Christ Is a Thief To Those Who Will Not Watch

(From an article on Ebiblefellowship.com by Chris McCann)

Throughout the church age the local churches have been led to believe, by God, that man will not know the exact time of the end. This belief has been evident to them in scriptures such as:

“for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh” Matt 25:13

and

 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Matt 24: 36 

and,  

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” 2 Peter 3:10.

 Because men couldn’t know the times of the end when these scriptures were written, the passages have been determined to mean that man would never know the exact time of the end, ignoring God’s statement to Daniel that the seals that prevented end time information would be removed just before the end of the world:

Daniel 12:9

“for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”

 Until these last 23 years of the world (The Great Tribulation), even true believers were unaware that at the very end of the world God would reveal the exact date of the end. As these seals have come off, God has shown us who exactly will see Jesus as a thief. Scripture is clear that those who will not watch for the time of the end will be taken by surprise... and be destroyed.

“If thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come upon thee.” Rev 3:3

 Despite the churches teachings that we need not worry about the time of the end, these scriptures tell us that not being concerned about the time of the end is a false peace:  

“For when they say Peace and Safety; 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...” 1 Thess 5: 3, 4

Those in the churches who believe they are saved but are not (Tares) reveal their true relationship with Jesus, without even being aware of it, in their insistence that Christ will come as a thief.  

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me?” Mark 14:48 

Jesus seems to be identifying those who are against Him as being those who are looking on Him as a thief. The unbelieving fear His coming because the end of the world represents a separation from what has become dear to them: the things of this world.

Up to the time of the end, the focus of this passage has been on Jesus coming as a thief. But as the seals, in Daniel 12, come off of scripture, the new information is revealing the context for Jesus coming [in the night] as the revelation of those who live in darkness and will look to His coming as being robbed.


In Luke 12:33 God encourages those who have ears to

“provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth.” 

This passage indicates that those, whose treasure is in heaven, do not look at the giving up of their lives (their plans, their preferences, their pleasures in this life) as a loss; no one is stealing their lives. Like Jesus, they are giving up their lives in hope for the promises of God (the better resurrection) because that is the path for those who are called,  

 “he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” John 12:25

 Those who expect Jesus to return as a thief have their treasure in this world, instead of in God. The exact date of the coming of Jesus is a threat to them because His coming will be experienced by them as feeling robbed; their plans, preferences, pleasures in this life, are being taken from them,

“he that loveth his life shall lose it.” John 12:25

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