1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

You're listening to the Through the Bibles Studio series with Pastor Nate Holdrich. Join us as we continue our study through the New Testament book of First Thessalonians. Here's Nate. The gospel, of course, deals with our past, our present, and most definitely, it deals with our future. One of the wonderful things about the truth of the gospel is that because the Lord has dealt with our future, there is a wonderful opportunity for today. In other words, because of the future, we have such great and incredible motivation for today. That's really what's going on in First Thessalonians. The second half of chapter 4 on into the first half of chapter 5. Paul, as I've been telling you in First Thessalonians 4 and 5, is in a section in this letter where he is exhorting the Thessalonian Church concerning their sanctification. He kicked off this section by saying in First Thessalonians 4, verse 3, "This is the will of God for you, your sanctification." And he will close out this particular section in chapter 5, verse 23 and 24, when he says, "May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. He who calls you is faithful, he will surely do it." And so this is the sanctification section of the book of First Thessalonians. And right in the middle of it, Paul gives us some wonderful teaching concerning the return of Jesus, the second coming of Christ. And some have wondered why in the middle of a section like this would Paul begin to talk about the second coming of Christ, these n times views and teachings, why here, why at this particular moment? But I think anybody who has internalized the doctrine of the second coming of Christ, anyone who is anticipating his soon return, and especially anyone who believes that that return of Jesus is imminent, that it could happen at any moment, and that there is nothing left for us to wait for except for Jesus. A person who has internalized that view, so to speak, has understood what it means to be motivated towards sanctification by the future that God has destined for us. In other words, since the day is coming, and it could happen today, that I will meet the Lord face to face, I long, more and more, to have a sanctified life, I long to grow, I long to be changed, I long to be transformed. Again, the glorious future that the gospel secures for us actually motivates us for the present time. And so that's the section that we're in here. First Thessalonians chapter 4, we pick up our study. In verse 13, Paul writes this to the church, he says, "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." And so Paul begins to speak to the Thessalonians about something that he doesn't want them to be uninformed about. And it has to do with those who have died in the Thessalonian church as Christians, those who have, as he puts it, fall in asleep. And before we look at that in particular, I think it's good to at least mention that there were a few times, four times specifically, that Paul asked Christians not to be ignorant. And an interesting side study is to notice the moments that Paul wanted to quench their ignorance. He says in Romans chapter 11, verse 25, "He wants them to be aware of the mystery, no longer ignorant, of the mystery concerning Israel, that a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." And so he didn't want them to be ignorant about God's plan for Israel. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 1, concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. And so number 2, the work of the Holy Spirit. Number 3, he tells them in 2 Corinthians 1 verse 8, that he didn't want them to be unaware concerning the affliction that he and his companions had experienced in Asia. And so he did not want them to be ignorant about suffering and trials in here. He doesn't want the church to be ignorant about the second coming of Christ. And so God's plan for Israel, the work of the Holy Spirit here on earth, suffering and trials, and the second coming of Christ. And it's interesting because these seem to be particular areas that ignorance can easily creep in to the church. And so Paul exclaimed, "I don't want you to be uninformed. I don't want you to remain in a state of ignorance." But here it's specifically about those who have fallen asleep in the Lord and in their church. And some had died in their church. And so they knew that. They knew that some people had died. They knew that Jesus hadn't yet returned. And they were anticipating his return. That was from the very beginning of their establishment as a church. They were waiting for Jesus to return. So some had died. Jesus hadn't returned. And so putting those two things together, some of the Thessalonians were worried. They didn't know what this meant. What would happen to those who had died before Jesus returned? And I think in this are a couple of wonderful things to glean from the Thessalonian church. First of all, notice the beautiful anticipation they had of the second coming of Christ. I think today we can easily say, "Oh, I'm anticipating his return. I long for his return." But think of how eager the Thessalonians were and how much they believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. Because they looked at those who had died in their church as an absolute oddity, something that they were worried about. They never anticipated that there would