1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 - Living In The Light Of The Day Of The Lord

Well, hello, and a very good morning, or afternoon, or evening, whatever time it is for you.

We are back on Tabernacle Talk, and we're going to be going over 1 Thessalonians 5, and going to be looking at verses 1 through 11 for today.

And Paul has just told this young Thessalonian church a little bit about Jesus' return, about the fact that they didn't need to worry about their loved ones who had passed.

They were currently with Jesus, and in the resurrection, they would be the very, very first to receive their glorified bodies, and be joined to our Savior before we join them as well.

And he continues talking about the end times, what the Old Testament prophets referred to as the Day of the Lord, which is more than just maybe one singular day, though certainly the end of that Battle of Armageddon, when Jesus and all of his saints

and angels with him, when they come down, that would certainly be one of those perhaps the most stated Day of the Lord. But the end times in general are referred to, the theological term is eschatology, the study of last things, and looking at the,

if you will, the end of the world, which isn't really the end of the world, it's kind of the end of this particular age. So, we're in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 1, Paul says this, About the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not

need anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

When they say, peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief.

For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So then let us not sleep like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled.

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 self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love and a helmet of the hope of salvation.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who 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 as you are already doing. Okay, let's look at these things that Paul tells us. First, from verse 2, he says, You guys know that the day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night.

It is unexpected, it is sudden, and it is unpredictable. And that's, frankly, as we looked at Jesus' statements in the Gospels about his coming, that's the same truth that he said, that the angels in heaven don't know when Jesus is returning.

Jesus himself, at least on earth, did not know at what time he would return, he says, but the Father does know. So, as a result of that, it's going to be a surprise.

It's not something that can be predicted by a money-grubbing writer writing 88 reasons why Jesus will return in 1988.

It's not going to be hidden in secret numbers from, you know, verses and if you just add up these Hebrew letters, it'll tell you the exact date and it's going to happen, you know, in 2012 or it's going to be this particular politician in America

that's secretly the Antichrist and we have all of the things, we figured out the jigsaw puzzle that God left and that Jesus didn't know about, Jesus didn't know how to solve it, but we did. I'm kind of speaking tongue and cheek here a little bit.

If anyone tells you, oh yeah, there's no way, Jesus isn't coming back soon, like you've got time, don't listen to that person.

If someone says, I know exactly when Jesus is coming and he's coming on this day, you can know, don't listen to that person. That person does not know what they are talking about.

If God wanted us to know, he would have told us, and if it was able to be known through what God expressed, then Jesus would have known about it and he would have said like, hey, of those times, pay attention to my word.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear from the prophet Daniel or from this or that. Paul would have told us, hey, if you look at this prophet and this prophet and from this revelation that I have, this will tell you when Jesus will return.

If someone says, Jesus will come back at some later point, he couldn't really come back today. Don't listen to them. They do not know what they're talking about.

So here, this is an unexpected, sudden thing. It is the thief in the night. This is the universal way in which Jesus' return is expressed in scripture.

Again, I'm working from a pre-tribulation rapture standpoint. Those that would have maybe a mid- or post-tribulation rapture standpoint would have a different outlook on how that would go.

They would say, once you see the events of the tribulation take place, once you see the Antichrist have total world power, once you see him set up a religion, once you see him set up a one-world currency and make a seven-year treaty with Israel, and

once you see the demonic locusts come out of the ground, then you can know that Jesus is returning, and maybe you don't know the exact day or exact second that he'll be returning, but you know he's coming soon. That would be kind of that mid-

and post-trib viewpoint.

But for those that would hold to the fact that the church is the bride of Christ and Jesus will receive his bride up into heaven as he expressed, and even here as we would read in verse number five and on, that we are not children of the night or of

the darkness. We're not going to encounter that particular day. Verse nine, God did not appoint us to wrath, to go through this time of trouble.

Instead, we have been appointed to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ so that whether we live or die, we may live together with him. That if we're living during that time, we're living with Jesus.

If we have died, we are resurrected and living with Jesus. So I want to state that, that it happens suddenly.

When you look at the Book of James, as James speaks about the Lord's return, he says, Hey, you guys that are currently like rich and exploiting people, you need to realize that Jesus could come back at any second.

And when he comes back, you don't want to be doing the things that you're doing. You need to get right with the Lord and how you are acting.

In 2 Peter 3, Peter viewed Jesus' return as coming and quick and the fact that he had not come at that point yet. He didn't say, Okay, well, here's all of the different things that need to take place before Jesus can come back.

He says, It is strictly through the Lord's patience and love of people and not wanting anyone to die in their sin, but giving the opportunity for everyone to come to repentance. He says, That's what you're looking at.

He says, That's what we're waiting on. We're waiting on the patience of God. We're not waiting on some outside signs or wonders or things like that.

