" Walk as Children of Light ! "

 

1st.Thessalonians 5:4-11 "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. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."

    We can, by GOD's enabling grace and the power of the SPIRIT, walk as "children of light." But we also can, through indifference and neglect, walk in a manner similar to the unsaved who are yet in darkness and dead in trespasses and sins. The key characteristic of those in such darkness is their disregard for what GOD has in store for the future. The Christian who knows what lies ahead is accountable for that knowledge. He is to live differently from those who are "of darkness" (v.5) -- those who are asleep to the reality of pending judgment. The believer should live soberly and righteously and be a testimony to those in need. The promised deliverance from future judgment ought not to encourage spiritual apathy or careless living (vv.4-8); rather, the "blessed hope" should have a purifying effect (1st.John 2:28 pictured above; 3:1-3).

     The "Day of the LORD" includes both the seven-year tribulation as well as the subsequent millennial reign of CHRIST. But these seven years of judgment will not overtake the believer. Why ? The reason is obvious, for that has been Paul's subject of consideration all along: "For GOD hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our LORD JESUS CHRIST" (v.9). "Salvation" in this verse refers to deliverance, by way of the rapture, from this period of GOD's judgment. Whether dead or alive at HIS appearing, we shall live together forever with HIM (v.10 cf. 4:17). The Christian is not to look for the Tribulation but, rather, for the SAVIOR ! GOD has promised to rescue HIS church (Revelation 3:10 pictured above), and this blessed hope is the basis for Paul's message of comfort and edification as we see the Day of the LORD drawing nigh (v.11 cf. 4:18). DWC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

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