1Th 5:2-3 | KingComments | STEP | The believers in Thessalonica now know that the believers who are fallen asleep will also be present when the Lord Jesus will come to earth to reign. They know also that the Lord Jesus will come first Himself, that He will take up all the believers at the same time, that there will be a special encounter in the air and that He will take up all His own to His dwelling place, heaven. From that union in the air on, His own will be with Him forever. . After this is determined, Paul can continue his teaching on the coming of the Lord to the earth. In that respect, there was really no need for him to write them. They had received the teaching on “the times and the epochs” and enough has been written about that in the Old Testament. ‘Times and epochs’ refer to the earth. The first reference to that is written in Genesis 1 ( ), where it clearly appears that it has to do with the earth. The earth is the territory where all prophetic foretelling will be fulfilled. The church and its rapture is nowhere a subject of prophecy. That is because the church belongs to heaven. With both ‘times’ and ‘epochs’ a certain period of time is meant. They also are mentioned together in Acts 1 ( ; cf. ; ). They are synonyms that complement one another. However, there is a remarkable difference. Concerning ‘times’ it is about duration of time, about something that happens after a course of time. In Greek, the word chronos is used. You recognize the word in our word ‘chronometer’, a device to measure how long something has taken. You read in Galatians 4 that when “the fullness of the time” ( chronos ) had come, God sent forth His Son ( ). That means that the Lord Jesus came to earth after the termination of a certain period of time and God had considered it the time to send forth His Son. Concerning ‘epochs’ it is not about the duration of time, but about what exactly characterizes a certain period of time, about the character of that time. In Greek, the word kairos is used here. There was a time in which man lived without law ( ). After a course of time God gave through Moses the law to His people and they lived under the law ( ). In “the times of the Gentiles” ( ) He allowed the nations to go their own way. Those different periods of time, that sometimes follow each other and sometimes occur at the same time, have their own characteristic. Each time has made clear who man is and that he fully fails in serving God. All of these different times end up in “the fullness of the times” (the plural form of kairos ) ( ). That is the time of the millennial kingdom which will be characterized by peace because then the Prince of peace will reign. Then “times (plural form of ‘kairos’) of refreshing” will come ( ). . They were not left in uncertainty about the time that the Lord Jesus will come to the earth. They knew “full well” about that. In the same sense Luke uses the word ‘careful’ or ‘accurate’ for his investigation into the history of the Lord Jesus ( ). Matthew uses it to indicate how urgently Herod wants to know from the wise men about the star they had seen ( ). The Holy Spirit uses it to describe how Apollos taught “the things concerning Jesus” and that Priscilla and Aquila explained to Apollos “the way of God more accurately” ( ). This is how Paul uses it for his teaching to the Thessalonians. Finally the word ‘careful’ is also used by Paul for the conduct of the believer ( ). Summarized you may say that you ought to examine the Scriptures accurately or carefully, teach the Scriptures accurately and need to be accurate in your obedience to what you have learnt from the Scriptures. “The day of the Lord” is not only the moment that He comes to judge, but the whole period in which He is in charge in contrast to the time in which man is in charge. That time begins when the church has been caught up. Then He will first pour out His judgments over the earth. An exhaustive and impressive description you find in Revelation 6-18. Then the Lord Jesus Himself will come, as you read in Revelation 19, with all His saints to the earth to judge the remainders of the evil ( ). Afterward He will establish His kingdom of peace. If you are looking forward to His coming for the church, He will not come for you “as a thief in the night”. A thief always comes suddenly, unexpected and undesired. The world does not look forward to Him. The unbelievers absolutely do not want to look forward to Him. You notice it if you tell about Him to be coming to judge the world. Then they start to mock ( ). . In their audacity they speak about “peace and safety” (cf. ; ). They perform this sham because in their arrogance they trust in their technological achievements and improvement. They think to have everything under control. But behind their tough language – they “are saying”, to encourage themselves – they hide an enormous fear for the future ( ). This fear will appear to be not unfounded. However, when people who are being honest about that, are told about the only way for hope, they suddenly prefer to believe that it is altogether not that bad at all. Then they rather scream over their feelings of fear with their imagination of peace that they have made their own. The destruction will suddenly overtake them. They will lose everything what life meant to them. This sudden destruction will come down from heaven, when the Lord Jesus appears to judge all evil, but also earlier all the introductory judgments after the rapture of the church. There will be no way of escape from this judgment. concludes with a threat regarding that. Nobody will escape from his or her judgment. God knows perfectly and detailed what each person has thought and done. He will deliver the convincing proof of it, so that everyone who falls under His judgment will have to acknowledge the righteousness of it. Every injustice that has been done will be punished righteously. You, and every other believer, may know that Christ bore the judgment over the injustice that has been done. The unrepentant sinners will have to bear the judgment themselves because they have refused to choose the way that would lead them to salvation. The comparison with “the labor pains upon a woman with child” indicates that it is about a time of sorrow and pain. That’s what will happen to the unbelievers when the Lord Jesus starts with His judgments. There will be no way of escape for them, just like a pregnant woman does not escape the labor pains. For the sorely afflicted believers at that time the encouraging prospect of new life after sorrows is attached to that (cf. ). Faith may know that God is sending these labor pains, so that fruit will appear for Him from the earth. . With this verse a series of sharp contrasts starts, introduced by the words “but you”. They clarify the difference between the believers who will be caught up and the unbelievers who will be left behind on earth. The believers are sons of the light and sons of the day opposite to the night and the darkness; believers are alert and are sober opposite to sleeping and being drunk; the believers are destined for salvation and not for wrath. In the word “brethren” again the hearty bond of the apostle with the Thessalonians resonates. He desires to reach their heart. After picturing the coming ‘day of the Lord’ to them and the terrors that will accompany this day regarding the unbelievers, he now encourages them. They are not in darkness in which sphere every kind of light is missing. The light of God had irradiated them and therefore they were informed of His plans. Owing to that they were prepared and that day was not going to overtake them like a thief. Because of the teaching that they have received, first orally and now through this letter, they knew that they would have been taken away from the earth when that day comes. Now read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 again. Reflection: What can you already tell about God’s act toward the world? Have you already been occupied with exploring this ‘accurately’?

