Paul shifts now to one of the stirring descriptions of “The Day of the Lord”:
“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” (1 Thess 5:1-2).
Since I began this series of blogs many years ago (October 24, 2014), I have asked rhetorically if Jesus might be waiting to return until he sees all believers in his lordship united as “perfectly one” (John 17:23). This passage in 1 Thessalonians that led me to ask that question.
Although our times are similar in many ways to other tense periods of history, today we are seeing the juxtaposition of political rancor – around the world – with an unprecedented wave of technology for making all-out war easier. Compare this potential with Paul’s warning to the world and his comforting words to believers in Jesus Christ:
“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” (1 Thess 5:3).
While we can suggest that there is peace and security at the moment, never have we felt more pregnant and more vulnerable to instant attack from three different directions all at once. Sudden destruction could come down on us at any time.
But Paul’s message to us is something that believers in Jesus Christ find so comforting:
“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” (1 Thess 5:4-7).
The threat of sudden destruction is a matter of darkness and nightmares, but we are people of light:
“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” (1 Thess 5:8-11).
Paul is saying that we have weapons which cannot be overcome. I think he would agree that they could also be called behaviors of perfect unity:
- Keep awake;
- Be sober;
- Have faith;
- Love each other in perfect unity;
- Hope of salvation;
- Christ died for us;
- Encourage each other; and
- Build each other up to know the signs of the times.
May you focus on these behaviors and may God richly bless you as you keep awake on the watch for our Lord and Savior!