I Thessalonians 5:1  But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

God’s Word is truth. That is because God is truth. God did not create man to suffer. He created man and placed him in a beautiful garden. Everything man needed was found in that garden. There was no sin and this there was no pain. Adam would never stub his toe or cut his finger doing work. Work is not a sin. Work is needed for man. The work that God gave man was not taxing on him. It was God’s way of keeping man occupied and serving God.
The fall of man changed everything. Man would now struggle through life. The good news in that fall was that God would provide the only way for man to be forgiven. God also provided a place where man could go and be free from the sorrow of sin. God promised man that he would die the day he ate of the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve died spiritually the moment they ate of that forbidden fruit. They were now separated from God. They did not have that sweet fellowship with God that they once had. They were now sinners and all their descendants would be born as lost sinners. We also know that Adam died physically as did Eve. Every person born of Adam and Eve and their descendants has either died already or will die. God provided the only way for man to be forgiven and be able to go to a place where he would live for ever. That place is heaven. God promised that if a person would turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, they would have eternal life.
God often warns us of the dangers of walking and living in sin. God also often gives us promises of the blessings of being saved and walking in truth.
In chapter 5, Paul was further directed by God to speak of the next event that is coming. Chapter 4 closed with the promise that God had provided a time and a way for those who are saved in the New Testament era to be removed from this earth and go to heaven. Not just in spirit, but body, soul and spirit. As we noted, the soul of the saved person is immediately in heaven at the moment of death.
Christianity is not a religion of escapism as some have suggested.

II Timothy 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

That does not sound like escapism. The difference is that while true saints live on this earth they will suffer due to the attacks of the devil. Satan hates God. He would love to overthrow God. He cannot do that. He has had about 6,000 years to try to do this and has failed. He is wicked and he is still trying to do that which he will never succeed at.
In verse 1 of our text, Paul reminded the saints of his day, and us today that there is no need to be ignorant of the times and the seasons in which we live. The first century saints needed to be reminded of the fact that the Lord’s coming would not be preceded by signs. There were things happening in the first century that would help the saints to stay alert and aware of the promises of God. There are things happening today that are designed to keep the saints of today alert and aware of the promises of God. We know that every day we live is a day closer to the Lord’s return.
In verse 2 Paul referred to: “the day of the Lord”. The phrase “day of the Lord” is found 31 times in 29 verses in the Bible. Sometimes the word “Lord” is all capitalized as “LORD”. God also refers to the day of Christ or the day of God. This phrase can speak of a specific day or it can speak of a time frame.
The phrase speaks of the fact that God is saying that He will take greater control of world events at a certain time. He is always active in the world. He limits the actions of the devil. He thus limits the actions of evil people.
Hitler could only go so far with his evil plans. I watched a documentary on his ambitions in World War II. He was attacking Russia at one point and having some success. However, his victories came to a halt not because the Russians were turning things around or some other nations were helping the Russians. Hitler’s armies were stalled because of the weather. Who controls the weather? Is it not God? God has many different ways that He can and does interfere with man’s plans. In every age, He makes it possible for lost people to hear the Gospel and be saved.
In verse 2 Paul stated that the saints knew “perfectly” that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night. The word translated as “perfect” here means “exact”. If a person knew when a thief would come, he would stay up and guard his place. Recently a restaurant near us was broken into. If the owners would have known this was going to happen, they would have been prepared to protect themselves against this invasion. Since they did not know, they lost business because of the damage done to their premises.
Christians need to have their ears and eyes peeled to the sound of the trumpet that we learned of in chapter 4. We can see trouble all around us. We can see increasing wickedness and we can see a hardening of people to the truth.
In verse 3 we know that when the world says peace and safety, we need to realize they do not know what they are talking about. After the second world war, the UN was set up to try to maintain peace. We know this is an extremely corrupt organization that seeks to establish peace without knowing the “Prince of Peace.” That can never work. Many of the countries involved in that organization have an open hatred for Israel. They have not been able to destroy Israel because God will not allow that to happen.
When the world says peace and safety, we need to realize that sudden destruction is coming. Our P.M. ran on a promise of making Canada a better place. He never won through fair elections. He has slowly but surely been removing freedoms we once enjoyed and assumed we would always have. We are living in a dictatorship now, even though he claims he is protecting democracy in this country. Democracy is a failure, but he does not have the majority of the people on his side. He has money and certain “power brokers” backing him to keep him in power. Ultimately, God has given him a window of time within which he can flex his foolish muscles somewhat. His time is in God’s hands.
Paul wrote that this sudden destruction would be like a woman in travail, ready to give birth. Every woman is different, but there is a moment when the baby is ready to come out and it does not matter if the mother is ready for that moment or not, it is there. No mother can stop the delivery process once it is in place. Sadly too many women have murdered their unborn children. That is a tragedy which is not without consequence.
In verse 4 we are reminded that the saints are not in darkness. We do not know the day nor the hour of the Lord’s return, but we know that it is near. That day does not need to overtake us. We do not need to be surprised by that day. It need not overtake us as a thief would. Every born again Christian needs to live every day as if this is the day when the Lord will come back.
In verse 5 we are reminded that those who are saved are the children of light. The children of light can see what is going on. Saved people are the children of the day. There have been events in the past that have caused people to be confused and to assume that the Tribulation has begun. I recall when the debit cards came out. There were professing Christians who were not sure if they should accept those cards. They wondered if that was the mark of the beast.
Those who are saved know that the devil has been rehearsing for a long time to try to cause people to drop their guard. We know he was busy doing this in the past three years. Many people subjected themselves to the lies of the state and willingly took one or more jabs of a poison shot that has caused much grief for many since then. Now the government is ramping up again to try to convince society to take another jab in a short time. Hopefully there will be more that have learned that the government and the health authorities are not working for the best interests of the people any longer. They have an ulterior motive now. They have been working on this agenda for some time. There are those within that system that are blinded to the facts because of their unbelief. There are others who are well aware of what they are doing and they love it because of their unbelief. Those who are truly saved need to be reminded of what is actually going on.
Paul stated that those who are saved are not of the night nor of the darkness. Even though the government tried hard to force people to take the shots, they could not do that. In some places the governments have been exposed as going far beyond their reach. Alberta seems to have had the most success in this so far. It does not matter, all the governments went too far. Sadly, most people allowed the governments to go too far. Governments are not God. They are there to keep the peace. They are supposed to be there to promote good, not evil. We know they have that turned around.
Those who are saved need to speak up and speak out just as Paul did in his day. We need to teach the facts those that God sends our way. We need to learn to walk with patience and wait for God to show us what is going on and we also need to walk by faith so that we follow God’s lead.
Jesus stated:

Matthew 15:14  Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Those who have been given sight, do not need to get into the ditch with them. We can come along and help some of them get out of the ditch. That is what saved people are here for. We can show people the right way. That is why it is necessary to be saved. Those who are born again have the Holy Spirit indwelling them. They need to join a true church that can help them to grow in the Lord and how to be faithful in serving Him.
Pastor Bartel