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"For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, 'Peace and safety!' then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant, and they will never escape" (1Th.5:2,3). This refers to those who continue to sin, thinking that all is fine and nothing will happen. The context is about the coming of the Lord, but doesn't the idea relate to the consequences of sin suddenly coming upon people? Many times, when people sin and nothing happens - they aren't caught, they seem to get away with it - they imagine that nothing can happen, and they continue to sin (Ecc.8:11). But God tells us not to fool ourselves; there are always consequences, whether now or in eternity (Ga.6:7). If anyone thinks he can manage to avoid getting caught, yet he is not getting away from God.

At the beginning of the church era, God demonstrated in what seemed to be an extreme manner how He looks at guile and hypocrisy. Ananias and Sapphira sold some property and gave a part of the amount to the apostles, pretending that they were donating the whole amount, seeking greater honour. But God killed them on the spot. After giving that example, God has not been repeating a similar judgment on everything that has been going on since then. It is not that He has changed. He has given this warning and now He is waiting to see who will take sin seriously. Nobody is going to be able to get away with sin.

Towards the end of the church era now, as the time is short before the Lord Jesus comes again, God seems to be giving warning shots again. Of late, there has been a series of exposures of big names in the church who have been hiding behind their names and committing sin, presumably lightly. They seem to have thought that since they were able to get away with it for many years, they never would get caught.

The warning is not basically for them, but for the rest of us. We are being given the opportunity to sit up and take sin seriously in our own lives. Churches and organisations too can now examine whether their ways have been right, where they need to change, etc.

The Bible talks about scoffers who deride the Bible saying that Jesus has not returned after many years since He went up. But the explanation is not that God has failed to keep His promise, but that He is giving people more time to repent. His judgment is strict and without partiality. But His mercy compels Him to give people enough time to repent (2Pe.3:9). But that is not to be taken for granted. As someone said, if you are planning to repent at 12am, remember you may die at 11pm.

Our attitude to sin in our own life is a clear proof of whether we have truly been born again, or we are just religious followers. All who are truly born again have been given a new heart and spirit (Ez.36:26,27). The presence or absence of this spirit shows who really belong to God and who do not.

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