Gino,
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/feb2019/gino210-3.htm
For whatever it's worth let me try to “shed some light” (pun intended) on the questions you have concerning 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 ......which speaks about “sons of the light”
You know me I like to answer your questions with a story line..... so here goes.
It's at a time, a time Paul calls “The Day of the Lord”. This Day of the Lord time frame is well defined in scripture as a terrible period of time that starts when God the Father has to come to earth to intervene for the Jews. Jews that He has a covenant with before they are completely annihilated from an attack by “all nations” near the mid-point of a 7 year period of time.
The antichrist will have been on earth for nearly 3.5 years at that point.....when the Day of the Lord begins. The antichrist will have by then as per Daniel 11 formed his compact with “a god of fortresses”, a foreign god unfamiliar to those who live here on earth. He will team up with and become the team leader with this foreign god and the forces of this foreign god. Together they will act against the strongest earthly fortresses (earthly armies and military) and they, this evil team, will defeat earth’s military powers.. This evil team shall then rule over many and divide the land as they see fit. Daniel 11:36-39
Obviously this foreign god and foreign team will be the UFO community and all that that entails. Great technology and war making power not seen before here on earth.
Revelation 13:4....”Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?
It appears that this evil team will take over control of what was the “United Nations”.....forming agreements......and then, to rule the world.
This team will make agreements with Israel and the Palestinians and lure the Jewish people into a false sense of “Peace and Safety”. And “they”those spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 5, the Jewish people in Israel, will somehow buy into the falsehood that “they” indeed will then have........ peace and safety in Israel.
Then sudden destruction will envelope them (Israel) from all sides propagated by this new conglomeration of forces headed by the antichrist that now constitutes the UFO forces along with whatever amalgamation of “United Nations” countries that have reluctantly joined the team. “All nations” forced to join “the team” and presumably doing so to avert their own demise at the hands of the Satanic alien UFO forces. A worldwide slave colony.
Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5 is saying “them” referring to the Jews.
Then he addresses the Thessalonians who are new Christians basically saying to them..... you brethren, are Christians, are children of the light and will not be the recipient of this sudden destruction. And through the enlightenment of the Word future Christians should know this destruction will be coming. Then prophetically looking ahead to the Christians who will be alive at the time of “The Day of the Lord”, Paul again says you are sons of the light (the light of the world, Jesus) and sons of the day. This darkness, this evil, this sudden destruction, that is to come will not be aimed directly at you but at the nation of Israel.
But you Christians in that period to come are to be pious....not worldly....be sober minded......put on the breastplate of faith (faith in Jesus) and love (love of Jesus and your neighbor) and put on the helmet of hope....the hope that Jesus will come and rescue you from this period of duress and take you to salvation.
Paul says in this passage of scripture (finishing up in verse 10)...... that we are children of the light, the followers of Jesus......and are not appointed to wrath (His or the Father’s end time wrath) but will receive salvation through Jesus who died for us. And it wouldn't matter whether we were awake (alive) or asleep (dead in Christ) that we will live together with Him when this period of turmoil is over.
I believe that it would be foolish to assume that the Christian community that are to be alive during this period when the antichrist rules will escape unscathed from the worldwide horror and fight over dominance that will be going on. But as soon as God the Father injects Himself into the battle and then creates the new valley / security zone, we will then be gathered there.
Will some Christians that are forced to interact with the antichrist and his Satanic UFO forces die during the initial 3.5 year period of the 7 years? Most certainly.
Will the Christians be gathered and rescued before things really get ugly at nearly the 3.5 year mark of the 7 years? Yes
So the antichrist and his UFO and United Nations forces will rain “sudden destruction” upon Israel and it's people killing most of them. But before these evil forces can complete the slaughter God the Father rains down sudden destruction of His own on the forces that are attacking Israel annihilating them. Zechariah 14 indicates that these forces that come against Israel and Jerusalem will experience........ looking at the face of God.
Zechariah says of these attackers......
Their flesh will dissolve while they stand on their feet,
Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.
It appears to me from scripture that the Christian church will be here to witness the evil team formed by the antichrist and the Satanic UFO entities. And will likely be here to witness the horror of the attack on Israel just prior to being gathered by the angels and taken to the new valley / security zone that God the Father will have just created at that time.....the Day of the Lord.
That day, the day that God the Father comes to earth to re- establish His kingdom on earth for approximately 3.5 years. The day He saves the Jewish remnant and gathers His elect from heaven and earth to be housed and kept secure in the new valley.....some for a temporary stay (the Christian church) and some for a 1260 day stay (the Jewish remnant). The day that starts the wrath of God the Father and the Lamb which will last approximately 3.5 years.
Hope this explanation makes sense to you and answers the questions you had concerning 1 Thessalonians 5.
Once again....blessings Gino.......John B