Rapture Readied For Grief

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18

ICC’s PM 1/29/2023

Introduction

Opening- Pastor Yurie is visiting another church’s service tonight, so I get to preach

Prayers

Lord, let us understand the future to give us comfort in times

Catch- Someone once told me, I don’t care about any kind of doctrine or theology that doesn’t apply to me today.

But, then I spent some time with him

We went by his bank where he wad depositing into a savings account…. He said, you gotta put away for a rainy day

We went to a tree nursery and got some seeds, planting them in the a field… he said, we gotta start small

And I heard him tell his 8 year old son… you need to learn good manners now, because one day you’ll be on a date and you want to be dressed to impressed.

So I asked… did all of these things matter for today or the future?

In the same way, there are some doctrines that matter so much… but they have to stored away and brought up at a time we’re not expecting it

Review Since it’s been since November that we looked at this book

The book of 1 Thessalonians is a very personal book

This was the church that Paul went to right before the famous Bereans

They were praised because the people of this city fought against Paul and he had to flee

But there was a church that stayed there and Paul spends chapter 1 thanking God that they’re still there and doing well

Chapters 2-3 Paul reminded them of his ministry to them

This really is an exemplary church that has true church growth: growing in the gospel and enduring through all difficulties

Then chapters 4-5 he gets to instructions that they needed since even though they’re good, they still have some work to do

4:1-8 dealt with sexual immorality that they needed to be fight

V9-12 was a commendation on their brotherly love but a call to excel still more

So let’s see now a problem they had and the answer in a theological teaching

The eschatological rapture should relinquish reservations

The Reason for teaching the rapture- Hope (13)

Explanation

Paul addresses their lack of understanding without demeaning them since they were new believers

How all of us need to learn more things, or have an angel we’ve never thought of before

Especially God uses trials and temptations to reveal to us ways we need to grow in our understanding of Him

In fact, every great doctrine was once challenged by some false teacher and the church came together to say, no one this what the bible teaches!

Fallen asleep means dead

They had friends and family members die and they were rightfully sad

The view of death in the Greek world made this harder

Epicureans denied the soul’s immortality: they believed that the soul was material, like the body, and died with it. Most Greeks believed in a shadowy afterlife in the underworld

They could not conceive of a resurrection of the body

Like Paul was mocked for mentioning resurrection, it just felt weird like the idea of reincarnation just feels strange to western minds

Those around them had no hope, no confident expectation of the future

The pagan world was at a loss for comfort at death. Socrates said, “Oh, that there were some divine word upon which we could more securely and less perilously sail, upon a stronger vessel

But he doesn’t say do not grieve, just don’t grieve like others

Illustration

Sadly people are often told to get over the death of a loved one

William Shakespeare well said Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.

Often I think we so want to avoid grief that we avoid the term funeral for celebration of life

Instead, we should embrace grief’s push towards what will truly give us hope

"Thomas Watson, "True religion does not banish grief, it bounds it." Grace puts a lower limit on the depths of grief. "There is a bottom to the profoundest of our misery. Our winters shall not frown forever: summer shall too smile."

If we rightly understand the purpose of the rapture, we hope

Application

How should we think of grief?Paul Tripp gives how you think and act your way through grief

You Cannot Prepare for Death

There simply is no way to prepare for what you are now going through. But just knowing this may help you

Death Was Not Part of God’s Original Plan

It is so wrong, so out of place that this is what Paul calls us

1 Corinthians 15:25–26- For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

What is the last enemy?

Death is a cruel indicator that the world is broken and not functioning according to God’s original design

Like the blue screen or spinning rainbow on my computer it shouts out that there is a problem here

There is an enemy coming for us all

Don’t feel bad about being angry over death

Grieve in a New and Different Way

In times of death, a Christian should be sadder than anyone else. We mourn not only for the loved one we have lost, but also for the fact that death continues to destroy!

God approves of your tears! The comfort and hope He provides does not remove your grief, but allows you to grieve with hope.

