3<\/strong>. For when they shall say<\/em> ] Rather, when they are saying<\/strong> (R. V.). In the very act of their saying “Peace and safety” just when men of the world pronounce everything secure and quiet then the thief comes, who steals from them the possessions they imagined safe from all attack. A reminiscence of Eze 13:10<\/span>, “Saying Peace, and there was no peace!” Such times of security are pregnant with judgement to the wicked, and premonitory of some “day of the Lord.”<\/p>\n then sudden destruction cometh upon them<\/em> ] Or, in the vivid order of St Paul’s Greek, then suddenly over them stands destruction<\/strong>. Without a moment’s warning ruin comes, not seen approaching, but first visible hanging over<\/em> the doomed transgressors! We hear again Christ’s warning of Luk 21:34<\/span>, “lest that day come upon you suddenly<\/em> (a Greek word found only in these two places in the N. T.), as a snare; for so will it come on all them that dwell on the face of all the earth.” Christ compares His advent to the coming of the Flood “in the days of Noah” (Mat 24:36-39<\/span>).<\/p>\n The Apostle describes the calamity under another figure, frequently applied in the O. T. to Divine inflictions: as the birth-pang upon her that is with child<\/strong>. This image signifies, beside the suddenness<\/em> of the disaster, its intense pain<\/em>, and its inevitableness<\/em>. Accordingly he continues: and they shall in no wise escape<\/strong>. See 2Th 1:9<\/span>, and note; and comp. the terrible picture of the Judgement in Rev 6:15-17<\/span>.<\/p>\n For when they shall say, Peace and safety – <\/B>That is, when the wicked shall say this, for the apostle here refers only to those on whom sudden destruction will come; compare Mat 24:36-42<\/span> notes; 2Pe 3:3-4<\/span> notes. It is clear from this:<\/P> (1) That when the Lord Jesus shall come the world will not all be converted. There will be some to be destroyed. How large this proportion will be, it is impossible now to ascertain. This supposition, however, is not inconsistent with the belief that there will be a general prevalence of the gospel before that period.<\/P> (2) The impenitent and wicked world will be sunk in carnal security when he comes. They will regard themselves as safe. They will see no danger. They will give no heed to warning. They will be unprepared for his advent. So it has always been. it seems to be a universal truth in regard to all the visitations of God to wicked people for punishment, that he comes upon them at a time when they are not expecting him, and that they have no faith in the predictions of his advent. So it was in the time of the flood; in the destruction of Sodom Gomorrah, and Jerusalem; in the overthrow of Babylon: so it is when the sinner dies, and so it will be when the Lord Jesus shall return to judge the world. One of the most remarkable facts about the history of man is, that he takes no warning from his Maker; he never changes his plans, or feels any emotion, because his Creator thunders damnation along his path, and threatens to destroy him in hell.<\/P> Sudden destruction – <\/B>Destruction that was unforeseen (<\/SPAN><\/span> aiphnidios) or unexpected. The word here rendered sudden, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, except in Luk 21:34<\/span>, Lest that day come upon you unawares. The word rendered destruction – <\/SPAN><\/span> olethros – occurs in the New Testament only here and in 1Co 5:5<\/span>; 2Th 1:9<\/U><\/span>; 1Ti 6:9<\/span>, in all of which places it is correctly translated destruction. The word destruction is familiar to us. It means, properly, demolition; pulling down; the annihilation of the form of anything, or that form of parts which constitutes it what it is; as the destruction of grass by eating; of a forest by cutting down the trees; of life by murder; of the soul by consigning it to misery. It does not necessarily mean annihilation – for a house or city is not annihilated which is pulled down or burnt; a forest is not annihilated which is cut down; and a man is not annihilated whose character and happiness are destroyed. In regard to the destruction here referred to, we may remark:<\/P> (1)It will be after the return of the Lord Jesus to judgment; and hence it is not true that the wicked experience all the punishment which they ever will in the present life;<\/P> (2)That it seems fairly implied that the destruction which they will then suffer will not be annihilation, but will be connected with conscious existence; and,<\/P> (3)That they will then be cut off from life and hope and salvation.<\/P> How can the solemn affirmation that they will be destroyed suddenly, be consistent with the belief that all people will be saved? Is it the same thing to be destroyed and to be saved? Does the Lord Jesus, when he speaks of the salvation of his people, say that he comes to destroy them?<\/P> As travail upon a woman with child – <\/B>This expression is sometimes used to denote great consternation, as in Psa 48:6<\/span>; Jer 6:24<\/span>; Mic 4:9-10<\/span>; great pain, as Isa 53:11<\/span>; Jer 4:31<\/span>; Joh 16:21<\/span>; or the suddenness with which anything occurs; Jer 13:21<\/span>. It seems here to be used to denote two things; first, that the coming of the Lord to a wicked world will be sudden; and, secondly, that it will be an event of the most distressing and overwhelming nature.