Shabbat Shalom dear brothers and sisters. We are going to read 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 13 to 20. Not too many verses, but this passage a little bit kind of spoke to me, especially because Shaul Paul spoke so strongly about the way whereby his people, our Jewish people have treated him and ultimately have treated the Messiah at his first coming and even in previous generations, the prophets of old, the Nevi'im that God had raised from among the people of Israel. So, I would like you, with the Lord's help, to seek to present this before you in a balanced way, in a way that it will help us to understand the text, but also to appreciate what the Apostle Paul, that is Shaul, have experienced in his life as a believer in Yeshua, in Jesus the Messiah.

So, please follow him with me. I am reading 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. Shaul Paul is writing to the brothers and sisters in a local assembly in the city of Thessalonica. And he continued to write them as he was writing this letter. And he said to them, "Now, for this cause, also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became followers of the assemblies of God, which in Judea are in the Messiah Jesus.

For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews. Who both killed the Lord Yeshua, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sin always. For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time, in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire, Wherefore we would have come unto you, wherefore we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing, are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ, at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy. Here I am going to stop with the reading today. I am dealing with the Lord's help, beloved brothers and sisters, with this kind of text that is speaking to me as a Jewish man, when the Apostle Paul is writing in a very strong language to the believers at Thessalonica about his own people, the people of Israel, the Jewish people. And so it is a very convicting passage, and yet it is very important to understand, beloved brothers and sisters, that when we are talking and when we see God dealing with the people of Israel, with our own nation, we have to always bear in mind that it is the very same God who has chosen the nation of Israel, who has brought them into a relationship with him, and yet he presents before the whole world Israel's dirty laundry.

None of us would like to have our dirty laundry presented before everyone in this world. And here God, who raised Shaul Paul to be his servant, give us this presentation that Shaul is presenting before the brothers and sisters of the local assembly in Thessalonica. You see, we have to understand when we read a text like that, that should that text was written about any other nation in the world, whether it is any national company, group of people around the world, you will find out the same condition that prevails in the human heart, in the human race. But God presenting the truth before humanity. He is not hiding the good things, neither will he hide the things which are not good, the bad things.

He presents before us the men and women of God, in the history of the people of Israel who walked with God and thought about God and lived for God and suffered for God. But he also presents the truth concerning those among the people of Israel who did not obey the Lord, who failed to submit to the Lord, who disobeyed the Lord. God presents before us the whole truth about his beloved nation, the nation of Israel. So just imagine, here's the Apostle Paul. By now when he writes this letter to the Thessalonians, he is in Corinth. He, if you remember, according to Acts chapter 17, he was in the city of Thessalonica for a very, very short time.

He was there for three Shabbat days. The first Shabbat he presented the Mashiach's suffering. The second Shabbat he presented the Messiah's resurrection. And the third Shabbat he presented the fact that this Yeshua, Jesus, is that promised Messiah. So from among these Jewish community in the synagogue, in the city of Thessalonica, many became believers in the Lord Jesus, in Yeshua the Messiah. Jewish people first. Then there were those who came from among the Gentiles who were accepted. And there were many women and others that have accepted the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. A local assembly was formed. Congregation of believers, just like you and I.

Jewish people, Gentiles, men, women, boys and girls. And they formed the local assembly of the city of Thessalonica. They were young believers or young in the faith. They didn't know much. Most of us are here 5 years, 10 years, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 years in the faith. They were very short time in the faith. And the Apostle Paul is writing this letter to encourage them and to seek to minister unto their hearts, to build them up in the things of the Lord. In a previous meeting, if you remember the first 12 verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul presented himself as a shepherd who cared for them. As a faithful servant. As a loving mother, Emma.

As a caring father, Abba. He presented himself before the Thessalonians. He says, listen, you know very well how we behaved in the midst of you. We were faithful serving you. We were treating you like a nursing mother. We took care of you. And not only so, we also behaved as a father, care and instructing his own people. We did so, beloved brothers and sisters of the city of Thessalonica. So, Paul had a burden for these Thessalonians young in the faith. And he had much concern for them. And so, now in these last verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 13 to 20, the Apostle Paul shows to the Thessalonians, believers that is, that they are his joy.

