Comfort for the Believer

Comfort for the Believer

Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18

This is the classic passage on the rapture of the church. Sorrow had come to the lives of these saints, and they were wondering whether their dead fellow Christians would be left behind at the return of Christ. Paul assures them that their dead will be raised first, and that all the saints will be gathered together to meet Christ in the air.

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 (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). Note the comforts the believer has in times of sorrow:

A.     The comfort that death for the believer is only sleep - 13-15

“Sleep in Jesus” in v. 14 is literally “put to sleep through Jesus.” Regardless of how a believer dies, Jesus Christ is there to put him to sleep. Of course, the soul goes to be with Christ (Phil. 1:20–24; 2 Cor. 5:6–8); it is the body that sleeps, not the soul. The word “cemetery” means “a sleeping place”; it is the place where the bodies sleep, awaiting the resurrection.

B.     The comfort of heavenly reunion – 16-17

The hardest thing about death is separation from our loved ones; but when Christ comes, we will be “together with the Lord” forever. The living saints will not precede those who have died; all will be caught up together to meet Christ.

C.     The comfort of eternal blessing - 17

We shall be “forever with the Lord.” We shall obtain new bodies (1 John 3:1–3; Phil. 3:20–21). Paul says that the body we place in the cemetery is like a seed awaiting the harvest (1 Cor. 15:35–58).

The words “caught up” (v. 17) are full of meaning. They mean:                                      (1) to catch away speedily, for there will be no warning (5:1–10);                                    (2) to seize by force, for Satan will seek to hinder our rapture to heaven;                        (3) to claim for one’s self, just as the Bridegroom claims the bride;                                 (4) to move to a new place; and                                                                                          (5) to rescue from danger, for the church will not go through the Tribulation (1:10; 5:9).