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

The first being the cyclical view. This is one that is common in Eastern thought such as Hinduism in which there is a continual cycle of death and rebirth - reincarnation. This cyclical view of history was also popular with the ancient Greeks. This view isn’t as prominent in America but is making its headway through different New Age movements in our culture. The very word karma that is used by so many in our culture today, is actually a religious term pointing to what kind of body the soul will inhabit during the next cycle of reincarnation. Good karma points to a higher next life while bad karma points to a lower life form. This view of history makes history somewhat obsolete and devalues the importance of it because what has been will just happen again.

The second view is naturalism. This would be considered a linear view. Although it seems very different from the cyclical view, it also has a low view of history as there is no purpose or meaning to life. We are all just a cosmic accident. There isn’t a repetition going on - but there is a meaninglessness to history and even the future.

The Biblical Christian worldview is much different than these. It stands in sharp contrast to the meaningless view of history regarding the first two views. The Scriptures reveal the purpose and plan of our sovereign Creator God.

Our worldview as believers sees Jesus Christ as the central figure in the history of the world and even before the foundation of the world - in fact He is central for all eternity past, present, and future. We believe that everything prior to Christ’s incarnation was culminating to that very act. Our sovereign God orchestrated it all from the beginning. History is full of purpose.

We believe this because Christ is God. He is in control. And the entire Scripture points to the birth, death, resurrection, and second coming of Christ. We spend a lot of time in churches across America discussing the first three - at least in solid, Bible preaching churches. We talk about the incarnation of Christ, His crucifixion on the cross, and his resurrection three days later. But we don’t talk as often - or in some churches the answer would be never talk - about the Day of the Lord. We don’t talk often about the coming judgment and fulfillment of the Lord’s return.

Today we are going to do just that. We are going to learn about the Day of the Lord - because the Day of the Lord is certainly coming.

Let us pray.

Prayer.

The Day of the Lord is coming. We are going to discuss three responses that we should have because this day is assuredly coming. The first is...

I. You Should Be Prepared Because the Day of the Lord is Coming (1-3)

1 Thessalonians 5:1 ESV

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.

Paul starts off by reminding the church in Thessalonica that he had taught them about the end times while he was with them.

We can be sure that he reminded them that these times and seasons are fixed by the Father as we see in Acts 1:7:

Acts 1:7 ESV

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 (ESV)

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.

Back to our first verses here we see Paul use two terms that are underlined for you - times and seasons. The Greek word for times here, chronos (krone-ose), is where we get chronological. It refers more to a period of time. While the Greek word for seasons here is kairos (care-ose) which refers to a specific or definitive point in time with a beginning and an end. Paul presses in on the fact that what he is about to mention - the Day of the Lord as we will see in the next verse - is coming chronologically in the future and it will have a definitive beginning and end.

1 Thessalonians 5:2–3 ESV

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 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.

Before we get into this passage, I want us to see where we are on the timeline of end times. I understand that there are differing views of end times theology, but as we stated last week, our church takes a pretribulational premillennial view of Scripture because we feel that it takes all of the end times passages in their most literal and congruent sense.

As you can see from this timeline (again gifted courtesy of Pastor Kenny Stidham) the Day of the Lord that we are discussing starts with the Rapture of the Church and ends with the Great White Throne Judgment. It encompasses the horrors and judgments of the Tribulation which ends in Armageddon. But it also includes the Rapture of the Church as well as the Millennial Kingdom and fulfillment of Israel’s restoration. I know there is a lot going on in this slide, but I just wanted you to have somewhat of a reference to what we are discussing today when I refer to the Day of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord or sometimes referred to as ‘That Day’ - is mentioned many times in the Old Testament. We see it in the books of Amos, Joel, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Malachi, and Zephaniah - and alluded to or directly addressed in other books such as Daniel among others.

Amos gives the terrifying nature of the judgment of God in the Day of the Lord for unbelievers: Amos 5:18-20

Amos 5:18–20 ESV

Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

Hear the hopelessness in Amos’s voice here. You flee from one judgment and run into another. You think you have have finally found a wall to lean on and you are bitten by a serpent. Rest seems impossible to find.

But we also see glimmers of hope in verses like Joel 2:31-32

Joel 2:31–32 ESV

The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Here we see hope in the day of the Lord. Praise the Lord that we can call on the name of the Lord even now as we see this referred to in Romans 10:13. But in this promise - we also see that those who are left during the Tribulation can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved as well.

However, as we see in today’s passage, this Day of the Lord is not just mentioned in the Old Testament, it is seen in the New Testament in just about every book by name or at least by allusion or reference to the end times. We are not going to get any further into the details of the Day of the Lord because it would be a never-ending study! The coming judgment of God is just as sure as the promise of the salvation of believers. These two themes run throughout the pages of Scripture. God will surely save those who have placed their trust in Him and He will surely judge those who have not.