They gave him joy. Notice the last verse of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. He said, for ye are our glory and joy. The word for glory is kavod in Hebrew. And the word for joy is simcha. You give us joy. The glory, anything that we are going to gain from the Lord as a reward will be because there was an effect in your life. When we preach to you the word, you have accepted the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and you have embraced him as your Lord and Savior. So, three things I would like to mention here from this passage in this ministry. The first one that Apostle Paul shows us that the Thessalonians received God's word as it is indeed the truth that is existing today here in this world.

Secondly, they became imitators. Paul is saying, listen, these believers in Thessalonica became imitators. They became followers of the Jewish believers that had become part of the body of Messiah in Judea, in Jerusalem. And thirdly, the Apostle Paul says, I'm telling you, dear brothers and sisters, I have concern for all of you who became believers in Jesus, in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So, let's go over those verses, verses 13 to verse 20. The first thing, beloved brothers and sisters, we notice, and I believe it is fundamental. The Thessalonians became believers and they embraced God's word as it is indeed the only truth that existed here in the face of this world.

It says in verse 13 for this cause, we also thank God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which affectionately works also in you that believe. In other words, brothers and sisters, and listen to this, in listening to many teachers about this passage, verse 13 was prominent here in this second chapter of 1 Thessalonians. Almost all those who taught on this passage have mentioned how important for people to understand that this book that we have in our hand, it is indeed the word of God.

If it is not the word of God, we are just meeting as a club, and we are just meeting to find out some thoughts that I have and maybe another person have, and we have opinion of men, and then we have our own ideas and our own thoughts, and everyone has his or her view on certain things. In other words, the Thessalonians, the Thessalonians, the Thessalonians have accepted the preaching of the apostle Paul to them, as it is indeed the word of God. Paul came to Thessalonians, the Thessalonians. Paul came to Thessalonians. Paul came to Thessalonica. He opened the Old Testament scripture. You remember, they didn't have the Brit HaChadasha yet, the New Testament.

He opened the Tanach, the Old Testament scripture, and he presented our blessed Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, from the Old Testament, from the Tanach. Indeed, it is a preaching of the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, from the Old Testament, from the Tanach. Of course, the New Testament, the Brit HaChadasha came later on, and all the history of the apostle Paul preaching from assembly to assembly, from city to city, and the letters that he wrote. And we have now the complete canon of scripture. The gospels, the epistles, and so on, including the book of the Revelation, which was written at about 90 AD. We are here at about 52 AD.

We don't have the whole canon of scripture when the apostle Paul was preaching and writing this letter to the Thessalonians. But when he preached, when he presented the message of the word of God, as it says here in verse 13, he said, For this cause also we thank God, without ceasing. Why? Here's the reason. Because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye receive it not as the word of men, but ye receive it as in truth the word of God. Now, brothers and sisters, this is why we are, on an ongoing basis, preach the word of God. The word of God gives us instruction.

The word of God tells us how the creation came to be. It was not an evolution, but it is indeed, God says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is the creator of the universe. We also present the word of God that God created Adam and Eve. He took out of the dust of the earth, he created men, and then he put him to sleep, and out of his rib he formed a woman, Isha, Chava. We know this only from the word of God. We didn't come out of monkeys. We didn't have any, some sort of an origin that was not according to the word of God.

We are people that have been created in the image and likeness of God. God who created all things, he created men, he formed a woman, and from then on men came into this world, and the world was, you must say, developed. God created the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon and the stars, all were given to us by God. Where do we find it? We find it in the word of God. God. But we also, beloved brothers and sisters, read in the word of God that we fail into sin. You remember what happened in the garden of Eden? Gan Eden, we say in Hebrew.

