174
The Acts of the Apostles
“Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him,”
Paul wrote. Many interpret this passage to mean that the sleeping
ones will be brought with Christ from heaven; but Paul meant that
as Christ was raised from the dead, so God will call the sleeping
saints from their graves and take them with Him to heaven. Precious
consolation! glorious hope! not only to the church of Thessalonica,
but to all Christians wherever they may be.
While laboring at Thessalonica, Paul had so fully covered the
subject of the signs of the times, showing what events would occur
prior to the revelation of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, that
[260]
he did not think it necessary to write at length regarding this subject.
He, however, pointedly referred to his former teachings. “Of the times
and the seasons,” he said, “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.”
There are in the world today many who close their eyes to the
evidences that Christ has given to warn men of His coming. They seek
to quiet all apprehension, while at the same time the signs of the end
are rapidly fulfilling, and the world is hastening to the time when the
Son of man shall be revealed in the clouds of heaven. Paul teaches
that it is sinful to be indifferent to the signs which are to precede the
second coming of Christ. Those guilty of this neglect he calls children
of the night and of darkness. He encourages the vigilant and watchful
with these words: “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. Therefore
let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”
Especially important to the church in our time are the teachings of
the apostle upon this point. To those living so near the great consum-
mation, the words of Paul should come with telling force: “Let us, who
are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love;
and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
[261]
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died
for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with
Him.”
The watchful Christian is a working Christian, seeking zealously
to do all in his power for the advancement of the gospel. As love for