1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

March 27, 2005 

Resurrection Hope

Linda Burnett, 23 was visiting her in-laws in Arkansas, and while there went to a nearby supermarket to pick up some groceries. Several people noticed her sitting in her car with the windows rolled up, her eyes closed and both hands behind the back of her head. One customer became concerned and walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding her brains in for over an hour. The man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head. When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of bread dough on the back of her head. A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded from the heat, making a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, and the wad of dough hit her in the back of her head. When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains. She initially passed out, but quickly recovered and tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and came to her aid.

We shouldn’t blame Linda Burnett for her fear. The explosion nearly scared her to death and her inability to respond was because she was scared of death. We all fear death, we skirt the issue. Even as Christians we struggle with what to say to a friend who loses a loved one, we stammer to speak to our own parents or children about the inevitability of our demise. Death frightens us. We can identify with what Woody Allen said about death: “It’s not that I’m afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

The problem is the fear of transition, the separation from what we know and entering into what we don’t know. This fear was common in the ancient world and it remains in our time as well.

The ancients spoke of death as sleep, a sleep from which one never awoke. The Latin poet Catullus said: Suns may set and rise again. When once our brief light has set, one unbroken night of sleep remains. The Greek poet Theocritus said “Hopes are for the living, the dead are without hope.’

Other cultures likewise consider death as the end. Philip Yancey in his book, Where is God When it Hurts? describes a unique funeral custom conducted by African Muslims. Close family and friends circle the casket and quietly gaze at the corpse. No singing. No flowers. No tears.

A peppermint candy is passed to everyone. At a signal, each one puts the candy in his or her mouth. When the candy is gone, each participant is reminded that life for this person is over. They believe life simply dissolves.

This is true in our day as well. Natalie Portman who plays Queen Amidala in the Star Wars movies is uncomfortable with the notion of life after death. She says, "I don't believe in the afterlife. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live."   (Rolling Stone (6-20-02), p. 58)

It is no wonder that throughout history and in various cultures hopelessness is pervasive when it comes to death, that fear of dying causes so many with ever weakening grips to grasp at life here and now, for what comes next is emptiness.

It is in that context that we as Christians stand with confidence, buoyed by the resurrection, hopeful in the face of death. Paul, in his letter to the church in Thessalonica wanted the believers there to be well informed so that they would not grieve like the rest of the world. What they needed to know is how Christ’s resurrection informs us about our own resurrection. READ 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

On this Resurrection Sunday we are going to consider our own resurrection. Unlike the hopelessness of so many in our world, we have a reason to rejoice on this day and every day, for Christ’s resurrection means that we too will rise from the dead on the last day.

When Paul instructs his readers that they should not fear as others do, he is not calling for a rigid stoicism, a stiff upper lip attitude toward death. Rather our grief, real as it is, is qualitatively different from others, for we face death, fears and all, with hope. 

The good news of Easter is that we have hope. We can be encouraged that even though we die, we will be raised from the dead. With faith in Christ, united to him, we have hope.

Paul begins with the foundation for our hope in the face of death: Christ’s resurrection. Just as Jesus died and rose again, we too will be raised.  Our union with Christ means that not only do we have a present spiritual resurrection, but that we have hope of a physical, material new life at the end of time. While we are not told what eternity will be like after the resurrection, we are told what our resurrection should give us hope.

For us to have hope, we must begin with Christ’s resurrection. V14 makes this clear.

Paul roots our hope in the historical fact of Christ was raised from the dead. Because God acted like this in the past, we have confidence for the future. Our hope rests not on baseless speculation, nor on religious myth. He goes to a sure historical foundation.

When Paul speaks of the death of believers he calls it sleep, but that term is never used of Jesus. He died, therefore we sleep. He suffered the horrors of eternal torment so that we might rest until the final resurrection. Sleep is not the absence of awareness. There is no sense here of what some call soul sleep, that is, we are unconscious at death. Rather the emphasis is on rest. This is why early Christians took the Greek word for a bedroom and applied it to the place of burial. Our word cemetery comes the Greek (koimeterion) through Latin and French, asa bedchamber, a place of rest.

