Signs and Seasons

Paul did not provide detailed information on the times and seasons since the Lord would return like a thief in the night – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

Paul continued discussing the “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ of Jesus in Chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians. He addressed the question of its timing and the different ways it would impact believers and nonbelievers. Rather than signs and timetables, he reminded his readers that the “Day of the LORD” would come like a “thief in the night.” Only God knew that Day’s timing, therefore, believers must remain prepared for its sudden arrival.

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What Paul did not do was provide a list of definitive “signs” to mark that Day’s imminence or chronological keys by which the Thessalonians could calculate its timing. His emphasis was on the unexpectedness of the event.

• (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) – “But concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need for anything to be written to you, for you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night. As soon as they begin to say: Peace and safety! then, suddenly, destruction comes upon them just as the birth-throes to her that is with child, and in no way will they escape.”

“Now concerning” (de…peri). This phrase marks the beginning of the literary section but does not mean the subject matter is unrelated to what preceded it.  Paul had just dealt with anxieties about the participation of dead believers in the “arrival” of Jesus. He then continued with additional but related information.

Verse 2 begins with the conjunction “for” or gar, which links it logically to the preceding verse.  Paul does not need to write about the “times and seasons” because the Thessalonians “themselves know accurately” that the Day is “coming like a thief in the night,” not because they understood the expected signs that would mark its approach.

Paul used the emphatic pronoun “you yourselves” to stress that his readers already knew this information.  He described their knowledge as “accurate” (akribōs). They understood that Jesus would come “like a thief in the night.”

The point of the analogy is that Christ will arrive unexpectedly, like a thief, at a time the householder could not possibly know. Paul’s words echo the saying of Jesus in Matthew 24:42-45:

• “But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. Therefore be you also ready; for in an hour that you think not the Son of man is coming.”

TIMES AND SEASONS

Both “times” and “seasons” are plural in the Greek sentence. Together, they cover any possible delimitation of time. The answer to the question of “when” he will come is the same answer provided by Jesus – “No one knows except his Father.”

Paul’s words may allude to Christ’s warning to his disciples before his Ascension. “It is not for you to know times and seasons” - (Acts 1:7-9). The comparison to a “thief in the night” stresses the unknowability of that Day’s timing. Paul concluded that we must remain prepared for its sudden arrival precisely because we do not know.

Paul used the term ‘Parousia’ or “arrival” in Chapter 4, Now, he applies the label “Day of the Lord” to the same event. When Jesus gave the analogy of a “thief in the night,” it referred to the “coming of the Son of Man.” This demonstrates that the “coming” of Jesus will coincide with the “Day of the Lord.” Paul also echoed another saying of Jesus, this time from the Gospel of Luke:

• “Be on guard that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you unexpectedly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. But keep on the alert, praying so that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are about to take place” - (Luke 21:34-36).

According to Jesus, that day would arrive unexpectedly “like a trap.” In Paul’s statement, it will come “like birth pains.” Jesus spoke the Aramaic language. It has a word that can be translated as “trap” or “birth pains” (hebel). The Gospel of Luke probably translated it as “trap” but Paul as “birth pains.”

Paul used the analogy of a pregnant woman in labor. No one is surprised when a pregnant woman goes into labor, and no one doubts the outcome. Labor pains point to the inevitable, and in the present passage, to the coming destruction of the unprepared when Jesus arrives.

The picture of the thief emphasizes the unexpectedness of the day, the woman in labor points to the inevitability of destruction for those who are unprepared. “Unexpected destruction” will overtake the latter group.

Paul was describing complacency on the part of the unprepared. This is borne out by the conjunction hotan (“whenever they are saying”). Humanity prefers to live as if all things will continue as they always have despite the testimony of History and Scripture.

We can prepare for the eventuality of a home invasion, but we cannot predict when the thief will strike.  For the unprepared, the ‘Parousia’ will be an unexpected event with dire consequences. Likewise, believers must remain prepared for his sudden arrival because they cannot know that day’s timing. For those who do prepare, it will bring rewards and glory.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Day of our Lord Jesus - (Jesus will arrive on the Day of the Lord at which time the dead will be raised, the wicked judged, and death will cease forever)

• Watchful and Sober - (The Day of the Lord will mean salvation for those living in the light who remain vigilant while awaiting its sudden arrival – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

• The Day of the Lord - (Jesus will arrive to gather his people on the Day of the Lord. In the New Testament, this event becomes the Day of Christ)