Where God placed Adam and Eve in this garden of Eden. And what happened in the garden of Eden? Eve was beguiled by Satan. Adam disobeyed the word of God. And the sin condition began by Adam's disobedience. And so the word of God declared that all have sinned and came short of the glory of God. God looked from heaven as David, Melech Israel, the king of Israel said. He looked from above to see if there is anyone that does good. There was not even one. All have gone astray. All have disobeyed God, including you and I. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

That's what the Bible declared. That's what the word of God declared. And so the apostle Paul is saying to the Thessalonians. He says, brethren, I remember when I came to Thessalonica. And I remember when you have heard. Listen to the word. Notice, first of all, he said that when ye received the word of God, which ye heard. You remember what Paul says elsewhere in Romans 10, 17. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It is the word of God that our apostle Paul is emphasizing here. When ye heard it, we didn't hear it as if it is the word of man and human opinion.

But as he said, as it is in truth, the word of God. This is God's word, beloved brothers and sisters. What we have in our hands in the apostle Paul is so strongly emphasizing the word of God. Sometimes people don't realize that. They don't realize that they say, you know what? I'm not sure if it is the word of God, really. It is an opinion of Paul or an opinion of Peter or maybe Moshe, Moses opinion or Joshua and so on. And is it really the word of God? And they start to doubt. Like Eve doubted when Satan said to her, hath God said? And he put a doubt in her heart.

Not really. He didn't quite say you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's how sin came into this world. And so the apostle Paul is saying, listen, you received it after you heard the message. And you did not receive it as if it is an opinion of a man, but as it is in truth, the word of God. And you know what? For that word of God, many people in Jewish history have lost their life to sustain the word of God. So you and I will have it in our hands. Look at the history of our people Israel.

How many of our own people throughout history were carrying the Bible when they were persecuted by nations around so that Torah will be preserved and maintained. And how many, not only in the history of our own nation Israel, but in the history of the believers in the body of Messiah, who preserved for us that word of God that was given by divine inspiration. Peter said many years ago to the Jewish believers to whom he wrote, he said, "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God." Everything that we have in our own hands is given by divine inspiration, beloved brothers and sisters.

Look what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy when he wrote to Timothy in the letters that he said to them in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by the inspiration of God." And it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God, or the woman of God we can add, may be perfect or mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. The word of God was divinely inspired. It was given to us not by men, men was used to write it, but it was given to us by divine inspiration. And I just want to highlight one more thing here in connection with this verse.

You notice what Paul says in verse 13 once again. He says here, "When ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God." Turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 17 with me. Listen to what we read there in verse 17. Yeshua was speaking to God the Father. And he was saying to him in his high priestly prayer. He says, "Sanctify them through thy truth." And then he continues, "Thy word is truth." Elsewhere in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul said, "Let God be true and every man a liar." What the Apostle Paul is seeking to do here, he is telling to these Thessalonians, "Listen, you received the word of God." As it is indeed the truth that came from God.

Sometimes the Bible is presenting the word of God as a fire. Jeremiah 23 and verse 29. Thy word is like a fire. Then later on we find out that Jeremiah says, "Thy word is not only like a fire, but like a hammer." The word of God is hammering and speaking to us and quickening us and challenging us. James says that the word of God is like a mirror. It shows us the reality of our hearts. While everybody else don't see, the word of God revealed to us the true heart condition. James teaches us this in James chapter 1 and verse 23. The Lord himself said in Luke 8 and verse 11 that the word of God is like a seed that is sown.

And when we preach the word, it's like sowing a seed. And the Lord by his Spirit bring the growth that is coming out of the ground. The psalmist of Israel in Psalm 119 and verse 105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." The Hebrew word for lamp is ner. It's like a candle. And when you take the nail, you take the candle at night time, you are able to see your way around. And we live in a dark period of time in church history. And we live in a time in which we need the help of the Lord through his word.

A lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. The writer to the Hebrew believers said in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12 that the word of God is alive and it is powerful and it is sharper than two-edged sword. The word of God is able to divide asunder. The word of God is cutting in a straight line, is able to divide asunder. And of course, we know very well that the word of God is applied also to the person of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, of whom we read in John 1, "In the beginning was the word." The "Mimra," the Logos in the Greek, the "Mimra" in Hebrew.

