I recently read about a college student in Lubbock, Texas who was taking his final college exam - a final in a logic class known for its difficult exams. To help with the test - the professor told the students they could bring as much information to the exam as they could fit on a piece of notebook paper. Most students - writing very, very small - crammed as many facts as possible on their 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper.

One student - however - tried something different. On the day of the test this student walked into the class on logic and put a piece of notebook paper on the floor. He then invited an advanced logic student to stand on the paper. The advanced logic student told him everything he needed to know. He became the only student to receive an “A.”

There is coming a day when we will all stand before God who will judge us - a pass/fail exam with eternal consequences: God’s wrath - eternal separation from God - or heaven - eternal reward. Who will be victorious? Who will pass God’s judgment?

Look with me at 1 Thessalonians 5:11 - “Now as to the times and the epochs brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.” Thessalonian Church - you already know everything you need to know about this coming judgment.

Verse 2: “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.”

Let’s pause here - there are two things here that we need to make sure we understand. First - we need to understand what Paul means by “The day of the Lord.”

When I was in college I took a class called “Church and Last Things.” It was taught by a very hard professor who would randomly test us on what seemed like the most obscure information. So, we took detailed notes and we memorized everything this professor said.

One day, this professor started on the left side of the chalk board and began to outline all the future events of Biblical history - starting with Old Testament prophesies - moving along through the Bible all the way to the book of Revelation. Imagine this - the class was over an hour in length and for that entire time he never stopped writing - a chalk board 16 feet long - completely filled - covering in minute detail Biblical prophecy about the return of Jesus Christ. And, each of us was furiously writing all this down because we never knew what part of it would appear on a test.

Just towards the end of the class period - the professor stood back - looked at what he had written - said out loud, “That’s not right.” And erased the whole thing.

There are a number of different interpretations about the timing of events and the return of Jesus Christ. However, there are certain facts that we can know with complete certainty. One of these is the meaning of The Day of The Lord.

The prophet Joel writes: “For the day of the Lord is near; and it will come as destruction from the Almighty. The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, and who can endure it?” (Joel 1:15; 2:11b)

Isaiah writes: “For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and loft and against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased. Behold the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it.” (Isaiah 2:12; 13:9)

Zephaniah writes: “A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and battle cry.” (Zephaniah 1:15,16a)

All of this is summed up in the words of Jesus, “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” (Matthew 24:21)

The Day of The Lord is not a single 24 hour day that we can circle on our calendar or enter into our Palm Pilot. Its an extended period of future time covering a number of events - beginning at the return of Jesus - continuing over a period of 7 years - often referred to as the Tribulation - and perhaps continuing on for another thousand years - into what has been called the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ here on earth.

The Day of the Lord - is a period when God moves in judgment of our society and government - judgment on our military and economic arrogance - judgment on all of our pride and false religion. A period when God’s wrath is poured out upon mankind.

Second, we need to understand that the Day of the Lord will come suddenly.

In China today its illegal to speak of the Day of the Lord - of the return of Jesus Christ and coming judgment and wrath. Its illegal to preach from the book of Revelation. It just doesn’t fit into the philosophy of the People’s Republic of China. In China - Jesus is officially a teacher of love and happiness - not the God to whom we’re accountable for how we live our lives - not the returning Savior and Lord and judge.

So much of the world - and even in many churches - so much of the world is like this today. The world is expecting a great era of peace and prosperity - safety - something we can achieve by our own statesmanship - our own social engineering. So we go our own way - conscious of spirituality - but in denial of God. Paul says the Day of the Lord will come “like thief in the night.” We’ve heard stories of families sleeping peacefully in their bedrooms while a thief enters and steals something of value. That’s the way a way a thief works - silently - unexpectedly - at great cost.

Paul says, the Day of the Lord will come like “like labor pains upon a woman with child.”

I’ve been through this 4 times now. With pregnancy we’ve known labor is coming. But, there’s no way to predict the exact time - 11:50 a.m. - Sunday - March 4th. And when it comes - there’s no way to escape it. Everything changes. You’re in labor.

The Day of the Lord - is a period of God’s judgment and wrath that will arrive and take mankind by surprise.

Going on - verse 4: “But - notice that contrast - But you, brethren - are different - you - are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day.”

During the time that Jehoram was king of Israel - Ben-hadad, the King of Aram, came and attacked Israel. Each time that Ben-hadad, King of Aram, secretly planned where to attack Israel, Elisha - the prophet of God - sent word to King Jehoram telling him what King Ben-hadad was planning to do. Imagine - King Ben-hahad secretly plans - God tells Elisha the plans - Elisha tells Jehoram - King of Israel - who keeps defeating King Ben-Hadad. Which really frustrated and enraged King Ben-hadad.

