MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
“Ready or not, here I come!” That is the phrase I shout to my grandchildren after counting to 20 during a frenetic game of “hide and seek”. Most, if not all, of you have played that game. Will Jesus be shouting that before his Second Coming? Probably not exactly that phrase but the New Testament finds him saying much the same thing. We need to be ready for his Second Coming. We read in last week’s passage that knowing that Christ is coming again should profoundly affect everything we are to do as Christians. Paul outlined for us that that living in such a way would involve avoiding sexual immorality, loving and not lusting after others, living a quiet life, minding one’s own business, working at a job, not being lazy, and not demanding, or being dependent upon anyone else for the necessities of life.
As we read Jesus’ own words in Matthew 24, he will come “like a thief in the night”, in other words, unexpectedly, catching the person who is not ready or living for him totally unprepared, sadly. Before we visit Paul’s take on those words of Jesus, let us reread where we left off last Sunday, in chapter 4. Remember, Paul had written this letter to address faulty theology that had arisen in the Thessalonian church after his enforced departure from the Christians he so loved there. For example, the Christians there had become confused by someone else’s teaching that not one of them would die before Jesus’ return.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself 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 rise 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. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
Until 1833 A.D., following the premillennial, dispensationalist teachings of John Nelson Darby, who apparently was a fine and faithful servant of God’s, theologians had not believed that the “meeting Jesus in the air” as written in 4:17 was a separate, historical event from the Second Coming of Christ. But since Darby’s teachings, many in the church believe in two end time events: the rapture of the church, and then the later return of Jesus. Until 1833 A.D., the unanimous understanding among Christian theologians concerning the “rapture” mentioned in 4:17 was that Paul was first reassuring the Thessalonian Christians that anyone who died believing in Jesus would be taken to heaven right away by Jesus, but that the trumpet blast and the call of the archangel would accompany Christ’s Second Coming. The word for how to understand scripture is “hermeneutics”, which refers to the science and method of biblical interpretation, and a basic hermeneutical approach to a tricky passage is to interpret scripture by reading other parts of scripture. Thus, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is best understood or interpreted in the light of how the coming of Christ is understood in the rest of scripture and everywhere else in scripture the Second Coming of Christ is mentioned as being a one-time event, not as a two-part event with first the rapture and then later, the return of Jesus. I know that will disappoint many of you. However, I do want to say that I ascribe to the Protestant Reformation guideline:
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.”
The Second Coming of Christ I view as an essential doctrine to believe. I hope we are united on that. That would be unity! The rapture, I view as a non-essential and so I am fine with anyone believing it, even if I don’t. That’s liberty! In all things, I try to ascribe charity.
Throughout church history prior to 1833 A.D., Christians were taught and believed that they would have to endure hardship, not that they would avoid it by being raptured away pre-trib, i.e. prior to the tribulation that the rest of the world would experience. Suffering is not something Christ’s followers are spared from, the New Testament, even Jesus himself, teaches. True Christian hope, the New Testament also teaches, lies in the transformation of the world at the return of Christ. On that day, he will raise the dead, transform the bodies of the saints into imperishable forms, and establish justice over evil. “But about that day or hour”, Jesus says in reference to his return, “no one knows” and that he will come “like a thief in the night”, so Paul writes,
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 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. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. (1st Thessalonians 5:1-4)
“Now concerning the times and dates”, Paul is writing not just about times and dates, in general, but about the day of Christ’s return when he will come “like a thief in the night”. Eugene Peterson, in his paraphrase of the Bible entitled ‘The Message’, writes, “Jesus won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would.” While people are smugly sleeping, having wrongly convinced themselves that they are living in “peace and safety”, Jesus will return and, sadly, destruction will “come on them suddenly”. The phrase “the day of the Lord” in the Old Testament referred to a time when God would come to judge the world and deliver his people, Israel, but in the New Testament, the phrase is reimagined to equating it with the return of Christ. It is no longer just the day of the Lord. It is the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will we be ready for it? Be ready!
And this brings Paul to the analogy of the pregnant woman, for he writes that the destruction in the day of the Lord will come suddenly, like labour pains. Have you ever seen a sitcom comedy on television where the woman goes into labour when those involved are not expecting it? Probably my favorite is the old “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy suddenly goes into labour while she, her husband Ricky, and their best friends Fred and Ethel are practicing their routine for bringing her to the hospital. They are all calm, collected and orderly as they go through the routine. They are thinking “peace and safety” when, all of a sudden, the moment arrives, and it throws them all into a panic. They are running every which way, grabbing suitcases, bumping into each other until Ricky, Fred, and Ethel finally run out the door – leaving poor pregnant, expectant, Lucy behind!
