Life Prepared for Judgment Day and Beyond

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 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. 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. 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. 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. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

Sermon: A Life Prepared for Judgment Day and Beyond

           We have arrived at our final article lesson of the Belgic Confession. I want to remind us that Guido de Brès wrote this document, this confession, to protest.  Europe, back in the mid-1500s, was polarized between the Catholics, the church that had always been, and the Protestants, these groups who wanted to reform the church’s teachings to Scripture. De Brès wanted to show that he and like-minded Protestants were not simply being rebellious or divisive, but they were law-abiding citizens who wanted to adhere to the Bible. They would follow the government, except in areas against these beliefs. So, everything we’ve looked at from the character of God to the Bible to Jesus and the Holy Spirit to Christians and how we are redeemed to good works and the place of the law to the church and the sacraments to civil government—all of that is rooted in Scripture and has bearing on our lives. Now we turn to what we can know of the end times.

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, ever since the early church, people have been trying to prepare for judgment day and eternal life. The Thessalonians evidently were deeply interested in this. Based on the lengthy section we just read in the first letter, and then in 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul returned to the topic with regards to “a man of lawlessness.” It’s also believed that when he dealt with idle people in 2 Thessalonians 3, “[commanding and urging them] in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat,” that was in regard to people who had kind of just stopped doing anything to wait for Christ’s return.

           Fast-forward to today, almost 2,000 years later, and it can be difficult for some people to fully accept Jesus’ final declaration in Revelation, that he is coming soon. Yet we, the church, do believe that Jesus will one day return. Every now and again we hear predictions of when that day will be. Someone has come up with some number system based in Scripture, and the numbers point to a certain calendar date being the final day, or someone claims to have received a new divine prophesy, and we should all take heed. Yet time and time again, the day has come, and life, mortal existence, has continued on.

What we’re going to work through tonight is what facts do we learn from Scripture about what to expect with the second coming of Christ and the last judgment? I find it helpful to have rough timeline, which were available as you came in. I will say this is not everything that one could find in Scripture, but these are the essentials. 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 13 and 14 root us in the past and the present. It starts here—Jesus died and rose again. Everything that follows in this message, and everything that provides the believer with hope in the future is inseparably linked to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Without his suffering the punishment of our sin, God’s wrath, the innocent dying for the guilty, and likewise without his defeating the grave, proclaiming victory over death, there’s nothing good or great for anyone to look forward to. We believe Jesus not only died and rose again, physically and historically, but those events have an effect for every person.   

That’s the first thing on our timeline, the second is human mortality. By that I mean people have died, are dying, and will continue to die here on this earth. We experience this on a fairly regular basis. Each of us knows that one day we should die. It’s not fun to think about. It’s not fun to experience with a loved one, a family member, friend, or neighbor. Death can involve pain and long-suffering, or it can be quick and peaceful. It brings pain and mourning and grief among the still living. But we must accept that we are mortal. We’ll come back to this point later on.

That’s what has happened and is happening. Now we look to the future. There is a day when Jesus will return. That’s not just an ideal or a concept; this will be a real historical event. With his return, everything will change. It will not be business as usual, just with Jesus around. I don’t think students will be saying, “Oh hey Jesus!” and continue on their way to school. Parents won’t be heading into work, hear the news, and proclaim “Glad you’re here!” The retiree won’t just continue to prune their garden or sit around the table for coffee. No, everything will change. 

We don’t know when that day will be though. 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 1 and 2 said, “About days and times we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord,” the second return, “will come like a thief in the night.”  In Matthew 24, when asked by his disciples, “when and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age.” Jesus told them it would be marked with wars, rumors of wars, international conflict, natural disasters, persecutions, false Christs and false prophets. He also says, in verse 36, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” 

Article 37 captured this in its opening lines, “When the time appointed by the Lord is come (which is unknown to all creatures) and the number of the elect is complete, our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, bodily and visibly…to declare himself the judge of the living and the dead.” While we don’t know the time, there is an additional clue there, “when the number of the elect is complete.” Again, back to Jesus’ words in Matthew 24, he says in verse 14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” In 2 Peter 3:9, we read, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” While we don’t know when it’s going to happen, and God’s definition of “soon” doesn’t always fit our definition, we can trust that God does not keep the world going in its current state of brokenness without reason. Jesus’ return is not set for a random day because the weather conditions will be perfect, or it just feels like the right time. No, in God’s plan of the salvation of people, the whole world must be reached and all who he knows will come to repentance by the Holy Spirit must be converted before the final day. That’s what he and we are waiting on. 

Now we turn to the question, what will his return be like? Based on a variety of Scriptures, the day seems a mix of awesome glory and terror. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 3, “While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” You can look through Old Testament passages in Isaiah 13 and 34, Daniel 12, Joel 2, and Amos 5, and find accounts of the cruel Day of the Lord, a day not to be looked forward to, a day of desolation and darkening of the skies. Back in Matthew 24 verses 39 through 41, we get the sense of people not knowing what’s coming until it happens. The imagery that fuels the rapture ideas popularized in the Left Behind books and movies finds some basis here, “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.” 

