07 How to Be Ready For The Day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the seventh talk in my series on Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. Today we're going to study 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13, to chapter 5, verse 11. The lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast. You can also find them by going directly to Wednesdayintheword.com slash Thessalonians 7. Thanks so much for listening. I am glad to have you along. Well, as always, let's review where we are in the letter. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica around 51 A.D. It's one of his earliest letters. He is writing to encourage this young church to continue to trust the gospel he taught them. Paul spent only a short time in Thessalonica before he was driven out of town, and he knows that this young church is facing the same kind of persecution and pressure to give up their faith. So he is writing them to encourage them to continue believing the gospel. Now, and in the first three chapters, we saw three main themes. Paul reminded them that their own response to the gospel is evidence of their genuine faith, and he is grateful for that response. Not only did their lives change after coming to faith, he reminds them how their faith became well known and spread throughout the region. Their changed lives are testimony to the fact that they believed. And second, Paul reminds them how he conducted himself when he was with them, that he was trustworthy, he taught them with integrity, and that God verified his authority with signs and works of the Holy Spirit. Third, he reminds them that as a church they are facing the same kind of persecution believers have faced throughout time, and this kind of persecution is also evidence of their genuine response to the gospel. Chapter 4 begins finally then, brethren, and he moves into the second half of the letter, and this is a turning point for him. Timothy has visited Thessalonica and returned with a report of how they're doing, and Paul is now going to respond to some of the issues that he heard from Timothy. And we looked at the first two. He said basically, avoid sexual immorality, handle your sexuality in a way that is honorable and not in a way that's shameful. And then he encourages them to get a job, to work and be financially independent. And that brings us to today's passage where Paul talks about the second coming of Christ. And this subject can be a very difficult one to teach and to understand. The topic is very divisive among believers. Everyone seems to have an opinion that they hold to very dearly. And I'll warn you right up front, I'm not going to answer all your questions about the end times and how that all plays out. First, because I don't know all the answers to those questions. And second, because the passage doesn't really address them. As usual, I'm going to try to understand this passage in the context of the letter. Now, whatever your views about the end times, it does seem clear that the second coming of Christ is central to our hope as believers. We are saved by grace through the blood of Christ, and we look forward with hope to the day when he returns to usher in the kingdom of God. The day when once and for all he will set all things right and vanquish sin and death. We believe that Christ died for our sins so that we can be rescued from sin and death and live in his kingdom forever, which will be inaugurated when he returns. Now the details of exactly when and how Christ is going to return are not clearly obvious. My goal is to look at this passage and try to figure out what it means in context. And the context suggests that Paul is responding to something he has heard from Timothy, but we don't know what that is. We have the answer to the question, but it's not clear what the question was. It's like we're listening to one side of a telephone conversation. We can hear the answer, but we can't hear the question. Now we know that they have been taught that Jesus will come again. Given Paul's other writings, it's hard to imagine that Paul would teach them the gospel without mentioning eternal life or the second coming. And in this letter, we know Paul has described them as waiting for God's Son from heaven. That was back in 110. But now it seems people are confused because some in their community have died since Paul visited them. And perhaps they think that the people who have died are going to miss out on the second coming of Christ somehow. And Paul is trying to clarify that. He wants to clarify what he meant and clear up their confusion. Now today we're used to this idea because many millions have died since the ascension, but when Paul was writing this letter, Christianity was a fairly young faith. To them the idea was new. Today we're used to the idea that Jesus will return both for those who are alive and those who have passed away, but at that point in history it might not have been clear. So Paul reminds them that the resurrection is central to the gospel. Christ, our Savior, died and rose from the dead, and God is going to do the same for those believers who have died. He is going to bring them along with Christ, and this is what Paul starts to explain. Let's read first Thessalonians four, verses thirteen and fourteen. