Purpose: To encourage believers to live in the light of Christ’s soon return.
INTRODUCTION: In the previous section of this book (4:13-18) Paul gave us information about those who are already dead in Christ. This next section gives exhortation those of us who are living in Christ. Paul is not presenting new information, he is urging his readers to use the knowledge he has already given them.
It would be natural for the readers to ask “When?” after Paul had explained about the coming of Christ in 4:13-18.
Vs.1-3 I. The Unsaved and the Second Coming
The fact of Christ’s return is certain, the exact time of Christ’s return is certain because God has appointed it, but we cannot know when it is simply because God has not told us.
What do we know about those who don’t have Jesus as their own savior?
Vs.1-2 A. Their fate is sealed
“TIMES (chronon, length of time) signifies the chronological periods which are to elapse before the Second Coming; while seasons EPOCHS (kairon, kind or quality of time) refers to the significant events, the pregnant opportunities that transpire during these epochs.” [1]
The phrase THE DAY OF THE LORD was well known among the Jews, but they always thought of it as a Gentile judgment only. The OT prophets corrected that thinking. Amos 5:18-20 18 Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light; 19 As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. 20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it? (NAU) Joel 2:1 Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; Surely it is near, (NAU)
“What is THE DAY OF THE LORD? The day is the time of God's righteous intervention in history, when he will exact his rightful due from mankind.” [2]
1. The time of their judgment is unknown “like a thief in the night”
Paul is clear that there is no way to know when the Lord will come back. Jesus had already said, Mark 13:32-33 32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. (NAU)
Notice what Jesus said when the disciples wanted the know when the Lord was coming back: Acts 1:6-8 6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (NAU)
Matthew 24:40-51 40 “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. 45 “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (NAU)
Revelation 16:15 “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” (NAU)
2. Their judgment is certain “the day of the Lord will come”
WILL COME “present: expressing its speedy, awful certainty” [3]
Jonathan Edwards in his sermon “Sinners In Zion” quoted Peter then he tenderly warned us:
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens will disappear with a roar, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:10
“The heat of that great fire which will burn the world, will be such as to melt the rocks, and the very ground, and turn them into a kind of liquid fire, so that the whole world will probably be converted into a great lake, or liquid globe of fire, a vast ocean of fire, in which the wicked shall be tossed to and fro, having no rest day nor night, vast waves or billows of fire continually rolling over their heads.
“But all this will be only an image of that dreadful fire of the wrath of God, which the wicked shall at the same time suffer in their souls. We read in Rev. 19:15 of "the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." This is an extraordinary expression, carrying a terrible idea of the future misery of the wicked….
“O what is that! the fierceness and rage and fury of Omnipotence! of a being of infinite strength! What an idea does that give of the state of those worms that suffer the fierceness and wrath of such an Almighty Being!”
It is interesting that the word that Paul uses for COME here is a general word that means “to come or go”. It is used to refer to Christ’s appearance to judge. But, when Paul refers to Christ’s coming for Christians he uses another word, “NT:3952 parousia, parousias, hee 1. presence: 1 Cor 16:17 2. the presence of one coming, hence, the coming, arrival, advent.” [4]
This word was used in eastern cultures to refer to the personal appearance by a king. When the king entered the city there would be great fanfare, advent coins were often made and crowns given away in order to commemorate the occasion.
Paul uses the word parousia four times in this letter.
1 Thessalonians 2:19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? (NAU)
1 Thessalonians 3:13 so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. (NAU)
1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (NAU)
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NAU)
Vs.3a B. Their words are deceitful
1. They proclaim inner peace “peace"
Jeremiah 6:14 “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. (NAU)
Ezekiel 13:10 “It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash; (NAU)
2. They proclaim physical safety “safety”
Just like Noah’s day. Matthew 24:38-39 38 “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (NAU)
Just like Lot’s day. Luke 17:28-30 28 “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. (NAU)
Vs.3b C. Their punishment will be harsh “labor pains”
The word for LABOR PAINS is translated AGONY in Acts 2:24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was
impossible for Him to be held in its power. (NAU)
Like labor pains God’s judgment will be severe, sudden and certain.
CONCLUSION:
God’s Judgment
It will be severe!
Isaiah 13:6-11 6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. 8 They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. 9 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. 11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. (NAU)
Psalm 48:3-6 3 God, in her palaces, Has made Himself known as a stronghold. 4 For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together. 5 They saw it, then they were amazed; They were terrified, they fled in alarm. 6 Panic seized them there, Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth. (NAU)
It will be sudden!
Belshazzar: Daniel 5:1-6,9 1 Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. 2 When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. 5 Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. 6 Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together. 9 Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, his face grew even paler, and his nobles were perplexed. (NAU)
Herod: Acts 12:21-23 21 On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. 22 The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died. (NAU)
So we should be careful that we are safe in Christ. Luke 21:34 “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; (NAU)
DISSIPATION With surfeiting en (NT:1722) kraipalee (NT:2897). A rather late word, common in medical writers for the nausea that follows a debauch. Latin: crapula, the giddiness caused by too much wine. Only here in the New Testament. [5]
So Jesus warns us that numbing our minds with drugs will dull our awareness that judgment is coming.
It will be certain!
Amos 9:2-3 2 “Though they dig into Sheol, From there will My hand take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down. 3 “Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.
(NAU)
Revelation 6:15-16 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; (NAU)
[1]from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press
[2]from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press
[3]from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft
[4]from Thayer's Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 2000 by Biblesoft
[5]From Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft & Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament. Copyright (c) 1985 by Broadman Press
