“We would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us” (1 Thess. 2:18).
There are professing Christians who doubt the existence of a personal devil, and some true Christians sincerely believe that during this present age Satan is shut away as in Revelation 20:3. I have to disagree. I note that both James (4:7) and Peter (1 Pet. 5:9) instruct me to resist the devil, and that John, while stating that the Son of God was manifested to destroy his works, yet closes his first epistle with: “We know that…the whole world is in the power of the evil one” (1 Jn. 5.19).
From time to time Paul makes references to this evil entity called Satan. This confession, however, is a startling one: “Satan stopped me!” We know Satan as the tempter (1 Thess. 3:5) and the accuser (Rev. 12:10) and are not surprised to have him described as the hinderer. But we do not expect him to be successful with God’s people, least of all in the case of Christ’s chosen apostle. But Paul’s statement is clear. Paul most earnestly wished to revisit Thessalonica and felt sincerely that such a visit was a spiritual necessity for the church there. Nevertheless he failed to go.
It is possible that on his third missionary journey Paul was able to call in on the Thessalonians, but as this is not recorded, we are left with the stark proposition that this satanic obstacle was never overcome. We are just left with the scripture stating that Satan was able to stop Paul from making that journey.
It would be easy to opine that since God overrules all Satan’s activities, this hindrance was similar to the time when the Spirit of Jesus prevented Paul from journeying into Asia (Acts 16:7), but there is no such indication here. What can we say? Instead of embarking on some speculative explanation, I find it more inspiring to offset this problem by discovering what Satan could not do.
He Could Not Stop Prayer
In almost the same breath with which the apostle reported this setback, he went on to describe his own reactions: “For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; night and day praying exceedingly…” (1 Thess. 3:9-10). It is the devil’s aim to stop prayer, but we thank God that he cannot. If we will, we can go on praying, as Paul certainly did. In the Old Testament we read how Satan did his utmost to hinder Daniel’s intercessions, but he completely failed (Dan. 6). In the New Testament we read how he used Herod’s cruelty to dishearten the Jerusalem church, but he only succeeded in driving them to increased prayer (Acts 12:5).
Satan can and does stifle prayer, but when that happens the fault is not with him but with us. We are the ones who stop. We may do so because there seems to be no sign of an answer from God and we succumb to our own feeling that we are lacking in faith. Actually faith has nothing to do with feelings but everything to do with the character of our God. I imagine that Paul felt deeply disappointed at the repeated satanic hindrances. He tells us that he could no longer bear it (3:1, 5), so he took some action, but most of all he kept on praying. Satan could keep him from journeying to Thessalonica, but he could not keep him from the Throne of Grace.
He cannot stop us either. Sometimes we may feel quite dead about a matter, with no optimism, like the psalmist who had to confess that his soul was cast down and disquieted within him. But that is the very time to pray. I have found it so, and seen gracious answers to prayers which I would hardly dare to claim as prayers of faith. The psalmist clearly realized that before he could talk to God he must speak quite firmly to himself, insisting that his feelings had nothing to do with sheer faith and that the time for praising would come if he hoped in his God (Ps. 42:5, 11; 43:5). “Pray without ceasing” Paul urged these Thessalonian friends (5:17), not meaning that we should do nothing else–far from it, but that we should never give up. In that realm we can be unstoppable.
He Could Not Stop Spiritual Growth
This is a heartening epistle. Many of Paul’s letters had to do with urging the saints to change their ways, but in this case he simply pressed them to keep going on, using the phrase, “more and more.” Clearly they were growing spiritually all the time. With regard to pleasing God, he told them to proceed “just as you are doing” (4:1). When it comes to love of the brethren he says: “Indeed you do, but do so more and more” (4:10), and later he writes: “encourage and build one another up, just as in fact you are doing” (5:11). Satan could stop Paul from visiting them, but he could not stop their spiritual growth.
i) A substitute: They were growing spiritually in spite of the fact that they did not have the rich ministry they wished for. Paul perhaps may be forgiven if he imagined that their growth depended on his teaching of them, but he was spiritual enough to recognize that this was not so. 2 Thessalonians opens with the words: “We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, because your faith is growing abundantly and your love increasing,” though he himself had not been there to instruct them. They grew although they only had a substitute, the young Timothy, to preach to them. One can imagine one saint asking another if Paul was going to preach, and getting the answer: “Oh no! It’s just Timothy again!”
