for ye know perfectly well yourselves, that the day of [the] Lord so comes as a thief by night.
In chapter 4 Paul described the Lord coming for His own. Now he turns to an event the world will never see coming: what is "the day of the Lord," and how could Paul say they already knew it perfectly?
The opening phrase of verse 1 sets the frame for verse 2. "Times and seasons" is not a vague expression for the future; it points to God's dealings with this world, and the same words appear elsewhere in Scripture.
'Times and seasons' as relating to the earth are first mentioned in Genesis 1:14. We have the exact words here, and we meet with them again in Acts 1:7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1. It is clear that this expression refers to God's dispensations and dealings on the earth. In Acts 1, the disciples were not to know the time of God's dealings. Yet the Thessalonians did know the manner of God's predicted dealings, and the order in which they would happen: indeed they knew this perfectly, though they were ignorant of the coming of the Lord for His saints, as revealed in the previous chapter. But then, that coming has to do with a heavenly calling, while 'times and seasons' relate to the earth.
This has a sharp practical edge for anyone tempted to fix a date.
Times and seasons do not refer directly to the Church. They look on to the times and conditions in which God will carry out His ways with the earth, as the prophetic Scriptures foretell. The Lord had said to His disciples, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7). So it is useless to work out and predict the date of the Lord's coming from Daniel's prophecies or other Scriptures. It is worse than useless. It means trying to find out what the Lord plainly says is not for us to know.
"You yourselves are fully aware" — but aware of what, exactly? Their certainty was not about a date.
There was no need to write anything now, for they knew perfectly that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. The apostle may not have gone into details. But they were sure of this great and solemn truth deep inside. What they knew perfectly was not, as some strangely say, that its time is uncertain. They knew that its coming is certain, and as terrible as it is unexpected.
So what does that day actually bring?
The prophets refer to the day of the Lord again and again. It always has in view the day when the Lord steps in to judge the earth. That judgment leads on to the restoration of Israel and the blessing of the nations.
Its force comes out best when set against the present age.
From these and similar passages, we learn that "the day of the Lord" carries a very solemn thought: judgment on the world. Judgment on Israel in its turning away from God, on man and his ways, on everything the human heart prizes and longs after. In short, the day of the Lord stands in striking contrast with man's day. Man has the upper hand now, the Lord will have the upper hand then.
The image says one thing above all: no announcement.
The Lord is not willing that you should perish. But remember this: "The day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Peter 3:10). I never heard of a thief blowing a trumpet before he broke into your house. This is how the Son of Man will come to deal with this godless world.
Commentators here draw a firm line between chapter 4 and chapter 5.
So 1 Thessalonians 5 opens by drawing a distinction. Chapter 4 has dealt with the coming of the Lord for His saints. Now comes "the day of the Lord." That comes, not as a bridegroom for his bride, but "like a thief in the night."
"The day of the Lord" is not a day of twenty-four hours, but a stretch of time like "the day of salvation." It is a period in the cycle of "times and seasons," marked out by the complete supremacy and authority of the Lord. It starts when He shows Himself publicly in the clouds of heaven — His appearing with His saints.
The same line runs on into verse 4. There the thief image no longer applies to believers.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:2, about the world it says, "the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." But to the saints it says, "But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day." And when He comes who brings in the day, the children of the day will come with Him.
The thief language is not confined to open unbelievers.
The judgment of God will suddenly overtake the scoffers of these last days, for "the day of the Lord will come like a thief." In Matthew 24:43 the Lord had shown that He would come as a thief. Paul wrote the same thing to the Thessalonians. Now Peter tells us the same thing. From heaven, the Lord gives a similar warning to the professing church: "If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief" (Rev. 3:3). How very solemn that the same unexpected judgment will catch those who only profess to be Christians, just as it catches the scoffers of the last days.
- Earth, not heaven. "Times and seasons" belong to God's dealings with the world, not to the hope of the Church.
- Certain, not datable. They knew perfectly that the day comes, never when. Date-setting reaches for what the Father has kept in His own hands.
- Man's day ends. The day of the Lord is the day He steps in to judge. Man has the upper hand now; then the Lord will.
- A thief, not a trumpet. No announcement comes first. The day breaks in on the world without warning.
- Night for them, day for you. Believers are children of the day, so the thief image does not apply to them. The warning still stands over anyone who only claims the name.
When they may say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon her that is with child; and they shall in no wise escape.
The verse pictures the world at its most confident: a cry of peace and safety, and then a blow that no one can dodge. Paul writes it to mark the line between what waits for the world and what waits for believers.
Watch the pronouns. Paul does not slide from one audience to another by accident.
That is exactly where many make such utter confusion; they do not distinguish between the hope of the Christian and "the day" for the world... he says, "When they say, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman." He does not say "you," but "they." Why the difference? When he speaks about the presence of the Lord, he says "you," "we"; but when he treats of the day of Jehovah, he says "they."
A note on wording: the ESV reads, "While people are saying, 'There is peace and security.'" Kelly quotes an older translation that keeps the pronoun "they," and his point turns on that word.