Labour pains come suddenly, without warning. They are also painful, and this will be a day of pain and sorrow for those who are not prepared. Labour pains signal the inevitable. When they come, ready or not, the baby is coming. Paul brings out this aspect of inevitability with his final phrase in verse 3: “and they will not escape.” Once God’s judgment begins, there is no reversing it. So, be ready!
You are all children of the light and children 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 awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (1st Thessalonians 5:5-8)
I want to explore the theme of darkness and light just a bit right now. Writing 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah prophesied,
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light: on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. (Is. 9:2)
Those were the first words of a prophecy about Jesus that ends:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…and he will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Jesus would be the one who would bring light to our darkened world. About his birth, in the New Testament, the apostle John wrote,
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. (John 1:9)
After Jesus’ birth, John explains that, in fact,
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. (John 1:10)
And that, concerning Jesus, John writes,
In him was life, and life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4,5)
It is a physical fact that darkness can never overcome light. Light always prevails, as is seen every time a door is opened into a darkened room. Now, going on, the apostle John writes that about himself, Jesus said these words,
“I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12)
But in his famous “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus then turns around and says of his followers,
“You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14,16)
We are to faithfully and continually proclaim that the light of the world, Jesus, has entered the world, and that we are the proof of it.
Lena Solbrekken, our son’s mother-in-law, was a powerful prayer warrior and evangelist. Next Sunday, I will play a video of her sharing some five months before her death about a crucial insight God gave her. She suffered for some 18 months from ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis disease, commonly called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”, a very serious and dreadful disease that, usually very rapidly, takes away the inflicted person’s ability to speak, walk, and move. Her videotaped message to her family and the church was profound: though she was suffering from physical ALS, the church is suffering from spiritual ALS. Just as Lena was losing and would eventually totally lose her physical ability to speak, too many Christians are suffering from a type of spiritual ALS, losing the ability or even willingness to speak for Jesus or about him. Just as Lena was losing, and would entire lose, her ability to walk because of her physical ALS, so are Christians not willing to walk anywhere to tell others about Jesus. Just as the physical ALS were causing the nerve endings in Lena’s body to shut down and not send signals to the rest of her body as to how to move, we Christians are losing contact with the spiritual nerve endings – in the Holy Spirit within us – to be able to be alive spiritually. Thus, the question is, do we have spiritual ALS, or are we telling others about the light we are living in, the light of Jesus? Are we telling others about Jesus and his sure Second Coming? Are we living sober, controlled lives, putting on faith and love as spiritual armour, fit for battle, and living out and letting others know as the hope of salvation that is anyone’s who believes in and follows. Are we living “in the light”? As Christians we are. But are we telling others about that light, Jesus? It is our calling by Jesus to do. As Paul writes, “You are children of light” and “of the day”. Live accordingly.
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. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)
Christian singer Keith Green wrote a song back in the 1980’s called “Asleep in the Light.” In the song he made this compelling charge: “The world is sleeping in the dark, that the church just can’t fight, because it’s asleep in the light.” What a terrible indictment! Paul writes that we are actually at war with the spiritual forces of darkness and that we should get dressed for battle, with words that strongly parallel his famous Ephesians 6 passage about putting on “spiritual armour” of faith, love, and hope so that we are ready for the fight.
Christ could return at anytime, so the time to prepare is now. Are you in the darkness or in the light? If you are in darkness, then let me encourage you to come into the light. Christ is coming. Now is the time to choose Christ. Come out of the darkness and into God’s wonderful light. I will ask you to pray with me and then come forward at the end of the worship service, and I will pray with you. If you are already in the light, then let me ask you: are you watching or sleeping? Are you asleep in the light? If you have been sleeping, then let me encourage you to wake up! Be alert! Be self-controlled! Don’t sleepwalk your way through life but walk in God’s marvelous light. There is a war going on. So, get out of your pajamas and put on the armor of God! Your salvation doesn’t depend on it, but someone else’s may! Ready or not, here he comes! Christ is coming. So, watch out! Be ready! Let’s pray…
