CONCERNING THE DAY OF THE LORD

      There are times and seasons which the Father hath set within His own authority (Acts 1:6, 7). The secret things belong to the Lord our God, and the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever (Deut. 29:29). The time and date of the advent of the Day of the Lord (which always means that day of wrath and vengeance when divine judgment will be executed upon the world)--is one of the secret things of God.

      The Thessalonians did not need to be told of this again. They knew perfectly "that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." Some have taken this to mean that it will come in gradually, stealthily and unperceived, and that men would not be aware of the fact that it had come. But the point of comparison lies in the suddenness and unexpectedness. As the thief and the robber always come by the way of surprise, so will the Day of the Lord overtake the careless world. "Suddenly, as a snare," shall it "come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth" (Luke 21:34, 35).

      Not so shall it be with the people of the Lord. From verse 3 through verse 11 the apostle draws the strongest contrast between the guilty world, upon whom the Day of the Lord will come as a thief, and the church of the Lord. It is the distinction between "they," the people of the world, and "ye," the Christians of Thessalonica to whom Paul is writing (sometimes himself included, when he says "we"). The contrast is between those who are Christ's and [28] "the rest" (v. 6. Comp. 1 Thess. 4:13, and Eph. 2:3, 4). "When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. But ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light and sons of the day: ye are not of the night nor of darkness." This, of course, cannot mean that Christ's disciples would know when that day is coming, any more than the people of the world--except that they will be able to see things shaping up, and will recognize the "signs of the times," which the blind world cannot read ("Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not," Isa. 26:11). But they know that that day is coming. They are alert and expectant. They "see the day approaching." (Heb. 10:25.) They are not put to sleep by the lullabies of false prophets. They are not deceived by glowing forecasts of world-betterment, progress, and peace. As Noah foresaw the doom of the great world of his day, so does the Christian today know beforehand the impending end of the age and the downfall of the present world-system with all its vaunted civilization and glory; and they value all things accordingly. But it is needful that they maintain their watchful and expectant attitude. "So then let us not sleep as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet the hope of salvation." (Vs. 6-8.)

SALVATION FROM THE WRATH TO COME

      The mere fact, however, that Christians are enlightened as to the coming of the Day of the Lord, would of itself, be worth nothing. We might even say that this were a case where ignorance is bliss, and 'tis folly to be wise. "The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness; and yet I perceive that one event happeneth to them all . . . and why was I then more wise?" (Eccl. 2:14, 15.) No--they not only expect that day, but they expect to be exempted and delivered from the wrath and the judgments of that day. On the dark night of the Passover Egypt was asleep, or engaged in the nocturnal revellings, as they had been on many nights before. But behind blood-sprinkled doors the Israelites, the people who had the promise of deliverance, kept solemn vigil, with their loins girded and their feet shod, and their staffs in their hands--waiting, not for judgment, but for the summons to depart from Egypt and her bondage for ever. That was a type, a foreshadowing. Christ's own people are today waiting and watching. They know the day of the Lord is approaching; but they are not waiting for it. Their expectation is the coming of Christ, "who delivereth us from the wrath to come." (1 Thess. 1:10.) This is the event of 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, which must necessarily precede the Day of the Lord. And (as will be seen more fully further on) when Jesus comes in glory to execute judgment upon [29] the world, His saints are already glorified and come with Him.

      Christians therefore, wearing the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation, are fully awake, knowing what is coming; and they are watching and praying, assured that they shall "escape the things that shall come to pass," and "stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:36.) "For God appointed us not unto wrath," says Paul, "but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we may live together with him." (V. 9, 10.) Not "wrath," but "salvation" awaits them. And this is that salvation which shall be brought to us at the coming of Christ, when He comes to take up His saints. (Heb. 9:28.) "Wherefore exhort one another and build each other up, even as also ye do."

      There is always the danger that we think of those saints of old, to whom, and about whom, such glorious things were said, as being a class of very strange and extraordinary beings; paragons of virtue and spiritual giants; and thus we subtly discount such teaching as this, as not applicable to ourselves. Ah yes, (we are prone to think) if we could be like those Christians at Thessalonica! But, alas, we fall so far short: we are weak, stumbling, blundering, halting believers. Yet, those Thessalonians were as we are--of poorer background than most of us, and sorely beset with trials and temptations like us. They had but lately come out of paganism (1 Thess. 1:9, 10) and turned to the Lord who has promised, and who is able to save. They were common, ordinary people, whom God had called out of darkness into His marvellous light. What was said to them He says to us. Let us appropriate their promise and share their hope. [30]

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