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Message
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Informed Grief
Let’s open our Bible to our text and read.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
This is the verse in this section which quickly gets all the attention.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
1 Thessalonians 4:17
This particular passage is one that is used to teach about what has become known as “the rapture”.
The rapture is an event connected with the great tribulation where both living and resurrected dead believers will ascend into heaven to meet Jesus Christ. After this various events will happen and then Jesus will come back to earth to begin the 1000 year reign. And after the 1000 years there will be a second resurrection and then the times of eternity in the new heaven and new earth will begin.
There are various views as to when the rapture takes place – it will be at the beginning, or the middle, or the end of the 7 years that are some call the great tribulation.
That is a very very brief summary of the teaching. Just in case you don’t know …
There are many faithful heaven-bound-for-eternity Christians whose theological framework includes the rapture. Collectively they are called Pre-millenialists.
There are also many faithful heaven-bound-for-eternity Christians whose theological framework does not include a rapture. Collectively they are called Amillenialists.
What can happen when we focus on these verses here is that a discussion begins.
- why premillenialists see these verses as key to the rapture discussion.
- why amillenialists don’t apply them to the rapture but to the last days and the final return of Jesus just before inauguration of the new heavens and the new earth.
This difference will then flow over into a discussions about the millennium – is it a literal number or a figurative number. Which will invariably lead to a conversation about how to interpret the book of revelation:- are you a historicist, a preterist, an idealist, or a futurist?
By this time a lot of people who were listening to the discussion have switched off, or are more confused … with some being drowned in charts with lines and dates and cross-references.
In the meantime over here are the members of the church of the Thessalonians who are grieving
… grieving in a way that is of the same intensity of those who are of the world who have no hope.
… grieving because they are uninformed and discouraged.
So Paul writes to deal with this.
As we look at these verses we can take the approach of having a discussion about all that I have just mentioned. When conducted in the right spirit understanding and discussing theological issues is a blessing on the journey of discerning the word of truth.
So it is not wrong to approach the text this way. It is just that Paul didn’t write these verses primarily for that reason.
The primary issue here for Paul here is a pastoral one.
The church of the Thessalonians is hopelessly grieving. And at no time, when we are in Christ, should we be without hope. We should not be hopelessly grieving even at those times when death comes to those who are in Christ.
So let’s hear some of Paul’s pastoral wisdom. Hear firstly that Death Brings Grief
Paul is not saying … don’t grieve.
In Christ we are brothers and sisters … we are family.
We have served, loved, shown hospitality, sung, prayed, studied, walked, talked, hugged, built up, sort forgiveness from, cried with, and worshipped with one another. So each of us
… even when we are not necessarily close.
… even when we haven’t seen one another for a long time.
Each of us will be missed when we die. A death in Christ brings grief.
When Jesus gets to the grave of Lazarus … Jesus wept (John 11:35).
After Stephen the first martyr is stoned to death … Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him (Acts 8:2).
God gave us emotions … rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15)
The grief in and of itself is not out of place.
It is grief without hope.
The world grieves without hope because there doesn’t seem to be a purpose … especially when people die at a young age.
The world grieves without hope because the afterlife beyond death holds fear … what is on the other side of the grave.
The world grieves without hope because we will not see one another again … the best outcome is to hold people in our heart and never let their memory fade.
There is no hope for those who are not in Christ … so we don’t grieve like the world.
There is a resurrection.
There is eternity.
We will see one another.
That is the hope we have isn’t it. As we look closer at the Thessalonians we discern that – when it comes to death, resurrection and the return of Jesus – the Thessalonians are fairly informed about such things.
(Macedonia and Acacia) report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
1 Thessalonians 3:13
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-2
He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:10-11
What are the Thessalonians informed about …
They know that Jesus rose … that faith in Jesus rescues from wrath at the end times … that Jesus will return … that being in Christ leads to resurrection … that when Christ returns the resurrected saints and the still alive saints will all be together.
So … if you know all this.
Well to be blunt … why are they grieving hopelessly?
Verse 15 gives the answer.
According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:15
The hopeless grieving is connected with a feeling that, somehow, the dead in Christ are at a disadvantage.
Perhaps they will miss out for a while?
Perhaps they will not see the glorious return?
Perhaps they will be forgotten?
It is hard to know exactly what the source of the grief was.
What we do know is that a huge transition in thinking needs to take place.