‏ 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

The Day of the Lord

The believers in Thessalonica now know that the believers who are fallen asleep will also be present when the Lord Jesus will come to earth to reign. They know also that the Lord Jesus will come first Himself, that He will take up all the believers at the same time, that there will be a special encounter in the air and that He will take up all His own to His dwelling place, heaven. From that union in the air on, His own will be with Him forever.

1Thes 5:1. After this is determined, Paul can continue his teaching on the coming of the Lord to the earth. In that respect, there was really no need for him to write them. They had received the teaching on “the times and the epochs” and enough has been written about that in the Old Testament. ‘Times and epochs’ refer to the earth. The first reference to that is written in Genesis 1 (Gen 1:14), where it clearly appears that it has to do with the earth. The earth is the territory where all prophetic foretelling will be fulfilled.

The church and its rapture is nowhere a subject of prophecy. That is because the church belongs to heaven. With both ‘times’ and ‘epochs’ a certain period of time is meant. They also are mentioned together in Acts 1 (Acts 1:7; cf. Dan 2:21; Ecc 3:1). They are synonyms that complement one another. However, there is a remarkable difference.

Concerning ‘times’ it is about duration of time, about something that happens after a course of time. In Greek, the word chronos is used. You recognize the word in our word ‘chronometer’, a device to measure how long something has taken. You read in Galatians 4 that when “the fullness of the time” (chronos) had come, God sent forth His Son (Gal 4:4). That means that the Lord Jesus came to earth after the termination of a certain period of time and God had considered it the time to send forth His Son.

Concerning ‘epochs’ it is not about the duration of time, but about what exactly characterizes a certain period of time, about the character of that time. In Greek, the word kairos is used here. There was a time in which man lived without law (Rom 5:13). After a course of time God gave through Moses the law to His people and they lived under the law (Jn 7:19). In “the times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24) He allowed the nations to go their own way.

Those different periods of time, that sometimes follow each other and sometimes occur at the same time, have their own characteristic. Each time has made clear who man is and that he fully fails in serving God. All of these different times end up in “the fullness of the times” (the plural form of kairos) (Eph 1:10). That is the time of the millennial kingdom which will be characterized by peace because then the Prince of peace will reign. Then “times (plural form of ‘kairos’) of refreshing” will come (Acts 3:19).

