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1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 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. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. [15] 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. [16] 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. [17] 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. [18] Therefore comfort one another with these words.
This is a fantastic portion of Scripture. If it wasn’t here in the Bible I wouldn’t believe it – that we’re literally going to snatched up and meet Jesus in the earth’s atmosphere, in the clouds, in the air, and then ever be with the Lord just sounds over the top, but it’s true and if you are a genuine believer, you’re going to experience it. It’s called the rapture of the church. Christ’s coming for the church is imminent. That means it could happen at any moment. It could happen today, tomorrow, or this coming week. We don’t know when, but it’s the next event on God’s end-times calendar. Nothing has to happen before the rapture. Are you ready for the rapture?
We’re talking about the end times, or eschatology. Eschatology is a theological term concerned with the final events of history and the ultimate destiny of humanity. There are three major views, all related to the 1000 years in Revelation 20:1-10. Some interpret the 1000 years figuratively as a long period of time, and others take them literally. We take them literally. Here they are in the simplest terms.
- Amillennialism teaches that the 1000 years of Revelation 20 are not a literal 1000 years but refer to the entire Church Age as Christ is ruling His people in the church. Augustine was one of the first to promote this view.
- Postmillennialism teaches that Christ will return to earth after the gospel has “Christianized” the world.
- Premillennialism teaches that Christ will return and physically rule on earth for 1000 years (Rev. 20:1-10) before the final judgment and future eternal state.
We’re not going into the details of each of these positions this morning. Our church doctrinal statement takes the premillennial view of eschatology. We believe Christ is going to return for His church before a seven-year period of intense tribulation described in Revelation 6-19, the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. After the future seven-year tribulation period, Christ will return to earth and set up His world-wide 1,000-year millennial kingdom. We believe there is a clear distinction between the church and Israel. We do not believe the church is spiritual Israel. God made many promises to Israel in the Old Testament about a coming glorious age when Christ will set up a global kingdom (the only globalism we should believe in) and rule the entire world from Jerusalem. Even Spurgeon, who believed in the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth, insisted in his sermon The Lamb – The Light: “We believe that the Jews will be converted, and that they will be restored to their own land. We believe that Jerusalem will be the central metropolis of Christ’s kingdom.” Here are just two of those great promises to Israel that God will surely keep.
Jeremiah 30:3, For behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The LORD says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.'”
Zechariah 14:9, And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.
So when is this amazing event called the rapture going to take place? Christ’s coming for the church is imminent – at any time. He promised in John 14:3 He was going to prepare a place for us and will come again to receive us to Himself, but He didn’t tell us when. We do know there are no prophecies that have to be fulfilled before His coming for the church. We don’t know when it will be. We aren’t end times tea leaf readers – but there are plenty of those. South African Pastor Joshua Mhlakela predicted that the rapture would happen on September 23, timed to Rosh Hoshana, the Jewish new year. Why? He claims he was given a vision from God. Scripture tells us no one knows the day or hour of Christ’s return. We do know it’s 2000 years closer than when He went back to heaven with the promise that He’s coming again in Acts 1:11.
We don’t know when but we do know that the rapture will happen. Paul had taught the Thessalonians about the hope of the rapture. Paul didn’t know when it would happen. Every generation lives with the hope of His coming at any time. But this is where the Thessalonians ran into trouble and Paul needed to instruct them further. They thought Jesus was coming any day, maybe within a week, but now some of the believers had fallen asleep (died). What about them? We’re going to look at this fascinating passage in two parts, anticipating the rapture and then experiencing the rapture.
WHAT ABOUT THE SLEEPING SAINTS?
1 Thessalonians 4:13, 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.
The KJV says, “We don’t want you to be ignorant, brethren.” S. Lewis Johnson tells about a speaker who said he didn’t mind being Grace Brethren or Plymouth Brethren or Mennonite Brethren, but he didn’t want to be part of the Ignorant Brethren. Paul had clearly taught them that Christ was coming again, but now some of their believing friends and family had died and Christ hadn’t come. What happens to those who died or are asleep? The Bible frequently uses “sleep” to refer to those who have died. Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus was asleep. In 1 Kings 2:10 David “slept with his fathers and was buried.” Acts 7:60 speaks of Stephen when he died as “he fell asleep.” Their bodies are lying there without life. The Greek word for sleep is koimesis. The early Christians called burial places koimeteria or cemeteries, sleeping places.
Sleeping is only talking about the body. When a believer dies his body appears to be sleeping. It is no longer functioning – the heart isn’t beating and the body doesn’t move. But his soul-spirit is eternal and goes to be with the Lord. This isn’t true of unsaved people. Their soul-spirit is also eternal but goes to hell, a place of torment in a holding place until the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20.
There are cults like the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses who believe in soul sleep. We knew a lady who attended our first church at times who clung to the idea of soul sleep. I tried many times to guide her through scriptures, but she refused to give up the idea. Second Corinthians 5:8 is crystal clear, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “I’d really rather depart and be with Christ, for that is much better.” That’s the way to view death as a believer. When a believer dies his body sleeps, but his spirit goes to be with the Lord. Imagine that? We see this graphically in 1 Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” When Jesus returns, God will see to it that all the spirits of those who have died will come back with Him.
NO REASON TO GRIEVE HOPELESSLY
Paul assures the Thessalonians that they have no reason to grieve like their pagan neighbors who have no hope. The ancient world had little or no hope for the dead. The Greek poet Theocritus said, “Hopes are for the living. The dead are without hope.” Another said, “No one awakes and arises who has once been overtaken by the chilling end of life.” And another described death as sleeping “an endless night.” No hope. Warren Wiersbe saw an inscription on a gravestone in an old British cemetery.
