1 Thessalonians 5:1-11--The Day of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
English Standard Version

The Day of the Lord
5 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

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Last time we talked about the Rapture and how Jesus was coming back for all of His people.  It wouldn't be something that only a select few would experience and others would miss out on.  While it will happen "in the twinkling of an eye," I would dare say that even the world should take notice of it with the shout and the trumpet call that will proceed it, and the fact that so many people will all disappear from this realm suddenly.  Today, Paul discusses what is prophetically known as "The Day of the Lord" (or "The Day of the LORD" in the Old Testament.  Since Greek had no word for YHWH, they instead used the word for Adonai in the Greek translation of the Old Testament and in the New Testament, though it is also the Day of the Lord, since Jesus will be the one to bless His people and judge His enemies.)

At a time other than the Rapture, Jesus is going to come "like a thief in the night" (not announcing when He is coming), and not coming to bring peace and salvation to His people.  No, this time He is coming to bring destruction on the world that has rejected Him and lived in rebellion against Him (all those who took the mark of the beast upon themselves and worshiped his image).  Paul says that it will come on suddenly like birth pangs--when it starts, there is no stopping it.  The baby is coming at that point.  In the same way, there will be no chance for anyone to say, "Now I will repent and believe now that I see that the Lord's wrath is upon us."  There will be no "deathbed confessions" here.  Jesus is coming for one reason and one reason alone at this time, and that is to bear the sword against all those who oppose Him.

Those who are no longer citizens of the kingdom of darkness but are now citizens of the kingdom of His marvelous light, have nothing to worry about here.  This judgment, wrath, condemnation, and destruction are not for them.  We should have eyes to see and ears to hear and minds to understand how prophecy is being fulfilled and things are coming closer and closer to the end that the Bible talks about.  The fact that Jesus is coming back for the Church sometime soon, and that there is a limited amount of time for all men to make the decision of which kingdom they will be a citizen of (no one can be "Switzerland" and be a "fence-sitter"--you will be on one side or the other side of this issue.  You will worship God alone, or you will worship something else, even if that "something else" is yourself).

We need to see the spiritual battle that is for the hearts and minds of the people all around us.  We need to get up every day ready to battle.  We march forward advancing the gospel and taking both land and people away from the kingdom of darkness while we still can.  Though our battle is not against flesh and blood (we don't actually go and make war with the nations in the name of the gospel) we must go forth into the nations in every way possible to evangelize and disciple people of every tribe, tongue and ethnicity that that Lord has as a part of His remnant.

We have the assurance of our salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and we know that we are not destined for wrath, but for salvation.  We have a sure hope that changes our perspective on everything.  Jesus took God's wrath that we deserved so that both in life and in death, we can be with Him.  Now He is with us spiritually through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but one day He is coming for us to rescue us from the enemy that is all around and take us to the home that He has prepared for us, and we will physically be with Him forevermore (though the laws of that reality will be different as there will be no more sin, death, disease or corruption to affect us or our bodies.  A day will be as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as a single day because we will no longer even notice the passage of time since it will be insignificant to us.  We will no longer need to keep track of age as we will not age and we will not have a slow march closer and closer to death).