The Day of the Lord. The title of the move is A Thief in the Night which is taken from our passage this evening.

Transcription

1 The Day of the Lord (1 Thess. 4:13-5:11 November 10, 2012) When I had known the Lord for about two months the Christians at my college put on an evangelistic event. We invited our fellow students to watch a movie. The movie was already a bit old even then it was made in 1972 but I was repeatedly told it was one of the best evangelistic movies ever made. Here is how the movie started. The title of the move is A Thief in the Night which is taken from our passage this evening. The movie centres on Patty Jo Myers a young wife who considers herself a Christian because she occasionally reads her Bible and goes to church regularly. She is warned by her friends that if she does not get right with Christ when the rapture comes she will be left behind and have to go through the Great Tribulation. One morning, she awakens to find that her husband and millions of others have suddenly disappeared. Gradually, Patty realizes that rapture has indeed occurred Jesus came like a thief in the night and she's been left behind. I watched the film and didn t quite know what to make of it. I had never heard of the rapture. The idea that one day all the Christians on earth would simply vanish. But that is not the end. The world would go on for another seven years. Some of those who weren't Christians would become Christians and would fight the forces of the Antichrist. I listened to this and still did not know what to make of it all.

2 I was sat down and told this was a crucial doctrine. One day when we least expect it Jesus will return like a thief in the night. He will come for His saints the dead and the living. They will rise to meet Him in the air. But for those not in Christ, this time sees the rise of the Antichrist it is a time of great tribulation. But, then Jesus would come yet again, but this time it would be to judge this fallen world and set up His millennial kingdom. The point stressed to me was that you don t want to miss the rapture and be left in the time of tribulation. I was shown charts. I was told this was biblical. And no doubt many of you were taught this. In the 70 s and 80 s eschatology the doctrine of the end times along with Charismatic sign gifts these were the hot topics of the day. Baptists and Brethren were particularly into the end times they ran prophesy seminars and taught on this relentlessly. If you were in one of those churches then you would have heard plenty of teaching on this. And the understanding of the end times which was common in that time and what this film taught is known as a pretribulational rapture the idea that Jesus would come back and rapture His saints before the great tribulation. I began to learn the lingo. I was taught that to view the end times in any other way is liberal, it is not taking the Bible seriously and gives people an excuse for lax living. There have been many books and movies based on this examples are The Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind series. The problem was when I began to ask questions. Where in the Bible is this actually taught? I was shown to a few passages and one of the key passages underpinning this teaching is the one we are looking at tonight in 1 Thessalonians. To many, this is the passage that proves the pretribulational rapture. I have studied this passage many times over the years. You can decide for yourself if this passage clearly teaches a particular timing of the rapture. Unfortunately, many of the times I looked at this passage I was focussed on finding what Paul was saying about the scheme of the end times instead of listening to what he was actually trying to tell me. That was a mistake. Turn with me to our passage. Look at how Paul ends both sections. 1 Thessalonians 4:18:

3 Therefore, encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 5:11: Therefore, encourage one and build up one another as you are doing. These passages are meant to be passages of encouragement and edification not passages of theological nit-picking. I wish I could just look at why this is a passage of encouragement but since this has been such an important issue to many I will touch briefly on the timing of the rapture. If you want to know why I don t hold to a pretrib rapture, I have taught on this at other times looking at all the passages and theology involved. Basically, while pretribulationalism is a fine acceptable view I think the evidence for it is particularly sparse. In fact not one passage in the Bible teaches it clearly you have to get it from inference from understanding certain passages in certain ways. Unfortunately, the reality is that while this way of viewing Scripture works well in novels it does not stack up as well to Biblical scrutiny. The result is that as a way of understanding the Scriptures it has pretty much faded from journals and commentaries. It still exists in some churches as a hangover from the 70 s and 80 s and for those who grew up in that environment but in practice most of the younger generation would not have heard of it and have other issues that push their buttons. So, if you are here tonight and you have never heard of pretribulationalism don t worry I have covered this more for those who have. What is important is that our passage tonight teaches very clearly that when Jesus returns those who are Christians both the living and the dead will rise into the air to meet Jesus this is the rapture. For most of church history it was enough to know that Jesus was coming back and we will be with him But in the 1800 s questions arose as to when this would happen in relation to the other events in particular to the tribulation. Scripture speaks of a time of tribulation a time of testing at the end of the world. Pretribulationists felt this was to be a seven year period that happened after the rapture.

