Jesus is Returning

Bryan Schneider

June 26, 2021

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

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If someone says that they know the date of Christ's return, they're a blasphemer and a heretic. We, as Christ's people, don't need to worry about the exact…

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Jesus will return, but Scripture forbids attempts to calculate the date or claim secret knowledge of the Father's timing.
The sudden Day of the Lord brings unavoidable judgment upon those lulled by darkness, spiritual sleep, intoxication, and false security.
Christians were once in darkness but have been made children of light through Christ, who bore divine wrath so they might receive salvation.
Waiting faithfully means remaining alert and sober while putting on faith, love, and the sure hope of salvation.
Because the Holy Spirit comforts and builds his people, believers should speak hope, pursue holiness, and strengthen one another as the Day approaches.

First Thessalonians 5:1-11 teaches that the timing of Christ's return cannot be calculated. The Day will arrive unexpectedly like a thief and irresistibly like labor pains. This uncertainty is not permission for apathy: it exposes the false peace of those living in darkness and calls Christians to watchfulness. Believers are children of light because God appointed them not to wrath but to salvation through Jesus Christ, who died so they might live with him. Their response is sober, active faith—wearing faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. Waiting for Christ therefore looks like holiness, mission, mutual comfort, and edifying speech rather than sensational predictions.

Biblical Themes

The certainty and unknown timing of Christ's return
The Day of the Lord and final judgment
Rescue from darkness through Christ
Faith, love, and hope as spiritual armor
Watchfulness and mutual encouragement

Scripture Connections

Matthew 24:36-51 — No one knows the day or hour, so Jesus commands faithful service while the master appears delayed.
Acts 1:6-8 — Jesus redirects questions about times and seasons toward Spirit-empowered witness.
Ephesians 5:6-14 — Children of light reject the hidden works of darkness and walk in what pleases the Lord.
Ephesians 6:13-17 — Paul's fuller armor imagery likewise portrays the Christian life as vigilant spiritual conflict.
Romans 5:8-9 — Christ died for sinners, who are justified by his blood and saved from wrath through him.
Hebrews 10:24-25 — As the Day approaches, believers gather to stir one another to love and good works.

Practical Applications

Reject date-setting claims and test every end-times teaching by Jesus' explicit words.
Confess hidden sin and any habit that produces spiritual dullness or false security.
Begin each day asking what faithful service would look like if Christ returned today.
Strengthen faith, love, and hope through Scripture, prayer, worship, and Christian fellowship.
Speak a concrete word of gospel comfort or encouragement to another believer.

Historical Context

Attempts to predict Christ's return have repeatedly appeared throughout church history and have repeatedly failed. Paul addresses the issue much earlier by refusing speculation about times and seasons and turning the church toward faithful readiness. His images of a thief, nighttime sleep, drunkenness, armor, and daylight contrast complacent first-century society with the vigilant identity of the Christian community.

Westminster Standards

Westminster Confession of Faith 32.1
The Bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but, their Souls (which neither dye, nor sleep) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them: the Souls of the Righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest Heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full Redemption of their Bodies. And the Souls of the wicked are cast into Hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the Judgement of the great Day. Beside these two Places, for Souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
Connection to the sermon: The sermon’s warning and hope both lead to the great Day: the wicked face judgment, while the righteous await the full redemption Christ brings.
Westminster Larger Catechism 84
Death being threatned as the wages of sin, it is appointed unto all men once to die, for that all have sinned.
Connection to the sermon: Paul’s call to readiness is urgent because death and the returning Lord bring every person before the reality of divine judgment.
Westminster Shorter Catechism 26
Christ executeth the Office of a King, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
Connection to the sermon: Jesus returns as King; even now he subdues believers out of darkness, rules their lives, defends them, and equips them to await his final victory.

This transcript is provided to make the message easier to revisit. Minor transcription errors may remain.

Scripture Reading

You may be seated. Will you turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. If you're using your pew Bibles, you're going to find that on page 1050. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we're going to read, the sermon's going to come from verses 1 through 11, but we kind of need to read before that. So we're going to read chapter 4 verse 13 through chapter 5 verse 11. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 beginning at verse 13 is where we'll start reading. Hear now God's holy and perfect word.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first." Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

But 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. For when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. 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. 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, get drunk at night.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 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, whether we live, we should live together with him.

