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1 Thessalonians 5:1-5, Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;
There you are, all packed for vacation, luggage in the back, kids buckled in, wife beginning her knitting, and you behind the wheel. Thirty minutes down the road the questions start: “Are we almost there? How long till we get there?”
That’s exactly what the Thessalonians wanted to know. Paul knew they’d be wondering that after informing them about the coming Rapture in chapter 4. Then he also told them about the coming day of the Lord (5:2). So when will the day of the Lord begin? The disciples had a similar question for Jesus in Matthew 24:3, “And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”
And just before Christ ascended they asked again in Acts 1:6-7, “Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” Notice, Jesus doesn’t deny the kingdom would be restored to Israel. Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or epochs (exact same words as in 1 Thessalonians 5:1) which the Father has fixed by His own authority.” The word “times” is chronos, the passing or unfolding of time hour by hour, day by day. The word “epochs” is kairos, speaking of periods or ages as in, “We live in a secular, post-Christian age.” Paul used kairos in 2 Timothy 3:1 when he warned, “In the last days difficult times or epochs will come.” Our penchant for wanting to know when this will happen is why people write best-selling books or make prognostications about the second coming. Paul said, “You know full well the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.”
GOD PLANS THE END FROM THE BEGINNING
While Jesus was in His humility as the God-Man, even He didn’t know when the end would come. He said in Matthew 24:16, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone!” The really wonderful thing is that God predetermined the schedule, we are on His timeline, and at some point the Rapture and the Day of the Lord will begin right on time just like Christ’s first coming. God always keeps His appointments.
Here’s our starting point: God rules.
Psalm 103:19, The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.
In Daniel 2:20-21 Daniel used the same phrase Paul used in our passage.
Daniel 2:20, Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. 21 “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.
God is working out His plan. He knows and has planned the events and movements of every single day, hour, even moment of human history. The times and epochs of history are the unfolding of His plan. Today is no exception. As you think of your own life and all the crazy news today, remember all events are the unfolding of the divine plan.
Isaiah 46:9b-10, I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
Don’t you just love that? Some theologians deny that God knows the future and that He’s learning as time unfolds. That’s called “open theism.” That’s really open blasphemy. Not only does God know it – He planned it. This is why I love history, “His story.” And this is why there is such a thing as prophecy. If God wasn’t in absolute control, if He wasn’t sovereign, He could never have made all these promises about Christ’s first coming, let alone His second coming and the end of the world. But He did, and He’ll make sure they are all fulfilled.
Before we can understand this passage about the Day of the Lord, we need some Old Testament background. Let’s go back to Daniel to get a quick look at God’s schedule. Sometimes God gives us a precise number of days or years about the future and sometimes He doesn’t. I hope you brought your brain along this morning. This is not a “3 points and a poem” sermon.
DANIEL 2 AND NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM
You’ll remember in Daniel 2 King Neb had a horrible dream about a large statue. None of his wise guys could tell him the dream but God gave Daniel the ability to interpret it and he said this to Neb.
Daniel 2:28, However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.
And then Daniel reveals Neb’s dream about this great statue. It was made of gold, silver, bronze, and finally iron and clay mixed – Babylon, Persia, Greece, and the Roman empire. Then a Stone cut without hands struck the statue on the feet and crushed the whole statue to smithereens. The wind blew every trace of all four kingdoms away and that Stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, which looks forward to the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Daniel 2:44, In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
DANIEL 9 AND THE SEVEN YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD
As Daniel was confessing his sins and the sins of his people Israel, God sent Gabriel to give Daniel an incredible revelation about the 70 years. This is surely the most amazing prophetic passage in the Old Testament. Bible students agree that a week here is a week of years.
Daniel 9:24-27, “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
So seventy times seven means 490 years are decreed for Israel to accomplish the six things in verse 24. The first three would happen when Christ came the first time as an infant and the last three when He comes the second time as Lord of lords. These 490 years began with Artaxerxes decree to rebuild Jerusalem in 445 BC. The first 483 years ended when Christ came into Jerusalem and the Jews cut Him off and had Him crucified. God rules and God had all this under control. God predestined Christ’s crucifixion. Acts 4:27-28 says the Jews and Gentiles did whatever God’s hand and purpose had predestined to occur. But that’s only the 483rd year. There’s one week of years (seven years) still to be fulfilled. This is the seven-year tribulation period when the great Day of the Lord begins. God now begins to directly intervene in human affairs with judgments and wrath and also begins to saves His elect Jews and Gentiles. This is what the Thessalonian believers were asking about. When does it start?
THE CHURCH AGE AND THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD
In God’s plan, God hardened Israel’s heart to her Messiah. God turned to the Gentiles to take His gospel to the nations. That’s us in this Church Age. We’re still in the in-between time. That final seven years hasn’t happened yet. Back in 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul explained the Rapture and the deliverance of the Church. Now in chapter 5 God is concerned with judgment and Paul speaks of that 70th week (7 years) in Daniel, a time of judgment. This judgment is described in Revelation 6 to19 with the unfolding of the seal judgments, trumpet judgments, and the final bowl judgments. Revelation divides the seven-year period in half – 3 ½ years in the first half and 3 ½ years in the second half (Revelation 11 and 12). In the second half is when the Antichrist will enter the temple in Jerusalem and declare himself God. Daniel called this the abomination of desolation. Jesus described the second half of the tribulation period in Matthew 24:21.