And the word was with God. And the word was God. All things were made by him. And without him nothing was made which was made. In him was life. And the life was the light of men. And we read in John 1:14, "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father." The word of God, beloved brothers and sisters, is essential to accept, to embrace. We might not understand everything about the word of God. We might have some issues that we don't understand. So we should ask the Lord to help us.

But we can never say, "No, no, no, no, no, this is not the word of God. This is the word of man." Because the moment that we reject the word of God. We are placing ourselves above God. And we are placing ourselves in a judgment that God would bring upon all those that rejected his word. Faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. "Dvar ha-Elohim." "Dvar ha-Elohim." We read in the Hebrew text. And so how precious it is for us as to see these Thessalonians. They receive the word. And they receive it as it is indeed the truth that came from God.

I don't understand certain things about the word of God. I don't understand the triunity clearly. I don't understand the divine nature of the Messiah clearly. I don't understand the divine nature and his humanity clearly. But the word of God teaches it. There are many things we don't quite grasp. But we cannot deny that this is indeed the word of God. And therefore, the Apostle Paul had such a joy in his heart. He said, "Listen, for this cause also we thank God." You know, how thankful we can be when we can hear of someone who has accepted the word of God. We just heard earlier that a daughter or granddaughter of our dear sister has accepted the Lord and began to weep when she shared with her the gospel.

She realized, "I'm a sinner. I need forgiveness of sins." "Who will forgive my sins? How will my sins be atoned for?" And it is through the person of Yeshua, the Messiah, who said, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." And he came down from heaven and he gave his life a ransom for many when he died for us on the tree. And so, verse 13 is a very important verse. One can speak about it the whole meeting just to speak about this verse 13 or 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. So, the Apostle continued in his letter. And now in verses 14 and 15 and 16. These are very, very difficult verses for us who are Jewish to even read that.

Because first of all, the Apostle Paul says here in verse 14a that these Thessalonians who became believers in Yeshua the Messiah, they suffered from their own countrymen. Notice he said in verse 14, "For ye, brethren, became followers of the assemblies of God, which in Judea are in the Messiah Jesus, in Christ Jesus, for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." Now again, the Thessalonians, most of them later on became, as they grew in number, they became a larger assembly of believers. The vast majority of them were non-Jews. They were Gentiles. They were goyim. But they became believers.

They were brethren. He called them achim, brethren, in verse 14a. But you see what happened when they became believers? Immediately, they have suffered persecution from their very own people. The very own people whom they came out from, they suffered persecution by their own people, by their own nation. And no wonder a time, those of us that come from many countries, many nations, from the islands, from Russia, from many other countries, even in the United States, and Canada, and other nations, you're experiencing, the moment you became a believer in Yeshua, you're experiencing persecution. Misunderstanding and rejection. That only shows us that something is going on in your life.

That you are serving the Lord, that you're living for the Lord, that you're speaking for the Lord Yeshua, for the Lord Jesus. When you experience by your own countrymen persecution, as it says here in verse 14a, suffering because of the name of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, when you experience this, it doesn't mean you have done necessarily something wrong. It means that you take side with a rejected Mashiach. Jesus was rejected. Yeshua was despised. Well, if you and I are going to follow him, we will experience somewhat of the same thing. In a small measure, of course. And so the apostle Paul is saying to them in verse 14, the first part, they, the Thessalonians, they suffered persecution of their own countrymen.

He used that expression. You have suffered like things of your own countrymen. Many men. In the case of a Thessalonian, they lived in the city of Thessalonica, and they suffered from their own nation and their own people. But in verse 14b, and verse 15, and verse 16, the apostle Paul said, kind of a little bit of, you might say, you might think it is very harsh things about our own Jewish people, about his own people. And he says, notice as he says, first of all, in verse 14b, even as they, namely the believers in Judea, in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers, they have suffered of the Jewish people who lived in Judea, in Jerusalem, in the area.

