JEH and Garry,

Those were powerfully exciting letters that you both posted last week:

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/mar2019/jeh331.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/mar2019/garryb331-4.htm

In light of the subject that you both brought up, regarding Jesus coming as a thief, I have a few questions.

I was hoping that you you could clear these up for me.

Thank you in advance,

Gino

Does not Jesus compare not knowing the hour of his return to not knowing what watch the thief comes?

In Matthew 24, is not this comparison, made with an admonition to watch, in reference to the return of Jesus?

Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

  43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

  44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

In Luke, does not Jesus also compare his return to not knowing in what hour the thief comes?

However, in that passage does he not say to them to wait for him to return from the wedding?

Luke 12:36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

  37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

  38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

  39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.

  40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

So, is the passage in Luke referring to the second advent, after the wedding supper of the Lamb, after the blessed hope?

Then, do not both Paul and Peter, use the thief comparison?

Are they not both speaking of the day of the Lord, rather than the hour of Jesus’ return?

Also, do they not both say it comes “as” a thief ?

I Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

  4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

II Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Does not Jesus, in the book of Revelation, twice use the thief comparison?

To the church in Sardis, is he not comparing the hour of his coming upon them to that “as” a thief?

Revelation 3:3 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.

In chapter 16, does not Jesus mentions the “as” a thief comparison exactly between two lines speaking about the battle of Armageddon?

So, is this not a reference to the second advent?

Revelation 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

  15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

  16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

So, is Jesus coming as a thief at the blessed hope, or as a thief at the second advent, or as a thief for both?

Are not the “as” a thief references speaking about Jesus?

But are not the “is” a thief references speaking about the devil and the son of perdition?

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

John 12:4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,

  5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

  6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

II Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;