Title: Left Behind... or Not?
Text: I Thessalonians 5:1-11
Thesis: Fear of being left behind may be replaced by the hope of being prepared.
Introduction
One film critic wrote a review of the latest Left Behind film starring Nicolas Cage. The Left Behind series began in the 1990’s as a series of fiction novels which basically became the handbook of American folk-Christian eschatology (study of the end times).
The Left Behind series became popular before the apocalypse was cool, so to speak. The last Left Behind was filmed in 2005 and since then Hollywood has realized Christian films make a lot of money. Hence Noah, Heaven is For Real, God’s Not Dead and the forthcoming Exodus: God and Kings have and will continue to be played out again and again in theaters near you and DVDs in our living rooms.
There really is little of authentic biblical truth or Christian character or positive examples of Christian living in the latest Left Behind film. The one authentic biblical theme is the term, “Left Behind.” (Jackson Cuidon, Left Behind – Not a Christian movie, Christianity Today, October 2, 2014)
The Left Behind series is based on what Jesus said in Matthew 24 where he spoke of the end times. He said, “When the Son of Man returns, it will be as it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. This is the way it will be when the Son of Man returns.
“Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.” Matthew 24:37-41
Seizing upon the imagery of two people being together when one is taken and the other left behind, a billion dollar industry was born in the printing and reprinting of end time fiction for the publishing industry, apocalyptic films for the movie industry, sound tracks for the music industry and video games for the gaming industry.
The “Left Behind” series did effectively raise awareness that there will be a day when Christ will return and those who are in Christ will be taken and those who are not will be left behind. Unfortunately for many, if not most, the end result has been a fascination for and fear of apocalyptic themes rather than the hope we have as followers of Jesus Christ. The person who is in Christ knows that the return of Christ is the fulfillment of hope rather than the fulfillment of fear.
So let’s take a look at what the bible says about the return of Jesus.
I. No one knows when Jesus will return
“However no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” Matthew 24:36
“The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.”Acts 1:7
Immediately following Jesus’ ascension the disciples remained standing there gazing up into the clouds where Jesus had disappeared from their sight, two white-robed men stood among them. When they spoke they asked, “Why do you stand here staring into heaven? Jesus has just been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” In other words, The Jesus you just saw ascend into heaven will one day come again, descending from heaven.”
We sometimes refer to the Second Coming of Jesus as our “blessed hope.” Some day Jesus will come again and as they used to say, “receive unto himself his own.”
The Second Coming of Christ will be marked by two things:
A. The second coming of Jesus is marked by IMPATIENCE
In the last days scoffers will come mocking the truth… they will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus would come again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was created.” II Peter 3:3-4
If the early Christians, who fully expected that Jesus could and would return at any moment, were getting a little nervous about the promised return of Christ… what would they be saying today? Generations have come and gone. Nations have risen and fallen. Good and evil are constantly at war… the only differences from year to year, decade to decade, century to century are the players. So skepticism increases among the skeptics and impatience increases among the impatient.
So if impatience be one side of the coin, uncertainty is the other. WHY (impatience) hasn’t Jesus returned and WHEN (uncertainty) will he return are the questions.
B. The second coming of Christ is also marked by UNCERTAINTY
The Lord is not being slow about his promise as some might think. He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. II Peter 3:9-10
If there is one thing most people do not like is being left in limbo. We like to know things like who, what, when, where, why and how…
So we are hardly satisfied with what Peter wrote about how the Lord is not at all impatient about time in that “a thousand years is like a day to the Lord.” II Peter 3:8
The bible says, “No one knows when…” and the bible says, “these things are not for you to know.” So what do we do? We immediately try to figure out when it is going to happen.
Lacking the ability to “figure it out” we explore what his return might be like. Who will be saved and who will be lost? Who will be raptured and who will be left behind?
But rather than let doomsday preppers and prophetic preachers and novelists and filmmakers exercise their creative genius… why not simply see what Scripture has to say about the second coming of Christ?