For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.
THE RETURN AND REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH
At the end of the seven-year tribulation period in Revelation 19, Jesus Christ will return to this world with judgment. He will set up His kingdom on earth that will last 1,000 years. You can see this specific time period of time in Revelation 20:1-6. Christ will reign on earth for a thousand years with His redeemed people and all those glorious promises in the Old Testament prophets will be fulfilled. Here are just a couple.
Zechariah 14:9, And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.
Isaiah 11:5-9, Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.
Remember, the times and the epochs are in His sovereign hand. The world doesn’t realize this, but mankind is headed somewhere, somewhere they won’t like to go. Today is the day of man and the age of secularism when men think they can set the agenda. Humans are casting off all restraints of the mighty powerful God, and God is turning them over to their own lusts and desires. But the Day of the Lord will come and He will intervene in real time and pour out judgments of wrath on earth. At the same time He will mercifully deliver His elect Jews as was promised in the Old Testament and also save a multitude of Gentiles to prepare for His kingdom. We can rest assured there’ll be no trans-surgeries in that great kingdom. No pride parades. No drag queen shows for children in the local library. No antisemitism. No corruption in human government. No Hamas, no Marxists, no Islamists or any other false religion. Christ will rule the world from Jerusalem and righteousness and truth will reign on earth for those thousand years. Now finally, with all that background swirling in your minds, let’s go to our text in 1 Thessalonians 5.
THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A TOTAL SURPRISE TO THE WORLD
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not
escape.
So when does this Day of the Lord start? We know it’s coming; we don’t know when. We believe the Rapture will precede this great and awesome day, but it will take the world by complete surprise just like in the days of Noah and Lot. Let’s look at three characteristics of this coming of the Day of the Lord.
- Unexpectedly. Thieves don’t call you up, “Hey, we’re coming to rob your house. Are you ready?” And nightly news will be declaring, “peace and safety.” The main theme of false prophets is “peace and safety.” Don’t worry about a God out there coming to judge us. If there is a God, He loves everyone. Evolution, psychology, liberalism in the pulpits have worked together to erase the sense of guilt before a holy God. Each person lives according to his own rules with no thought of God. This awesome Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.
- Suddenly. Life is in a normal routine until suddenly it is too late, like labor pains. Kaboom! Kaboom! And earth gets hit with the heaviest, most devastating series of God-imposed judgments you can imagine. This will be God’s answer to man’s rebellion. And there’ll be no warning except these Scriptures right here and the book of Revelation, but the world has relegated the Bible to the dust heap of useless ancient religions. God’s judgements hit suddenly. Like 9/11 man seems defenseless.
- Inescapably. The negative is emphatic – they will absolutely not escape! You’d think when people realize there is no escape, they would fall on their knees and repent. But listen to this.
Revelation 16:8-11, The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. 10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.
Unexpectedly, suddenly, inescapably. So hard is man’s heart, so totally depraved, that, put in the worst-case scenario, when there’s absolutely no human hope of escaping the wrath of God, they still blaspheme God! They have no concept of God’s holiness and no conviction of their sin. The only hope for the human heart is the sovereign mercy of God to come in there and impart new life that willingly repents and submits in faith to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
THE GREAT SEPARATION
1 Thessalonians 5:4, But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief.
Here is the great divide. You know the Day of the Lord is coming and that it could come at any time. You don’t know when, but you know you belong to Christ. You’re not in darkness. God has graciously revealed the light of the gospel in your heart and you have trusted Jesus as your Savior from sin’s punishment. You know you’ll be caught up to meet Him in the air like Paul assured us in 1 Thessalonians 4. The Rapture of the church and the beginning of the Day of the Lord are both imminent and, therefore as best we can tell, they both occur at the same time. Remember that word harpadzo in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 – to seize, snatch, carry away. The best we can tell, the Day of the Lord or the seven-year tribulation period begins when the Lord descends from heaven to snatch up the dead and living believers to meet Him in the clouds in the air and take them to the Father’s house. At the end of the seven-year tribulation, that great Stone of Nebuchanezzar’s dream, Jesus Christ, will come and fill the earth with His glorious kingdom.
There is a huge separation here. Notice the pronouns in verses 3-4. In verse three you have “they,” in verse four “you.” In which group are you? Are you living securely trusting in Christ? If you are, you will be caught up with all of God’s people to meet Christ in the air and ever be with the Lord. I don’t want to be overly dramatic here but let’s think for a moment about the reality of what will happen. There will be a great separation. A husband comes home and no one greets him. He sees four little heaps of clothing there in the family room, soup is cooking on the stove, cake is burning in the oven, an alarm is buzzing away. He’s alone. I know people have ridiculed and mocked the Left Behind dramas. But if the Bible is true, something like this will happen. Do you ever think of that? Remember, the times and the epochs are in God’s hands.
Next week we’ll talk about how believers are not destined for wrath but for salvation (vs.9). But unbelievers are destined for God’s wrath. Don’t wait. Call upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save you now. Jesus Christ came into the world the first time to save sinners. That’s why He went to the cross. It was there He paid the penalty for our sins. Hebrews 2:3 asks this penetrating question, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” In you heart and mind, bow before Him now.