 27:9 9 Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; So doth the sweetness of a man's friend `that cometh' of hearty counsel.
• 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Chapter 1 1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention `of you' in our prayers; 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father; 4 knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, 5 how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and `in' much assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake. 6 And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit; 7 so that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth; so that we need not to speak anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, `even' Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.

Notes:

Jeremiah 13:1 Chapter 13 1 Thus saith Jehovah unto me, Go, and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water. a linen sash. One of several signs Jeremiah enacted to illustrate God’s message involved putting a linen sash (generally the inner garment against the skin) around his waist. This depicted Israel’s close intimacy with God in the covenant, so that they could glorify Him (v. 11). do not put it in water. Signified the moral filth of the nation. Buried and allowed time to rot (v. 7), the sash pictured Israel as useless to God due to sin (v. 10). Hiding it by the Euphrates (v. 6) pointed to the land of Babylon, where God would exile Israel to deal with her pride (v. 9).

Psalm 118:19 gates of righteousness. Most likely a figurative reference, i.e., spiritual gates through which the righteous pass (Ps. 100:4) rather than to the gates of the temple.

Psalm 118:20 the gate. This points to the entryway which leads to the presence of the Lord. Jesus may have had this psalm in mind when He taught about “the narrow gate” in Matthew 7:13 13 Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. , 14.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 followers. The Thessalonians had become third-generation mimics of Christ. Christ is the first; Paul is the second; and the Thessalonians are the third (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1). joy of the Holy Spirit. Joy in the midst of suffering evidenced the reality of their salvation, which included the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19).

DAY 14: Why was Paul writing to the Thessalonians?

Paul had originally traveled 100 miles from Philippi via Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica on his second missionary journey (A.D. 50; Acts 16:1 Chapter 16 1 And he came also to Derbe and to Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess that believed; but his father was a Greek. –18:22). As his custom was upon arrival, he sought out the synagogue in which to teach the local Jews the gospel ( Acts 17:1 Chapter 17 1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: , 2). On that occasion, he dialogued with them from the Old Testament concerning Christ’s death and resurrection in order to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was truly the promised Messiah ( Acts 17:2 2 and Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them, and for three sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, , 3). Some Jews believed and soon after, Hellenistic proselytes and some wealthy women of the community also were converted ( Acts 17:4 4 And some of them were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. ).

Because of their effective ministry, the Jews had Paul’s team evicted from the city ( Acts 17:5 5 But the Jews, being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the rabble, and gathering a crowd, set the city on an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them forth to the people. –9), so they went south to evangelize Berea ( Acts 17:1 Chapter 17 1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 0).There Paul had a similar experience to Thessalonica with conversions followed by hostility, so the believers sent Paul away. He headed for Athens, while Silvanus and Timothy remained in Berea ( Acts 17:1 Chapter 17 1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 1–14).They rejoined Paul in Athens ( Acts 17:1 Chapter 17 1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 5, 16 with 1 Thess. 3:1), from which Timothy was later dispatched back to Thessalonica (3:2). Apparently, Silas afterwards traveled from Athens to Philippi while Paul journeyed on alone to Corinth ( Acts 18:1 Chapter 18 1 After these things he departed from Athens, and came to Corinth. ). It was after Timothy and Silvanus rejoined Paul in Corinth ( Acts 18:5 5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ) that he wrote 1 Thessalonians in response to Timothy’s good report of the church.

Paul undoubtedly had multiple reasons for writing, all coming out of his supreme concern for the flock from which he had been separated. Some of Paul’s purposes clearly included: 1) encouraging the church (1:2–10); 2) answering false allegations (2:1–12); 3) comforting the persecuted flock (2:13–16); 4) expressing his joy in their faith (2:17–3:13); 5) reminding them of the importance of moral purity (4:1–8); 6) condemning the sluggard lifestyle (4:9–12); 7) correcting a wrong understanding of prophetic events (4:13–5:11); 8) defusing tensions within the flock (5:12–15); and 9) exhorting the flock in the basics of Christian living (5:16–22).

From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.

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