"Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch," watch this, "I will come on thee as a thief, and
thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, notice he says that he will come
on them as a thief if they do not watch.
Did you notice that?
He says, "If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou
shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."
That means that if they are watching, they will know what hour he will come upon them,
and they will not be overtaken as a thief.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5, which teaches the exact same thing.
Let me, of course, point out that 1 Thessalonians 4 is the most famous passage in the Bible
on what we call the rapture, and what the Bible calls his coming in the clouds, where
the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ rise first.
In fact, let's just read a few verses of that.
Look at verse number 15 of 1 Thessalonians 4.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under
the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort
one another with these words.
Look at the first word of the next verse, "but."
Now "but" is a conjunction, is it not?
And a conjunction is something that connects what's about to be said with what was just
said.
So in chapter five, we're not switching to a completely different subject here.
We're continuing the same thought of chapter four.
Chapter four talked about Christ's coming.
He said, "The coming of the Lord, Christ coming in the clouds, the dead in Christ rising first,
then we which are alive and remain being caught up together."
This is known as the rapture.
Let's see what he says about the rapture in chapter five because he continues along the
same thought.
He says, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto
you."
The times and the seasons of what?
Obviously, what he just told us about.
I mean, if he just told us about the rapture and then he says, "But," which is a conjunction
of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, why do
we have no need that he write unto us of the times and the seasons of the rapture?
He tells us in verse two, "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so
cometh as a thief in the night."
Now ask yourself this question, why would the timing of the day of the Lord tell us
anything about the timing of the rapture?
He says, "I don't need to write to you of the times and seasons of the rapture because
you already know that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."
Well, the reason is simple, because the rapture takes place on the day of the Lord.
That's the only way that this would even make sense.
And it's very consistent all throughout scripture because if you study all the Old Testament
passages on the day of the Lord, what do they always emphasize?
The sun and moon being darkened every time.
For example, it says, "The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before
the great and dreadful day of the Lord come."
Now, the day of the Lord is a very dreadful day for the unsaved because that's the day
when God begins to pour out His wrath upon this earth.
But to us which are saved, it's a glorious day.
It's an exciting day that we're looking forward to.
It's the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the famous rapture passage in Matthew 24, which says immediately after the tribulation
of those days, and then it mentions the sun and moon being darkened, and it talks about
Jesus Christ coming in the clouds to gather the elect from the four winds, from one end
of heaven to the other.
That proves right there, again, that the day of the Lord and the rapture have the same
timing.
They take place at the same time.
The same day that we're taken out of this world and removed from this earth at the rapture
is the same day that God begins to pour out His wrath, which is what the day of the Lord
is.
The great day of His wrath, the Bible calls it.
Now, but let's look at this very carefully in 1 Thessalonians 5.1.
It says, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you 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."
And many people will stop reading there, and they'll say, "See, it's coming as a thief
in the night.
Jesus Christ is coming as a thief in the night."
There's even a movie that was out back in the '70s called "A Thief in the Night," and
it was explaining how the rapture could happen at any moment because it's coming as a thief
in the night.
But really, the rapture cannot happen at any moment because the Bible's real clear about
a lot of things that have to happen first.
And I'm going to prove to you that to us which are saved, He's not coming as a thief in the
night.
Look at verse 3.
"For when they shall say," now is this what we're saying or is this what they're saying?
This is what the unsaved, unbelievers are saying, not God's people.
"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."
So notice when it's talking about the wrath and the judgment and the punishment, it's always
coming on them, not us, okay?
They're going to say, "Peace and safety," and then sudden destruction comes on them.
Look at verse 4, "But ye brethren," he's saying on the other hand, "are not in darkness that
that day should overtake you as a thief."
So according to verse 4, are God's people going to be overtaken by these events as a
thief in the night?
No.
So it's not accurate to say that Jesus Christ is coming as a thief in the night to those
that are saved.
That's not an accurate thing to say to those that are saved.
Now to say that to the unsaved would make perfect sense, but he said, "Ye brethren,"
means you're saved, you're a brother in Christ, "are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief."
And then he goes on to explain why that day will not overtake us as a thief.
He says, "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."
So what's the difference between us and them?
The difference is that they're asleep and we're not.
The difference is that they are not watching, we are watching.
He says, "Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober."
Now, let me ask you this.
Is every single believer watching?
No.
That's why he's commanding us to watch.
That's why he's exhorting us to watch.
You see, some people have no clue what Revelation teaches.
And thank God for people who are interested enough to listen to the preaching of this
series through the book of Revelation so that they can learn and understand these things
so that they'll know what to watch for, so that they'll be awake, so that they'll be
able to see the truth and not be in darkness concerning the events of the end times.
The unsaved are in darkness, but sadly many Christians today, even though they don't have
to be in darkness, even though the light is there for them, even though the information
is right here in the Bible for them, even though they could be watching for these things,
they're asleep at the wheel because they don't know what's going on.
And that's why it's so important we study these things.
But he says, "Let us not sleep as do others."
Don't be like the unsaved world in that you know nothing about what's going to come to
pass.
He says, "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.
Now go back to Revelation 3 with that in mind.
So in 1 Thessalonians 5, the Bible was clear about a few things.
The Bible was clear that if you're saved, you don't have to be overtaken by these things
as a thief.
You'll know they're coming.
You have the Word of God that has warned you.
You know what to watch for.
And if you're awake and watching, you will not be surprised.
You will not be overtaken as a thief.
He also talks about being drunken.
That's another illustration that he uses in Matthew 24 about the exact same subject.
But look at Revelation 3 with that in mind now, verse 3, "Remember therefore how thou
hast received and heard and hold fast and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not
know what hour I will come upon thee."
So he's not telling believers, "I'm coming to you as a thief," period.
He says, "Only if you're not watching will it come upon you as a thief.
But if you are watching, you are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief."
Now, we need to be watching.
For what?
And haven't you heard preachers say, you know, "There are no signs of His coming.
There are no signs of the rapture.
The rapture can happen at any moment.
No prophecies need to be fulfilled before the rapture takes place."
That is not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible gives us a whole rundown of things that are going to happen first in Matthew
24 and in Mark 13.
He tells us about wars, rumors of mores, famines, pestilences.
He talks about the abomination of desolation.
He says, "When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel
the prophet."
He talks about the sun and moon being darkened.
Look, these are all things to be watching for.
We need to be watching and seeing these events unfold.
Then we will be prepared for what's coming.
But if there are no signs of his coming, if there's nothing that's going to affect us,
what are we watching for?
Why does he keep telling us watch, watch, watch?
Because there's something to watch for.
That's why.
In Mark 13, he says, "What I say unto you, I say unto all, watch."
And so if we're wise, we will learn what is going to happen first, what the order of events
going to be, what is going to lead up to the second coming of Christ.
We'll be watching for those things.
We'll be prepared.
And we'll be able to act as occasions serve with us.