The Day of the Lord
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
What is the Day of the Lord?
The Day of the Lord is a Day of Judgment
The Day of the Lord is a Day of Wrath
The Day of the Lord is a Period of Time
When is the Day of the Lord?
The Date of the Day of the Lord is unknown
The time of the Day of the Lord is After the Rapture
How should we live NOW, having been rescued from the Day of the Lord?
We must be spiritually Awake
We must be Self-Controlled
Choose to be a person of faith and Love
Choose to be a person of hope
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Intro
December 21, 2012 – the predicted end of the world according to some interpretations of the Mayan calendar – now with a movie based on that prediction, “2012”
According to Harold Camping, he sees the beginning of the end happening with the rapture on May 21, 2011. He came up with that date after his prediction of September 27, 1994 did not occur.
Edgar Whisenant – published a book, 88 reasons why the Rapture is in 1988. That didn’t happen and the next year he released a publication predicting it would be the following year, 1989. That didn’t happen so he moved it to 1992, then 1995 and so on.
Speculating about the date of the end times is nothing new.
People can get away with this it seems because the subject fascinates so many people.
In fact, many in the Thessalonian church were fascinated by end times dates and events.
However whenever you have much interest, you always have people who will begin putting forth false information.
The Thessalonians were hearing and believing some false information that some events near the end times had already occurred and were worried. They wanted to know from Paul if that was true and if not, when they could expect the end to come.
In last week’s text we saw that Paul reminded the Thessalonians of what to expect when Jesus returned for them and what would happen to those who died in Christ. It will be a joyous time as the dead in Christ have their bodies resurrected and glorified and those still alive would be transformed as we are raptured and meet the Lord, and all who are in Christ, in the air and are with Him forever.
Now Paul goes on to tell them not to worry about the times or dates that these things will occur and begins talking about the events that occur after the Lord returns for the church, what is known as the Day of the Lord.
Slide
Turn with me this morning to 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.
This morning we are going to look at what Paul had to say about the Day of the Lord to the Thessalonians and see what we can learn about this so we can live in light of it.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Pray
This morning, I want to seek to ask and answer some questions concerning the day of the Lord and see if might learn a bit about what the Day of the Lord is. It is obvious that Paul had done some teaching on this topic to the Thessalonians because he mentions this without really elaborating on it. In this letter, we don’t have the benefit of that teaching so we are going to look at a number of other Scriptures to ascertain what it was that Paul had taught about this day so we can have the same benefit that the Thessalonians had in learning from Paul’s letter to them.
So first, we need to ask,
What is the Day of the Lord?
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Paul would have been teaching on this topic from what he knew about it from the Old Testament and/or His personal encounters with the Lord where He was told things.
We are going to take a look at the mention of this phrase in the prophets of the Old Testament to see if we can gain some insight as to what Paul taught the Thessalonians about the Day of the Lord.
If you do a search for the “day of the Lord,” you will find it mentioned in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obad, Zephaniah, and Malachi.
We are going to read a few of these Old Testament passages that tell us a little bit about what the day of the Lord is.
Look at
Isaiah 13:9, 11a, (it is up on the screen)
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9 See, the day of the LORD is coming --a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.
So we see here that
The Day of the Lord is a Day of Judgment
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This is the day that the Lord is going to bring judgment upon the world for its evil and sin.
It is a day when justice will finally be meted out on those who have sinned and not been cleansed and forgiven for their sin through Jesus Christ.
In another Old Testament prophet, Zephaniah,
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we see that the Lord speaks about this day as recorded in the first chapter of Zephaniah. He says
Zephaniah 1:14a, 15a, 18a
14 "The great day of the LORD is near …
15 That day will be a day of wrath…
18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD’s wrath.
We see here as well as in the previous Isaiah passage, that
The Day of the Lord is a Day of Wrath
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God’s wrath toward sin is going to be poured out on the earth.
This is not going to be a fun time for anyone to be alive or upon the earth.
Now some people, when they read passages like this, believe God can’t wait to pour out his wrath and show his power, like He is some big bully throwing His weight around.
That is not who God is at all.
It is important for us to keep the whole perspective of who God is.
God is certainly a God who is just and will judge evil and sin at the appropriate time, but He also is a very loving God, more loving than you or I could every be.
And we need to realize that because of God’s great love, He has been patient in seeking to draw people to Himself so they will receive the forgiveness that He offers through His Son.
