“Feb 9, 2024 - Hope Despite Death”

Thursday, February 08, 2024

Hope Despite Death

Reading:  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
    
    As Christians wait for Jesus to return, how do we grapple with the fact that we continue to die just as we did before Jesus came?  Do the dead just not get to participate in his return?  The Thessalonians appear to have special concern that they are forever separated from their dead brothers and sisters.  “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.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep”(1 Thess 4:13-14).  Christians grieve, but they do not grieve like those “who have no hope.”  We are confident because of Jesus’ resurrection that our physical death is not the end of us.

    To reassure them, Paul gives some details about how Jesus’ return will play out.  “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.  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”(1 Thess 4:15-16).  The focus here is on what happens to those who have already “fallen asleep.”  The living will not go to be with Jesus before them or apart from them.  Jesus will return with great fanfare (cry, archangel’s voice, trumpet) and the dead will be raised.  “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”(1 Thess 4:17).  While death temporarily separates us from our Christian brothers and sisters, we will go to be with Jesus “together.”  Death is not the end of us, nor is it the end of Christian fellowship.

    Jesus’ resurrection is the key to our hope in the face of death (1 Thess 4:14).  If he is raised, he can raise us as well.  He will return and there will be resurrection, followed by eternal fellowship with him.  This hope makes us grieve differently, because all funerals become temporary partings.  It makes us live differently, because all hardship becomes temporary difficulty.  It makes us encourage one another differently, because God’s last word will be a blessing for us.

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One Thing to Think About:  What will I feel when Jesus returns?

One Thing to Pray For:  The willingness to encourage my brethren—especially the grieving 
 

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