There is archetype imagery in the Bible of a lion and a thief and both have been used to portray Jesus and Satan. The key difference between the true lion and the actual thief is the word “like.” There is a spiritual robbery underway, and each and every person on the earth is and will be affected by it.
JESUS IS THE LION WHO WILL COME LIKE A THIEF
Jesus is the Lion:
“Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:5
When Jacob blessed his son Judah, he was prophesying that Jesus, who comes from the line of Judah, would be the King of kings and the Lord of lords: The Lion of the tribe of Judah:
“You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.” Genesis 49:9-10
Jesus will come like a thief to those who do not spiritually wake up:
“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” Revelation 3:3
“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” Revelation 16:15
“..for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” 1 Thessalonians 5:2
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” 2 Peter 3:10
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Matthew 24:42-44
But to the believer who is awake and not in darkness, Jesus will not come like a thief because we will be ready watching for him:
“Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (my emphasis added)
Jesus is coming to rob the world of the faithful believers hidden in Him. The day of the Lord will mark a drastic shift in human history, the ending of the time of grace to a time of judgement and the coming 1000 years that Christ will once again walk the earth and rule from a physical throne in Jerusalem. His coming will mark the beginning of the Great 7 year Tribulation, and every nation will be touched by the sudden, forceful and very public removal of believers. In a flash, in a twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) Jesus will gather His faithful Bride in what is commonly called the rapture.
The English phrase “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 translates from the Greek word “harpazo” which is used to describe Christ taking His Bride out of the world forcefully and quickly. Harpazo means “to seize upon with force” or “to snatch up” and is the Greek word Jerome translated to “rapturo” in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible in the 5th Century. The English word rapture comes from the Latin word “rapturo.”
The definition in Strongs Concordance is:
harpázō – properly, seize by force; snatch up, suddenly and decisively – like someone seizing bounty (spoil, a prize); to take by an open display of force (i.e. not covertly or secretly).
When we see all the English translation of the word “harpazo” in the Bible, we can see a complete picture of Christ forcefully taking, snatching, and catching us away. Harpazo occur 14 times in the Greek New Testament:
- “taken by force” (Matthew 11:12 NAS)
- “snatches away” (Matthew 13:19)
- “carry off” (Matthew 12:29)
- “take him by force” (John 6:15 KJV)
- “scatters it” (John 10:12)
- “snatch them out” (John 10:28; John 10:29)
- “caught away” (Acts 8:39 KJV)
- “take him away by force” (Acts 23:10)
- “caught up” (2 Corinthians 12:2, 2 Corinthians 12:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Revelation 12:5)
- “snatching them from” (Jude 1:23).
SATAN IS A THIEF WHO ROAMS LIKE A LION
Satan is not a lion, but he prowls around like a lion:
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9
Satan’s roaring is without bite though; he is toothless, rendered powerless and disarmed because he has already been defeated by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:14-15; Colossians 2:15; 1 John 3:8; Colossians 1:13; John 12:31; Luke 10:18; John 16:11; Romans 8:38-39; Revelation 12:11; 1 John 2:13-14; Revelation 17:14; 1 Corinthians 15:26,55-57).
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Romans 16:20
Satan is a schemer (Ephesians 6:11) a deceiver (2 Corinthians 11:14; 2 Corinthians 11:3;2 Thessalonians 2:9-10; Revelation 12:9, Revelation 20:3), and he is a liar and the Father of all lies (John 8:44). He is a thief who comes to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10; Matthew 13:19). Satan, with all his fallen angelic powers and principalities and demonic evil spirits (Ephesians 6:10-17) will attempt to rob us of everything – but the the first thing will be to rob us of the truth (Matthew 13:18). If we don’t possess the foundation of truth (who is Jesus John 14:6-7, the full gospel of Jesus Christ – 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, and all his commands John 14:15-27) everything else in our life will come down like a house of cards. Even if Satan can’t rob the truth from you he will still attempt to rob you of your purpose, identity, confidence, calling, potential, spiritual gifts, marriage, children, health, and your very life. Most of the thieving attack is done in the battlefield of the mind within our thoughts and perceptions – which is why we are taught to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). We are to vigilantly stand guard at the gateway of our mind (Luke 11:21-28) not giving the enemy a foothold (Ephesians 4:26-27) to come in and plunder home.
If we belong to Christ, and walk in covenant with Him, God’s Word promises that we will be protected (2 Thessalonians 3:3), Satan will not harm us (1 John 5:18), we will overcome Satan (Revelation 12:11; 1 John 2:13-14) and God will crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20). For those of us who are no longer captive to Satan to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26) the battle with sin and evil that wars against us belongs to the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:15; 1 Samuel 17:47; 2 Chronicles 32:7), so when Satan comes at us from one direction and we resist him (James 4:7) in the strength Christ empowers us with, evil will scatter and flee from us in seven different directions (Deuteronomy 28:7).
WE WILL ALL BE EXPERIENCE A ROBBERY
Every person will experience a supernaturally robbery.
Some will be robbed by Satan the thief who will snatch the Word of God away because they didn’t believe it (Matthew 13:19) – they will tragically suffer an eternity of death away from their creator rather than eternal life with their creator. Or, if Satan cannot snatch the Word of God from us, and we are firm believers who cannot be snatched from Christ’s hands (John 10:28-29), Satan will attempt to rob us of our eternal rewards so that on the day of our salvation, even though we will be saved to live eternally with God our Father, we will suffer a loss of rewards at Christ’s Bema Judgment Seat (1 Corinthians 3;12-15; Revelation 3:11; Colossians 2:18; 2 John 1:7-11; Matthew 25:42-44; Matthew 6:1-4; Hebrews 10:35-39; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15).
Some will be robbed by Jesus. When Jesus comes in the air to gather His faithful Bride in rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) their will be two types of people on that day: the ones who will be taken as His precious possession (1 Peter 2:9; Luke 17:34-35; Matthew 24:40-41), or the ones who will have believing loved ones taken away from them. The world and Satan will be robbed by Jesus when we the believers are snatched away (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
In reality, believers were never owned by the world or Satan, we are foreigners here (1 Peter 2:11; Philippians 3:20; John 15:18-19; John 17:16; Hebrews 11:13-16 ), heaven is our home and we belong to God (1 John 4:4; 1 Corinthians 3:23 NLT; Romans 14:8; :19-20; 1 John 3:1-24) – Christ is merely snatching away what already belongs to Him.
So the question is this: seeing as we will all experience a spiritual robbery in one form or another, who will you choose to allow to do the robbing?
