Theme: WATCH AND PRAY
Text: “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.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:3.
Comment: The fact that destruction will meet the world suddenly when people do not expect is reiterated by St. Paul in today’s text. A woman with child knows the period when she is due to deliver but she cannot tell the very day and hour, as it could come earlier or later than expected. Knowing that God would take vengeance on the wicked anytime in this age, it is only reasonable for true worshippers to give themselves to the study of the Bible and to put away evil from their lives. St. Peter admonished believers not to live the rest of their time “…in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God… Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” – 1 Peter 4:2-5.
Though Christians know that it is any time within these last days that God will punish the wicked, yet “… of that day and hour knoweth no man…” (Matthew 24:36). When people of the world in their arrogance would have assured themselves that they had taken care of the major issues in the world, it is that time sudden destruction would descend on the earth. “But of the times and 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:1,2,4.