Pause, my friend, as you walk by;
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be.
Prepare, my friend, to follow me.
Someone replied to these lines:
To follow you is not my intent,
Until I know which way you went.
Paul certainly does not deny expressions of sad human emotions when a loved one who knew the Lord passes away. Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. But believers have no reason to wail sorrowfully like we’ve seen lost people do. One of the saddest sights on earth is to see poor lost people hopelessly grieve and wail over their dead loved ones who showed no evidence of belonging to Christ. For believers, we take hope in knowing God does all things well and is working out His perfect plan. We’ll miss them temporarily, but if they confessed Christ as their Savior, they are indeed with Jesus and enjoying His presence! We believers are the only ones with the answer to death. The world tries to deal with death as just a natural part of life, but they are greatly deceived. Death is an enemy. It separates loved ones. It is ugly and the result of sin. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
OUR HOPE IS GROUNDED IN JESUS’ DEATH AND RESURRECTION
1 Thessalonians 4:14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
The gospel is the power of God to save all who believe – it is God’s answer to the sin problem. But the gospel is also God’s answer to the death problem. The gospel blows death away.
2 Timothy 1:8-10, Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, [9] who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, [10] but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Christ Jesus abolished death! There’s spiritual lightning and thunder in that word – abolished. Jesus is our hope as we face death. Listen to Hebrews 2:14-15. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection He disarmed the devil of his death weapon.
Hebrews 2:14-15, Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
“Render powerless!” Christ Jesus gave Satan a death blow, a knockout punch through His great and mighty resurrection. Of course Satan is still alive and doing his nefarious work, but his days are numbered. Paul points to the death and resurrection of Christ, the gospel, as the answer for these Thessalonians who were so concerned about their dead loved ones. Jesus died for our sins, paying for them in full, and then God raised Him from the dead – surely the greatest historical event of all time.
OUR HOPE IS ASSURED BY GOD’S WORD
1 Thessalonians 4:15, 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 [absolutely] not precede those who have fallen asleep.
The NLT says, “I can tell you this directly from the Lord.” Paul is saying God gave him this information. This is unquestionable divine inspiration. There is absolute authority in Paul’s words here. Plus, this had not been revealed before. In 1 Corinthians 15:51 Paul reveals a mystery, something previously unrevealed, “We won’t all sleep but we’ll all be changed.” So Paul says, “I got this straight from God.” And we who are alive will absolutely not (a double negative) precede those who have died or fallen asleep in Jesus. Why will God give those who died precedence? Maybe because they had to go through the valley of death (Psalm 23), they get the honor of going first to meet the Lord.
There are plenty of questions we have about the rapture of the church. What about Christian women carrying a child? Will the child be raptured with her? Spurgeon says, “I rejoice to know that the souls of all infants, as soon as they die, speed their way to paradise. Think what a multitude there will be of them!” John MacArthur’s book Safe In the Arms of Jesus says the same thing. Also, think of those you’ll meet in that great gathering. Stephen, Paul, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Edwards, Lloyd-Jones, MacArthur, Charlie, Voddie, your saved grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters.
God knows where all these millions, maybe billions of dead, decomposed bodies are. Some were eaten by sharks. They slid the missionary Adoniram Judson’s body into the ocean (a common practice for those who die at sea). One of my professors in seminary liked to ask the question, “Who ate Roger Williams?” His casket was buried by an apple tree and a root went right through his decomposed body. God knows where they are and He has the power to resurrect them. “The dead in Christ shall rise first.”
Take a close look at verse 15 – “we who are alive and remain.” Did Paul expect to be alive until Jesus returned? Absolutely. He lived with that blessed hope until in 2 Timothy 4:6 he knew the time of his departure, his exodus out of this world, had come. In verse 18 he spoke with assurance, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.” Paul is still waiting for the rapture of the church when his soul and body will be reunited.
Paul assures us by God’s authority that believers who have died will be resurrected first. Warren Wiersbe says, “Whether we Christians live or die, we have nothing to fear because Jesus will come either with us or for us.” Sometimes a family will unintentionally forget a child at a rest stop along the interstate. They’ll get down the road and suddenly notice, “Where’s Billy?” None, not one will be forgotten when Christ returns for His church. The word “coming” or parousia has the idea of arrival. MacArthur says, “The church’s great hope is the arrival of Jesus Christ when He comes to bless His people with His presence.”
OUR BLESSED HOPE IS BY GRACE ALONE
Titus 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
Titus 2:13 calls Jesus second coming, His arrival, His presence the blessed hope. We’re looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Blessed means happy, blissful, completely pleasurable. Appearing means brilliant, astounding, and overwhelming appearance of our great God and Savior – our great Redeemer who came the first time to bear the sins of all His people, all those who would believe in Him. And now He’s coming again for His bride. What a day that will be, aye? First Peter 1:13 says we are to fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:13, Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:4 seems to be speaking of this very same thing.
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
We’ve got a blessed hope completely by grace alone. We can’t pay our way or earn our way to go with Jesus. Every single aspect of our relationship with God is by grace alone. We’re saved by grace, grow and serve by grace, and we’ll be raptured by grace. It cost Christ everything and us nothing. No wonder we should live a life of continual thanksgiving.
1 Thessalonians 5:18, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus…
We’ll finish this amazing passage next week, experiencing the rapture. For now, do you have an answer to death? Do you have this hope that comes through faith in the risen, reigning, and returning Lord Jesus Christ? Have you bowed your heart before Him, confessed your need for His forgiveness and received Him as your Lord and Savior. Are you convinced He could come today for His people? Would you be included? Are you ready for the rapture?