The Hope of the Gospel (Present: Proposition)

 

We are now moving on to the parts of the Thessalonian letters which deal with the present. One of the main themes of these letters, as we've seen is eschatology. But I also mentioned that a second major theme is Christian conduct. At the end of our last section, we saw this in Paul's prayer—because of what God had done in the past for the Thessalonians and because of the hope they had for the future, Paul was praying for them in the present, praying that through God, they would believe and behave like Christians.

This link between our future hope and our present conduct is also very strong if we look back to 1 Thessalonians. In chapter 4, Paul described the Rapture, the time when Jesus will return for His people. And he follows that up immediately with this passage:

(1 Thessalonians 5:1-10) But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

In the first three verses, Paul reemphasizes a point we've talked about before—the unknown timing of Christ's return. In passing, if we assume 1 Thessalonians to have been written before 2 Thessalonians, there is a certain irony in the words "of the times and seasons... ye have no need that I write unto you" since it turned out that Paul did in fact need to write to them about it later, though the issue in 2 Thessalonians is different from here.

Here Paul's point is simply that we do not know when Jesus will return. "The day of the Lord"--the day of Christ's great work and here, particularly, of His judgment—will be as sudden and unexpected as a break-in. Whatever you believe concerning the relative position of events within the day of the Lord and wonders and signs and other prophecies, the bottom line is that we do not and cannot know with certainty when the day of the Lord will come.

And because of that, it will catch many people unprepared. For many people, the day of the Lord will be an unpleasant surprise; it will bring "sudden destruction."

God gave this warning and promise through Malachi: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap.” (Malachi 3:1-2) This pretty clearly seems to be a prophecy of Christ's coming and it shows the dual nature of it. He is the long-expected messenger, the one in whom His people delight; yet His coming will also bring destruction and judgment, like fire or soap which destroys dirt and corruption.

You can argue whether Malachi is seeing Christ's first coming or His second, but I think the words apply to either, in a sense. If we look at the life of Jesus, we see how He brought both comfort and discomfort, both salvation and judgment. And that will be even more true of His second coming.

Paul compares the unexpected nature of this second coming to a woman giving birth. Clarke points out that when a woman is pregnant she knows that, sooner or later, she is going to give birth. The fact is certain. But she doesn't know when the baby is actually going to come; this would certainly have been true in Paul's day but even with modern science there seems to be an element of unpredictability about childbirth. The timing is uncertain. And we can say the same of the events of eschatology—the fact is certain but the timing is uncertain. 

This is the reality we have to deal with. The world as it currently exists is not the final fact. Some day, all that is will give way to something more. Jesus will return and ultimately all things will be destroyed. And that fact is hope for some and fear for others. When Jesus returns, it will be both salvation and damnation. So that leaves us with the question: how can we be among those for whom it is salvation? Given the two-sided nature of this event, how can we be sure to be on the right side of it?

Paul gives us one keyword in answer: the word light. In verse 4 he reminds his readers that they are not in darkness. In verse 5 he calls them the children of light and the children of day; he repeats this in verse 8 calling Christians those “who are of the day.”

But I want to look specifically at verse 4: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” This seems almost like a contradiction. Before, Paul emphasized the day of the Lord will be like a thief in the night, but here he says that the Christian will not be overtaken as a thief. Clearly (based on all scriptural evidence) this does not mean that Christians have a special, secret knowledge of the time of Christ's return. 

So imagine this. Imagine that it is a dark, cloudy, starless night, and under the cover of darkness, a burglar is breaking into a house. And then, suddenly, without warning, someone shines a flashlight on them. What would they feel? Sudden terror and fear, confusion, maybe even shame or anger.

Now, imagine something else. Take the same house the burglar was breaking into. But now it is a bright, cloudless noonday and the homeowner is out working in his yard. And someone walks by and shines a flashlight on him. How do you think he feels? Slight annoyance and curiosity—assuming he even notices.

