Reading… and Thinking

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. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 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. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

— 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (NKJV)

This passage follows immediately after Paul’s often-quoted prophecy of the return of Jesus, giving the assurance that those who have died in Christ will be raised from the dead at his coming, and that both living and dead will be gathered to be with the Lord. There were no chapter breaks in the original letter. These verses (from what we call chapter 5) are part of the prophecy, not a separate topic.

I’ve personally never counted, but I’ve read one claim there are over 200 New Testament mentions of the return of Christ, and another claim says there are 250. I’m sure there would be some disagreement among students about this or that passage. But I know from my own reading that Jesus and the apostles spoke over and over and over about the culminating event of human history – the return of Jesus, and his establishment of the Kingdom of God, which will fill the earth with God’s glory. If anything, the 200 count has to be conservative.

We would all naturally like to know when this will be! Paul says there’s no need to write to them (us!) about “times and seasons”. Because they already knew the time of Jesus’s return? No – because they were well aware, as Paul was, that Jesus had clearly stated, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” (Acts 1:7) He didn’t expect them to have such information, but he certainly expected them to be aware of Jesus’s repeated statements that his coming would be “like a thief in the night”, that is, sudden, unexpected, and devastating.

But, Paul says, it shouldn’t be thief-like for you! You’re not in the dark! So although you may not know the precise timing, you know enough to stay awake and stay sober. This is a direct reference to parables Jesus gave, in association with his well-known Olivet prophecy, recorded in Matthew 24. Read verses 42-51 in particular. Jesus’s point, echoed by Paul, is: you don’t know when I’m coming, so you have to be awake all the time, and doing your master’s bidding all the time, never letting yourself slip into pleasure-seeking.

I suppose we all see the rightness of this, in theory. But who among us is spiritually alert all the time? Who among us doesn’t ever indulge in pleasant activities that take us away from our Lord? It’s just so easy to set aside our knowledge that we don’t belong to the dark, and give ourselves permission to participate in the works of darkness. We close our eyes to the knowledge that this could be spiritually fatal.

What are we to do? Paul gives us two techniques to help us combat the natural impulses, which pull us away from Christ. First, what you do for yourself: make a deliberate effort to “clothe” yourself in the armor of faith, and hope, and love. We have to say to ourselves, “I believe the Lord is coming again, this is my hope, and I love him. I want to be awake and sober!” The second technique is to help one another – to comfort, remind, build up fellow believers. We all need this, and therefore we all need to provide it for others.