KNOWING WHAT MATTERS

Preparing For 2025 ❧ Part 2

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney

Welcome to 2025! A little over two months ago our nation witnessed a landslide election that few believed would actually happen.  For months leading up to November fifth we were repeatedly told this was going to be an extremely close election.  The two candidates were neck and neck.  The margins were razor thin.  

This election reminded us of a major life lesson: Things are not always what they seem.  Appearances can be deceiving.  Turns out, there are a lot of things in our world that are not what they seem.  Did you know, for instance, a firefly is not a fly? – It is a beetle. Or India ink is not from India? – It is from China and Egypt.  Did you know that a silkworm is not a worm? – it is actually a caterpillar.  What we commonly think of as a peanut is not a nut at all – it is a legume (member of the pea family).  Or did you know that a koala bear is not a bear at all? – It is a marsupial.  The truth is reality is not always what it seems!    

Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5.  Paul is going to remind us of this very truth (Read: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 NAS).  Paul is talking about what the final days of the world we live in are going to look like.  In the last days, people are going to have two completely different perspectives about the future of planet Earth: God’s or mans.  To put it more bluntly, Paul is saying there are two kinds of people in the world: those who’ve put their trust in Christ and those who haven’t.  There are believers and unbelievers, that’s it. One sees things as they really are and the other doesn’t.  One says the Day of the Lord is swiftly and surely on its way.  The other doesn’t believe it’s really going to happen.  The Bible tells us that the dam of God’s wrath is about to break and it’s going to catch the unbelieving world completely by surprise.  While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape(v.3). Paul is both warning and reminding believers that things are not always what they seem in our world. 

We’re going to look at five staccato-like commands that will help us prepare for the future.  Each one is designed to clear our vision from the smoke and mirrors of the world and keep a grip on reality.    How To Prepare for the Future

1. Listen Up.  We live in a world where we are constantly being bombarded by voices that are vying for our attention, voices that want to shape our perspective of the future.  The news media is full of them on – both sides.  One that we’re hearing more and more often is that America is about to enter into one of, if not, the greatest golden age of our nation’s history.  Peace and prosperity.  I’m not opposed to peace and prosperity. It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it (Proverbs 10:22).  Paul is saying something different.  If you’re a believer, you need to listen up.  Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, NAS).  Paul reminds them they know full wellthat no matter how attractive or how secure or how permanent our world may seem, the Day of the Lord is coming and it’s going to come by stealth, like a thief in the night.  It’s going to catch the world completely by surprise. The world won’t expect it.  

The Day of the Lord is not a literal day as much as it is a period of time when God will supernaturally intervene in history pouring out His judgment and retribution on a rebellious world.  It begins with the Rapture and ends at the conclusion of the Millennium.  I’ll talk more about this in in a minute.  But the thought Paul wants his readers to understand is this day points to the second coming of Jesus and the world will not expect it.  In fact, Peter tells us the world will scoff at the idea that Jesus is going to return. I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? (2 Peter 3:3-4, NLT).  We forget God is in charge of history, not man.  Listen up. Don’t be lulled into the world’s thinking that scoffs at Jesus’ return.  It’s going to happen.  Second, wake up.   

1. Wake Up. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape(1 Thessalonians 5:3).  In Earth’s final days people will be full of optimism.  Jesus says it will be like the days of Noah, like the days of Lot (Lk. 17:26-29). There will be eating, drinking, and marrying.  Everything will appear normal. The world will seem wonderful, people will feel secure about the future.  But things will not be as they appear.  This is a good place for me to clarify something.  I’m not saying Trump’s second term is the peace and prosperity Paul is talking about here.  But I do believe it could very well be the prelude, the lead up to it for this reason: Israel.  

Earlier, when Paul said, Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.  He’s talking primarily about Israel.  The phrase times and epochs is used only three times in the Bible (Dan. 2:21; Acts 1:7, 1 Thess. 5:1). Each time has to do primarily with God’s plans for Israel.  The global escalation of antisemitism toward Israel, combined with the growing hostility and increasing power of rival nations such as China, Russia, Iran, as well as many in America is off the chart.  We may very well be going into a time of peace and prosperity in our nation, and I hope we do.  Who doesn’t want peace and prosperity after the past four plus years?  Paul is saying in Earth’s final days more and more people are going to buy into the idea that Jesus’ return is really nothing more than an old-fashioned fable.  The world can and will get along just fine without God getting in the way.  Don’t buy it for a minute.  Wake up.  Things are not as they appear.    