The Jewish Background Convert’s view of the afterlife.
After you died you went to Sheol where you lived a shadowy waiting existence. While there you waited … and waited .. and waited … until the final judgement.
What did Jewish believers expect it to be like? Hezekiah says in Isaiah 38:18, “For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.”
The Gentile Background Convert’s vie of the afterlife.
After you died you were lead to a river by Hermes, the messenger of the gods, and the ferryman Charon was there. To be taken further you needed coins – which is why Greeks were buried or burnt with coins in their mouths or on their eyes. After crossing the river, you would leave the ferry and walk through the Asphodel Fields where you forgot all your memories. At a fork in the road three judges decided if your soul went to Elysium – which was a comfortable place where the sun shines all the time – or Tartarus where people who upset the gods would receive terrible punishments. You would go to these places not even knowing the reason you were there; because it had all been forgotten.
If that was our only frame of reference we would grieve. It is an uninformed grief that happens even today.
Your Mum is now one of the stars – she is a big ball of gas.
They needed another angel in heaven – God was on a recruitment drive.
It will be alright, keep your chin up – what, so someone else can give me a hit?
They will never leave you because they will always be in your heart – until the day I realise I can’t remember their voice.
No wonder so many people hold out their hope for medical science to have some miracle cure to avoid death.
No wonder people grieve hopelessly when they think about departed loved one.
They are uninformed.
So let’s have an informed picture
God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
(Those) who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep (1 Thessalonians 4:15).
The dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
Meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
On the great day of the Lord’s appearing.
When there will be fanfare and trumpeting and archangels doing the bidding of the Lord.
When there is a revealing of the Lord in the clouds and a resurrection.
When this day happens those who are alive at the time will realise at that moment that something unique in the history of the kingdom of God will be taking place.
BUT …
The dead in Christ will already know.
Because the souls of those who have fallen asleep in Christ have not
… been sitting with forgotten memories in some pleasant place in the sun.
… are not being punished for unknown reasons in Tartarus.
… they are not apprentice angels.
… they are not just fading memories.
They come with Jesus. They are first. They are the ones who will greet the living.
Because from the moment they died they have been with Jesus.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.
Philippians 1:21, 23
I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
Revelation 7:9, 15, 16, 17
The dead in Christ don’t have a disadvantage.
Faith has been turn to sight.
Trouble and hardship and pain and suffering … it is all over.
They are before God where there is no sin.
Their soul is before God with Christ, in Christ.
Then there is more to come.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
1 Corinthians 15:51, 54, 55
When 1 Thessalonians 4 event occurs. The Lord is returning. And all these dead in Christ now imperishable saints are with Him. And everyone is yelling out, “where O death is your victory? Death does not sting!
We grieve without hope if we think that somehow death is greater than the victory of Christ.
We grieve without hope if we picture our in Christ loved ones in a place of suffering, or waiting, or greyness.
We grieve without hope if we think that somehow the dead in Christ are forgotten.
But they are not forgotten are they.
They are not at a disadvantage.
Death stings the ones who have been lift behind … not the ones who have left.
The victory is not found in avoiding death … it is found in trusting the Saviour who died and rose again.
The dead in Christ are not at a disadvantage.
They will be first … they will have the ring side view.
A day will come when an announcement will be made by God, “I’m sending Jesus back to earth to bring the victory … and all of you get to go with Him.”
Can you imagine the joy and the celebration and the praise.
All those people on earth … those who are alive in Christ.
… who are suffering.
… and struggling with doubt.
… and trying to be witnesses.
… who are surrounded by sin and temptation.
… who grieve – sometimes hopelessly.
When God brings with Jesus those who are fallen asleep … and the trumpet call is sounded, and the commanding voice makes the summons.
When that happens all of those people are finally going to know what the dead in Christ have been experiencing all along.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life … will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38, 39
Death brings grief.
But when we are in Christ it doesn’t bring hopelessness.
Encourage … it is the same word used for preaching and witnessing and sharing the Gospel “Encourage one another with these words.”
Encourage … as we think about our dead in Christ loved ones.
Encourage … as we think about the fact that one day we will be dead in Christ.
Encourage … as we think about the uninformed around us today who grieve hopeless because they do not know that in Christ the victory over death has been secured.
Encourage so that any hopelessness may be turned to hope.
Prayer
