Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
CONTEXT: Paul was addressing this letter to the believers in Thessalonica. This particular passage in chapter 4 seems to address the worry that the Thessalonian believers had in regards to those Christian brothers and sisters of theirs who had died before the rapture. Would they miss out on the rapture? In vs 13 we are told not to be UNINFORMED about those who have fallen asleep. This reminds us that we were meant to know about what happens at death for Christians so that we can be encouraged and comforted (vs 18).
1.DEATH IS NOT THE END FOR US!
In vs 13, the term Paul uses to refer to death is “FALLEN ASLEEP”. Interestingly, in the bible, this term is only used of Christians/believers!! (See Acts 13:36, 1 Corinthians 15:6, 1 Corinthians 15:18-20, Acts 7:60, John 11:11-13) What is comforting to know is that falling asleep denotes a NON-PERMANENT STATE (a person who falls asleep will wake up again!). Thus Paul reminds us that death is not the end for the Christian!!
2.OUR GRIEVING IS FULL OF HOPE!
In vs 13, Paul also tells us not to GRIEVE like the rest of men who have no hope. Paul isn’t saying we shouldn’t grieve at all (Eg. In Acts 8:2, godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him, and in John 11:35, our saviour Jesus wept over Lazarus’ death, when He saw Mary and Martha grieving!), but rather that as Christians, our GRIEVING IS FULL OF HOPE because we know we will see our loved one again in the presence of Jesus (vs 14)!! vs 14 also tells us that the reason we can grieve with hope is because we BELIEVE JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN! So, because our Saviour died and rose again defeating death, we too can have that hope that there is life after death!!
3.vs 14,16 God will bring WITH JESUS FROM HEAVEN those who have fallen asleep in Him!! From Acts 7:55-60 we see that when it came time for Stephen to “fall asleep”, his SPIRIT WENT TO BE WITH JESUS IN HEAVEN (vs 59,55), but his body fell asleep here on earth! (James 2:26- the body without the spirit is dead)
From this passage, we understand then that it is the “spirit” of those Christians/believers whose bodies had fallen asleep in Jesus, that God will bring WITH JESUS from heaven at the rapture!! IT IS COMFORTING TO KNOW THAT AS CHRISTIANS, WE (OUR SPIRIT) WILL BE WITH JESUS THE MOMENT WE DIE!!
(2 Corinthians 5:8- to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord!!)
4.ETERNAL LIFE WITH JESUS IS PERMANENT!
In vs 17, the great FUTURE HOPE we have is that we will be with Jesus FOREVER!! No more separation from the Lord for eternity to come!! This is the wonderful hope we have to look forward to as christians, BEING WITH OUR WONDERFUL SAVIOUR JESUS FOR ETERNITY IN HEAVEN!
EXTRA:
vs 15- the fact that Paul says those who are alive will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep in Christ (whose spirits are already with Jesus in heaven) tells us that we weren’t meant to just live as a spirit, but rather as spirit-soul-body!! This is why there needs to be a PHYSICAL RESURRECTION OF THE BODY at the rapture and why Jesus therefore needed to be physically resurrected from the dead!! (See John 11:23-24 where Martha understood that her brother Lazarus’ body would rise again at the resurrection in the last day.)
vs 17- the Greek word for “CAUGHT UP” is the word harpazo! When translated into Latin this word is “rapturo” which is where we get the English word RAPTURE from!!
vs 18- the fact that Paul tells us to ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER with these words means that we need to talk about the rapture And the great hope we have as Christians when we die!! DEATH IS NOT THE END FOR THE CHRISTIAN!
When we Compare vs 13 and 18 we are told not to be ignorant, but instead to encourage one another about the coming of the Lord, for this is the great hope we have!
OTHER PASSAGES OF COMFORT ABOUT OUR GREAT HOPE FOR ETERNITY IN HEAVEN:
(Philippians 1:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:1-8)
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