And you know very well, beloved brothers and sisters, let me remind you, that when the body of Messiah had began in Acts chapter 2, in Acts chapter 2, already immediately then, those early Hebrew believers, Hebrew Christian, Messianic Jews, have experienced persecution. You remember how the apostle Peter was preaching publicly there. And how, as he was preaching to the rest of the nation of Israel, he was presenting the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. And as he was presenting the person of the Messiah, he and the rest of the brethren have experienced some persecutions in the early days. Let's just go back for a moment to the book of Acts with me.

Acts chapter 2. Look what we read there. The apostles, those early Jewish brethren of ours, who have accepted the fact that Yeshua the Messiah came, and that he is indeed the Messiah himself. We read how Peter was preaching, and he presenting before the nation of Israel, the truth concerning the person of Yeshua, Jesus. He said in verse 22, He says, Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Yeshua of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourself also know. And notice what he says about the very strong words, Peter said, Him being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken, and by wicked hand have crucified and slain.

Now you notice Peter, you say, Wait a minute, Peter. You know very well that it's not the Jewish people that have taken and slain Yeshua, the Messiah, and killed him on the cross. It was the Romans who crucified him. But you see, there is a guilt, there is a responsibility that Israel as a nation had. Israel should have accepted the fact that Yeshua is the Messiah. But instead of embracing him as the Mashiach, Israel, our own nation, and if you and I would have been there, we would have done the same thing. Israel did not accept him. They rejected his Messiahship. They said, We will not have this man to rule over us.

And that become a mark upon the nation of Israel, who did not accept the Messiah at his first coming, and rejected him, and ultimately allowed the Romans pilot Pilatos to take him, and to hang him on the Roman cross. But they had a responsibility, beloved brothers and sisters. And because of this responsibility that they have had, people throughout the ages have experienced themselves persecution, and the disciplinary action of the God who loved them, and sought to bring them to himself. And so in Acts chapter 2, we read of the fact that Peter, without fear, can you imagine to say, ye have taken by wicked hand, and have crucified and slain.

But you notice the first part of verse 23, in Acts chapter 2, he says, he being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. It was in the plan of God. God, in the foreknowledge of his wisdom, he knew that he must send the Mashiach, the Messiah, to this earth. And that the Messiah will be rejected and despised by men. And ultimately he will become a substitution, the just one for the unjust, in order to bring us to God. And so it was in the foreknowledge of God. It didn't catch God by surprise, beloved brothers and sisters. God knew that. Isaiah predicted that. The Psalmist of Israel knew that ahead of time.

Psalm 22, Isaiah 53. When a Messiah will come in his first coming, he will not be accepted, but he will be rejected. It was in the foreknowledge of God. This is the sovereignty of God. But when it's come to man's responsibility, Peter said to them, ye have taken him by wicked hand, and you have crucified and slain. We know again, I'm putting this mark here. We know that the Jewish people did not crucify the Lord. It was the Romans who put him on a cross. But the people of Israel, we were part in a sense of our guilt by virtue of the fact that we said, we will not have this man to rule over us.

Turn to Acts chapter 7. Stephen was the first martyr. The first Hebrew martyr. He was a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah. And look what he had said in Acts chapter 7. Verse 42. Verse 42. He said at the end of his speaking to the people of Israel, then God turned and he gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. Oh, house of Israel. Have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of 40 years in the wilderness? And I'm jumping to verse 51. Stephen said to our own nation at that time, he said, Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.

Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? You see, beloved brothers and sisters, it is, again, these men, these Jewish men. They loved their brethren. They loved the nation of Israel. But they spoke the truth to them in a loving way. They never had intention to produce an anti-Semitical views. The opposite. They loved their brethren and they sought the blessing of their own brethren. Notice in chapter 8 of the book of Acts. Even Shaul himself, whose diaspora name is Paul, who became the apostle to the uncircumcision, to the Gentiles. He looks back in his history and he knows his own heart.