So, Ben-hadad, the King of Aram, decides to go after Elisha. So, one night he sends his horses and chariots and a huge army and surrounds the city of Dothan where Elisha and his servant are staying. In the morning Elisha’s servant gets up and looks out beyond the edge of the city and the whole place is surrounded by the huge - armed to the teeth army. He panics. “Elisha, what are we going to do?”

Elisha answers him and says, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Its not hard to imagine that this poor servant looked at Elisha - looked at himself - and looked at that army and thought that Elisha had lost it. “We’re gonna die!”

Elisha prays and says, “O Lord, open his eyes that he may see.” And God opens the eyes of the servant and he sees God’s army - larger - more powerful - protecting them. Elisha and his servant leave without being hurt and the Aramean army is captured by Israel. (2 Kings 6:8-19)

This is what Paul is writing about. Looking at the decay of our world we see something different - a spiritual battle in which God has the upper hand. In coming judgment and wrath - we see the hand of our God at work.

Jesus doesn’t come to His church as a thief. Jesus told His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2b,3) We know that the battle belongs to the Lord and that those who are in Jesus will experience His victory.

Verse 5: “We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

The breastplate is armor that covers the heart - who we are at the core of our being. That part of us needs to be guarded by faith - continually focused on God. Guarded by love - complete commitment to God and to sharing His love with others. The helmet protects our head - our thoughts - the focus of our minds.

Don’t be lulled into a spiritual dreamland - the false spirituality that the world thinks is real. Stay sober - don’t be intoxicated by the pleasures of this world - the escape from reality. Be awake. Be alert. Stay focused on God and His ministry through you. Let the reality of your eternal relationship with God - your eternal destination - shape the decisions and priorities and activities that you occupy yourself with today.

Verse 9: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep - alive or in death - we will live together with Him.”

That’s the bottom line: “God has not destined us for wrath.” But, victory in the midst of judgment.

In Genesis 6 we read that man had became wicked - spiritually corrupt - his thoughts continually focused on evil. Mankind was in complete rebellion against God. God looks at mankind and is sorry He ever created us. God grieves over mankind. In judgment, God decides to pour out His wrath on mankind - to wipe out mankind from the face of the earth.

We know that - in the midst of all this evil - Noah - who was trying to live rightly before God - Noah found favor in God’s eyes. God tells Noah of His coming judgment and His coming wrath. God warns Noah. Just as God has told us what’s coming. And, God tells Noah how he can be saved even in the midst of the coming judgment - build an ark. “I’ll shut the door. You’ll be safe inside.” Just as God has told us how we can be saved and has shut us up within the safety of Jesus Christ. (Genesis 6-9; Matthew 24:36-41; 1 Peter 3:18-22)

Our Armenian Evangelical forefathers stated the belief of our church this way: “We believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust, and a day of judgment: and that the happiness of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, commence at death, and continue without end.” (Armenian Evangelical Confession of Faith, Article 10)

Revelation 20 describes, in part, what will happen when Jesus returns - verses which speak of final judgment and the pouring out of God’s wrath - a casting into the Lake of Fire and eternal torment and separation from God - a very sad and terrifying end to our lives. All will be judged - Muslims - Buddhist - atheist - deist - and even Christians. (Revelation 20:11-15)

And yet, in the midst of judgment - the Bible shows us that God has provided for us a way past judgment to eternal life - the presence of God forever. Paul writes in Romans 5: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Romans 5:8,9) When we repent of our sins - and receive God’s gift of salvation through Jesus - we will be saved. We will be victorious even in the midst of judgment.

Verse 11: “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are doing.”We live in an increasingly paranoid and fearful society. We’re politically correct and fearful of being politically incorrect. Afraid of dying and death - prolonging life and unable to die - and yet seeking to murder the infirmed and aged. We champion the rights of individuals and yet murder the unborn. There is an explosion of information available to us and yet we’re fearful of the unknown. And while we rush towards becoming a “global village” we are fearful of exposure and loosing our privacy. We speak optimistically - and yet in our hearts we’re pessimists. So many ask, “Is there really any thing to hope for in life?”

Even Christians tend to focus on the wrath of God. We serve Him because its our obligation to do so. Trusting Jesus is like a type of “Fire Insurance” - a way to avoid the Lake of Fire and eternal torment. Its a hopeless way to live life.

But, Paul writes, “God has not destined us for wrath, but for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God offers us something tremendously different - salvation - hope - eternity with God. Live by this truth. Encourage each other with this truth. Live victoriously - triumphantly - in this truth. And, tell others.