1 Thessalonians 5:3-The Non-Christian Will Not By Any Means Escape the Lord’s Wrath During the Day of the Lord
First Thessalonians Chapter Five • Sermon • Submitted • 1:09:02
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1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now on the topic of times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. 5:2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night. 5:3 Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. (NET)
In 1 Thessalonians 5:3, the apostle Paul continues to address the subject of the day of the Lord with the Thessalonian Christian community.
Specifically, he continues to address the eschatological day of the Lord, which would be the prophetic events connected to the seventieth week of Daniel and the Second Advent of Jesus Christ which not only terminates the seventieth week but also the Times of the Gentiles.
In this verse, Paul makes three prophetic statements.
The first is a temporal clause, which he presents in a solemn manner through the figure of asyndeton in order that the Thessalonians would reflect upon the implication of this statement and the second is a comparative clause while the third is a result clause.
The protasis of the temporal clause asserts that the non-Christian living during the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ will be saying to each other that they have peace and security.
Therefore, Paul is emphasizing with the Thessalonians that the prophetic events connected to the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ will take place when the non-believer is thinking they are safe and secure.
That Paul is speaking of the non-Christian living during the seventieth week of Daniel is indicated by the fact that Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:3-11 is contrasting the Thessalonian Christian community with the non-Christian community who belonged to the darkness (cf. 1 Thess. 5:5) in relation to the prophetic events connected to the day of the Lord.
Now, the protasis of the temporal clause in the first prophetic statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 is speaking of the first three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel, which is indicated by a comparison of this clause and the first seal judgment in Revelation 6:1-2 and Daniel 9:27.
Revelation 6:1-2 predicts that Antichrist will come initially as a peace maker while Daniel 9:27 asserts that Antichrist will make a treaty with Israel and this will no doubt contribute to the non-Christian living at that time believing that they have peace and security.
The protasis of this temporal clause in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 is therefore related to the first seal judgment in Revelation 6:1-2, which records the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven breaking the first of the seven seal judgments which results in the appearance of the Antichrist on the stage of history as a peace maker.
Revelation 6:1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. (NASB95)
That the rider sat on a white horse is significant since white is a symbol of peace, thus the symbolism is that Antichrist will come as a peacemaker.
Daniel 9:27 teaches that the Antichrist will establish a peace treaty with the leadership of Israel, which begins Daniel’s Seventieth Week.
One of Antichrist’s first accomplishments will be to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict with a peace treaty with Israel according to Daniel 9:26-27, which begins Daniel’s 70th week, the unprecedented time of Jacob’s distress (Jer. 30:7).
Notice in Revelation 6:1-2 that the rider’s weapon is a bow, yet no arrows are mentioned.
The bow is a symbol of distant victory and since no arrows are mentioned it seems to indicate that he gains his victory by bloodless tactics.
This is all indicated further by the fact that peace isn’t taken from the earth until the second seal.
Antichrist will have a hidden agenda since his purpose is not world peace, but rather world domination since Revelation 6 goes on to say that he goes out conquering and to conquer.
This covenant between Antichrist and Israel is a peace treaty, which will guarantee Israel’s safety in the land and suggests that Israel will be in her land but will seek support that she had previously.
Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (NASB95)
Therefore, since the protasis of the temporal clause in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 speaks of peace and security at the start of the day of the Lord and Revelation 6:1-2 and Daniel 9:27 speak of Antichrist initially bringing peace to the world by establishing a treaty with Israel, we can infer that the protasis of the temporal clause in the first prophetic statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 is referring to the first three and a half years of the seventieth week.
Now, the apodosis of this temporal clause in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 asserts that sudden destruction will certainly come against the non-Christian living during the seventieth week and Second Advent of Jesus Christ or in other words, they will certainly experience sudden destruction.
This sudden destruction refers to the Lord Jesus Christ exercising His wrath or righteous indignation during the seventieth week of Daniel and His subsequent Second Advent which not only terminates this seven year period but also brings to an end the Times of the Gentiles.
This temporal clause is making a correlation between two periods of time.
The first is the non-Christian community living during the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ making the assertion amongst themselves that they have peace and security while the second is that these same individuals will experience sudden destruction.
Thus, in this first prophetic statement Paul is emphasizing with the Thessalonians that the prophetic events connected to the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ will take place while the non-believer is thinking they are safe and secure.
This “sudden destruction” refers of course to the day of the Lord and specifically to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ as well as the last three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel which Jesus describes in Matthew 24:21 as the “great tribulation.”
This period is described by the apostle John in Revelation 6-18 while the Second Advent is described in Revelation 19:11-20:4.
During this time, the Lord Jesus Christ will exercise His wrath against the inhabitants of planet earth for their rejection of Him as their Savior and King.
As we noted, the second prophetic statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 is a comparative clause, which marks the similarity between a pregnant woman experiencing labor pains and the non-Christian community living during the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Christ experiencing sudden destruction.
As we also noted, the third prophetic statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 is a result clause because it presents the result of the previous comparative clause.
It emphatically asserts that the non-Christians living during the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ will not by any means whatsoever enter into the state of escaping this sudden destruction.
Therefore, this third prophetic statement is expressing the idea that the non-Christian community during the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ will not by any means whatsoever escape sudden destruction as a result of this sudden destruction coming against them like the labor pains experienced by a pregnant woman.
This prophetic statement emphatically denies the idea of the non-Christian community living during the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ escaping sudden destruction.
In other words, it emphatically denies that these individuals will escape the Lord Jesus Christ exercising His righteous indignation during the seventieth week of Daniel and His subsequent Second Advent.
It denies any potential of the non-Christian community living at the time when the prophetic events of the seventieth week of Daniel and Second Advent of Jesus Christ are taking place escaping the righteous indignation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, since the first prophetic statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 is referring to the first three and a half years of the seventieth week Daniel, we can infer that the last two prophetic statements in this verse, namely, the comparative and result clauses, are speaking of the last three and a half years of the seventieth week.
This will be when the Armageddon Campaign is waged which ends with the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
A comparison of Old and New Testament passages teach that during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week the non-Christian will experience sudden destruction through the seven seal, trumpet and bowl judgments (cf. Rev. 6-18) and Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
At His “Second Advent,” the Lord Jesus Christ will destroy the Tribulational armies, have Antichrist and the False Prophet thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:11-19), will imprison Satan for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3) and will establish His millennial reign on planet earth (Rev. 20:4-6).
At that time, the Lord and His armies will orbit the earth before landing on the Mount of Olives, which was the site of His Ascension (Acts. 1:9-11).
There will be a great earthquake when our Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-8) and will be a unique day having neither day nor night (Zech. 14:7).
The Lord Jesus Christ describes the Tribulation period in detail and His Second Advent in Matthew 24:29-31 and Luke 21:25-28.