<\/P> And they shall not escape – <\/B>That is, the destruction, or punishment. They calculated on impunity, but now the time will have come when none of these refuges will avail them, and no rocks will cover them from the wrath to come.<\/P><\/p>\n 1Th 5:3<\/span><\/p>\n When they shall say, Peace and Safety <\/em><\/p>\n The day of days<\/strong><\/p>\n If Scripture did not warrant the figure in which the future coming of the Lord is compared to the act of a felon breaking into a house at night to plunder, we should not have ventured on it.<\/p>\n The comparison is suggested by the Lord Himself: Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. If the good man of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>By the day of the Lord is signified that day on which He will take the first place in the thoughts of His responsible creatures.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>It is the day on which He will bring the vast moral account between Himself and His responsible creatures to an end.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>They are suggestive of fear. The old prophets spoke of the coming day of universal doom as the great and terrible day of the Lord; and we cannot but echo their language. But if we will, the Judge may be our Friend and Saviour. It is during the years of time that men decide how they will meet Him.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>They are suggestive of suddenness. There is the contrast which it will present to many of Gods judgments in the present life. They approach with measured steps. Neither war, nor famine, nor pestilence, come generally like a thief in the night. But not so will be the Second Advent of Christ. A Christians first practical anxiety should be expressed in his Masters words, Lest coming suddenly He find me sleeping.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>They are suggestive of that which cannot be prevented by our own efforts. We cannot prevent the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven: all that we can do is to prepare to meet Him by judging ourselves in self-examination. We may erect in our own heart a tribunal, and bid all our life pass before it; and then we may hear, if we will, the echoes of the voice of Christ, in mercy or condemnation, as that voice will sound to us hereafter from the judgment throne. Thus we may make a business like preparation for death; for death, like judgment, comes as a thief. Death is the ante-chamber of the judgment hall of Christ. To prepare, therefore, for death, is a mans true and most serious business during his life. Ye are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. (Canon Liddon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The sinners doom<\/strong><\/p>\n Delusions<\/strong><\/p>\n Manton says well, As the madman at Athens challenged all the ships that came into the harbour for his own, so carnal men claim an interest in heavenly things which are none of theirs. Deceived hearts believe they are running to heaven when they are posting to hell; like rowers in a boat, they look one way, and go contrary. Religious delusions may be very comfortable while they last, but what will be the misery of their breaking up! To have all your fancied godliness vanish like the mists before the sun will be grievous indeed. In proportion to the confidence inspired will be the despair involved. The poor madman in Bedlam in the olden time placed a straw crown upon his head, and issued orders like a Caesar; it was his madness which made such a farce a comfort to him. In the next world the sinners madness will be over, he will be sobered by his despair: what then will he think of his former fancies and fond self-flatteries? What an awaking, from the dreams of bliss to the realities of hell! O my soul, see thou to it that all thy hopes are well grounded! Call not Christ thine, and heaven thine, if they are not so. Do not play the fool with eternal things, but get a sure title to everlasting blessedness. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n False overconfidence<\/strong><\/p>\n You may have a strong faith in everything else but Christ, and yet perish. There was an architect who had a plan for building a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock. It quite satisfied his mind, and as he sat by the fire looking at the plan, he was quite sure that no storm that ever came could shake the building. He applied for the contract to build the lighthouse, and he did build it, and a very singular looking place it was. There were a great many flags about it and ornaments, and it looked very promising. Some shook their heads a little, but he was very, very firm, and said he should like to be in it himself in the worst wind that ever blew. He was in it at the time he wanted to be, and he was never heard of again, nor was anything more ever seen of his lighthouse. The whole thing was swept away. He was a man of great faith, only it happened to be founded on mistaken principles. <\/em>(J. L. Nye.