Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
St. Paul writes, “Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” The Thessalonians had been made aware of the signs that would precede Christ’s return. Until Christ’s return in glory there would be wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places (Matt 24:6-7). They understood that a standard feature of the end times was that false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt 24:24). They understood that the world would slide deeper into degeneracy, and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold (Matt 24:12). They also understood that immediately before Christ’s return the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven (Matt 24:29-30). The Thessalonians also understood how Christ’s return couldn’t be predicted or forecasted. They knew perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
There were scoffers and mockers—unbelievers—who imagined that since all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation, there would be no return of Christ, no resurrection of the body, no final judgment, no eternal punishment for the wicked or eternal blessedness for the faithful. These people are darkness itself and the live in darkness. They ignore Christ’s promise to return and believe their own word instead. They tell themselves and others, “peace and safety,” so that they can continue to live in their sins, deliberately transgress God’s commands, and willfully pursue their own pleasure and happiness as the highest good in life. But disbelieving the truth doesn’t make it any less true. When Christ returns as a thief in the night, at an hour no one expects, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. Nor is it enough to have the outward appearance of faith and godliness, confessing Christ with the lips, attending church, and the like, but continuing to live in in darkness, continuing in fornication, uncleanness, filthiness, or covetousness. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Eph 5:5).
Paul draws a sharp distinction between the Thessalonian Christians are these scoffers, mockers, and hypocrites though. He tells them, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.” When Paul says that because they are not in darkness this Day should overtake you as a thief he doesn’t mean that they have a secret knowledge of Christ’s return. The day of Christ’s return will still happen at an hour which no one expects it. But it will not come upon them suddenly so that they have no escape. They will be prepared for Christ’s return whenever it happens. Their preparedness is the true and living faith that God the Holy Ghost has planted in their hearts. Their preparation is their heartfelt trust in Christ’s promise of forgiveness and righteousness to believers. But you know as well as the Thessalonians did, that faith can grow lethargic and slothful. And when it does, we become less attentive to hearing, reading, and meditating on God’s Word, the very instrument God has provided to strengthen and renew the faith He gives us. When faith grows cold, our hearts grow cold to those around us, too, so that our love for them becomes less warm and vibrant, and eventually degenerates into resentment or apathy. So that this doesn’t happen, St. Paul urges the Thessalonians to wakefulness. “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.” Watch yourself, dear Christian brethren, that you do not slacken regarding your Old Adam, the sinful nature, that daily tries to lead you into temptation. Watch against the world, son of light, lest it tempt you to its way of thinking, so that you speak its words and live after its ways. Watch. Be sober, clear headed, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Ptr 5:8). The drunkard, drunk with actual alcohol or head filled with the world’s thinking, cannot resist the devil, but can only stumble and fall headlong into more sin.
What does this sobriety look like? It’s far more than avoidance of sin and temptation. For the Christian, the son of light, to be sober means putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. Faith acts as a breastplate. It serves as an armor protecting our hearts. We say with the Psalmist in Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!” We hide His word in our heart—both words, law and gospel—and thinking on His word is how we use it in temptation. We hide His word of law in our hearts, and it tells us to avoid sinning. It reminds us of the consequences of our sins, especially that sin incurs God’s wrath. The gospel that is hidden in our heart reminds us of His promise to be with us always, that Christ lives in us, and that His victory is ours in real time, so that as we resist the devil, he flees from us (James 4:7).
And while faith alone justifies the sinner, we know that faith is never alone, but produces the fruit of love. This is why our armor is the breastplate of faith and love. Love, as the fruit of faith in God’s promise, directs our eyes away from the battle, away from the contest, away from the fiery darts, towards our neighbor. Looking at our neighbor in love, we look to their interests, what they need, what they want, and how to best love them in any given moment. When our hearts are directed toward God’s word in faith and our actions are directed to our neighbor’s wellbeing, we have an armor strong that is not easily penetrated. Upon our heads we place as a helmet the hope of salvation, that is, the certainty of our salvation. We know the final victory is ours, and that on the day in which Christ returns, our enemies—sin, the world, death, and the devil—will be vanquished and our battle finished. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep—that is, whether we are alive or asleep in our graves when He returns—we should live together with Him.
You can see, dear saints, how this fits with, or rather, flows from, the parable Jesus speaks in today’s gospel lesson. He speaks of the visible church when He describes it as five wise and five foolish virgins who await the coming of the bridegroom. All of them have the lamp, the outward appearance of being in the Faith. But only five have oil for their lamps. Oil, in this parable, signifies the true and lively faith which St. Paul speaks of in the epistle as wakefulness and watchfulness, as putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. When at midnight a cry was heard: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him,” destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they couldn’t escape. Although they professed to be children of light and even outward appeared so, they continued to live in darkness. There wasn’t time left to buy oil for themselves and join the wedding procession to the bridegroom’s home. They find the door to the nuptial hall shut. They are barred from the blessedness prepared by the Bridegroom. When they knock, crying out to their Lord, they receive their judgment from the Lord Himself, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” He had prepared the wedding feast to be enjoyed by those who watched for Him in true faith. The foolish virgins, however, had disqualified themselves from the feast.
Jesus explains the parable, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Or, as Paul writes, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. We do not know the day of our Lord’s return, nor can we. The day and hour of his return cannot be calendarized by us, only by the Father in heaven. God wills it this say so that we don’t focus upon how soon it will happen, but that we focus upon being prepared. That way, whether Christ returns in glory to judge the quick and the dead while we yet live, or the angels come to take us to Him upon death, He will find a faithful people, watching for His coming, lamp burning with the oil of faith, the brightness of love emanating from that faith, and a sober mind living in the sure and certain hope of His salvation. We know perfectly well that that Day will come as thief in the night, as a bridegroom at midnight, and at an hour which we do not expect. For the unbelieving and the hypocrites, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But for those who live each day in repentance, true faith, and the newness of life, it is not the day of destruction, but the beginning of the everlasting feast. Amen.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