Prayer for Illumination

Therefore, comfort one another and edify one another, just as you also are doing. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would enlighten our eyes, open our ears, let us understand, let us hear, let us believe. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, there's a lot of fish to fry and not a lot of time to cook them in, so I'm just going to jump right in it and tell you your call today is live as children of the light. Live as children of the light.

Sermon

Paul is very clear here, and indeed Jesus is very clear here. There's something that goes on in Christianity. I don't get it. It boggles my mind. But people really want to figure out the day that Jesus is going to come. And it happens, it seems like every couple years, Christian history is checkered by this. People are trying to say, oh, I know when Jesus is coming. And it's like they take a dart and throw it at the calendar and say, that's the day he's coming. And this has been happening for centuries. In 500 AD, three theologians said that Jesus would return.

Guess what? They were wrong. Pope Sylvester II said that in the year 1000, Jesus would return. And Pope Sylvester II was Wrong. In 1524, an astronomer named Johannes Stauffer said that the stars were aligning just perfectly, and when this alignment of the stars would happen, Jesus would return. And guess what?

He was wrong. In 1829, George Rapp, the leader of the Harmonite Society, interestingly enough, Rabbit Trail, they're the ones that gave the land to Geneva College. This leader of the Harmonite, George Rapp, he said in 1829, Jesus was going to return. And he was wrong.

Joseph Smith said Jesus was going to return in 1891, and guess what? He was wrong. John Wesley himself said that Jesus would return in 1836, and he was, you guessed it, wrong. The Jehovah's Witnesses said that Jesus would return with 144,000 in 1914, and guess what? They were wrong.

One of my favorites is Herbert Armstrong, who guessed that Jesus was going to return in 1935, and he was wrong. So he redid his math and said, no, it was 1943, and guess what, he was still wrong. And then he wasn't giving up, so he said in 1972 Jesus would return, and guess what, he was still wrong. But maybe the fourth time would be the charm, and he said in 1975 Jesus would return, and guess what, he was still wrong.

Here's 2000. Y2K is upon us. And there's mass hysteria that maybe Jesus is going to return at the stroke of midnight. And guess what? They were wrong. They were wrong. And this is one of the things that makes us scratch our heads, right? Because we're not supposed to guess at the date. That's your first point. Don't guess at the date. Don't guess at the date. That's what verses 1 through 3 tell us. But 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. So when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. Every single time a Christian makes, or a false prophet, or some cultic leader, makes some type of statement about the day Jesus was going to return, and inevitably they're always wrong. One, they call Jesus a liar, and two, they defame the faith. Let me say that again so you don't get sucked into some false prophet, some teacher who thinks they have some type of special knowledge about something the Bible says. Anybody who says that they know the exact date Jesus is coming defames the faith and calls Jesus a liar. Because Jesus himself said in Matthew 24, no one knows the time or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, but only God alone. It was Jesus Himself, again in Matthew 24, that said that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night.

It's not for us to try to figure out exactly when Jesus is going to return. It's not for us to figure out when is the archangel going to come, when is the loud shout going to happen, when is the trumpet going to be blown, when are the dead going to raise up from the dead. We believe it's going to happen, but we don't need to try to figure out the date. That's not the push here.

Even Jesus himself, this is one of the things I love, in Acts chapter 1, Jesus is about to ascend up into heaven, and this is what's on the minds of the apostles. Acts chapter 1, keep your finger on 1 Thessalonians, but in Acts chapter 1, the resurrected Christ is with his disciples, verse 6. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? Is it now? Is it going to happen now? And what does Jesus say in verse 7?

And He said to them, It is not for you to know the time or the seasons, which the Father has put in His own authority. Jesus, the second to last thing He ever says to the disciples is, Stop worrying about that! And it's not that you just ignore that the last day is coming, but stop trying to figure out the time and the hour. That's not for you to know.

What you're to do is Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Go therefore into all the area in Jerusalem and Judea and through Samaria. Right? Go send the gospel. That's what you're supposed to be doing. Go live the gospel. Go share the gospel. Go take the good news out. Don't worry about the times or the seasons. That's the Father's business, not yours. So don't guess. at the dates. He's going to come like a thief in the night. The other imagery here that's not elsewhere, you know, Jesus doesn't use this imagery, but the Holy Spirit inspires Paul here, is it's going to come on like labor pains.

