A Thief in the Night

[Cheylynn]

Taken from my blog site:
Way Truth & Life


You assemble with them and listen to the teachings and the words. You even sing the songs and pray the prayers. You are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Or are you?

What you don’t realize is that your faith in Christ has been according to your terms. You make sure you are not in any position to think about or see the sin you regularly take part in. You have built a safe wall around you with all your justification and the good that you do and how you really do love God. You lean greatly upon the part it speaks about God being merciful and how he has forgiven you of your sin and you are accepted because he died for you. You gather among others who believe but are at arms length from them and from God, this way they won’t know about you and ask things that may stir up problems. So, you stay quiet and nod your head in agreement and are so glad that God is so good. You participate in conversation that is safe and easy with those who believe.

Then a day comes, that you never planned for, for you are very careful at planning so you can live how you do. But this day seemed to sneak up upon you, like a thief.

You were in the usual posture of avoiding the gaze of the speaker as he speaks about God. This posture you have adopted is just not visual, but also when you hear or have read any truth you avoid taking any of its meaning upon your own soul. But this time, he looked right at you, he could see you even though you were hiding behind the person in front of you. You tried ignoring his gaze but you could not get away from it this time. Now he speaks to you, you realize He is God. You don’t even know what he says, all you know is that you’ve been exposed! All you are is revealed to the One who sees all, and you have nothing to say this time, no justification, no denying, you have nothing. You are left with a fear you have never known, for you have just realized that you have fallen into the hands of the Living God and you are a sinner! But what is worse is that you have ran out of time for you are no longer alive. You spent your time while you lived, covering up and living how you chose – without God and what he asked of you. You did not want to visit Him and hear what you needed to hear. All that time, you truly did what it was that you wanted to do, for you customized God into your own image. But now, you are facing the true God and you can no longer lie and hide. You understand that you were given all the chances while you lived on earth to follow Him and do what He asked of you but rejected him and chose to remain in your sin. Now your sin has found you out and that the wages of your sin is death and separation from God forever.

 

[Ron Gurley]

Death of the mortal Body/Soul combo and judgment of Man's immortal spirit will come at a time unknowm. Be Saved NOW!

Hebrews 9:27
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die (MORTAL BODY/SOUL combo) ONCE and after this comes judgment,(of IMMORTAL SPIRIT)

The Second Coming will come unexpectedly!

Matthew 24:42-44 (NASB)...Jesus: parable of the thief: "end of the age"
42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
43 But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44 For this reason you also must be READY;
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

"the day of the Lord" comes unexpectedly!
Believers have been raptured (1 Thess. 4), but
UN-Believers / wicked and planet earth will be destroyed without warning.!

1 Thessalonians 5:2
For you yourselves know full well that "the day of the Lord" will come just like a thief in the night.

2 Peter 3 (NASB)
10 But "the day of the Lord" will come like a thief,
in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and
the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and
the earth and its works will be burned up.

11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of "the day of God", because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning,
and the elements will melt with intense heat!
13 But according to His promise we are looking for "new heavens and a new earth", in which righteousness dwells.

 

[sdowney717]

As a thief meaning a time unexpected will Christ come back to this world at the end of the age.

Revelation 16
Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up
12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs comingout of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

 

[sdowney717]

All those demon spirits deceive the kings and peoples of the earth, they do not believe in the Resurrection and the life which is Christ, they think Christ is dead on the cross, killed by the Romans. It will certainly be quite a shock to them to see Christ's returning at the battle of that great Day of God Almighty as the head and chief cornerstone of the plan of God, something which none of the rulers understood or they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Then they will cry out to the stones of the mountains to hide them from the fierce wrath of the Lamb and from the face of Him who sits upon the throne, for the day of His great wrath, vengeance has come, and they will all be destroyed.

12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.

13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.

14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,

16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

 

[faroukfarouk]

Taken from my blog site:
Way Truth & Life


You assemble with them and listen to the teachings and the words. You even sing the songs and pray the prayers. You are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Or are you?

What you don’t realize is that your faith in Christ has been according to your terms. You make sure you are not in any position to think about or see the sin you regularly take part in. You have built a safe wall around you with all your justification and the good that you do and how you really do love God. You lean greatly upon the part it speaks about God being merciful and how he has forgiven you of your sin and you are accepted because he died for you. You gather among others who believe but are at arms length from them and from God, this way they won’t know about you and ask things that may stir up problems. So, you stay quiet and nod your head in agreement and are so glad that God is so good. You participate in conversation that is safe and easy with those who believe.

Then a day comes, that you never planned for, for you are very careful at planning so you can live how you do. But this day seemed to sneak up upon you, like a thief.

You were in the usual posture of avoiding the gaze of the speaker as he speaks about God. This posture you have adopted is just not visual, but also when you hear or have read any truth you avoid taking any of its meaning upon your own soul. But this time, he looked right at you, he could see you even though you were hiding behind the person in front of you. You tried ignoring his gaze but you could not get away from it this time. Now he speaks to you, you realize He is God. You don’t even know what he says, all you know is that you’ve been exposed! All you are is revealed to the One who sees all, and you have nothing to say this time, no justification, no denying, you have nothing. You are left with a fear you have never known, for you have just realized that you have fallen into the hands of the Living God and you are a sinner! But what is worse is that you have ran out of time for you are no longer alive. You spent your time while you lived, covering up and living how you chose – without God and what he asked of you. You did not want to visit Him and hear what you needed to hear. All that time, you truly did what it was that you wanted to do, for you customized God into your own image. But now, you are facing the true God and you can no longer lie and hide. You understand that you were given all the chances while you lived on earth to follow Him and do what He asked of you but rejected him and chose to remain in your sin. Now your sin has found you out and that the wages of your sin is death and separation from God forever.

Good to based meditations or a blog around John 14.6.