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

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

The times and seasons of life until the end of time and beginning of the kingdom come fully to earth are the cause of much speculation as we try to nail down what will happen and when events will occur.  Such imagination often leads to contradict or conflate scripture with our limited understanding of world events and the figurative of the Bible, however, and leads many into believing what suits certain teachings or causes fear, uncertainty, and doubt.  We have some passages like this to calm our doubts and fears with encouragement of the facts of Christ’s return in His time, which is not predictable to the exact day or season.  He will come unexpectedly to judge who have not trusted the word of His gospel (John 3:18, 5:24, 12:48)  and to gather those to Him who did hear and believe through repentance and faith.  These words then are calming and encouraging to we who have ears to hear and understand that we cannot predict His return based on our limited understanding of the various signs described which are meant to indicate the general times of God’s seasons that we may warn others of the impending judgment and the necessity of repentance.  We should not need further writings about the end times because the Lord has already written (1 John 2:26, 5:13) all we need to know and given reassurance that we who are His will be kept throughout the tribulation of the times (Mark 13:19-20) before the return of Jesus Christ.  Like all trials, we who are called out into Christ will be kept through even the final tribulation of suffering as all creation groans (Romans 8:22, 25, Revelation 21:5-6) for renewal.  There is no peace and safety for those who have rejected the gospel, only a certain and sudden destruction as they ignore the message of grace to save and carry on with carousing in the darkness instead of coming to the light of the world and turn from sin to Him.  We who have heard and believe will not be overtaken by the darkness and judgment because we stand in the light of the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 4:6) seen in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:19) and do not need to add to or take away from scripture (2 Peter 1:20-21) to understand the prophecies as we take them for just as much as they reveal.  What matters is to be always vigilant and ready to meet the Lord and to answer to Him through the gospel for certainty of salvation and to have our works done to please Him as prepared for us in accountability for reward or loss (1 Corinthians 3:14-15) of rewards alone.  We are called to live soberly and righteously (Titus 2:11-13) until His return to do the works prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10) in faith that trusts our eternal security of deliverance and love for God and man loved out in response.  We have the helmet of the knowledge of certain salvation that cannot be removed to fight our way through these times of tribulation until He comes back, knowing all who are His are not appointed to the wrath of judgment on our sin because we have been forgiven in Him.  He died for us to prove through His atonement and resurrection that we are His forever.  This is our certainty of hope in the Day of the Lord!