THE THEORY OF ’THE THIEF’
Just as in many other theories, prophecy ’scholars’ have gone astray due to faulty interpretations of specific texts of Scripture. One of these false interpretations is ’THE THIEF’ mentioned in distinct prophetic passages of the Word of God. This word ’thief’ [kleptes]as a noun is mentioned seventeen times in the New Testament with seven of those occurrences being found in passages dealing with ’Things to Come’.
’Things to Come’ is also the title of Dwight Pentecost’s book which documents in convincing style his Pre-tribulation rapture theory. This informative work thoroughly records many of the popular prophetic positions except the relatively ’new’ Pre-wrath doctrine/position which is the one that conforms closest to the Scripture.
But, if we get right down to the bone on this matter of prophetic truth, being dogmatic on the specific p’s and q’s is a mistake, as illumination of the Bible will increase as God continues to illuminate His Truth as Daniel wrote in the last chapter of his prophecy. (Daniel 12:4, 9)
The balanced Biblical position is ’Prove all things, hold fast that which is good’ (I Thessalonians 5:21) and thereby we ’Despise not prophesyings’ (I Thessalonians 5:20) of good men who have earnestly sought the Lord by the
Spirit of God and have presented new positions by systematizing the Truth, not new Truth, but systematizing the prophetic Word of God, giving it a name, reviving the precious Truth held by God’s chosen servants for centuries! The wisdom of God according to Daniel 12 should cause us to have our prophetic position in somewhat of a ’state of flux’! God forbid, did he say fluxuation???
Yes, that’s right, when you think you have all the answers, and ’dog’ matism is your favorite pet, and there is no way what you have been teaching/preaching for decades could be faulty, you better apply the two principles mentioned above from I Thessalonians 5, and evaluate, prove, test each so-called ’new’ position that the Lord brings into your path before you soundly reject it on the basis of the opinions of other good men, institutions, and teachers/preachers authority. It must come from the Word of God, not the traditions of men based on theories founded on suppositions and the teaching of theories born a mere 170 years ago! In reference to the two millennia that have passed since the Lord ascended, 170 years is recent and new! This is exactly the position of those who hold to the notable Pre-tribulation rapture theory!
It is these prophetic occurrences that we will examine in this brief study in order to shed light on the overall doctrine of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, although in keeping with sound interpretation we must look first at what the Lord Jesus has to say concerning this word ’thief’ which He in fact used on at least one occasion in a prophetic setting, (Matthew 24:43) and also another which is not necessarily in a prophetic passage but sheds great light on our present-day conditions as the Lord used this word ’metaphorically of false teachers, John 10:8’ p.126 of ’An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words’ by W. E. Vine.
In Matthew 24:43 the Lord uses the word thief [kleptes] literally to illustrate through a parable dealing with His Second Coming. After answering the three disciples specific questions ( ’when shall these things be’ and ’what shall be the sign of Thy Coming and the end of the world’) in a deliberate chronological order, the Lord Jesus utilizes two parables to illustrate the Truth and shed additional light on His answers to these four (Andrew, Peter, James and John ’inner circle’) disciples.
This word ’thief’ [kleptes] in the prophetic context of Matthew 24 which is located in the parable of the ’Goodman’ is used in the literal sense of one who would embezzle, steal of take away something that didn’t belong to him. A perfect description of the false teachers we just discussed as many of them are doing the very same thing...only they are wolves in sheep’s clothing...now please remember, I’m a sheep in Wolfe’s clothing, I’ve been converted, saved by the Blood of the Lamb, no, I’m not a wolf in sheep’s clothing!! Hey, better get back to the message at hand, huh?
The purpose of the parable of the ’Goodman’ is to emphasize the need for those who believe to ’Watch’ the world circumstances, the political and religious scene so that we might ’be ready; for in such an hour as ye think not [If you are not watching] the Son of man cometh.’ (Matthew 24:44). The parallel passage is found in Luke 12:39, 40 where our word ’thief’ is used once again.
