The message Jesus leaves us is that we have to be careful not to let the cares of this world keep us from being people who “seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness” ( Matthew 6:33). He wants his people to remain vigilant so we are ready for the day that we meet Jesus face to face. Jesus tells his followers to be alert because the moment of his return will catch those who aren’t paying attention by surprise ( Matthew 25:1-13). This season of time is both spoken of in a warning and even urgent tone but also it is looked forward to as with God’s judgment we can also look forward to the full restoration of his creation. The Bible talks of a “second coming” of Jesus that will usher in a final judgment of the Earth and its inhabitants. He is talking about the need for Christians to be in tune with what God is doing so we are not caught by surprise when Jesus returns. Don’t put it off this is “the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:19).The term “ thief in the night” comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:2 which says, “for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Paul is the writer of this New Testament book of the Bible. The “thief” is coming, but you can be a child of the day. By accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are granted forgiveness of sins, mercy, and salvation with the promise of everlasting life (John 3:16 Ephesians 2:8–9). How can you be ready? God has provided the way for you to escape the judgment. The unsaved should heed Jesus’ warning: “Be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44). Praise the Lord, “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 9). We do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (verse 5). It is only those in darkness who will be taken unawares, and we “are all children of the light and children of the day. Christians are in a separate category: “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4). The believer does not fear this swift and sudden judgment the “thief in the night” will not catch us by surprise. Paul puts it this way: “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 5:3). But then, before they know it, Judgment Day will be upon them (verses 40–41). People will be “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (verse 38), just as if they have all the time in the world. Just as a thief catches a household by surprise, Jesus will catch the unbelieving world by surprise when He returns in judgment. How is the second coming going to be like a thief in the night? The key element of Jesus’ comparison is that no one will know when He will return. Jesus says it will happen “after the tribulation of those days” (verse 29, ESV), a description that distinguishes this event from the rapture, which happens before the tribulation. This is a day of divine retribution featuring astronomical upheaval and the visible “sign of the Son of Man” in the heavens (Matthew 24:29–30). Paul calls it “the day of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 5. In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks of His second coming at the end of the tribulation. Two passages use the wording “a thief in the night”: Matthew 24:43, “Understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into,” and 1 Thessalonians 5:2, “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” The return of Jesus Christ is likened to the coming of a thief in the night.
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