Disciples Global Network

Considering the future arrival of Jesus, Paul summons the church to become sanctified completely by that day  – 1 Thessalonians 5:23.  Paul concludes his first letter to the Thessalonians with a series of exhortations calling on disciples of Jesus to pursue righteous living in the interim between their conversion and his “ arrival ” from heaven, and he ends by summoning them to complete sanctification, an exhortation with verbal links to the preceding sections of the letter.

Jesus is the “slain Lamb,” the true Messiah of Israel sent by God to redeem humanity and “shepherd” the nations .  The Book of Revelation is addressed to the “ churches of Asia ” and begins with salutations from God, the “ seven spirits that are before His throne ,” and especially from Jesus Christ, the “ faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth .” These labels not only establish his royal “credentials,” but point to how he obtained sovereignty over the earth.