Be the Shulammite

When the Bridegroom Thief comes to steal His Bride, most of the church will be unaware, but not the Bride. If the Lord is wooing you, rejoice in that and receive all He has for you!

1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3

Many are they who know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, without yet even grasping that the Lord is that thief who will steal only the most precious of His saints from out of His own house. Few are they who truly don't need to be written to about times and the epochs, who rightly understand that coming like a thief in the context. The language of the passage is laden with insight. There is more depth to the allegorical comparison about the thief in the night than what appears on the surface. There is likewise more depth to the allegorical comparison about the labor pains that come suddenly upon a woman with child.

If you don't have the context in mind, perhaps a reading of chapter 4 is called for.

The way of a thief is to come without warning. Most saints who know the Bridegroom is coming are like a pregnant woman. The time frame when a woman will go into labor is usually known well in advance. Much of life's activity is planned and scheduled with the due date in mind. When she nears full term, it is anticipated that she may go into labor at any moment. So it is for the saints who know well that the coming of the Lord is impending. While a pregnant woman might come to have a strong sense that she may be about to go into labor, she never really knows when that will be. Labor pains arrive suddenly without warning. That it arrives is no surprise. The season when it comes is not usually a surprise. What is always a surprise is the moment when it finally comes. That is the way of a thief, who comes without warning.

Many have been taught that no one will know when the Bridegroom comes - and many of you still accept that it will be so. After all, no one knows when a thief comes, and a pregnant woman never knows when labor comes, right? That's all that can be seen in the darkness, when the Lord has not truly opened your eyes and shined His light, but that's not all there is to the matter!

Paul's message, given by revelation from Jesus Christ, Y'shua haMashiach, continues.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:4

If the time of arrival cannot be known in advance, this message of verse 4 makes no sense. There is a contrast being set forth, one which can and should be taken as a warning. What the coming of a thief and labor pain have in common is the surprise factor. For those who are in darkness, the day will overtake them without advance knowledge of the time. Did you get that yet? Take stock of it. But yet, that's not how it's going to be for everyone, because not all will be in darkness, asleep and drunk, anesthetized and blinded to the reality of their plight. There will be sons of light and sons of day. Again, verse 4.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:4

Some won't need to be written to about times and epochs because they already know when the thief will come, even when the labor pain will begin for those awaiting destruction. This is the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from the contrast set forth in the passage. It's not the stuff of genius but of the seeing eye and hearing ear. In your mind, are you still entertaining theories about when the Lord will come? Have you assigned probabilities favoring one over another, still struggling to identify the assumptions made and weighing the conflicting conclusions? There's a clue about how bright your light really is in this late hour. We don't need all the answers, just the right ones.

Those in darkness are about to be destroyed, according to the language of the text. Yet, some will be wide awake and stone-cold sober and seeing as in the bright light of day at the coming of the Bridegroom thief - and saved. (verse 9)

Consider the message the Lord gave His private audience in Matthew 24.

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. ~ Matthew 24:43

The head of the house (oikodespotes) can't know. Those who rely upon their guidance can't know. The oikodespotes must allow the break in because The Thief must steal His valuables out of His own house on the appointed schedule. (The Lord of the Harvest must gather His crops out of His harvest field at the peak of ripeness. Early or late just won't do.) The oikodespotes must not be on the alert, so they cannot know at what time of the night the thief is coming. Access: Denied. Darkness, slumber and drunkenness on the potent wine of Mystery Babylon must be maintained. Genuine sobriety and alertness and seeing in the light of day must be quenched by any and all means. It must be so to fulfill the Lord's own purposes.

When those in darkness read through the end of Matthew chapter 24 into chapter 25, they see the possession of oil as the only consideration and are assured that they are wise virgins, and that it is enough for them. Yet, the fact that they dimmed their lamps while they slept is ignored. Sleeping in the darkness when the Bridegroom is coming is a costly error, because they won't be woken up until after the Bride has already been removed. Consider the beginning of chapter 25 as an extension of 24.

Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ~ Matthew 25:1

The word, “Then,” is a connecting word, right? Reread the closing verses of chapter 24. The oil is for making the lamp shine brightly, not for saving. You have it to burn it. If the virgins would have known the time of the coming, they would have stayed awake and on the alert for the coming of the Bridegroom Thief, with their wicks trimmed for maximum output!

When the first Adam was put to sleep and the woman was subsequently taken out of his body, the model is plain. So it is with the body of the last Adam.

21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. ~ Genesis 2:21-22

After the Bride is taken out of His Body and brought to The Man who is the last Adam, she will become even more His helpmate!

Looking back to consider when the apostle John recorded the following message, it cannot reasonably be taken to apply very directly to anyone who is long dead at the coming of the Lord like a thief. It's for us, now.

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: “He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” ~ Revelation 3:1-6

“Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” What if the sleeping do wake up? The only reasonable conclusion is that they will know at what hour He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars will come like a thief! They will repent, strengthening the things that remain and complete the required deeds. Is this you? Is your garment spotlessly white? Do you know when He will come to steal His precious valuables?

As it is presented in the study, Will No One Know the Day?, the secret of the comparison made in Matthew 24:37 is revealed in tracking the thread that weaves through the entire chapter. Noah knew the very day when the rain would come, one week in advance. What Noah knew, you should too. Are you ready for the sign that will establish when the Lord will come? That's the big question, because those who knew in Noah's day were shut up in the ark of salvation - and the Lord sealed it! They alone were saved. According to this model there is likewise a final cut off point for Bride qualification. A great hoax is appointed, dear saints, and if you have not received the love of the truth you will be deceived by it. Then, when the appointed sign is given, which is the revealing of the lawless one, regardless of how well informed you think you are, you won't know it for what it is. The ark of salvation will be sealed shut by the Lord Himself in that hour.

Today, life goes on. Saints labor together in the Lord's harvest field. Some will be taken and some left behind as a crop not yet come to full maturity.

Do you understand, or no?

The Lord will have crops in this season ready for harvest. Few will be accounted as unleavened bread, a Barley people, but through that work, a great multitude will ripen for harvest as wheat at Shavuot.

Be the Shulammite.

8 “There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
And maidens without number;
9 But my dove, my perfect one, is unique:
She is her mother’s only daughter;
She is the pure child of the one who bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her blessed,
The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,
10 ‘Who is this that grows like the dawn,
As beautiful as the full moon,
As pure as the sun,
As awesome as an army with banners?’
11 “I went down to the orchard of nut trees
To see the blossoms of the valley,
To see whether the vine had budded
Or the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 “Before I was aware, my soul set me
Over the chariots of my noble people.”
13 “Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
Come back, come back, that we may gaze at you!”
“Why should you gaze at the Shulammite,
As at the dance of the two companies? ~ Song of Solomon 6:8-13