Trans: Notice v 14 starts with “for”, telling us the reason we can grieve differently

The Rapture Relies on the resurrection (14)

Explanation

“Since we believe is a logic argument he’s putting us through

You know A is true, then B must also be true

As Christians they believed that Jesus died and rose again, because this is a central part of the gospel

Romans 10:9- because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There is no salvation outside of a belief in believing Jesus life, death, resurrection, and ascension…. That is the whole of our faith

Paul has already talked about their correct eschatology motivating them for holiness

1 Thessalonians 3:13- so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

So, they had Jesus’ return right, but the resurrection of dead believers wrong

If Jesus was raised then God will raise others

God is bringing those who have fallen asleep with Jesus and through Jesus

A person’s Christian faith gives us great assurance

Paul made the importance of the Resurrection clear elsewhere

1 Corinthians 15:17–19- And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

The good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is necessary for the Christian life

Illustration

The resurrection is one of the most verifiable pieces of evidence in the bible

Sir Lionel Luckhoo was famous for a unprecedented 245 consecutive defense murder trial acquittals)

“I have spent more than 42 years as a defense trial lawyer appearing in many parts of the world and am still in active practice. I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trials and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.

Because it is true, the resurrection matters for you

Let me give a couple applicational thoughts, but there are more

the test of faith is not assent to the bodily resurrection of Jesus. It is whether we trust in the God of resurrection slows down our worry

Tim Chester writes

Believing in the God who raised Christ from the dead means ‘believing that it is going to be all right; and this belief is, ultimately, incompatible with fear...Though we may at any stage in our lives grasp the truth that God raised Jesus from the dead, it takes us all our life long to let that belief soak through and permeate the rest of our thinking, feeling, and worrying lives.

But also, remember that when you’re trying to help others, notice the way Paul does it and start with what they already believe. Point out some scripture then address the issue

Trans: After setting the case, Paul gives them a description so vivid it can warm their hearts in times of sorrow

The Reality of the rapture (15-17)

Explanation- 3 elements sharpen the picture of this amazing hope

The word comes from the King (15)

He has a word from the lord,

This is an important phrase Paul uses to describe the actual words of Jesus Christ

We have no records of these particular words as his statement here is quite different from Jesus’ teaching on the mount of Olives

So this could be something Jesus said after His resurrection, or perhaps to Paul specifically as He was taught in the wilderness

But you can be encouraged as in all of scripture… this message is not just the thoughts of church people trying to understand God… this is a promise from God Himself

Those who are now living, and if the Lord tarries, those who are alive in the future, not will overtake those who have already died

Instead

The call of The Lord is powerful (16-17a)

For gives the reason we’ll all go together… the rapture

The Lord Jesus will descend and make a shout!

This is a Different call from

Matthew 24:31- And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

With Rapture – Jesus gathers his people himself; at his Glorious Coming, his angels do the gathering

This is more like John 14:3- he is going to be busy preparing a place for believers to dwell. He says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am

The dead rise, but not every dead as happens in Revelation 20’s great judgment

But these are those who are in Christ, those who are united in Him by faith… Christians

Here, not only will the souls of the dead in Christ return with Him (v. 14), but their bodies will also be resurrected at His coming

Then, after the dead are raised, then comes the rapture

The Latin translation of caught up is rapturo. Which means to snatch aggressively

Some will say that rapture isn’t in the bible

But that is like when I was a teenage boy and my mom told me to try to find my nice shoes… and I said, mom, they’re not anywherebut she walked in, lifted a shirt on the ground and guess what… there they were

The same word is used to describe how the Spirit caught up Philip near Gaza and brought him to Caesarea (Acts 8:39)

Being caught up is not a unprecedented issue in the bible either

Enoch did not die, but rather “God took him” and he was no more (Gen 5:24 ). Elijah likewise escaped death, and instead of the grave, Yahweh “took Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:1

We could argue over pre-trib, mid-tribe, or post trib, but that’s for another sermon

You might have heard secret rapture

You know, suddenly a bunch of disappear, leaving clothes behind in some pile and all their nonbelieving friends going what happened?

But when Philip was taken, he didn’t’ arrive nakedwhen Jesus was transfigured, his clothes shown

There is no reason to assume clothes will be left

And there is no reason that people do not hear the voice of Jesus’ call

Often the question is how can people deny God after hearing this voice and then the thing the left behind movies said would happen just occurred..

