BLOG

First Thessalonians, part 16, Day and Night

For Paul, the Day of the Lord is not merely a time when Christ intervenes in history; it is a word that contrasts with night, or darkness. Broadly speaking, the full “day” begins with the night (at sundown). Each day of creation was “the evening and the morning” (Genesis 1:5). It was a basic prophecy of a time of historical darkness that would precede the light of morning.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:6–11, Paul draws the practical conclusion from the contrast between the “sons of light” and those who live in darkness. Because believers belong to the coming day, they must begin living according to that day even while the world remains in its nighttime condition.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 says,

⁶ So then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober.

Paul uses “sleep” here figuratively. Death is called sleep, and this includes mortal life outside of God’s Covenant. It signifies spiritual indifference, moral carelessness, and an inability to perceive what God is doing. The world sleeps because it assumes that present conditions will continue indefinitely. This is why the Day of the Lord overtakes them “like a thief” (verse 4).

The Greek word translated “alert” is grēgoreō, which means “to remain awake” or “keep watch.” Jesus used the same word in His warnings concerning His coming. Matthew 24:42 says,

⁴² Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

To be “sober” is from nēphō, literally meaning to be alert and free from intoxication. It includes literal sobriety but also has the broader meaning of mental and spiritual self-control. A sober believer is not intoxicated by fear, worldly ambition, deception, prosperity, or prophetic excitement. He sees circumstances clearly through the mind of Christ.

Night and Day

1 Thessalonians 5:7 says,

⁷ For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

Night provides concealment. It is therefore an appropriate metaphor for sin, ignorance, and works that men wish to hide. So Jesus said in John 3:20,

²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Paul’s point is that believers who live in the Day no longer belong to that realm. Though they continue to live during the world’s “night,” they are children of the coming day. Their lives should therefore reveal beforehand the character of Christ’s kingdom.

The Breastplate and Helmet

1 Thessalonians 5:8 says,

⁸ But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

Paul presents a shortened form of the armor of God later described in Ephesians 6:10–17. Here the armor consists of the three great Christian virtues already mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 1:3. (1) Faith comes by hearing and obeying the word of God; (2) Love governs our relationship with God and our neighbors; (3) Hope fixes our expectation upon God’s promised salvation, which is the resurrection and redemption of the body.

Faith and love form the breastplate because they guard the inner man—his motives, desires, and loyalties. The hope of salvation forms the helmet because hope protects the mind from despair, fear, and confusion.

This “hope of salvation” is more than the believer’s initial conversion. Paul is looking forward to the full manifestation of salvation at Christ’s coming, including resurrection, transformation, and deliverance from divine wrath.

Appointed for Salvation, Not Wrath

1 Thessalonians 5:9 says,

⁹ For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The word translated “destined” is tithēmi, meaning “to place,” “appoint,” or “set.” God has not appointed believers to experience the judgment associated with the Day of the Lord. Their appointed inheritance is salvation through Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that believers never experience tribulation. Paul had already taught that believers were appointed to affliction: “For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this” (1 Thessalonians 3:3).

Thus, tribulation and divine wrath are not necessarily the same thing. Believers may suffer persecution from the world, but they are not the objects of God’s judgment. Divine discipline may refine them, but its purpose is correction and salvation, not destruction. Ultimately, of course, even the destruction of divine judgment is designed to correct and teach righteousness in a future age. Believers subject themselves to the baptism of fire today in order to avoid it in the age of judgment at the White Throne judgment.

The contrast is therefore between two divine appointments: the unbelieving world encounters the Day of the Lord as “wrath,” whereas those who belong to Christ obtain salvation through that same divine intervention.

Christ Died “For Us”

1 Thessalonians 5:10 says,

¹⁰ Who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.

The phrase “died for us” expresses substitution and benefit. Christ died on our behalf so that death would no longer have the final word over us. The purpose of His death was that we might “live together with Him.”

In verse 10, “awake or asleep” most naturally returns to the meaning of sleep used in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17. Those who are awake are believers still living when Christ comes. Those who are asleep are believers who have died.

Paul’s meaning is that neither physical life nor physical death can separate believers from Christ. Those who have died will be raised, and those who remain alive will be gathered with them. Both groups will “live together with Him.” In other words, they will share Christ’s immortality.

The central message of the passage is therefore one of watchfulness grounded in assurance. We remain alert, not because salvation rests upon our ability to predict the time, but because we belong to the light. We put on faith, love, and hope because God has appointed us to salvation, and Christ has died so that, living or dead, we—like Christ Himself—will become immortal.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 concludes,

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Understanding prophecy and being armed with the truth about the future, we are encouraged, even while knowing of impending judgment upon the beast empires that have ruled the world. Mature believers are admonished to “encourage” those who are still unsteady and fearful, knowing that the judgment is not directed at them but is designed to set them free from the long captivity of the beast empires.

Paul also expresses confidence that the Thessalonian believers were doing just that.