1 Thessalonians 5:3, commentary and pictures

When people declare peace and safety while feeling secure and settled that all is well, sudden destruction comes upon them and they shall not escape. That destruction is as travail upon a woman with child, coming suddenly and unexpectedly yet inevitably and inescapably upon the unprepared. It is the day of the Lord, Christ's second coming in the clouds with power and great glory for trial, wrath, retribution and judgment of the living and the dead according to works. The cry is sounded by ministers from popular pulpits, false watchmen and religious leaders who speak smooth sayings to please and assure that all is well, and it lulls minds, quiets conscience, and leaves hearers asleep and unprepared for wrath. Before it comes people are absorbed in ordinary life as in Noah's day, eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, with wickedness at its height while judgments are already in the land. Those in darkness are overtaken as by a thief, but those who walk as children of light and of the day must stay awake, sober, watchful and prayerful, waiting and working in earnest effort to give the last warning.

Language and Imagery Used

The verse warns that when they say peace and safety, while feeling secure and settled and declaring that all is well, sudden destruction comes upon them and they shall not escape. That cry of peace and safety is spoken as if peace and safety are assured, in a time of unawareness and ease when the signs of nearness are being fulfilled yet ignored in spiritual indifference. The exhortation around it belongs to those who know the day of the Lord is near, and no interpretation of prophecy should weaken conviction that the coming is near, for the verse points to suddenness, not to a date that can be calculated. The destruction is pictured as travail upon a woman with child, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, meaning it comes suddenly, unexpectedly, inevitably and inescapably. For the unprepared there is no escape, for as birth pains cannot be avoided so this falling of sudden destruction leaves no way of escape.

The day comes as a thief in the night, unexpectedly like a thief arriving at night, while people are unaware and at ease and feel secure and proclaim that all is well. It comes also as a snare upon all that dwell on the earth, catching the world's inhabitants unprepared while they trust in earthly prosperity and glory, scorn warnings, put off Christ's coming, and carry on pursuits without regard for truth. It takes the unwatchful, careless and indifferent by surprise, overtaking as by a thief those who are in darkness and unprepared. This surprise falls while hearts are overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and the warning applies to everyone including church members, for no one should assume safety from being caught unprepared. Those who heed the warning are not in darkness and are not overtaken as by a thief, because nearness can be known from fulfilled prophecy even though the exact day and hour are unknown.

The peace the world cries and offers in its busy activity is alluring but untrustworthy, with alluring representations on which no dependence is to be placed. Its assurances of peace and safety cannot be trusted and its promised peace is not true peace. That worldly peace is different in character from the peace Christ leaves as His legacy and gives, which He gives not as the world gives and which is eternal and of incalculable value.

Day of the Lord Described

The verse describes the day of the Lord and of God, which is Christ's second coming in the clouds with power and great glory. It is a day of trial and wrath, of retribution and judgment and kingdom, when the living and the dead are judged from the opened books according to their works. While people are saying peace and safety, sudden destruction and outpoured wrath come upon them like labor pains, and they shall not escape. That proclamation that all is secure is wrong, for it keeps asleep those who ought to be awake, and it exposes the enemy's work in the time when one's own land becomes a battlefield over worship according to conscience.

That day is near, with its signs rapidly fulfilling and thickening around in eventful days full of peril. Probation is closing and every case is about to be eternally decided, the Spirit being withdrawn, judgments already in the land, wickedness increasing, and the end stealing stealthily like a thief with muffled tread. Because the world has not yet received the last message of mercy, there is little time left to prepare and to do the work called for before the approaching day of distress, plague, retribution and judgment for sin. Ignoring the warning signs and quieting apprehension is not harmless, for those who do so are unprepared when the event comes unexpectedly and are taken as in a snare. Those in darkness are overtaken as by a thief, while those who have the light of truth are not in darkness that the day should overtake them so, but as children of light and of the day watch and are sober.

Its exact day and hour are unknown and cannot be calculated; the suddenness is what is revealed, not a date. The apparent delay is mercy giving time to repent, not proof of safety, and hearts must not be set to do evil because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. No interpretation of prophecy should weaken the conviction that the coming is near or obscure the signs of its nearness, whether applied to the world or to church members. Those who heed the warning can know that the coming is near even though they do not know its day or hour, and they will not be overtaken as a thief.