The Lord utilizes the parable of the fig tree teaching the Awareness of the Believer ’when ye shall see all these things, know that it [the Second Coming and the end of the age] is near, even at the doors. However, the very next section of Scripture (v. 36-41) tells us ’of that day and hour knows no man, no not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.’ So we the children of God can know the ’times and seasons’ (I Thessalonians 5:1) but we can not know the specific day and hour!
Then Jesus teaches us that the world will be ’as the days of Noah...the days that were before the flood’ when the Lord’s Coming is near for just as in that day we the believing remnant, the church of Jesus Christ, will be rescued by rapture in the same way that Noah and his family as a matter of Biblical fact as attested by the parallel passage in Luke 17 explicitly teaches, ’the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all’ (Luke 17:27) In this same Luke 17 passage the Lord explains that ’the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all’ (Luke 17:29) and so it will be when the Lord rescues His own by rapture from the vicious persecution of the Antichrist!
Therefore, Jesus, after His thorough teaching on these momentous end time events, through the specific, chronological unfolding of history, He continues using the word ’thief’ [kleptes] in a metaphoric fashion in the parable of the ’Goodman’. His specific purpose is to give admonition to those who believe. He commands us to ’Watch’ which He gives a present imperative, a military order from the King of kings to his subjects, keep on watching, continue to be on guard, watching for the events of the close and climax of history as we know it!
Yes, as the centuries unfold and a new millennium begins the Lord orders us to be students of history as it impacts the present day of our ministering to others and the future opportunities we will have as we await His Second Coming! The 19th century witnessed the flood of false doctrines and cults pouring out on the stage of history. The majority of the dominant cults that exist today were born during the 1800’s. Dreams and visions and doctrines of devils abounded bringing with them false prophets and false teachers.
These deceivers through their distorted un-Biblical doctrines continue to condemn men and women to the eternal torment of hell created for the devil and his angels. This onslaught of deceivers, the devil’s counterpunch to the effects of the Reformation, took a few centuries to manifest itself, but, just as he brought his ’counterpunches’ in the great authority struggle that God waged with Pharaoh of Egypt when He manifested His glory ultimately redeeming a nation in a day, so too the devils ’counterpunching’ plans and patterns never change. He is just a weak counterpuncher at best when compared to the power of the King of kings!
Then came the 20th century with its barrage of false ’spiritual gifts’. The tongues movement was born at the Azuza Street Mission in the first decade, involving the un-Biblical babbling of a gathering in the name of God. But all that names the holy Name of the Lord Jesus Christ is not of the Lord as He so effectively taught in Matthew 7:21-23.
Then, as this movement grew other so called ’apostolic’ gifts became evident and ’healers’ and their Simon-izing stunts similar to Simon the sorcerer of Acts 8, who was not the author of Existentialism, but he sure knew how to take advantage of it’s teaching as he controlled the minds of the Samaritans through his satanic power to ’bewitch’ those who followed him. Simony, the selling of so called spiritual gifts, Simon-izing those who are deceived by the glitz and glitter of ’ministries’ and they continue deceiving and in many cases being deceived.
Money appears to be the objective, in many of these so-called ’ministries’, and not really ministry, as these false teaching ’faith healers’ and various and sundry T.V. charlatans abound! The exposing of a few of these media money making ’giants’ in the past few decades has not slowed the barrage of ’new’ un-Biblical ’false teachers’ as these ’miracle workers’ are springing up, it seems, on every hand.
Yes, miracles and the miraculous seem to be on the lips of the multitudes as angels and angel worship has been only one of the latest ’spiritual’ crazes that the devil is using to deceive the masses, preparing them for the final supreme ’False Teacher/Deceiver’ during the end of this age. It is evident that we are truly in the ’age of the miraculous’ as the 21st century and the New Millennium begin.
The Lord is allowing the devil to increasingly exhibit his powers as he will be the author of the ever-increasing ability to perform ’miracles’ as we rush headlong into the end of the age. Could it be that the Lord is educating His people who will ’Watch’ and learn from history? Could it be that this the 21st Century is indeed the era of miracles? Statistics tell us that there have been over 1100 False Messiahs during the last five decades. Could it be that the Lord is coming soon...I believe He is...come quickly Lord Jesus!
