Transcript

Harry Randall Truman was a resident of the state of Washington who lived on Mount St. Helens for many years.

The 83-year-old Truman, was owner and caretaker of the Mount St. Helens Lodge on Spirit Lake at the foot of the mountain, where he oversaw a crumbling collection of cabins, 16 or so cats and a fleet of boats rented out in summers.

He and his wife, Edna, had built the lodge and cabins. She had died three years earlier and Truman had closed the lodge, which was slowly being taken over, and smelling like, the cats. He came to brief fame in the months preceding the volcano’s May, 1980 eruption after he stubbornly refused to leave his home despite evacuation orders.

During the two months of volcanic activity preceding the eruption, he gave numerous interviews to reporters expressing his opinion that the danger from the volcano was exaggerated, saying in one instance, “I don’t have any idea whether it will blow…But I don’t believe it to the point that I’m going to pack up.”

Truman discarded all of his concerns about the volcano and his situation, stating “This area is heavily timbered, Spirit Lake is in between me and the mountain, and the mountain is a mile away, that mountain ain’t gonna hurt me.”

According to a newspaper called The Bulletin, he responded to being knocked from his bed by precursor earthquakes by moving his mattress to his basement.

Truman scoffed at the warning of him being in a danger zone, and he scoffed at the public’s concern for his safety. One group of children from Salem, Oregon sent him banners inscribed “Harry—We Love You” and begged him to leave the area.

Truman was alone at his lodge on May 18, 1980, when death responded with both barrels, pointed right down the volcano’s north flank and directly into his front door.

A fireman named Fred Johns watched the eruption through a telescope. He said, “When I saw that big slide hit, I said to myself, ‘If Harry Truman and his 16 cats were alive in that lodge, they aren’t now.’”

A pyroclastic flow engulfed the Spirit Lake area, destroying the lake and burying the site of his lodge under 150 feet of volcanic landslide debris. He was defiant right to the day he was entombed by the guts of the mountain whose shadow he refused to leave.

We too warn people of a catastrophe that is coming to this world, and that they need to escape it before it’s too late. If people today do not heed the warnings, they will be left behind at the Rapture and face an unprecedented time of destruction that will explode on this world with power, like Mount St. Helens, but much worse.

Harry Truman didn’t have to die on May 18, 1980 in his stubbornness if he would’ve listened to the warnings. But he refused to believe it, or do anything about it.

And people today don’t have to face the day of judgment that will overtake the world after the Rapture if they listen to the repeated warnings of Scripture.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-2: “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.”

Paul begins a new subject here. After teaching about the Rapture of the Church, the Body of Christ in chapter 4, verses 13-18, Paul turns to the horrific event that follows it, the 7 year tribulation in chapter 5, verses 1-3. Because the next thing in God’s timeline of future events after the Rapture is the Tribulation period.

The teaching of these verses about the Day of the Lord refer to Israel’s program, while the Rapture belongs with the program for the Body of Christ, and this is why in verse 1 of chapter 5 the new subject matter is properly introduced with the word “But.”

The teaching of the first verses of chapter 5 refer to subsequent events from the Rapture, not concurrent. Our Lord will first come to take His Church out of the world and then judgment follows.

Believers are caught up to heaven at the end of chapter 4; then in chapter 5, Paul speaks of those who are left behind on the earth to face the terror of the Tribulation.

In verse 1, Paul speaks of “the times and seasons.” “Times and seasons” refer to God’s plans for Israel and it’s used in reference to the end times and Israel’s last days.

The Lord used this phrase in Acts 1:7 in relation to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom and Israel’s end times events.

God’s program with Israel is on a prophetic time schedule. Times and seasons refers to the schedule of events which God has planned for Israel and the different things that take place within the last days.

Paul told the Thessalonians there was “no need that I write unto you” about these things. The reason there was no need for Paul to expound fully on the times and seasons of Israel’s end times events, is because they were a part of Scripture. They are all a revealed part of prophecy. They are subjects found in the Old Testament and the four Gospels.

