Many of us have dear friends or relatives who were believers and who have passed on from this life. Our passage today from Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica is one that should give hope and encouragement to us when we think of and remember those loved ones. Paul had come and preached the Gospel to the Thessalonians, but after only a few brief weeks his enemies came and he was forced to flee for his life. Because he was only able to stay with them a brief while, Paul was unable to teach the Thessalonians everything that he would have wished to. One thing he did teach them was the imminent return of Jesus for His Church. The new believers here, though, were confused about one matter, and that was about what happened to those who died before Christ returned. Would they miss out on His return for the Church? In our passage today Paul explained God’s truth in this matter.
In verse 13 Paul speaks of those who have “fallen asleep”. That was a familiar New Testament euphemism, describing the dead body, not the soul. The Thessalonians mistakenly thought that those who died before Jesus’s return would miss out on that glorious event. Paul wanted them to know that was not the case. We have hope because of Christ, including hope that we will see our deceased saved loved ones. Paul also teaches elsewhere in Scripture that believers who are absent from the body are present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8), and that they will experience a bodily resurrection (I Corinthians 15:40-54).
Because Jesus was resurrected, His children will be as well, both those who will be alive when He returns, and those believers who have died. Paul wanted the Thessalonians to know that this is victory, not a cause for despair! These verses should comfort us, and any who have had loved ones die. He spoke these words to give comfort to these believers, and we can take comfort, too. The dead will participate in the Lord’s coming for His Church. The living will be reunited forever with the Lord and their loved ones.
The events described in these verses are the fulfillment of the promise Jesus made in John 14:1-3. He’s prepared a place for us, and He’s returning to get us. Jesus gives us a reason to be confident, comforted, and encouraged about life after death. Death is not the end of the story. All believers will be reunited with each other, those living and those who have died before.
We don’t know when Jesus’s return will take place, and should not believe those who have tried to set specific dates for this. It could happen at any moment, and thus, we should all be ready. That shout, that voice of the archangel, will be a welcome sound to the saved, the children of God. However, it will signal doom and disaster to those who are lost. We need to both be ready, ourselves, for Jesus’s return, and also witnessing to the lost, telling them the Gospel with the hope and prayer that they may come to know Jesus as their Savior, and will join us in the place Jesus has prepared for us.
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