4 The third view was the view of most of the church in history and today. It is the view that Scripture seems to indicate. But the first view was popularised for a time. It captured people s imaginations. But here is the main point. The timing of the rapture is not what is crucial about the end times. Don t let arguments about the scheme of events in the last days obscure the clear truth that Jesus is coming back for His people and this is to be a source of great rejoicing. The passage we are coming to is famous in many church circles but famous for the wrong reasons. Paul was not laying out a scheme of the end times he was giving encouragement to a church doing it tough. But what was the issue Paul was addressing? Look with me at 1 Thessalonians 4:13: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. Sleep is a term for death. Clearly some in the church at Thessalonica had died and others in the church were grieving. Their death had upset them. Why? Why are they grieving?

5 This year I have been to a number of funerals funerals of Christians and non- Christians. The difference is astonishing. Non-Christians have no hope. The funeral is a time to remember their life and then grieve because they are gone. Christians have hope. Their funerals are a time to say goodbye for a time. They are absent from the body but with Christ. You are sad they are gone but you rejoice because they have their reward and you will see them again. It is a celebration of the work of Christ in them and that work will see them rise again. So why was a Christian church grieving like the unbelievers who have no hope? Some have suggested that because Paul was with them for such a short time he didn t get to tell them about the resurrection of the saints. So they grieved when their friends died. But this makes little sense. Heaven, eternal life, the resurrection these are essential parts of the gospel. Without the resurrection and heaven there is no gospel. This letter is full of references to the resurrection of Jesus. There is no way Paul would not have included teaching on the resurrection of the saints. So the confusion has to lie elsewhere. Those who hold to a pretribulational rapture argue that the Thessalonians were sad because they thought they had missed the rapture. They were grieving because they thought they weren t truly Christians because they had not been raptured. In chapter 3 we saw that it was a time of suffering so they thought it was the great tribulation and they had missed the rapture. But, that is reading a lot into this passage. They are not sad for themselves but for those who had died. Nothing here indicates they thought they had missed the rapture. The basic problem has to do with those who have died. It seems evident that the Thessalonians were worried that somehow these saints would not experience the fullness of the events around the return of Jesus. There are a number of events in history I would give my right arm to have witnessed. Creation. Imagine watching as from nothing everything is made. Watching the morning stars singing as God brings everything into existence. The crucifixion. The greatest event in history. The sacrifice that makes all things right. In one sense I was crucified with Christ but I didn t actually witness it. But there is still one final great event the Second Coming of Jesus.

6 The return of Jesus is going to be an incredible event. Revelation tells us every eye will see it. Jesus left this world humiliated on a cross. He will return as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Too glorious for any to look upon. He comes with the armies of heaven. The very skies will split open. The great men who are not in Christ will call out to the hills to fall on them and hide them. The saints who have had enough of sin and this fallen world will rejoice. The creation itself has been groaning longing for this day. It will be a day beyond anything we can imagine. It seems that somehow the Thessalonians thought those who had died will miss out on being a part of this incredible event. Perhaps the thought is the dead will only be raised at the final judgment after the return of Jesus and all the incredible events associated with it. In Revelation 20:11 15 we read about the final judgment: Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. If you only had that passage you might think that the dead in Christ will only rise right at the end. Paul writes to correct this misunderstanding. Far from missing out on the return of Jesus they will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 18: For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ

7 will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. I have no idea when Jesus will return. I used to think this world was so depraved and debauched He had to come very soon. It used to excite me to think that I might be alive to see the return of Jesus. But alive or dead it doesn t matter. Paul makes it clear, whether I am living or in the grave I won t miss one iota of this glorious event. Think about what will happen. The world will be going about its business, marrying and giving in marriage, eating, drinking, working, playing with the kids. An ordinary day. Then everything changes in the twinkling of an eye. The archangel will sound the trumpet to signal the end. Every eye will look up and see the heavens splitting open and there will be Jesus. Listen to the description of what they will see. Revelation 19:11 16: Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. That will be the most amazing sight. The wicked will shake the righteous will rejoice. And the world which humiliated Jesus will see Him come as its rightful King. But the dead will not miss this. The dead in Christ will rise right at the start of this series of events. The graves will open. Those dead ten minutes or ten centuries if they are in Christ will rise. They will rise to meet Jesus in the air. Then those who are living and in Christ will rise to meet them.