However, with the Rapture, Paul did need to expound on it. He spoke of it in chapter 4 verse 15 “by the word of the Lord.” The Rapture is not part of prophecy. It’s not found in the Old Testament or the Gospels. This coming of the Lord was a secret, unrevealed in Scripture in time past, until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul “by the word of the Lord.”

The Thessalonians were “ignorant” and needed more light on the truth of the Rapture, but in contrast they understood “perfectly,” the truth about “the day of the Lord,” from the Old Testament Scriptures, so that Paul could say to them concerning this: “Ye have no need that I write unto you.”

In verse 2, Paul wrote by inspiration that the “Day of the Lord…cometh.” It is coming because God says it’s coming. It will happen one day. But we don’t know when. It will begin after the Rapture of the Church which could happen anytime.

The Day of the Lord is not a day of twenty-four hours, but an extended period of time with certain characteristics. This “day” is a time that will extend over 1000 years.

The prophets used the term “day of the Lord” to describe God’s vengeance. The prominent idea associated with the day of the Lord in the Old Testament as well as in this passage is that of judgment, destruction and darkness.

Listen to how Isaiah 13:6-11 describes this day: “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty…Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger…For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth…And I will punish the world for their evil…”

In this context in Thessalonians, the judgment and vengeance of the Day of the Lord is in striking contrast to the comfort, hope and resurrection taught about the Rapture at the end of chapter 4.

The Day of the Lord begins with the 7-year tribulation and extends to the creation of the new heavens and new earth according to 2 Peter 3:10: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away…the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

So the Day of the Lord entails all the end times events of the Tribulation, Christ’s Second Coming, and the Millennial Kingdom and everything in between.

Paul points out three things about the day of the Lord in these verses: (1) It will be unexpected; (2) It will be destructive and painful; (3) It will be inescapable.

Paul wrote the Thessalonians that they knew full well that the day of the Lord would come like “a thief in the night,” or unexpectedly, unwelcomed, harmfully.

The day of the Lord will be a terrifying shock to this world, to those who do not know the Lord and are not taken in the Rapture and are left behind to face this terrible day.

The day of the Lord is coming as a thief in the night. The Lord said also that at His second Coming He would come as a thief in Revelation 16:15: “Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth.”

The simile of a thief describes: (1) the coming of the Tribulation period, and (2) the Second Coming of the Lord in judgment at the end of the Tribulation.

The phrase thief in the night here isn’t referring to the Rapture, it’s talking about the beginning of the day of the Lord and the tribulation period. And the simile of a thief is NEVER used in reference to the coming of the Lord at the Rapture of the Church.

Using this simile about the day of the Lord teaches us something about its arrival: thieves don’t tell you when they’re coming.

A thief doesn’t announce in advance what time of the night he plans to rob someone. A thief comes when he is least expected, when no one expects him.

So we learn that the Day of the Lord will come when people are feeling safe and secure, and when it is not expected. The beginning of the Day of the Lord in the tribulation will completely surprise this world after the Rapture, and they will not see it coming.

1 Thessalonians 5:3: “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.”

Paul writes that people will be crying out “Peace and safety” at the time the Day of the Lord overwhelms them unexpectedly. The unsaved world will have a time of false peace and security just before the horrible events of the Tribulation are unleashed.

The cry of “Peace and safety” at the beginning of the Tribulation will be the result of lying deceivers, and the chief deceiver of that time: the Anti-Christ, who will be revealed after the Rapture. He will deceive the world into believing that peace and safety and prosperity have arrived with his arrival on the scene.

As the tribulation opens, in Revelation 6, the first seal judgment reveals how Satan’s Anti-Christ will come in, and he is pictured as riding on a white horse.

Satan counterfeits God’s plans in Christ. Satan has no original thoughts: so his plan is for one riding on a white horse coming on the world’s scene to establish a worldwide kingdom of peace, but it’s a false peace.

