A Prayer and a Plea [35:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

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1 Thessalonians 5:23-28 [+/-]1 Thessalonians 5:23-28 [23]Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24]He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. [25]Brothers, pray for us. [26]Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. [27]I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. [28]The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (ESV)

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.  Blessed be His glorious Name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory.” Psalm 72:19-20 [+/-]Psalm 72:19-20 [19]Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen! [20]The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”  Numbers 6:24-26 [+/-]Numbers 6:24-26 [24]The LORD bless you and keep you; [25]the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; [26]the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you blameless before the presence of  His glory with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time, now; and forever.  Amen.”  Jude 24-25 [+/-]Jude 1:24-25 [24]Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, [25]to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (ESV)

Here is your question for today:  what do all three of these and so many more passages like them scattered all over the Bible have in common with the verses that close this letter?  That is right.  They are all benedictions.  And if you studied them you would find that they are all different in wording but remarkably the same in what they desire.  Paul comes to the end of the first letter that he writes to the church in Thessalonica and he does two things.  He prays a prayer, He makes a plea and He prays a prayer.  The prayer frames the plea because what he is asking from them cannot happen and will not happen unless God does it.  The prayer is in the form of a benediction.  The plea is in the form of a proclamation.  It is the benediction that gives shape to the proclamation.

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