“For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night“

Watching God’s prophetic program is no mysterious or obscure truth (5:6). It is profound because it is so simple. As a universal principle, it is evident in men’s everyday lives, as we saw in this verse.

For those who sleep, sleep at night,

The sleepers here are those without Christ. Sleeping by day was a sign of great laziness in the first century. Non-Christians are night people. They live in the dark.

and those who get drunk are drunk at night

Both sleepers and drunkards operate in the night because of shame. They are people of the dark.

Christians are people of the day, not night people. Our behavior bears the light of day. Therefore, the Christian must stay alert to God’s program. The Christian anticipates what God will do in the Rapture and the Day of the Lord.

Principle:

Believers must orient to God’s prophetic program.

Application:

Non-Christians have a commonality. They are night people. Operating in the night is a natural analogy to parallel spiritual truth. Only except those who throw away all decency to the winds choose to carouse by daylight (2 Peter 2:13). Those without Christ are nightlife people. They may not actually go to all the parties, but their hearts do.

Night people will enter the Day of the Lord, a day of darkness. The church will not go on that day. The believer must orient to his own dispensation, a day of light. He expects the Rapture and the coming Day of the Lord. The very fact that the Christian is of the day, in the nature of the case, compels him to be sober, to maintain a cool and collected attitude to stand on guard in a wicked world.