Now, have you ever met a new mom before? I mean like a pregnant, first time mom. Have you ever seen her and her husband try to figure out which day they really want the baby to be born on? Unless you're going to go get a C-section, you ain't got a say on when that baby's going to be born. You might have a guest date, but you don't know. And I remember when we were having our first born, Nathan, and we were trying to figure out, okay, mom and dad get here right about this time, and the other grandparents get here. It would be great if he came right about here, and two and a half weeks later he's born.

You just don't know. And then Debra, we were like, okay, Nathan was going to be late, so Debra's probably going to be late, and then I'm in the middle of training at work, and two and a half weeks early, there pops out Debra. It just comes like labor pains. You can't time it. You don't know when it's going to happen. It just happens.

Don't be duped. Don't be duped by false prophets. Don't be duped by people who will look at some Mayan calendar or try to tweak together a whole bunch of weird stuff from the book of Daniel and Revelation and say, oh, I know exactly when it's coming. You call Jesus a liar. Jesus himself is the one who said no one knows the time of the hour. So maybe you've got some special insight more than Jesus. If that's you, don't listen to that person. Don't listen to him. Don't be duped. Don't be duped. Don't go guessing at dates.

But there is something we can know. Jesus is returning. Jesus is going to come back. And Jesus tells us how we're supposed to respond, knowing that he's going to come back. Again, keep your finger here on 1 Thessalonians and go to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. And in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus specifically says, again in verse 36 and following, And then he talks about Noah.

Noah didn't know when the flood was going to come, but Noah believed it and he built the ark. Noah believed that judgment was coming, and so he lived his life knowing that the day was coming, and so he built the ark. Therefore, verse 44, therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

So who then is faithful? and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his whole house to give him food in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that when he will make him ruler over all his house, but if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with drunkards, The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Jesus says, you're not going to know the time or the hour, that's not for you to know, but what you are to know is how you're supposed to react, how you're supposed to live in light of Jesus' imminent return. And He gives the story of this picture of a master who goes away and he leaves his servant in charge of the house.

Let me ask, have you ever left your kids alone before and given them some chores to do? Maybe you didn't tell them what time you were going to come home. And just thought, let's just see if they get their chores done. Basically what God has given us. Here's the church. Here's my creation. Here's the law of Christ. Here's how you love one another. I've displayed it for you. Now live it out to each other. Now I'm going away. I'm going to come back. I'm preparing a home for you. But I'm going to return. Does He find us still serving Him?

Second Point

Or do we look like reprobates? And it's got some hard words for us in 1 Thessalonians 5, the life of a reprobate. That's our second point, the life of a reprobate. I'd like to just draw our attention to five different points of the life of a reprobate. Someone who's, maybe you'd say they're a Christian, but their life sure doesn't seem to line up with it.

Verse 4. These are people who are in darkness. Interestingly, Ephesians 5 and 1 Thessalonians 5, if you read both of them, they have very similar themes. Surprise, surprise, they're written by the same guy. But these deeds of darkness. The things that are shameful to even talk about. Things that you're ashamed of, that you hide and you do in the dark corners of your heart. Things that you don't want your neighbors to know that you watch. Things that you don't want your neighbors to know that you say. These are shameful deeds of darkness. Verse 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. They're also asleep. Verse 6. Therefore let us not sleep as the others do, but let us watch and be sober. Those who are reprobate are asleep, right? Master's away, I'm going to go take a siesta.

I don't want to think about the things of God. I don't want to read the things of God. I don't want to pray. I'm just going to... Everything's okay. I can just go to sleep." I wonder how many of us fall into that spiritual sleep where we just want to lullaby our souls and we just get complacent.

Brothers and sisters, do not sleep. Do not get drunk. Verse 7. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. These are people giving over to lustful passions, the sensualities of this world, just feeding their desires, what I want, what I want, just... So, sleep. Dark. Drunk. Complacent. What are the reprobates like?

Those who say, peace and safety. And everything is good. It's all good. It's wonderful. I like memes. Memes show a lot in one picture. One of my favorites is a little picture of a man and he's standing there and the whole room is on fire and it says, everything is fine. No, everything's not fine.

