Kingdom Disciples

If the Thessalonians continue to emulate the apostolic example, they will receive the Crown of Glory when Jesus arrives from Heaven . Opposition from the local synagogue had compelled Paul to leave Thessalonica prematurely. Though initially, some members of that group had welcomed his message, they turned against him once the Gentiles began to embrace the Gospel. Even after he left the city, some synagogue leaders pursued Paul when he preached the Gospel elsewhere in Macedonia.

Some members of the Corinthian congregation denied the bodily resurrection of the righteous. The Apostle Paul responded not only by stressing the necessity for it but also by appealing to the past resurrection of Jesus, which was and remains the precedent for the coming resurrection of believers. His faithful disciples will be raised bodily from the dead when he “ arrives ” at the end of the age, and his appearance will result in the termination of Death itself.

Jesus compared the final years before his return to the days leading up to the Great Flood. “ Just as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be ” when the “ Son of Man ” returns. Some commentators take this as a prediction of the return of the same conditions existing in Noah’s day, the repetition of the moral anarchy and violence that prompted God to send the floodwaters.