In the Epistles of 1 Thessalonians through Philemon, we see the experience and enjoyment of Christ in many practical points concerning our Christian walk.
In 1 and 2 Thessalonians Christ in His coming is revealed as the hope of the church. The two Epistles to the Thessalonians were written in the light of the Lord’s coming. In particular, every chapter of 1 Thessalonians ends with the coming of the Lord. This shows that the writer, Paul, lived and worked with the Lord’s coming before him, taking it as an attraction, an incentive, a goal, and a warning (1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:15-18; 5:23). Those who do not believe in Christ have no hope, but we the believers have a hope with numerous aspects. One aspect of our hope, which we may call the hope of the church, is the coming Christ, that is, Christ in His coming. Christ is the Husband of the church. Without Christ’s visible presence, the church is like a widow, a woman who is without her husband. Hence, our unique hope is the coming back of our Husband to the earth.
In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul speaks of “endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The hope of Christ’s coming is the cause of our endurance. This endurance comes from the hope in the Lord’s coming, or from the hope in the coming Lord. While we live on the earth as believers and witnesses of Christ, we experience suffering, for which we need endurance. In the church life as well as in the family we all need endurance. We must be trained and educated—first to work, then to labor, and eventually to endure. In the work of shepherding others, endurance is crucial. If we would be successful in shepherding the saints, we must exercise endurance. Endurance involves suffering, not enjoyment. Shepherding always involves an amount of suffering. We all need an incentive that encourages us to endure the suffering. Hence, we should have the hope of the coming of Christ as the cause of our endurance.
Endurance is a real strength to us. If we have endurance, we can do everything. Endurance comes from the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). We have the hope that we will see Him, that one day He will come, and that one day He and we will be in glory (3:4). We have the hope of seeing Him and meeting Him. Often we cannot and would not do certain things, and we determine to not be defeated, simply because we realize that we will see the Lord. We must stand and fight the battle to the end because one day, perhaps tomorrow, we will meet Him. This is our hope. By such hope we have endurance. This endurance is the power and strength for us to suffer, labor, press on, live for Him, and sacrifice everything for Him. Strength is in endurance, and endurance is in hope.
Our hope is in the coming Christ with His glory; the endurance of this hope brings about the long life of our work of faith. Through such an endurance we can subdue all kinds of disappointments, discouragements, and impossibilities; we can also overcome all kinds of oppositions, obstacles, and frustrations (Heb. 4:16; Phil. 2:13; 4:11-13; 2 Thes. 3:5). Such an endurance consummates in gaining sinners, feeding the believers, perfecting the saints, and building up the church, the Body of Christ, for the kingdom of God and of Christ (2 Cor. 6:4; 1 Cor. 15:58). We should be persons who endure in hope of the Lord’s coming.
The endurance of hope in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 corresponds to the waiting for the Son of God in verse 10. If we have the endurance of hope, we will wait for God’s Son from the heavens. With the endurance of hope, we wait for the coming back of the Son of God.
An important characteristic of our Christian life is that we are waiting for God’s Son from the heavens. As Christians, we must live a life that declares to others that our hope is not on this earth or in this age. Instead, our hope is in the coming Lord, and our future is in Him. On this earth we do not have any destiny, destination, or future. Our future, our destiny, and our destination are altogether focused on the Lord who is coming. He will be our hope, our future, and our destination. We are going to the Lord, and our destiny is to meet Him. As believers in Christ, we declare that we are waiting for the coming of the Son of God from the heavens.
Christ in His coming is also our expectation, the One who delivers us from the wrath which is coming. In verse 10 Paul says that believers in Thessalonica “await His Son from the heavens, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath which is coming.” While unbelievers await the wrath which they will suffer, we the believers await Christ as the One who delivers us from the wrath which is coming, the wrath of the coming judgment of God (Rom. 2:5-9).