But we must be careful; the term is never used of those who do not know Christ, who are not united to Christ by faith. There is no rest for those whose sins are not forgiven. For them, torment, not rest, marks their time in death.

In the same way, because Jesus rose from the dead, we will also be raised. All this is because of our union with Christ. But what will this resurrection be like? And how does it encourage us?

Our resurrection will be public

Our resurrection will be public because Christ comes for us with authority

Verse 15 unpacks the premise of v14. Because Christ rose from the dead, so we will be raised. Paul makes it clear that this truth is based on was given to him. Whether this is from an unrecorded saying of Jesus or a direct revelation from the risen Christ, he wants them to know that this is not human speculation. Paul speaks with authority because he has been spoken to authoritatively.

Based on that authoritative word, there is an authoritative order: that we who are alive will not be taken before those who have died.

It appears the Thessalonians were concerned that those who died before the second coming may miss out on Christ’s return. But death does not leave us out of the loop. In death we are not in some holding pattern, unaware of events, unable to participate. They, like those still alive, will be raised from the dead and given new bodies for all eternity.

This authoritative word which gives an authoritative order, tells us that an authority will come for us. V16 makes it clear that no representative will come for this work, but the Lord himself. With emphasis, Paul makes it clear that we have a reason to hope, even in the face of death.

This is what the disciples were told in Acts 1 when Christ ascended into heaven forty days after his resurrection. He was lifted up, a cloud took him out of their sight and the angels who stood with the men reminded them that he will come in the same way as you saw him go.

His second coming will be unlike his first. No longer a helpless babe unnoticed or cared for by the world. When he returns it will be with authority, as Mark 13:24-27 tells us (read)

Our resurrection will be public because Christ comes for us with a declaration

This authoritative return comes with a command. This military word rings with urgency, of immediacy of action. Jesus spoke of this day in John 5:28-29 about when the dead will be called out of their tombs. There is no ambiguity, no question as to what is taking place

As our Lord leads the charge to collect those who are his, he comes with the armies of heaven. The voice of an archangel cries aloud as the advance is made. There is no mistaking what is happening here.

The sound of the trumpet is made, signaling the beginning of the end, gathering God’s people. Trumpets were used throughout the Old Testaments to break up camp, to alarm the people for war, or to initiate a festival. Numbers 10 gives various uses of the trumpet, many of which can be seen here in 1 Thessalonians.

Three times Paul makes it clear that Christ’s coming here is with divine announcements.

Contrary to a recent and popular notion of a secret removal of God’s people from the earth, this passage teaches that Christ returns but just once and then in open view. This command, voice and trumpet are not akin to a cosmic dog whistle only for believers. Christ will come for us, raising the dead first and then taken those still alive and we all will see the great consummation of the ages. 

The great encouragement here is that there is nothing secret or hidden about Christ’s coming. We need not read the newspapers like tea leaves or know a special Bible code to know when Christ will return. It will be known by those who have died as well as those who are still alive.

Our resurrection will be personal

Our resurrection will be personal for Christ will come for all

This passage speaks not only of the public display of God’s divine power and authority at work, but it, like all of God’s Word, oozes with his personal affection for his children.

As I’ve already pointed out, Christ comes himself in v16, not sending an angel to do this work. Christ remains in heaven until this day, but when the day comes, he will come for us. Like the bride who walks down the aisle to be joined to her beloved, she expects to see no one else, other than the groom. No man would send a delegate to stand in his place, as if he had better things to do.

The personal nature of our resurrection is also seen in v14, as God the Father, through Jesus (as he is the agent of our resurrection), will bring with Jesus (as we are associated with him), those who have fallen asleep. This is not just a reanimation of material components, but a reunion of all those that belong to Christ, those dead and alive.

