THE LAST JUDGMENT

Finally, we believe, according to the Word of God, when the time appointed by the Lord (which is unknown to all creatures) is come, and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, corporally and visibly, as He ascended, with great glory and majesty to declare Himself Judge of the quick and the dead, burning this old world with fire and flame to cleanse it …

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Christ’s Coming as a Thief in the Night

“But know this, that if the goodman [i.e., master] of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up [i.e., into]. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:43-44).

“And this know, that if the goodman [i.e., master] of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through [i.e., into]. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:39-40).

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief” (I Thess. 5:1-4).

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Pet. 3:10).

“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Rev. 3:3).

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (Rev. 16:15).

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W. J. Grier: “Speaking about the word ‘apocalypse,’ or ‘revelation,’ of the Lord, used in the New Testament for His second coming, Dr. Vos says that the ‘very idea of suddenness and unexpectedness seems to be intimately associated with the word.’ It is as if a curtain were suddenly flung aside and the Lord of glory revealed. His coming will be ‘as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them’ (1 Thess. 5:2, 3). The Saviour Himself said that His coming would be ‘as the lightning’ (Matt. 24:27)—as sudden, and as universally visible. None will foresee it and all will see it at once. What a warning this should be to careless sinners and to slack, easy-going professors of religion!” (The Momentous Event [Belfast: Evangelical Book Shop, 1951], p. 10).

R. C. H. Lenski on I Thessalonians 5:4: “‘Brethren’ helps to emphasize ‘you’ in contrast with other men. The rest are ‘in darkness,’ in unbelief, in ignorance of the light of the Word, but not you … The Lord’s [return] will not catch the believers as a thief catches the sleeping owner of a house. [Katalambanoo] means to catch or capture. Believers know all about ‘the day’ and how it will come and thus keep themselves in perfect readiness. All this is said about the Thessalonians (v. 5 includes also the writers) just as we say it regarding ourselves because neither they nor we know when ‘the day’ will come.”