1 Thessalonians 1:10 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Thessalonians 1:10

Comments

The apostle Paul does not say to wait for heaven, for eternal life. That would be a noble thing to be doing, but he says something much, much better – to wait for the Son, for Christ. Yes, desire eternal life, desire heaven, but before that and much more important than that, desire to see the Son, and to witness him on that great and final day, the triumphant day. The verb there ‘wait’ is an interesting word in the Greek, used pretty well only here in the Bible. It is a strange word, but it means to wait very patiently. Literally it means to stay in a place with patience. Somebody very important to you says, ‘I will meet you in such-and-such a place. You wait there’ – perhaps by the clock tower, or at the cross roads. So you go to that spot just to wait for your expected friend, and you are going to wait there even if it is a draughty, cold, windswept place. And that person may be held up, may be late, but you wait faithfully. That is the sense of the word here, waiting patiently, no matter what. The picture is highly suggestive. This world is not a good place, we are only waiting here. Of course, we are doing what he has bidden us do while we are here. We are gathering in souls, we are instrumental to the elect of God, we are preaching the gospel to all. But we are doing it for him because he bids us do it. Before conversion, the Thessalonians had been trained to think that sin was alright. The idolatry cults promoted sin; they permitted them, legalised them, licensed them, helped them in every way. Rumbling away in your conscience you would feel bad about certain things, but society said it is alright. That is where we are getting today, the mass education of the people to believe that sinful things are acceptable and right. But when you became a Christian you were ‘delivered from the wrath to come.’ It dawned upon them when they heard the preaching. They realised the hatred that God has for sin and the ugliness of offences before God.

Application

Do not be unwashed, friends, because he may come. Do not be compromised. If he came, what condition would he find me in? If he came, what would I be doing? Would I have an avenue of service for him? Would I have some offering for him? Would you be backslidden in some respect? Would you be embarrassed because all your attention is on your business, on your work, on your family, on feathering your nest, on your home?

I wonder how many people here have lost their realisation of the sinfulness of sin because of the culture that surrounds us, because of the bombardment day by day of television and news and everything and advertising which makes sin acceptable and ordinary. How many people have lost their realisation of the degree to which God hates sin? Young people: they love the Lord, they have a clear experience of salvation; they love the doctrines. They enter into courtship, they get married. Baby number one comes along. They promptly stop coming to weeknight meetings, Bible studies, lifting up their voices in prayer with the people of God. One of the things that has happened – you have lost your realisation of the sinfulness of sin. You have lost your realisation of how vulnerable you are to the temptations of the devil and to sin. Some people – I have to be careful – may be under very great pressures, at least for a time. But for many, it is lack of effort. As soon as some pressures come, normal activity ceases and it is not fought. One of the sad things about being a pastor for well over fifty years, you see over the years some people of very great promise, and you see their lives being neutralised, rendered useless by the devil. And what prospects they had at first to the service of the Lord!

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1 Thessalonians 1:10 Commentary and Bible Study