In view of the imminency of Christ's return Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to be ready to prepare them to meet the Lord at any time.
"The former [paragraph, i.e., 4:13-18] offered instruction concerning the dead in Christ; this [paragraph] gives a word of needed exhortation to the living."105
Other contrasts between these passages are the Rapture and the day of the Lord, and resurrection and judgment.
This pericope deals with the time of Christ's return and the consequent need for watchfulness.
5:1-2 Paul had previously taught this church about the day of the Lord (v. 2). Jesus had also taught His disciples about it (cf. Matt. 24:44; Mark 13; Luke 24). They had taught about the duration ("times, "Gr. chronos) and the major features of the times ("epochs,"Gr. chairos) that lay ahead in the future. These words may describe the end times from these two perspectives (cf. Acts 1:7; 3:19-21)106, but probably they mean virtually the same thing (cf. Dan. 2:21; 7:12; Acts 1:7).107
". . . the phrase may have been a conventional doublet, like our own times and seasons,' with no particular emphasis on a difference between the two nouns."108
The day of the Lord yet future usually refers to the period in history characterized by God's working in the world in direct, dramatic ways.109This period begins with the Tribulation and continues through the Millennium (cf. Isa. 13:9-11; Joel 2:28-32; Zeph. 1:14-18; 3:14-15; et al.). It contains both judgment (in the Tribulation) and blessing (in the Millennium). People living on the earth then (i.e., unbelievers, since Christians will be with the Lord in heaven immediately following the Rapture) will not expect it.
"By using day of the Lord' terminology to describe the great tribulation, Christ included the tribulation within the day of the Lord (cf. Matt 24:21 with Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Joel 2:2). This time of trial at the outset of the earthly day of the Lord will thus not be brief, but comparable to a woman's labor before giving birth to a child (Isa. 13:8; 26:17-19; 66:7ff.; Jer 30:7, 8; Micah 4:9, 10; Matt 24:8; 1 Thess 5:3)."110
The phrase "the day of the Lord"also refers to the Second Coming of Christ (cf. Joel 3:9-16; Zech. 14:1-5; Rev. 16:12-16; 19:11-21). Thus Scripture uses the term in a broad sense (the Tribulation and the Millennium) and a narrow sense (the return of Christ).
"Just as the word day' in Genesis 1:5 has both a broad sense (a 24-hour day--'And the evening and the morning were the first day') and a narrow sense (the light part of a 24-hour day in contrast with the darkness part--'And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night')--so the expression the Day of the Lord' has both a broad and a narrow sense in relationship to the future."111
Some posttribulationists say the day of the Lord here refers specifically to the second coming of Christ.112However in the context this day will be a time when God will pour out His wrath on unbelievers (vv. 3-9). While this could refer to the judgments that will take place at Christ's second coming, it seems more likely to refer to the judgments of the Tribulation (cf. Matt. 24:5-28; Rev. 6:16-18).113Gundry contended that the day of the Lord begins after the Tribulation but before Armageddon.114However this means that none of the judgments before Armageddon are judgments of the day of the Lord, a conclusion that few interpreters, posttribulational as well as pretribulational, can accept.115
"The only way to hold that this meeting with Christ in the air is an imminent prospect is to see it as simultaneous with the beginning of the divine judgment against earth. Only if the rapture coincides with the beginning of the day of the Lord can both be imminent and the salvation of those in Christ coincide with the coming of wrath to the rest (v. 9) . . .
"Were either the rapture or the day of the Lord to precede the other, one or the other would cease to be an imminent prospect to which the thief in the night' and related expressions (1:10; 4:15, 17) are inappropriate. That both are any-moment possibilities is why Paul can talk about these two in successive paragraphs. This is how the Lord's personal coming as well as the day's' coming can be compared to a thief ([Matt. 24. 36-43; Luke 12:35-40; ] 2 Peter 3:4, 10; Rev 3:3, 11; 16:15)."116
5:3 Evidently the occasion for the false sense of security felt then will be the Antichrist's signing of a covenant with Israel (cf. Dan. 9:27).117That signing will set the stage for a period of unprecedented destruction even though it will be the signing of a peace treaty. Bible students living on earth then will be able to anticipate this period of persecution since God has revealed it in Scripture. It will be much like a pregnant woman's delivery which observers can anticipate by her appearance (cf. Matt. 24:8). No one living on the earth then will in any way (double negative for emphasis in the Greek text) escape the turmoil to follow. They cannot escape it any more than a pregnant woman can escape delivering her child. This seems to argue against midtribulationism. No one on earth who is living in peace and safety during the first half of the Tribulation will escape the destruction coming in the second half, except those who die.
5:4-6 The Thessalonians were not ignorant of these events since Jesus and Paul had revealed them (cf. 4:13-17). They were not walking in wickedness either. God had removed the Thessalonians from Satan's kingdom of darkness and placed them into God's kingdom of light (cf. Col. 1:13).118Paul exhorted them therefore to remain alert (watchful) and sober (self-possessed), not asleep (insensible) to things that God has revealed.
If the church must pass through the Tribulation (Daniel's seventieth week) before the Rapture, it is useless to watch for Christ daily.119
5:7-8 Behavior consistent with their position in Christ required watchful preparation in view of the future. As soldiers engaged in spiritual warfare they needed to protect their vital parts with trust in God and love for others (cf. 1:3, 3:5; Isa. 59:17; Eph. 6:14-17). They also needed to protect their thinking from attack by keeping their sure hope of deliverance at Christ's appearing in mind (i.e., the Rapture).
5:9-10 Deliverance from the judgments of the day of the Lord (i.e., the outpouring of God's wrath in the Tribulation) is certain for Christians. It is certain because God has not appointed His children to wrath in any form or at any time (cf. 1:10). In the context, the wrath of the day of the Lord is in view specifically. Rather He has appointed us to full salvation (4:15-17).
"First Thessalonians 5:9 is not a both/and' statement. The believer is not appointed to wrath and to salvation--to the Day of the Lord and the Rapture (the posttribulational view). The verse states not one, but the other.' The believer is appointed not to wrath, but to salvation; not to the Day of the Lord, but to the Rapture (pretribulationalism). The believer's hope is the Rapture. We are not watching for wrath, but for the Lord."120
"When God vents his anger against earth dwellers (Rev. 6:16, 17), the body of Christ will be in heaven as the result of the series of happenings outlined in 4:14-17 (cf. 3:13). This is God's purpose."121
This deliverance is certain because Jesus Christ died as our substitute. He took all of God's wrath against us on Himself (cf. Rom. 8:1). Consequently we can have confidence that we will live together with Christ after the Rapture whether we are watchful or unwatchful at the time of His coming.
The Greek word translated "asleep"in verse 10 is from the same root as the one translated "sleep"in verse 6 where the reference is to spiritual lethargy. It is a different one from the word translated "asleep"in 4:13, 14, and 15 where the reference is to physical death.122God will snatch away all Christians whether watchful or unwatchful at the Rapture.123This statement refutes the partial rapture theory, the view that God will rapture only watchful Christians. Moreover it is another indication that the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation since the Tribulation is a time when God will pour out His wrath on those dwelling on the earth (cf. 1:10).
5:11 This sure hope is a sound basis for mutual encouragement and edification among believers. Not only can we comfort one another when believers die (4:18), but we can also strengthen one another while we live.
"For the truth that the church is destined for rescue from the woes of the Tribulation, no passage has more to offer to exegetical scrutiny than does 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11."124