Do you see the point? The coming of light is a terrible shock to those working in darkness, but it holds no terror and no shock to those who are already in the light. The only way to be ready for the dawning of the day is by living already in the light. But what exactly does that mean?

First, living in the light means living with an awareness of the nature of reality and the certainty of Christ's second coming.

Look at verse 7: “They that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.”  Obviously, generally speaking, night is the time when you sleep--especially in Biblical times, before modern lighting. And usually, night was the time when people would drink. In Biblical times, to get drunk during the day was almost unheard of. “For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.” (Acts 2:15) Peter's argument was that they obviously couldn't be drunk that early in the morning.

The coupling of these ideas is straightforward enough. During the day, people are on their toes; alert and awake. Night is the time for letting things go; for eating and drinking and sleeping. There may be a connection here to the idea of Jesus' coming being like a thief--and specifically a thief in the night. A thief breaks in at night because he knows people won't be ready for him then.

In other words, to live in the light means to remain awake and alert and, specifically, to be alert to the reality of Christ's return.

Paul says that we shouldn't sleep “as do others.” This  is an echo of verse 3: “Then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” People in the world don't expect the return of Christ. So they are (to this reality) as sound asleep as a homeowner who is certain no thief will break in. As Christians, as children of the light and children of day, we must watch and be sober. We know who we are--the people of God who are awaiting His return. We shouldn't allow ourselves to let that reality slip away and live in unconsciousness as does the world. The dawn cannot catch by surprise those who are already awake.

Of course, all sane men know that death is coming and most would believe that this world will end eventually; many might think it is soon. But this is not the same thing; that is not the light of the Christian way. Look at 2 Peter 3:5-7: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:  whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Peter connects the coming judgment at Christ's return with the flood of Noah and ultimately creation. The world was made by the word of God and it will be destroyed and remade by the word of God. The point is that the story of this world is only one part of a larger story. 

Suppose there was a train carrying passengers on a long journey. And early on in the trip, one of the passengers hit his head and got amnesia. This man not only forgot his own identity but the entirety of his life before boarding the train. So far as he knows, the entire world might be comprised of that train. All of reality he knows is what he can see around him in the cars of the train and the flashes of the world beyond the windows.

This man might make a careful examination of the various parts of the train and come to have a complete map of it and to know the details of how it works. He could interact with and perhaps make friends with the other passengers. But he could never truly understand the train, because a passenger train exists to transport passengers, and all the passengers (including himself) would be a mystery to him because they are part of a reality that transcends the two rails of the train-track. 

The train eventually going to come to a stop and everyone will have to get off. But to this man, that fact would mean the end of the world. He would be able to make nothing of the hope and excitement of the other passengers relating to the disembarking because so far as he knows, there is no world beyond the train except for the flashing images in the window which have no meaning to him.

The average man of this world is like that amnesic on the train. He knows this world, but so far as he is concerned, it is all there is. The Christian is like the other passengers—we know this world is only one part of reality; there was something before this world that brought into existence, and there will be something that exists after this world ends. Living as children of light means living with the knowledge that we are part of something more than this world and are living for something more than the here-and-now.

Light is often used as a symbol of truth. And that future outbreak of light will reveal the truth; the truth about this world and about us. It will show what is real and what is not. So we can be ready for it by living already in truth. Frank Peretti wrote: “Depending on where you stand, the Truth can be your best friend or your worst enemy. So let me tell you something... Make friends with the Truth... as quickly as you can.”

In connection with that, to live in the light—to be ready for the coming of that day—means to live in righteousness. Throughout the New Testament, light is used as a symbol of righteousness and darkness as a symbol of sin. Paul reminded the Ephesians: “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth).” (Ephesians 5:8-9) To be a Christian means to live in the light, and that means to live according to the Spirit which is in goodness, righteousness, and truth.

I've talked about this before, but light and darkness are natural symbols of contrast since the very definition of darkness is the absence of light. The brighter a room is, the less darkness it has. The darker it is, the less light it has. They are complete and absolute opposites--just as sin and righteousness are complete and absolute opposites. The closer we are to righteousness, the further we are from sin. The closer we are to sin, the further we are from righteousness. St. John says that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, because God is completely holy and righteous, without exception, without defilement. So in its very basic sense, to walk in the light means to walk in righteousness; to live as God what us to live; to act according to the nature of God.