Notice in chapter 8 and verse 1. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the assembly which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostle. Those early believers, Jewish believers in the city of Jerusalem that were scattered abroad in Yehudah and in Shomron, Judah and Samaria, because of their persecution from their own brethren. Shaul himself, who is now the apostle to the Gentiles, he himself was participating in that. And he is looking back. And he realized that he was part of it. He knew that he was guilty in doing it himself.

He is not an anti-Israel, but he presents the truth as it is indeed happening in history. Look at chapter 9 of the book of Acts, please, dear brothers and sisters. It says in chapter 9 of the book of Acts, it says: "And Shaul, yet breathing out threatening, and slaughtered against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, desire of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogue, that if he found any of this way." Remember the word, "Haderech," "Haderech azot." "Whether they were men or women, that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem." And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus. And suddenly there shined around him a light from heaven.

And he fell on the earth, and he heard a voice saying unto him, Shaul, Shaul, why persecutest thou me?" "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Shaul, Paul, who persecuted the Jewish brethren of his, finally was met by the Messiah, the glorified Messiah who said, "Shaul, Shaul, why do you persecute me?" And it was then when Shaul had accepted Yeshua, the Messiah, and he became an apostle, a shaliach to the goyim, to the nations of the world, including the people of Thessalonica. And so, he's writing to them and he showed them how sad they have behaved. So, the Thessalonians have experienced persecution from their own people.

Like the Jewish believers in Judea experienced persecution by their own people. And like you and I, beloved brothers and sisters, at times, have been misunderstood by our own families, our own people whom we love so much, because of the fact that we belong to Yeshua, to Jesus. He saved us. He washed our sins away. He paid the price for our redemption. And the Apostle is so vividly present here this before the brothers and sisters of Thessalonica. So, after in verses 14a and 14b, the Apostle Paul pointing to this, he remembered this very well in history when he wrote these letters to the brethren. Whenever he wrote, he always looked back at his very own history, how he had been himself participating in the persecution of his own brethren.

I want to read one more verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, please. Verses 8 and 9. Paul is speaking about the resurrection. And at the resurrection of the Messiah, when Yeshua rose from among the dead, and he said to the Corinthians, listen, I have seen the Lord. I have seen the risen Lord. And so in verses 8 and 9, we read, Paul says, And last of all, he, this is Yeshua, Jesus, he was seen of me. Also as of one born out of due time. But then notice what he says in verse 9. He says, I am the least of the apostles. Paul, I thought you were the greatest of the apostles.

And I might say to him, Paul says, no, he says, no, I am the least of the apostles. Why? And he gives us an answer that I, he said, I'm not meant to be called an apostle. And the reason for this is because I have persecuted the assembly, the church, the ecclesia, the people of God. I know that for my own personal experience, Shaul Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 9, I am the one that is guilty in persecuting my own brethren. He never persecuted Gentile believers, but he always persecuted Jewish believers. And he knew that in his own heart. So just like the Thessalonians never experienced persecution from their own countrymen, like the people of Judah will experience persecution by their own brethren.

Brothers and sisters, today in many nations, the believers in Jesus and Yeshua experience persecution. I don't have to tell you what probably is going on in Syria, in Iraq, in Iran, and in many of these countries, they do not give the liberty for believers, for true believers to gather around the Lord, to read their Bible, to speak about Jesus, the only way of salvation. No, but what they do, they persecute the believers in many, many places. And so now, brothers and sisters, in verse 15 and verse 16, Paul is saying very strong word about his own brethren, his own people, the Jewish people. And the truth of the matter is I read these verses.

It's not the kind of verses that are easy for us as Jewish people to read. And notice what he says in verse 15. He says, "Who both killed the Lord Yeshua, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, fill up their sins always. For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." Boy, if you ask any Jewish believer, ask him, "Would you like to read those verses?" He'll tell you, "No, I'm sorry, I don't like to read those verses." And unfortunately, throughout church history, many use these kind of passages to instigate anti-Semitic views, to instigate hatred towards the Jewish people, because after all, these verses come out of the Bible.

