Let us begin by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4:
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. 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
One overwhelming thing that we often hear as we are sharing information from the Bible regarding May 21, 2011 being Judgment Day is, “No man knows the day or hour.” I think that God’s people are getting good at learning how to respond to individuals who somehow think that by just quoting this verse and throwing it out there, it is going to make Judgment Day go away.
God has given us understanding and He has shown us through His Word what His plan was. His plan was to seal up His Word until the time of the end. At that point, He would open up the Scriptures to increase knowledge of the Bible. Within this increased knowledge, God would include information about Judgment Day, including the time. This is because He tells us that “a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.” So this is what God is doing.
Another verse that people refer to and statement that they make is, “Christ is coming as a thief. He is coming as a thief and a thief comes in the middle of the night.” They say this because a thief would normally not call your house to let you know what time he is coming. He does not inform you that he is coming at 3:00 A.M. or 4:00 A.M. so that you can leave the back door open for him. A thief does not do this, and so what individuals say and what the church says is, “You cannot know because Christ is coming as a thief in the night. The Bible is very clear about this.”
They are right. Christ is coming as a thief in the night. This is true, but there is more to this. So I would like to spend our time today looking at what Christ is coming to steal because He is coming as a thief and a thief comes to steal.
What is Jesus coming to steal from people who are not saved? What is He coming to take away from them? He has stated very clearly that the day of the Lord is as a thief in the night.
Let us go to Matthew 6 where I will begin in verse 19. Matthew 6:19-21 says:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
It is interesting to think about one’s treasure. People have a curiosity about hidden treasures or sunken treasures in the bottom of the ocean. There are always people who would like to get to these treasures or to the treasures in Egypt that are found when they unearth a pharaoh’s tomb. At the time of a pharaoh’s death, they were buried with all kinds of great treasure, which are still being found in our day. They recently found more artifacts and bits of treasure of a pharaoh.
So here God is speaking to us and He is giving us perfect and wise counsel to not lay up treasure on earth, but rather to lay this up in Heaven. What is wrong then with laying up treasure on earth?
Actually, there is a lot wrong with it. There is much wrong with it. First of all, earthly treasure is subject to destruction from something like an earthquake or a hurricane or a fire, etc.
Have you ever seen on the news individuals sorting through the rubble of what used to be their home after such devastation? For example, you can see them walk over and pick up a photo. They are normally just broken and crying over this because it was not just a house to them, it was much more. It was a treasure to them. It was their memories, as well as their couch or their chairs or their television.
Have you ever looked back and pictured your home when you were younger? As your mind’s eye is going over the house, you see an object that you remember and you have this warm feeling about it.
So people have things that they normally store up in their house. These things accumulate and they are adding to their treasure constantly because they are always buying newer and better things.
Many times they still have the old things that they cannot bear to part with, so they put them up in the attic or store them in the basement. Why can they not just throw these things out into the trash? They cannot do this because they have an affection for these things and there are feelings involved with their treasures.
I know an older woman who due to marital trouble decades earlier lost her home and lost the things in her home. Decades later, even up until today, if the subject is brought up, this woman will just become so sad and so mournful over her dining room set that she lost. She lost the table, the hutch, and the chairs, and she will remind me of how expensive this set was and how nice it was.
Yes, but it was 40-50 years ago! Why is she so attached? And is she alone? She is not alone, is she? What is our attachment to the things of this world?
Well, God tells us in 1 John 2:15:
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Then He gives the reason in 1 John 2:17:
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
The way that the world is set up, it is inevitable that people are going to come to a bad end. I am talking about all people, from the billionaire to the bum on the street who does not have a home. All people are going to come to a bad end in this life because of their treasure.
You cannot keep it, which is a common saying, “You cannot take it with you.” So if you cannot keep it and you cannot take it with you, what happens to it?
People will say, “I am enjoying the good life,” but life in this world is only the prolonging of a temporal stage until they do come to a catastrophe, until they do come to a point of destruction, until their treasure is removed from them.