The warning belongs especially to Christians who will be living on earth when that day comes, not to Christians of past generations. It is Christ's sure word of prophecy for the most important period of earth's history, now just now upon us at the close of time. Just before the second appearing with power and great glory the cry of peace and safety will be sounded from every part of the Christian world. At that same time the sleeping church and the world will join in that cry while asking in scorn where the promise of His coming is and saying all things continue as from the beginning, yet the faithful discern the signs and endure to the end.

Those who presume the Lord delays His coming and persist in impenitence, defiance, evil and self-indulgence will face swift and inescapable destruction when God's long-suffering and forbearance reach their limit. Instead of being softened by long patience they are encouraged by forbearance to further resistance, flattering themselves that wrath will be spared a little longer and planning to repent at some future time. The sudden destruction comes while people who have received light and warnings of the coming crisis remain almost unmoved. It comes as Satan makes a last desperate effort with subtle plans and stirred powers from beneath to bring the world under his principles and convert it to them.

False Cry of Peace

The false cry sounds from ministers in the popular pulpits, from false watchmen, religious leaders, denominational churches and professed believers who speak smooth sayings to please, suppress truth, assure that all is well and life will go on, and fail to warn of judgment, the plagues and the need to repent. While they proclaim assurance of peace and security and of unchanged continuity, minds are set at rest and lulled, and then sudden ruin falls upon those so soothed, who being unprepared do not get away. The unfaithful shepherds soothe souls that need alarm, and faithful watchmen are needed to awaken those at ease, for only those who watch and keep their garments white escape. Even amid multiplying casualties by flood, fire, rail disaster, earthquake, plague and disease, with the Spirit being withdrawn, the cry from the pulpits leaves people pursuing amusements of every kind until the day of God overtakes them unprepared like a thief at night.

It is sounded also by the world at large, by prominent and professedly good people, by farmers, merchants, lawyers, mechanics and traders, by pleasure-lovers and the young and frivolous, by complacent leaders and workers, by Satan's own claim, and even by influences among God's own people while angels hold the four winds. When ministers with farmers, merchants, lawyers and prominent people declare that all is peaceful and secure, sudden destruction comes, catching people unexpectedly as an animal suddenly caught in a hidden snare. The world is lulled into complacency while scoffers challenge the promise of Christ's return and people are absorbed in selfish ambition and gain, and then Jesus comes unexpectedly like a thief in the night. God's workers must never become complacent or declare that all is peaceful and safe because the work appears to prosper, for apparent peace does not mean danger has passed and Satan remains alert with new attacks as the conflict between truth and error grows fiercer. The righteous, by contrast, will be kept by God's power through faith unto salvation rather than resting in that deceptive claim of peace and safety.

Its content is peace, prosperity, progress and enlightenment, long ages of peace, the conversion of the world with no need for alarm, that all things continue as from the beginning and Christ's coming is not near, at times joined with soothing spiritualistic views and minimizing of the danger in the Sabbath question. Trust in earthly prosperity and glory goes with scorning warnings, putting off Christ's coming, and carrying on pursuits without regard for truth, until the day catches the inhabitants unprepared like a thief or a snare. Religious teachers promise long ages of peace and prosperity after reasoning has quieted fear of God's judgments, while people pursue business and pleasure, reject warnings and mock God's messengers, and like the scoffers in Noah's day are caught too late. Those who tell people they are safe and need not be alarmed minimize danger even while the Sabbath question is about to agitate the world and destruction is near, lulling people into fatal security.

The cry lulls minds, quiets apprehension, fears and consciences, deadens spiritual senses through self-love and selfishness, turns hearers away from conviction of Bible truth, keeps them asleep, hides soul-danger, suppresses truth, and leaves them unprepared for wrath. Ignoring rapidly fulfilling signs and quieting apprehension is not harmless, for the day of the Lord brings sudden inescapable destruction upon those who feel secure and dismiss the warnings. Even when people see the signs of the times, love of self can deaden their senses so the day catches them unprepared, and even those who profess faith may be unready. A misleading teacher's deceptive reassurance settles troubled minds, makes ignorant but interested hearers believe false statements, stops their trouble about what the Scriptures teach, and leaves them resting in false security instead of deciding to follow truth. Satan stealthily advances to take those spiritually asleep, so warnings must be given and the work done now before dangers make it much harder, for at Christ's appearing and kingdom the living and the dead face judgment from the books according to works.