Then he says in verse number three, he says, When they say peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains on a pregnant woman and they will not escape.

There's going to be this peace treaty that happens in the Tribulation. I think I mentioned this last episode between the Antichrist, the whole world leader and the nation of Israel.

And there's going to be a period of peace, but then there's going to be worldwide war in such incredible, devastating ways that whole nations are going to be overturned and thrown into chaos.

There's going to be judgments from the spiritual realm, physical judgments on the earth, loss of foliage, boats, fish and animal life, the light that earth receives, all sorts of things like grand 10 plagues on Egypt level stuff that will come on the

earth during that time. And so, here Paul tells the Thessalonians, hey, you guys know this is going to happen quickly, that day of the Lord, that period of time is going to start. We're going to be away. We're children of light.

We are with Jesus. God appointed us to live with Jesus. He didn't appoint us to this time of wrath and tribulation and distress.

And he says during that time, they're going to think, man, everything is now wonderful. And then it's all going to go downhill incredibly fast. He says, but you brothers and sisters are not in the dark for this day to surprise you like a thief.

He says, this will not be a day of your condemnation or distress. You are children of the light, children of the day. And then he says, so then let us not sleep like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled.

So he says, the world right now, they are sleeping. They don't understand what's coming. And so they are not exercising self-control.

And they are spiritually dead, spiritually asleep.

And he says, but we who know Jesus, let us be awake in our Christian life, realizing what's coming and let that influence us to exercise self-control in whatever we do, knowing Jesus could come back at any moment.

And I want what I'm doing, what I'm saying, what I'm watching or reading or listening to, how I'm running my business, how I'm interacting with my family, how I'm spending my money, I want it all to point to Jesus.

I want it to be worthy of the calling that he has placed on my life. He says, those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

He says, but since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love. So belief in what God has said and a love for God, for others, for God's family, and for those that are not currently in God's family.

Let that be what we put on. It defends us against the attacks of Satan in this world.

If we have that armor, that we love the people that attack us, we realize that they are currently tricked by Satan into thinking that their actions are good and right, and that they need the forgiveness of God, that we have enjoyed and that we have

received and that we're called to give to them. And he says, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. That central thing that protects your brain, that keeps you safe is that hope of salvation.

Realizing, okay, Jesus died for me, and if he died for me and I've accepted his payment for my sin, then there is no one that can kick me out of God's family. I am his forever and I know that if I live, I live for Jesus.

If I die, I'm with Jesus instantly. And so there is that hope of salvation that we have. Verse 9, For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That we are not set aside for this time that God is going to use to bring back Israel to himself. It's the time of Jacob or Israel's trouble. We aren't for that portion of time.

That's not our history as the church. That's not our destiny. It is Israel's destiny that the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy from Daniel 6, Daniel 7 through 12, that is for the people of Israel.

And we were that blip in between the 69th week and the 70th week. That time period that God providentially hid from the Old Testament prophets about Jesus's implementation of the Gentiles and the church.

This was a mystery hidden from ages and from generations, as we would read about in Colossians 1 and in Ephesians 2 and 3, that this was a secret. This was not something that was known. And so, we have been hid away with Christ.

That is our eschatological end, that we are to be with Jesus during this 70th week of Daniel's prophecy.

That final seven-year tribulation, that is as God dealt with Israel during those initial 69 weeks in that 70th week, He will deal with Israel again. So, what do we do with this? What are our action steps as a result of realizing this?

Number one, share the gospel, that God has people that He has known from all the ages past, will accept Jesus through your witness, through you either planting a seed, watering a seed, or being able to harvest the seed.

God has known exactly who He has planned for you to play that role in from all eternity past. So participate, invite people into our soon coming king's kingdom. Secondly, let's exercise self-control.

Let's have all of our life be lived in obedience and in recognition of the fact that Jesus could come back at any moment. So I want to do what I would want him to find me doing.

It's like the kid that the parents are going away for several hours and then they're going to come back and they say, okay, I want these chores done by the time that I get home.

And you have the kid and maybe they wait until the last possible minute and then they figure out, oh no, mom and dad are going to be here in 10 minutes and they're trying to do all of the chores at the very last minute. Let's not do that.

Let's make sure that we are doing what we know our father would want us to do until Jesus returns.

And then let's have that hope and that confidence, realizing that we are not set aside for God's condemnation and His judgment, but we are set to obtain salvation through Jesus. Have a rejoicing in that.

Have a hope for the future that either you will live to see God's kingdom furthered here on earth or Jesus is going to take you up.

You are going to be in His kingdom before we return to earth and enjoy being kings and priests with our great High Priest and with the King of Kings. So hope that would be an encouragement to you today. We'll see how much we get through tomorrow.

There's a lot of great things in the ending of First Thessalonians 5, and I'm excited to see what we'll look at with that. Thank you for tuning in today.