1Thes 5:2. They were not left in uncertainty about the time that the Lord Jesus will come to the earth. They knew “full well” about that. In the same sense Luke uses the word ‘careful’ or ‘accurate’ for his investigation into the history of the Lord Jesus (Lk 1:3). Matthew uses it to indicate how urgently Herod wants to know from the wise men about the star they had seen (Mt 2:7). The Holy Spirit uses it to describe how Apollos taught “the things concerning Jesus” and that Priscilla and Aquila explained to Apollos “the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:25-26). This is how Paul uses it for his teaching to the Thessalonians. Finally the word ‘careful’ is also used by Paul for the conduct of the believer (Eph 5:15).

Summarized you may say that you ought to examine the Scriptures accurately or carefully, teach the Scriptures accurately and need to be accurate in your obedience to what you have learnt from the Scriptures.

“The day of the Lord” is not only the moment that He comes to judge, but the whole period in which He is in charge in contrast to the time in which man is in charge. That time begins when the church has been caught up. Then He will first pour out His judgments over the earth. An exhaustive and impressive description you find in Revelation 6-18. Then the Lord Jesus Himself will come, as you read in Revelation 19, with all His saints to the earth to judge the remainders of the evil (Rev 19:11-21). Afterward He will establish His kingdom of peace.

If you are looking forward to His coming for the church, He will not come for you “as a thief in the night”. A thief always comes suddenly, unexpected and undesired. The world does not look forward to Him. The unbelievers absolutely do not want to look forward to Him. You notice it if you tell about Him to be coming to judge the world. Then they start to mock (2Pet 3:3-4).

1Thes 5:3. In their audacity they speak about “peace and safety” (cf. Jer 6:14 ; Jer 8:10-11 ; Jer 14:13; Eze 13:10 ; 16). They perform this sham because in their arrogance they trust in their technological achievements and improvement. They think to have everything under control. But behind their tough language – they “are saying”, to encourage themselves – they hide an enormous fear for the future (Lk 21:25-26).

This fear will appear to be not unfounded. However, when people who are being honest about that, are told about the only way for hope, they suddenly prefer to believe that it is altogether not that bad at all. Then they rather scream over their feelings of fear with their imagination of peace that they have made their own. The destruction will suddenly overtake them. They will lose everything what life meant to them. This sudden destruction will come down from heaven, when the Lord Jesus appears to judge all evil, but also earlier all the introductory judgments after the rapture of the church.

There will be no way of escape from this judgment. 1Thes 5:3 concludes with a threat regarding that. Nobody will escape from his or her judgment. God knows perfectly and detailed what each person has thought and done. He will deliver the convincing proof of it, so that everyone who falls under His judgment will have to acknowledge the righteousness of it. Every injustice that has been done will be punished righteously. You, and every other believer, may know that Christ bore the judgment over the injustice that has been done. The unrepentant sinners will have to bear the judgment themselves because they have refused to choose the way that would lead them to salvation.

The comparison with “the labor pains upon a woman with child” indicates that it is about a time of sorrow and pain. That’s what will happen to the unbelievers when the Lord Jesus starts with His judgments. There will be no way of escape for them, just like a pregnant woman does not escape the labor pains. For the sorely afflicted believers at that time the encouraging prospect of new life after sorrows is attached to that (cf. Mic 4:9-10). Faith may know that God is sending these labor pains, so that fruit will appear for Him from the earth.

1Thes 5:4. With this verse a series of sharp contrasts starts, introduced by the words “but you”. They clarify the difference between the believers who will be caught up and the unbelievers who will be left behind on earth. The believers are sons of the light and sons of the day opposite to the night and the darkness; believers are alert and are sober opposite to sleeping and being drunk; the believers are destined for salvation and not for wrath.

In the word “brethren” again the hearty bond of the apostle with the Thessalonians resonates. He desires to reach their heart. After picturing the coming ‘day of the Lord’ to them and the terrors that will accompany this day regarding the unbelievers, he now encourages them.

They are not in darkness in which sphere every kind of light is missing. The light of God had irradiated them and therefore they were informed of His plans. Owing to that they were prepared and that day was not going to overtake them like a thief. Because of the teaching that they have received, first orally and now through this letter, they knew that they would have been taken away from the earth when that day comes.

Now read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 again.

Reflection: What can you already tell about God’s act toward the world? Have you already been occupied with exploring this ‘accurately’?