Conditions Before Destruction

Before sudden destruction falls, people are absorbed in ordinary life and selfish pursuits as in Noah's day, eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying, buying and selling, business, traffic and money-making, while living as though there were no God and forgetting God and eternity. They are given to feasting and gluttony, to liquor, tobacco and harmful indulgences, to amusements and sporting excitement, to sports, gambling, luxury, extravagance and revelry, with pleasure-lovers and sinners caught unprepared while feeling secure and proclaiming peace and safety. The world is lulled into complacency, scoffers challenge the promise of Christ's return, reasoning quiets fear of God's judgments, and religious teachers promise long ages of peace and prosperity while warnings are rejected and God's messengers mocked until it is too late to escape. The warning is for every soul including church members and professed believers, even ministers may join the cry, and no one should presume to be safe or let any interpretation of prophecy dull awareness that the event is near and comes unexpectedly like a thief in the night.

Wickedness is at its height before the Lord comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, the world steeped like Sodom in iniquity and become a second Sodom, given to luxury, extravagance, wine-drinking and reveling, dishonest practices and robbing the poor, with crime, corruption, cruelty and every conceivable crime. Ministers proclaiming assurance of peace and security set minds at rest and leave people unprepared for that day, speaking smooth sayings and crying peace and safety while the Christian world is lulled into blind, deluded slumber and the church follows the practices of the world. Warnings are mocked and messengers derided until mercy closes, as illustrated by the destruction of the old world and of Sodom and Gomorrah, where people carried on in pleasure and rioted the night before destruction but perished when destruction came. Upon the careless so lulled, sudden ruin falls without escape, coming as unexpectedly and inevitably as labor pains and as a snare upon all who dwell on the earth.

God's judgments are already in the land by flood, fire, rail disaster, earthquake, plague, disease, tempest and storm, with calamity after calamity by land and sea while the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth, so that security is found only in God. While ministers preach assurance of peace and unchanged continuity from the pulpits of the land, people pursue amusements of every kind despite multiplying casualties, and Satan works from beneath through those calamities and pleasures to fill minds so the day of God overtakes them unprepared like a thief at night. Earthquake warnings disregarded while San Francisco and Oakland plan grander, larger and more magnificent buildings illustrate the warning that confident talk of peace and safety can meet sudden destruction without escape, and the coming calamity is judgment on widespread wickedness with crime and corruption increasing. Judgment will fall on cities one after another, not all at once, bringing sudden loss of life with few escaping, so that when it begins in a place those who have even the slightest warning must flee without delay, and most will not accept the gospel before Christ returns. At the Lord's coming the unprepared are crushed as by an immense ball of fire coming down upon the world and crushing houses, while the cry goes up that the Lord has come; a few who looked for Him praise Him, but the many lost realize too late the judgment to come and reproach those who saw these things again and again yet left them in ignorance instead of warning them to obey every precept and prepare for His soon coming.

The crisis involves religious liberty and persecution, with the Sabbath question about to agitate the world and destruction near, so that minimizing the danger and telling people they are safe and need not be alarmed lulls them into fatal security. One's own land becomes a battlefield for the struggle for religious liberty to worship God according to conscience, demanding wakefulness with influence wholly and entirely on the Lord's side rather than neutral, for proclaiming all is secure now is wrong because sudden ruin comes when God's wrath is poured out. Leaders' hesitation to warn about the Religious Amendment question amounts to saying peace and safety and prevents the churches from preparing for the coming conflict, and complacent delay and dilatory action waste time, strength and influence needed to warn the world of swift coming judgments. A cry of peace and safety rises even among God's own people while angels hold the four winds that they should not blow, giving opportunity for everyone with light to let it shine, yet those crying it do not understand that no time can be lost, and while men sleep Satan steadily steals a march upon them to order things after his own will. Claims of peace and safety do not mean lasting peace, for sudden trouble comes without escape at a time when persecuting powers unite including Rome and Protestant powers, when the union of Protestantism and popery threatens those loyal to God and His law, calling the ease-loving to wake up and sound the alarm rather than remain complacent.

Call to Watchful Readiness

The verse draws a dividing line: sudden ruin with no escape falls on those in darkness, while those who heed warning are not in darkness that the day should overtake them as a thief. The day comes unexpectedly like labor on a woman with child and like a thief at night upon the unwatchful absorbed in ordinary life, but those who watch for the signs know the coming is near though not its day or hour, discern the times, endure to the end, and are kept by divine power through faith unto salvation. In perilous days when signs thicken and events of more terrible character than any yet witnessed are to come to pass, believers must live not as of night but as children of light and of the day, not sleeping as others do but watching and sober.

