1 Thessalonians - The Day of the Lord

 

The Day of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

There are but a few things in life that take people by surprise, thieves are one. The Day of the Lord is to be like one of them. Jesus told us only the Father knows the time and date of this day (Matthew 24), but he gave us signs to watch for, so that we are not taken by total surprise. Like a woman approaching the day of the birth of a child.

So let's look at the first portion of the text, “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 

Paul had spoken of the day of the Lord’s return to the church in Thessalonica, as well as at other churches, and he told them what Jesus told those on the Mt. of Olives that the Father had set this date and time, and no one knows of the appointed time except God the Father. As Jesus had spoken about this time, Paul explains the significance of Jesus’ teaching. The first sign of the coming of the Lord would be its total surprise, it’s imminent. The world will be about the business of everyday life, just like the days of Noah. As Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matt. 24:37-39)

Even though Noah had preached for 120 years of the impending devastating doom (Gen. 6:1-3), no one was listening or caring. Life was continuing as usual, and it was growing increasingly wicked. “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Gen. 6:5) God had Noah build an Ark, a very large boat, and many animals began coming on their own accord into the Ark. Even this wasn’t enough to stir the interest of the people away from everyday plans. Paul knew this biblical event well from his own upbringing as a Jewish student. He knew also Jesus told other signs of the end, some having to do with the wickedness and depravity of the human heart and mind in both the flesh as well as the spiritual. “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matt. 24:10-13)

Paul also uses a phrase taken from Jeremiah, “Peace and Safety”, “But, ‘Ah, Lord God!’ I said, ‘Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.’” (Jer. 14:13-14)

Just as it was in Noah’s day as well as Jeremiah’s day, Paul told them what it will be in the days before the coming of the Lord Jesus, “peace and safety.” The world will have not taken seriously the approaching day of the Lord, for they will have been given over to deception and a depraved mind “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Rom. 1:18-32) 

Paul's warnings of the coming destruction of the day of the Lord were prophesied by Zephaniah as well, “The great day of the Lord is near—  near and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter; the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry. That day will be a day of wrath— a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness—” (1:14-15)

As Jesus said, Paul also states the coming of the day of the Lord is like labor pains. They start slow and far apart, but as the contraction increases (pains) so does the frequency and intensity of the pains, until the birth. So it will be with the destruction from the wrath of God after the catching away of the church.

Application - No one wants to see all the pain and suffering of people, but God is just and righteous. He cannot overlook the sinful state of the world today, anymore than he could have at the time of Noah. God deals with the continuation of wickedness, depravity, and immorality of the people he created with justice. He had warned mankind for over two thousand years of the impending judgment on sin. He gave His own Son as an atonement sacrifice for salvation by believing in him. And for those who persisted in their iniquities, they would go through a time of great tribulation, be judged with the fallen ones at the end of the age, and then an age of God ruling and living among mankind again for eternity. 

All of this commences after the church is taken out, and the lawless one (antichrist) will be revealed.  “Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (2 Thes. 2:5-12)

There is a lot of chatter about “Peace and Safety” in the media, the political world, and even in religious faiths. But the catching up of the believers and the wrath of God was told to us through the Holy Scriptures, so that we would be wise and understanding of the times of the end. For once the birth pains begin, there is no stopping them. But because we are the children of the light, we are not afraid, for he didn’t appoint us to His wrath. (1 Thes. 5:9)

Next, Paul talks to the Thessalonians about their spiritual state before the Day of the Lord. Let’s read the last portion of the text, “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Paul is commending the believers for their walking in the light of God’s Word and by the Holy Spirit. The Thessalonicans were not living in the darkness (sinful depravity of mind and spirit) but as children of the light, as Jesus had said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) and Paul said to the Ephesians, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (5:8) 

The physical and spiritual darkness is real, and Paul knew that the Thessalonians were standing firm in their faith, girded with the Armor of God (Eph.6:10-17). Paul alludes to sleep and drunkenness as deeds of darkness. For Paul had seen his fill of sinful debauchery in the flesh and in the spiritual realm. For both took to the darkness to obscure their sinfulness, and to cover their acts from view. Paul knew that God is light, and nothing is hidden from him. For God knows the heart, mind and thoughts, and the very words before they are spoken, “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” (Psalms 139:1-6) For those who walk in the light are in full view of God continually. 

Last, Paul draws back to the Gospel, for salvation through Christ Jesus which keeps us from the appointed time of the coming wrath of God against a world that has given itself to all the godlessness, wickedness, and suppression of the truth by their sinfulness. (Rom.1:18) Paul understood that God’s wrath was for the unrighteous (of the darkness) not for the righteous (of the light), for it was by the Holy Spirit each believer was sealed for the day of redemption, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Eph.1:13-14) 

And with Paul’s love for the believers, he gives the admonition to encourage one another and build each other up in the faith and with these words as they see the times in which they lived and they will be with the Lord, “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever,” (1 Thes. 4:15-17) Believers are not going through the wrath of God. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Application - I know that this is a confrontational teaching in the world today, even amongst Christians, especially the timing thing and the wrath of God. But we miss the point of the lesson if we only focus on those issues. We are appointed to walk by the Holy Spirit in the light of God’s Word. “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” “...God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (Ps. 119:105, 1 John 1:5b-7)

We are saved through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross if we believe (justification) by grace through faith, and we are set apart (sanctified) from our sinful lives by the working of the Holy Spirit. “Christian brothers, the Lord loves you. We always thank God for you. It is because God has chosen you from the beginning to save you from the punishment of sin. He chose to make you holy by the Holy Spirit and to give you faith to believe the truth. It was by our preaching the Good News that you were chosen. He chose you to share the shining-greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  “...who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.”(2 Thes. 2:13-14, 1 Peter 1:2-3)

This is the message of the Gospel we’re to encourage each other with, we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9) and we are children of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. He has saved us from His wrath and appointed for us a day when He will send His Son to come and get his Bride (the Church) to be with him as he promised (John 14:1-3) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” So let us continue to walk in the Light, by the Holy Spirit, and “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)

I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation (JD Farag). Please, Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. And he wants to empower you with the Holy Spirit. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second, B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis