We just watched Paul answer a grieving church by promising that the dead in Christ rise first when the Lord returns. Comfort one another with these words, he told them. But comfort raises a follow-up question that anyone waiting for a promise eventually asks. When? If the dead rise first at His coming, when exactly is that coming? Paul turns to answer that in chapter 5, and his answer isn't a date. It's an image.
No Need to Write You Anything
Paul opens with something almost surprising, given the weight of the subject.
"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you." — 1 Thessalonians 5:1 (NKJV)
He's not dodging the question. He's saying they already know the answer because he already taught it to them, and the answer is this:
"For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night." — 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (NKJV)
A thief doesn't call ahead. He doesn't post a schedule. The very nature of a thief's timing is that it defeats every attempt to predict it. That's the point Paul wants nailed down before he says another word. The question "when will Jesus come back" isn't one the church is supposed to solve. It's one they're supposed to stop trying to solve.
Not Even the Angels
This is worth cross-referencing here, and I want to be precise about its source. Jesus said something similar, though it isn't in Thessalonians at all. It's in Matthew's Gospel.
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." — Matthew 24:36 (NKJV)
Notice that the NKJV doesn't say "nor the Son" as some other translations render this verse. It simply says no one knows, not even the angels, but the Father alone. Either way, the point stands. If the angels don't know, if even those who stand in God's presence aren't told, then no calculation any of us runs, no calendar, no pattern in world events, is going to crack a code God never handed out. The not knowing isn't a gap in our information. It's by design.
Sons of Light, Not Caught Off Guard
Here's where Paul does something important. He doesn't leave the church in the dark about the day. He tells them they aren't supposed to be in darkness at all.
"But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation." — 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 (NKJV)
A thief only surprises the person who's asleep. The homeowner who's awake, alert, and expecting trouble isn't caught off guard, even if he doesn't know the exact minute. That's the position Paul puts the church in. Not knowing the day doesn't mean living unprepared. It means living awake.
And notice what he arms them with. Not a calendar. Armor. A breastplate of faith and love, protecting the chest, the center of a person. A helmet of hope, protecting the mind. Paul isn't telling them to guess the timing better. He's telling them to guard their hearts and minds while they wait, because the waiting itself is where a believer gets picked off.
Not Appointed to Wrath
Paul closes this section by explaining why none of this needs to produce fear.
"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing." — 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 (NKJV)
Whether we're alive when He comes or have already gone to be with Him, the outcome is the same: we live together with Him. That security is what allows the alertness Paul describes to be sober rather than anxious. You can watch for a thief you're not afraid of if you already know how the story ends.
Where We're Headed Next
If not knowing the day is supposed to produce alert, sober watching, what happens when a church starts believing they do know, that the day has already come and gone? In the next post, we move into 2 Thessalonians, where Paul has to write a correction to a congregation shaken by exactly that claim.