8 There united for the first time will be every living being in Christ. Jesus with His holy angels, the dead in Christ and the living in Christ. Look at verse 17 this is our reward we will always be with the Lord. Unfortunately for some Christians, realising this is your reward is a let down. They are looking for a different eternal reward. They imagine themselves lazing on white sandy beaches where you can never get sunburned or drown. You are in a twenty-year old body perfectly fit not an ounce of fat. Your family and close friends all those who mean the most to you are with you. Lunch is lobster mornay, French fries and more French fries. Dessert is flourless chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. And hallelujah no one counts calories or cholesterol in heaven. After lunch there is a round of golf, a spa and a Swedish massage. There is never pain or disease or aging let alone death. Heaven is the best of this life. So to hear our reward is to be with Christ and to worship Him forever is a bit of a let down. But read Revelation 21 and 22. Being sinless and being with Christ is far beyond even the greatest pleasures we can imagine in this world. The new heaven and the new earth go far beyond the limits of this heaven and earth. And what is there is infinitely better because we are with Christ. And we are free from our sin. I long for that day with all my heart. As much as I long for the beatific vision of Christ I long just as much for the day when my sin is ended. Of everything that causes me pain and grief and tears here in this life my sin is at the top of the list. I weep over those times when I sin. Those times when my sin overcomes me. Times when I let Christ down. Times when my sin causes pain to others. But the day is coming when there will be no sin. No Satan. No fallen creation. And no sin within Craig Lloyd. Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, I will be free at last!

9 No more thoughts of anger, greed, lust and envy. Not to even struggle in the least with the flesh. Then I can enjoy my union with Christ forever. What is lazing by the sea eating chocolate compared to enjoying Christ. I tell you brethren no earthly pleasure can compare to this coming reality of being with the Lord. That moment will mark the end of this fallen world and sin and the reign of evil and the consequences of sin. It marks the beginning of eternity joy forever, perfect union with Christ, being with Him. No wonder Paul says encourage each other with these words. Brothers and sisters when I am struggling when sin in me in the world gets too much when I just want to cry out How long O Lord? Then I remember He will come today, tomorrow, a thousand years He will come and He will make all things right. Paul continues this theme of encouraging the saints through the coming of Christ in chapter 5. The point of this passage is found in verse 9: God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Either the Thessalonians sent a question back with Timothy or Timothy reported a concern in the church regarding the Day of the Lord the return of Jesus. Exactly what the concern is we can t be sure but it seems they had some doubts as to whether they would be ready when Jesus returned. This is a concern that churches and Christians often have. Christians often wonder if I die or if Jesus comes back tonight would I be ready? A lot of Christians have lost a lot of sleep worrying about this. The Catholic Church introduced the last rites a sacrament that purged you of sin before death so you are ready for heaven. But too bad if you died before the priest got there. I have spoken to Christians who are concerned what if I have sinned and then a bus hits me or Jesus comes suddenly?

10 But this very question undercuts the basis of the gospel. This thinking makes our salvation dependent on us. If I am living well enough when I die then I go to heaven. Don t worry about whether you are living well enough. You can never live well enough. On the best day of your life as a Christian you didn t live well enough to satisfy God. But we don t have to because Jesus lived well enough for us. That is the Gospel. God looks at us and sees His righteousness not ours. Look at how Paul says this. 1 Thessalonians 5:1 11: Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, There is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. This is information the Thessalonians already knew. Paul had told them what the times and seasons would be like at the time Jesus returned. People would be saying it is a time of peace and security a time they least expect it then the Lord will return suddenly like a thief in the night and His judgment will come upon them suddenly like the labour pains of birth. Listen to the way Jesus put it. Matthew 24:36 44: But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Here is the point Jesus can come back at any time. There won t be a warning there won t be time to repent. It will be like the days of Noah when the flood came on them. God has given warnings prophets, signs, even His own Son. But if men and women they did not heed this there is no second chance.

