" The Day of the LORD ! "

 

1st.Thessalonians5:1-3 "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."

     The Thessalonian believers needed apostolic instruction concerning the catching away (rapture) of the church, so Paul dealt with this in the preceding chapter of his epistle. The rapture is a uniquely "church age" truth, for the Old Testament prophecies did not address this event. The Apostle explained the timing of CHRIST's coming, which will occur in two phases ("in the air" and "on the earth"). "Of the times and the seasons" (v.1) the church of Thessalonica now had full comprehension (v.2). They understood GOD's future dispensational dealings with a believing Jewish remnant and a godless, wicked world. Yes, the Thessalonians grasped "perfectly" Paul's clarification that the rapture of the church would precede the coming "Day of the LORD," the season of great judgment to come revealed extensively in the Old Testament Scriptures. Can it be said of us regarding our knowledge of prophecy and dispensational truth that we "know perfectly" ? Likely many Christians could stand to improve in this area.

     The prophesied "Day of the LORD" will overtake the children "of darkness" "as a thief in the night (vv.2,5). It is a time of terrible judgment, and "they [the unbelievers left behind following the catching away of the church] shall not escape" (v.3 cf. Zephaniah 1:14-16 pictured above). Just when it seems the Antichrist has brought peace to the world, the cataclysmic judgments of GOD will fall upon the Earth, preceding the second advent of CHRIST (Matthew 24:15-31). The Thessalonians understood these prophecies, but in Paul's second epistle to them, he had to correct some who mistakenly thought they had somehow missed the rapture and were enduring the tribulation (2nd.Thessalonians 2:1-10 partially pictured above). DWC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

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