be Christians who would actually die in their midst. So they were worried it appears. They were worried about those who have died before Jesus returned. But also notice how Paul refers to the death of a Christian. He calls it sleep. What a wonderful description of the death of God's children. You know that we fall asleep and we pass from this life to the next. I've heard many a pastor use the analogy of a little child, falling asleep in one room, perhaps in front of the TV or perhaps in the back seat of the minivan, falling asleep on the car ride home. And they get home and their father then carries them to their bedroom, puts them in their bed. And when they wake up, they discover that they are in a completely different place than when they fell asleep. And I think that's a beautiful picture of the reality for a Christian who dies. And so he says, "I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep." But then he says they're in verse 13. This is very interesting. He says that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. And this is interesting because what Paul is saying is he's saying that of course there is grief for a Christian who sees one that they love in Christ die. He's not saying we do not grieve at all. He's saying we simply grieve but we have hope. So for a Christian, death produces grief mixed with hope. We grieve at our loss, you know, that we've lost a friend or a brother or a mother or a father, a colleague. We grieve at the loss that we experience but we hope at the gain that they have and the reunification that we will experience at some day in the future. And this hope is an absolute, wonderful game changer for the Christian. There have been many tombs that have been uncovered in ancient history. One pagan tomb had this on its epitaph. This was engraved. It said, "I was not. I became. I am not. I care not." But in the catechons of Christians, it says that some of them had Psalm 4 verse 8 engraved where they were buried, where it says, "In peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." So for a Christian, death does hurt. It's not that we do not grieve but there is hope that is attached to a Christian's death. You know, I think it's so shameful at times how we as Christians can almost rebuke someone for grieving the death of a loved one. We'll hold out verses like this. You know, hey, we do not grieve as others do who have no hope. And we almost. intend to say that if you are sorrowful there's some kind of lack of faith inside of you, but that is not the truth. Sin and death and sickness, these are things that bring us sorrow in this life. There have been times where I've heard it funerals, the verses from 1 Corinthians 15, verse 54 and 55 quoted where Paul writes and says, "When the perishable puts on imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory." And then verse 55, the taunting words, "Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting?" I've heard that at times quoted at funerals and I of course understand why. We believe that that person now in the presence of the Lord has put on imperishable, and that they have put on immortality, and that for them death has been swallowed up in victory. But there in the funeral when you're asking the question, "Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting?" The family there in the front row should be exclaiming, "It's here, it's right here, the sting of death, the pain of death is being experienced by us on this side of eternity." But a day is coming, a day is coming when our hopes will be realized, and we will see the Lord face to face, and every tear will be wiped away. And so a wonderful reality, we do grieve, but not as those who have no hope, and this is why. Why would we have hope? He says in verse 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." And so here's the question, "Where does our hope, and where does our confidence, that God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep?" Where does it come from? This is what he says, "We believe that God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep, and why do we believe that?" For verse 14, "Because we believe that Jesus died and rose again." And so just a wonderful reality, the resurrection, the basis of our hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, because He rose, because He defeated death, and because He rose from the grave, we believe that there is a future resurrection for us, that there is future life for us, and that we will be changed and transformed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. Our confidence is in this because of Jesus' resurrection from the grave. Now, the question then, at this moment, would be, "How does this take place?" How does this take place? How does this transformation actually occur? This process, where God brings with Him those who have fallen asleep, when does it happen, and how does it happen? Well, it happens at His coming. And so this is where Paul is going to take us in verse 15. Notice the way that He phrases this next line, because I think it's all important to understanding where Paul is going. He says in verse 15, "For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord." This we declared to you, he says, "By a word from the Lord." Now, in all of Paul's writings, in one sense, it is a word from the Lord. I mean, in its most basic sense, the epistles that