1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
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-As you can see...
...we’re not going to be in Luke 20 today.
Instead, we’re going to be in 1 Thessalonians 4...
...if you want to turn there and follow along.
Given the loss of Robert this week...
I just couldn’t bring myself...
...to plow ahead in our parable.
(Particularly given the nature of it)
I felt burdened, instead…
…to take a moment to consider...
...the relationship between...
...the Christian and Death.
I think this would be a good time to...
Refresh our minds on the subject
And hopefully, in that...
Find some much needed...
...refreshment for our souls, as well.
The Word of God has...
...a lot to offer for both.
And I couldn’t think of...
...a better passage to guide us into that...
...than Paul’s pastoral treatise...
...on the subject in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Let’s read it together:
This is the Word of the Lord.
13 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.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
15 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.
16 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.
17 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.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
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-In verse 13, there...
...Paul is transitioning away from...
...the discussion of how we...
...should live our earthly lives...
...and into a discussion about...
...the life that is to come for the Christian.
And, at first...
...he speaks to the mind...
(i.e., sets forward the facts).
He says:
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers...
So, he’s speaking to Christians.
He’s just been “informing them”. . .
...about the present life...
Now, he’s going to “inform them”. . .
13 ....about those who are asleep...
And that, of course...
...is a euphemism for...
The Death of a Christian. (Title Screen)
(A euphemism is a nice way of...
...referring to something unpleasant)
So, why would Paul compare...
...the death of a Christian...
...to sleep?
Because...
Sleep is only temporary!
You miss out on...
...the pleasure of someone’s company...
...while they’re asleep...
But, it doesn’t last forever.
Eventually, they wake up...
...and you’re re-united with them, right?
That’s what Paul is getting at here:
That’s the way DEATH is...
...for the Christian!
It isn’t permanent.
In the grand scope of...
...things that are permanent...
It’s very very temporary!
And that’s why Paul is...
Informing the head...
So that, in doing so...
...he can...
Encourage the heart!
Look at how he sets that up:
13 ...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.
That’s the purpose...
...of Paul’s eschatology here!
He isn’t showing out.
He’s being pastoral!
-Now, before we read on...
...notice something else in that final clause:
He said that:
13 ...others … have no hope.
What does that statement imply?
We DO HAVE hope!
They have no hope...
...because death, for them...
...means eternal separation...
...from those that they love.
Again, that would imply...
...that the opposite is true for us...
And in Verse 14...
...the Apostle begins to explain why:
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again...
So, Jesus’ Resurrection...
...is the basis for that hope.
And indeed, Jesus said, in...
25 . . . “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
The reason we only sleep...
Is because Christ, through the Cross...
...has defeated sin and death!
That’s the basis for...
...Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15.
He says:
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Why?
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Verse 14 in our text is denoting...
...essentially the same idea:
14 …since … Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Now, think about what that assumes:
It assumes that...
...the souls of those who have died in Christ...
...haven’t been reduced to...
...a conscious-less existence...
...with their bodies...
...in the dust of the earth...
But rather...
...they have been gathered to Christ...
...in conscious bliss...
...to enjoy his presence...
...while they await his return to the earth...
...in final victory.
And while that idea...
...may be debated by some...
It is, nevertheless, THROUROUGHLY biblical.
Think about texts like:
43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Stephen:
55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Paul said:
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
And then he states plainly, in...
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord...
8 ...we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
He goes on to say in our text...
...that Jesus...
10 ...died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
Where is he presently (human nature)?
At the right hand of the Father in heaven, right?
Furthermore, Jesus said:
37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
Hence, when Jesus...
...returns to the earth...
14 ...God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Why?
How?
Because they’re with him NOW.
(Not with resurrected bodies)
(Only as disembodied spirits)
But consciously and joyously with him, nonetheless.
-Alright, let’s read on.
But remember, that...
...however we interpret what follows...
It has to harmonize...
...with what we’ve already read!
Verse 15:
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord...
A prophetic proclamation...
Based on the teachings of Christ
Here it is:
...that we who are alive, who are left...
i.e., “left behind” after others have been taken.
The context is death, remember.
Meaning that those who have died...
...have been “taken away” from the earth...
And the living...
...have been “left behind.”
Until what event?
until the coming of the Lord...
What event is that?
The “Parousia”
The word means: “with being” or “with presence”
This is when Christ returns to the earth...
Physically
Bodily
In great glory.
What we refer to as...
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
-So, Paul is saying that...
...when Jesus returns in victory...
...those whose souls haven’t yet been...
...gathered to Christ in Heaven...
...but remain alive on the earth...
will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
“will not” is “ouk me”
That emphatic double negation in the Greek.