It is the Word of God. It is in the Brit HaChadasha in the New Testament. It was said by the Apostle who was divinely inspired, who wrote so many letters, who was instructing the church of the nations around. After all, if he wrote it and if he said it, let us then rise up and develop an anti-Semitic and hatred towards the Jewish people. But you never find this in the heart of the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul stated history of our own people. And he presented before these believers in Thessalonica, he presented before them the history of our own people. Much failure in our history.

Favored nation. Chosen people of God. And yet we have to admit, there is much failure in the history of our people. And again, I would like to say these beloved brothers and sisters, had it been any other nation, name it any name, any country, any people, any nation, it will be the very same thing. And because the record of the scriptures, the laundry, you might say, is written in the Bible about Israel. That's why we read it. And if we are not careful, we can develop that which Satan wants us to develop, anti-Semitic views and hatred toward the Jewish people, forgetting that the Jewish people gave us the Bible, gave us the Messiah, gave us the prophets, gave us the apostles, gave us the New Testament.

It's written by Jewish people. And therefore, we have to be extremely, extremely careful. But if you look at history, it says here, first of all, in verse 15, they killed the Lord Yeshua. Well, they didn't, but they rejected Him. And by rejecting the Mashiach Yeshua as a nation, they participated in the death of the Messiah. And then later on, he says, and their own prophets. And when you look at the history of our own prophets, how many a time God has sent prophets, saying to Israel, turn around, come back to me, and I will bless you. And many times, our nation did not submit to the word of the prophet.

In fact, the whole Old Testament, the Tanakh, is ending in 2 Chronicles. And I want you to turn to 2 Chronicles for a moment, and notice what the conclusion of the whole Old Testament, or the last things that have happened in the history of our people Israel. In the book of 2 Chronicles, the last chapter 36, in Hebrew we call Chronicles, divrei hayamim, the words of those days, and the days that have gone by. And so we read, in verse 12, and he did, this is Tzedakiah the king, he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, his God. And he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord.

And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God, but he stiffed his neck, and he hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. Moreover, all the chief of the priests, and the people transgressed very much after all the abomination of the heathen. And they polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. Can you imagine? Instead of submitting to the authority of God, they have allowed the pollution of the Gentile idols to pollute the temple of God in the city of Jerusalem. And so we read that God came, you might say, to a period of time that he had to judge them.

He had to discipline his people. And so we read in verse 15, And the Lord God of their fathers sent unto them his messengers, rising up bedtime, and sending, and because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place, this is Beit HaMikdash in Jerusalem. But they mocked the messengers of God. They despised his words. And they misused his prophets until, until what? Until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. No more. That's it. And then he came in judgment. And we read in verse 17, And he brought upon them the king of the Chaladins. This is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon the young men and maiden, old men, or him that is stupid for age.

He gave them all into his hand. All the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of the princes, all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and they broke down the wall in Jerusalem, and they burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword, he carried them away unto Babel. Sad, sad commentary. And in Babel, they sung that song, which I always repeat many times, by the rivers of Babylon. There we sat down and we wept, as we remember Zion.

There those that took us captive said unto us, "Sing unto us one of Zion's songs." And they said, "How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" And it was there they realized their sins and disobedience, and they said, "If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I will not set up Jerusalem above my chiefest joys." They sang that song, "If I forget Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." Brothers and sisters, Paul was divinely inspired to write these things, not in order to produce anti-Semitic views, not at all, but to show us the condition of the people throughout history.

And that really represents the human nature, the sinful human nature that we all have. It reminds me of Cain and Abel, long before Israel as a nation was called, long before the church was born. Cain, out of jealousy for his own brother Abel, he went and he murdered his very own brother. And throughout the history of humanity, there is something in the human heart that is against God, and against His word, and against the people of God. And that's why God said that we need to turn to Him and accept Him and embrace the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah as our Lord and as our Savior.