So when we are talking about Judgment Day being so close at hand, May 21 of 2011, a lot of people really deep-down do not want this to be so. One of the big reasons is because they are very attached to this world.
God says, “Love not the world,” and then He says, “neither the things that are in the world.” These are synonyms of each other.
You might ask a professing Christian, “Do you love the world?” They would most likely say, “No, I do not love the world.” But then ask them, “How attached are you to your television set? How attached are you to your car or to your house or to your computer or to all of the other stuff that is out there today?”
What kind of an attachment do we really have to these things? If we are so strongly attached to the things of the world, then we are attached to the world. We cannot separate the one from the other.
So why is God giving us such excellent wisdom to not lay up or store up treasure on earth, but rather to lay it up in Heaven?
One reason for this is because things can be destroyed by natural disasters. Secondly, they can also be destroyed due to man’s evil because there can actually be a thief who does break into your house. A thief could break into the bank. The stock market could crash and your money could be lost rather quickly. The Great Depression that existed in this country many years ago proved this. One day, the value of your money is high. The next day, its value is all the way at the bottom.
So what confidence can anyone have in the things of this life? What trust can anyone really put into what is going on in this world and in the things of this world?
Well, a third thing, of course, is death. Death comes to the great billionaire, to those who have more billions than we have thousands, as well as to those who have nothing.
Let me ask a question, because we know the answer to this. If there is a billionaire who has an incurable disease and he is going to die shortly, would he be willing to give all of his fortune in order to find a cure or possibly to just live for a small extended period of time like a few more years? Yes, without question.
If you come to this man on his deathbed and say, “If you give me all that you have, I can extend your life but it is only going to be for another five years,” he would make this trade. He would do this because he knows that in just a short period of time, he is going to die. He realizes that at that point, what good will his fortune do him? “In a little while, I am going to die. Then what good will this fortune do for me? It will do me absolutely no good.”
Death does this and will do this to every single person. Every single human being will not be able to avoid this. Even if Judgment Day was not next year, not one person could avoid the physical death that will come and will take away everything that a person has.
The last reason for why God warns us not to store up earthly treasure is because of Judgment Day itself, which is only 14 months away. In 14 months, all of the treasure is gone. It is all just gone.
Let us turn to Luke 12 and begin in verse 13. Luke 12:13-15 says:
And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
First of all notice that this man and his brother were having a family feud, which I understand very well because this happened to my father when his mother died. The family was ripped apart and they never talked to each other again. This was due to the distribution of the inheritance. Because of this, a man was willing to cast away his own brothers, his own family.
This is the strength and power that possessions have, that things have, the things of this life, the things of this world. It is a deep-down attachment. I do not think that we are even fully aware of just how influential the things around us can be and our desire for them.
Another thing to notice is that this man had a problem with the things of this world because he did not have them. The rich have problems with the things of the world because they do have them, but the poor have problems with the things of the world because they want them and they lust after them and they covet them. They are just as miserable as the rich who do actually have some of these things, and so Jesus is speaking to a man who wants this inheritance and He is pointing out, “Beware! Beware of covetousness!”
Can you think of anyone in the Bible who was covetous and ended up in ruin? Do you remember Achan in the book of Joshua? Turn to Joshua 7.
God destroyed Jericho by bringing the walls down, and then Israel just simply marched in and killed all of the inhabitants of Jericho except for Rahab and her family. Yet after this tremendous victory, Israel wound up having problems with the little city of Ai. This little city of just a few thousand men beat back the army of Israel who had just won this tremendous victory. Because of this, Joshua was greatly burdened. If they could not beat this little city, how were they going to conquer all of the nations that were far mightier in the land of Canaan?
Joshua went to the Lord and the Lord directed him to Achan, and then we read in Joshua 7:21:
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Then Joshua 7:24 says:
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.