2 Peter 3:9-10a - The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
His great desire is that people recognize their sin and repent and receive the salvation offered through His Son Jesus Christ. There is, however, a time coming when sin and evil must be judged, and God will pour out his judgment and wrath on evil and sin in that Day of the Lord.
And lest we think this is a delightful time for the Lord; that He gets to demonstrate His awesome power, listen to what the prophet Ezekiel has to say about His judgment on the evil and wicked.
Ezekiel 18:23, 32
23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?...32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!
The Lord wants people to repent and live and He is patiently waiting until all who will trust in Him will do so, but then His judgment and wrath will be poured out on the evil and wickedness of this world and on all those who are still alive and will not repent and live.
So that day of the Lord is a day of judgment and wrath.
One last thing to know about the day of the Lord is that the Day of the Lord is not just a day, but a period of Time
The Day of the Lord is a Period of Time,
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All of the wrath and judgment that the Lord will pour out upon the world will not occur in one single day.
When we read through Revelation about some of the judgments that are poured out, it is clear that this is happening over a period of time.
Back in our text this morning that Paul says that
1 Thessalonians 5:3
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 a woman begins labor, it often starts abruptly, but it is not usually just one single intense labor pain, but an extended time where the labor pains get closer together and more and more intense as the end of the labor and the birth of the child gets closer and closer.
It will be the same with the Day of the Lord. This will be an extended time where the events of the judgment and the Lord’s wrath get closer together and more intense as we move closer to the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises of a 1000 year reign upon the earth and the final defeat of Satan and wickedness and evil.
While there is some debate within Christianity as to how long Day of the Lord will be, many believe, including myself, that it encompasses a period of 7 years, and is in fact the 70th week that was prophesied in the book of Daniel.
Daniel’s 70 weeks
In Daniel 9, an angel tells Daniel that 70 weeks have been decreed for your people (for the Isrealites) “to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.” (Daniel 9:24)
Then the angel tells Daniel there will be a total of 69 sevens, 69 seven year periods, 483 years between the issuing of a decree to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem” and the coming of the Anointed One.
I won’t go into all the math, but you can check this out for yourself in Josh McDowell’s book “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” or just do a Google search for it, but there are exactly 483 years between the decree from Artexerxes to Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem and the time when Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey presenting Himself as the King of the Jews.
Well that is 69, 7 year periods. What of the last 7 year period?
Well, because of the Jews rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, God turned his attention away from the Jewish people, and focused on the church, those who did accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ.
Many promises to fulfill to Jews
Now because of many promises that God made to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament that are unconditional, that rely nothing on the Jewish people, God has to turn his attention back to the Jewish people at some point.
God’s removal of the church in the rapture allows Him to once again turn his attention back to the Jewish people where He will “finish transgression…put an end to sin…atone for wickedness...bring in everlasting righteousness…seal up vision and prophecy and…anoint the most holy.” (Daniel 9:24)
This is why many believe that the Day of the Lord will be a 7 year long period that is known as the Tribulation.
The book of Revelation gives further details in apocalyptic language of some of the things that will go on during this time of God’s wrath and none of it is very pretty for those still here.
Anyway, the important thing to for us to know about the day of the Lord is that it is a period of time that God pours out wrath and judgment on this evil world.
When can we expect these things to happen?
When is the Day of the Lord?
Slide
Let’s get back to our text in Thessalonians.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
1 Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 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.
We see a couple of things in these verses.
First, Paul tells the Thessalonians that he doesn’t need to tell them about times or dates. Why is that?
Well, he doesn’t tell them because
The Date that the Day of the Lord begins is unknown
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Paul doesn’t know.
The Thessalonians don’t know.
The guy who wrote 88 reasons why the Rapture will happen in 1988 doesn’t know.
Jesus tells us that no one knows
Matthew 24:36-39
36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
The day of the Lord is going to come as a shock. People are not going to be expecting it. Paul says it will come as a thief in the night.
Wait a minute.
If the Rapture has already occurred and millions of people have disappeared from the perspective of those still upon the earth, won’t people know that “the Day of the Lord” is going to be coming?
What we learn in this passage of Scripture is that
The Time that the Day of the Lord begins is the Rapture
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We don’t know when that will be, but Paul does tie the return of Christ for the church and the day of the Lord together.
