1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 Last week we saw as Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to live a pure and holy life free of sexual immorality and a life filled with love for each other a life of tending to the business and work at hand. In general, a life of proper behavior. But, today we re going to see Paul address a subject he obviously had taught on during the short period he spent with the Thessalonians. In today s lesson, Paul writes to clarify that teaching to put that teaching in its proper perspective and to comfort the Thessalonians (and us) with that teaching. Even though Paul had apparently already taught the Thessalonians on this subject, these new believers in Thessalonica had become confused about it. Remember, Paul had sent Timothy to see how these believers were getting along and apparently Timothy must have brought these concerns to Paul. The confusion the Thessalonians had was about their saved loved ones who had already died. They had questions about whether these loved ones would be forgotten or if they would somehow miss the Lord s return. They questioned whether those who are alive at the coming of Jesus would have an advantage over those who had already died. These believers obviously didn t comprehend all that God wants His children to know about what happens when a believer dies. And many people today have this same problem. They have been taught error along the way and they re as confused as these believers in Thessalonica were. They ve been taught soul sleep and we re going to see Paul refute that today. But, not only is Paul going to address soul sleep, but he is also going to address the Rapture of the church. Remember, as we go through today's lesson, that we re not looking at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus in this passage we re looking at the Rapture of the Church. And they are two distinct events. Paul builds for us a firm theological foundation concerning the death of the believer and the coming of Christ for His church, and I want us to think of five fundamental facts that Paul teaches in this short passage of Scripture. 1) Revelation: We Have God s Truth First, we need to understand that this is not just Paul s opinion, but it is revelation from God and we need to go down to verse 15 to see this by the Word of the Lord There are many books in the bookstores about what takes place when we die but we don t have to and don t need to go to secular or even religious books before we go first to the Word of God, do we? Why should we trust in human speculation when we have divine revelation? Let me just say this about God s revelation concerning the subject of believer s death and Christ s coming for His saints. And by the way, I read this week that one-third of the Word of God has to do with end time events! However, God has not chosen to give us all the revelation concerning the end time events in one passage of Scripture. Some revelation is given in the Old Testament. Some was given Page 1 of 8
by the Lord Jesus in the gospels. Paul gives us some here and in his other epistles, Peter gives us some and John gives us some in the book of Revelation and others have alluded to it. But, all that was written about end time events was written under the inspiration of the dear Holy Spirit and whether we see these teachings in the Old Testament or the gospels or in the epistles they are all in agreement with each other!! By the way, many folks missed the first coming of Jesus because they refused to believe the prophesies of it and many will miss the Second Coming because they refuse to believe passages like the one we ll be looking at today. Before we go on, let me just say this. Contrary to popular belief, there will be no general resurrection of the dead. Daniel speaks of a resurrection in two parts. He says that some will awake to everlasting life and some will awake to everlasting contempt. But, even the resurrection to everlasting life is not a general resurrection. The Book of 1 Corinthians tells us that believers in Christ will all be made alive each in his own order. 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 that Jesus descended to the lower parts of the earth and then ascended and led captivity captive. This captivity is commonly believed to be the souls of the Old Testament saints. And then remember in Matthew 27, after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus when graves were opened and the Bible says many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised This is believed to be many of the bodies of these souls that Jesus led from the lower parts of the earth. Then, we have the resurrection we re going to see today in 1 Thessalonians, as well as the resurrection of the Tribulation saints in the Book of Revelation. I said all that simply to show you that all our information about the end times in general and the resurrection of the saints in particular does not come from any one passage of Scripture and also to tell you not even all believers are raised in a general resurrection. We certainly don t have the time to cover all this in detail. But, what we are going to look at today is the resurrection of believers known as the Rapture. So, let s look at this revelation as it pertains to Christians who die Verse 13 Paul uses the term asleep. This is a very hopeful word. It assumes an awakening doesn t it? And we need to understand that this word doesn t mean a sleeping soul but a sleeping body. The soul doesn t sleep, the body sleeps and we ll see this more fully in a few minutes. Paul is saying, We don t want you to be uninformed and we don t want you to grieve as those who have no hope. When your saved loved one dies, there will be grief, but it isn t a hopeless grief. Have you buried a loved one knowing he or she was an unbeliever? If you have, then you know how desperate that grief is. Why? Because there is no hope in that grief. We re going to grieve every time we bury a loved one, but the difference is that when the loved one died in Christ Jesus, there is a certainty of seeing that loved one again. And there is a certainty that your loved one is with the Lord Jesus now. We re all going to walk in that valley of death the difference is that when we re believers, we walk through that valley we don t stay in it. There is hope on the other side. Page 2 of 8