Then Achan and his family were stoned to death. He had coveted just a little gold, a little silver, and a garment that no one would have missed; and yet God, of course, was aware of this because nothing can be hid from Him. All is open unto God’s eyes, and so the Lord knew this and put the finger on Achan.
As a result of Achan’s covetousness, he lost everything. He lost his family, his livestock, and whatever money he had. He lost it all.
This is the point that Christ is making. If you go after the things of this world, then ultimately in the end, you are going to lose everything. You are going to lose it all. There will be no exceptions. The Bible is very clear about this. Covetousness will lead to the ruin of man, to the ruin of anyone who is involved in it.
For example, we read about Ananias and Sapphira his wife in Acts 5. It says in Acts 5:1-4:
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it, at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
He more than likely indicated to Peter and to the early church, “I am going to sell this land and then I am going to give you the whole thing.” He sold the land and got a good price for it and then he decided, “This is a lot of money,” so he kept back part of the price.
By the way, this word “keep/kept back” is also found in Titus 2. We read in Titus 2:9-10:
Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining…
This is the same word as “kept back.” It continues:
…but showing all good fidelity…
“Fidelity” is the typical Greek word that has been translated as “faith.”
So in Titus 2, God is speaking to “servants” and saying that they should be honorable. They should not hold things back but show all good faith.
This was the problem with Ananias and his wife who decided to keep back part of the price of the land. It was just an indictor that their hearts were not right with God and that they still longed for the things of the world. They could not give it up completely. They were able to give up a large part of it, but they could not do it completely because they had a problem in their hearts.
The heart that God gives is a new resurrected heart, a new spirit. It is a heart that delights to do the will of God, and it is a heart that will do the will of God perfectly. However, if there are people who are Christian by their profession, they also can give up things. They also can give away their money. They also can do good works and deeds. However, there is a part of them that looks back like Lot’s wife. God tells us to put our “hand to the plow” and to not look back; but they do look back to the world, and so God says that they are not fit for the Kingdom of God.
This is what the Lord is telling us in Acts 5 and what He means by “beware of covetousness.” We are to beware of these attachments to the world.
Do not think that 90% service to the Lord is sufficient. What does God want? He wants everything. The widow gave her “two mites” and the Bible says that it was “all her living.” It was “all her living.”
This does not mean that we give up every cent that we have, but the spiritual teaching is that we give up ourself only by God’s grace moving in us “to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Of course, there has to be salvation involved, but we then do it His way. We do not purloin, but we show all good faith. We do not hold back at all.
Another person who was faced and confronted with this teaching of the Bible was the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. He was in discussion with Jesus and he was trying to find out what he had to do to get into Heaven, “What work do I do?” Jesus told him in Matthew 19:17 to “keep the commandments.” Then the rich young ruler said that he had, and we read in Matthew 19:20-22:
The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
The Lord Jesus put His finger right on the problem of this rich young ruler, which was his riches, his things. If Jesus had said, “Go and sell a portion,” he probably would have done this gladly, but everything? “Sell all that I have? Everything! Really?”
This is why we can understand that he went away sorrowful. It was because he realized this. “How can I give all of this up? How can I give away all of my things?” Maybe he received something through an inheritance or maybe he was a brilliant young man who was able to make money very easily. We do not know what happened from here. The Lord could have worked on this man from this point through His Word, and maybe he did become saved.
But, again, Jesus just used this as an occasion to put His finger on the root of the problem within this man’s heart, which was a very common problem. His problem was that he was attached to his things. He was closely attached to the things of this world.
Let us go back to Luke 12. I am going to read on from verse 16. It says in Luke 12:16-21:
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
There are two treasures. There is an earthly treasure and there is a heavenly treasure. The question for each one of us is where we keep making deposits. Where are we putting our riches, our desires, and our wants?
God says here that anyone who is wrapped up in this world and the things of this world will be at the end like this rich fool. They are going to lose it all in a night; actually, in a day. On May 21, Judgment Day, they are going to lose it all.
