The Day of the Lord 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
The major subject of 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 is the future Day of the Lord, which refers to God’s future intervention into world events to accomplish His purpose in history—to glorify Himself by demonstrating the fact that He alone is the sovereign God. In order to accomplish this purpose, God has determined to have His day in the end times of world history. In light of this determination,Get More Articles—Subscribe Today!
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You fail to mention that the Second Coming will not be a surprise, an unexpected event, since we know that it will come as Antichrist is marshaling his forces on the plains of Megiddo. The “battle” of Armageddon will not commence over a few moments; it will take days, possibly weeks, to gather all of the military might at his command. As new believers are watching this, they are anticipating that the Second Coming will be any day, any moment. It will not be an unpleasant surprise, as would be a thief in the night.
It seems to me that the only way “the day of the Lord”, which refers to God’s judgment on the world, can be an unexpected event is if that term encompasses the entire period from the Rapture to the Second Coming, and possibly even the Judgment of the Nations. At the Rapture, the Holy Spirit will relinquish His ministry of restraining evil, and so the very moment of the Rapture will begin a period of unrestrained evil that will last until the Second Coming, which will be immediately followed by the Judgment of the Nations, at which time God will wipe out the unbelievers from the face of the Earth, completing His judgment (for the time being).
My takeaway from all this is that the day of the Lord is the entire tribulation till the second coming. Verse 6 reminds God’s people to put on the armor of God and be watchful so that we are not caught up in the ways of the world ourselves and deceived by the “peace and safety”. I, personally, do not fully believe in “once saved, always saved”. There are too many references warning God’s people to hold tightly to their salvation and to not be deceived, because even some of the elect will be in the end times. I post this comment as I myself am studying and learning, so do not take it as one in authority. These are just my current thoughts.
Hi! I appreciate how Dr Reynolds showers explained first Thessalonians 5. I have never heard it explain this way. I still have a question though if this is true that the day of the Lord is talking about the second coming of Christ and if the church saints have been raptured before that happens, then why does he say in verse 6 that we should not sleep but watch and be sober. If we are already with Christ in heaven, why do we need to watch and be sober? I think I’m missing something here.