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n False peace<\/strong><\/p>\n Your peace, sinner, is that terribly prophetic calm which the traveller occasionally perceives upon the higher Alps. Everything is still. The birds suspend their notes, fly low, and cower down with fear. The hum of bees among the flowers is hushed. A horrible stillness rules the hour, as if death had silenced all things by stretching over them his awful sceptre. Perceive ye not what is surely at hand? The tempest is preparing; the lightning will soon cast abroad its flames of fire. Earth will rock with thunder blasts; granite peaks will be dissolved; all nature will tremble beneath the fury of the storm. Yours is that solemn calm today, sinner. Rejoice not in it, for the hurricane of wrath is coming, the whirlwind and the tribulation which shall sweep you away and utterly destroy you. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Secure in sin<\/strong><\/p>\n A Swiss traveller, says the Edinburgh Review, <\/em>describes a village situated on the slope of a great mountain, of which the strata shelve in the direction of the place. Huge crags directly overhanging the village, and massy enough to sweep the whole of it into the torrent below, have become separated from the main body of the mountain in the course of ages by great fissures, and now scarce adhere to it. When they give way, the village must perish; it is only a question of time, and the catastrophe may happen any day. For years past engineers have been sent to measure the fissures, and report them constantly increasing. The villagers, for more than one generation, have been aware of their danger; subscriptions have been once or twice opened to enable them to remove; yet they live on in their doomed dwellings, from year to year, fortified against the ultimate certainty and daily probability of destruction by the common sentiment Things may last their time and longer. Like the dwellers in this doomed village, the worlds inhabitants have grown careless and secure in sin. The scoffers of the last days are around us, saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers have fallen asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. But in saying this, they are too confident. Nothing is permanent that has sin about it, nothing secure that has wrath above it, and flames of fire beneath it. Sin has once deluged the world with water, it shall deluge it again with waves of fire. Sodom and Gomorrah are the types that foreshadow the doom of those that live ungodly in these latter times, and he who can walk this reeling world unmoved by all the tokens of its fiery doom, must either have a rock of refuge where his soul may rest secure, or else must have fallen into a strange carelessness, and a sad forgetfulness of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Procrastination leads to sudden destruction<\/strong><\/p>\n Do any of you remember the loss of the vessel called the Central America<\/em>? <\/em>She was in a bad state, had sprung a leak and was going down, and she therefore hoisted a signal of distress. A ship came close to her, the captain of which asked, through the trumpet, What is amiss? We are in bad repair, and are going down: lie by till morning, was the answer. But the captain on board the rescue ship said, Let me take your passengers on board now. Lie by till morning, was the message which came back. Once again the captian cried, You had better let me take your passengers on board now. Lie by till morning, was the reply which sounded through the trumpet. About an hour and a half after, the lights were missing, and though no sound was heard, she and all on board had gone down to the fathomless abyss. Oh, unconverted friends, for Gods sake, do not say, Lie by till morning. Today, even today, hear ye the voice of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n A deadly peace<\/strong><\/p>\n The old fable described the vampire bat, in tropical countries, as hovering above its victims, and drinking their life blood, while it soothes them to sleep on by fanning them with its wings all the while. So the devil soothes souls into deadly sleep. (J. W. Hardman.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Danger near and man unconscious of it<\/strong><\/p>\n Many years ago there was a terrible murder in one of our rural counties. A desperate man determined to kill the squire of the village. No danger was thought of, no such peril was dreaded. With unclosed shutters the doomed man sat in his house, his family moving in and out, his books, his papers around him in perfect security, as he thought. But meanwhile, creeping behind the shrubs of the lawn, in the gathering twilight, with his loaded gun, crept the armed assailant, till the bringing in of the evening lamp cast its glow through the comfortable chamber within, and enabled a sure and deadly aim to be taken by the murderer outside. Even so does the devil plot our ruin. (J. W. Hardman.