Edward Dennett · THE LORD'S COMING.

This conclusion will be strengthened if I draw your attention to the plain distinction which the apostle draws between the return of the Lord for His saints and the day of the Lord — the day which will be introduced on His coming manifestly to the earth to assume His power and to establish His kingdom, as seen for example in Matt. 24. Thus to go back to 1 Thess. After having described the character of the coming of the Lord for His saints (1 Thess. 4:15-18), he proceeds: "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye 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." (1 Thess. 5:1-2.) The saints therefore at Thessalonica had been instructed concerning the day of the Lord — the coming of the Lord in manifested glory — as recorded in Matt. 24 and elsewhere. They knew about this perfectly; and hence this is a totally different thing from the coming of the Lord for His people, concerning which the apostle had just taught them by a special communication from the Lord. Accordingly he proceeds: "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day." (1 Thess. 5:4-5.) He thus reminds them that they belong to the day — that day which would bring such terror upon the wicked, and hence that they would not be upon the earth in the darkness when it dawned.