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Paul starts out this discussion by saying, I don't want you to be confused about people who have died. He uses this phrase fallen asleep, but he means those who have died. That was an idiom in those days, just like we say those who have passed away today for those who have died. And Paul says, I don't want you to grieve as those who have no hope. So we have to ask the question, who are those who have no hope? And from the context, it's pretty clear, those who have no hope are those who do not believe in Jesus. Paul implies that only followers of Jesus have reason to grieve with hope. Now, certainly many people claim to look forward to some kind of happy afterlife, but Paul would say they are fooling themselves if they don't believe in Jesus. The difference between our grief and the grief of others is that we have a legitimate hope. We believe that when Jesus died and rose again, he paved the way for his people. Jesus made it possible for those who believe in him to be resurrected. So just as God resurrected Jesus, when Christ returns, God will resurrect his people who have died. Now notice Paul is not discouraging grief here, he's discouraging hopeless grief. When a loved one has died, grief itself is utterly appropriate, for death has not yet been destroyed, but it will be destroyed one day when Christ returns. Paul's going to make that point in this passage, and he says that in 1 Corinthians 15 26, that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. When death is destroyed, there won't be any reason to grieve anymore. And now, because we know that day is coming, we can hope even in the midst of our grief. Now Paul gives us a few details about the second coming. Notice his intent here. He is not setting out to explain all the circumstances of the second coming. His purpose is to inform them about those who have died before Christ returns. So let's read four fifteen through eighteen. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. So the picture Paul paints is that when Jesus returns, he will gather all his people together, both those who are alive and those who have died. Paul seems to be emphasizing that having died is no disadvantage because the dead are given priority. The first thing Jesus does is raise them. Then those who are alive at the time will be gathered together with them, and as one group they will meet Christ and be with him always. Now the question everyone has is where are believers who have died now? We have this euphemism that they are asleep. We know that their bodies are in the ground. We have verses like Philippians 1 23, where Paul says he expects to be in the presence of the Lord when he dies. And likewise Jesus told the thief on the cross, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. That was Luke 23, 43. Now how we put all that together is highly debated, and I don't know the answer. If there is some kind of intermediate state between the time of death and the resurrection, one thing we know is that stage is intermediate, that is, it's temporary. It will end at the second coming, and that will be a joyous day for those who believe. And Paul's point here is encourage each other with these words. First, it's an encouragement, and believers should not grieve hopelessly because the dead in Christ will be resurrected when Christ returns, and second, we are not to grieve hopelessly because we will be reunited with the dead in Christ when Christ returns. Probably because his purpose here is to comfort believers who have lost loved ones, Paul doesn't mention the fate of those who do not believe in Christ. However, we know from other scriptures, for instance, Jesus said in John 5.29, those who have done evil, that is unbelievers, will be resurrected to face judgment. And Paul says in Acts 24, there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. Those who believe in Christ will find forgiveness for their sins, and those who do not believe in Christ will face condemnation. Then when we get to 2 Thessalonians, Paul tells us those who do not believe in Christ will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction. Paul also emphasizes he didn't make this up. This is not his idea. This is what the Lord himself taught Paul. In 4.15, he says, For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord. He's saying, I didn't make this up, the Lord himself told us this. Now we might ask, where did Jesus teach this? And most scholars think it comes from the Olivet Discourse. In Matthew 24, verses 29 through 31, Jesus says, On the great day when he returns, the trumpet will sound and his chosen ones will be gathered to him. Paul uses that same kind of language, but he clarifies that the chosen ones who will be gathered to Christ includes both the dead and the living. Paul also explains the same event in 1 Corinthians 15. There the issue is a little different. He is correcting a group that rejects the resurrection entirely, and in that section he's arguing for the resurrection from the fact that Christ was resurrected, and in that argument he gives us a little more detail about the nature of resurrection. This is first Corinthians fifteen, fifty through fifty-two. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. There Paul adds to the picture that the return of Christ is also the moment when all his chosen people will be transformed into glorious eternal bodies. Both the dead and the currently alive will receive this new resurrected body. All his people will be changed at the same time. We will be transformed in that moment from frail, perishable bodies that decay to imperishable and immortal bodies. That seems to me to be the picture Paul has of the second coming. Let me explore a brief tangent. In 417, Paul says, Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. That verb caught up, when it gets translated into Latin, is the word that we get the word rapture from. When we talk about the rapture, it comes basically from this passage. Now, in modern Christianity, especially in America, the term rapture has come to have a more specific meaning. This specific meaning was made popular by the left behind series of books and movies. This view holds that the rapture is an event in which all believers all over the earth suddenly disappear. And because they weren't believers, everyone else will be left behind and face a terrible tribulation. However, during that tribulation, some will become believers, and then after a period of time, the second coming will occur. So the rapture has become associated with this idea that believers will disappear before the second coming of Christ. Now, I know this idea is very popular in America today, and it makes a great premise for a series of books, but I just don't think that picture is very compelling from the passages we just read. I don't think you can look at Thessalonians or Corinthians and get this idea that believers are going to disappear before the second coming of Christ. Well, where did this idea come from? And very briefly, this is the result of my research and understanding, and I may be wrong, but my understanding is that in the 1800s, a man named John Darby had a great influence on American Christianity, but he himself was not American. Now, this is my interpretation. Others may claim I'm describing him unfairly, and that may be the case. I may not know enough here to be fair, but my understanding at this point is that Darby was very troubled by the relationship between law and grace. So he was very troubled by the sin that he saw in himself, and then the verses in the Bible that tell us and call us to be obedient and to be holy. His solution to that tension between law and grace was to draw a very hard line between the church and the nation of Israel. He divided history into different dispensations. We have the dispensation of the nation of Israel, and that's over. Now, according to Darby, we are living in the dispensation of the church. And very hardcore dispensationalists argue that much of the Old Testament, if not all of it, does not apply to us. It was just for Israel. So what we find in Scripture may apply to Israel in the past or Israel in the future, but it doesn't apply to us in the church because we are in a different dispensation. Darby thought that during the New Testament era, the prophetic clock stopped. So all the stuff the prophet said gets put on hold because it only applies to the nation of Israel. But when Jesus comes to snatch his people away in the rapture, the prophetic clock starts ticking again and counts down to all these prophecies which only apply to Israel. So dispensationalists embrace this idea of a pre-tribulation rapture. So they think the church, that is, New Testament believers, will disappear in a rapture, and then there will be a seven-year tribulation, and at the end of that time Christ will return. Now that may be a simplistic understanding and maybe unfairly simplistic, but it gives you the basic idea of their thought. And then there are variations on this theme. Others think that Christ will return during the tribulation, others think he comes before the tribulation, and I'm not going to get into all of that. But this idea of a rapture, a pre-tribulation rapture, has become very popular, and I have three problems with it. First, the passages we're looking at, so here in 1 Thessalonians and the one in 1 Corinthians 15, they just do not paint that picture. These passages make it sound like Jesus comes back and we're gathered to him at that same moment. The unrighteous are judged and the kingdom is established, and all of that happens at once. Second, as I understand it, dispensational thought was motivated by this desire to separate the law and the gospel. And the solution to the problem or the tension between the law and the gospel was to separate the church from the nation of Israel. And I think that's a bad solution. I don't think we can say the law doesn't apply to us anymore. And I don't think that's the best way to understand the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Now, to be fair, many modern dispensationalists also reject the separation between the Old and New Testament. They've backed off that part of Darby's views. But I just don't see Scripture teaching this hard break between the church and the nation of Israel. And then third, dispensationalists claim that the church will not have to go through tribulation. And one of the verses they point to is the one we are look about to look at in 5.9, where Paul says, For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So they look at a verse like that and they see, see, the church is not going to go through any suffering. And they argue that the tribulation is this period of time when God's wrath is poured out on the earth, but we're not destined for it. We believers, so we have to be taken away first. If we're not destined for wrath, then we must be raptured. Well, that argument doesn't hold water for me either. I think the scripture teaches, and history confirms, that God often deals, in fact, maybe even always deals with his people through suffering and trials to one degree or another. I think scripture teaches that trials are part of God's plans for us, they refine our faith, and that times of trouble teach us maturity. I mean, read James, read Romans 5. First century martyrs and the many martyrs today, those who suffered through World War I, World War II, how can you say to them, Oh, you won't have to suffer? Just doesn't make sense. God has not promised that believers will escape