If this all sounds like doom and gloom, you’re right.  The Day of the Lord for an unbelieving world is going to be more terrifying than anyone could possibly guess.  It is not a fable by any stretch of the imagination, it’s a fact.  But Paul is not finished. He says if you’re a believer, cheer up!  God has different plans for those who’ve placed their trust in Him. 

1. Cheer Up.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6).  The world may be living in the dark, but believers are not.  We don’t need to worry about the Day of the Lord.  Why? Because believers are going to be with the Lord in Heaven when God unleashes His wrath on the world.   Paul’s readers already knew this.  Earlier, in chapter four, Paul told them that at any moment Jesus would come for His Church (1 Thess. 4:13-18).  Paul is careful to distinguish Jesus coming for His Church and the Day of the Lord.  When He comes for His Church, there will be a shout, a voice of the archangel, and a trumpet blast (v. 16).  Jesus will descend from Heaven in the clouds but not touch the Earth. That won’t happen until His Second Coming (Rev. 19:11). Instead, believers will be caught up to Him in the air (4:17).  Just as God suddenly and unexpectedly rescued Noah and Lot, so He will rescue His Church as well.  Shortly after God rescues His Church, the seven-year period known as the Tribulation will begin.  This is also known as Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:7). Paul reminds us we should not be asleep to this fact, but alert and sober.  The idea has been suggested that we make T-shirts that say, “Listen for the Shout!”  I think Paul would be surprised that many in the Church today never give Jesus return any thought. I think a lot of believers are going to be more surprised when they hear the shout!  Cheer up!

1. Sober Up. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:7-8).  Paul is not saying we’re to be grim and gloomy.  Just the opposite! In Paul’s metaphors of light and darkness, night and day, of being drunk and being sober, he’s saying, “Snap out of it! Stop living your life half awake and half asleep. Don’t let this life lull you into living like this is all there is.  Here’s what I want you to do: Prepare for battle!  Take up spiritual armor – the breastplate of faith and love, the helmet of the hope of salvation.  Trust me, you’ll need them.”  

I read about a man who dreamed that he was swept into Heaven.  He was overwhelmed with delight to think that he had at last got there. All at once someone came and said: “Come, I want to show you something.” He took him to the edge of Heaven, and he said, “Look down below; what do you see?”

“I see a very dark world.” “Look and see if you know it.” “Why, yes,” he said, “that is the world I have come from.” “What do you see?” “Men are blindfolded there; many of them are going over a cliff.” “Well, will you stay here and enjoy Heaven, or will you go back to Earth and spend a little more time, telling others about this world?”  He was a believer who’d become discouraged and lost sight of reality.  Later after he’d awoke from his sleep he said: “I have never wished myself dead since.” 

It’s easy to become complacent or discouraged, to lose the perspective God wants us to have of our lives.  Preparing for battle means remembering we’re behind enemy lines and we have a mission of taking the Gospel to a lost and dying world to fulfill. So, listen up, wake up, cheer up, sober up, and finally – build up. 

1. Build Up.  For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing(1 Thessalonians 5:9-11).  Verse 9 is a reassuring reminder we’re not destined for God’s wrath.  Earlier in 1:10, Paul assures us Jesus will in fact rescue believers from God’s coming wrath.  I believe the Bible clearly teaches God spares believers from the coming Tribulation.  This does not mean we won’t experience tribulation here on Earth.  We will.  Jesus told us as much (John 16:33).  But we will not experience The Tribulation which is the Day of the Lord.  Though I am confident the Bible teaches this, I’m fully aware not all believers agree.  I am also fully convinced God did not give Paul these words about the rapture and the Day of the Lord to fuel arguments, but to encourage and build others up.  

Whether we agree or disagree, we should not make it a test of our fellowship or measurement of our spirituality.  Instead of getting caught up into debate, Paul simply tells us we need to help each other see life, the world, the future the way God sees it.  

In the days to come there will be moments, possibly days, when we may lose sight of God’s perspective.  When life’s trials are overwhelming.  When disappointment or rejection knocks the wind out of your sails. When we no longer hear God’s voice in a world clamoring for our attention.  It’s in those moments when we need to remember this too shall pass.  Things are not always as they appear.