The Snare of that Day

          It is sad when history repeats itself. You see, in the Apostle Paul’s time, the Thessalonian Church was confused and concerned. Some of them were panicking because they thought the Day of the Lord had already come and they had somehow missed it. Today, too many believers don’t know what the Day of the Lord is, let alone how it is connected to Christ’s return. Here is Paul’s word of assurance.
         “But concerning the times [chronos] and the seasons [kairos], 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 light and sons of the Day. We are not of the night nor of darkness” (1 Thess. 5:1-5).
            In Luke’s version of Jesus’ Olivet teaching on the signs of this age and Christ’s return, the detailed-oriented physician noted: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35).
            End-Time Lesson: So much of the Church’s confusion over the end-times is because we don’t understand the times and the seasons laid out in God’s Word. Paul reminds us that when the Day of the Lord dawns, it will come in two ways. (1) To those who are in the Kingdom of Light and are therefore “sons of the Day,” we are not in the dark concerning its timing. We know it is the last Day. And we will be waiting expectedly to behold our Bridegroom coming in the clouds to take us back to Heaven with Him! (2) To those who walk in the darkness of this world, that Day will come as a shock, especially when God rolls back the veil over the spiritual realm and they see Jesus literally coming to the earth to take His Bride back to Heaven.
            They will experience the snare of that Day. It is the appointed time of judgment, the wrath of that Day, and God’s vengeance against evil. As for those who are in Christ, “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” (1 Thess. 5:9-10). We are caught up with Christ before God’s wrath is unleashed in the form of the trumpet and bowl judgments. In fact, one of the primary purposes of the rapture is to seat us as the heavenly court in order to execute those judgments. Stay tuned for more on this orderly escape!
            Much of the book of Revelation deals with snare of that Day and God’s vengeance against evil. Once the overview of this age is given in the first few chapters of the book (Ch. 1-10), the focus shifts to the supplemental visions (Ch. 11-19) that give us different angles of the first 3½ years of Christ’s millennial reign. This is where the trumpet/bowl judgments bring God’s wrath upon the nations and against the Antichrist’s coalition of armies.
            The wrath is God’s righteous judgment against those who have fostered evil on the earth. Yet God’s desire is still that all mankind be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). This is one reason why we need to understand the times and the seasons. It prods us to be about our Father’s business, sharing our faith so that others may escape this wrath.