One of the most significant cash heists in history took place last week. A crew breached the wall of a money storage facility in Los Angeles and, in Hollywood fashion, cracked the safe and escaped undetected with $30 million of untraceable cash. The denominations of the stolen currency is unknown, but it’s estimated that even if it was all $100 bills the haul would weigh about 660 pounds. If they were a mix of $5s, $10s and $20s then it would measure closer to 3.5 tons! You can imagine the humiliation that fact adds to the security company responsible for the historic loss.
The Associated Press wrote that “a crime of this magnitude had likely been planned for months or longer and involved numerous people.” They interviewed a major crimes detective who said, “This took a tremendous amount of research and tremendous amount of knowledge on the technical end regarding the circumvention of security systems and surveillance.” A significant amount of covert planning resulted in the public humiliation of a company that was not suitably prepared.
No fewer than five times the Bible uses the analogy of a thief coming in the night to describe the unexpected timing of Jesus’ return. Like the Los Angeles heist, each of the biblical examples depict the shock that will be experienced by those that are not ready.
Matthew describes the regret that will be felt at His return.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. (Mt. 24:43)
1 Thessalonians describes the shocking pain that will be experienced at His return.
For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thes. 5:2–3)
And 2 Peter describes the abrupt exposure of acts done in secret at His return.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Pet. 3:10)
Like a parent striving to earnestly communicate life-saving advice to a child, the Bible repeatedly employs this graphic image to deliver a soul-saving warning. A parable in Matthew 24 says that the one that is found to be diligent when the Master returns is commended and the one that presumptuously relied on His delay is a “wicked servant.” In 1 Thessalonians 5 those that are awake, sober and at-work are called “children of the light” while those that are asleep and indulgent are “of darkness.”
These passages tell you exactly what sort of person you should be—one that, in holiness and godliness, are “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Pet. 3:12). That is to say, one that is eagerly anticipating His unpredictable return!
Does your life have the marks of eager anticipation of the Lord’s return? In Noahic terms, would you be a boat builder or a bystander? Are you at work with anticipation or is your life presumptuously idle and largely indistinguishable from the rest of the world? Do you strive for holiness and godliness in a way that communicates an eagerness for the Lord’s return? Would a review of your calendar over the last six months chronicle the life of someone that is awake, sober and at-work, or one that is spiritually asleep?
“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!” (Rev. 16:15)
When Christ returns do you want to be found spiritually clothed or spiritually naked? He hasn’t returned yet, so if He came in the next hour would you blush with embarrassment? Now is the time to make a change. Live a life marked by diligence, sobriety and work with eager anticipation for His return. Live with your spiritual clothes on.