#DailyDevotion Don’t Be Caught Unaware On The LORD’S Day

1 Thess. 5 You don’t need anyone to write and tell you exactly when things will happen, my fellow Christians, ²because you know very well the Lord’s day will come just like a thief in the night. ³When people say, “All’s well and safe!” then destruction will come on them suddenly like labor pains on a woman who is going to have a baby, and they will not escape. ⁴But you, my fellow Christians, are not in the dark that you should let that day take you by surprise like a thief. ⁵You are all the children of light and of the day. We have nothing to do with night and darkness.

Would to be that we pastors didn’t need to tell anyone exactly when thing would happen because they knew the LORD would come just like a thief in the night. Yet every so often, usually in tumultuous times, some false teacher will come along and fleece the people of God with books, videos and the like saying they know when the LORD’s day is going to be. It’s almost always in October but I do remember one year someone predicting September. When you hear someone saying they know from their calculations derived from the bible do not hesitate to call that person a false teacher and a belly filler.

What did Jesus say? Mark 13³²“No one knows about that day or hour, not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father.” Again Jesus tells us in Matt. 24 ⁴²“Watch, then, because you don’t know which day your Lord is coming. ⁴³You know if the owner of a house had known what time of the night the burglar was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let anyone break into his house. ⁴⁴You, too, get ready, because the Son of Man is coming when you don’t expect Him.” Jesus says in Rev. 16 ¹⁵“See, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so he will not have to go naked and let others see his shameful parts.” Peter also write in his second epistle 3¹⁰“The Lord’s day will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by heat, and the earth and what was done on it will be exposed.” From the witness of Jesus, Peter and Paul we should believe this fact that no one will or can calculate the Day of the LORD.

That day will come suddenly upon people who are going about living their day. They’ll be marrying and giving in marriage. They’ll be having birthday parties, going to work, going to school and playing. Then sudden destruction will come upon them as swiftly as the flood of Noah’s time and the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah.

But we are not in the darkness nor are we darkness that this day should find us unawares. For St. Paul says that we are in the light and light itself as we have fellowship with the Light our LORD Jesus Christ through our baptism, through living a repentant life, through regularly gathering with the people of God around the preaching and teaching of his Word, and through regularly receiving the sacrament and believing what our LORD Jesus Christ tells us in all these things.

You have been delivered by Jesus from this day of wrath for he has experienced it for you on the cross. Therefore you will not be caught unawares like the rest of the world. You are expecting it and looking forward to it.

Heavenly Father, continually give us your Holy Spirit that we may live out our lives in your Son Jesus Christ so we may not be caught unawares on the day of his revelation to the world but anticipate it and enter into his everlasting kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.