Peace is Coming!
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Point: The Resurrection is yet to come. Jesus will return and those who follow Jesus will rise and reign with Him. Those who do not will rise to judgment and death. Jesus will establish His eternal kingdom. Just as the people looked forward to in Mary and Joseph’s day, that day is upon us.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Results a survey conducted in 2002 of clergy in the Church of England found that one-third of it;s minister’s doubted or did not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. Author Lisa Miller in her book, Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife, found that only 26% of Americans, in 1997, believed they would have a physical body in Heaven.
Lifeway Research, in an article dated March 26, 2021 asked the question, What Do Americans Actually Believe About the Resurrection? The survey revealed that 34% of Americans adults doubt (14%) or disagree (20%) with the physical resurrection of Jesus. Of those who attend church, 89% believe in the resurrection account of Jesus. Of those who deny the resurrection of Jesus, the largest group was age 18 to 34 at 59%.
What is alarming in these numbers is that a) you have ministers who doubt or deny the resurrection of Jesus, the foundational component of the Gospel. B) That of those Americans who attend church, only 89% believe in the resurrection of Jesus. That number should be 100%! These are only two examples of the plague of unbelief afflicting the church and people, worldwide, especially the Western world of Scientism.
If Jesus did not die and rose, to ascend to the Father in Heaven, what hope does one have in a Christ-faith? As the Apostle Paul said,
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Was Mary and Joseph’s faith in vain, as they believed the words of the Angel Gabriel, as he proclaimed that Mary would give birth to the Messiah, who would save His people from sin and death? Was the man Simeon’s faith in vain as he entered the temple complex and took Jesus in his arms, stating that God could now take His servant home, as he had now seen the promised Lord’s Messiah, the consolation of Israel, and the light of revelation to the Gentiles and glory to the Israelites (Luke 2:25-32)?
Was Simeon’s hope in vain that he would see the Lord’s salvation and that Jesus would be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel, and be the sign of God that would be opposed by the world (Luke 2:30, 34-35)? Why is it that Anna, a prophetess, 84 + years old, that lived at the temple, fasting and praying to God, day and night, thanked God for the redemption of Jerusalem when she saw Jesus (Luke 2:36-38)? Was her hope in vain? If one doubts or denies the resurrection of Jesus, what hope can one possibly have in the birth of the Savior of the world? The cross and the cradle go hand in hand, you cannot accept one and deny the other, they are intimately connected.
What is our Hope? Jesus! What is the significance? Peace is coming! Those who have fallen asleep will once again live to be with Jesus physically.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
We wait for the second advent of Jesus for our promised resurrection! Those whom have passed on before us, we will be one with them again, as long as they have believed and trusted in Jesus.
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Are we sad with grief because of the passing of a loved one? Do not grieve as the world grieves that has no hope, because they have not trusted in Jesus. You will see your loved one again! The Resurrection of the dead in Christ is a promise yet to be fulfilled at Jesus second coming. Rejoice!
Paul uses the term “koimao” [2837] asleep which literally means to cause to lie down to sleep; or the sleep of death. Sleep is a familiar euphemism in the ancient world and in Scripture; both the OT and NT use the euphemism. The synagogue leader’s daughter had died and Jesus brought her back to life saying to the synagogue leader, “The child is not dead but asleep” (Mk 5:39). Jesus on His way to “wake up” Lazarus, says that Lazarus has fallen asleep (Jn 11:11-13). The disciples thought Jesus was speaking about natural sleep, but Jesus was indeed talking about the sleep of death. The Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 15:51 says,
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
What this means is that death is not an eternal state, it is a temporary state, a state of sleep. A state of sleep from which all of humanity will be awakened; some to eternal life with the Father, others to judgment and eternal punishment in hell.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Note: Those who dead in Christ, their soul goes to be with Christ ( 2 Cor. 5:7-8 ).
for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Jesus is the sign, He is the person, upon which death and life are decided. He is the One who will awaken you to eternal life, or to eternal punishment…but we will all be awakened after our slumber, upon Jesus’ second advent. The Thessalonians were afraid that their brothers and sisters would miss Jesus’ coming. Paul’s main emphasis in this passage is to aliviate their fear, and give them further teaching “the dead in Christ will arise” (1 Thess 4:16) and “meet Jesus in the air” (1 Thess 4:17) along with the living. Encourage one another with these words (1 Thess 4:18). Do not grieve like the rest of the world, resurrection is yet to come for us and our loved ones.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
It will be 24 years since Taylor and Mikayla’s mom passed away from Cancer at 28 years of age. It was a very hard day when we said our final goodbyes. But they were not final goodbyes, but temporary goodbyes because the girls and I will see their mom again on the day that Jesus returns. That is a promise of great comfort to me. As Jesus’ promise to us should be,
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
What exactly did the coming of Jesus mean over 2000 years ago. It meant victory of death! It meant resurrection! It meant eternal life! We should not grieve as the world grieves, because we have the promise of resurrection and eternal life established at the craddle and delivered at the cross.
What I have not addressed in this sermon, on this passage, is the popular notion that this passage points to a “secret rapture” of believers in Christ. This is a popular passage for tribulation teaching, and specifically pre-tribulation dispensationalism. This is based on the terminology of being “caught up”, the living and the dead with Jesus in the air at His return.
What happens is that the context of this passage gets ignored and missed. The point of Paul’s message is not, “what happens to the church when Jesus comes?” or “How will the church leave the earth?” The point of Paul’s message is that Jesus is going to return and that the dead in Christ will be part of His return. Those who have passed will not miss Jesus’ return, they will be resurrected and meet Jesus in the air with the living.
And that is where it ends. We are left hanging in the air with Jesus. We can extrapolate with verses from other places in the Bible as to our destination, or how things may happen, but Paul does not speak of this here. Jesus does say in John 14:3 this,
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
What Paul does say is that we will be “caught up” to Jesus. In the Greek the word is harpazo [726] which means to snatch away, seize, or take to oneself. What “caught up” means is that Jesus is forcibly going to snatch away, or seize upon ourselves to Himself. We call this “the rapture”.
The thing to note about the word usage, in this passage, is the word used is not klepto [2813] which means to steal, to take away by stealth. Paul did not say that this resurrection would be secretive, but public. The world will see the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rising of the living. Scripture says, as we saw Jesus go, we will see His return.
They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”
But she gave birth to a Son—a male who is going to shepherd all nations with an iron scepter —and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Just as Mary gave birth to Jesus, our Messiah, and he was caught up to the Father at His resurrection, the believer in Christ, whether living or dead, will be caught up to Jesus at His return. What better Christmas gift could we receive and remember at this time of year. What a great hope we have in the coming and return of Jesus! What Peace we have, and is to come!
What mattered to Paul was that Jesus will raise us up at His return, not how He will do it. This was the encouragment to the Thessalonians and should be ours.
Do not grieve for those who have passed before us, like the world grieves. We will see them again at the return and resurrection! Encourage one another with these words! Amen.