Jesus is going to come back and we have got work to do, but the world wants to tell you, no. Maybe your friends have told you this. I mean, do you really believe that Jesus is going to come back again? Do you really believe that a dead guy rose from the dead, ascended up into heaven, and now it's been 2,000 years and that guy's going to come back again? Dude, just go have a beer and relax.

Everything's okay. That's what the world will tell you. Right? But that's the false safety it's saying here. The world is going to try to tell you, everything's good. Just get on with your life. Don't worry about that. Complacency. Spiritual complacency.

Maybe one of the hardest points of the reprobate is they're appointed to wrath. Verse 9, for God did not appoint us to wrath. He's been giving comparison contrasts this whole time. Here, if we're not appointed to wrath, that means there are those who are appointed to wrath. Now, the Lord is slow to anger. There's this amazing word in Greek that is fun. Thumos is anger, rage, right? And God is an angry God. He hates sin and He's going to punish sin. He created hell for that reason.

And yet God is also macrothumia. God is also slow to anger. God is patient. God is slow. But in His patience, people will think that that means His anger doesn't exist. But brothers and sisters, it is appointed for every man to die once, and after that, the judgment. God's judgment is not slow. But in the grand scheme of things, it is going to come. In light of eternity, God's judgment is going to come, and it's going to come like a thief in the night. Don't be those who are lulled to sleep by complacency, thinking everything's okay. But that's not meant to be you. So if that's not meant to be you, what's your identity then? What is your identity? Point three, my identity is one that you have actually been rescued out of that kingdom of darkness.

We can talk about, oh, the reprobate over there. Those people over there, brothers and sisters, we were them. While we were yet dead in our transgressions and sins, Christ saved me. The Lord saves sinners. The Lord reaches down into the dark caverns of the human heart and takes out a heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. Our identity is in Christ, that we are a congregation here of redeemed rebels. We are rescued out of the kingdom of darkness, and secondly, we are made children of light. Verse 5, look with me at verse 5. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the light nor of the darkness.

If the Holy Spirit has been poured out in your heart, if you read these words and you go, yes, yes, this is me, this is me, I understand it. If God has taken out your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh, if He's given you new life, He's enlightened your eyes. He's made you love the day rather than the night. He's enlightened your heart. He's transformed your mind.

This is why Jesus has to continually say, let those who have ears hear. Because not everybody has ears to hear. Not everybody has eyes to see. Not everybody has hearts to believe. But Jesus makes us children of a light. So if we are those children of the light, we live in Christ. We are alive in Christ. Look with me at verses 9 and 10. 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, We should live together with Him. Did you catch it? Did you catch it? Let me point it out slowly as we go.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through Christ that we have life. It is only through Christ that we escape the judgment of God, because Jesus Christ drank the wrath of God upon the cross of Calvary. Because it was Jesus Christ, as He hung there upon that cross, that He was the one who absorbed the full, just wrath of God. See, God's wrath had to be paid. Sin had to be punished.

But for those of us who are in Christ, Christ died for us, once and for all. Done. It is finished. That we should live together with Him. Our identity is as redeemed rebels living by and in Christ Jesus. We live because Christ died for us. We have mercy because Christ took the wrath for us. We are redeemed and not reprobate because Christ became a penalty for our sins. So our identity is in Christ, and with that identity, being no longer children, objects of vessels for wrath, but transferred as objects for royal use by his mercy, there are blessings and obligations we get to live now in our lives. We get to live lives loving God, seeking to love our neighbors as ourselves. And what does that look like in our lives? Well, first is being alert. Right? Be alert. The first obligation you have is to be alert.

Christian, you don't get to rest on your laurels when it comes to spiritual things. You don't get to just say, well, Jesus will come someday. I can just not care about my sin this week. No, we have to be alert. Jesus could return tomorrow. Jesus could return in a thousand years. We don't know. But we live every day in the light of how the Westminster Confession ends. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.

We must be those who are sober. We have an obligation to be sober. Thinking clearly in our understanding. Don't read into this a whole bunch about fundamentalism, do not touch, do not taste, do not drink. We're not talking about that type of stuff here. But the reality is, have you ever met a drunkard? Like legitimately, have you ever met someone who is just given over to constantly drinking?