So Paul in verse 16 of 1 Thessalonians 2, he's giving, you might say, a sad commentary about our own nation Israel. Verse 16, "To speak to the Gentiles, to the Goyim, that they might be saved." "To fill up," notice that, "To fill up their sins always, for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." What is that wrath? That wrath is the Hebrew word, "Cheyma." "Cheyma" is the wrath of God. The wrath of God, which will bring about His judgment upon even His own nation, the nation of Israel, and also upon the rest of the nations of the world. And so the judgment of God have come. And if you remember, when the early believers had been persecuted by their own brethren, after the Messiah died and rose and went to heaven, after the Holy Spirit of God came and formed the body of Messiah, the body of Christ, then you know what happened in 70 A.D.

It was Titus who came. The Roman army came. The same Romans who actually put Yeshua the Messiah on the cross, on the tree. It was the same nation that came later on in 70 A.D. and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem on the 9th of Av. The same date, the same time that the time when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C. And when the temple was destroyed, the Romans killed 1,100,000 of our own Jewish people and tens of thousands they took them as slaves. As we read here, notice that, "For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." God has to judge and He judged the nation.

He disciplined. And if you will ask any of the rabbinical Jewish people you know the reason that our temple was destroyed is because we had disobeyed God. They will not, of course, apply it to the Mashiach, to Yeshua. We understand it from the Brit HaChadasha. But they will say, "This is because we violated the word of God." The same thing historically when Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the temple, I tell you, we know it. 2 Chronicles tells us this. Because we violated the word of God. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, verse 13 of 1 Thessalonians 2, the Thessalonians received the word of God in truth as it was indeed the truth of God.

Then, verses 14, 15, and 16, they became imitators, they became followers of their own Jewish brethren who have experienced persecution by their own people. The Jews experienced persecution by their own brethren. The Gentiles have experienced persecution by their own brethren. Both of them were believers in Yeshua the Messiah but experienced persecution. Now, finally, the last verses of 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 17, 18, 19, and 20, look at the concern that Shaul Paul had for these believers. And I'm going to read it very quickly. Notice what he says here in verse 17, "But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your faith with great desire, wherefore we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hinder us.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus the Messiah at his coming? For ye are our glory and our joy." Secondly, the Apostle Paul is saying in these last four verses, "You know Thessalonians, we wanted to come to you again and again and again, but Satan opposed it. Satan hindered me to come to see you again. I really wanted to see your face, but I couldn't because I was hindered. There was opposition that Paul had experienced." And he said, "But I want you to know, brethren, I want you to know, you know what?

You are our hope. You are our joy. And you are our crown of rejoicing. You are our glory and our joy." Paul says, "You know, when we see you going on for the Lord, when we see you walking in the light of the truth of the Word of God, it gives us joy." It gives us hope that God is working in the midst of the people and there were people who were led to the Messiah and people become children of God. And one day when the Lord is going to come, notice he said in verse 19, "At his coming." Yeshua is coming again. He is going to rule and reign over this world.

When he is coming again, he is going to display all what he worked out in the life of God's people. And he is going to display it before this world that rejected him, that rejected the people of God. He is going to be the one that is going to display them. And for Shaul Paul, the believers at Thessalonica were his joy and also his glory. He loved them and he cared for them and he wrote to them this letter to encourage them in their life as they follow the Lord. And brothers and sisters, please bear with me and forgive me that I took the time a little bit longer to deal with verses 15 and 16, but these are very important.

I hope that you and I will learn a lesson. We are to love Israel. We are to love our Jewish people. We are to minister to them the truth of the Gospel. We are never to allow anybody to instigate anti-Semitic views. The opposite. We are to stir among Christians, among people, a burden and concern for the people of Israel because God has a plan for them and he is going to restore Israel once in the future and he is going to use them to be a light to the nations of the world in a coming day. We pray that the Lord will hasten this day and Israel will become a nation, a redeemed nation that will follow Yeshua and be Or Lagoim, a light to the nations of the world.