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Unconsciousness of the approach of death<\/strong><\/p>\n Even when death is not absolutely sudden, how often have I seen persons, who were ill, wholly refuse to believe or realize that their sickness was unto death. Almost till the day of their departure they have talked quite confidently of what they intended to do when they rose from the bed of sickness; have perhaps even seemed to themselves to be much better just before they sank into the long swoon which can only end in the last fluttering sigh. O God, they have deceived me then; and this is death! was the startling exclamation of a sinful English king, and with those words he sank back and died. And very commonly for hours, and even days, before death, men and women lie quite unconscious; the pulse still beats, the breath still labours, possibly the tongue still murmurs, as the imagination floats amid the confused reminiscences of the past, and babbles of green fields far away. But no voice of exhortation can reach them then; they can gather no thought into consecutive meaning; they can breathe no prayer unto Him into whose awful presence they are about to enter. (Canon Farrar.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Men lured to destruction<\/strong><\/p>\n The <\/em>other day I was going down the street and I saw a drove of pigs following a man. This excited my curiosity, so that I determined to follow. I did so, and to my great surprise I saw them follow him to the slaughterhouse. I was very anxious to know how this was, and I said to the man, My friend, how did you manage to induce those pigs to follow you here? Oh, did you not see? said the man; I had a basket of beans under my arms, and I dropped a few as I came along, and so they followed me. Yes, and I thought, so it is; the devil has a basket of beans under his arm, and he drops them as he goes along, and what multitudes he induces to follow him to an everlasting slaughter house! Yes, friends, and all your broad and crowded thoroughfares are strewn with the beans of the devil. (Rowland Hill.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 3<\/span>. For when they shall say, Peace and safety<\/B><\/I>] This points out, very particularly, the state of the Jewish people when the Romans came against them; and so fully persuaded were they that God would not deliver the city and temple to their enemies, that they refused every overture that was made to them.<\/P> <\/P> Sudden destruction<\/B><\/I>] In the storming of their city and the burning of their temple, and the massacre of several hundreds of thousands of themselves; the rest being sold for slaves, and the whole of them dispersed over the face of the earth.<\/P> <\/P> As travail upon a woman<\/B><\/I>] This figure is perfectly consistent with what the apostle had said before, viz.: that the times and<\/I> seasons<\/I> were not known: though the thing<\/I> itself was expected, our Lord having predicted it in the most positive manner. So, a woman with child knows that, if she be spared, she will have a bearing time; but the week<\/I>, the day<\/I>, the hour<\/I>, she cannot tell. In a great majority of cases the time is accelerated or retarded much before<\/I> or beyond<\/I> the time that the woman expected; so, with respect to the Jews, neither the day, week, month<\/I>, nor year<\/I> was known. All that was specifically known was this: their destruction was coming<\/I>, and it should be sudden<\/I>, and they should<\/I> not escape<\/I>.<\/P><\/p>\n For when they shall say, Peace and safety:<\/B> by these words the apostle proves that the day of the Lord will come unexpected, by the security that will be then found in the world. They say it in their hearts and practice, if not with their tongues. And he useth two words the better to express the greatness of this security, present peace, and no danger of sliding, as the words import. And as the effect of Christs coming will be <\/P> destruction<\/B> to such, which will be salvation<\/I> to others, Heb 9:28<\/span>; so through their security it will be <\/P> sudden destruction, <\/B>which he describes under the similitude of travail upon a woman with child, <\/I>which doth for the most part come of a sudden, and is the most exquisite pains in nature, and is often made use of in Scripture to set forth extremity of misery, Isa 13:8<\/span>; Jer 13:21<\/span>. And these pains come upon her unavoidably; so saith the apostle of these mens destruction, <\/P> and they shall not escape, <\/B>or in no wise escape, expressed in the Greek by two negatives, which do strongly affirm. <\/P> <\/p>\n 3. they<\/B>the men of the world.1Th 5:5<\/span>; 1Th 5:6<\/span>;1Th 4:13<\/span>, “others,” allthe rest of the world save Christians. <\/P> Peace<\/B> (Jdg 18:7<\/span>;Jdg 18:9<\/span>; Jdg 18:27<\/span>;Jdg 18:28<\/span>; Jer 6:14<\/span>;Eze 13:10<\/span>). <\/P> then<\/B>at the verymoment<\/I> when they least expect it. Compare the case of Belshazzar,Dan 5:1-5<\/span>; Dan 5:6<\/span>;Dan 5:9<\/span>; Dan 5:26-28<\/span>;Herod, Ac 12:21-23<\/span>. <\/P> sudden<\/B>“unawares”(Lu 21:34<\/span>). <\/P> as travail<\/B>“As the<\/I>labor pang” comes in an instant on the woman when otherwiseengaged (Psa 48:6<\/span>; Isa 13:8<\/span>).