-Now, think about this:
Why would there be...
...any concern over this?
Well, some may have thought, that...
...those who died before the Parousia...
...were going to miss out...
...on that final climactic act of salvation:
(The full redemption of our bodies)
(Final judgment)
(Restoration of the cosmos)
Paul says, that...
Not only are they NOT...
...going to miss out on anything...
They’re going to be...
...the very first to experience it.
It’s the same concept...
...that he lays out in...
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 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.
Why?
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Again, why?
50 ...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Jesus began a whole new...
...order of creation...
When he arose from the dead!
You and I can’t FULLY...
...enter into that new creation...
...until our entire beings...
...become like it in substance.
Right now, only our spirits...
...have been made new.
But, at the coming of Christ...
The WHOLE man...
Body and Soul
...will be transformed into the image of Christ!
Watch:
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body...
That is the salvation that awaits!
The fulness of the New Creation!
-Look at Verse 16:
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven...
That’s personal.
That’s physical and bodily.
That’s a physical departure from heaven...
And a physical arrival to earth.
-Let’s read on...
16 ...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...
(Notice the three-fold authority)
This is an audible and visible return.
There’s nothing hidden or secret...
...about what’s happening here.
This is pure and unrestrained...
...power and authority!
No one is going to stand in the way...
...to prevent what’s about to happen.
No one is going to be confused...
...about what’s about to happen.
This is an act of glorious triumph!
-And here’s what it will produce:
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven… And the dead in Christ will rise ...
(i.e., their bodies will rise from the grave)
And not only that:
16 ...the dead in Christ will rise first.
In the nano-seconds of...
...eschatological unfolding...
...the departed saints will be...
...the very first ones...
...to experience the salvation of Jesus Christ...
...in its consummate fullness!
They’re not missing out on anything at all!
We need to understand that...
38 ...neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That’s true for those who sleep (like Robert)
And that’s true for...
...we who are currently left behind.
-Look at Verse 17:
17 THEN we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds...
“caught up” is harpazo
Where we get our word “enraptured”
Where something “carries you away” involuntarily!
It’s the same word...
...that is used to describe...
...Phillip’s being transported in...
39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away...
40 But Philip found himself at Azotus...
That’s something that happened TO Phillip.
The power of God...
...snatched him away from the river...
...and took him to another destination.
-Okay, well where are the living saints...
...being taken to in our text?
...to meet the Lord...
He’s the real destination, brethren.
Not some geographical locale.
The goal is ultimately...
...to be with him.
-Nevertheless, at this point, we/they will...
...meet the Lord in the air...
Now, why is he calling us...
...to himself on his way down?
Why doesn’t he just land first...
And then gather us together...
...on the ground?
Well, the more I...
thought about this...
dug into it...
The deeper it seemed to get!
I’ll never be able to...
Understand
Explain
...every facet of it...
But, I think that...
...at the very least...
...it means, this:
This is from Richard Phillips...
It’s long, but well worth it:
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
One valuable clue to understanding Paul’s meaning is to recognize the cultural and political background in which he was writing.
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
Scholars agree that the word parousia, which Paul uses for Christ’s “coming” (
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
This connection is strengthened by Paul’s use of the Greek word
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
...this word “was almost a technical term that described the custom of sending a delegation outside the city to receive a dignitary who was on the way to town.”
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
There can be little question that Paul’s Thessalonian readers would have understood his terminology in this way, since their own recent history included visitations by prominent leaders such as Pompey the Great and Octavian Caesar.
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
In his sermon on this text, the ancient preacher John Chrysostom understood Paul’s meaning in just this way: “For when a king drives into a city, those who are honorable go out to meet him; but the condemned await the judge within.”
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
Understood this way, Paul depicts the return of Christ as the coming of a great king, a conquering emperor returning to his capital to celebrate a triumphal parade.
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
The hero appeared outside the gate with his army, and his supporters joyously went out from the city to meet him...
1 & 2 Thessalonians The Triumphant Conqueror
How much greater will be the glory of Christ when he comes, not to remove his adoring people from the earth but to bring them with him into the creation that he comes to reclaim and fill with his glory.
That’s what’s going on here!
-Now, the greatest part...
...of the whole prophecy...
...is at the end of Verse 17:
...and so we will always be with the Lord.
Brethren, that’s the...
...full and final realization...
...of the promise of all promises.
It was the capstone of the OT prophets:
33 ...I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And it is the pinnacle of NT prophecy, as well:
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
We experience this in part...
...through the present indwelling...
...of God the Holy Spirit.
But, we’ll experience it in full...
At the appearing of...
...our Great God and Savior...
Jesus Christ!
-That’s why Paul concludes (Verse 18):
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
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