Well, it's nice to be here with you again. The passage that was read for us is fairly familiar to many of us, but what follows is not quite so familiar. And that's what we're going to be looking at this morning. I wonder this morning, the scripture says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. I'm wondering this morning, do you do that? Seek first the Kingdom of God. It is so crucial, and it is so hard to remember in summertime, isn't it? Now the passage that was read for us this morning was 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18. In verse 17, it speaks of those who will be caught up. That's what we're looking forward to. being caught up. And the words translated caught up are very interesting words. This speaks of the Christians being caught up and the original word is harpazo. The online Bible says it means to seize, to carry off by force, to claim for oneself eagerly, to snatch out of the way. This is the word from which we get the word rapture. We call this the rapture. Really, it's the great catching up. The Lord will come and snatch us out of the way and claim us eagerly for himself. Now, that is the day we are, we believe, very, very close to and which we look forward to. And we look forward to it because we will be with the Lord and He will be with us. But I want to draw our attention now to chapter 5, verses 1 through 10. It goes on to say, But concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. In 4.13-18 we have Paul's teaching on the rapture, and in 5.1-11 we have his teaching, some of it, regarding the tribulation. It is a fascinating passage that is before us this morning, one of prophecy. Paul says, but concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. The area that Paul is concerned with addressing is the times and seasons. Our question is, what does that talk about? When the rapture happens, it should not come as totally unexpected for the Christian. But we are, or I should say, we are to expect Christ every day because we do not know the day or the hour, and the great catching up is imminent. That means it can happen at any time. The time of the rapture has been explained in 4.13 through 18. Tell me what follows the rapture in prophecy. Tribulation. It is the revealing of the Antichrist and the Tribulation. So it should not be surprising to us that 5.1, which immediately follows 4.13 through 18, that it should now speak of the Tribulation. Now you might ask me, how do you get the tribulation out of this passage that follows, and that's a good question. Notice verse 1, So let me ask you, anybody here ever studied the times and seasons, what that means? See, so you have something new this morning, right? Notice, I mentioned that already, so why doesn't he need to write about this to us? Because, verse 2, you know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. Now you might say, but now just wait a minute, does not the rapture come as a thief? Does Jesus come as a thief in the night? Anybody read this in the Bible? But you don't read. No, I know you read. We would question, does this not talk about the rapture? Well, we must first identify what the phrase the times and the seasons refers to. Mainz Dictionary says that, broadly speaking, chronos, that's times, expresses the duration of a time period. So we get chronology from that. But Kairos speaks about seasons. He says it is stressed as marked by certain features. When the leaves turn color, you have certain features. You don't have a definite time period. So Kronos, from which we get the word chronology, speaks of the length of time to a certain point, and Kairos speaks of what kind of time that point is. So just what does times and seasons refer to? Well, J. Dwight Pentecost, you won't get a much greater scholar on prophecy, says Christ also speaks of the times of the Gentiles, Luke 21, 24, which are evidently to be distinguished from Jewish times and seasons, Acts 1, 7. And then our passage. So Pentecost refers to the times and seasons as the Jewish time. In Acts 1, 6, the disciples asked Jesus, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? What's he talking about? Israel. Israel. And Jesus said, it is not given to you to know the times and the seasons. Why would he say that? Why would he say that? Men like Rick Warren have concluded that Christians should not really be that interested in prophecy. That's not really our business. But surely he is wrong. So what does this mean? I have wondered if Acts 1-7 may not, in fact, be a pre-tribulational rapture passage. I've thought of preaching a message sometimes on the pre-tribulational rapture in passages you would probably not see it in. There are some of those. So, it is interesting that two separate words are used for to know in Acts 1-7, a different one in 1 Thessalonians 1-5. In Acts 1-7, it is γνώσκω, and in 1 Thessalonians 5-1, it is οίδα. The word to know, gnosko, may convey the idea of experiential knowledge when it is influenced by Hebrew thinking. For example, the marital relationship is described by the word to know, gnosko, in other references. The Greek word in Acts 1.7, so is gnosko. It is this word that is used in 2 Corinthians 5.21, which says that Christ knew no sin. What do you mean he knew no sin? Well, he knew by experience no sin. He knew academical knowledge about sin. So it means he didn't experience sin in his life. Now the word oida in our passage, on the other hand, speaks of a full knowledge. So it says you know perfectly. You know this perfectly well. If this was the intent of the uses of the words for knowledge, then these passages might say this, you will not experience the times and seasons related to the day of the Lord. But regarding the academical knowledge of the day of the Lord, you know perfectly well