1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 The Coming of the Lord for his People

Good morning! From Jim’s message last week, we learned how Jesus changed the water into wine. We also took communion with the knowledge that the wine represents the blood of Jesus. We thank God through Jesus’ precious blood our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life in the kingdom of God! Today, I would like to go back to my series on 1 Thessalonians. We are now on the end of chapter 4. If you might have remembered, the Thessalonian believers were faithful and loving Christians. They loved each other so much in Christ. But as we know, love in this world does not last forever because we all will die someday. Even in the marriage vow, couples say, “Til death do we part.” As in all churches, the Thessalonian believers also saw their fellow believers die and buried. Maybe within weeks or months after the Apostle Paul left. Recently, in Philippines UBF, we saw three precious members who died within months, even weeks apart. The Thessalonians believed that Jesus was coming again. But they had a real concern about what would happen to those who died when Jesus comes again. They were worried because they were uncertain of their future destiny. Therefore, like a good pastor, the Apostle Paul decided to address this concern in order to comfort them. He taught them what would happen to those who died in Christ and those still alive in his return. This is why the title of the message is:
The Coming of the Lord for his People
(Subtitle: Rapture of Believers)
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Key Verse: 17:
17 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. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Look at verse 13. “13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” Here, Paul well understood the concerns of his fellow brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. Probably, Paul had heard about their concerns from Timothy, whom Paul had sent back to Thessalonica to check on how they were doing. As mentioned, one of their main concerns was what happened to those believers who had died. It’s not an uncommon question for people even today, both believers and unbelievers, to ask “What happens to us after we die? What happens to our loved one who died?” Interestingly, in verse 13, Paul considered the believers’ death as “sleep.” Though other ancient cultures may have considered death as sleep also, they believed it as perpetual sleep, something that they would never awake from. Second Peter 3:4 in the ESV reads, “They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’” But to Paul and in the Bible, death is a temporary sleep, which one day we will awaken from. There are many Bible verses referring to this. John 11:11, “After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.’” As you know, Jesus meant to raise Lazarus from the dead—even though his disciples thought Jesus meant literal sleep. Acts 7:60 reads, “Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ’Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep.” Stephen had fallen asleep because the enemies of the gospel had stone him to death. His sleep only referred to his body. Because in that same chapter Stephen prayed to the resurrected Jesus in heaven, “Receive my spirit.” His spirit went to be with Jesus, but his body was asleep on earth, waiting for the resurrection of the body to be reunited with his spirit. To believers, death is nothing to be scared about. In fact, it is a time of rest and sleep. Who doesn’t like to sleep? I do my best to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night in order to be refreshed the next day. So, as believers, we are not afraid of even losing our lives for Jesus. We don’t have to hold on to our lives selfishly, as if it’s the only one life we have. On earth, it is our only life, but in heaven we have eternal life. Compared to eternal life, our life here on earth will be like a blink of an eye. On the other hand, what happens to those who do not have this Christian view of life and death.
Look at verse 13b. “… so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” Paul wanted the Thessalonian, who believed in Jesus’ resurrection, to be different from “the rest of mankind.” In general, unbelievers grieve over their loved ones’ death because they don’t believe in the resurrection. Consequently, they believe that they will never see their loved ones again. They mourn, suffering unbearable sorrow, because they have no resurrection hope. They grieve because they do not believe in the reunion with their loved ones. Other unbelievers think of some human ideas about death—like annihilation—we will just disappear and no longer exist. Some blatant unbelievers even joke and perhaps believe—hell is better because it’s more fun and all my friends are there. However, they have no idea how terrible hell really is. They may say like Sir Frances Newport, who was the head of the Atheist Club in the 17th century, at his death bed, “Oh, eternity, eternity forever and forever! Oh, the insufferable pangs of Hell!” People try to forget about eternity while alive because they want to enjoy a sinful life. But in the end they cannot deny the thought of eternity because God has put in our souls. Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Because of God’s truth we believe and long for eternal life. Sometimes we hear about people going to their high school reunion after 20 years. They are happy to see old classmates that they haven’t seen in many years. Believers have the joyful anticipation of the great reunion with fellow believers in the kingdom of God. In our Bible study this pass Wednesday, Christy Toh mentioned how Dr. William Altobar was at peace and joy with the anticipation of seeing his beloved wife Sara Mina, who died of pancreatic cancer, in the kingdom of God. [Pic 1] He did not grieve because of the living hope in the kingdom of God and eternal life in Jesus. This is a great comfort for him. My family’s friend, Morgan from Cincinnati, lost her father recently, but she was comforted knowing she would see her father again in the kingdom of God. Of course, we mourn when our loved ones pass away, but it is only temporary. We believe that we will see our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ again in the kingdom of God. Last week, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 70 of our brothers and sisters in Christ were beheaded by Islamic extremists. It’s terrible and sad news. But we will see them again in their glorious resurrected bodies when Jesus comes to gather all believers. How wonderful it is when we pass from this world to the kingdom of God, we are surrounded by our loved ones, whom we will see again in heaven. Recently, there was sad news when a famous American actor, Gene Hackman, recently died in New Mexico. He, his wife, and dog were all found dead in their expensive home in New Mexico. [Pic 2] No one knew that they had died until almost two weeks later. All that money, fame, fancy house, but no loved ones around. Only the resurrection in Jesus is our living hope in this world. The Thessalonian Christians believed in the resurrection. In fact, in verse 14 Paul writes, “14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” Paul had taught them the full gospel, including Jesus’ death, resurrection, and inevitable return.
Interestingly, in verse 14 Paul writes that Jesus “died” instead of writing he fell asleep. Why? It was because Jesus had to die and then be resurrected in order to defeat the power of death. Jesus’ resurrection destroyed the power of death. So, believers no longer are under the power of death. They have eternal life in Jesus. They are just in transition from this world to the next world. While we are waiting for Jesus’ return, we rest and sleep. All this was possible because of the death of Christ. But Jesus not only died to save us from the power of death, but to forgive our sins. Actually, it was through man’s original sin that death was introduced into the world. It was through the sin of disobedience of one man, Adam, that brought us death. But it was through the obedience of one man, Jesus, that brought us life. And not just ordinary life, but eternal life. Because God raised Jesus from the dead, he will also raise us from the dead. Jesus promised his disciples and us in John 14:9, “because I live, you will live also.” God will treat us the same way he treated his own Son. Though the Thessalonian Christians believed in Jesus’ return, they were not 100% sure what would happen to their fellow brothers and sisters who had fallen asleep. Perhaps they had questions like some Corithians Christians did when they asked Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:35, “But someone may ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’” So, Paul began to address their concerns in the following verses.
