Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, September 28, 2014 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister TOPIC: The Return of Christ The Greatest Thing That Could Possibly Happen I Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NKJV) Please turn with me in your Bibles to I Thessalonians chapter four. And let's read verses 13-18. I Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NKJV) 13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Introduction If I were to ask you this evening, What Is The Greatest Thing That Could Possibly Happen, we might get several different answers. THE END OF ALL TERRORISM I'm sure, right now many of us would agree that one of the greatest things that could possibly happen would be THE END OF ALL TERRORISM. The whole world would certainly be a better place to live if all militant Islamic groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda and Hezbollah were converted to Jesus Christ or vanquished from the earth. FIND A CURE FOR CANCER AND OTHER DISEASES Perhaps some of you might say the greatest thing that could possibly happen would be to find a cure for cancer, and heart disease, and other deadly diseases that have shortened the lives of millions of people. Some of you have lost a loved one to cancer or heart disease and I'm sure you would have given all the money you had to still have that loved one with you today. Yes, it certainly would be great to live in a world free of deadly diseases.
FIND A SOLUTION TO WORLD HUNGER Others of you might say the greatest thing that could possibly happen would be to solve the problem of world hunger. Doesn't it just break your heart to see the faces of starving children on TV? If we can invent rockets that can fly to the moon and beyond and manufacture high tech cell phones and ipods and ipads, it looks like we could produce enough food so that no one would ever die of starvation. But the fact-ofthe-matter is, hunger and starvation have always existed, and will likely continue to exist until the end of the world. The end of terrorism...the end of deadly disease...the end of world hunger; certainly any one or all of these would make the world a better place. But you and I know that there is very little if any hope at all of any of these things ever happening, don't we? We live in a cursed, sinful, fallen world where terrible things like terrorism...deadly diseases...world hunger... war...poverty...disaster...and tragedy have always been with us and will always be with us until GOD unveils THE NEW HEAVEN and THE NEW EARTH. (Revelation 21:1) That is why I believe with all my heart that The Greatest Thing That Could Possibly Happen would be for JESUS CHRIST TO COME AGAIN! The return of CHRIST is the grand theme of our scripture text here in I THESSALONIANS chapter four.
First of all, Paul tells us about... I. The CERTAINTY of Christ's Coming (verses 13, 14) 13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 1. While ago I told you we have virtually NO HOPE at all of ever seeing THE END OF TERRORISM or DISEASE or HUNGER. But our HOPE of Christ's return is an absolute certainty, because it is a HOPE that is based upon the TRUTH of God's Word! 2. The very first thing Paul says is, But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep... Paul knew the Thessalonian Christians desperately needed to hear these words! These believers had suffered terrible persecution for their faith in Christ, and most likely everyone of them had one or more family members who had been murdered by persecutors. And do you notice the wonderful way in which Paul describes their deaths? He describes them as having fallen asleep. Sleep is the term used in the scriptures to describe the death of God's people. The death of non-believers is never referred to as sleep. When the Christian dies, the scriptures teach us the soul or spirit is ushered immediately into the presence of God. ( To be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD. (II Corinthians 5:8)
The body of the Christian however is laid to rest or put to sleep in the ground until the day of Christ's return, when it will resurrect as a new, glorious, heavenly body to reunite with the soul that will come with Jesus when He returns. 3. Naturally when we lose a Christian loved one in death, we cry, we grieve, we sorrow. But if we know the truth and believe the truth about what happens to our loved ones after they die it will spare us the excessive grief and sense of hopelessness that is experienced by those who don't know Christ. 4. Our hope is not based upon wishful thinking or some grand delusion. Our hope is based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul says in verse 14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 5. The return of Jesus Christ is mentioned 318 times in the New Testament. That Means one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament reminds us of Christ's return. MATTHEW 24:30,31 (NKJV) Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
ACTS 1:11 (NKJV) Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. 6. Brothers and sisters, the doctrine of Christ's DEATH...BURIAL... RESURRECTION...ASCENSION...and RETURN is the hub upon which all scriptural doctrine turns. 7. If Christ did not resurrect from the dead, then He is a dead man, and if Jesus is a dead man, that means He's not coming back; and if He's not coming back, then we, along with all our loved ones are dead men with absolutely no hope when this life is over. 8. But the TRUTH...THE TRUTH THE TRUTH is Jesus did die and He arose from the dead, and therefore our HOPE of HIS RETURN is an absolute CERTAINTY! *********************************************************************************
Secondly, Paul tells us about... II. The COMFORT of Christ's Coming (vs. 15-17) 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1. In this passage we find the most detailed account in the New Testament of what is going to happen on the day Jesus Christ returns for His Church. (A) First of all, JESUS WILL COME FROM HEAVEN (v.16a) v.16a For the LORD HIMSELF will descend from heaven. Now don't miss the significance of this. This tells is further proof that Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead. If Christ's resurrection were a hoax as critics suggests, He wouldn't be descending from heaven would He? He would still be dead and buried somewhere here on earth.paul tells us in Ephesians 1:20 (NKJV) That the Father, raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.
