1 Thess. 4 The Comfort of Christ's Coming

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Verse 13- I do not want you to be ignorant or uninformed… I want you to know this… This is important… I do not want you grieving without hope...

There are those who grieve with hope, and there are those who grieve without hope...

Our faith gives us HOPE! Living Hope!

Hebrews 11:1 - Our faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Through the eyes of faith… we see some things. Through the eyes of faith… we see some things coming...

They hold us. God holds us. His promises hold us. His word holds us, giving us conviction, giving us hope, filling us with love and peace.

Grief and sorrow has come to the lives of these church folks and they are wondering about those dear loved ones that have died already...

The word “asleep,” is used here to describe a dead body but not a dead soul/spirit. Those who die in Christ: Their bodies go into the ground and their spirit goes to be with the Lord.

This is not talking about soul sleep. This is not taught in Scripture. This is pointing to the body.

Just as sleeping people expect to rise in the morning, when the sun comes… Christians have expected to rise again when the Son of God comes back.

However, these folks had come to conclude that those who die miss the Lord’s return.

It seems that the early church was expecting Jesus to come back, and come back again soon. They were grieved over the thought of them missing this event and experience.

Someone is asking today:

“Pastor, what happens when I take my last breath?” Your spirit/soul will go immediately into the presence of the Lord, or it will go immediately into a place of torment.

Luke 16 - The Rich Man and Lazarus: One man went this way and the other man went the other way… as soon as they died.

Phil. 1:20-24 - To depart is to be with Christ. to die is gain, not loss. 2 Cor. 5:6-8 - To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

The believer will experience joy, peace, and comfort, and the unbeliever will not.

The body of both will go into the ground, remain on earth, but the spirit will live on in another place.

Should we mourn, grieve, or cry when loved ones die? Yes.

Christians are expected to mourn when loved ones die, but they are not to grieve as do the people of the world who have no hope.

Certainly Christ expects us to shed tears and feel loneliness (as did He - see John 11:33–36) as we go through the valley; but in the midst of our sorrow, there must be the testimony of the living hope we have in Christ (1 Peter 1:3).

Read 1 Cor. 15:19 - If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

The book of Ecclesiastes: All of life is vanity under the sun, unless it is directed toward God, and unless there is an afterlife.

“Shall I labor and toil to die and to never be raised in the end? What is the purpose of it all, without God, His will, His promises, and eternal rewards?”

Dear Christian, be comforted...

Note the comforts the believer has in times of sorrow:

There is a comfort to know that death for a believer is only sleep. The word “cemetery” taken from the Greek means, “sleeping place.” This is a place where bodies sleep. while they wait for resurrection. Death is not the end. Jesus has destroyed death. We have life in Jesus Name!

This creates hope, joy and peace.

2. There is comfort in seeing a heavenly reunion. “We will be with the Lord forever.” We all will be caught up; we will be joined or rejoined together again on that day.

“Will we recognize family?” Luke 16 - The rich man recognized people. The book of Revelation: People were identified by nationalities and tribes.

What we will look like exactly, I do not know. But we will be together.

This creates hope, joy, and peace.

3. There is a comfort of the eternal blessing.

We shall be forever with the Lord, with new bodies (1 John 3:1-3; Phil. 3:20-21). 1 Cor. 15:35-58 - What is sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption. What is sown in dishonor will be raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power...

As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man...

This is how we shall be raised!

Verse 16 - The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God...

1 Cor. 15:51 - 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed...

This may be like the trumpet blast heard in Exodus, in which the people of God came out of the camp to meet God. Whether this is Michael’s voice, I don’t know, but it will be a clear voice that will be heard...

Jesus teaches us at the end of Matthew 24, that when He comes… It will be loud and clear. His angels will go out with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather His people from all over the world.

And it will happen all of a sudden...

There will be a snatching… They will be caught up without warning.

Read Matthew 24 and 25 - Be ready. You will give an account. He is coming.

Those who have already died, will be raised first, and then those who are alive will be snatched/caught up into the air.

This is called “The Rapture” or the “Rapture of the Church.”

Christ will come. And you will not know the day of the hour. He will come when you do not expect Him. He will come when He desires, when God desires to come… and He will finish all things.

This is a teaching that is suppose to bring hope and comfort to the Church… Not fear.

Now: For the unbeliever, or for those living in shame, guilt and condemnation… You do not take delight in these words and are not comforted.

You do not want to leave here. You want to stay here. And you do not want to worship Jesus forever… And you won’t...

There are many who do not want to be with the Church, who do not love the church

But: Believers are comforted. Believers say, “Come Lord Jesus Come! Please Come!”

And these verses are written to believers to give them hope, peace and comfort...

But we can understand why unbelievers, or even why Christians who are living a sinful lifestyle, may find this verse, or these verses to be horrifying...

You are going to face your Creator one day. Your life will be over in your body. You will either die or be raptured. You are going to face death and judgment...

And this verse… that is written to give hope… is in fact causing fear to be produced in some hearts this evening.

Why? Because you are not ready. Because, maybe your loved ones are not ready or were not ready.

What do we need to do? Get ready. Be ready. Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Tell your family members and loved ones about Jesus… Love Jesus… Live for Jesus… Be ready. So that you will not be ashamed at His coming.

Then we can be comforted and have this hope.

We can face dying, death, the passing of loved ones… and we can have hope, and comfort today. This produces a strength in us today… so that we can look through the here and now and have joy and peace… in our understanding of what is and what will be...

This is not the end. This is not the end of relationships. This is not the end of life. This is not the end of the story.

There is more to come.

Christ is coming.

We will be with Him.

We will all be with Him… Together… All together...

We will be with Him always… For all eternity… never alone!

Therefore, comfort one another with these words!

1. Pray for loved ones. 2. Grow in comfort, hope and peace.