1 Thessalonians 5:3 Commentary and Bible Study

It does not mean that they have got peace and safety. It does not mean that Christ will come at a time when there is universal peace, and there is no unrest in the world. Far from it! The Scripture teaches the opposite. There will be wars and rumours of wars and these things will prevail until the end. They are a reflection of human nature. Without the restraining hand of God the whole world would erupt into war. It is human nature to fight and to be spiteful. People are now complaining about all the vituperation and the hostility and the vilification on the internet, but that is what would be on going with actual weapons, if God did not hold back sin. No, it does not mean peace and safety, freedom from war. It means this will be the prevailing concern of so many people. They will be concerned only about this life and not about the next. They will be only interested in the material and not in the spiritual. Safety – safety from what? Well, clearly what that means most of all today is safety from God. At a time when they think they have got safety from God, the conscience is quiet. Peace, what kind of peace is referred to here? It is peace from conscience and from God. You do not believe in absolute moral standards anymore. This is the period when they shall say peace, prosperity, and safety and particularly liberty from any moral restraints, any standards, any conscience, any notion of God. We have got rid of him. ‘Then sudden destruction cometh upon them.’ Now, that does not mean destruction in terms of death. We have to interpret the verse in the light of the very things which the apostle goes on to say not only here in 1 Thessalonians, but in 2 Thessalonians. Sudden destruction does not mean sudden death and annihilation of all people, body and souls, who are rejecters of God. Sudden destruction means the destruction of all that makes life worthwhile. When they are saying prosperity and freedom to do as I like, then all that makes life worthwhile to them will come to a sudden end. But they are still alive because God has to be faced in judgement and punishment has to be given. ‘As travail upon a woman with child.’ It will be sudden. They do not, as one has put it, lose their being, but they lose their well-being. It does not matter how rich, does not matter how creative, does not matter whether they are great military leaders, or whether they are famous and admired – they will not escape.