tragedy and trouble. God has promised that we will be preserved in faith no matter what. Not that we will have an easy life, but that we will persevere in faith and be granted eternal life in the end. When you start putting all These verses together, I think the picture we get is that Jesus comes back once and all his people, both alive and dead, are gathered to him. When he comes back and we are gathered to him, the unrighteous will be judged and he will establish the kingdom, and then all of this happens in one big, grand, wonderful event. That said, I don't think we can claim that we have been told everything there is to know about how the kingdom of God will unfold. In fact, I think the opposite seems much more likely. I think we can assume we have not been told many things about how the return of Christ will unfold. God usually doesn't tell us everything there is to know about his plan. More often than not, he gives us enough information to trust him and tells us don't worry about it. And that's where Paul goes next. Let's go on to 1 Thessalonians 5.1. Now, as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. That was 5 1 and 2. Now when he says, as to the times and the epochs or seasons, you know, you think great, now he's going to explain all the details, the ins and outs of the second coming. Here it comes, what are the signs? How can I tell? Who's the Antichrist? What does 666 mean? But Paul says, you don't need anything to be written to you. Now, why would he say that they don't need to be told anything? Is it that he's already explained all the details of the second coming in full when he was with them? I don't think we can assume that. We already know they were confused, and Paul is trying to set them straight. When we get to 2 Thessalonians, we'll see that there were some other basics they didn't seem to understand. So the picture we have of them is not that they understood each and every detail about the end times. The picture we have is they were confused on even the basic facts. So why would he say, I don't need to write you anything? Well, I think that's what verse 2 answers. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come, just like a thief in the night. The day of the Lord is a concept found both in the Old and New Testament, and basically it refers to judgment day. The day when Jesus will be seen as King of kings and Lord of Lords and usher in his kingdom is the day of the Lord. For the elect, that is the day of salvation, but it is also a day of judgment, and we are told here it is coming like a thief in the night. Paul takes that idea straight from Jesus in the Olivet Discourse. Jesus says this in Matthew 24, 43, and 44. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. Well, what's the point of this analogy? How is the coming of the Lord like a thief in the night? Well, you won't be a very successful thief if you announce when you're coming. No thief sends a note that says, Hey, I'm going to be there next Wednesday at 2 a.m. for the robbery, so could you just leave the door unlocked for me? A thief works on the presumption that things are going to go along just as they always have, that he can strike and it'll be a normal day, just like every other day. I go to bed at night, I wake up in the morning, nothing's changed. My expectation is that tonight will be peaceful and uneventful, just like the night before that, and the night before that, and the night before that. A thief takes advantage of the fact that you're not expecting him. We have two ways of dealing with thieves. One is to take the stance that ignorance is blissed and it's never going to happen to me. I don't believe thieves will ever trouble me. My life is going to go on as planned, and I can just ignore it all. Or we can be prepared and we can be vigilant. We can think the thief could strike at any moment, so I will be prepared. I will lock my doors at night, and I will assume it could be any night, so I try to be ready. I think Jesus is urging the latter in Matthew, be ready. And that's what Paul is expanding on here in 1 Thessalonians. Believers are to be ready by having faith and hope in the gospel. And that's where Paul goes next. Let's bring in 5 3. For while they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. Some of the commentators have pointed out that this reference to peace and safety is probably a reference to Rome. One of the Roman historians described the founding of the city of Rome as the day that brought peace and security. Offering peace and security became a piece of Roman government propaganda. The Roman government promised to take care of its citizens. They claimed to have created a golden age characterized by peace and security, a lifestyle that expresses the ideals of the Republic and prosperity for all Roman citizens. When Paul describes people talking about peace and security, he could be describing his contemporary Roman citizens who relied on the Roman state. They believed at the government propaganda that the state would give them everything they want. And all these people think they are safe because Caesar will take care of them. And then out of nowhere, divine judgment comes like a thief in the night, and instead of deliverance, they face destruction. They think this Jewish god is nothing to be concerned about because they have Rome and her gods, and so they have all the peace and security they want. But the day of the Lord will come and they will face their creator. Now everyone wants peace and security. Plenty of people and programs and governments today promise peace and security. But how many can fulfill those promises? And