Therefore we must ’Watch’ as this false teaching comes in degrees, Donald Grey Barnhouse hit the nail on the head when he said and I paraphrase his words taken from his book ’The Invisible War’; you must be wary of the man in the pulpit you listen to, for that is where false doctrine is born, where it begins, where the seeds are sown!
His words speak loudly in this age when men and movements are falling like flies...a little leaven leavens the whole lump...little by little...inch by inch...and all of a sudden a whole new doctrine has been established...and the traditions of men have replace the precious Truth of the Word of God! Yes, the devil comes as ’an angel of light’ infiltrating the ’wheat’ as the ’tares’ continue to spread their doctrines of deceit from within the church.
Intitutions of ’higher learning’ are the fountainheads of much false teaching, especially when it is done to conform to the age and ’all for the love of cash money’ in many cases!! Authority structures have been weakened slowly through conformity to the worlds ways, the family has been literally devastated with the movement of ’ordaining/placing’ women into un-Biblical positions of authority in the workplace and the church, thereby denying the importance of motherhood, undermining the family unit, placing Christian women into ’slavery’ which obviously and eventually effects the church and it’s strength as the one and only God ordained organism for Evangelization of the lost and Edification of His people!
And so, please excuse me if it looks like I got carried away, I must admit I did, but you know how us preachers are...well, let’s get back to the topic at hand, (although we never really abandoned it as these false teachers/false prophets are thieves themselves!) which fits right in to our discussion of history and the false teaching that is evident in the church today.
This word ’thief’ [kleptes] in the prophetic context of Matthew 24 which is located in the parable of the ’Goodman’ is used in the literal sense of one who would embezzle, steal of take away something that didn’t belong to him. A perfect description of the false teachers we just discussed as many of them are doing the very same thing...only they are wolves in sheep’s clothing...now please remember, I’m a sheep in Wolfe’s clothing, I’ve been converted, saved by the Blood of the Lamb, no, I’m not a wolf in sheep’s clothing!! Hey, better get back to the message at hand, huh?
The purpose of the parable of the ’Goodman’ is to emphasize the need for those who believe to ’Watch’ the world circumstances, the political and religious scene so that we might ’be ready; for in such an hour as ye think not [If you are not watching] the Son of man cometh.’ (Matthew 24:44). The parallel passage is found in Luke 12:39,40 where our word ’thief’ is used once again.
The next prophetic passage we must discuss is I Thessalonians 4:13-5:10 as our word ’thief’ [kleptes] appears twice in this most significant end times passage. Chapter 4:13-18 is considered to be the ’classic’ New Testament passage dealing with the rapture of the church which we will not completely exposit in this study except for mentioning two specific keys for understanding: 1. the similarity to Matthew 24:27ff, and 2. the flow of these six verses at the end of Chapter 4.
The similarity to Matthew 24:27ff can be summed up by pointing four words that appear here in I Thessalonians 4 are ’coming...angel...trump...clouds’ giving a clear indicator, much like a finger pointing the way, to the fact that the Lord and Paul are dealing with the same subject, the rapture, and the same time frame, the end of the age.
Secondly, the flow of this passage continues into Chapter 5 as the context of both the English translation and the Greek text underline. Remember, the verses and paragraph breaks were added centuries after the originals were written, as a matter of fact if mere students of the Greek were given an actual copy of the manuscripts which our Bibles were translated from we would have trouble even reading them for the letters and words run together and only one who is much further advanced in study, or one who lived in that day and handled the language as a matter of course because it was his native tongue, would be able to pick them up and freely read and interpret the meaning as we do our English translation.
Therefore, the paragraph and chapter breaks are the work of men of a much later time than the writers and all Scripture must be interpreted with that in mind. One Greek New Testament, the Nestle-Aland Third Edition, demonstrates this break, while the Majority Text shows a break at this point, although they are equally valuable for the students reference.
