1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

The Return of Christ Will Surprise Unbelievers

As we look at verses 2-3, we find that the day of the Lord is going to come upon the world like a thief in the night and they, that is the lost, will be caught up in it like a pregnant woman surprised by labor pains. In short, we could say that for the unbeliever, the day of the Lord will be an unexpected, undesired, and inescapable event.

Now, we need to ask ourselves, “What is the day of the Lord?” The Day of the Lord is an event that is spoken of way back in the minor prophets by men such as Joel, Zechariah, Zephaniah and Obadiah. And when we take what they say about it together, we basically understand the day of the Lord to be the day where God will defeat and judge all of His enemies, some of which were among the people of Israel themselves. It is described as a horrifying event full of destruction, however, there would be deliverance for the people of God.

Now, as we looked at a few weeks ago, Paul is discussing the subject of the return of Christ. You might remember our lesson on from 1 Thessalonians 4 on how the return should encourage us in the face of grief. If so, it’s important for us to understand that the event at the end of chapter 4 and the event in chapter 5 are not two separate events, which is what I used to believe and teach years ago, but is one singular event which is that when Jesus returns, there is no secret rapture, but that when He returns its game over for everything. I believe that in these passages, Paul is rehearsing what Jesus tells us in Matthew 24. For instance, in both passages we see, Christ returns from heaven accompanied by angels with a trumpet of God. We see believers gathered to Christ in clouds at an unknown time and that it is coming like a thief. In both passages we see that unbelievers are unaware of what awaits them and that the judgment would be like pain upon a pregnant mother. In both passages believers are not deceived and should be watchful and there is a warning against drunkenness.

So, to clarify, this is all one great event and it is known as the Day of the Lord or the return of Christ and what we find first off is that it will come upon the lost world like a thief in the night. Think about that picture for a second. You are warm in your bed after a hard day and you drift off to sleep and are suddenly woken up by the creaking of a man walking through your house. All the comfort, the security, the peace that you thought you had is totally gone, you are taken completely by surprise and that’s exactly how Paul is saying the lost world will feel when Jesus comes. They will be all snug and comfortable in their sin and in a moment, it’s all changed. The wrath of the end will fall on them like a pregnant woman’s contractions coming out of nowhere. When real contractions start, they aren’t stopping and Paul says that the judgment that comes upon these people is one so severe that they will not escape it. This is similar to the verse in Hebrews which says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” The answer to that is: You can’t. And with that said, I think this reality should cause each of us to ask ourselves whether we truly know Christ and to also ask whether we care about the souls of our neighbors like we should.

But that isn’t the main point of Paul’s. Paul is going to go on to encourage as Christians as we will see. Our second point in this text is that:

The Return of Christ Reminds Us to Watch Our Living

There’s three things in particular that I want us to notice in the next few verses.

First, we should live as those who have been brought from darkness to light.

Notice how Paul, in verse 4, says that we are not in darkness so we won’t be surprised, but we are sons of light. Now, Paul is just using the words “light” and “day” to refer to Christ. You might remember how John called Him the light of the world in John 1:4-11 which says

John 1:4–11 NKJV

4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

In 1 John 1:7 John says,

1 John 1:7 NKJV

7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Finally, Ephesians 5:8 says

Ephesians 5:8 NKJV

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

So, what I want us to get from this is that since we have been brought from darkness to light, we should be a people who are conscious of the return of the Lord in our daily lives. Paul goes on to say this in verse 6 which says 1 Thessalonians 5:6-7

1 Thessalonians 5:6–7 NKJV

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.

I think Paul could be hitting on something interesting here. As humans, our bodies natural get sleepy at nighttime due to our bodies releasing melatonin. Therefore, if you’re in darkness, you’re asleep, or dead, spiritually and are going to be caught by the thief in the night. But Paul is reminding us that as Christians we aren’t in the dark, but the light. You’re alert in the day and just like a person is more alert in the sunshine, we, who have been called into spiritual light, should be spiritually alert and fight against spiritual lethargy because we don’t want the Lord to return and to find us in a shameful condition. This is the mountain peak of this passage for us today. Paul wants us to wake up from spiritual laziness, to be alert, to keep a watch on our souls and to be sober.

Second, we should live as those who have been dressed in divine armor.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul continues and says,

1 Thessalonians 5:8 NKJV

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.

If you’ve been reading Ephesians or Isaiah lately, this might sound familiar to you and the reason is that Paul really enjoys making reference to Isaiah 59:17 which reads,

Isaiah 59:17 NKJV

17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak.

Now, in that passage Isaiah is referring to God as a mighty warrior arming Himself to war for His people and if we had time I’d show you that Jesus is the fulfillment of that passage. However, I do want us to get that Paul is teaching us, who belong to God the mighty Warrior, that we must be vigilant like a warrior himself must be on the battlefield.

Another thing I want to highlight is that I don’t believe verse 8 is supposed to be understood as a command for us to arm ourselves. Instead, I believe that Paul is wanting us to get that we are already armed. The NKJV doesn’t make that quite as clear, but the ESV does as it reads

1 Thessalonians 5:8 ESV

8 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.

Now, with that being said, I believe that we need to be taking advantage of the armor that we are wearing. By that I mean, are we using the breastplate of faith by trusting in God and His promises? Do we love and encourage those around us.? Are we wearing the helmet of hope and arming our minds with the word so that when the blows of life strike us, it doesn’t derail our faith?

Third, we should live as those destined for salvation.

Finally, Paul wants to point out our election and to use the grace of God as a means to excite us to keep watch and to stay sober and vigilant. In verse 10, he points out that the grounds of our salvation are the death of Christ by which our sins are atoned for, but also His resurrection as Paul says, “We should live together with Him.” Now, I’m not quite sure whether Paul is wanting to bring the future resurrection to mind alone or if He is also wanting us to think about the fact that we are already living with resurrection life if we are saved. I would tend to lean that way, and if that is what he’s getting at then He wants us to be encouraged by the fact that although the world seems dark, we are new creation people, people of the light living in darkness and death and that since we are different, we should remain vigilant. This takes us to the final point today which is:

The Return of Christ Gives Comfort and a Calling

In the last verse, Paul wants us to take what we’ve heard and to use it to encourage and edify each other. The word edify means to instruct or, literally, to build up like a house. How do you guys think this passage might encourage or edify us? Or, to put it another way, how could thinking of the return of Christ influence the way we live as believers?