All of that will accompany the physical, visible, bodily coming of the Lord. But remember what we read in 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 16 and 17, “[He] will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will arise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” Jesus in Matthew 24:30-31 says, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”   

           What will the day of Christ’s second coming be like? What can we for sure say? Jesus is going to come. There is going to be resurrection of the dead. And then there is some type of judgment happening, which we may begin to already see right when Jesus is coming. Those who know and love the Lord can celebrate, but it is not a looked-forward to day among those who don’t turn to the Lord beforehand. The Belgic Confession summed it up well, “Therefore, with good reason the thought of this judgment is horrible and dreadful to wicked and evil people. But it is very pleasant and a great comfort to the righteous and elect, since their total redemption will then be accomplished.” 

           This is what the day will be like, that which God is going to usher in. Let’s continue forward now—and address the question: what happens to us? Changes to us. We’ve heard already a couple times about this “meeting in the air.” If we look at 1 Corinthians 15, a lengthy chapter that I know I have brought up before regarding resurrection matters, we look at verses 51 to 53, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” 

           It is a mystery, it’s not something we can exactly understand down to the last detail, but who we are in these bodies cannot enter into eternal life. We think back to Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. The Lord God said in verse 22, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” In verse 24 we find, “[He] drove the man out, placing on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” God protected us from immortality in our broken and sinful state, but he promises immortality according to his plan of redemption.  Physical change for eternity will happen for all people when Christ returns.

           This brings us to the crucial point, to the occasion at which our eternal destiny is declared—a day of judgment and beyond. De Brès provides quite a bit of information regarding this day, this event. With his coming, Jesus “declares himself the judge of the living and the dead. He will burn this old world…in order to cleanse it. Then all human creatures will appear in person before the great judge—men, women, and children,” from all of history. “Then the books…will be opened, and the dead will be judged according to the things they did in the world, whether good or evil.” Every idle word, every secret, every hypocrisy will be “publicly uncovered.”     

           Revelation 20 seems to capture this event. In verses 11 through 15, the author writes, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

           For non-believers, those who have not hoped in Jesus Christ, who have not lived in faith, who have not sought-after God’s goodness and mercy, their destination for eternity appears to be torment in hell. For believers, according to Revelation chapters 7 and 21, “those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” they are graciously welcomed in to paradise, “a new heaven and a new earth,” where they will dwell secure in the blessing and glory and purity of God forever. This is the hope Paul writes to the Thessalonians in chapter 5 verses 9 and 10, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.”  

           It’s important to not lose sight of the whole picture. Much of what Scripture says in regard to a “judgment day” and what is written, even in the Belgic Confession, can lead the believer to think about their works. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about sheep and goats and how those who will be given an inheritance in the kingdom are those who gave food and drink to the thirsty stranger, as well as clothes and a place to rest and visited in prison—“whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” But then he turns to others, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” For they did not offer help. Verse 46 he concludes, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” 

           We may get worried. If we are to be judged only on the sake of “the things we have done in this world, whether good or evil,” some of us may perceive ourselves to have little or no hope. Yet we must remember, our hope is not in our righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. Any faithfulness is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Any good is the obedience of Jesus. Our salvation is through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is on his mercy that we can be saved to eternal life; that on judgment day, the believer’s verdict is returned guilty but pardoned. 

           This is what we can hold onto in regard to the future. Without diving into pre- and post- and amillenialisms, without dissecting all the apocalyptic imagery scattered throughout Scripture, without knowing when it will happen or if we will be alive or asleep. But I want to end on this point, what does it mean for our current state? In our mortal bodies, our flesh, the plans we make for our future, the things we hope to see in our children’s or other loved one’s lives, does this do us any good to think about such things? How can we live prepared for judgment day and beyond?

           The encouragement, the commands of Paul are still good and worthwhile.  3 things: Verse 13, “Do not…be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or…grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.” We have hope for fellow Christians who have passed away. Their lives on this earth are not the end of them, and this side of eternity is not even the best thing we’ll experience. 

           Second, chapter 5 verses 5 and 6, “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” Jumping to verse 8, “But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” One final time, looking to Matthew 24, verses 42 through 44, Jesus said, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Brothers and sisters, don’t put off knowing the Lord or having intentions to tell someone about him. Don’t put off following him. Don’t think that you have made a confession and now nothing else matters. Think of the Lord talking to Cain in Genesis 4, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” We have to be prepared in faith and love, in belief, trust, action, and word with the hope we have in Jesus Christ and the fruit that the Spirit enables us to bear.

           Finally, chapter 4 verse 18 and chapter 5 verse 11, “Encourage each other with these words…and build each other up.” As we live through times of misery, as we look around our nation and the world and see trouble and terror and sadness, do not lose hope, do not think that God has given up on this world or forgotten about believers. Be reminded of the crown of your faith and encourage others about theirs as well. God will take all our sin, all our pain, all are guilt and death away, and he will reward us with unimaginable glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.