Last Sunday was the 3rd Sunday Before Advent.
It was also Remembrance Sunday, when we remembered the war dead.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
We should not be excessively sorrowful over the death of our loved ones.
1. IF WE ARE, IT LOOKS AS IF WE HAVE NO HOPE
a. Our Jesus is Alive.
The Gentiles have no hope of eternal life, "having no hope, and without God in
the world" (Ephesians 2:12); their reaction to bereavement is "Let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die" (Isaiah 22:13; 1 Corinthians 15:32). We are
gloriously aware that Jesus is alive. "I am the Living One; I was dead, and
behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades"
(Revelation 1:18 NIV).
b. Our Jesus is LORD.
When Jesus "descended into hell" He unlocked its gates, and set all the
faithful dead free (Matthew 27:51-53). Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were saved
by faith in a resurrection yet to come; we by faith in a resurrection already
achieved (Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6). Our hope has a prospect; and that
prospect is of Heaven.
2. IF WE ARE, IT LOOKS AS IF WE HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE
We cannot know all about the hereafter until hereafter; but there are certain
things here recorded for our information:
a. Our dead rest in Jesus. 13-14
They have retired out of this troubled world, and are at rest from their toils
in the presence of Christ in Paradise: "today you will be with Me in Paradise"
(Luke 23:43); "to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better"
(Philippians 1:23). They are not lost, but have been taken by the angels into
Abraham's Bosom (Luke 16:22-23), promoted from this world into a better world.
The body looks "asleep" in death, but the soul is spiritually awake and aware.
b. Our dead shall be raised with Jesus. 14
Jesus is "the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus
died and rose again. The evidence for the Resurrection is overwhelming; His
resurrection is the pledge of ours. "The One who raised the Lord Jesus from
the dead will also raise us" (2 Corinthians 4:14).
c. Our dead shall be glorified with Jesus. 15-18
We have Christ's own word for this (15a). We who may still be alive at
Christ's return will not jump the queue ahead of those who have already died.
The Lord Himself shall descend from the clouds of heaven: no-one else. The
dead will hear the archangel's executive order to "Get on Parade" as the
heavenly "Reveille" sounds forth. They shall rise first in a resurrection body
like unto His glorious resurrection body; and only then will our bodies be
changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet" (1
Corinthians 15:52) to join them "in the air".
"So we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with
these words". Our Hope has a Prospect, and that Prospect is of Heaven; and our
Faith has a Content, and that Content is the Resurrection.
____________________________________________________________________________
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
<ben.crick@argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