In the passage last week, Paul talks about what will happen at the rapture.
Now the text for this week is still in the context of what he is talking about when he tells them that they will not know the dates and times and then he equates the rapture with the beginning of the day of the Lord saying it will come as a thief in the night.
The Rapture and the beginning of the day of the Lord are simultaneous.
Paul says the same thing in 2 Thessalonians 2
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
The Rapture is the event that kicks off the period of time known as the day of the Lord and there will be much tribulation during that time for the earth and the people who are left on the earth.
Back in our text for today, Paul confirms that believers are a not going to be here because we are not of the night, but of the day.
He says, in
1 Thessalonians 5:4-5
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
In the letter to the Colossians, Paul tells us that God has rescued us “from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14)
And in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 we are told that “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is a great encouragement to all who trust in the Lord. While we are going to suffer persecution and troubles in this world, we will not be here when the Lord pours out his wrath during the time of tribulation to come because that great day of the Lord will begin after the church has been raptured.
Paul even tells the Thessalonians at the end of this section to “encourage one another and build each other up” because of this fact.
Now given that we are children of the light, that we are Christians and God has rescued us from the coming Day of the Lord and the wrath that will be poured out,
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How shall we live NOW, having been rescued from the Day of the Lord?
First, Paul tells us that
We must be spiritually awake
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1 Thessalonians 5:6-7
6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
To be alert means to make a “determined effort to stay awake.”
So many people today are spiritual sleepwalkers.
They come to church, but that is the extent of their spiritual life. There is little effort beyond coming here on the weekend to grow spiritually.
I am afraid that there will be many people e like the person Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 3 who are not alert, not spiritually awake, but are just living life without any regard to growing in their spiritual life.
Listen to what he says, in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, “each one should be careful how he builds (how he lives life). … 12 If any man builds on this foundation (Jesus Christ) using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Since we have been rescued from experiencing any of God’s wrath during the Day of the Lord, we should be busy building our lives with spiritual gold, silver and costly stones. We should be growing in our understanding of how the Lord wants us to live.
To grow, we need to be growing in our knowledge of the word of God, growing in our relationship with other Christians so we can encourage each other in living for the Lord.
You can find both of those things in our small groups or our Sunday morning discipleship opportunities.
That is what is going to help us to live our lives alert and awake so we can better see the results of our decisions in living life.
Don’t go through life as a spiritual sleepwalker.
Be spiritually awake.
He also tells us that
We must be Self controlled
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1 Thessalonians 5:8 - But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
Faith and Love
Self control, faithfulness and love are all fruits of the Spirit.
We need to choose to allow the Spirit to control us instead of our sinful nature.
A breastplate as a piece of armor protects our chest and vital organs.
Faith and love will protect our heart from growing cold
As we walk in faith and love people with our actions, choosing to follow God and love people, He helps us to see our next steps of faith and new ways to demonstrate love so we can continually grow in our relationship with the Lord bringing glory to Him.
Hope
He also tells us to put on hope as a helmet.
Our knowledge and sure hope of salvation is going to help protect our minds from the temptations that Satan brings upon us.
Satan will tells us
“The world is coming to an end, do what you want.”
“Is the Lord really going to save you? You don’t deserve it.”
Our knowledge of God’s promises and will help us to realize that while it is true we don’t deserve it, God saved us anyway through loving us unconditionally by sending His Son to atone for our sins.
Our hope is sure and our hope of salvation will protect us against the temptations and lies of the Devil.
Conclusion
The Day of the Lord will be coming as a thief in the night.
Are you ready?
If you are here today and have never received the forgiveness for your sins that is offered through Jesus Christ, praise the Lord for his patience and the opportunity you have this morning to enter into a relationship with Him by recognizing your need for a Savior because you have sinned against God by doing things that are wrong or by not doing things that you should have.
You can receive His forgiveness this morning and receive the salvation that He offers by repenting of your sin and confessing “with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.”
Don’t test the Lord’s patience. While He is abundantly patient, the rapture and the beginning of the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night at time when you do not expect it.
Don’t be left behind to experience the day of wrath and judgment.
Become a child of the day by receiving Christ as Savior.
If you are a Christian, don’t be a spiritual sleepwalker.
Be alert and self controlled making the most of every opportunity as you guard your heart in faith and love and protect your mind with the sure hope of your salvation through Jesus Christ.
