Sudden Unexpected Destruction

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. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 NKJV)

“Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. (Revelation 3:3 NKJV)

The Day of the Lord

First the rapture, then the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and someone representing the old Roman Empire.  Then comes the day of the Lord which involves seven years of tribulation, the last half of which is called the great tribulation.  That is the timeline normally given by Biblical scholars with regard to the pre-written history of the nation of Israel.  But I have a question. If everyone is convinced that the present world situation is setting the stage for the day of the Lord and if the day of the Lord comes upon both the Jews and the Church as a thief in the night, how can it be unexpected if everyone is expecting it? All you need to do is go to the YouTube videos by prominent preachers and you will find all kinds of people who will tell you to be ready for the Lord’s return based on current events which they say fulfill the “signs of the times.”  

How is that Peace and Safety Business Going to Work?

Is everyone expecting the imminent return of the Lord?  Obviously, unbelievers, both Jew and Gentiles, are not.  But all true believers are expecting the Lord to come at any time, right?   But when Paul writes to the Thessalonican church, he says that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.  When John writes to the church of Sardis in Revelation 3, he warns them that if they do not watch, He will come upon them as a thief.   What concerns me is that while unbelievers will be surprised when the Lord returns, is it possible that professing believers will be surprised as well?  

We have an old testament example of what might happen.  Read Joshua 6 having to do with the destruction of Jericho.  Apparently they knew about the two kings on the East side of the Jordan River who had been defeated.  They seemed to know about the miraculous parting of the Jordan River as well as the parting of the Red Sea and the way the Lord had preserved about 2 million people as they journeyed through the wilderness before crossing the Jordan River.  They were scared.  However, Jericho was a walled city (houses were built on the wall) and should be easily defended.  But Joshua had his orders.  He was to go around Jericho with his army once a day for six days.  The priests were to blow rams horns and the ark was to be carried with them.  Then they were to lodge in their camp after making the trip.  On the seventh day, they went around the city seven times and at the end of the seventh trip they shouted and the wall fell down flat and the army “went up” and destroyed the city.  

Now if you had been in the city (say you were a young person who had heard all the news about the Jews), when you looked over the wall out of the windows of a house on the wall, you would have been anxious when seeing two million people camped close to the city.  But likely the wall would have provided some sense of safety, even though Egypt had been miraculously destroyed according to what you had seen on your evening news.  So when the Army of Israel started that first trip around the city, likely fear would have taken hold of you and others in the city.  That would be like the “labor pains” that we hear about today.  But when the army went back into the camp and nothing happened, I am sure that there would have been a sense of relief.  But then they start circling the city on the second day.  I am sure that there would have been some level of anxiety as you wondered “what is going to happen today?”  But the army simply goes back into the camp.  They do this six times and by the sixth time, you and people in the city likely would be mocking this army.  Surely, they have no power or ability to destroy the city if all they were doing was blowing trumpets and circling the city.  But on the seventh day, things change.  The army doesn’t go back into the camp but circles the city a second time, and then a third and then a fourth.  At first there would be concern because something had changed, but by the time the army was circling the city the seventh time, I am sure that there was no expectation of “sudden destruction.”  But “sudden destruction” came and the city was destroyed.  I think that is why Peter writes about scoffers who will be saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. (2 Peter 3:4 NKJV).”  One would like to think that only unbelievers would question the Lord’s promise to come again, but since Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica and John writes to the church at Sardis warning that that the Lord will come as a thief in the night, it may very well be that most in the professing churches of our day will not be expecting the Lord’s return.  Likely that will be because preachers forgot that the Lord said, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Matthew 24:44 NKJV).”  He also said that the only One who could make the time of the Lord’s return known was God the Father.  “But of that day and hour no one knows (or reveals), not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. (Matthew 24:36 NKJV).”

So What?

I am afraid many are going to be surprised (believers and unbelievers alike) when the Lord raptures the church and ushers in the day of the Lord.  We need to quit preaching about the things that we do not know and we need to preach the things that we do know.  We know that the Lord is coming again.  We do not know when.  But the consequences of not being ready are serious.  

We need to quit setting dates and making current events “fit”.  Unbelievers and many professing believers already question the premillennial, pretribulation rapture which I am quite sure comes before the day of the Lord.  The more we say that current events are fulfilling prophecies that don’t come to pass, the more we will be like the people in Jericho who likely let their guard down and were not prepared for the coming sudden destruction.  

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the weeks of October 12 and 19, 2025 

If you would like further conversation about the issues in these meditations, contact me at collinsbd@yahoo.com and I will try to accommodate you with a virtual Bible Study.