It is done through Christ; for all believers in all places at all times will experience what we have professed for centuries, that we are one in Christ, his body and he our head. This is what the Church has professed for millennia, what we said together in the words of the Nicene Creed, that our Lord will come with glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

What about those who, in v17 are still alive, who are left as they have not yet died? They will be caught up, harpadzoo, a word in the Latin Vulgate was translated as raptured. This is the passage that some well meaning but mistaken believers come to speak of a secret removal of believers from the earth in preparation of a seven year tribulation. But as we’ve already shown this is far from secret and there is nothing here to give the impression that this is nothing more than Christ’s second coming, not a partial coming in the clouds where he then whisks away the Christians.

The reference to the clouds reminds us of Christ’s ascension. What is more, clouds throughout Scripture speak of God’s glory and majesty. This is where we will meet the Lord as he makes his return to the earth. The term used for this meeting is a word used to welcome dignitary.

A delegation honored the visitor by going outside the city and meeting him and his entourage. Together the entire party would then proceed back into the city with great pomp and fanfare. The word would not make sense that we ascend and then go on to heaven, but rather, we ascend to join his processional to earth for the last judgment.

Our resurrection will be personal for we will always be with Christ

What pains us most as we face death is the idea of separation. No longer are we able to share a laugh or enjoy the tender touch of the loved one. For this reason Paul reminds us that Christ’s coming, our resurrection from the dead and being joined with all those who are in Christ, that we will be with Christ for all eternity. No more separation, no more goodbyes.

The ancients knew death meant eternal separation. Apollo’s lament in Eumenides declares:

The life once lost can live no more.

For death my Father (Zeus) has ordained no healing spell

Likewise in our day we speak materialistically, as the body shuts down and the one we once knew is no longer with us. But still in our grief there are those who seek whatever form of hollow comfort to hear a reassuring word from one who has gone to the other side. But there is no lasting comfort in false hope.

To all who have died in Christ, for us who know that unless Christ returns, we too must face our own death, rather than grieving as those who have no hope, we have a reason to be infused with courage. As Paul wrote in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not death nor life, not angels or powers.  

Our loss is not eliminated by this truth, but it does put it in context for us. When we suffer loss of a loved one that is all we can see. God wants us to see our suffering in the context of redemption. Christ died and was raised, so our death is not eternal, but we await the grand reunion at the final resurrection. There is a joyous time awaiting us, for we celebrate Christ’s resurrection today with an eye to our resurrection at the final day.

As we stand on this end of the resurrection, looking forward to the resurrection that is to come, we must view death in light of Christ’s resurrection.

When you walk into a cemetery and consider that one day the dead shall rise from their graves, some to everlasting life and others to eternal torment, remember, those buried bodies will rise. Like seeds they are sown. Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel has made him just a gardener.

Last week Janet, the boys and I went out west for the week to see family and the sights. As this winter was one of the wettest on record, the hills were verdant and wild flowers covered the landscape. Even Death Valley has been transformed from a forbidding wilderness of scruffy mountains and buckled earth into a vividly unfamiliar world of wildflowers and reflecting pools. Against a background of snowcapped peaks, the region's contoured badlands and splintery rock towers are festooned with bright yellow, pink, white and deep purple blossoms spreading out in all directions. In some places, even the rocks are blooming. Water is forcing mineral salts to the surface, where they erupt in snow-white splotches on sulfur yellow hills. Seeds which lay dormant for decades finally burst into color. One visitor announced” "It's not Death Valley at all. I'm calling it Full of Life Valley."

How much more should we on this Resurrection Day look forward to the time when we will be raised from the dead to be eternally with our God. All our pain and grief sent away as we are welcomed by our triumphant Savior who comes for us with open arms. While we may lay dormant in the earth, asleep in Christ, resting and rejoicing in the day in which our bodies will be raised, we can now live in hope. The fear of death’s pain remains, the sadness of loss is real. But our grief differs, for Christ is risen and we shall likewise be raised from the dead and reign with him for all eternity.