But my goal with this initial information is to let you know that the Day of the Lord is surely coming and that it is not just some esoteric idea that is hidden in Scripture. It is throughout the pages of the Scriptures and we must be prepared for what is to come.

There has come a liberal movement in many churches to shy away from mentioning the coming judgment of God. Many young people have even been deceived by their church’s lack of preaching on judgment that they have concluded erroneously that God isn’t going to judge evil persons. They have gone so far as to even deny the existence of a literal Hell. This deception is from Satan himself. Do not believe it. The pages of the Scriptures continually affirm the coming judgment of God. Be prepared.

1 Thessalonians 5:2–3 ESV

Back to our Scripture for today we see that this day will come like a thief in the night and it will come as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. These two warnings are for those who are not prepared. We who are believers and in Christ do not need to fear the Day of the Lord. We will be raptured and saved from the proceeding judgment of the Day of the Lord. But if you are not prepared, then you should most certainly fear. Paul gives these two reasons for why one who is not saved should fear this day.

1. It comes like a thief in the night.

This does not refer to the secretive nature of the Day of the Lord. This will most certainly be a terrifying and obvious day of judgment on unbelievers in the Tribulation. Paul references the phrase thief in the night because he wants people to know that you do not know when this day is coming so you had better be prepared and ready. Once the thief comes, it is too late to get prepared. If you haven’t made sure your house is secure before the thief comes, then there is no hope once he is already there.

In the same way - be prepared for the coming of that day. Christ is coming to Rapture His church and you need to be ready. The only true security is if you are in Christ (John 14:6). If you place your hope and faith and trust in Jesus Christ - the sinless Son of God who lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose three days later - if you repent of your sins and turn toward Him - you can be saved and secure under His watch.

2. It comes as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman.

He ends this idea with a statement of finality - they will not escape. Paul uses this simile comparison to refer to the assuredness of the coming of this day. Just like once true active labor pains start in a pregnant woman a baby is sure to come - once the Day of the Lord is here, it is sure to continue to fulfillment. So be prepared my friends. Are you ready for the Day of the Lord?

1 Thessalonians 5:3 (ESV)

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.

I want us to finish this final point with reflecting on Paul’s words at the beginning of verse 3. We live in a world that is marked by people trying to deny that our world is getting worse. The culture around us continues to spiral down into sexual immorality, godless behavior, and atheism. And our culture screams that things are getting better. It rallies around our country’s so-called progression. They think they are more safe and secure because people can do what they want. They aren’t restrained by God. They have complete freedom now and aren’t held back by the moral teachings of the Bible.

My friends, be prepared. No one knows the day or the hour - but we do know that it is closer today than it was yesterday. This day is sure to come. Be ready.

Scripture References: Acts 1:7, Amos 5:18-20, Joel 2:31-32, Romans 10:13, John 14:6

II. You Should Be Practicing Because the Day of the Lord is Coming (4-8)

1 Thessalonians 5:4–7 ESV

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.

Paul gives a list of opposing words here:

Darkness verses Light

Sleep verses Awake

Drunk verses Sober

What does he mean by these comparisons? He means that those who are believers should be practicing and preparing for the coming of the Lord. This is not a fearful work for us. We are not in darkness that this day should surprise us like a thief. We should be prepared as we saw in our last point. However, Paul wants to drive home the fact that we as believers should be practicing righteousness as we await the Rapture of the church.

In a world full of idolatry, drunkenness, immorality, and godlessness, we should be seeking to practice righteousness.

We are to be children of the light - meaning that we are to be living according to Word of God.

Psalm 119:105 ESV

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

We don’t have to walk around unable to see because of the darkness. God’s Word provides light to our path. The Lord will direct our steps through His Word and by His Holy Spirit that indwells us.

[Slide repeat]

We also are to be awake and sober. Both of these words point to the alertness of the believer. A drunk man is unaware of the dangers he may face. Those who are drunk cause much damage to families, lives, property, and more. They do not understand how dangerously blind that they are. It is as if they are sleepwalking.

But not so us as believers. We are to be walking sober and awake and alert because we are children of the light.

In this context we see that those who are in darkness, sleeping, and drunk are metaphorically shown as those who are not ready for the Day of the Lord. They are unaware of the coming judgment of God. They are unable to understand that there is a spiritual realm. They are unable to understand that they are in grave danger.

However, there is also much to glean from the literal understanding of this last term drunkenness as well. This term can speak to all sorts of vices that blind people and plunge them into darkness spiritually. Alcohol most certainly does just this. Drunkenness puts one to sleep. But we can see this same issue in vices such as drug use, carnal lusts of the flesh, greed, and more. Those who are focused on the things of the world are walking in darkness because living for the things of this world is in direct opposition to heavenly thinking. All of the things on earth will pass away but Christ’s words will never pass away.

Matthew 24:35 ESV

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

We see Christ mention that the heavenly bodies such as the stars as well as the earth will eventually pass away during the Day of the Lord. Praise the Lord that He will eventually make a new heavens and a new earth! But Christ lets us know here that His words will not pass away.