that the day comes like a thief in the night. It is instructive to note that Jesus did not say, well, let me tell you something. Since the Jews rejected me, The Kingdom will not be restored to Israel. It has been replaced by another group of people known as the Church. Israel is done. That's not a new doctrine today. As a matter of fact, it's growing. It's the doctrine of replacement theology and gaining popularity. So this is the view that the Church has replaced Israel, and so the promises of a restored kingdom once intended for Israel now apply to the Church. Furthermore, from Acts 1-7, I would gather that the times and seasons have to do with the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel, Acts 1-7. The word to restore is apokathistemi. It means to restore to its former state. Israel was once a great nation. The Old Testament promised its restoration and the Jews have been waiting for this time, have been waiting for a long time. So I gather that the times and the seasons have to do with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, and this will happen, in a sense, in the tribulation. Now, 1 Thessalonians 5.1, in this passage, Paul says that concerning the times and the seasons, the Thessalonians should have no need that he write to them. Then he tells us why, and it is because they themselves know that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. In my understanding, the phrase, the day of the Lord, refers to the tribulation and the millennium. Now you can study this and think about it. The tribulation is the night of this day, and the millennium is the daytime of this day. So I think it's a day in Lacrete. A night is short, a day is long. Paul then explains that man will come to a time when he seeks for peace and safety. Are we there today? Are we there today? And when he finally achieves peace, he says, now we have peace and safety. There's the peace treaty of the Antichrist. This is what's going to happen. When this world comes to the time when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as birth pangs upon an expecting woman. This indicates that by the phrase the day of the Lord, he is referring to the tribulation time, for it is then that sudden destruction comes. It doesn't come in the millennium. Now you may say, well, is not Jesus coming at the rapture? Is it not then that he comes as a thief in the night? The phrase, coming as a thief in the night, only occurs twice in the New Testament. First here, and then in 2 Peter 3.10. Now listen to 2 Peter 3.10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise. That's the rapture. No, not the rapture. And the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. That's when he comes as a thief. The phrase of the day of the Lord never refers to the rapture. Never. The day of the Lord refers to the tribulation and the millennium. It has a night and it has a daytime. The tribulation is the night. Our question now is, does the phrase the times and seasons refer to the future time of God's working with the Jews, or the tribulation time? Well, 1 Thessalonians 5.2 identifies the times and seasons with the beginning of the day of the Lord. Somebody tell me, when does the day actually begin? 12 o'clock midnight? Is that not night time? What's that? Yes, actually it starts in the evening. It starts when it gets dark. That makes sense, doesn't it? That's the night time. Night time, day time starts when it gets light. So Paul says it's not necessary for him to write to them regarding the time and season because they know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. So the identification of the times and seasons with the coming day of the Lord is evident here. Now, for the sake of time, let me just say, as I see it, the Day of the Lord encompasses the entire Tribulation and the Millennium. And we take that overhead, if you have it available. It's all up and running. Good. So you can study that while we're talking. We'll leave it up for a while, and you can look at that. So the Tribulation is the night of the Day of the Lord. You could jot down Amos 5, 18-20, 1 Thessalonians 5, 4-7, as we have it here. Now, notice very carefully that the text does not say, Jesus comes like a thief in the night. It just does not say that. As a matter of fact, the scriptures never speak of Christ as coming as a thief in the night. They do speak of him coming as a thief, not in the night, And each time, it is with regard to believers who have ceased to watch. You can check me out on this. For the watching Christian, the rapture will not come unexpectedly, though it may come as a surprise. The description of a thief coming in the night is more than a surprise. It is rather that of the world being in total oblivion to it. Not a surprise. They said, woo! No idea this was coming. Let me give an example of the difference between something coming as a surprise or when one is in total oblivion. I think I've used this illustration before, but my dad used to use dynamite to either blow up stubborn pine stumps. You know, we just had a TD-9 crawler tractor. You know what that is? It's pretty hard to push out small pine stumps with those. Or we would remove beaver dams. And I witnessed a number of those. We'd be hiding behind a tree or sitting under that TT9 caterpillar. You know what happens when you use dynamite, no? And the dynamite is uncertain, at least the stuff we used. It could go off now. It could go off a minute or two later. So you're waiting. But let us say, so you know, when the dynamite goes, you still go like this. Now you expected it, but you still jump. But let's say you're walking through the woods and you had no idea anybody was around, and then a charge of dynamite explodes right beside you. That's total oblivion. You may even just keel