"Peace and safety" is not the same unbelief as open mockery. It is the settled calm of people who trust the world's arrangements — and even that calm is not quite steady.
Here it is more a matter of inward quiet and outward freedom from danger. It comes from confidence in the social and political state of mankind. Yet it is not without uneasy qualms. These betray the real unrest and the hidden dread of those who do not know God and His Christ. So it was with men when the flood came and swept away all who despised God's warning through Noah. So it was in the days of Lot: after a weaker and shorter warning, judgment fell on the corrupt cities of the plain. So it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Sudden destruction hangs over those who trust themselves and their own thoughts, rejecting the testimony of God. This is the judgment of the living... It is the end of the age, but not the end of the world materially... It is unspiritual ignorance, even folly, to apply this to the destruction of Jerusalem or to death, as some have done and do. It is the day of the Lord, still to fall on the world.
What will produce such confidence? One writer ties it to a coming world ruler, the figure called the beast.
The beast is the dragon's chief political agent. He will be a very powerful and impressive figure. Men will even worship him and see his power as unstoppable. Men will feel that here at last is the superman and the super-kingdom, which can impose its will and put down all opposition. This, we judge, is what will lead men to say, "Peace and safety," as foretold in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, but which leads to "sudden destruction."
Nothing builds up in view. The cry of safety is the last thing heard before the blow.
"Sudden destruction" will come. Swift will be the blow — a bolt out of the blue. How vivid is the picture of the old book — "as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman."
Commentators read the comparison in two ways. Some stress the speed of the pangs. Others look at what the pangs produce.
The comparison "labor pains come upon a pregnant woman" is meant to teach us this: out of all this anguish God will see fit to bring fruit for His own glory. During the tribulation crowds of people will turn in faith to the living God, people who never knew the gospel before. This will glorify God, as will His holy triumph over evil. Indeed, for Israel the tribulation will be the labor pains of a nation born all at once (Isaiah 66:8).
The last clause shuts every door. Yet the same verse that leaves the world no escape gives the believer certainty.
Things may look golden and peaceful, and so deceive. But the children of light have the privilege of knowing that there is no escape for the world. So, just as Daniel made known the rise and course of the world's power, the believer can declare its end. The One who executes judgment on the world is the same One who died for the believer. He removed all wrath and judgment, and He is risen for ever out of it.
Paul immediately turns from "they" to "you," and he does it deliberately.
He is not afraid that it would endanger the young believers in Thessalonica, or any others, to know how grace had marked them off from the rest of mankind. His very aim here, as elsewhere, is to press this distinction on them so it can never be erased. He says, first, that they were not in darkness, so that the day should surprise them like a thief; second, that they all were sons of light and sons of day.
- They, not you. The pronoun does the teaching: the day of the Lord falls on "them," while the Lord's coming for His own is always "you" and "we."
- The cry. "Peace and safety" is confidence in the state of society and politics — calm on the surface, uneasy underneath.
- The trigger. One reading links the cry to a coming ruler, the beast, whose power looks unstoppable. Men think peace has come at last.
- The blow. Destruction falls at once, as in the days of Noah and Lot. It is the day of the Lord on a living world, and the labor-pains figure points both to its speed and to the fruit God brings out of the anguish.
- The escape. There is none for the world. The believer needs none: he is a child of light, secured by the very One who will execute the judgment.
But *ye*, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief
Paul has just pictured the world talking about peace and safety when sudden ruin falls on it. Now he turns to the believers with one small word — "you."
The two pronouns mark off two different groups.
The words "they" and "you" make it still clearer that the day of the Lord is for the world. He does not say, "When you say, Peace and safety," but when "they say." So Paul leaves the believer entirely outside that day of sudden destruction.
Paul says one thing they are not, and then one thing they are. Young believers take no harm from knowing the difference.
He is not afraid that it would harm the young believers in Thessalonica, or anyone else, to know how grace had set them apart from the rest of mankind. His whole aim here, as elsewhere, is to stamp this difference on them so deeply that nothing can rub it out. He says two things. First, they were not in darkness, so the day could not surprise them like a thief. Second, they were all sons of light and sons of day. They were not only unlike the world, which sits in darkness under the Lord's judgment. They were real sharers in divine nature and blessedness.
Some argue that Paul only means believers will be partly surprised. One writer answers that from what Paul had taught them just before.
Some claim that Paul could not have said the day would not overtake them like a thief unless they were still liable to be overtaken by it in some way. But look at what Paul teaches, even right here, and there is no ground for this at all. But he had just taught them that they were to be caught up to meet Him in the air and be brought with Him. In other words, he had taught them what makes it impossible to say that the day could overtake them in any way at all.
The two titles in verse 5 are not repetition. One looks at what has already happened inside the believer; the other looks at where he is heading.
The believer is in no sense in darkness. He is in the light, even though all around him lies "darkness which may be felt," like the plague of darkness in Egypt. New birth has made an infinite difference. A great gulf now separates us from those who are "of the night" and "of darkness." The words "children of light" seem to mean that the truth has already taken hold of the heart, even though all around may be darkness. The words "children of day" tie us to the future day of glory. On that day we will be shown and blessed in the place that truly belongs to us. We are no part of the present state of things at all. Night and darkness do not belong to our nature. We look for the day, because the day is where we belong.