<\/P> shall not escape<\/B>Greek,<\/I>“shall not at all escape.” Another awful feature of theirruin: there shall be then no possibility of shunning it however theydesire it (Amo 9:2<\/span>; Amo 9:3<\/span>;Rev 6:15<\/span>; Rev 6:16<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n For when they shall say<\/strong>,…. Or men shall say, that is, wicked and ungodly men, persons in a state of unregeneracy:<\/p>\n peace and safety<\/strong>; when they shall sing a requiem, to themselves, promise themselves much ease and peace for years to come, and imagine their persons and property to be very secure from enemies and oppressors, and shall flatter themselves with much and long temporal happiness:<\/p>\n then sudden destruction cometh upon them<\/strong>; as on the men of the old world in the times of Noah, and on the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot; for as these, will be the days of the Son of man, as at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, so at the last day; see Lu 17:26<\/span> and as was the destruction of literal Babylon, so of Babylon in a mystical sense, or antichrist and his followers: and which will be<\/p>\n as travail upon a woman with child<\/strong>; whose anguish and pains are very sharp, the cause of which is within herself, and which come suddenly upon her, and are unavoidable; and so the metaphor expresses the sharpness and severity of the destruction of the wicked, thus the calamities on the Jewish nation are expressed by a word which signifies the sorrows, pangs, and birth throes of a woman in travail, Mt 24:8<\/span>, and likewise that the cause of it is from themselves, their own sins and transgressions; and also the suddenness of it, which will come upon them in the midst of all their mirth, jollity, and security; and moreover, the inevitableness of it, it will certainly come at the full and appointed time, though that is not known:<\/p>\n and they shall not escape<\/strong>; the righteous judgment of God, the wrath of the Lamb, or falling into his hands; to escape is impossible, rocks, hills, and mountains will not cover and hide them; before the judgment seat of Christ they must stand, and into everlasting punishment must they go.<\/p>\n When they are saying <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Present active subjunctive picturing these false prophets of<\/P> peace and safety <\/B> like Eze 13:10<\/span> (Peace, and there is no peace). <\/SPAN><\/span> only in N.T. in Lu 1:4<\/span> (which see); Ac 5:23<\/span> and here.<\/P> Sudden destruction <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). <\/SPAN><\/span> old word from <\/SPAN><\/span>, to destroy. See also 2Th 1:9<\/span>. <\/SPAN><\/span>, old adjective akin to <\/SPAN><\/span> and in N.T. only here and Lu 21:34<\/span> where Westcott and Hort spell it <\/SPAN><\/span>.<\/P> Cometh upon them <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Unaspirated form instead of the usual <\/SPAN><\/span> (present middle indicative) from <\/SPAN><\/span> perhaps due to confusion with <\/SPAN><\/span>.<\/P> As travail upon a woman with child <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Earlier form <\/SPAN><\/span> for birth-pang used also by Jesus (Mark 13:8<\/span>; Matt 24:8<\/span>). Technical phrase for pregnancy,<\/P> to the one who has it in belly <\/B> (cf. Mt 1:18<\/span> of Mary).<\/P> They shall in no wise escape <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Strong negative like that in 4:15<\/span> <\/SPAN><\/span> (double negative) and the second aorist active subjunctive. <\/P> <\/p>\n When they shall say. The prediction is thrown into dramatic form. Cometh upon [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. See Luk 21:34<\/span>, 36<\/span>. Often in N. T. of a person coming suddenly upon another; as Luk 2:9<\/span>; Luk 24:4<\/span>; Act 4:1<\/span>; Act 12:7<\/span>. Travail [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. Birth – throe. Only here in its literal sense. Elsewhere as a strong figure of sorrow or pain. See Mt 24:8<\/span>; Mr 13:8<\/span>; Act 2:24<\/span>. For the figure in O. T. see Isa 13:6 – 8<\/span>; Isa 37:3<\/span>; Mic 4:9<\/span>; Hos 13:3<\/span>; Jer 13:21<\/span>. <\/P> Shall not escape [ ] <\/SPAN><\/span>. A. V. misses the force of the double negative. They shall in no wise escape.<\/P> <\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The day stated. By the expression, the day of the Lord, must be meant a day in some unique sense His <\/em>day; for all days are really days of the Lord of time.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The figure employed. What are the ideas suggested by the words, As a thief in the night?<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>In thy midst of imagined security. When enjoying riches, and contemplating, as the rich fool, their further augmentation; and when, perhaps, trusting in the infinitude of the Divine mercy, and thinking the day afar off.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Sudden. Without notice: nothing in the course of nature, or the affairs of men, to indicate the catastrophe.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Unavoidable: reputation, good works, etc., will be as cobwebs.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>Terrible. Destruction. (Sir E. Bayley, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n