Look at verse 15. “15 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.” Here the phrase, “according to the Lord’s word,” means that Paul had received inspiration from the Holy Spirit about Jesus’ imminent return. This is nothing new for we find examples like this in the book of Acts. Agabus was told by the Holy Spirit about things that would happen in the future. Acts 11:28 says, “One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)” Later, Agabus told Paul what God had said about his future. Acts 21:11 says, “Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, ‘The Holy Spirit says, “In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.”’” So, when Paul wrote “according to the Lord’s word,” he meant that he had also been inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak about the future events involved in Jesus’ return. Actually, in the gospels we have a clue from Jesus himself about what would happen at his return. For example, Jesus told his disciples when they were struggling with the thought of him leaving them in John 14:1-3, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Similarly, like the Thessalonian believers, the disciples were troubled and distressed because they had the premonition that Jesus, their beloved master, was leaving them. To comfort them, as Paul did for the Thessalonians, Jesus told them about his return with additional information. Jesus would go to his Father’s house and prepare rooms or places for them to dwell forever. As you know, it was very difficult for the disciples to follow Jesus, not just spiritually, but logistically as well. They had no permanent place to stay during their three years of following Jesus. No Bible house to meet in, no regular meals, and many times sleeping on the ground. But Jesus promised that they would have their own places in his Father’s house, in the new heaven and the new earth. Not only that, when Jesus returns to get them, he would personally escort them back there. He promised, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” In Jesus’ promise it’s clear that he will take us to be with him. In other words, when he comes down from heaven, he will not come to be with us on earth. Jesus said, “that you also may be where I am.” Jesus will come back to take us with him in heaven where he dwells with the Father. This was encouraging news for the Thessalonian believers because Paul wrote them in verse 15b, “…who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.” In Greek, the phrase “the coming of the Lord,” is parousia, when Jesus comes to collect his own. But we should not confuse “the coming of the Lord,” with “the day of the Lord,” which is in chapter 5 and we’ll study next Sunday. In the parousia, the Thessalonian believers’ loved ones who had passed away will be resurrected and taken by Jesus together with those who are alive at his return. This will be a great reunion. If Jesus, per say, comes in our generation. Then Dr. William will be taken to heaven together with his wife. Morgan with her father. Maria and Elena with their parents. Me and my sister and mother who passed away. We all have beloved brothers and sisters in Christ we long to see again, and we will. We and our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ will go to be in our Father’s house together. Wow, we will all live together in one big house. Those who are alive when Jesus returns will not have an advantage over those who have died. Those who are still alive will not get first class tickets and those dead economy class. All will be equally blessed by Jesus’ return. Amen. When will this be?
Look at verses 16-17. “16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 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. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” Though we do not know the time when Jesus will return to take believers back with him, we find four steps in its accomplishment. First, Jesus will come down from heaven but will not land on earth. Second, a loud command from the archangel. Third, trumpet call of God. Fourth, the dead will rise first. Fifth, believers together will meet Jesus in the air and taken to heaven. In verse 16, Paul makes it clear that it is Jesus himself who will come down to collect his people. Jesus is the bridegroom and he comes for his bride, the church. This is in contrast from Mark 13, where the gathering of the elect saints is done by the angels because that is another event we’ll talk more about on another day. Jesus will also come down from heaven because after his resurrection and subsequent ascension, he sat on the right hand of God in heaven. He was restored to his glorious position, which he had before the creation of the universe. But he will leave his throne again to bring his church back with him. The shout and trumpet call is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise in John 5:25, “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” There are only two kinds of participants involved in Jesus’ return, those who have died in Jesus, and those who were alive at his return. Again, this would be a comfort for the Thessalonian believers that their loved ones, who had died, would be taken to heaven with Jesus together. In the end of verse 17, Paul includes himself as a possible candidate to be taken while still alive. This is why he wrote, “And so we will be with the Lord forever.” So, Paul like the Thessalonians, believed in the possibility of Jesus’ return in their lifetimes. Paul wrote about his belief in Romans 13:11, “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” It would not be a new idea because Jesus’ own disciples initially thought he would return soon in their generation.
Look at verse 17 again. “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. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” In this verse, Bible scholars have drawn the concept of the rapture. In Greek, the phrase, “will be caught up,” is the verb Harpazo, which means snatched. It means to seize and carry off, like an eagle flying down from the sky to snatch something. [Pic 3] But here it has to do with the snatching away of the church. And only Jesus can snatch away the church. No one or no power can snatch us away from God. Jesus himself said in John 10:28-29, “28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” This is a great promise from Jesus because while living in this fallen world and because of our fallen nature, we may feel sometimes that the devil is taking us away from God or from our love ones. But when we remain in Jesus, we must believe that no one, not even the devil, can snatch us away from God’s hand. Amen. However, instead of snatch the word rapture became more popular and used. Originally, we get from the Latin Vulgate Bible the word rapture. [Pic 4] From this came the well-known word used and understood by most Christians as the rapture first introduced in the early 19th century. But it seems like snatch is a better word because we associate rapture with something emotional. Snatch seems more relatable, especially, when we look at other Bible verses describing what the rapture will be like. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 reads, “50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” Paul describes how fast our change will be with the words “in the twinkling of an eye.” As he had described in Thessalonians, Paul also mentions about the trumpet call, the dead being raised, and all believers being changed instantly together. We will be rocketed up to be with Jesus in the air so fast that even Elon Musk will be envious. Jesus takes us quickly with him because he is coming to a world still hostile to him and his precious people. He is coming to rescue his people by snatching them away to a safe place in his Father’s house. The next time he comes, he will take the world by force and drive out the devil and all his followers. This is the good news for all believers. What should we do with this wonderful knowledge of Jesus’ return?
Look at verse 18. “18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.” In brief, this is a comfort passage like John 14 for those distressed because of separation anxiety. But we don’t have to be worried because no one or nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God, not even death. Christians never say a final goodbye, but see you later with Jesus. This passage really encouraged me because I don’t need to fear separation or death from my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. It also encourages me to pray even more and share the gospel of salvation with others, whom God wants to join with us in heaven. Matthew 24:42 and 44 reads, “42 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come…44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” I like P. Henry’s attitude because even though he is in his 70’s he has an evangelistic spirit and wants to share the gospel with as many people as possible. We must also keep watch and be ready to share the gospel with others. May God help me and each of us be ready to encourage others who have fallen into sin to come to Jesus, receive salvation, and eternal life. Because whether we are alive or dead, we will all be snatched away to heaven at Jesus’ imminent return. Amen.
Let’s pray: Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your wonderful promise that we altogether will be snatched away by our Lord Jesus someday and with our fellow brothers and sisters here and from the past, in the present, and in the future, and taken to our Father’s house. We pray that there may be fair negotiations for all parties and justice prevail so this terrible war in Ukraine may end soon. We also pray for our precious brothers and sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo for your protection. Seventy of them were beheaded because of their faith in Jesus. Comfort their families that they will see them again in the kingdom of God with glorious resurrection bodies. Thank you for blessing our worship service today. Bless the rest of the week and if you provide the opportunity for us to share the gospel with someone help us to be ready and alert. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