over right there. The rapture may well come as a surprise, even though it is expected. But when the day of the Lord begins, mankind will be caught totally off guard. It will be a total oblivion. They will say, peace and safety and boom. It will be anything but. Now note that Paul says they know, oida, full knowledge, perfectly, that is exactly or accurately that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. Now notice something further in verse 3, for when they say, it's worth circling or underlining, when they say, it is absolutely instructive that Paul changes from speaking in the second person to speaking in the third person. When we speak in the first person, we're referring to the speaker, I, me. When we speak of the second person, it is the one spoken to you, somebody else. When you speak in the third person, we're speaking to somebody else about somebody else. That's they. So here the first person is speaking to the second person about the third person. Paul is speaking to the Christian about the non-Christian. So in verse three, Paul speaks in the third person when he says they and them. It comes when they say peace and safety. It comes upon them, not us, them, as labor pains and so on. The indication is that the ones Paul is speaking to, the Christians, will not be there when this day begins, and this day will begin when they say, we have achieved peace and safety. That will come with the Antichrist. There's no possible way we could say today we are in a day of peace and safety, as you referred to this morning. It's a time of trouble and turmoil. With Iran, North Korea building up, Ukraine, Russia, it doesn't look like peace in the near future. And peace is one of the great efforts of mankind today. And I believe that will escalate until both Jew and Arab are finally willing to make peace with each other. We're quite a ways from that yet too, it looks like. No doubt, this is the peace pact of Daniel 9, verse 27. Well, if the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night on all non-Christians, Paul then tells us this truth of the Day of the Lord, that it should not come as a surprise or as a thief in the night to Christians. We begin the point in verse 4 which says, We're not in darkness, it shouldn't come as total oblivion to us. Paul is no longer speaking about they and them, he is now talking to the Thessalonian believers. Then notice the word, but. There's a contrast, and in the Greek it's just a slight contrast between the sun that is given here, but there's a difference between the sons of the night and the sons of the day, the believers. So he says, but you, brethren, are not in darkness, that this day should overtake you as a thief. So we ask, will this day overtake the believer as well? If you look at the text, will it overtake the believer as well? But not like a thief? Well, you can look at that. We'll come to it again later. Or is it because the Church Age believer will not be part of the Day of the Lord? What's the reason here? Notice in verse 4, it speaks of this day. This day refers to the Day of the Lord. And the Day of the Lord is an Old Testament concept, and it speaks of the nighttime and of the daytime. Let me just give you a little word. When it talks about the Day of the Lord and it's bad, you know it's the nighttime. When it talks about the Day of the Lord and it's good, you know it's the millennium. The phrase Day of the Lord occurs 30 times in the Bible and 25 of those are in the Old Testament. In verse 5, Paul now explains why this day does not overtake the believer as a thief. It is because, and it says, you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. Well, what does that mean? One must answer here what day is spoken of when it says believers are sons of the day. The immediate context is that of the day of the Lord. However, it does not fit well that Christians are sons of the day of the Lord, the darkness part. Because that is a time of darkness and gloominess, and we are sons of light. This day must be some day that the Thessalonians were well aware of, for Paul does not define what day he is speaking about. I think he is referring to the day of Christ. Now, we should have Sunday school talk about the day of Christ. He speaks of this in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 2. In this passage it is evident that they are well aware of what day the day of Christ is. Let me just note here that all modern versions follow a manuscript variant which reads day of the Lord, not day of Christ. I do not think that is right. So let's look at the identification of this day in 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 through 5. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you now, which coming is this? The rapture, right? not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember when I was still with you, I told you these things?" You see there, they were familiar with this day. So I think that the Day of Christ is a time period which is in progress from the time the Tribulation begins and Christians are raptured, if you look at our overhead, until the believers return near the end of the Tribulation or at the end of the Tribulation. The Day of Christ is the heaven part for the believer. The Day of the Lord, the night part, is for the sons of darkness. I think it describes the time of the day of the Lord from the Christian perspective. J. Dwight Pentecost says with regard to reference to the day of Christ, in each case in which the day of Christ is used, it is used specifically in reference to the expectation of the church, her translation, glorification, and examination for reward. That's the rapture. So the Day of Christ is referred to five times in the New Testament, and in my estimation, always refers to the time when