1 Thessalonians 5:2

2. Yourselves Emphatic; as also 1 Thessalonians 4:9.

Day of the Lord An Old Testament phrase to designate any period of God’s terrible visitation. Joel 1:15; Joel 2:11; Ezekiel 13:5; Isaiah 2:12. Here specifically applied to the day of the event just described, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, the Parousia.

A thief in the night This remarkable comparison of the Lord to a thief was first used by our Lord himself in Matthew 24:43-44; and Luke 12:39-40. And thence it became a standard simile. 2 Peter 3:10. Wordsworth acutely argues that none but Jesus would have invented such a comparison, and that, therefore, the Thessalonians must have had a gospel of either Matthew or Luke, to have learned it from. That Matthew, in its Hebrew form, was early written, we have indicated in our Introduction to that gospel. And we are inclined to believe that Luke was now extant. But had the Thessalonians a copy of either in possession, how could they be so ignorant of the resurrection as 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 implies? There are striking coincidents of Greek words, however, between St. Paul’s language and our Lord’s in Luke.

Lunemann calls to mind the impression made by this phrase in the night on the mind of the early Church. The so-called vigils, or watch-nights, were held, especially on Easter-night, in expectation that the sign of the coming Son of man would streak the darkness of the midnight sky. They awaited that solemn token with watching, and fasting, and prayer. A beautiful error, solemnizing the soul and reforming the character! So Lactantius, in the fourth century, says: “This is the night which by us is celebrated; of which night, twofold is the reason, because in it He received life when he suffered, and because in it He will soon receive the dominion of the earth.” And Jerome says, on Matthew 25:6, “It is a tradition of the Jews, that the Messiah is to come at midnight, as in the time of Egypt; when the Passover was celebrated, and the destroyer came, and the Lord passed over their tents. Whence I recognise the permanent apostolic tradition, that in the paschal vigils it is not permissible to dismiss the people in the earlier half of the night, while they are waiting the advent of Christ.”

Cometh Not future; for it is an ever-pending He cometh!