1 Thessalonians 4 13-18 presentation

Bible Study Questions:

The Coming of the Lord for his People
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Key Verse: 17:
17 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. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

1.Read 1 Thess. 4:13. In light of this passage, what do you think the Thessalonian believers might have been uninformed or ignorant about? What were they grieving about? What questions do you think they had about this matter?

2. Read 1 Thess. 4:14. How does knowing about Jesus’ death and resurrection give them comfort about their loved ones who had died? Do you think the early Thessalonian believers knew about Jesus’ return? How could they have known?

3. Read 1 Thess. 4:15. How could Paul quote Jesus’ own word? (See example Ac. 20:35) What is “the coming of the Lord”? (John 14:1-3) Why are Paul’s words in the end of verse 15, a source of encouragement to the Thessalonian believers? (Jn. 11:11; Ac. 7:60) Do you look forward to sleep?

4. Read 1 Thess. 4:16-17. When Jesus comes down from heaven, what will happen first? Why was this a comfort for those believers who were worried about their brothers and sisters in Christ who died? What will happen to those who are still alive when Jesus comes? (1 Cor. 15:50-52)

5. Read 1 Thess. 4:18. How can this passage help to encourage our brothers and sisters around the world? Why is this our living hope, rather than living in despair or discouragement? Why is it important to live with the hope of the rapture? (Mt. 24:42, 44; Mt. 25:13)

Believers Who Have Died
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 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. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 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. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.