This is why there were five foolish virgins and five wise, because the foolish were not ready when the Lord came. When the Bridegroom came, they were not ready to go in; and so they are identified by God as being fools. The wise were ready because God made them ready.
Concerning this phrase, “rich toward God,” turn to Matthew 2 where we read of the wise men coming from the east when Jesus had been born. This is sometime after, because He is in a house. It says in Matthew 2:10-11:
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
They gave to Christ of their treasure. “Here is our treasure, Lord. Here is our treasure. Take the gold. Take the frankincense. Take it all.”
They gave it to Christ. Of course, Christ is God. They were rich toward God, and this is the picture. This is the illustration that God would have every one of us to follow. Look to God. Look to the Lord, the Kingdom of Heaven.
What can we do? How can we give God money?
Well, He has given us the Gospel. This is the Word of God and it represents the Kingdom of God on earth. This no longer relates to the church because the church no longer represents God’s Kingdom. Actually, the Bible has always represented God’s Kingdom on earth. So God commands us to go into all of the world and to preach the Gospel. We are to bring His Word to all of the people.
How much more is this command intensified today considering the fact that we have so little time? We are to go into the world, but we are not going to get a free ride on an airplane to go into another country and we are not going to get on a boat free. We are not going to be able to hand out tracts without first paying for them. We are not going to be able to send the Gospel message via Family Radio to all of the world when Family Radio has to pay electric bills as well as many other things to keep the message going forth.
Another interesting point about the widow who gave her “two mites” is the placement of this in the Bible. One of the chapters that we find this in is in Luke 21, which is a chapter that begins with Christ answering the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” [Note: this particular wording of this question is actually found in Matthew 24, a parallel chapter to Luke 21.] In the first couple of verses of Luke 21, God speaks of a widow giving her “two mites” or “all the living that she had.” This indicates to us that this will be the character and the nature of God’s people, especially at the time when the Gospel needs to go forth in order for the “great multitude” to become saved.
I believe this is what we are seeing because is it not incredible that Family Radio is still broadcasting, even though the word that they are teaching alienates just about everybody? Are they making friends with the churches? Are the churches supporting Family Radio? Are they passing the tithe to give to Family Radio? Is this the answer to how Family Radio is paying all of their many bills?
How is it possible that this ministry that does not sell commercial time, a ministry that probably has a poster as “Enemy Number One” on church bulletin boards, how is it possible that this Gospel is going into all of the world to the degree that it continually is? It is not like they are struggling to pay their bills to the point that their power goes off and they have to cut out a few stations. Instead, they are expanding. They are going further. They are buying more radio time. They are getting the Gospel into the nooks and crannies of the whole earth. How is this possible?
It is possible because God will bless His people. God will bless those who are rich towards Him. He will multiply the loaves. He will feed everyone. We do not have to worry about this. This is what He is currently doing with this very vivid illustration of a ministry like Family Radio that is continuing to teach the Gospel despite such a large opposition to it.
Let us return to Luke 12. I would like to read a few more verses in this chapter. I will begin in verse 29. We read in Luke 12:29-34:
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God…
A parallel passage to this in Matthew adds a word to this. What is that word? It is the word “first”; “But seek ye first the kingdom of God…and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Luke 12 continues:
But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms…
What is an “alm”? This is a word that is related to “mercy.” It is derived from the Greek word for “mercy.” So we are to demonstrate mercy. Give mercy.
How are we to give mercy? There is no mercy like the salvation of the Bible, the forgiveness of God for sins. So do not focus on the world and accumulating the things of the world, but first, “seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Use your money, use your resources, use your time and effort to further the Gospel of the Kingdom so that God’s Word can continue going into the world.
It continues:
Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags…
The word for “bags” is a word that is also translated as “purse” in Luke 10, which you can look up at another time. It has to do with a place where one keeps money.
