The Lord Is Coming — Are You Ready?

If you believe Jesus was born, lived, died on the cross, and rose from the dead — then you must believe He is coming back. Those two truths are inseparable. The resurrection and the return stand or fall together. That is the confidence Paul wanted the church at Thessalonica to hold onto, and it is just as needful for us today.

Comfort for Those Who Have Died in the Lord

The Thessalonians were troubled by a very personal question: what about our loved ones who have already died? Have they somehow missed the Lord's return? Paul will not leave them in that grief.

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus." (1 Thess 4:14)

Far from missing it, those who have died in Christ will rise first. 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 rise before the living are caught up. Then we who remain will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. That is the comfort Paul offers: no separation, no one left behind, no one who missed it. "Therefore comfort one another with these words" (vs 18).

He Is Coming as a Thief in the Night

Paul also settles the question of when. The Thessalonians already knew the answer — and so do we.

"For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night." (1 Thess 5:2)

Every generation since the second century has produced someone willing to name a date. They have all been wrong, because that is not how He is coming. A thief does not send advance notice. He comes when you least expect him. There is no seven-year countdown on the calendar. When people are saying "peace and safety," sudden destruction comes. The day of the Lord does not arrive at the end of a predicted schedule — it arrives as a surprise. That is the whole point.

Children of the Day Must Live Like It

But here is where Paul turns it: Christians are not children of the night. The surprise is for those who are not paying attention.

"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." (1 Thess 5:4-5)

Because we are children of the day, we watch and we are sober — putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation (vs 8). God did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are alive or have already passed when He returns, we will live together with Him (vs 9-10). The knowledge that He is coming is not a reason for fear — it is a reason for readiness.

Peter echoes exactly this call in his second letter. Since the heavens will pass away and the elements will melt with fervent heat, he asks: "What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?" And he gives the reason for the delay that some mistake for slackness: the Lord is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9).

Maybe He is waiting for you. That is how much He loves you. But He will not wait forever, and the day will come like a thief — when it is too late to prepare.

In Closing

The promise is sure and the comfort is real: every person who has died in the Lord will rise to meet Him, and every faithful Christian who is alive when He comes will join them in the air. We shall always be with the Lord. Live in that hope. Watch. Be sober. Be ready — because He is coming, and you will not want to miss it.