II. No one in Christ will be left behind
For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly. I Thessalonians 5:1-3
Contrary to what you see at the movies…
A. No one on the planet will be unaware of Christ’s return.
The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God. I Thessalonians 4:16
We are all touched when we see one of those sweet videos of how a soldier, having been deployed to Afghanistan or some other hotspot, comes home and makes his or her way into the 3rd grade classroom where a little girl is working away at her desk. The soldier quietly makes his way to her desk and when the reality of the moment sinks in; the little girl joyfully leaps into her father’s arms.
When Jesus comes there won’t be any sneaking around. There will not be any whispering and keeping secrets. It is going to be the fireworks display of a worldwide 4th of July celebration with the blasting of a celestial brass band and the wonder of a Macy’s Parade and the roar of a Super Bowl crowd and the commotion of a packed-out, amped-up Red Rocks concert all playing on a world-wide jumbotron screen.
The second coming of Christ will be a world-wide event that no one will sleep through.
No one will miss it and no one in Christ will be left behind.
B. No one who is in Christ will be left behind
For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him [the spirits of] the believers who have died. I Thessalonians 4:14
We who are still living when Christ returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord will come down from heaven… First those Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. I Thessalonians 4:13-18
The second coming of Christ need not catch anyone unprepared. No one need be in the dark about this event.
III. No one needs to be unprepared for Christ’s return
But you aren’t in the dark about these things… you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. Thessalonians 5:4-8
Our text compares the coming of Christ to TWO THINGS:
A. We know the second coming of Christ is like LABOR PAINS… it’s going to happen!
Everything will be peaceful and secure and then disaster will fall as suddenly as a woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape. I Thessalonians 5:3
Interestingly the Second Coming of Christ is framed in the language of disaster. Suddenly disaster will fall… like a woman’s labor pains. The birth of a child is hardly to be thought of as a disaster but from my experience with labor pains… disaster is fitting.
You are gonna have a baby. I’ve seen how when a young woman becomes pregnant she proudly takes selfie profile pictures to mark the progression in her pregnancy. There is the initial baby bump and eventually that bump becomes her most prominent feature. The discomforts of pregnancy are understandable and pretty much taken in stride but out of nowhere labor pains set in signaling the inevitable.
Once labor pains begin there is no turning back. The dam has broken. The freight train is coming and there is no stopping it. The baby is going to be born! There will be no stopping the kiddo!
When Jesus comes there will be no stopping him!
But we may be prepared for him.
B. We know the Second Coming of Christ is something for which we can be prepared… like A THIEF IN THE NIGHT
You aren’t in the dark about these things and you won’t be surprised when the Day of the Lord comes like a thief. So be on our guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and clear headed. I Thessalonians 5:4-6
It is not uncommon to hear of home intrusions… just this past week a father confronted a man in his front yard carrying his daughter away from his house. The guy had obviously entered the house to abduct the child. Every day we read about intruders being shot. We occasionally even hear about police officers being shot as home intruders while executing a no-knock warrant.
No one stands in your front yard at 3 a.m. and announces through a bull-horn, “Here I come, ready or not.” Thieves do not announce their intentions.
So we do what we can to be prepared for an intrusion. If we are rich enough we live on an estate with a gate house and Dobermans patrolling the grounds. If we are rich enough we have elaborate motion sensor systems and monitored security systems and alarms and security officers in non-descript Chevy Malibus patrolling the area . If we are not quite there yet we move into a gated community with security patrols and alarm systems. Otherwise we may have a modest alarm system. But most of us lock our doors when we leave and check the windows and doors before we go to bed. We prop a baseball bat up next to the night stand and sleep with one eye open.
We prepare for the possibility of the unannounced arrival of a thief in the night.
Following the train bombings in Madrid, Spain in 2004 the Department of Homeland Security beefed up its surveillance of train stations. Soon thereafter an electronic transmitter was found near Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. Investigators swarmed the area and determined it was a motion detector designed to send a signal to a nearby receiver.
