Commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians

Baptist pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon is remembered today as the Prince of Preachers. But in addition to his sermons, he regularly reading a Bible passage before his message and gave a verse-by-verse exposition, rich in gospel insight and wisdom for the Christian life. 


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Sample: 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 

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15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 


We shall have no preference over the saints who are sleeping in Jesus, we shall not go before them, we shall be on a blessed equality with them. 


16, 17. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: 


There shall be shoutings when he comes, as if all the angelic bands lifted up their voices in acclamation, and above them all one voice shall ring out most majestically, the voice of the archangel: and yet above all other sounds a trumpet-call shall thunder forth, most dreadful to the ears of ungodly men. Louder than ten thousand thunders shall it peal o’er earth and sea, and none shall be able to resist the summons. Then, in his descent, the Judge shall pass into the region of the clouds upon a great white throne shall he sit, and every eye shall see him, and they also which crucified him. His coming will be with great pomp of angelic splendor, fit for the state of such a King and for the solemnity of such a day. 


and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: 


Fancy not, beloved, that in heaven they have no emotion but that of joy; we know that all their emotions are joyous, but among them is this one—that they, too, are waiting until the Lord shall again manifest himself, for, in the day of his appearing, those disembodied spirits shall put on their resurrection bodies, changed and made like unto Christ’s glorious body; and, in that day, they shall be united with all the saints who remain upon the earth, for, without them, the glorified spirits above could not be made perfect; that is to say, the Church of God above cannot be perfected as to all its members till those who are still in the world of trial shall be brought home to meet with them, and so the whole Church shall be “for ever with the Lord.” Therefore, if any of you are troubled because you are waiting for the return of your Lord, and he seems long in coming, I remind you that the whole Church of Christ is waiting; the whole twelve tribes of our spiritual Israel are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body,” at the return of our Lord. 


and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 


Whatever ideas we have concerning the details of Christ’s coming, this summing up of the whole matter is unutterably precious to us: “so shall we ever be with the Lord.” There is no separating Christ and his people. If you are one with him, he will not be in heaven and leave you behind; nor will he be glorified in the presence of his Father without making you to be partakers of the glory. What joy there is for us in this blessed truth! 


18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 


The very words it appears were dictated by the Holy Spirit the Comforter, to be repeated by the saints to each other with the view of removing sorrow from the minds of the distressed. The comfort is intended to give us hope in reference to those who have fallen asleep. 


As ye see your brethren and your sisters departing one by one from among you, sorrow not as those that are without hope, but say unto each other, “They are not lost, but they have gone before,” for,” blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.”