As you study Thessalonians, you’ll realise how hard it must have been for Paul. The guy is trying to plant new churches, he’s been beaten, people are rioting against him and he’s having to move from area to area – not because he wants to, but because he is forced out.

The story of Thessalonians is, from beginning to end, a story of inclusion and exclusion. In the ancient world, community was priority. People understood themselves in relation to the community to which they belonged, be it their family, their city, their local cultic group or trade guild, or whatever other group they might be a part of.

When you read about End Times in 1 Thessalonians from 4:13-5:11, it can be quite overwhelming and confusing. Twice Paul says, ‘encourage one another’ with these words (Chapters 4:18, 5:11), and honestly, you want to respond, ‘I have no idea what you just said let alone being able to repeat it in an encouraging way’.

A few years ago, my young cousin was kidnapped for several days and eventually murdered by drug dealers with whom he had fallen in. It was a very dark time for our family, made worse by the fact that my own dad had been killed in a plane crash only two weeks prior. In those sorts of times, you really reflect on what could have been, should have been, and all the rest.

Sometimes I find myself feeling uncomfortable and convicted as I read the Bible and I wish the words that made me feel that way were simply not there. The Bible is my book of truth, it is the book that teaches me, informs my thinking, my behaviour, the way I see my life. But some things in the Bible offend my comfortable way of living and I don’t like it!

I finished last week’s Deep Dive by describing the Thessalonians as a very young group of believers who had not been established in the Word. Paul wrote to encourage them to hold on to the faith in the face of serious opposition, but there were still some issues to clear up. He begins in Chapter 4 by reminding them of what they already heard from him, the ‘basics’ as it were.

It’s difficult to get around the elephant in the room in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, so let’s face the challenge head on. Who is the man of lawlessness, and what is Paul talking about in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17? As an End Times teacher, I realise that when you mention anything to do with End Times, the Antichrist or the book of Revelation, most people start seeing beasts, burning cities, chaos, end times destruction and armageddon!

It’s perhaps appropriate that I am writing this final piece while travelling from Thessalonica to Athens. In the last post, I drew your attention to two passages in 1 Thessalonians. In Chapter 4:11–12 Paul says the following, Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life..