"Resurrection Sunday — If They Had Known ..."

We now will begin to consider this detailed account in chapter 5 of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians believers.  Here the apostle contrasts the coming conditions during the prophesied Tribulation period with what is true of believers today living under the Dispensation of the Grace of God.  The one teaching they do not need to know about since we will not live during the Tribulation, the Rapture having been already brought to pass before those “times and seasons” begin.  The dispensational contexts need to be kept separate, he writes, and the Thessalonians (and we ourselves, by extension) do not need to know the details of the Tribulation when we will never be living in that time.  The “they” references in this chapter must be distinguished from the “we” references or confusion results. Seeing these differences will be our primary teaching today.  Praise God for his abundant grace, for it is so different from the life of believers during the Tribulation.