+ Duane Lee McNary +

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NASB95

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 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 not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

John 11:17–27 NASB95

So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”

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Funerals and grief go together. Sadness and bereavement are normal when a loved one dies; but there is a significant difference in the type of grief evidenced at funerals.

On the one hand, there are many funerals where the sorrow of the bereaved is inconsolable, where widows or widowers and children of the deceased weep and lament without hope. Nothing anyone says or does can allay their grief.

On the other hand, at Christian funerals and memorial services, the bereaved also evidence great sadness, but mixed in with their sadness is their Christian hope, which enables them to dry their tears and even smile in the midst of their sorrow.

St. Paul speaks of this significant difference in grieving when he writes in the words of our text, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope” (v 13).

The apostle goes on to say that believers in Christ, by contrast, grieve with hope! This hope is expressed in the closing words of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in . . . the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”

We grieve with hope because . . .

We Do Not Have to Fear Death

There is probably nothing in life that people fear more than death. This fear is demonstrated in the fact that we avoid the noun death and the verb die. In medical circles, a patient doesn’t die; instead, he or she “expires.” In daily conversation, we often employ the euphemism “passed away” rather than to say that a person has died.

We who are believers in Christ do not have to be afraid of death. Jesus explained why we need not fear death when he said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn 11:25–26; emphasis added). For persons who trust in Jesus for forgiveness and life, death is but the door through which they enter into an even better life. By His death and triumphant resurrection, Jesus has made complete payment for all sins.

It’s interesting that St. Paul refers to death three times in our text as a “sleep.” Paul writes about the “dead in Christ” (v 16): “We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep. . . . God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him . . . We who are still alive . . . will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep” (vv 13–15; emphasis added).

It’s a pleasant experience to fall asleep, especially if we are tired after a day of hard work. Actually, the bad experience is to be unable to sleep, to toss and turn as we wait for morning to come. To sleep is pleasant, and to awaken from sleep refreshed and strengthened is one of the most pleasant experiences of all.

When the Bible refers to death as a sleep, it is reminding us in a very powerful way that you and I who believe in Jesus do not have to be afraid of death any more than we are afraid of falling asleep at the end of the day. That’s why our parents taught us at an early age to pray at bedtime: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep; and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take; and this I ask for Jesus’ sake.”

We grieve with hope because . . .

We Look Forward to Eternal Life

We who believe in Jesus Christ do not grieve without hope and do not fear death, because our faith in Christ assures us of the gift of eternal life. Jesus himself said this in the best-known Bible verse of all when he declared, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

It has been 13 years, but I’ll never forget that point in our life when my wife and I left my mother’s funeral in April, her Dad’s funeral two months later, and my Dad’s funeral the following month. Within a period of three month we buried three of our parents. Makes one wonder, how can anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus cope with the death of a loved one?! To be separated by death from a loved one is a frightening experience. But we know that death for the child of God is the beginning of an even better life, and we look forward to a joyful reunion in heaven.

St. Paul speaks of that day of celebration when he writes in our text: “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (vv 16–17).

“And so we will be with the Lord forever!” We can’t really imagine or comprehend what eternal life will be like.

One Sunday school youngster did a pretty good job of summarizing the joy of eternal life when she was asked to define heaven. “Heaven,” said the little girl, “is when it’s Christmas every day!” What a precious and accurate summary! We all remember the days of our childhood, when we couldn’t wait for Christmas to come. And when that great day finally arrived, we wished that the joy of Christmas would last forever.

And it will! That’s why the apostle concludes by saying, “Therefore encourage each other with these words” (v 18).