Maybe tremors in their hands. Seems like their thoughts are scattered and they just don't have a mind to try to figure out what's going on. Maybe you've walked in downtown in a city and seen people stumble around. Maybe you've been one of them. Having walked out of a bar, drinking too much, not thinking clearly, doing things that you'll regret the next day. The Lord is saying, don't act like that. Alright, be sober. Be sober. Have a sober mind. Think clearly. Know that the Lord is returning and live your life in response to that.

Also put on the armor of God. Our third obligation here, put on the armor of God. Verse 8, But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. Again, the book of Ephesians and the book of 1 Thessalonians at the end are so similar in so many ways. Put on the breastplate. In Ephesians 6 it says, put on the breastplate of righteousness. Here, what does it say? Put on the breastplate of love and faith.

You can't go in this battle alone. If you're going to stay alert, if you're going to know that there's an enemy outside the gate, Make sure you're holding on to the right breastplate. Make sure that you're donning the right clothes on you. Make sure that you are putting on faith and love in Jesus Christ. And not just, oh, I'm able to be sober, I'm able to do this myself, I'm able to do this. No, no. We put on faith in Jesus Christ, and we put on love towards God and neighbor. That's one of the ways in which we prepare for the day of the Lord coming. but also put on hope.

Man, the past year and a half has been a year just sad. People dying, families ripped apart, fighting, fighting, fighting, polarization just always, when is this ever going to end? Christian, there is hope. Hope isn't something, in the Bible's language, hope isn't something like, oh, I wish I get chocolate doughnuts downstairs after church. You might have a good wish that might come true today. But that's not how it is. Hope is saying, I eagerly anticipate and expect for something in the future to be true, and I'm clinging on to these promises of God.

And what is the promise of God here? That at that last great day when Jesus comes, when the trumpet is blown, when the archangel sends forth his message, when there's a shout and the dead raise from their graves and we're caught up together with Christ in the air, what is the hope we have that in Jesus Christ, we'll be okay. That we'll be with him forever.

Put on hope as a helmet of salvation. Be alert, be sober, put on the breastplate, put on the helmet of hope, of salvation. And two last things in verse 11. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you are also doing. Comfort one another. This is one of these cool things. The word here is parakaleo, which means to comfort one another. But the neat thing is, do you know what the Greek word for parakaleo, comfort, do you know what the Greek word for the Holy Spirit is? Paraclete.

You as a vessel of the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit comforts you, go comfort your brothers and sisters in Christ. When you see somebody's wrestling with anxiety and fear in this world, go give them comfort. When you see someone and they're struggling with how to respond with what's going on in the world today, go and bring them the gospel. Bring them comfort. Be a vessel of the Holy Spirit as you go out and you comfort one another.

And edify one another. That's a fancy $5 English word, Bible language there, edify. Maybe you've heard the word edifice. Building up a wall, the idea is putting one brick next to another and then stacking them, staggered upon that and building up a strong wall. If you are in Christ, as you see the day coming, we need each other.

We need to build each other up. This is why Ephesians chapter 4 says, "...let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for necessary edification, that it might impart grace to those who hear." Speak life into one another. Build one another up with your words.

Care for one another. Mourn with those who mourn. Weep with those who weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Remind each other of Christ. Get together. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual psalms, encouraging one another, admonishing one another. Call your brother and sister out when they're sinning, and bring them back to repentance. Care. Don't let each other stray. Build up your children. Parents, you can build up your parents. You can build up your siblings. This is the blessing that God has given you, an obligation He has graciously given you. That you get to comfort and encourage one another. So don't be duped. Don't be duped. I'm sure in 2025 there's going to be some, for lack of a better word, stupid prophecy about Jesus is going to return. Don't believe it. Don't be duped.

Closing Prayer

Recognize what it looks like to live a reprobate life. Find your identity in Jesus Christ. And follow the law of Christ. Put on the armor of God. Love one another. Be sober. Be alert. The day of the Lord is coming. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you for the love of Christ. We thank you that you demonstrated your great love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would apply these words to our hearts that we might live for you. We pray that you would be glorified, and Lord, we do pray that you would come quickly. Father, if there are wrong things, errant things, chaff that I said, Father, I pray that it would be burned away, blown away, and that the gold of your gospel would remain in the hearts of your people.

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