Well, not only does Paul teach us that this teaching is a revelation of God, but he also teaches us about Verses 14-15 2) Return: Christ is Coming Again Paul has mentioned the return of Jesus in every chapter of 1 Thessalonians. I want us to notice something really special in verse 14. What does this verse say Jesus did? He died and rose again! Now, what does this verse say about those He brings with Him? They have fallen asleep in Jesus. Death has been changed to sleep through the work of Jesus. Jesus bore the agony of death for us. Jesus experienced all the horrors of death. For us, death is described as sleep! 1 Corinthians 15:55 describes death as having victory and a sting. And it surely does for the non-believer. Does death still have a sting in your life? At death, the spirit leaves the body and the body goes to sleep and no longer functions. For the believer, the body sleeps but the soul remains alive and goes to be with Jesus. Our body ages Our body gets all wrinkled and gray Our body gets weak Our body gets tired and worn out Our body gets cancer or diabetes or heart disease or leukemia Our body has pain And one day, our body falls asleep! But our soul the real you and the real me doesn t! How do we know that? Well, I m so glad you asked! For one thing In Luke 16, the Lord Jesus told about the rich man and Abraham holding a conversation. Paul tells us that the believer is absent from the body and present with the Lord. (1 Cor. 5:8 and Phil. 1:23) Mark 12 tells us that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And by the way the if in verse 14 is a first class condition and assumes the fact. It is translated since we believe Page 3 of 8
So since it is a fact that Jesus died and rose from the dead, it is also a fact that God will bring with Christ when He comes those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Where are our saved loved ones who have fallen asleep? Well, so often we say, She lost her husband or I lost my mother but, folks, they aren t lost! We know where they are! They re with Jesus and they re coming back with Him when He comes to get His church! We have a little boy whose little body is in a cemetery in Louisiana, but his soul is with Jesus! HALLELUJAH!! Listen the souls of those who have fallen asleep in Jesus have to be in heaven with Jesus if they are going to come with Him, don t they? When will this happen? We don t know! It could happen today! Oh, how I hate to rush this but We ve looked at the Revelation of God s Truth and we ve looked at the Return for the Church let s look at 3) Resurrection: The Christian Dead Will Rise Paul uses the phrase the Lord Himself in verse 16. This is emphatic in the Greek. This means He s not going to send an angel to get His church. He s going to do that Himself! And when He does, there will be a shout There are theologians who believe this is the shout of Jesus and there are those who believe this shout is the shout of the archangel. I believe we will hear the voice of Jesus just as He commanded Lazarus to come forth and I believe we will hear the voice of the archangel and then we will hear the trumpet of God! And then, the dead in Christ shall rise first! Paul, remember, is writing to instruct and inform and comfort the Thessalonian believers concerning those saved loved ones who had already fallen asleep! Verse 15 tells us the believers who are still living when Jesus comes for His church won t precede won t go before the sleeping saints the dead in Christ shall rise first! (If you have KJV, the word is prevent, but this is an old English word whose meaning has been changed over the years.) Well, what about this? What will rise? Will some old decayed bag of bones rise? Will an urn full of ashes rise? What about the believers who were crushed and burned September 11? What s left of them to rise? 1 Corinthians 15:50-56 Aren t you glad? Can you imagine keeping our earthly, aged, decayed, charred, corrupt bodies in heaven? I mean after several million years, we wouldn t look so good, would we? We need new bodies to live in eternity! Page 4 of 8
We need bodies, not of perishable flesh and blood, but of imperishable heavenly material! Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:51 I m going to show you a mystery! I m going to let you in on a secret That s what a mystery is in Scripture...it s something that has been kept a secret until now. It s a secret that man would never have known if God had not revealed it. And the secret is that we will all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye! We will be changed from unredeemed to redeemed from corruptible to incorruptible from perishable to imperishable from mortal to immortal! And death is swallowed up in victory and we have victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Well, what is all this called? It is the SOMEBODY SAY AMEN!!! 4) Rapture: Living Believers Caught Up Now, nowhere in Scripture do we see the word rapture. Don t let that bother you the word trinity isn t found in Scripture either, but it is surely taught in Scripture. The Greek word is harpazo and it means caught up. So, if you want to say you believe in the harpazo, you can, but I believe it s much easier to say you believe in the rapture. As I was studying this week, I learned something about the word harpazo that I want to share with you. Kenneth Wuest, who has written a Greek dictionary and an expanded Greek translation of the New Testament, once preached a sermon in which he gave several different meanings of the word harpazo and each of these meanings add a special truth to the doctrine of the rapture. a) to catch away speedily This is the meaning we most often apply. It means it will happen quickly in the twinkling of an eye and it teaches us we should live each moment in the expectation of our Lord s return. b) to seize by force Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. Where does verse 17 say we will be caught up? in the air Could it be that Satan will send forth his demons in a last ditch effort to try to stop the Rapture of the saints of God? Or, could it mean that some of God s saints are holding onto the world so tightly that Jesus has to take us by force? I HOPE NOT!!! c) to claim for one s own self This views the Rapture from our Lord s point of view as Page 5 of 8
