A Word about the Day of the Lord

 

 Today I want to share a word about the Day of the Lord as I comment on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4.

This Scripture reads: 

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 

Confusion:

As we consider the ending verses of 1 Thessalonians, we can tell from the way that Paul discusses the End Times and some other subjects that the young believers in the church at Thessalonica had developed something of a crisis attitude in their faith. Paul only had three weeks to work with them in person on his Second Missionary Journey, and there is only so much education and training that he could provide in such a short period of time.

The young Thessalonian believers  knew that Jesus was coming back for His people, but they had not seen him yet, and they were beginning to think he wasn’t coming. This reminds me of a time when I arranged to meet a friend in front of a department store at a mall at a certain time. I was there and I waited for him but he didn’t show.  Minutes turned into an hour, and still he hadn’t arrived. Suddenly, I heard someone call my name, and I turned, and there my friend came, striding out of the shop with a frustrated look on his face. He was waiting outside the store and outside the mall, while I was waiting outside the store, but inside the mall! Our wires were well and truly crossed, and while we were both right in our own ways, confusion reigned!

The Thessalonian believers were confused, frustrated, and worried that Jesus had not yet come back for them and the didn’t know what happened to believers who died before Jesus came back. As he closed his first letter to them, Paul was determined to comfort them with the hope that they and we have in Christ. To do this, he gave them a simple and straight forward command: don’t speculate.

Curiosity:

People tend to fret over things that they don’t understand. God made us to have curiosity and the desire to understand and because of this, humans have gained a vast knowledge of our world and the universe. We have developed wonderful medicines, tremendous structures, and complicated machines. When we don’t know all we have to know we ask questions and sometimes we create answers that aren’t there.

For example, a young Army officer once came to the defense of a Soldier who had been charged with theft of a full toolbox. The Soldier had given a statement that he had placed the toolbox in a locker and that he had secured the locker with a padlock, but in reality he had not. The young officer could have sworn, and actually did make a sworn statement that he saw the Soldier lock-up the toolbox. It wasn’t true, however, and the young officer almost was charged with being an accomplice to the theft. The thought he saw something that he simply did not see!

If the facts of our physical word are hard to discern, spiritual facts are even more difficult to establish.  God operates by the concept of progressive revelation and He only gives us enough light for the next step in our journey He has told us what comes next, and He has told us to get ready; this is all we need to know!

Correction:

God is like the pastor preached a sermon several Sundays in a row; when confronted by the deacons he said, “When we start doing what I preached about, I’ll move on to the next subject.”

We need to be humble and teachable when it comes to spiritual facts. The truth is that we don’t know as much as we think we do, even about the physical world. After all, we have several very effective COVID-19 vaccines, but not one for the common cold so our best speculations about the end times are going to be wrong, but that didn’t keep the early church from doing it, however. Paul had to teach other churches about the End Times as well, and a prime example of that is 1 Corinthians 15.

Speculation distracts us from the work of making disciples and so it is a waste of time; we have more important work to do! Jesus told His disciples as much in Mark 13: 5-7  while He was teaching them about the End Times:

Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.”

Comfort:

When we allow ourselves to be distracted from the task of making disciples, and when we get scared or nervous about how the world is going, and when we begin to wonder if Jesus is coming back for us, we need to get some help. Paul closed this letter with a reminder of the God who can provide us that help and in whom we can hope and who will comfort us:

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

Conviction:

The Day of the Lord is coming, and Jesus has all of that under control. He will surely do His part in preparation for that wonderful day. Can we say the same thing about us?

Every blessing,

Dr.  Otis Corbitt