Let us look at the epistle as a whole.

A

The patience of hope.

B

Waiting for God's Son.

C  2:19.  Servant's joy at Lord's coming.

D  3:13.

Lord's coming with holy ones (angels).

D  4:15,16.  Lord's coming with shout (archangel).

C  5:2,3.

World's sorrow at Lord's coming.

B  5:8,9.

The hope of salvation.

A

Preserve blameless.

It will be seen by comparing 1:10 with 5:8,9, that deliverance from wrath by

the coming of God's Son from heaven constituted the believer's helmet, 'the

hope of salvation'.  The reader will remember that the aspect is changed in

Ephesians 6 where the helmet is simply 'the helmet of salvation'.  The wrath

that hung over the Acts period was closely associated with the day of the

Lord and with Israel, for we read in 1 Thessalonians 2:16, that 'wrath is

come upon them to the uttermost'.  Those who look at 1 Thessalonians 4 as a

revelation as to their hope should consider this association with 'wrath',

and the archangel's close link with Israel (Dan. 12:1).

The patience of hope in 1:3 is connected with the Thessalonians'

manifest 'election'; the 'preserving blameless' in 5:23 is connected with

their 'calling'.  The reference in verse 23 to the hope of being preserved in

spirit, soul and body blameless at the Coming of the Lord has special

reference to the hope of living and remaining on the earth at that time.

Sanctification is stressed in 4:3 -7, but the sanctification here seems to

include the preservation of the individual, the word 'wholly' being oloteles

-- 'completely whole'.  It has reference to the preservation of 'spirit, and

soul and body', a preservation expressed in 4:17 as being 'alive and

remaining' until the Coming of the Lord.  This hope of living and remaining

until the Coming of the Christ is characteristic of the Acts period; it is

warranted by the testimony of Acts 3:19,20, as well as of Matthew 16:27,28

and other passages.

It has often been taught that chapter 5 indicates that 'times and

seasons' did not belong to the Thessalonians as members of the church, and

that the coming of the Lord for them was unrelated to the day of the Lord or

to any time fulfilment of prophecy.  We must remember this when we turn to

the second epistle, but even in chapter 5 of this epistle we find a very

different reason given by the apostle:

'But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I

write unto you ...' (1 Thess. 5:1).

Why?  Because the hope of the church was unrelated to times and

seasons?  No; rather for the obvious reason given by the apostle:

'For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a

thief in the night' (1 Thess. 5:2).

This does not teach that the Coming of the Lord is to be considered as

a 'secret rapture'.  The passage simply states that, unlike the world,

proclaiming 'peace and safety' with sudden destruction imminent, the church