how many people will be surprised to find that politics, governments, agencies, and councils are not going to bring peace and security. Just listen to all the candidates that are campaigning for your vote. What do they promise you? Peace and security. Like the Romans, we all want peace. We want a life of ideals. We want prosperity. We're all looking for that golden age, and we are all tempted to believe false messages about where it can be found. But as believers, we know peace and security is only going to be found in the kingdom of God. Let me read this again. This is 5 3 through 6. While they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day would overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. The Thessalonian Church doesn't need anything more explained to them because they're ready. They are awake, they are sober, they believe the message of the gospel. They know peace and security will be found only in the kingdom of God. They take God seriously, they're waiting expectantly with faith for the return of Jesus, and so they're ready. They may be confused about some of their theology, but they believe the gospel, they believe that Jesus will return, and that makes them ready. That's all they need to know. They don't need to know the timetable in advance, just like we don't know when the thief is coming. God has not spelled out the times and the seasons, but we know that the thief is coming, so we're prepared. And they are ready, as are all believers are ready because they have faith. Let me read four through eight again. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober, for those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. Paul is expanding on this thief in the night metaphor. The world is surprised by the thief because they don't expect him. A thief usually comes at night, and it's night, so it's dark, there's no light. Well, what do you do when there's no light? You sleep or you get drunk. Instead of being alert and sober, they are sleepy and drunk. And I think that's a metaphor for distracting themselves. Instead of being awake and aware that a thief is coming, instead of realizing God is coming in judgment and they will have to face him, they distract themselves with alcohol and sleep. They're not paying attention to the things that really matter. They don't think they need to think about the return of Jesus because they are so comfortable and so distracted, and everything is going to be the same tomorrow as it was yesterday. It's hard to look forward to Jesus coming back and setting things right if you've managed to distract yourself so much that you forget that there are even things that need to be set right. But Christians are to avoid being distracted like that. We are not in the dark, we have the light. We know we are sinners who will have to face a holy God. We know the only solution is salvation through faith by the blood of Christ. In that sense, we are not asleep and we are not drunk. We are aware. We know we can find grace and mercy by turning to God through faith in Christ. We don't need to know the signs and the details about who is the Antichrist and when is the tribulation, because we know the most important fact. Judgment is coming like a thief in the night. We are ready, not because we can count off the days or pinpoint the alignment of the stars or something like that. We are ready because we have put our hope in the gospel. We know the thief is coming and we have taken steps to prepare. We have faith. We have embraced the gospel and thrown ourselves on the mercy of God by counting on the blood of Christ. So it doesn't matter if the second coming is next week, tonight, or in a thousand years. We're ready. We have put on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of salvation. So we have believed the gospel and we are living like it's true, and we are hoping for Christ's return. We are in the light, awake, sober, and prepared. And again, the nature of preparation is not knowing if it's a pre-trib or a post-trib or aw mill or pre-mill or post-mill rapture or something like that. Being prepared is knowing the day of the Lord is coming. We are hoping and counting on the day of the Lord coming so that we can enter into salvation. We are counting on the promises of God to enter into our inheritance in his kingdom. So the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night on the world because the world isn't ready. They don't think Jesus is coming back. They think this whole Jesus story is a myth, or maybe he was just one of many great teachers. They don't think Jesus has anything to do with them. They don't think there's a right or a wrong or a moral code that God built into the world. So when judgment comes, they aren't ready. They are taken by surprise and unaware. But not so for God's people, because we know his promises and we believe them. We don't know what day the second coming will happen, but we know that it will happen. So let me read 5.9 through eleven. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are also doing. And there in 510, when he says, whether we are awake or asleep, I think he's no longer in the thief metaphor. He is talking about whether we are still alive or have passed away. Now he says, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are also doing. Think how many movies and books have been written about the end of the world. We kind of like stories about how the earth will end. Some think the temperatures of Earth will rise such that we have a global climate cataclysm. Others think an asteroid's going to hit the earth and destroy everything, or maybe there will be a deadly disease that kills everyone, or a nuclear war that destroys the habitat, or maybe computers are going to take over and we will all be enslaved by machines and there will be some kind of zombie apocalypse. Most of our stories about the end of the world involve a terrible natural disaster that we can't escape, or some way we humans completely destroy the environment. But as Christians, we know how the world's going to end, and we don't have to be afraid of it. We don't have to worry about tomorrow because we know how the story ends. Think about how different it is if you watch a movie that you've seen before. Or maybe you watch a movie where someone has already spoiled the twist ending for you. Or suppose you're watching a sports game, but you already know the final score. There's no tension, you can watch it in a different way. Well, for us, life is like that. We don't have to worry because we know how the story is going to end. Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. If you believe in Jesus, you don't have to fear the future. We know there is a great day of wrath coming, but we also know we will escape it because we are pursuing faith, hope, and love through Jesus. Paul has closed this section by turning back to the original subject, which was what happens to those who die before Christ returns. And Paul says on that day, followers of Jesus are not destined for wrath. They're destined for salvation. Whether we are awake or asleep, and there he means whether we are dead or alive, we will be with Christ. Jesus died for us so that we might live with him. That applies to the ones who have passed away and the ones who are still alive when he returns. Paul intends this message to give us courage and comfort and hope. The return of Christ is central to our faith, and this passage gives us at least two reasons why. First, it is the hope that gives meaning to our lives today. Understanding my future changes my perspective on the circumstances I find myself in now. It changes who I'm counting on, what I'm valuing, what my goals are, where my hope is. I live my life differently today because I'm counting on the promises that God will fulfill when Jesus returns. Now we struggle with death and futility, sin, tragedy, and despair, but on the day when Jesus returns, life begins for real. We will be freed from the sin we long to escape. We will know God in a way we can only dream about now. We will know Jesus and we will stand before them and with each other without any shame, and that's when true life will start. Second, the day of the Lord is coming. The fact is this life will not go on forever. Now it may seem like the problems of this life are going to go on forever, that they'll never change, that trials will never cease, and nothing will ever get better. But the fact is this stuff is not going to last. This is going to end. The day of the Lord is coming and we will face our Creator. The thief is coming and he will break in. And I'm a fool if I live like he's not coming. So all of us have to decide: am I going to be oblivious or am I going to be ready? Am I going to get distracted and caught up in the pleasures and concerns of this world? Will I forget that I have to settle this question of my eternal destiny? Or am I going to live like what Jesus said is true? He's coming back to bring both judgment and salvation. He's coming back either way. The only question is, will we be ready? No, it's popular to mock the Christian gospel as a pie in the sky message that's not relevant to modern life. And in a real sense, Christianity is a pie in the sky message. I make no apologies for that. Our great hope is a future hope. Judgment is coming, and it is a future judgment. But this passage helps us understand what it means to be ready, what it means to be awake and alert and prepared for judgment day. Paul does not say, okay, you better get busy, give all your money away and join 15 church committees. He doesn't say, go save the poor, reform your local politics, and level the economic playing field. Paul's admonition is deal with your soul. Deal with the big issues of life. We are sinners. God is holy and we are under his wrath. We need a savior to rescue us. The concerns of daily life are not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is the fact that judgment is coming and we need to be ready. We need to decide where am I going to place my hope? What am I looking for in life? Who am I counting on to save me on the day of the Lord? And being prepared is having saving faith. Being prepared is having a mature, grounded faith that has been through tests and trials and shown through those tests to be a deep, real, abiding faith. Our eternal destiny depends on whether or not we have faith in Christ. That's the question we all need to settle. Once we settle that question, we can encourage each other and build each other up with that truth. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. All the previous episodes in this series are on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. Please visit there's no charge, there's no spam, and there are no ads. It is all free to help you improve your understanding of scripture. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please subscribe, leave a positive rating and review wherever you listen, but most importantly, tell a friend what you learned. And if you can, tell them where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by my friend and favorite singer-songwriter Reggie Coates. He has a new CD out, and you can find it at heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.