Tensions were running high until a train mechanic who worked the graveyard shift came forward and confessed he had installed the motion detector to sound an alarm in his work area whenever his supervisor was approaching… so that in case he was napping he would be forewarned enough to be looking busy when the boss came into the shop area. That’s being prepared!
Amusing as is that little story… the point is we have learned to be prepared for terrorist activity in our country.
We prepare for all kinds of things. We fill our gas tanks before we leave on a trip. We buy groceries so we have something to eat during the week. We save a little money for a rainy day. We insure ourselves against loses. We may even prepare for a post-catastrophic event. And the wise person prepares for the return of Christ.
This is what God has said, He has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God [and have received Christ into your life], may know you have eternal life. I John 5:11-13 and John 1:12
Paul concluded his teaching on this text with “encourage” each other.
IV. Everyone should be encouraged by their hope in Christ
Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. I Thessalonians 5:9-11
To encourage is to hearten or embolden. It implies to lifting someone who is discouraged by encouraging them… to give courage to someone who is fearful and afraid.
One commentator suggests that encouraging means to strengthen the weakest in faith to trust and to build up means to help those who are weakest in understanding to grasp the truth.
A. The Second Coming of Christ is a matter of faith or trust SO WE TRUST GOD
B. The Second Coming of Christ is a matter of understanding or knowledge SO WE KNOW THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD
Illustration: I have grown up with charts and time-lines and predictions… I have been asked if I am a pre-millennialist or a post-millennialist. I have been asked if I believe in a pre-tribulation or a mid-tribulation or a post-tribulation rapture. I have been asked if the rapture and the revelation are two events or one event. And I have come to admit that I have my druthers but I ultimately believe in the Pan-Theory, i.e., I believe everything is going to pan-out in the end.
I believe I am secure in Christ and ready to be caught up in the air when Jesus comes. I have no fear of being left behind… because I know I am in Christ. I know what the bible says. And I know the times are in God’s hands.
Conclusion
However there is a company named Vicos which can help you prepare if you prefer to be left behind.
The Vivos website says, "Whether we want to believe it or not … we are on the cusp of an increase in number and magnitude of events that may, in the twinkling of an eye, change the world, as we know it." They list a range of possible cataclysmic disasters, including Armageddon, plagues, a solar kill shot, a super volcanic eruption, major earth changes, killer asteroids and comets, mega tsunami's, an economic meltdown—not to mention manmade threats, including nuclear explosions, a reactor meltdown, biological or chemical disasters, terrorism, and widespread anarchy.
But for a mere $35,000 per person, you can co-own an underground Vivos shelter in one of their airtight, fully self-contained, impervious complexes designed to survive any catastrophe. Their website advertizes:
Our [complexes] comfortably accommodate community groups from 50 to 1,000 people, in spacious living quarters, outfitted and stocked for a minimum of 1 year of autonomous survival to ride out the potential events. Every detail has been considered and planned for. Members need to only arrive before their facility is locked down and secured from the chaos above.
Their website warns that "millions will perish or worse yet, struggle to survive." But they also boldly promise, "Vivos is your solution to ride out these catastrophes, so you may survive to be a part of the next Genesis!" They also offer this reminder: "It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."
(Matt Woodley, managing editor, PreachingToday.com; source: Douglas Rushkoff, Present Shock (Penguin Group, 2013), p. 245; Vivos website accessed on April 10, 2013)
While being left behind to co-own an underground Vivos shelter in one of their airtight, fully self-contained, impervious complexes designed to survive any catastrophe living in spacious living quarters, outfitted and stocked for a minimum of 1 year of autonomous survival (that is if I can get there before they lock the door) has its appeal, I think I’ll just go with Jesus!
My intent is not to play to your fears but to the promise of faith and hope.
Fear of being left behind may be replaced by the hope of being prepared for the hope of eternal life.