11 Men and women today live concerned about paying the mortgage, buying an iphone, who will win the cricket. They are not crying out for deliverance from their sin. People are comfortable. It seems like peace and safety. Go out and tell them that God s judgment may strike at any moment and they will laugh. We live in a stable, secure, prosperous world they want this world. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. You won t expect it but it will come. That is why we have to tell people about Christ. But first they have to know about a holy God and sinful man and the final judgment. They have to grasp the danger they are in before they call for a Saviour. They have to realize their peace and safety is an illusion because their sin brings the wrath of a holy God. Jesus is coming. And when that happens then those who are saying peace and security will have a different tone. Revelation 6:15 17: Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? If you have not trusted Christ when He returns you stand in your own righteousness and no one will stand. But we do not stand in our righteousness but in His. Verses 4-5: But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. Because we are in the light and not the darkness when the day does come we won t be surprised like a thief in the night. But why not? Verses 6-8: So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. When God saves us, He takes our heart of stone and gives us a new heart a heart that loves Him and wants to obey Him.

12 In chapter 4 Paul used the metaphor of sleep for death here he uses it of spiritual death. A Christian with a new heart and new desires does not live like the world. At times we slip and sin but we are not characterized by sin. We work out our salvation in fear and trembling. We strive to put on the armour of God including the breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. What Paul is saying is this. The world doesn t care about Christ or holiness. It is in darkness the night of sin. It will never be ready for the day of the Lord. We do care about Christ and holiness. We do strive to live godly every day. We fail at times but our lives are characterized by striving to live for Him. Let me clarify this. Unfortunately Christians sin. We can have bad days really bad days. What if you slack of on your quiet times? Things aren t going well. You argue with your wife. You tell her you hate her and want a divorce. She responds by yelling at you. Then in the midst of this horrible fight Christ returns. Your non-christian neighbours are in love and at peace. You are at a low point and at war. Does that mean you are not saved? Does that mean the wrath of God will fall on you? No. While the Christian s life is characterized by a growing love for Christ, putting on the armour of God it is not this that saves us. This is evidence of Christ at work in us. But it is not our perfect obedience or even very good obedience that saves us. It is the blood of Christ that covers all our sins. If you love Him. If there is fruit. Then even if you are at a bad place you are still His. Look at verses 9-10: For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. If you are His He chose you and destined you not for wrath but for heaven.

13 Not because of your works not because you lived well not because on the day of the Lord you were having a good day but because our Lord Jesus Christ died for us. If my salvation depended on my works if I have to be living right when Jesus returns I would never have any assurance of my salvation. And if somehow I did get to heaven then the glory goes to me. I did it. But, that is not the gospel. The gospel is that we cannot do it. We cannot live well enough. But we don t have to. Jesus lived well enough and He died for me. He takes my sin. He saves me. The result is that that whether we are awake or asleep living or dead we might live with him. Whether we are awake and living for Jesus or have died in Him when He comes we will rise and live with Him forever. That is why Paul says encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. This passage has been used to argue various timings of the rapture. It is far more important than that. Archaeologists unearthed an inscription in Thessalonica which summed up their ethos toward death. It read: After death, no reviving, after the grave, no meeting again. That was the view of those who lived there. That is the view of most who live in Brisbane. You die and you become food for the worms. That is it.

14 But that is not it. All will rise the just and the unjust. The unjust will be judged by Christ and their fate is not a pleasant one. The righteous will rise to meet Christ and be with Him forever. Because of the death of Christ death lost its sting. Death is merely the beginning. God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters our society does everything to defeat death plastic surgery, gene therapy, cryo-embalming but they fail. They lament the passing of the years. They mourn at funerals because there is no hope. But for us those in Christ old age just beings us nearer to the Lord. Death means to be absent from the body and with Christ. This world is not all there is. Whether we die or He returns while we yet live it makes no difference we will be with Him enjoying Him and rejoicing forever. That is why Paul says encourage each other with these words. That is our gospel that is our hope in this we rejoice.