by Anthony F. Buzzard
The carelessness of popular handling of the Bible is shown by the fact that many will quote the verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 about “a thief in the night” as if they have never bothered to look it up in its context.
Inspection of the context will reveal immediately that this text says nothing about a secret coming of Jesus seven years before his public manifestation. The verse carries in fact the very opposite sense from the one given it by the pre-tribulation theory: The coming like a thief is supposed, according to pre-tribulationism, to affect the Church only and not the unbelieving world.
But let us see what 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 actually says:
“Now, brothers and sisters, about periods and times we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When people are saying ‘We have peace and safety,’ then sudden destruction will come on them…and they will not escape.”
The coming of Christ like a thief, Paul says, will take the unbelieving world by surprise. It will not be a secret event affecting the church only:
“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that the day would surprise you like a thief” (1 Thess. 5:4).
It is all perfectly straightforward. The thief-like coming will affect the non-Christians adversely because they will be unprepared. It is almost beyond belief that these simple verses should have been used to invent a prior event — a secret coming seven years earlier.