the wedding takes place in glory, Christ and the Church. So you can observe all this on the diagram as I've given it. Notice that in verse 1 he speaks of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he explains which part of his coming he is referring to. It is when the believer is gathered together to him and that happens at the rapture. Then notice in verse 3 he says, let no one deceive you by any means for that day. See, note the phrase, that day. The words that day refer to the day of Christ. He goes on to say that it will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed. Now, I have explained this falling away in another message, so what do I view this falling away as? Somebody tell me. The rapture, and it seems strange. It's a very big difference between a falling away and a rapture, but I've explained all that in another message. So we ask now, and I think the translation should be the departure. Departure will not happen until. And we must ask then, which departure? And the context just tells you it's a departure when Christians go to be with the Lord. Now, note our diagram. The departure, the rapture, happens just before the day of the Lord begins. The day of Christ in heaven begins at that time, but on earth, the day of the Lord, the nighttime starts. Now, if you want to read this nighttime in brief, read Revelation 6 through 19. You will get a picture. Now, note that the Christian is a son of the day. in the day of Christ, and he is a son of the day when he comes down with Christ from heaven at the end of the day of Christ. And on earth he enters the daytime of the day of the Lord, the millennium. Now just what is the result of all this? Notice now in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 6, the word therefore. Because we are sons of the light and of the day, therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. Now, this command to watch is a very common strain of thought in the teachings of Jesus for believers when it comes to eschatology or end-time teaching. And I could give you references for that. Now, the command to watch does not mean to keep your eyes up there because if you don't see him when he's coming, you're going to miss out. That's not what he's talking about. The command to watch is that we are to watch our lives so that we do not slowly drift away and then become unfit for the kingdom of God. And I ask you, this is summertime, do we have a danger of drifting away? And if we're not aware of that, we are due for a surprise. Verse six, therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. Note that it begins with the word therefore. Because we are sons of the day, therefore let us not sleep. Now the word to sleep can mean different things, but here it means to be spiritually asleep. Is there a danger of going to sleep spiritually? You know, I have watched Christian lives. When Jesus said, watch, you better watch. You better watch. It is so amazing how the devil can pull us off the path. It is this, it is an ever-present danger. It is ever-present. It's burdensome to watch some Christians caught up in all kinds of things that draw you off the path. You say, well, it's not that bad. No, it's not that bad. You aren't very far down the road yet. When our work or our concerns for our physical welfare overtake, we are falling asleep. When we get involved in certain practices, we are falling asleep. When we get drawn off by video games or internet or all kinds of things otherwise, we are falling asleep. The danger is there at every part of life. And you know what the most horrible thing is? When we're going off the path, we don't even realize we're going off the path. Now he says, let us not sleep as others do, literally as the rest are doing. That's what everybody else is doing, falling asleep. By far, the majority are spiritually dead, and many Christians are falling asleep. May I ask you this morning, where are you? It's summertime. What a danger. It's there. There are none of us here who are above that. Now, here is the contrast to sleeping. Let us watch and be sober. Oh, how difficult it is not to remain spiritually alert. Right now we're in summer mode. That's a dangerous time, isn't it? Do you not find it easy to forget the things of the Lord? Do you? Let me ask you, are you alive and alert spiritually? How's your Bible reading? Maybe better yet, how's your prayer life? be talking to myself. I was talking to a certain lady recently, and she talked about how discouraging prayer could be. I'm going to ask you, do you know this? Do we just keep going no matter how it seems or feels? We just keep going? Oh, Lord, wake me up to prayer. Let us watch. And then let us be sober. What's the connection between watching and being sober? The word for sober is ne'efo. It means, according to Vine's dictionary, to be free from intoxicants. What happens when one takes intoxicants into the body? Well, we kind of know. Surely one is no longer watchful. work or the internet and many other things are intoxicants, or they can be intoxicants, though they may be fully okay for many things. And if one gets a little too intoxicated, you know, you start doing silly stuff. Did you know that? Yeah, you know that? My kids, well, I don't know if they've forgotten now, but they could hardly get over that. We were driving somewhere, and here was this drunk, and he was hugging a telephone pole. This was his lover. They just couldn't believe how would people do something like this. Yeah, that's what intoxicants do. That's where many Christians are. They are there. We just don't see it. We just don't see it. And we don't notice when we're going there. Sober. Consider those who get sidetracked, say, by internet or any other kinds of things. You know, they waste a pile of time. Have you