Again, we see the importance of knowing the Word of God. The Bible is sufficient for us to know how to practice righteousness as we await our coming Savior.

And as we await the coming of the Savior, Paul concludes his charge in verse 8 which gives us a practical tip on how to move forward.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 ESV

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.

I’m sure many of you recognize part of the armor of God here. Paul goes into a more full detail of the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18 but he mentions two pieces of armor here.

He mentions...

1. The Breastplate of Faith and Love (Righteousness - Ephesians 6:14)

This is referred to as the breastplate of righteousness in the book of Ephesians. Yet we understand that righteousness is attained through faith in Jesus Christ and love for Christ and others. Faith is the internal working of Christ while love is the overflowing work of Christ through us.

2. The Helmet of Salvation (Ephesians 6:17)

Paul adds the word hope here that is left out of the passage in Ephesians. Salvation is a sure thing. We as believers should have hope for what is to come. It is a sure hope.

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown make the following observation about Paul choosing just these two pieces of armor in this abbreviated list. While borrowing from Edmunds they state:

The helmet and breastplate defend the two vital parts, the head and the heart respectively. With head and heart right, the whole man is right. The head needs to be kept from error, the heart from sin.

- Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

I find this very interesting the Paul adds in these two pieces of armor in the middle of this section about practicing righteousness as we await the Day of the Lord.

My son is currently learning karate. It is actually called Totally Christian Karate and is being taught online by a Christian brother who teaches it through a Biblical worldview. It has been really neat to watch Him memorizing Scripture along with karate moves.

But there is a big drawback to this whole karate thing. The drawback is that in order to practice, he has to practice on someone. He needs someone to hit. And that someone in our house has ended up being me!

But thankfully his instructor was kind enough to send me some pads for my shins and forearms to absorb the blows that my son delivers. I cover those two areas because they are the most likely to be hit by the moves that he is currently working on.

Paul understands that the two most likely places for us to get hit by the evil one is our head and our heart. And so he encourages us to be sure to protect them in the same way.

Moving forward, we also see that...

Scripture References: Psalm 119:105, Matthew 24:35, Ephesians 6:10-18

III. You Should Be Persevering Because the Day of the Lord is Coming (9-11)

1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 ESV

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

I want to be very clear with these two verses. They apply to believers only. Those who are not followers of Jesus Christ are in fact destined for wrath. If you have not placed your faith in Jesus Christ then you fall into this category. There isn’t a doubt in the universe that those who reject Christ are destined for wrath. I pray hard that if that is you - that you repent and turn to Christ.

But for us who are in Christ - these verses are an amazing promise of God’s sovereign protection of us. We are not destined for wrath. We are promised salvation through Christ’s atoning sacrificial death on the cross. And this promise is sure and transcends whether we undergo earthly death or not. In our last point we saw the word sleep in the context of spiritually asleep. It was lumped in with darkness and drunkeness. However, this asleep is much different. This is clearly used as an understanding of death. As we saw in our last sermon, this is often how the New Testament authors referred to death - as being asleep. And as we discussed last week - this isn’t soul sleep - it is just a metaphor for death. Once a believer dies they are immediately with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:23, Luke 23:43).

But Paul presses in to relay the security a believer has in Christ. And as we also saw last week, this church was very concerned about the eternal security of their beloved who had passed away before them.

As theologian D. Michael Martin alluded, all believers will be saved from God’s wrath because of Christ’s sacrifice - even those who died at their post. Even those who died as they ran the race set before them.

This reminds me of one my wife’s favorite sections of Scripture. Those in Christ should end their race with this statement of perseverance from the Apostle Paul who was near the end of his earthly life:

2 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

All of us will die at our post my friends - albeit unless the Lord raptures His church in our lifetime. But our death is not the final word. Our death is not end. It is only the beginning of eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Which brings us to this last verse:

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

My friends, the hope that we have in Christ should encourage us to persevere in our walk with Him. It should give us joy and peace even as we fight in the spiritual battle against evil on earth.

And it should encourage us to share the Gospel with those who are lost. Because the Day of the Lord is Coming my friends. And for us who are in Christ, it will be a day of blessing. But for those who are not in Christ, it will be a time of great darkness, fear and judgment.

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:23, Luke 23:43, 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Conclusion:

As we come to a close, I urge you to warn those who are around you to make sure that they are prepared for the day that is coming. There is only one way to prepare - and that is to put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, and follow Jesus. And as you warn others - be sure that you have heeded this warning as well.

And as believers, may we persevere as we practice righteousness. May we continue on in the power of our Lord as we await the crown of righteousness that awaits us my friends. We who are in Christ are not destined for wrath but instead destined for eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ.

Brothers and Sisters: Encourage one another with these words.

Let us pray.

Prayer

If you would like to learn more about salvation through Jesus Christ or want to obey Jesus by obeying the first commandment of a believer in going through the waters of baptism - please let me know.