06-22-2025 - LIVING PREPARED - 1 Thess-5

MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG

 FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy (Gaby P+, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G, Fega G,  Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J. Manuel D. C, Yuya N. Mercedes L, Magda- Laci M. )   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

One of the heroic accounts of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks was that of Rick Rescorla, a retired army Colonel, now working corporate security at Morgan Stanley. Rick was in his office when the first plane struck the north tower.  Taking a call from the 71^st floor in Trade Center 1, he immediately ordered evacuation of all 2,700 employees in Tower 2.

Using his bullhorn, he moved up the floors of Tower 1, going as high as the 72nd, helping to evacuate people from each floor.  A friend who saw Rick reassuring people in the 10th floor stairwell, told him, Rick, you've got to get out too.

Yep, as soon as I make sure everyone else is out, he replied.

He was not rattled at all.  He was putting the lives of his colleagues ahead of his own.  He called headquarters to say he was going back up to search for stragglers.

While his wife was watching repeated scenes of the jet piercing the tower, her phone rang.  It was Rick, I don't want you to cry, but I have to evacuate my people now.  If something happens to me, I want you to know that you made my life.  Then the phone went dead - Rick did not make it out.

Yet thanks to him, a miracle in the carnage.  Of its 2,700 employees, Morgan Stanley lost only 6 in the south tower.  Rick unselfishly thinking about others, instead of himself. 

Thanks to efforts of people like Rick, countless numbers survived, the lives of many forever changed on that despicable day.

As evil and horrific as that day and that time was, it is just a shadow of what we are told of a time that is yet to come.  It’s described to us in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 as, The day of the Lord that will come like a thief in the night.  For Christians, it finally brings a day that has been long hoped for but for those who don’t know Christ, this will NOT be the case. When this term is used in Scripture, it speaks of a time coming when God will once and for all, judge the world for its sin.  This final time of judgment before ushering in Christ’s kingdom, will be preceded by a time of trouble unlike anything the world has ever known. The prophets Zechariah, Daniel and Isaiah spoke of this time.  Jesus and others also spoke of it. 

We are told that the one who has restrained the evil one will be removed and as a result sin will run wild.Then one man who stands against everything about God will rise the power, first appearing as a saviour who provides answers to the overwhelming difficulties the world is experiencing.  To solidify his power and authenticate his claims, he will perform mighty miracles.  This is no ordinary man but a supernaturally empowered man.  But in short order the true nature of this one, the Beast or anti-Christ, will be revealed.  He will demand worship from all and any who oppose him, will be chased down to destroy.  Much of this we looked as we walked through the book of Revelation so we won’t unpack all of that but here in Thessalonians, it is important that we understand the context to which Paul is speaking.  

Prominent in this understanding is the severe persecution these new believers were experiencing.  As a result, Paul who has been driven from them, has sent Timothy, To strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith, SO THAT NO ONE WILL BE SHAKEN BY THESE AFFLICTIONS. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.  In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened  1 Thess 3:2-4.  

In this Paul reminding them what he had told them that their believing in Jesus would mean that tough times would follow.  That suffering for their faith they had been told about, but FAR greater were the lies that were causing significant distress, shaking them.  It’s these lies Paul wants them to be strengthened and protected against.    

These afflictions not from places they could expect but coming from places much closer, those who were among them, false teachers who had been saying that what they had been suffering was because they were now living in ‘the day of the Lord’.  This teaching disturbed them greatly NOT because of WHAT they were experiencing but because of WHEN they were experiencing it - IF ‘the day of the Lord’ had already come.  

The suffering that will be experienced during the day of the Lord prior to Jesus’ triumphant return is of an entirely different kind. The day of the Lord is spoken about by the prophets and Jesus as a time that will include cataclysmic judgment that will be poured out on unbelievers just prior to Christ's physical return to earth.  It’s a time outlined to us in Revelation 6-18 where the disasters in the heavens and on earth will be of a magnitude beyond comprehension.  We are told that people, Will call out to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb’ Rev 6:6;Lk 23:30.  

No wonder these Thessalonians are troubled with suggestions that they are in the crosshairs of the day of the Lord, and all that would mean Is 13:6-16; Joel 1:13-15, 2:1-11.  I think this discord speaks to the belief they held about when the rapture would occur because of what Paul writes in 1 Thess 4, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.   1 Thess 4:16,17.

It’s to this anxiety Paul writes, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be easily upset or troubled, either by a prophecy or by a message or by a letter supposedly from us, alleging that the day of the Lord has come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For THAT DAY WILL NOT COME unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.  He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God  2 Thess 2:1-4.

With that Paul has assured, times of suffering yes, as told you, but not the time of wrath to come, For God has NOT DESTINED US FOR WRATH, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ and that Jesus has rescued us from the coming wrath 1 Thess 5:9, 1 Thess 1:10.

Rescuing us from the coming wrath, similar but in far greater way that God did when He lifted Noah into the protection of the Ark when the entire world was destroyed in the Flood or when Lot was taken out of Sodom - God rescuing the righteous before bringing judgment on the unrighteous.

But here what we are presented with is what the false teachers were promoting that on this on occasion, God hadn’t rescued before releasing divine judgment.  Instead they were in the early days of what would only get horrifically worse.  If that were true, what happened to God’s promise of being delivered from the wrath that was to come?  1 Thess 1:10  Before the wrath that was to come?  

So that is the backdrop in our last look in the book of Thessalonians.  Before we go further, I want us to consider what we know for certain, that as 1 Cor 15:51-52 tells us, Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. And what 1 John 3:2 tells us, When He appears, we shall see Him as He is and everyone who has this hope purifies himself.  

