Sons of the Day
Now on the topic of times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night. Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would. For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. (1 Thessalonians 5:1–5, NET)
Living as children of the light means to have a different orientation of life. We live from eternity’s perspective, not from an earthly one.
The earthly perspective is dominated by worldly concerns, the affairs of this world that is passing away. The worldly person is focused on material needs to the exclusion of spiritual ones. Fear, ambition, anger, lust, desires, and pride dominate his view of life. He may be a decent fellow in terms of his dealing with others (or he may not be), but beneath the facade of his appearance is a heart that has no eternal direction, that is subject to the whims and winds of this earthly culture.
The spiritual perspective is dominated by the eternal things of God, His holiness, His glory, His grace and mercy, and His final victory. This takes the fear out of human hearts and replaces it with confidence and love. Human life is seen for what it is and what it is not. All of the earthly glory of this world is passing away, the pomp and splendor, the power and prestige, and the ungodly desires and pride.
The spiritual perspective is not without some reference point in real world time. The Christian faith is not just a philosophy of life, rather it is founded upon the acts of God in history — among which is the redemptive history of Israel, the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon His people, and, in the future, the victorious return of Christ. In the text above the inspired author wrote of “times and seasons” speaking of God’s actions in this historical framework in which we live. The Christian does not know the precise times and seasons of the return of Christ, but the Bible does teach us the nature of His return, and it clearly proclaimed the inevitability of His return.
Paul used two illustrations in this passage for the coming of Christ: the thief in the night and a woman in labor pains.
A thief in the night illustrates how differently the Lord thinks from the way the world thinks. (It is not, by the way, commending thievery or comparing the character of Christ to the character of thief.) A family may have a pleasant evening with friends, and they may speak about their future investments and even feel that they are safe, and so they lay down to sleep. But a thief is watching their house and, unknown by them, he will come unexpectedly and raid their belongings. This is the illustration, that God has a different perspective on these things than we have, and His coming will take most of the world unawares, unprepared for eternal matters.
A woman giving birth illustrates the certainty of His return. A woman should have an idea of when her baby will come, but even then the final delivery comes with a bit of surprise. Suddenly she has contractions and there is no stopping the birth at that point. And so it will be with the return of Christ, that in the timing of God His coming will happen and nothing can prevent this from happening.
As sons and daughters of the light of God we are called to live today from the vantage point of eternity, from the perspective of the final victory of God. This is how our faith is to shape our lives and our thoughts. Earthly things are placed in proper perspective when we first consider the eternal things of God. We live in the power and grace of God with confidence in our final redemption, where we are made completely holy and righteous.
We will either interpret our lives in light of our past failures, or we will understand ourselves in light of our final redemption in Christ. The spiritually minded dwell in their thoughts upon the final condition of the believer through God’s grace. We know of our failures and have confessed them, but we also believe that whereas sin abounded, God’s grace has super-abounded (Rom. 5:20).
Our sense of security comes chiefly from God and if He has acted through Christ in such a gracious matter to forgive us and redeem us, then surely we can trust Him in all areas of our lives. “Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32, NET)