It continues:
…provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So here is the solution for Christ coming as a thief in the night. There is only one place where you can put your treasure where it is going to be safe. It is not in a bank. It is not in stocks or bonds or in a piggy bank in your home or stuffed in your mattress or under your bed. This can all be taken. You can lose all of this. The only place where it cannot be taken is in Heaven above, in the Kingdom of God, in richness toward God, because no thief can break in there. No one can get at that money. No one can get to those riches at all.
Let us go to 2 Corinthians 6:10. This is speaking of a true child of God:
As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
This identifies the true believer, the individual child of God. We do not have anything. We have no esteem from the world. The world does not honor us. The world looks down upon the believer; and yet even though we have nothing, we possess all things.
The good Biblical illustration of this is the rich man and Lazarus. Who had everything? The rich man had everything. Who had nothing? Lazarus had nothing. He was a beggar with sores that the dogs licked.
As we would look at these two men, we would say, “Oh, poor Lazarus!” We would pity such a man as him, but we would tend to envy the rich man, “Look at all that he has. Wow! Look at all of the things that he has!”
Yet God later reveals the truth as they both die and Lazarus goes into Heaven to be in Abraham’s bosom and the rich man goes into torment. He is instead in the fire and tormented by the flame. He sees that poor beggar in Abraham’s bosom and he cries out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” The answer comes that this is not possible because “between us and you there is a great gulf fixed,” so there is no way that He can send Lazarus.
We see here the end of man during the five months of torment, as well as the beginning of God’s people in the Kingdom of Heaven to forever live with God and to forever be in a happy and peaceful and joyous state where there will be no more tears or sorrow or affliction. There will be no more sin of any kind. There will be no more death. It will just be perfect peace and contentment for God’s people.
If God had indicated that He would just remove all of the negative things from this life, how wonderful that would be just to not have the nagging ailments that we have and the illnesses and the ultimate death that comes from sin. If God just took away all of the negative things that were as a result of the curse, it would be tremendous and a great blessing.
Instead, He is determined to not only do all of this but to also give us a new spiritual body and to increase His blessings toward us in a way that we cannot even imagine. It is super-abundantly above all that we could ask or think. It is an unspeakable gift that God is giving us, and these are the riches. The riches are the eternal life that the Lord has given to His people. This is what they will enjoy forever and ever and ever. But unsaved man will lose everything. He will lose whatever he was trying to obtain in this life.
Let us also go to Matthew 16. Matthew 16:24-26 says:
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
It is unprofitable, completely unprofitable.
Proverbs 10:2 makes this statement:
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
The riches of this world are absolutely unprofitable. The gold, the silver, the money, and the things that money can purchase are all completely worthless. They have no lasting value, “but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” The promises of God, He will fulfill; and He has promised that He will give His people eternal life.
Is this not the really valuable thing? Is it not, if we look honestly at this situation? From God’s perspective, we can see how these things that we are involved with here on this earth really ought not to stop us or hinder us from going to the Lord and beseeching Him for mercy and doing this as much as possible from now until the end.
Another verse that speaks to this question of treasures is what we find in Hebrews 11 where we read of Moses. It says in Hebrews 11:24-26:
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
Did Moses make a wrong decision?
I am always careful about this word because we know how so many hear that they can “decide for Christ.” They think that this brings salvation, which is not possible.
But here God does say that Moses chose. Moses chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.” He could choose between this or, on the other hand, to have “the pleasures of sin for a season.”
Moses was a man like us. Of course, God was working behind the scenes and moving in him. But still, here were two options. He was in Pharaoh’s court, and so he could have chosen a very comfortable and luxurious life for that day. He also could have had great honor. On the other hand, there were the Israelite slaves. He must have asked himself which way he ought to go.
If this question is presented to the natural mind, to natural man, it would be an easy choice. “I am going to take Pharaoh’s riches. I am going to go that way. I am going to live it up as much as I can for as long as I can.”