Readiness means staying awake, sober, watchful, prayerful and obedient, armed with faith and love and the hope of salvation unto salvation rather than wrath. The lamp of the soul must be kept trimmed and filled with the oil of grace, spiritual decline guarded against, gifts and talents used, and Scripture studied, so the day does not catch the believer asleep or take him in a snare. Every soul must take heed to escape what is coming and to stand before the Son of man, watching and praying always rather than letting the heart become overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life, for the end of all things is near and the Lord's day comes swiftly and silently as a thief in the night and as a snare on all dwelling on the earth. The whole fifth chapter is to be read and heeded in every church before as well as during seasons of prayer, and carried into practice it brings a great change of life away from disobedience.

Waiting is not idle neutrality with folded hands but active earnest effort by the living church that waits, watches and works. The second coming is to be earnestly proclaimed after the pattern of Enoch, the last message of mercy and third angel's message given with trumpet certain sound, by open-air meetings and by consecrated education in which all powers are trained for service and youthful zeal is organized under instructors to bless others instead of being wasted on games, holidays, money and time. Time is short, sudden destruction is right upon an unalarmed world with no escape for those overtaken, and the work essential for the present time must be done quickly and advanced as fast as possible before dangers hedge the way, while probation lingers.

The character needed for the crisis cannot be borrowed from another, for in spiritual things no one can make up another's deficiency or impart what is the fruit of the Spirit's working. Many represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites but have regard for truth, have advocated it and are attracted to believers, yet have not yielded to the Holy Spirit, have not fallen on the Rock with the old nature broken up, and their service degenerates into a form while they cry peace and safety, lull their hearts into security and dream not of danger. When startled from lethargy at the midnight cry and at sudden calamity bringing the soul face to face with death, when probation has closed and the final test has come, they discern their destitution, find their lamps unlit for lack of the oil of grace, entreat others to supply their lack, and discover too late that the need cannot then be supplied. Mingling with the world, hiding the light, leaving undone the individual work of confession before God and before those wronged and of cleansing the mind and purifying the soul, and sleeping on in carnal pleasure while shepherds cry peace when there is no peace, leaves the candlestick removed and worship without the divine presence.

Faithful watchmen must therefore awaken those at ease with a direct call like John the Baptist to repent and prepare to meet God, lifting up the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and rebuking iniquity without fear, rather than soothing souls that need alarm with assurance when peace has not been spoken. Ministers who suppress truth to please others or avoid unpleasant consequences, and indifferent inactive leaders who remain asleep, echo the false peace and safety and leave the people in danger, while faithful messengers expose evil, warn the disobedient, give the trumpet a certain sound, and present truth plainly as life or death. The day is right upon the world, coming with stealthy muffled tread and taking the unwary by surprise, so teachers and stewards must be awake and combine Old and New Testament Scriptures to fit up a people to stand.

The warning rebukes complacent Laodicean ease that folds hands in Zion doing almost nothing and boasts of spiritual wealth while lacking true righteousness. Apparent peace, prosperity and progress do not mean danger has passed, for sudden destruction comes when security is felt, Satan remains alert with new attacks, and the conflict between truth and error grows fiercer as the work advances. Those crying peace and safety while unrepentant, self-satisfied and lukewarm must humble themselves, confess, receive truth as it is in Jesus, practice self-denial, cleansing and reformation, and move forward in obedience; without thorough repentance they will not enter heaven nor stand in the day of God.

False plans maintained end in destruction, and punishment is proportionate to guilt, doubly heavy for those who knew the will, saw others reproved for unfaithfulness, yet turned away from admonition. Satan's claim of peace and safety is deceptive, and those trusting prosperity, dismissing warnings and acting as though there were no God will meet swift, sudden, inescapable ruin as Sodom did on the night the cities rioted, with judgment falling on cities one after another with sudden loss of life so that any warned must flee without delay and few escape. The world absorbed in selfish pursuits marches blindly onward amid confusion, strife, hypocrisy, gaiety, eating and drinking, carousing, indulgence and ambition until the Lord arises to punish iniquity, ending in eternal death for all who reject Christ, while a few looking for His coming praise Him when He appears and the many unprepared are lost and reproach those who left them unwarned.

The will of God for His people is that they be in the light all the time, taking their position as taught of God with His counsel made known and not hidden, living constantly as children of light rather than of night and darkness.