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First Thessalonians, part 15, The Day of the Lord

1 Thessalonians 5:2 says,

² For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

“The Day of the Lord” is an established Old Testament prophetic expression. It denotes a time when God intervenes in history to judge, correct, overthrow human power, and establish His righteous order. Paul therefore places Christ’s parousia within the prophetic framework of the Day of Yahweh.

Like a Thief in the Night

The thief imagery emphasizes unexpectedness, not secrecy. It takes place when people are asleep and unprepared. Jesus had already used the analogy in Matthew 24:43,

⁴³ But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert….

Likewise Revelation 3:3 says, “if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief” (unexpectedly). And Revelation 16:15 says, “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake...” A thief comes unexpectedly to the person who is asleep or unprepared.

This becomes crucial in verses 4–5. Paul does not say that the Day comes as a thief upon everyone. The Thessalonian believers, for example, were among those who were prepared, and for this reason Paul did not have to explain to them “times and epochs.” This confirms that even though believers do not know precisely when and how He will return, they certainly can know enough to be prepared.

Peace and Safety

1 Thessalonians 5:3-5 says,

³ While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. ⁴ But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief. ⁵ for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness.

Notice the change of pronouns. Paul says, “they” are saying, “Peace and safety.” Then destruction comes upon “them.” But beginning in verse 4, “you, brethren,” are not in darkness. Paul contrasts those who sleep in darkness (ignorance) from those who walk in the light of day.

The Greek phrase translated “peace and safety” is eirēnē kai asphaleia. Eirēnē is peace; sphaleia means security, safety, certainty, or freedom from danger. The problem is therefore false security. People believe that the existing order is stable precisely when divine judgment is about to expose its instability.

This recalls Jeremiah’s condemnation: “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14).

Why do many have a sense of false security? From a human standpoint, I would guess that it is largely due to government propaganda that is designed to keep people from knowing what is going on behind the scenes. However, from a biblical standpoint, it is because the people do not know the Scriptures—prophecy, in particular—or that they misunderstand it. Hence, they do not know the divine plan for the future and therefore cannot be watchful.

By not knowing the divine plan, their knowledge of the very character of God is also limited. “Even if they have developed a personal relationship with Christ, many lack a broader knowledge of the divine plan for the nations and for creation itself. Hence, their personal relationship with Christ lacks context. The gospel of salvation, as they call it, is often not supplemented with an understanding of prophecy and the divine plan.

Another source of a false security is in misunderstanding the meaning of key words and names in the Bible. For a fuller study of this, see:

https://godskingdom.org/studies/books/key-words-in-the-bible/

One important example is in misapplying the title, Israel. Many Christians have adopted men’s definition rather than God’s definition. When God gave this name to Jacob, it was not based on his race or genealogy but upon a greater level of revelation and faith that he achieved when he was 98 years old. He was not born an Israelite.

In later years, Jacob’s descendants were called Israelites, based on their genealogy or nationality, but yet after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, they were still not Israelites by God’s original definition. Hence, a second covenant was required (Deuteronomy 29:1), whereby God vowed to make them His people and to be their God (Deuteronomy 29:12, 13). In other words, they still were not God’s people in the way that God required.

For this reason, we must understand that Israel has two definitions: man’s and God’s. The state called Israel today uses man’s definition, not God’s. In other words, God has not yet fulfilled His oath in Deuteronomy 29, for they are no more God’s people than the they were in the time of Moses.

Why is this important? I was raised in a church denomination that taught me man’s definition of Israel. My early conclusion was that the Israeli state was the safest place in the world, and I contemplated moving there. That would have been a huge mistake, because prophecy shows that Jerusalem will be utterly destroyed (Jeremiah 19:10, 11) and that the entire land will become uninhabitable (Isaiah 29:1-6). My early misunderstanding of prophecy would have put me to sleep, saying “Peace and safety,” having a false sense of security. But God was merciful to me.

Like Labor Pains

Paul then changes metaphors from a thief to childbirth. The thief emphasizes unexpectedness. Labor pains emphasize inevitability. Once labor begins, the process cannot simply be cancelled. Something that has been developing unseen is suddenly brought forth. The thief brings “destruction;” the woman in labor brings forth the Kingdom in the midst of pain.

The prophets frequently use this imagery for divine judgment. Isaiah 13:8, Jeremiah 6:24, Micah 4:9–10, and others describe nations experiencing anguish like a woman in labor. But birth pangs also imply that judgment has a productive purpose. Something new is being born. This is especially clear in Micah 4:10,

¹⁰ Writhe and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth; for now you will go out of the city, dwell in the field, and go to Babylon. There you will be rescued [tinnātsēlî]; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

The word tinnātsēlî is from natsal, meaning to snatch away, deliver, rescue, recover, or save from danger. In this particular context, it prophesies deliverance in childbirth after labor. The extraction of the baby is compared to the snatching away (harpazo) to meet the Lord in the air.

Babylon is not merely pictured as a prison. It becomes something like a labor room. The suffering has an outcome. That is important because labor pains can be severe, but their purpose is not death; they culminate in birth.

This principle appears repeatedly in Scripture. Israel goes into Egypt, and there God reveals Himself as Deliverer through Moses. Jonah goes into the depths, and there God delivers him. Judah goes into Babylon, and there God redeems her. Christ Himself goes into death, and resurrection brings life out of death.

In Micah’s metaphor, the labor itself is captivity to Babylon, which climaxes with the birth or delivery. It is also a redemption from the power of “your enemies.” Thus the Day of the Lord at the climax of this tribulation is the “destruction” and overthrow of an old order in conjunction with the birth of something new.

The original pattern was a 70-year captivity to the literal city of Babylon. Yet the Day of the Lord, Paul says, is still a future event—based on the original pattern. In my view it comes after 70 Jubilees from the Jordan crossing, correlating with 2023-2024. The October 7, 2023 Gaza event and the subsequent genocidal response was the start of the actual delivery of this “baby.”

Micah’s prophecy is particularly remarkable historically because he prophesied in the eighth century B.C., during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Micah 1:1). At that time the dominant threat was Assyria, not Babylon. In fact, Micah witnessed the period when Assyria destroyed Samaria and threatened Jerusalem. Yet he specifically says: “you will go to Babylon.”

That anticipates Judah's Babylonian captivity more than a century later.