God has given us through the pen and hand of Paul the Apostle, these divinely inspired books of the Bible, these are words from the Lord. So when Paul then pauses, and in verse 15 says, "This we declared you by a word from the Lord." Obviously, he isn't saying, "Hey, all the rest of this that I've written to you, it's not inspired, but this next little bit, it is inspired." Now, all of it is inspired. So when he says, "This we declared you by a word from the Lord." It must mean that there is a special revelation from the Lord that Paul in his teaching is about to reveal. He said it this way, in first Corinthians 15, verse 51 to 53, he said, "Behold, I tell you a mystery." In other words, when Paul says a mystery, he means, "Here is something that up until now has been completely hidden." Nobody really knew about this, but through my teaching, this mystery is now revealed. In other words, it is no longer a mystery, but previously, it was a mystery. And this is the mystery that Paul declares in first Corinthians 15, he says, "We will not all sleep." In other words, we will not all die, but we will 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 in perishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. And so I think that when Paul declares that here in verse 15, "This we declared you by a word from the Lord," and the next thing he says is, "that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep," and then he begins to describe what many have referred to as the rapture of the church. It seems as if what Paul is saying is, "Hey, previously, this was a mystery. Previously, this was unseen and unknown." However, in my apostolic authority, Paul is saying, "I am going to begin to teach you about this particular truth," and I think, of course, this actually really began with the words of Jesus. When he said in John 14, verse 1, "Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me." In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. These weren't ideas that were particularly common in Israel at the time that Jesus spoke to them. These are new concepts and new ideas that he is leaving, that he will be gone for a season, that he will come again, and that he will take his people back to himself to be with him where he is. And I think that's what Paul is expounding on in this particular text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, "The possibility of the rapture of the church." And this is how he says it. He says, verse 15, "That we who are alive, who are left, will not precede those who have fallen asleep." "We are left until the coming of the Lord, and we will not precede those," he says, "who have fallen asleep." That should just catalog at least for a moment, the glorious future of the coming of the Lord. Just today I was reading in Daniel chapter 2 in my personal time with the Lord of the vision that Nebuchadnezzar received from God. You remember that vision? He asked the magicians, the caldians to declare the dream and give its interpretation. Daniel, of course, empowered by God was the only one who was able to do so. And Daniel told him, "I know that you saw an image, a statue, with a gold head, with silver chest and arms, with a bronze middle and thighs, and with iron legs, and with iron feet." And then you saw a stone that was fashioned without hands, that crushed that image, and that stone became a great and immovable mountain. And without getting too detailed into it, it seems very obvious that the gold head was Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian Empire. And the silver chest and the silver arms were the Meadow Persian Empire that replaced him. And the bronze middle and thighs were the Grecian Empire, without Alexander the Great, who replaced them. And that the iron legs is the Roman Empire, who replaced them, and then a gap in history. And a day coming, I believe, where there will be a revived Roman Empire, not as strong as the iron empire of before, but mixed with clay, and that then there will be a stone that comes that destroys all of it. And listen to what he says in Daniel 2, verse 44, and he says, "In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms, and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever." Oh, how encouraged I am by that line, it shall stand forever. And so there is the promise really throughout all of scripture of the coming of the Lord. that there is a kingdom coming, that he will establish an everlasting, never-ending kingdom. And that's part of what is coming is about here in verse 15, the coming of the Lord. Now, the question then is practically, what does this look like? How does it actually occur? Well, step one is found in verse 16. Follow this with me because this is radical, beautiful, and wonderful. He says in verse 16, this is how it will work. He says, "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." Step one is that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven. That is step one. Jesus will come to meet His people in the clouds and in the air as we'll discover in verse 17. But He comes from heaven, comes from heaven. That's where He is now. At the right hand of the Father, He will leave His heavenly throne and He will come for His people. He will descend from heaven. Step one, Jesus Himself descends from heaven. So Jesus comes down from heaven. And the description, of course, is threefold. Number