‘About times and dates’
[1 Thessalonians 5:1-10]
This is what the Bible Romans 13:11 says to us: “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” Here, “the present time” refers to the time of the Lord’s second coming. And the time when the Lord's second coming is near means that our salvation is near. It means that the final stage of our redemption that is glorification is near. Also, the time that Paul is talking about is the time for us to wake up from our slumber. And wake up from our slumber means wake up from the sleep of sin. This is the time when sin is to the extreme as the coming of the Lord is near. This is the time when the night is nearly over and the day is almost here (v. 12). How should we live at this time?
In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, Apostle Paul write to the Thessalonian church saints: “Now, brothers, 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.” Here Paul spoke about “times and dates” (v. 1) and it referred to" the day of the Lord "(v. 2), the day that the Lord comes back to this world. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church saints about the Lord's second coming day and said that he didn’t need to write to them about that day (v. 1) because they were already taught by Paul when Paul was with them (WBC) and they knew “very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (v. 2). Here the phrase “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” doesn’t apply to the Thessalonian church saints, who turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and who were waiting for the day when Jesus will return from heaven, whom God raised from the dead (1:9-10). Actually it applies to those who are in darkness (5:4), “those who sleep” (v. 7), that is, to those in this world who don’t believe in Jesus.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:3 – “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.” When those who are in darkness that is those who don’t believe in Jesus (v. 4) sleep (v. 7), thinking that they are in peace and safe, “destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman (v. 3). I am sure those sisters in Christ who went through labor pains know that when they were pregnant, the labor pains is sudden. Just as the Lord's Day comes like a thief in the night, the destruction suddenly comes to unbelievers who are in darkness. And when the eternal destruction suddenly comes, the Bible says that all unbelievers in darkness can never escape their destruction (v.3). What a scary word? When I meditated on this, I remembered the words of the psalmist Asaph who realized the end of the wicked when he entered the sanctuary of God in Psalm 73:18-20: “Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.” How terrible is the end of the wicked? The Bible says that the Lord will cast the wicked down to ruin, will suddenly destroyed and will completely sweep them away by terrors. In other words, the wicked will be instantly destroyed and will face the terrible end. Just as a man wakes up from his sleep and ignores a dream, when the Lord arises, He will despise the wicked as fantasies. The Lord's Day is a day of judgment for those who don’t believe in Jesus. When the Lord comes back to earth, the judgment will come upon those who don’t believe in Jesus. But the unbelievers in darkness don’t believe in the Lord's impending return and judgment. So they will be eating, drinking and marrying until the day of Noah's entry into the ark (Mt. 24:38). In other words, the unbelievers in darkness will eat and drink (1 Thess. 5:7). When they marry, they will say to themselves, 'I am in peace and safe' (v. 3). As they think that they are in peace and safe and when they are sleeping at night (v. 7), the Lord will come like a thief in the night (v. 2). In the end, the destruction will suddenly come on the unbelievers in the darkness say (v. 3) like the people who were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up the day Noah entered the ark, then the flood came and destroyed them all (Lk 17:27).
But for Christians who believe in Jesus, the day of Jesus’ second coming is the day of salvation. In other words, for believers, the day of the Lord's second coming is the day of salvation through the judgment of the unbelievers. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:9 – “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul clearly told the Thessalonian church saints that God chose him and them to be saved only through Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, God had chosen the Thessalonian church saints who were loved by God (1:4) in order for them to receive salvation through Lord Jesus Christ (5:9). And that salvation is that Jesus died for them so that they might live together with Him whether they were awake or asleep (v. 10). In other words, when Jesus returns the Thessalonian church saints who believed that Jesus died and rose again (4:14) would live together with Him whether they were alive (“awake”) or dead (“asleep”). Paul already told the Thessalonian church saints in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 about this truth: “According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till 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, he continued to write to the Thessalonian church saints, saying that ‘you are not in darkness but you are all sons of the light and sons of the day’ so that the day of the Lord should not surprise them like a thief (5:4, 5). Paul, however, exhorted the Thessalonian church saints, who “do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (v. 5), in three ways:
First, Paul exhorted the Thessalonian church saints to alert and self-controlled.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8: “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 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 self-controlled, ….” Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night (v. 7). In short, those unbelievers who are in darkness (v. 4) sleep and get drunk at night (v. 7). But we who believe in Jesus Christ belong to the day (v. 8). Therefore, the Bible tells us the Christians who belong to the day to be alert and self-controlled (vv. 6, 8). We must be alert. In other words, we should be alert spiritually and not asleep. Here, being alert spiritually means two things according to Dr. Pak Yun-sun: (1) First being alert spiritually means to pray to God. Look at 1 Peter 4:7 – “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” (2) Second, being alert spiritually means to act or live by the standard of the kingdom of God. Look at Romans 13:11-14: “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” We also must be self-controlled (1 Thess. 5:6, 8). In other words, we should not be deceived by the things of this world (Park). Look at Luke 21:34-36: “"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” We must be alert and self-controlled and always pray to stand before the Lord. When we do so, we will not be deceived by the things of this world.
