The Times and Dates

Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-3

The phrase the times and the dates indicates that the apostle is discussing the time of the Lord's return. All of us seem to want to know the date, but Paul had taught the Thessalonians that they would not know that date precisely. He says he does not need to write to them about this. That is because they had been reading in the Old Testament about the day of the Lord and the description and characteristics of that day were familiar to them.

This is the first mention in the letter of the phrase the day of the Lord. This is very important to understand, that it is not a single 24-hour day. Rather it is an extended length of time, covering a number of events and perhaps even extending into the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ that follows.

Although we cannot name the precise date when the Lord will appear and begin the day of the Lord, there are three characteristics of that day that we can look for and understand. The first characteristic is that it will come stealthily, like a thief in the night. A family once told me that while they were sleeping upstairs in their home one night, someone entered their home and stole several items of value. A thief enters silently and unobtrusively and does his work. That is the way the Lord will come. He will come stealthily, at a time when peace and safety seem to prevail, when nothing out of the ordinary is expected.

The Day of Lord's second characteristic is that it is a terrible, destructive judgment. Sudden destruction will come, says Paul. The Old Testament gives many warnings of this, as the Thessalonians had come to understand when they read descriptions of the day of the Lord. And, as a third characteristic, it is inescapable: They shall not escape. The apostle likens it to a woman in travail, one whose time for giving birth has come. When our first daughter was born, we were living in a trailer on the campus of Dallas Seminary. At 2 o'clock one morning my wife indicated that it was time for her to give birth. I put her in our old clunker of a car, which promptly refused to start. We had to enlist the aid of the garbage collectors who were doing their rounds to push the car and get it started. A car that has to be pushed to start always heaves and jerks before the engine finally begins to run, so that by the time we arrived at the hospital, the baby was well on its way! When a woman is in travail, she cannot change her mind. That is what the apostle is highlighting. The world cannot escape the terrible judgments of God. This is a most sobering thought. The only way we can handle it is to find the means of escape provided in Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Father, that I can rest in the fact that you know the times and dates, and you have provided a way of escape through the Lord Jesus.