one, there's a cry of command. All right, so there are three sounds that He's going to tell us of. Number one, a cry of command. This idea has some authority in it. Probably a military ring to it. You know, the gathering together of the troops, so to speak. Number two, He comes with a voice of an archangel. Probably Michael, as we discover, he's an archangel in Jude chapter 1, verse 9, the chief of the angels, but there's the shout or the voice of an archangel. And then the third sound is with the sound of the trumpet of God. Now, this is his Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 52, that 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. And just because Paul calls it the last trumpet there doesn't necessarily mean that it's the seventh trumpet of revelation chapter 11, verse 15. For us, in a sense, it is the final trumpet, but that doesn't mean that there aren't other trumpets that God is going to use, but it's the last trumpet that calls us home to be with the Lord. So step one, Jesus comes from heaven. He descends from heaven, and it's loud. I don't know if these three sounds are all together, the cry of command, the cry of the archangel, and the sound of the trumpet, the blast of the trumpet, but they are, whether they're all together, or whether they happen in sequence, I don't know, but it's loud, it's obvious, it's impressive. Step number two, though, is also found in verse 16, and it says, "And the dead in Christ will rise first." So step one, Jesus comes down from heaven, step two, the dead in Christ, those who are already asleep, they rise first. Now, I should mention at this particular point that I don't believe that these Christians were in some kind of soul sleep. You know, in the sense that they had died, their souls were in a state of unconsciousness waiting for this last resurrection. This says in second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 8, Paul says, "We are confident. We are well pleased, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." In other words, to be absent from this body, it appears that we are then immediately present with the Lord. Paul said in Philippians 1 verse 23, "I'm hard pressed between the two states. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." Seems clear that Paul did not believe in a state of soul sleep, and just as Jesus spoke to the man on the cross, he said, "Truly, I say to you today, you will be with me and paradise." It was a today moment, and you see in Matthew 17 that the transfiguration Moses and Elijah were there present with the Lord. It doesn't seem that their souls were asleep, it seemed that they were very much with the Lord very much alive. In Revelation 6 verse 9 through 11, the martyrs and the tribulation are awake and able to speak with God. And so I think, well, there's two ways to look at this. What's happening here in this last resurrection that the dead and Christ rise for as well? It could be that they have spiritual bodies now and resurrected bodies then, or another option is that eternity is so wonderfully timeless that yes, there is the final resurrection here, but they already are possessing their resurrection bodies there. And so I don't know exactly how this will work, but step two is the dead and Christ will rise first. Step three, verse 17 is, "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." Step three is this thing called the catching up. We will be caught up together with them in the air. This is the word harpatzo. It means to be snatched violently, to be carried away by force. This is where Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, the Latin is where we get the word rapture from. And you know, I think this is going to be absolutely glorious and beautiful. I don't think there's a Christian movie on earth that can do this justice. You know, where you see the shoes sitting there empty with the socks and the outfit all laid out because the person was caught up and raptured. I don't think any Hollywood movie can do this justice. I think this will be absolutely beautiful. The calling away, the catching away of God's people to be with him. I hope that I'm in that particular generation that is caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And step four is very simple. Step one, Jesus comes down from heaven. Step two, the dead and Christ rise first. Step three, 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 step four, and so Paul says, we will always be with the Lord. Never taken from him, always with him, always in his presence, experiencing pure and glorious and wonderful joy. And so Paul says in verse 18, in response to all of this, he says, therefore, encourage one another with these words. In other words, encourage each other with this. You're going to see your loved ones in Christ again. You'll see the Lord. You'll see your sanctification. You'll experience it. You'll experience the fullness of your redemption. Encourage one another with the hope of eternity. And I think this is a wonderful thing for Christians to counsel and encourage each other in. The truth and the reality that Jesus is coming. He'll take us home to be with him. And there we will forever be with the Lord. It puts so many of our problems in perspective, so many of our trials in perspective when we remember these particular words. God bless you and Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]