Second, Paul exhorted the Thessalonian church saints to put on faith and love as a breastplate.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:8a – “But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, ….” In Paul’s days, when the Roman soldiers went out to the battle, they were the armor that protected their breasts and it was called “a breastplate”. The breastplate that Paul exhorted the Thessalonian church saints to put on was two kinds: (1) One was the ‘the breastplate of faith’. In other words, Paul wanted the Thessalonian church saints to trust God completely and to hold on to the Word of God's promise. One of the words of God's promise that Paul wanted them to hold on to was the promise word of Jesus' second coming (1:9). That was why Paul exhorted the Thessalonian church saints, who were waiting for Jesus from heaven (1:9), to believe that “God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him” (4:14). (2) The other one was ‘the breastplate of love’. In other words, Paul wanted the Thessalonian church saints to live in obedience to God's word because they loved God. Paul already knew that they loved each other so he said in 1 Thessalonians 4:9, “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.” Nevertheless, Paul told them that since they belonged to the day, they should be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as the breastplate (5:8).
Third and last, Paul exhorted the Thessalonian church saints to put on the hope of salvation as a helmet.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:8b – “… and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” Here, when Paul told the Thessalonian church saints to put on “a helmet, the hope of salvation” it probably reminded them the Roman soldiers wearing the helmet in order to protect their heads from their enemies. Likewise, in the spiritual warfare of the Thessalonian church saints as the soldiers of the Jesus’ cross, this helmet of the hope of salvation was crucial in fighting against their enemies Satan and his evil people. In Ephesians 6, the reason why Paul told to “put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (v. 11) was because so that “you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (v. 13). One of the full armor of God was “the helmet of salvation” (v. 17). I think the helmet of hope of salvation that Paul told the Thessalonian church saints to put on refers to the glorification in which the Lord establishes their hearts without blame in holiness before God and Father at the coming of Lord Jesus with all His saints (1 Thess. 3:13). Here, “glorification” is futuristic salvation of complete liberation from sin and its consequences to a place of sanctification (Internet). This futuristic salvation of glorification means: (1) Being raised a spiritual body (1 Cor 15:44), (2) Clothing with the imperishable (v. 53), (3) Clothing an eternal body (1 Thess. 4:17), and (4) Being in a perfect state that is without the possibility of sinning (Internet). Shouldn’t we put on this helmet of hope of salvation?
This is the time of salvation for those of us who believe in Jesus. In other words, the day when Jesus comes back to this world is near. When Jesus comes back to the world, two things will surely happen: Salvation and Judgment. For unbelievers who do not believe in Jesus, the Lord's Day will come like a thief at night (1 Thess. 5:2). “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” (v. 3). But for us who believe in Jesus, the Lord's Day is a day of salvation. When Jesus comes back to earth, we will be transformed and will live with Him forever whether we are alive or dead. The dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (v. 17). Therefore, we must prepare for the Lord's return. We need to be alert and self-controlled. We must be spiritually awake and persevere to pray to God. And we must not be deceived by the things of this world. We must put on the breastplate of faith and love. We must believe in God and live by faith as we hold on to the promises of God. We also need to love our neighbors with the love of the Lord. Let us have the hope of salvation that when Jesus comes back to this world, all of us will suddenly be transformed into a glorious body, a body that will no longer be corrupt, and a holy body without sin anymore and we will live with Him forever.