But Jesus did miracles in the face of those who denied him

Some will say this verse can only apply to those who go out to meet their king and bring him back in

John Piper says, “word for “meeting” the Lord in the air in In both places it refers to a meeting in which people go out to meet a dignitary and then accompany him in to the place from which they came out”

So they argue… we would only meet Jesus to bring him back to Earth

However, the caught up verb is used of paul being brought up to heaven

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” (2 Corinthians 12:2–4, ESV)

& Paul also met Jesus there and stayed.

So, we need others parts of the bible like Revelation to understand the timing, but here a rapture takes place

The 3rd element of this call takes us to Him as

The place is with the great Lord (17b)

This is a glorious reunion where faith is made sight

Paul spoke about this elsewhere too

1 Corinthians 15:51–52- Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:58- Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

V51- Believers will received glorified bodies

And it will be fast

We blink over 20,000 times in a day

Each blink lasts about a tenth of a second

we don’t’ know when it will be

Even those who do not agree with a pretrib rapture understand that it bests preserves the truth and it will happen quickly and it will be a surprise

Yes, Jesus is always with us, but being with Him will be different because we will finally be changed fully

Illustration

The prophecy of the Rapture is as sure to be fulfilled as the prophecies of Christ’s death and resurrection.

If someone owed you 10,000 Dollars and a little interest, you might feel pretty confident you’ll get the interest when he’s paid the 10,000

Spurgeon says the little that remains—for it is comparatively little—ought to cause us no anxieties or doubts, no fears or misgivings

this is what the Lord has done for us in the gospelhe has paid the biggest price, he has been resurrected

In the same way, death is new for each person, our own, or perhaps more painfully watching others

Yet The same God who raised Jesus from the dead will raise your Christian loved ones

Application

So take hope when you’re discouraged

Notice that the issue here is not that WE will be always together

Nor is it you’ll see you loved ones again

The issue is that your loved ones will not miss out on Jesus coming

See the greatest thing you can do for those you loved is wish for them to see Jesus

Be Jesus hands and feet, but most importantly, long for them to be with Jesus truly in heaven because they’re saved

We can only be saved by the gospel message.

The Section ends with

The reassurance of the rapture (18)

Explanation

The Christian's expectation The Rapture issue is important because it deals with the nature of the Christian's hope and expectation

Some reasons this should be shared

The rapture is supposed to comfort you (1 thess 4:18)

The rapture is supposed to motivate you (1 cor 15:58)

The rapture is all about being with Jesus again, not yet his judgement (John 14)

The rapture is about being removed the horrible wrath of God (Rev 3:10)

Yes, there are some people suffering greatly right now in Islamic countries, being persecuted for their faith in Christ

But that is the point, though we seem to fail at times right now, we will be victorious because whenever Christ calls us, those who seemed to have died in defeat will see their faith made sight first

Illustration

So the Christian is commanded to remind each other this is true

Like a good coach, calling out to a swimmer or a runner… just a little more, you’re going to win, keep going

So Christians remind each other that death is not the end

Application

May that be our goal, not just comfort for ourselves but for others too

Therefore

Since we have seen The rapture matters for our hope

The reason was to instruct us in hope

The foundation is the sure resurrection of Jesus

And the goal is to be with Jesus

We know we must (Resolution)-

This matters… because it is in the bible of course

But if is one of those in case of sections of users manuals… “If the computer doesn’t work, trying turning off and back on again.” Right?

So, could this be only for those who end up in the tribulation?

I’d say no

largely because the rapture texts always come alongside calls to holiness

There is an uncertainty and certainty about the end

The uncertainty is the when, but we know it will end

It’s like we’re in a race… but its night, so we have no idea when the end will be

But we’re getting instructions from Jesus to keep running, its just ahead… will we run a little faster?

Yes, God has not come back yet in 2000 years, but it his desire for all of us to run as if he will come back

So live like the race is almost done… run hard for God’s glory

Closing prayer

Lord, allow us to run well now, so you will be praised.