God's Database.

No posters plastered on walls. No billboards marking the time and place. Not a single media post on any medium available. Thieves simple do NOT announce their planned thievery. If anything, thieves are very hush, hush about what they are doing. The fewer people who know what they are up to the better, right? There is a lot less of a chance of a thief getting caught if their plans are kept to a bare minimum on a need to know basis. Your more elaborate thieves might even keep the entire plan from all those helping to pull off the crime. One thief may play a part entirely different from another and therefore no need to know arises. Thieves plot their actions quite often, the more elaborate the thieving the more intricate the plotting might be. This isn't to say there aren't many thieves born simply of opportunity. An opportunity arises and so they take it, and tada, they are now a thief.

Victims of thieves (of which I have been one in the past) end up feeling violated on an emotional level (at least this one did). The sense of loss is undeniable. When you can't replace that which was stolen from you it is even worse.

Had I known a thief was targeting my possessions I would have taken greater pains to protect them. Was it a crime of opportunity, they were just walking by my car and decided hey, this might be something I could use, or sell to get some money. So, they break into my car and steal my possessions simply because they came, saw and wanted to conquer them. I'll never know how thought out and planned the burglary was, from a split second decision to a watching the car for several nights, what I do know is I had NO IDEA a thief was going to take what was rightfully mine.

Why so much discussion about thieves? Because the word of God tells me that Jesus is going to return as a thief.

'But of the times and the 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 in the night.'

Not only is Jesus our Lord returning as a thief, He's returning as a thief in the night.  We all know that under the cloak of darkness a lot more crimes are committed. It's a safe bet to say the majority of thieving (at least for tangible possessions - not cyber and electronic stealing) is done in the dark when there is less chance of being seen.  I know where I live, the city I live in, there are quite of few incidences of groups of kids breaking into cars and when do they mostly occur? In the middle of the night. It truly is harder to catch a thief while you are sleeping, yes? Near to impossible unless of course you have a knowledge of non-lethal physical traps you can set up around your property maybe then you can catch the thief. Nowadays there are a lot of people who own security cameras and they catch the thieves in action but wily thieves cloak their identities quite a bit, some even spy the cameras and take action to keep from being seen simply by keeping their face turned from the recording device.

Jesus is going to return as a thief in the night.

Seems a bit sneaky, right? Doesn't seem like Jesus at all to be even a touch underhanded. I suppose anything we connect to thieves sets us immediately on edge. We can't refute the word of God though, it did say that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. In fact, there was and there is no reason whatsoever to tell someone when Jesus will return, because we are told we can't know. Isn't that what is meant by the thief part? Not that Jesus is going to align Himself with criminals and steal anything at all. The part about thieves in the night and what that means- YOU DON'T KNOW when a night time thief is going to rob you. Thieves do not have schedules available for our eyes to see. There are no posts at all from thieves, no instant message saying- Hey, I'm on my way to rob you tonight. They do not let us know when they are coming. So too we will not know the date of our Savior's return, we can't know.

Imagine a thieves network where all their future crimes are posted suddenly being exposed for all to see and the times and places of all the thieving were revealed. If you look down the list and see your address what exactly would you want to do? Prepare? Sit down in the shadows with your BB gun, stun gun, any non-lethal weapon and wait for the thief to arrive so you could stop them, right? Granted that is only if the thief doesn't know you've seen their plans.

Prior to getting the knowledge of when you were going to be robbed you never gave a thought to sitting in wait for a possible burglar to show up. However, you might take many precautions against being burgled- locks, security systems, lights and so on, just in case.

If the date and time of our Lord's return were posted for all to see how many people would simply do as they pleased waiting until the date drew near to begin their walk with Christ? True, all the procrastinators would be known and most likely the insincerity of their desire to belong to Christ on record, but if we stop and look at the entire picture- the time of Christ's return thousands of years away from the date of the written reminder- how unreal that might seem to a lot of people, so much so they grow discouraged under the weight of that knowledge.

The date and time of our Lord's return has been kept from all for reasons beyond our full comprehension.  Many people- I'd love to say millions and millions, but in truth I have no idea how many- have lived and died waiting for the Lord to return.

(Side note of logic here for a moment- why would it matter when the Lord returned if when a person died they go to be with Him immediately? Wouldn't people simply look forward to their death and not concern themselves too much with Christ's return? We know the Bible tells us explicitly that people are in the grave, people will rise when Christ returns- so why do we perpetuate the belief in immediate rising, immediately continuity of life upon death?)

The graves are filled with those who have not seen the Lord since they closed their eyes in death's sleep. They live suspended lives. No, they aren't packed in some futuristic suspended animation capsule, they are kept suspended in the grand database of God. Yes, I said that and I mean that. Our bodies decay to dust, the air put into our lungs is expelled returning to the One who put it there, and our thought process that contains all the uniqueness of each of us down to the last detail - every last memory, every single choice we've ever made, all of it is locked away in death's sleep, kept alive only by the will of God who knows all hearts and knows the hearts of those who choose to reunite with Him through the offered Way- Jesus Christ our Savior. Every person is recorded in God's grand database and WHEN our Lord returns those in that database who belong to God will be reanimated, brought back to life, given an immortal, incorruptible form. Those who do not belong to God will also be reanimated but they will NOT be given immortal, incorruptible bodies- they will return to the state of themselves prior to death and subject once again to death.

Jesus our Lord will return when we aren't expecting Him, except if we live in a state of expectation, of hope that His return is ever imminent. Jesus, our hope.

The Bible goes on to say…

'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. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.  For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.' 1Th 5:1-11

We who are Christ followers are NOT in darkness. We who are Christ followers will not be overtaken as when a thief comes in and robs you. We live in the light of our Savior, we live in the day of His expected return not in the night of sleep's lack of knowledge. We watch, we keep alert, our minds unfettered by substances that cloud thinking. We wrap ourselves in the knowledge and belief of faith and love, of hope for salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ will give us salvation, He died to give this gift to us. We might be alive at His return or in the grave of death's sleep it doesn't matter we will be HIS, we will live with HIM. This knowledge must give us the comfort we need and we need to continually recall this knowledge never losing sight of it, never. All through the grace, the will, the mercy, the love of our Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, now and forever! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.