(B) Next, Paul tells us JESUS' COMING WILL BE PRECEDED BY A THREE-FOLD ANNOUNCEMENT. (v.16b) (1) First there will be A SHOUT. (v.16b) v.16b For the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout... The word shout here refers to a COMMAND, like a command given by a military officer. When Christ comes, He will shout out a command to those who have died in Christ to come forth from their graves; much like Jesus shouted for Lazarus to come forth from his tomb. (John 11) (2) After the shout, the next sound will be THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL.. (v.16b) v.16b For the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel... The exact meaning of this is uncertain, but some suggests that the archangel Michael, will summons all the other angels of heaven to fall in rank behind Christ to escort the souls of all the departed believers. You and I can't even begin to imagine what an incredible scene this is going to be.
(C) So there will be A SHOUT of a command by Christ, and the VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, followed by THE TRUMPET OF GOD. (v.16b) v.16b For the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. The sound of the trumpet to the ancient Jewish people was significant for a number of reasons. The trumpet was sounded to assemble the people together; or to announce the beginning of a new month, or the celebration of a feast, or to announce the victory over an enemy. Perhaps all of those elements can be seen in the sounding of the trumpet of God at the time of Christ's return. The sound of the trumpet will be a call for all the saved to assemble with Christ in the air; the dead in Christ will assemble first, followed by those who are alive. The sound of the trumpet will announce a new beginning for God's people; and that is time to celebrate the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. And the sound of the trumpet will herald the victory of God's people over SIN, SATAN and DEATH. Whether THE SHOUT...THE VOICE...AND THE TRUMPET will sound separately or simultaneously doesn't matter! It will be the most COMFORTING SOUNDS you and I have ever heard!
C O N C L U S I O N The early Christians lived with a daily expectation of Christ's return. And that daily expectation motivated the early Christians to live in a constant state of preparedness. We must live with that same sense of urgency and expectancy! We must never think of the return of Christ as some far off event that probably won't happen until longer after we are dead and gone. We must be prepared to leave this world before we take our very next breath! For the Christian, THE RETURN OF CHRIST TRULY IS THE GREATEST THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN. Should Christ come before you and I lay our head on our pillow tonight, we will be ushered out of this world in an instant and say goodbye once and for all to all of this world's evils, woes and heartaches. (BELOW: ADDED CONCLUSION FOR REVIVALS OR IN CHURCH SERVICES WHERE NON-CHRISTIANS ARE PRESENT) But if you are not a Christian, THE RETURN OF CHRIST IS THE WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAPPEN! His return will spell your eternal doom. You will never hear another invitation! You will never get another chance or opportunity. Just as the Lord closed the door of the Ark in Noah's day, the Lord will close the door of opportunity to those who rejected His Son Jesus Christ. This may be the last sermon you ever hear. This may be the last invitation you will ever be offered. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS? THE CHOICE IS ALL UP TO YOU!