So long as we are walking the light of righteousness, we have no reason to fear the dawning of that eternal day of righteousness. Jesus told a parable about a householder who went on a long journey and left one of his servants in charge of his estate while he was gone. There were two possible endings for that parable, depending on whether the servant was wise or foolish; whether he obeyed his master even when his master was gone and tried to fulfill his mission or whether he decided to live for himself and disregard his master's commands. And those two different courses made a difference to how he felt about his master's return. Even if the master returned suddenly and unexpectedly, the servant had no cause for alarm if he had been doing the right thing; if he had been faithfully obeying his master in his absence. It was only if he had rebelled against his master that he would have reason to fear his sudden return.

It is those who are walking in darkness, in sin, who have reason to fear the light. If we want to be ready for that day, we can do it by living a godly life, walking in the light of righteousness. 

But it is not simply that we want to live ready for Christ's return, though that is obviously part of it. It is that we have a certain frame of reference. If the servant was a good servant who really respected and loved his master, then he would want to be faithful and obedient no matter when his master returned. If, every day while his master was gone, he still acted as his master would have wanted, that means he wasn't basing his actions on the current state of things; he was living in reference to something (or someone) not currently present. Whether it was the fear of his master's unexpected return or simply a desire to please his master, the point is that he was acting in reference to his master and not in reference to his then-current circumstance.

And as Christians, we are living in the light of a different sun; we living with a different frame of reference to the world. “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20) The word conversation means lifestyle or conduct; it can even be translated 'citizenship.' The idea is that we live and act like people who belong to a different world.

In the play The Beauty Stone, the main character, Laine, is a physically unattractive girl. Because of her appearance, she is either bullied or shunned by everyone in town. Her father, trying to comfort her, reminds her that when she gets to Heaven, her appearance won't matter. And this is her response: “Yea, father, but one has to die first to prove it. Meanwhile, a maid must needs be beautiful, or 'tis but dreary waiting.”

And I think too often people have that mindset—the idea that Heaven's values matter when we get to Heaven but that they don't matter now; that we live no with this world's values and only worry about eternity's values when we get near to eternity.

But the Christians should always be living, living here and now, in the light of Heaven; we should live our life and choose our actions and make our evaluations based, not on the world around us, but on that other world for which we are living.

But that sounds like an abstraction; this is something very personal. We are not living for Heaven but for God. And that is the final thing implied by living in the light—it means to live in the presence of God. And more specifically here, to live in trust in God.

I said before that as Christians, we live with a recognition of the nature of the world. And that means we recognize that this world is a battlefield. We are in the middle of a conflict that most of the world does not see. They sleep while we fight. 

But the point I want to make here is that in this fight, God has equipped us for victory. He has given us the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of hope. This passage parallels the more famous passage about the Christian Armor in Ephesians 6. And there Paul calls it “The Armor of God” because this is armor made and provided by God. We don't have to manufacture our own.

Notice what comprises this armor--faith, love, and the hope of salvation. These three things protect us as a soldier's chestplate and helmet protect him from the attacks of the enemy. Faith keeps us in contact with God so that we never lose our anchor amidst this world. Love gives us the motive for all we do. And hope keeps us from giving up.

I don't want to get too far into the details of these three virtues since you could spend an entire lesson on each of these. But I just want to point out that these three things--and especially hope--seem to be missing from so much of the world and even sometimes from the church. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the modern world would say that these three remain: cynicism, despair, and selfishness, and the greatest of these is selfishness. But a Christian can't live like that, any more than a soldier could go into battle with no equipment. If we want to live a life of righteousness, if we want to walk in the light, the only way to do it is through faith, love, and hope. These three things protect us and enable us to live as we should.