ever noticed how much time a guy can waste on computer or internet? How about someone who becomes a workaholic? Are there people like that? Intoxicated. Intoxicated with work. I remember our kids were telling you about this drunk who hugged the telephone pole. And I wonder sometimes what we look like to God. It is not becoming to those who are of the day to sleep. Verse seven says that those who sleep, sleep at night. The night is for sleeping. The lost are in a spiritual night and they sleep or they get drunk at night. We have a young nephew, I hope he doesn't mind me telling a little story. He was supposed to go to sleep and he had a good reason why he didn't need to go to sleep. You see, mom and dad, I'm nocturnal. May I ask you, is there such a thing as a nocturnal Christian? Not everybody sleeps at night. Nightlife begins for many, not by sleeping, but by drinking alcohol. Oh, the sin and the shame and debauchery that happens at night. I can tell you a story right now, maybe go over time a little bit, of a young pastor couple we met. Such a godly young couple. They are now way off the path. I don't know if the drugs, they're drunkards, having their kids babysat. It's horrendous. You see, many of the lost sleep at night. And they are, from our perspective, very nice people, right? They're just very nice people. In verse 8, we come back to those who are of the day, the Christian. The command is first to be sober, which we have looked at already. But there is something to be happening while we are sober that will keep us sober. And it is this first putting on the breastplate of faith. Have you ever seen how difficult faith is when you get into certain circumstances? It's just straight plain difficult. In another illustration in Ephesians 6.14, Paul uses the breastplate as the protection of righteousness. Here he calls it the breastplate of faith. Many times when I pray in the morning, I thank God for the fact that he has chosen that the just shall live by faith. But you know, it is difficult. But faith pleases him. This is where grace comes in. We can all exercise faith and we all find it hard. We never get to see God. We have the universe that literally screams there is a God. And then we have God's wonderful word and it proclaims who this God is, but we never get to see him. The day is coming, the day is coming. No, the just shall live by faith. That which will protect the Christian soldiers' vitals is the shield of faith. For those interested in these two pieces of armor, you might want to listen to our messages on Ephesians 6, 10 through 20. And there is something else that is supposed to be happening while we live our lives soberly, and that is that we are to put on the hope of salvation as a helmet. When we are struck in our spiritual vitals with an arrow, or we're hit on the head and so on, it can be fatal. Listen, it can be fatal. We got off the path on the internet. Whatever it was, it can be fatal. When we are hit on the head by the wicked one, it too can be fatal, and our helmet is the hope of what? Hope of salvation. This hope is also pictured in Hebrews as an anchor of the soul. keeps you from drifting. Once we lose the hope of salvation, we are done for. We're done for. This hope must be protected. Now look at verse nine. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the word for that begins this verse. Why should we put on the breastplate of faith and the hope of salvation? It is because God did not appoint us to what? Wrath. Now, you may wish to check me out on this, but when it speaks of God's wrath in this way, it refers to the tribulation time, as I see it. Never otherwise, as I see it. That is when God pours out his wrath. His wrath is never used. One possible reference may be to speak of hell. Otherwise, it's the tribulation. In hell, it is his justice, not his wrath. In the tribulation, God's wrath is poured out on mankind without mixture. This is the wrath that will be poured out in the nighttime of the day of the Lord, which is the subject of our context. The verse further says, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this salvation does not speak of salvation from sin and hellfire, but from what? The wrath of God. That's what it says. salvation from the wrath of God, and I think it includes the entire Tribulation. We're saved from all of this. Turn to Revelation chapter 6. We'll go through the references that speak of God's wrath in the Tribulation. The Tribulation begins in chapter 6 and then goes through chapter 19, and so we'll see what God's Word says about this. We begin with 6.12 through 16. I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place." Do you know what that means? On one of the huge quakes that took place there, a big tsunami, one island moved a couple inches or so. Every island. Verse 15, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man hid themselves in caves in the rocks of the mountains, Revelation 6, 16, and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Verse 17. For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Chapter 11, verse 18. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. Chapter 14, verse 8. 8 through 10. And another angel followed, crying, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Then another angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worshiped the beast and his image and receives his mark on their foreheads or in his hand, He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." Chapter 14, verse 19. So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. Chapter 15, verse 1. Then I saw another angel in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. Verse 7. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bulls, full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. Chapter 16, verse 1. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth. Chapter 16, verse 19. Now the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Chapter 18, verse 3. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." Now Jamieson, Fawcett, and Brown say, they have drunk of her fornication, the consequences of which will be wrath for themselves. So he's referring to that as the wrath here. 19, verse 15, now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now the day of the Lord will soon begin. It's coming. As we speak here, it's coming. We see it in the world. The day begins with the night, and you see, we say it begins at midnight, but in the Bible, the evening and the morning, the evening and the morning, the evening and the morning. So earlier we asked, will the day of the Lord overtake the Christian, but it won't be like a thief in the night for him, but it's going to overtake him? We go on now in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 10. Let me read verses nine to 10. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Verse nine ends with the words to obtain salvation. That is salvation from this wrath. That's the context. He did not appoint us to that. Turn back to 1 Thessalonians 1 for just a moment. Here he's speaking to the Thessalonian believers like this, verse 9. Let me just say something there. Here are these Thessalonians. They've got all kinds of false gods, all kinds of stuff. They have never heard of Jesus Christ. Now they heard, and they turned. They turned so much, Paul said, I don't have to say anything there. I don't have to say anything there. You've been there. And listen to them now in verses nine through 10. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus Christ, who delivers us from what? Yeah, that's the salvation we're talking about in chapter five. So that brings us to our conclusion for this morning, and Paul's conclusion to this great doctrine in verse 11, You know what that says? You're going to need encouragement. Anybody here need encouragement? Yes. You're going to need encouragement. Let me ask you, because life becomes difficult, are you going to back out? I'll tell you what, you can find reasons inside the church to back out. Never mind outside the church. Don't back out. No, we are those of faith, aren't we? We believe, therefore comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing. Now the word therefore, we need to always ask wherefore? Why should we comfort one another with these words? Because Jesus who was raised from the dead, there is our assurance. We can trust him. delivers us from the wrath to come. Now listen, if Christians are going to go through the tribulation, how can it be said that we are delivered from the wrath to come? If the post-tribulational doctrine is true, there is not much of a comfort to comfort one another with. Someone has said that's the blasted hope, not the blessed hope. But we can comfort one another because Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. That's the salvation of our text. The word for comfort here is the same word used in noun form to speak of the Holy Spirit. He is the comforter. Second, we are to edify one another. Somebody tell me, what does that mean? How do we edify one another? to build up, build up one another. Anybody here ever need to be built up? The word here means to build up one another as you do when you are building a house. We are an unfinished project. And we are to build one another up. You know how easy it is to tear one another down? And how do we build one another up? Well, these passages here tell us how. You know what? Hang on there. It's not long from now. He's coming. He's coming. Paul told them about the rapture, the great catching up. For 18, 16 and on, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with him. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. In 5.1-11, he has assured us that the tribulation is for the unbeliever. It is for them, and it is for they. They will experience this day, not the believer. It says, for when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon an expecting woman, and they shall not escape. So therefore, comfort and build each other up with this doctrine. Then let me comfort us with one other thought. When we are caught up to go to be with the Lord, I believe we will know all of what happened on earth in the past. We'll know that. We'll know who went to hell and who didn't. But I believe when we pass on to the other side, we will say, Lord, it's just 100% right. Have you ever noticed what happens when somebody has passed away 20 years ago that was close to you? What happens? You still remember? You know, we sing about no tears in heaven. I don't find that in the Bible. Not until the new heavens and the new earth. And then, it says that. Up until then, it's not like that, I believe. We will know who went to hell, and we will say, God, you just did everything right. And this knowledge will never cloud our eyes. Is that unbelievable? You know when it should cloud our eyes right now? On this side. We will see God in all his attributes and we will be perfectly content if we finish our life by faith. There's a warning, there's a whole new message here for those for whom, believers, for whom Christ comes as a thief. And a lot of them, well maybe all of them, if he comes as a thief, they won't be there. Let me assure you with this, from my understanding, this is what I believe. Nothing from the past will trouble us. You say, where did you get that, Walna, could you believe heaven would be troubled there? Let me encourage those who haven't listened to those, your first day in heaven. And now, be encouraged with this great doctrine of the great catching up. It's coming, and we believe it will be very soon.