A thief only alarms a house that is asleep. So does the Lord come to His own that way?
His coming is never spoken of this way for His own. They wait for Him in bright hope, with no fear that He will surprise them like a thief. His coming is their joy; and they watch more than a watchman for the dawn. So the picture of the thief belongs to the sleeping world, and to people whose minds are set on the world.
Another writer sets this verse beside a warning the Lord sent to the church in Sardis.
To the Thessalonians Paul had written, "You are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief." It will come on the world that way. And then the Lord writes to Sardis, "Lest I come as a thief" — that is, treat you as the world.
Verse 4 states a fact. The next verse draws the conclusion.
The word of God never contains bare doctrine on its own. Truth always gives a certain character to the people it puts in a place of privilege.
If we are sons of light and of day, then sleep does not suit us. Sleep here means not caring about the will of the Lord. What suits us is watching and staying clear-headed, as people who draw their life from Him who is the one true light, and who will bring in the day.
- Pronoun. Paul's "they" and "you" divide the human race in one stroke: sudden destruction falls on them, not on you.
- Reason. The day cannot surprise a believer. He is not in darkness, and he will already have been caught up to meet the Lord.
- Nature. He is more than safe. He is a son of light and a son of day. Truth holds his heart now, and the coming day of glory is where he belongs.
- Thief. That image fits a sleeping world, and a church like Sardis that the Lord will treat as the world. It never fits those who watch for Him with joy.
- Character. Privilege never stays bare doctrine. Being of the day means refusing to sleep, and staying awake and clear-headed until it dawns.
for all *ye* are sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness.
Paul has just described the day of the Lord falling on a sleeping world like a thief in the night. Now he tells the believers why that day holds no dread for them, and the reason is not what they do but what they are.
Safety from that day comes down to who a person belongs to.
That day will not overtake the children of the day — the children of light — as a thief does. And that is exactly because they are children of the day. They have been taught in advance about the judgments of God. They belong to Him who is to be the Judge, not to the world those judgments will fall on. They wait for Him from heaven, who has saved them by His grace, who delivers them from the wrath to come.
"Sons of" is a way of speaking about nature rather than rank. Scripture uses it elsewhere in the same way.
The title 'son' implies 'likeness.' Scripture uses it this way to mark moral likeness, as of a son to a father — so 'a son of Belial' (a worthless man), 1 Sam. 25:17; 'you son of the devil,' Acts 13:10; 'sons of disobedience,' Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; also 'sons of light' and 'sons of day.' 1 Thess. 5:5.
So the phrase points back to a beginning.
The believer is not in darkness, nor is he of the darkness. He is a child of light and of the day. He has been born, so to speak, of the light that reached him in the gospel, and he shares the character of what gave him birth. So he lives in a world of darkness, but he is not in darkness himself. Divine light surrounds his path. He is a child of the coming day, and so he knows where he is going and what is coming.
The two titles are not a repetition. Each one points in a different direction.
It seems that "children of light" means the truth has already taken hold of the heart, even though darkness may be all around. "Children of day" connects us with the future day of glory. In that day we will stand shown and blessed in the place that is truly ours. We are not part of the present state of things at all. The night and the darkness are foreign to our nature; we look for the day, because it is where we truly belong.
The opposite words have a meaning too. Night and darkness are not vague gloom — they mark something missing.
Believers are marked out by having the knowledge of God, and by being in the light of the day that is coming. The world is marked by "night" and "darkness". It is the absence of Christ that makes the night, and ignorance of God that makes up the darkness.
The word "all" matters. These were new believers, yet Paul makes the distinction plainly. Then he includes himself by switching to "we".
He sees no risk in letting the young believers in Thessalonica, or anyone else, know this. Grace had marked them off from the rest of the world. His whole aim here, as elsewhere, is to press this distinction on them so it can never be erased. He says two things. First, they were not in darkness, so the day would not surprise them like a thief. Second, they were all sons of light and sons of day. They were not only unlike the world, which lies in darkness and faces the Lord's judgment. They also had a real share in the divine nature and its blessing.
The verse hands the believer two things at once, and the second is not optional.
So we are given both a privilege and a character. The privilege is that the day will not overtake us, as it will overtake those who live in darkness. The character is that of children of light. There are no bare doctrines in the word. The truth always gives a character to the people it puts in a place of privilege.
That character is meant to be visible now, while the night still lasts.
On the outside it may be night, with darkness all around us. Yet our hearts are in the light of the coming day. So, as sons of the day, we show in the middle of the world's night "the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
- Origin. The believer is born of the light that reached him in the gospel and carries the character of what gave him birth.
- Nature. "Son of" marks likeness, not rank — the same idiom that calls others sons of disobedience.
- Position. Sons of light have the truth in the heart now. Sons of day belong to the glory still coming, so night is foreign ground.
- Reach. It is all of them, young converts included, with Paul standing inside the "we" — no advanced class exists.
- Result. Privilege always brings character with it. The result is a life lit up in the world's night, and a day that can never arrive as a thief.