Nevertheless, we must keep in mind, the context, the subject at hand that Paul is dealing with, is more important than the work of men, which can be subject to the errors of mere mortal men such as us! So, the point here is, don’t let the chapter divisions in your Bible necessarily throw you off so that you think the author is dealing with a new subject.
This is especially evident in the epistles which are for the most part are doctrinally driven, whereas the historical books, the Gospels and Acts etc. are driven by historical events and therefore, the context can be more clearly defined.
However, in this case the doctrine being discussed by Paul is clearly eschatology, or the doctrine of last things, more commonly called the doctrine of the end times.
He starts out by giving the most thorough teaching in the New Testament on the rapture 4:13-18 and continues in chronological order to the next event on God’s timetable, the Day of the Lord. He discusses that doctrine in 5:1-10 as the natural continuation of his instruction to the believers in Thessalonica by saying: ’But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief [kleptes] in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief [kleptes].’
(I Thessalonians 5:1-4)
Paul, here, is openly instructing the believers at Thessalonica concerning the ’times and seasons’ of the Second Coming of the Lord to rapture the church and the same day start of the day of the Lord! He uses one of the most effective teaching methods, the method of comparison, comparing the attitudes and actions of the believer ’you yourselves’ with the unbeliever ’when they shall say...then sudden destruction cometh upon them...and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief [kleptes]...’
He is emphasizing the fact that God will give Awareness to the Believer, he will not come as a thief to us, but He will come as a thief to those who are unaware of His impending Second Coming and the day of the Lord judgment that follows because they are lost!
This should give us great impetus and intense compassion to reach those who are lost, dying, and hopelessly struggling with the curse of sin! It should also give us the great desire to ’Watch’ and discern the times, so that we can know ’the times and seasons’ when the King of glory will return to rescue His own!
II Peter 3:10 is the next prophetic passage that uses the word ’thief’ [kleptes] ’But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night...’ and this reference, like I Thessalonians 5:2,4, deals with the day of the Lord and it’s coming upon those who are lost. The results of God’s fiery judgments of the day of the Lord are then listed in the next few verses with verse 13 recording the restoration of the earth during the days following the final destructive battle of Armageddon just prior to the millennium ’wherein dwelleth righteousness’.
In the next ’thief’ passage (Revelation 3:3) the church in Sardis is given a stern warning from the Lord Jesus to ’Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.’
Here, the picture becomes crystal clear! The Lord will come on those who are nearly lifeless ’that are ready to die’ (v.2) but are not spiritually dead, only their works are not the works of mature believer who are presently not remembering how they have received, they are not holding fast, they must instead repent, clear their spiritual eyes that they might see the King and walk in His Kingdom!
This is not a Second Coming passage but is instead dealing with an actual church in history which characterizes many churches throughout the unfolding age of grace. Jesus is, here, warning this church that He will come as a thief to chastise/judge them, if they do not watch and will be unaware when He comes for ’Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments’, indicating that many have defiled their garments with sin and need to repent!
The next group upon whom He will come as a thief, is those who have been saved after the rapture during the day of the Lord for both Jew and Gentile alike are given this admonition in Revelation 16:15: ’Behold I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.’ which occurs just before the battle of Armageddon mentioned in v.17.
God will surely have His remnant on earth both Jew and Gentile (Daniel 12:3; Isaiah 26:20, 21; Zechariah 14:16) who, being protected during God’s fiery judgment, will enter the Millennial Kingdom after His wrath is completed at the end of the age. This day of the Lord wrath of God is concluded by the battle that ends all battles with the victorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes with His holy angels as described in Revelation 19:11-16.
In conclusion, the Lord will come as a thief to two different groups of people, the first is those who are lost and are unaware of the Lord’s Coming when He comes to rapture/rescue those believers from the persecution of the Antichrist also known as the wrath of Satan (Revelation 12:12). Secondly, He will come as a thief upon those believers who are admonished in Revelation 16:15 when He returns in triumph at the end of the age