But the thing especially want you to notice is that these three things are centered in God--our faith is in God, our hope is in God, and our love is for God (as well as other people). Moreover, it is God who enables us to have faith, hope, and love. God has provided these things for us. God hasn't left us to face the battles of this life alone. This sounds like a paradox, but we can be ready for Jesus' return by walking with Jesus now--for it is through Him that we have the faith, hope, and love that enables us to live a life that will let us be ready when He returns.

When we think of the second coming and the other events of eschatology, there is a sense of fear, because it will be a time when God's wrath is poured out on the world. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18) This idea of God's wrath was a major theme of Romans. Some people, even Christians, are uncomfortable with this idea of God having or displaying wrath and some have even tried to get read of this idea.

But the Wrath of God is a necessary fact. We live in a world in which there are many terrible things. When we hear of some horrible crime or atrocity, we have a natural and automatic feeling of anger--because such things should not happen. They are objectively wrong. The Wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience because their actions are objectively wrong and therefore objectively deserving of the wrath of God. To call wrong right or to pretend that sin doesn't matter is to deny reality. To simply ignore evil is not mercy but cruel indifference. To justify the guilty is not good. The Wrath of God is a necessary concept in a world in which evil exists.

And because this world is, in many ways, a wicked world, when Christ returns, his return will be, in many ways, a coming of wrath. Jesus will come as a warrior, to defeat the forces of evil, or rather to enforce their defeat which was already achieved at Easter. St. Jude quotes the patriarch Enoch as saying this about the judgment of God: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15) The day of the Lord will be a day of wrath.

But look at what Paul says in verse 9: “God hath not appointed us to wrath.” That isn't what God wants. God isn't just rubbing his hands in anticipation at finally getting his chance to bring judgment. God's wrath does not have the feeling of personal satisfaction and hatred which so often characterizes human wrath--which is why the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. God told the prophet Ezekiel: “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11)

The story is told of a certain man who would occasionally throw a “Come as You Are” party--it was a game and the rules were simple. The party would be set for a general day but the specific time wouldn't be specified until it came and then he would call his friends and announce that it was time and they had to come to the party exactly as they were. And the point of the game was to try to catch them in some amusing or embarrassing predicament. And sometimes we can think of the Second Coming like that--that God is trying to catch us unprepared.

But this is no game. It is a battle. And God is fighting on our side. And we have a hope of victory if we trust in Him. On this verse, Albert Barnes comments: “The hope of a final triumph should animate us in our efforts, and cheer us in our struggles with our foes. How much does the hope of victory animate the soldier in battle! When morally certain of success, how his arm is nerved! When everything conspires to favour him, and when he seems to feel that God fights for him, and intends to give him the victory, how his heart exults, and how strong is he in battle!”

God has not appointed us to wrath. This is the hope of salvation which is for the Christian a helmet. This is the light which the children of light walk in. But how on earth is that possible? How could any human find acceptance with God and escape from His wrath?

Only through God; as I said, God is fighting on our side in this war and He is the one who made it possible for us to come into the light, who made it possible to be ready for that day. It is through “our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.” 

If we live in the light, if we live with trust in God, then we will be able to face the coming of that day, no matter when it is. But there is more than that. Look at the end of verse 10: Christ died for us so that “whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” The Bible speaks very much about the importance of being ready for death and for the end of the world. The church has often been accused (sometimes not unreasonably) of being morbidly concerned with death and destruction. But the point is not about death. The point is about life.

God has provided life for us. John assured his readers: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (1 John 5:11) It's not just that God is going to give us eternal life. If we are his people, we already have eternal life. The life Christ gives is eternal in principle and in nature. That is why death cannot destroy it. That is why the end of the world cannot destroy it. That is why nothing can destroy it. This life is the result of the connection we have with God through his life, and this is what Paul said about the love of God: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

This comes back to what I said before. We live a certain way now because we are living with a different frame of reference, in light of a greater reality. We are not merely living for that future when God's will is enforced upon the world. We are living according to God's will now. We are living in the light of God and His word, and therefore we can face the present and the future, life or death because God is in control of all of it.