1 Thessalonians 4
Paul urges the Thessalonians to live holy lives and love each other more and more. He addresses their concern about believers who have died, assuring them that the dead in Christ will rise first. Then those alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord. Encourage one another with these words.
1 ThessaloniansChapter 4 of 518 versesBerean Standard Bible
In this passage: JesusMacedonia
If God speaks to you through 1 Thessalonians 4, record what He said in Doxa and come back to it.
Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more.
For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;
each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God;
and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.
For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.
Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.
Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more
and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.
Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.
Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.
By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.
After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Read next
How to Hear God’s Voice: A Practical Guide for BelieversScripture is the record of a God who speaks. This guide covers how to hear Him today and keep what He says.Cross-references for 1 Thessalonians 4
1 Thessalonians 4:31 Peter 4:2
“Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.”
1 Thessalonians 4:14Romans 8:11
“And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.”
1 Thessalonians 4:161 Corinthians 15:51
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—”
1 Thessalonians 4:16Revelation 1:7
“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.”
1 Thessalonians 4:17Revelation 11:12
“And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them.”
Cross-references from OpenBible.info, licensed CC BY.
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If God speaks to you through 1 Thessalonians 4
Doxa is where you record what God has said to you, in the words it came in, weigh it against Scripture with people you trust, and come back to it in the years that follow.
