1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.
Christian Friend vol. 18, 1891, p. 309.
For the believer there is no future on earth. It may be the Lord's will that His people should continue to testify for Him down here; but if even so, their one hope and expectation is His return, and He would have them count on no future save that of being forever with Him. In the world, they are not of it; they are the subjects of a heavenly calling; and as pilgrims and strangers here, they look onward to the enjoyment of their heavenly inheritance in Christ. (Eph. 1:11-14.)
* * *
The times and seasons, therefore, of which the apostle writes, have, in their rapid revolutions, but little significance for the saints of God - save indeed to give increasing emphasis to the Lord's own announcement, "Surely I come quickly." It is well to remind ourselves of this, that we may seek grace to be kept from the feelings and influences of the world around, and to be living, in the power of the Spirit, as the children of light, and the children of the day, altogether beyond the moral darkness of this scene. The connection of our scripture will explain these remarks. "By the word of the Lord" the apostle had instructed the Thessalonian believers as to the true character of the Lord's return. Correcting the mistake into which they had fallen, He taught them that the Lord Himself would descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and that then the dead in Christ would rise first, and the living saints, who remained until this event, would be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: "and so," he adds, "shall we ever be with the Lord."
* * *
Such is the future of the saints, and they were, even while waiting, to anticipate no other. There was thus, as the apostle says, no need to write of the times and seasons; for they knew perfectly "that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." If it be seen that 1 Thess. 4:15-18 is a parenthesis, this statement of the apostle will be more readily apprehended. It had been a matter of common knowledge that God would bring the saints who slept in Jesus with Christ at His appearing (for it is to this Paul refers in 1 Thess. 4:14); but they had not hitherto known of the rapture of the saints at the Lord's coming, as described in vv. 15-17. The first verse of 1 Thess. 5 connects itself thus with 4:14; and the apostle then proceeds to speak of the day of the Lord - that day which will be introduced by His appearing.
* * *
How solemn the twofold aspect of this day! On the world it will burst as suddenly and unexpectedly as a thief in the night. Nourishing their hearts, under the delusion of Satan, with thoughts of peace and safety, counting on the stability of things around, sudden destruction will come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. How contrary to the world's reckoning upon progress, order, and security! Would that the solemn warning might be laid to heart by every unconverted soul! On the other side there is no fear for the believer in this prospect, for the simple reason that he is not in darkness, and that he is morally of the day that will then be commenced. He belongs to the light, the expression of the holiness of God (1 John 1:7), which while it. forms the eternal security and blessedness of the saint, will be a consuming fire of judgment for the unbeliever.
* * *
If this is the happy portion of God's people, in contrast with the lot of those who know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, their lives should be in moral correspondence with it. If they belong to the day, and are not in darkness, they are not to sleep, as do others (v. 6), but are to watch and be sober. In their walk and ways they are to be morally distinguished from those whose conduct befits the night to which they belong.
* * *
The two aspects of the exhortation are to be remarked. Both are exemplified, if by contrast, in the parable of the virgins. There we see how the wise and foolish alike, forgetful of the blessed hope that first filled their souls when they went forth to meet the Bridegroom, came under the influence of passing things, and all slumbered and slept. They lost, that is, the expectation of their returning Lord, and settled down in things around, in careless oblivion of their once cherished hope, and of their own virgin character. And what of ourselves? Are we sleeping, even with the truth upon our lips? Let our hearts answer as in the presence of God.
* * *
But it is not only that we are not to sleep, but we are to watch and be sober. We are to watch, as also in the parable, because we know not the day nor the hour, and thus as always expecting the Bridegroom; and while watching, and indeed in order to it, we are to maintain "that sober clearness of mind resulting from exemption from false influences," as those who are not intoxicated with "wine," and who are governed and formed by the truth in the power of the Holy Ghost. It may be questioned whether these characteristics are found in any large number of Christians; and hence the advantage of judging ourselves in the light of this exhortation. That the Lord is at hand is the testimony of Scripture; but if we know it our lives should proclaim it as distinctly and as loudly as those of the believers in Thessalonica. (1 Thess. 1:6-10.)
* * *
The exhortation is still further enforced by the reminder that sleep and drunkenness mark the night; for men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. If therefore we are of the day, let us be sober, "putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet the hope of salvation." The reader will not fail to remark the conjunction of faith, love, and hope, as found moreover in 1 Thess. 1:3. Two things maybe observed: the" putting on" is clothing ourselves inwardly, and consequently faith, love, and hope are to be the features of our spiritual life, the expressions of the activity of the divine nature in us, as the result of the power of an ungrieved Spirit. Faith and love, moreover, are to form our breastplate, giving us courage and confidence in the presence of the enemy; and as an helmet we are to "put on" the hope of salvation. Salvation is here used in its full and complete sense, including the resurrection of the body, and being for ever with the Lord; and it is this which God has appointed us to obtain by our Lord Jesus Christ. In this assurance we may be fearless (for it is an helmet which no weapon of the enemy can penetrate) in the midst of whatever dangers we may have to encounter.
* * *
How the Spirit of God loves to carry us back to the death of Christ as the foundation of all our blessing! He here reminds us that the object of the death of Christ for us was, that, whether we wake (or, are watching) or sleep, that is, whether we are down here when He returns, or whether we shall have departed to be with Him before His coming, "we should live together with Him." This is the full fruition of all our blessedness, as those who have been chosen for salvation, living together with Christ. It is the eternal state. And in this prospect the apostle bids these believers to comfort themselves together, and to edify one another, even as, he is happy to add, "ye also do."
* * *
No one can read the above exhortations without observing the importance which Paul, as led by the Spirit, attaches to a practical condition of soul in correspondence with the truth professed and held. Indeed, if the truth revealed and known produces no, or but little, effect upon the walk, it can only issue in our condemnation and chastening. We need, therefore, often to challenge ourselves, especially at a moment when the heavenly character of Christianity, and the bright and blessed hope of the coming of the Lord, are once more being energetically proclaimed. Faith, love, and hope, as we have seen, will distinguish the soul that apprehends these things; and, to give the language of another, "faith and love naturally connect us with God, revealed as He is in Jesus as the principle of communion; so that we walk with confidence in Him. His presence gives us strength. By faith He is the glorious object before our eyes. By love He dwells in us, and we realise what He is. Hope fixes our eyes especially on Christ, who is coming to bring us into the enjoyment of glory with Himself." A walk thus characterized will exalt and commend Christ, inasmuch as it will be expressed in unworldliness, in real separation of heart and life, in true devotedness, and in those girded loins and burning lights which are seen in all who are waiting for their Lord.