Well, praise God, Satan evidently could not stop Timothy from going, and in any case he could not stop the saints from growing, even if their favorite preacher was not there. He was powerless to hinder their growth in Christ, provided they fed on the Word. If we cease to grow spiritually, we must not blame others and we cannot attribute our failure alone to Satan, for in this matter he can only operate if he finds some basis in us on which to work. Growth is not automatic. Paul evidently had some concern about them, and that is why he sent Timothy (1 Thess. 3:5). Happily Timothy brought back a good report which quieted the apostle’s fears. Their faith and love were strong and always growing. In that matter they were unstoppable.
ii) Internal problems: Of course they had their problems. Every church does. And Satan does his utmost to exaggerate them. To their perplexity and sorrow, some of their number had failed to experience healing from their sickness and had died–perhaps it might have seemed prematurely (4:13). Witnessing, a matter of prime importance, can bring its problems. The apostle had to curb exaggerated behavior by reminding them of his instructions “to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own business and to work with your hands” (4:11). And they were in danger of being shaken in mind and excited by plausible teaching not authorized by scriptural truth (2 Thess. 2:1-2). Happily Satan’s attempts to weaken and divide them by means of these problems failed; faith and love triumphed and enabled them to make progress together in the will of God.
iii) External pressures: Satan is the god of this world. He is the fierce antagonist of Christ and His Church. The Lord Jesus foresaw and warned of this, and from the first the Thessalonians found that they were involved in the bitter conflict which comes to those who receive and obey the gospel (1 Thess. 2:14-15). Yet they grew in grace.
It is surely a fact that of all the seven churches to which Paul wrote, the Thessalonians are singled out by him as being victims of aggressive satanic attacks. Both of their two letters stress this element of wicked persecution. It is most significant that, at the same time, this is the church most commended for its steadfastness and growth. Paul boasted of them to other churches (2 Thess. 1:4). In some strange way, Satan not only could not hinder their growth, but rather contributed to it. It seems like a New Testament paralleled to the Old Testament record of Israel in Egypt: “The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied” (Ex. 1:12).
In his closing words of the first letter, Paul urged the saints in Thessalonica always to rejoice and to give thanks in everything (5:16, 18). We notice that he wrote “in everything,” and not “for everything.” He lived up to his own teaching. In one brief sentence he voiced his personal disappointment at being stopped by Satan, but again and again he kept on expressing his delight in their turning Satan’s trials into faith’s triumphs. His own spirit was quickened. “We live, if you stand fast in the Lord” he affirmed. “How can we thank God enough…?” (3:8-9).
He Could Not Stop the Written Word
We have surprisingly little of Paul’s spoken messages, but we have a rich collection of what he wrote. No doubt at that time it may have seemed to him a matter of great importance that he should journey to Thessalonica. In the outcome, however, it was infinitely more important that he should write these two epistles to them–and us. It is not difficult for us to perceive that behind the activities of the hinderer we have the master-stroke of God.
Perhaps the Thessalonians felt that it was a pity that they should be deprived of Paul’s presence and have to be content to have only a letter! But what a letter! It has traveled all over the world. It has endured through the centuries. It has been translated into hundreds of languages. God just laughed in derision at Satan’s futile hindrance of His apostle and made it the occasion of a vital communication to His whole Church about His Day of glory.
God provided something much better. He gave them and us His written Word. They had no recording booth or shorthand reporter at Thessalonica so instead of a message of hope to a limited circle, the Lord inspired His servant to write it all down in a letter. Thank God, then, that Satan prevented Paul from going to Thessalonica if as a result he had to sit down and write these thrilling words. “So comfort one another with these words,” he wrote. No doubt they did, reading them over and over.
Through long and lonely years I too have been greatly comforted by the same words, and so have multitudes of others. The sermon that Paul did not himself preach has become the theme of countless other sermons. In various lands and on numerous occasions I have read them at a graveside. And the message is as true–and as needed–as ever it was.
Satan stopped Paul from going to Thessalonica, but he could not stop him from conveying God’s Word to the world, and indeed it may have been the very hindrance which encouraged Paul to write it. The Lord Jesus is coming again. The New Testament is full of that message. This passage, however, has its own special emphasis, firstly, that if we die before that day we will not miss any of its glory. Secondly, there is the stress on the comforting truth that when it happens, we will once again be all together, never again to taste the pain of separation, comfort coming to us because Satan hindered Paul.
He Cannot Stop the Rapture
Like Paul, we all have private experiences of hindrance and frustration. In our limited understanding, death itself may seem to spoil our plans and expectations. Men say that the one great certainty of life is the fact that it must end. But they are wrong. We have eternal life, and one day death is going to be swallowed up by life, for God in Christ has made us for this very purpose. For us there is only one certainty, and that is that our Lord will come from heaven to meet us as we are caught up to Him. Satan could stop Paul, and sometimes he may stop us, but when God’s moment comes he will not be able to stop Christ from fulfilling His promise, “I will come again and receive you unto Myself.”
No one, not even Satan, can delay that glorious moment. He could stop Paul then, but he will not be able to hinder him or any of the rest of us when the trumpet sounds. Christ will come down and we will go up, and there will be nothing between. God is always precisely on time and nothing can stop Him.
Paul wrote to the Philippians in sad condemnation of some who show their enmity to the cross of Christ by persistently focusing on earthly things. In contrast to such people, he reminded us that our true home is in heaven and that we show our love for Him who died to be our Saviour by looking eagerly for His return. When He comes to meet us on the resurrection morning, transforming us from our lowly condition into those who have bodies “like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21), we will enjoy a rapturous Homecoming.
The letter closes with a prayerful wish that we may be wholly sanctified in spirit, soul and body, in order that we may be blameless at that Coming. The final statement is expressed in the enheartening words: “Faithful is He who calls you, who will also do it” (5:24).
In other words, our God is unstoppable!