Walking in Sanctification

4 Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and appeal in the Lord Yeshua—just as you received from us the way you ought to walk and please God (as in fact you are walking)—that you keep progressing more and more. ^{[a] 2} For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Yeshua. ³ For this is the will of God—your sanctification:^[b]

to abstain from sexual immorality;

⁴ to know, each of you, how to gain control over his own body^[c] in holiness and honor— ⁵ not in the passion of lust like the pagans who do not know God;

⁶ and not to overstep his brother and take advantage of him in this matter—

because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, as we told you before and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God did not call us to impurity, but in holiness. ⁸ Consequently, the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but God, who gives His Ruach ha-Kodesh to you.

⁹ Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you—for you yourselves are taught by God^[d] to love one another. ¹⁰ In fact, you even practice it toward all your brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to keep progressing more and more ¹¹ and aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, just as we directed you— ¹² so you may behave properly toward outsiders and not have need of anything.

The Shofar Call of Messiah’s Return

¹³ Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, so with Him God will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Yeshua. ^{[e] 15} For this we tell you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede those who are asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of God’s shofar,^[f] and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air—and so we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.