The Anti-Christ will come riding on the stage of the world at the beginning of the Tribulation with “a bow” to go “forth conquering, and to conquer,” Revelation 6:2 says.

He comes in with a bow with no arrows referring to the false peace and short-lived peace movement brought in at his coming.

His conquering without arrows speaks of a bloodless victory, won by means of deceptive covenant, agreement, policy, and politics. He’ll come in under the guise of being a peaceful political leader, and he will at this time sign his 7-year peace treaty with Israel.

He will exalt himself, and be lifted up with pride, and by means of false peace and professed friendship, promising peace and safety, he will rise to power.

Daniel 11:21,23 speaks of how “he shall work deceitfully…he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.”

Everyone in the world loves the idea of “world peace,” and the Anti-Christ will begin his reign of terror as a man of peace among a world predisposed and longing for this. The world will find him irresistible, and he’ll negotiate peaceful solutions for nations at war.

People will be crying “Peace and safety” in that day, and there will be a brief time of peace after the Rapture and world conditions will appear calm before the storm of the Tribulation breaks loose.

They will believe the lie of the Anti-Christ, and they’ll not expect what happens next when the judgment and “sudden destruction” of the day of the Lord and the Tribulation explodes and sweeps them away and there will be horror on earth like never before known to man.

The judgments of the Tribulation proceed like this: at first human conflict, bloodshed, slaughter, massacres and wars will engulf the earth. There will be pestilences, famine and the destruction of food supplies, and global hunger.

There will be mega-natural disasters, cataclysmic earthquakes which moves mountains and islands out of place. Fires will rage out of control around the world, waters will be contaminated, the sun, moon and star’s light will be reduced for a time.

A plague of demon-possessed locust-like creatures will be released from the pit of hell and will torture people for 5 months. They will sting and inflict incredible physical pain.

Then an unstoppable 200 million army of demonic horsemen, ruthlessly make war with earth’s inhabitants and destroy all that is in their path. They’ll kill with fire, smoke and brimstone.

Those who took the mark of the beast will then be stricken with painful skin sores, then all ocean water will be turned to blood, all fresh water will be turned to blood.

The sun’s heat will be increased and people will be scorched and seared by the great heat. Then the light will go out and the world will be struck with a fearful, thick darkness.

This is all followed by the most powerful earthquake in the history of the world, which will level mountains and cause islands to disappear. At the end of the Tribulation, 75-100 pound hail stones will fall, causing unimaginable devastation and death.

It will indeed be a time of “destruction” and death and horror and shock and fear.

Jeremiah 30:6,7 states, “wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble.”

The tribulation is the time of “Jacob’s” or Israel’s trouble, not the day of trouble for the Body of Christ.

Isaiah, Jeremiah and Paul all say the same that it will be a time “as travail upon a woman with child.” This illustrates how the Tribulation will be a sudden and protracted time of very real and agonizing pain and suffering as a woman giving birth to a child.

The illustration speaks of the suffering of the tribulation, but it also speaks of how, as in childbirth, the suffering hurts at first, but it gets worse and more intense as the labor goes on. And so the suffering and pain will increase in intensity through the Tribulation.

The first half of the tribulation are called “the beginning of sorrows” by the Lord in Matthew 24:8, or literally the beginning of birth pangs or labor pains.

By calling these things “the beginning” of labor pains, Christ indicated this also that things will get notably and remarkably worse as it goes on. And we see this in the description of the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments.

Thus “as travail upon a woman with child,” the Tribulation will bring real pain and agony, and it will cover a period of time in which the pain and suffering will increase in intensity.

And also as a woman in travail, once those labor pains begin you can’t escape it. Paul says regarding the Tribulation, “and they shall not escape.”

This is a period when the world must face the fierce wrath of God. When the Day of the Lord finally comes and God’s fury is poured out on the earth, there will be no place to run and no place to hide. When God’s judgment is poured out, no one will escape.

Many will try to escape out of their maddening terror and overpowering fear, and they’ll hide themselves in the rocks, mountains, caves, trying to hide themselves from the wrath of the Lamb, but they will not escape. Fleeing will be futile.

