For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. We are not of the night or of the darkness. For you are all children of light, children of the day.
But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 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. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. Hear it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 beginning in verse 1: We ask then, O God, that by Your Holy Spirit You would open our eyes to behold wonderful truth in Your Word, that You would open our ears that we would receive it and our hearts to believe and to respond in faith and obedience to this Your Word. And that's what we're going to study together today.įather, this is Your Word, it comes from Your mouth, and we pause right now and reflect that, in Your providence, some of our forbearers were willing to be burnt at the stake so that we could hear this word read in our own language. But then, Paul goes on to tell the Thessalonians how, in fact, every believer ought to go about preparing for the return of Jesus Christ. “Paul, wouldn't it help us to know when Jesus is coming again so that we're better prepared for His coming?” Now Paul gives them a very definite answer to that question and it's the same answer that Jesus gave to His disciples, and he does it in this passage. Well, surely it would help to prepare for the return of Christ if you know when that was going to be.
And the reason, you’ll understand, makes sense. And specifically you’re going to see in the first three verses of this passage the Thessalonians are interested in trying to nail down the timing of Christ's return.
The question is, “How do you prepare for the return of Christ?” The Thessalonians want to know. Today the question has to do still with the return of Christ but it's a little bit different. And the apostle Paul comforts the Thessalonians with tremendous Biblical truths, some that have come directly from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in that passage. What is their state? They are immediately present with the Lord. Last time as we were looking at 1 Thessalonians 4 the question had to do with, “What happens to believers who die before Jesus’ return? What is the status of believers who die before that final day, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ?” And we were able to look at Paul's teaching there and learn tremendous comfort for all of us who lose loved ones before the return of Christ. But in these passages especially he is specifically addressing the matter of the return of Christ. We've said all along our theme in the study of this letter has been, “Living Life in Light of Jesus’ Return,” to everything that Paul has said to us, everything he's encouraged us with, everything he's exhorted us to do, has been in light of the coming of the Lord Jesus. As you’re turning there, let me remind you that at the end of 1 Thessalonians 4 and in these first verses of chapter 5, Paul is addressing specifically the issue of the return of Christ. If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 as we continue our way through this letter of the apostle Paul. “Living Life in Light of Jesus’ Return: A Thief in the Night”
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