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"When they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them"
(I Thess. 5: 3).
The word translated `safety' here, is asphaleia, which is derived from sphallo, to trip
up, make to fall, and is used in classical Greek of the reeling and staggering of a drunken
man. This `safety' then is an illusion, for those who raise this cry are actually children of
the night, and are drunken in the night. They only can really use the rallying call `peace
and safety' who wear the helmet, the hope of salvation. The times in which we live are
compelling those in authority to seek some solution to save the world from chaos and
ruin, and the Man of Sin will be the solution offered by the Devil and accepted by his
dupes. "When", "then". How shortlived the peace! How transient the `safety', for when
they thus speak, `sudden destruction' `stands over' them. Ephistemi is translated `come
upon' (Luke 21: 34), `be instant' (II Tim. 4: 2), `at hand' (II Tim. 4: 6), `it impends'.
The word translated `sudden' is aiphnidios, and is derived from aiphnes `unexpected'.
This in its turn is derived from a negative and phaino to appear, and so unawares,
unforeseen, quicker than sight. Aphno the adverb is found in Acts 2: 2; 16: 26 and
18: 6. The Apostle had said to the Thessalonians:
"Ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night" (I Thess. 5: 1, 2).
This knowledge may have been the result of Paul's own personal instruction, just as
their knowledge of other aspects of the Day of the Lord (II Thess. 2: 5). On the other
hand, it is possible, that Luke had written and circulated his gospel by this time, and it
may be to that gospel that Paul here makes reference. They knew, said Paul `perfectly', a
word used by Luke in chapter 1: 3. From Luke 12: 35-39 they would have gathered
that the Coming of the Lord would be like a thief, and that `loins girded', a `light
burning', were but a figurative way of expressing the attitude of watchfulness enjoined in
I Thess. 5: Again if they had read Luke's gospel they would have already come across
the word translated `sudden' in I Thess. 5: 3, for the only other occurrence of aiphnidios
in the N.T. is in Luke 21: 34, where we read:
"Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting,
and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares."
Here we have `drunkenness' and the verb `to come upon' as in I Thess. 5: 1-3, and in
the word `unawares' the only other occurrence of aiphnidios. The evil character of the
cry `peace and safety' which ends in `sudden destruction' of I Thess. 5: 3 is revealed in
Luke 21: 35:
"For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."
"They shall not escape", said the Apostle (I Thess. 5: 3).
"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all
these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21: 36).
The exhortation to `watch' in Luke 21: is synonymous with the words `watch--be
sober' and `wake' of I Thess. 5: 6 and 10, while the exhortation "pray always"
(Luke 21: 36), finds its complete echo in `Pray without ceasing' (I Thess. 5: 17).
Moreover, if the Thessalonians were acquainted with Luke's gospel they would not fail to