The Fate of Earth | English Devotion | NHFCSG

1 Thess 5:1-11  The Fate of the Earth

We learned from chapter 4  that Christians are not waiting for the judgment and wrath of God but for the coming of the Son of God. 

Paul opens up about the times and the seasons.  When Christ returns he will remain on earth for this lengthy period. Thus, the "day of the Lord" is a series of events.

We must understand that no one living can name the precise date when the Lord will appear and begin the "day of the Lord," there are three characteristics of that day that we can look forward  

#1 He will come stealthily

 The first characteristic of the "day of the Lord," says Paul, is that it will come stealthily. It will come like a thief in the night.

The Lord will come at a time when "peace and security" seem to prevail, when nothing out of the ordinary is expected. That is how the "day of the Lord" begins. This is not just the Apostle Paul's idea. Jesus said the same thing in Luke 17:26, 27

It is very important that we understand that God's delay of this event is to give people a chance to redeem themselves through Jesus Christ. 

#2 we might live with Him 

The second reason the apostle gives is that "we might live with Him." That is how he puts it here. "Whether we wake or sleep we might live with him." Those are also the wonderful words with which he closed Chapter 4: "so we shall always be with the Lord," (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

The only hope for any individual is to turn to the Lord Jesus and rely upon the value of his death and resurrection. 

That is what Paul calls becoming a child of light and not of darkness: "For you are all sons of light and sons of the day." In Colossians 1 he says: "We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God's beloved Son," (Colossians 1:13)

#3 They shall not escape. 

In the second coming of our Lord there will be those who are raised from the dead joining with those who are alive and remain  translated, as Paul puts it in First Corinthians 15, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye ..." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). 

So during the tribulation and during the Millennium that follows there will be resurrected saints and translated saints, living with mortal human beings upon the earth. 

And in the center, the focus of all attention, the risen, glorified, transfigured Lord himself.

Jesus died in our place. Not simply that Jesus died for us in the sense as a favor for us; but that He died as a substitute for us. So that the wrath does not harm us. 

That is God's picture of the fate of the earth. As we see what is coming in world affairs we can understand that the hope of the believer is to be with Christ. 

Use your opportunities. Wake up to the opportunity of the day. Encourage one another, and build one another up. It is so easy to lose sight of God's perspective otherwise. 

 

Let us pray

Heavenly father, no one knows the time and place. But we know this will be a season and time that we look forward. Hence, help us to encourage one another and spiritually watchful. In Jesus Name. Amen.