Once you’re in it, you can’t escape it. But you can escape it before it ever begins for certain by trusting the gospel right now: just trust that Christ died for your sins and rose again. Trusting that simple gospel message, you are saved from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-5: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”

In one sequence of a Peanuts comic, Lucy is frightened because it keeps raining. She begins to worry if another flood might come like the one in Noah’s day.

Linus explains to her that the rainbow is God’s promise that this kind of flood will never happen again. Lucy replies, “You’ve taken a great load off my mind.” To which Linus responds: “Sound theology has a way of doing that.”

Many believers are troubled about the future because of bad theology. They worry about going through the coming tribulation, whether all or part of it. They wonder if they should build underground shelters, store up supplies of food, ammunition and essentials to survive.

But we don’t need to worry. We won’t be here for any of the Tribulation. Sound theology can take this great load off your mind.

“But ye, brethren,” shifts the focus back to believers. After the terrifying predictions of verses 1-3, the contrasting “But” is a comforting relief to the “brethren.”

Like in verse 1, the word “But” emphasizes the distinction between the Body of Christ and those who will be left behind to go through the future Tribulation period.

The change in pronouns in these verses is crucial to note. Chapter 4, verses 13-18 clearly concern US, believers in the Body of Christ, while chapter 5, verses 1-3 concern THEM, the unbelievers who are left behind to go into the Day of the Lord.

This is why the pronoun “we” is used 4 times in relation to our hope of the Rapture.

“For if WE believe that Jesus died and rose again…WE which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven…the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then WE which are alive…shall be caught up…and so shall WE ever be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:14-17).

But here in verses 1-3, “they” and “them” are the subject. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 reads: “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.”

The “they” and “them,” are those left behind after the Rapture. And so Paul is teaching and reassuring the Church that we will NOT face the tribulation period. The Body of Christ will NOT experience the Day of the Lord. We will be caught up before it ever begins.

Paul says “the day of the Lord” will overtake “them,” the unbelieving world, as a thief in the night, and “they” shall not escape, as he distinguishes the Church from those who will endure God’s wrath in the Tribulation.

The Lord tells us this passage that WE “are not in darkness, that that day should overtake [us] as a thief,” because we won’t be here! We’ll have been caught up to heaven to be with the Lord when the day of the Lord and Trib comes as a thief to this world!

The day of the Lord will not overtake us as a thief; we will not be taken by surprise by the Tribulation, because the members of the Body of Christ will escape it, we will not be here during any part of the “night” and “darkness” of the Tribulation.

Zephaniah 1:15 says the Day of Lord is a “day of darkness…thick darkness.” Amos 5:20: “Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark…?

But Paul says, “But ye, brethren [or the Body of Christ], are not in darkness. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” We are not in danger of the Tribulation because we are not in darkness.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:4,5 the day and night are consecutive; the night follows the day. Currently under grace, it is the daytime; it is the “day of salvation.”

But after the day, or this dispensation of grace, has been brought to a close by the Rapture, the world will be plunged into the dark night of the Day of the Lord.

We’re in the daytime of grace right now, but the world is headed for the prophesied night of Israel’s Tribulation. It is approaching. But we’ll be taken home before the night begins.

Ephesians 5:8 says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.”

Paul says that “Ye are all,” children of light and children of the day. The whole Body of Christ, all believers are not spiritual darkness and have no part in the darkness in the Tribulation. We all belong to the light, to the day, to heaven, to Christ, and we will all be caught up at the Rapture before the darkness of God’s wrath in the Tribulation ever begins.

So we do not need to fear the Tribulation. We will not be part of any of it. It’s 100% guaranteed, based on the teaching of God’s Word.

God desires all to be saved and He doesn’t want anyone to be left behind at the Rapture. The message we are to share with the world is “Get right or get left,” get right with God, or get left behind.

Just by trusting that Christ died for your sins personally and rose again, you are right with God eternally and you will not be left behind.