1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 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. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”
One of the hardest things to do in life is to live with your guard up. To be always vigilant and looking for the next ‘shoe to drop’ as they say. Some have entered into a sense of relative calm after the US elections. There is a sense among many persons and not a few conservatives that life may be back to normal. We see the governing bodies of sports begin to reject the ‘a man can be a woman’ foolishness. In the US, some states have begun to offer the Bible as part of their curriculum again. We see sanctuary cities like New York begin to acknowledge that the unilateral acceptance of all immigrants no matter their criminal past is simply stupid, and they want to export some of these thugs. Good!
By the way, I am an immigrant here in Canada; my family did the paperwork, saved the monies, and came the legal way. We see the plan to reopen the oil pipelines, get people back to work and get crime under control, limit or remove liberal judges, and on and on we can go. There is a sense that the tottering ship is being righted. It can get us off guard; it can encourage us to take our eyes off the prize, that being the soon return of Jesus.
You see, when the Government appeared to be our enemy, we wanted Jesus to come soon, come now, today. But now, as we sense a period of things going ‘our way,’ it is easy to get our eyes off Heaven and begin to live like this is our home, and we no longer cry for Jesus to come sooner and rescue us. We lose the edge, and we lose the focus on Him.
As much as I am glad that the results of the election in the US went the way they did, the new President is not the savior that some want him to be; he is just a fallible man. His election may even spark a conservative movement here in Canada, and if they should win, even that man will not be the savior. In fact, according to the scriptures, the next man that the world hails as the savior will be the most dangerous man that ever walked the planet. His rebellion and defiance to the person of God will cause the death of billions of people.
As I can see it, and I could be wrong, the conservative movement we are seeing – not only in the US, maybe Canada in a few months, in Europe, and the sudden rejection of the ‘woke’ government agendas – is the calm before the storm. The forces of evil, the spirits that sit in the background like puppet masters, will turn up the heat and bring the pain to us.
In the passage above, we see a warning from Paul when the world thinks that there will be peace and safety, and there very well may be for a period of time. Jobs will come back, illegal immigration will slow, the wars in Europe and the Middle East will be temporarily solved and the like, then we begin to get complacent. Paul tells us that a ‘sudden destruction’ will come on the world.
Imagine what happened in Pearl Harbor that fateful day in December 1941; it was a sudden destruction, more than 3,000 lives taken, and millions more died in the ensuing war. The forces of darkness are never asleep, never off shift, and while they may allow the ‘peace and safety’ to grow for a while, make no mistake; they have a plan to destroy, and they love to hurt God’s people first if at all possible.
However, Paul also tells us that these things should not catch us off guard. We, the children of the light, should not let these distractions get our eyes off the goal, off of Jesus and His soon return.
I have a colleague in the ministry; we attended seminary together about 40 years ago. He said not too long ago that he had not planned well for retirement because he thought Jesus would have come by now. This is the battle we face in ourselves and in our minds. There are times when I can begin to wonder, ‘Hey, did I get this wrong?’ Did I miss something? Did I just follow along with the crowd about this Jesus returning? However, it is hard to read passages like this one in 1 Thessalonians and not see the clear promise that we have that Jesus will return like a ‘thief in the night.’
Peter warns us that the longer and longer it takes for Jesus to return, some will begin to wonder ‘where is the promise of His return?’ (2 Peter 23:4) Yes, to those that live in the darkness, the rapture will catch them off guard. Though, I think that the spirits in the background have a ‘plausible’ explanation for the world to swallow ‘hook, line, and sinker.’ But to us who live in the light – those who have Jesus as our Savior and who humbly call Him Lord – His return, His call will not catch us off guard because there is the Holy Spirit in us reminding us that there is another chapter to be played out; there is more to come. One day soon, our faith will be sight; we will see Jesus as He is and be with Him evermore.
Paul, well, the Holy Spirit through Paul, tells us to watch, look, keep our eyes open, keep searching the Heavens, and be ready for the call, the trumpet sound, and the catching away to meet Jesus. Don’t get distracted by the short and shallow victories that we have here. Rather, observe them as temporary reprieves from the judgment to come. In these apparent times of lull, let us be about the Master’s business. Let us win all that we can to the Kingdom, let us share the Gospel, share the wonderful grace of our Lord and Savior. Let us reap as many souls as we can for the Kingdom.
Don’t get complacent; get busy. Invest more time and money in these short windows of opportunity, and make the most of the ‘peace and safety.’ Make the most of the time not to get comfortable but to make disciples. Enjoy the momentary wins; prepare for the difficult time that will come. There can be no avoidance of them. Keep our eyes on the skies. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!!
God bless you,
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
How to Connect with Us
In-person: every Sunday (10:30 am) at Bethany Baptist Church 70 Victoria Street, Elora, ON
Online: https://mmbchurch.ca/
Email: seangooding@mmbchurch.ca
Join us on Zoom every Sunday (10:30 am) for Sunday Service AND every Tuesday at 8:00 pm for Bible Study: Meeting ID: 700 794 460 Passcode: 032661; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/700794460?pwd=M3NFRG91ZW5Sa2Z3amVyWkFnYXd6QT09