He comes to claim His bride and we ll touch on that a little more later. d) to move to a new place Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and when He comes and gets His church, He will take us to that glorious place He has prepared! e) to rescue from danger This suggests to us that the church will indeed be taken home before the Tribulation. 1 Thessalonians tells us twice (1:10 and 5:9) that God has not destined His children for wrath. Let me ask you have you ever seen one of those big electromagnets at work in a scrap yard either in person or on television? That big piece of equipment reaches down and picks up scrap metal and takes it to a railroad car or some other container and just drops it. This magnet doesn t pick up just everything though, does it? It s a magnet and only that which has the same nature of the magnet will be picked up. And only those with the same nature of the Lord Jesus Christ will be caught away and seized and claimed and moved to a new place and rescued from danger!! Some have pictured this as happening so suddenly that the unsaved world will probably not know what is happening until they look around at all the chaos that will occur when millions of believers are gone and they have been left behind! But, it just may be that the unsaved people will actually see us as we ascend into heaven with Jesus. God doesn t tell us EVERYTHING! This just may be the last witness the church gives to a lost world before the Tribulation begins Well, let s see one more thing and we ll be through 5) Reunion: Christians Forever with the Lord Verses 17-18 We have walked with Christ by faith here on earth, but in the air, our faith will be sight and we shall see Him as He is and not only that, we shall be like Him! It will be a glorious reunion! It will be an everlasting reunion! What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see! When I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the Promised Land What a day glorious day that will be! We aren t told all the details of this reunion. We know there will be joy because broken families and friendships and fellowship will be restored. There will be joy because we will see the saints of the ages believers we ve never met And we shall know them But most of all there will be joy, unspeakable joy, when we see Jesus! We ll sing and shout and dance about The Lamb will dry our tears We ll have a grand homecoming The first ten thousand years! Page 6 of 8
Paul said, now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Cor. 13:12 We don t know the day or the hour when Jesus will come. He could come at any time. There is nothing left to be fulfilled before He comes to get His church. We re living in days unlike any other. We re living in a time when our nation is at war a war that some have called a holy war. But, we can t do one thing about the world situation, can we? But, we can do something about our own souls We know this one day death will come to each one in this room unless Jesus comes first. Death is not an accident. Death doesn t take our Heavenly Father by surprise! Death is an appointment! It is appointed unto men once to die If death should come to you today, what would happen to that part of you that never dies? What would happen to your soul? So, we know that one day if Jesus doesn t come first, death will come to all of us but we also know this Jesus taught that He would come again. He promised He would! In fact, this is the last recorded promise in the Word of God Jesus said, I come quickly And the last recorded prayer in the Word of God is the Apostle John s response to that. John said, Come, Lord Jesus President Bush told the Taliban and other terrorists this past Sunday that these air strikes weren t coming without warning. Well, God has given us warning, as well, hasn t He? But, there comes a time when warnings cease! President Bush said he gave the Taliban a choice. He said they made the wrong choice. What about you? The Rapture of the Church will be an unannounced event there will be no last minute warning. And there will be no time for making another choice. The Rapture of the Church will be an unexpected event just like the days of Noah when folks were eating and drinking and giving in marriage. But, in addition of it being a picture of the days of Noah, it s also a picture of the Oriental wedding. In Bible times the groom would leave his father s house and court his bride-to-be in her father s house. Then, he would negotiate with her father for the price he would pay for her. After the price had been agreed upon and paid, there would be a betrothal period. The groom would go back to his father s house and prepare a place for his bride to come to be with him. All this time, the bride would be preparing herself she would be preparing her trousseau and all and then, one day when she least expected it her groom would come for her and there would be a wedding and a wedding feast and all that goes with that. The point being, she had to always be ready. She did not know when her bridegroom would come for her. Jesus has paid a price for His church. Jesus is preparing for us right now and one day He s coming back for us! And we must be ready! Page 7 of 8
The Rapture of the Church will be an uncovering event right now we don t know with absolute certainty those who belong to the Lord. We think we do. But when Jesus comes for His church we will all know, won t we? We who are saved will be part of the largest Family Reunion ever! I want that reunion to include each one of us! Do you know that you ll be among those at that reunion? Was there ever a time in your life when you knew you were a sinner and you knew you needed a Savior and you repented of your sins and you called upon the dear Lord Jesus Christ to save you? If you re not sure why not make certain of your salvation before you leave church today? Let me just leave you with four things that I hope we will take with us today 1) We are to learn of His coming Don t be ignorant. The doctrine of the Rapture of the Lord Jesus Christ is a doctrine that will give hope to you and to others around you. 2) We are to look for His coming The bride of that culture didn t know when her bridegroom would come, but she must have looked for him and she was ready for him. EXAMPLE: Ann at Brit Hadasha I look for Him every day. 3) We are to live for His coming This word meet in verse 17 actually carries with it the idea of an ambassador coming back home from a foreign country and meeting the king who sent him and giving an account to that king for the service he had performed in his name. We need to be ready to meet our King and give Him an account for our service we don t want to be ashamed before Him, do we? 4) We are long for His coming Verse 18 tells us to comfort one another with these words. I don t care how good it is for you in this world you will have sorrow. Some of you are in the midst of sorrow right now. But, it will come to all of us. But, may I say to you we have hope! Paul said, If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most to be pitied. Paul wanted the Thessalonian believers and us to be comforted with these words. The only way we can be comforted is to know we re saved and we re taking as many folks with us as possible. Page 8 of 8