Our hope is based on our certain expectation of Jesus coming back for His own. This is what we know;

Before we dig into what comes next, I want to take us back to a verse we looked at last week though we didn’t spend any time there,

We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever 4:17.   This is what I believe, how Scripture outlines how some of this plays out.  The context beginning with what we are told in Matthew, 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 2 men will be in the field; 1 will be taken and 1 left. 2 women will be grinding at the mill; 1 will be taken and 1 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.  Matt 24:37-42

So this is what we know.  Life is normal and then, all of a sudden, it’s not. Not even close to normal.  First, strange disappearances and then a world in complete disarray.   As stated, One will be taken, another left. :40,41  paralambano: Liddell Scott - to take up, catch up, Thayers saying it can be used, to take one's betrothed to his home.  

And now here in Thessalonians a similar idea, Caught up to meet the Lord in the air 4:16 telling us what we are to definitely know and from that, take us into what I think regarding how these things will play out.  Central to this expression, the word for caught up here is harpazo having about it the idea of being ‘snatched’, in the Latin version, the Vulgate the word used is rapturo from which we get the word rapture. 

Here in 1 Thess 4:16 we are told, We will meet the Lord in the air – the Lord Himself coming, doing what He tells us through the disciples in Jn 14, I will come again and receive you to Myself.  This differs from what we are told in Mark 13, In those days, after the tribulation ... you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and then He will send His ‘ANGELS’ to gather together His elect from the four winds ...  13:24-27 

This word rapture is used 14x in the NT.  In John 10 it is used of a wolf seizing a sheep; in Mtt 13 of the wicked one snatching away good seed before it can root; in Acts 8 the Ethiopian eunuch with Philip suddenly caught away and transported to an entirely different place and then in 2 Cor 12, Paul caught up to the 3rd heaven.  

To summarize:

Might events unfold differently from what I think Scripture is saying, regarding ‘when’ Jesus is coming back - perhaps, but of this I am certain, He IS returning for those who have accepted Him as Saviour.  

With this in mind, Christians are to be people who LIVE IN TRUTH, ready for Christ’s coming.

Beginning in verse 2, these verses have an undeniable YOU – THEY divide, making it clear that Christ’s coming isn’t something that only has relevance for a few. 

YOU    THEY

:2 the day of the Lord will come as a thief in night            :3 say Peace & Safety destruction will

No advance warning come on THEM

shall not escape

:4    are not in darkness, not overtaken son of light, :5 night & darkness

sons of day

:6 alert and sober (don’t sleep as others do) :7  sleep at night get drunk at night

:8 OF the day, (citizenship) sober having put :9 destined for wrath

on faith, love and hope

:3 THEY shall not escape - destruction will come

upon them 

With this in mind, do not let this one thing escape your notice, God does not want anyone to perish but He makes clear: With the Lord, a day is like a 1000 years and a 1000 years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises as some understand slowness (namely the time of Jesus’ return), but is patient with you NOT WANTING ANYONE TO PERISH but everyone to come to repentance.  BUT the Day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.  2 Pet 3:8-10 

:4 returns to his message of comfort, You are not in darkness / you are not in this number.  Your identity is entirely different as sons of the light, sons of day.   

So here’s the point, far more important than whether Jesus comes before the Tribulation or during some latter stage of the Tribulation – Do you know that when Jesus comes, you will be taken, caught up to live with Him forever?  Have you repented and asked Jesus to forgive your sin and have new life in Him?  

An old hymn says it well, When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time will be no more, when the morning breaks eternal bright and fair, when the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, when the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

If this is true, then LIVE TRUTH THAT IS DRESSED IN LOVE

:8   Having put on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. Ephesians 6 Paul tells us that God’s breastplate is a breastplate of righteousness but note how Paul characterizes this righteousness as faith and love - what our life has been called to look like.

This is a FAR different from placards that judge and cries that condemn.    

No, this is the cry of love and the shout of hope.    SALVATION is HERE!!  NEW LIFE is HERE!

ETERNAL LIFE is HERE!!

Our response to those who don’t know Christ should be an attitude of embrace not accusation.  While we may not agree with values held by those who don’t know Christ, our call is to live out the presence of Christ so they might come into a saving knowledge of Him.  So they too can wear the helmet of salvation for them to have everlasting life with Jesus.

Our hope is this as verse 9 again assures, because of Jesus’ shed blood on the Cross, we have NOT been destined for wrath  …… our certain hope is that we will live with Him.

:11  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.  You don’t need to fear the things that are coming.

Paul concludes his teaching with his admonition once again, to live out this new life we have been given.

Be people known for our love as well as people who aren’t just good employees but who are great employees, who are honest, reliable and work hard.  Be people who live in peace with one another; who encourage the disheartened, help the weak, seek out the good and are patient with one another :12-15.  In other words, people who wear our faith and hope in Jesus’ return not as things that cause us to withdraw from life, rather we are to fully engage life as His representatives – as encouragers, as hope givers, as joy givers. 

One last word – these are not things that come with a disclaimer – that we do IF our personalities are inclined this way.  But as Paul makes clear, as Christians there is no opt out clause and if we missed it, Paul summarizes it, Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstance for THIS IS GOD’S WILL FOR YOU IN CHRIST JESUS :16-18. 

Shepherd’s Home, in Wisconsin, has a problem. It can’t keep its windows clean.   A loving Christian home for the mentally ill, many have come to know Jesus as their Savior.  They have also learned that their Saviour will soon be returning. 

And therein lies the problem - each day the children run to the windows and press up against them, to see if this is the day Jesus will return.  Their nose-prints and handprints mark the windows with the delight of this expectation –

Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming.

www.bethanybaptist.bc.ca