If Moses had made this choice, that would have been many hundreds of years ago. He is now long gone. All of those Egyptian treasures that they are digging up today, as I mentioned earlier, never helped the Pharaoh at all and they would not have helped Moses either.
Do we not realize as we read this that Moses did the right thing, the proper thing, and the wisest thing? All by God’s grace, Moses decided to suffer a little affliction. He wandered in the wilderness with the people of God. He forgot about the riches and he forgot about the treasures of Egypt, because he looked a little bit beyond the wilderness sojourn. He looked to Heaven itself, and this is the reward that God has for each and every one of His elect people, which is the gift of everlasting life.
Let us go back to 1 Thessalonians 5. We read in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3:
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, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Many Christians will say, “Christ is coming as a thief in the night, and so we cannot know.”
When you hear someone say this, you can ask them, “Does this mean that Christ is coming as a thief for you?” Ask them this.
They will say, “Well, yes!” This is what they will have to say if they are trying to present this idea that we cannot know. “Yes, Christ is coming as a thief for me.”
So just ask them, “Do you understand what this means? Do you know that a thief does not come to bring blessings? Do you know that a thief does not come to give you gifts? Do you know that a thief does not come to give you a reward? Do you realize that a thief does not come to give you anything? A thief comes to take away.”
If you go to John 10:10, the Bible says this. This is Christ speaking. The whole Bible is Christ speaking, but this is Christ as He was upon this earth. He says in John 10:10:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…
God says here that “the thief cometh not.” This means that he is not coming to do anything other than “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” This is what a thief comes to do.
We can understand that as Christ comes as a thief for the unsaved, He is going to kill them and to destroy them “with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” They will be annihilated completely. They will not live in any other condition. Once the last day comes and the Lord burns up this earth, He will burn up each and every unsaved person along with it, whether they were alive or dead, and they will cease to be forevermore.
So Jesus killed them, destroyed them, and He stole from them their inheritance, which was the things of this world. He stole from them their homes and the things that they were so attached to. He stole their bank accounts. He stole their families that they had loved more than Him. He stole everything from them without exception. He took it all. He plundered everything from the unsaved. Everything is gone.
One other thing that He took was their garment. Go to Revelation 16:15. It says:
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Many churches are telling people how to become saved by saying, “Here is what you have to do. Here is the work that you have to perform.” They are putting on these works as a covering, as a garment, and when the Lord Jesus comes, He is going to take this garment. They are going to be exposed for five months. Their nakedness will not only be open to God at this point, but it will be open to all of the world because they were left behind. They did not have the covering of Christ’s righteousness. They did not have His robe, and so Jesus took away what they did have and He left them naked.
This is the one of the worst things that a thief can do to you. He might take your money. He might take your horse, or whatever, but Christ is coming to take even your very clothing. This will not be literal. This is referring to the spiritual covering that individuals think that they have, and Jesus will take this away from them completely.
This is why this is so important and why it is so dangerous for a person to say, “Christ is coming as a thief in the night.” This is what they are implying for themselves as well as for everyone else. But if this is so, look at what it says in 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.
There is no good news here, none at all. This is all negative. This is all about God pouring out His wrath and judging them and destroying them, and none will escape.
But on the other hand, 1 Thessalonians 5:4 tells the people of God:
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
The child of God is not going to lose their covering, their raiment that God equipped them with, and they are not going to lose their treasure, because where is their treasure? It is in Heaven “where thieves do not break through nor steal” and “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.” It cannot be damaged. It is indestructible. It is impenetrable for anyone to try to get at the believer’s treasure, and there is where their heart is also.
Remember that God tells us, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Their heart is there, safely and securely in Heaven, and so is their treasure. It is just a matter of the Lord bringing them to it and taking them out of this world. Then He will open up the greatest treasure chest that is a billion times better than any pirate ever hid, the greatest treasure chest for the people of God that they will richly enjoy into eternity future.
Let us stop here.