Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Date: November 14, 2021
Event: Saints Triumphant Sunday, Year B
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (EHV)
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you do not grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope. 14Indeed, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way we also believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.
15In fact, we tell you this by the word of the Lord: We who are alive and left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not go on ahead of those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
Encourage One Another with These Words
We all need encouragement. Maybe it’s a word of praise from a teacher. Maybe it’s loving compassion from a spouse. Maybe it’s understanding and support from a friend. Maybe it’s a reminder of God’s truths in his Word from a fellow Christian. And that truly has been one of the hardest parts of the last year and a half, right? We have much less chance to gather with those closest to us, especially our fellow Christians. Live stream “gatherings” and worship are useful and have their place, but it almost totally eliminates our ability to encourage and be encouraged by one another.
God knows we need encouragement. He knows that this is part of our trek through this sinful life. Because of this, he directed his apostles to send words of encouragement to Christians throughout the world in letters preserved for us in the New Testament. And the apostles even directed the recipients of those letters to use them to encourage others, whether that be in directly sharing the letters themselves or, as we have in our Second Lesson for this morning, a directive to remind each other about the truths that God gave to them.
We are nearly at the end of the church year, which means that we have our eyes directed not just to the closure of a church year but to the closure of time itself. Two weeks ago, in our celebration of the Reformation, we were reminded of the importance of God’s Word now and to the end. Last week we were reminded of Judgment Day, a day that is coming at an unknown time but a day that will bring perfectly-known results for Jesus’ sake. This morning, we have the theme of Saints Triumphant, a reminder of our and all believers’ standing with God because Jesus conquered all that threatened our eternal well-being.
In our Second Lesson for this morning, Paul is writing to the Christians living in the city of Thessalonica. This group didn’t get much time with Paul because his enemies ran him out of town when he was there. So his two relatively brief letters are aimed at correcting misconceptions (and in the case of 2 Thessalonians, some over-corrections). But in the crosshairs this morning is the encouragement of what happens after death. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you do not grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope.
The Thessalonians were confused. There seemed to be a sentiment that once someone dies, that’s it, they’re gone. And to a certain extent, that makes sense, doesn’t it? Those of us who have had loved ones pass away do not hear from them anymore, do not see them anymore, do not find encouragement from them anymore. At death, they are removed from us and they seem to be completely gone. This was and is the assumption of those without the encouragement of God’s promises. For an unbeliever, a funeral is pure grieving, pure loss, pure hopelessness, because death is only seen as permanent separation. And this is the approach the Thessalonians were drifting into when it came to death as well.
But Paul is writing to assure them that death for Christians is not a permanent loss, and it need not produce only grieving and hopelessness. In fact, we have a great hope when it comes to facing the death of those who fall asleep in Christ! Indeed, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way we also believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. Jesus’ death and resurrection have an intimate connection to the believer’s life. Because Jesus paid for all of our sins and served as the first-fruits of the resurrection, we know that those who have fallen asleep in the Lord will be awakened from their death-slumber at the last day. God will bring those who have fallen asleep to himself.
Because we know that they are safe in the Lord, we do not need to grieve without hope. That does not mean we are not sad in the days, weeks, years, and even decades that follow a loved one’s passing. We are still separated from them and their encouragements, even if only temporarily. But God is trustworthy and has promised that this is how this works. We don’t have contact with our loved ones who have fallen asleep right now; we cannot see them, talk with them, or hug them at the moment. But they are not gone. They are safe with their Creator and Redeemer. They are safe with the God who has rescued from sin, death, and hell. Let us find the encouragement that God wants us to have in these words.
But what about you and me? For us, other than losing those who have fallen asleep, we go on with our lives just like every day prior. Nothing really changes. It’s all the same. Peter in his second letter described the attitude of people in the world, perhaps even some Christians, as we get closer to the last day. He wrote: “First, know this: In the last days scoffers will come with their mocking, following their own lusts. They will say, ‘Where is this promised coming of his? For from the time that our fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have from the beginning of the creation’ ” (2 Peter 3:3-4). We understand why they think that way because we’re tempted to think that way because all of the evidence we can see points to this being true.
But all the evidence we can see is misguided. In his Word, God tells us the real story. This life will not go on the same as it always has until we die and then nothing. Our triumphant Savior will return. He will return at the last day; he will return for judgment. And as he promised, he will bring us to live with him. Because he triumphed over sin and death, you and I triumph as well.
What will this look like, especially if we are still alive when Jesus returns? Jesus gave Paul a direct explanation to share with the Thessalonians and with us: We who are alive and left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not go on ahead of those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
What are our takeaways? Again, those we have lost in the Lord are not lost at all. In fact, they are simply ahead of us on the journey to eternity with our Savior. And if we never face death? If our triumphant Lord returns before we die? We will hear that voice of God’s chief angel, the triumphant blast of the final trumpet, and see proof that the dead in Christ have, in fact, been safe because we will see their souls and bodies reunite; we will see them raised from the dead. Then on that very day in that very hour, you and I who are still left will be caught up with Jesus and those who have been raised in the clouds. But what is the end result? We will always be with the Lord.
And there is the encouragement that we all need. No matter whether we are feeling the loss of a loved one, facing death ourselves, or just feeling listless in this life, here is what is coming. No matter what stage of life we’re in, whether we think things are going well or going disastrously, or somewhere in between. What is coming is infinitely better than what we’ve ever seen. Because we will be with the Lord. Our eyes will not deceive us. There will be no mystery, no hidden things, no trusting in things that we cannot observe. We will see God face-to-face continually. And we will be together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, those we’ve known and those we’ve never known.
Imagine that: an eternity to spend with our Savior and our fellow believers. An eternity to talk with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Peter, Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, grandparents, parents, siblings, children, and generations of believers that we might never meet before we are taken from this world of sin and sorrow to be with him. And nothing will ever separate us from any of them, because we will be with the Lord always. It will not end. Death will not cause problems. We will not lose anyone ever again. It will be perfect; it will be flawless; it will be forever.
Therefore, encourage one another with these words. The people in the first century needed to hear these words to be strengthened and encouraged. You and I in the twenty-first century are no different. We, too, need to be reminded of what is coming because we can so easily lose track of it. We need to see, again, Jesus’ victory over sin, and death, and hell. We need the encouragement that those we have lost are actually safe, triumphant even, with our conquering Savior. We need the encouragement that we, ourselves, are also safe during our trek through this world of sin and death and ultimately will be safe with our Savior forever. Because he triumphed over our enemies, you and I are triumphant as well.
Jesus shed his blood, gave us his life, to rescue us from every horrible thing that sin brought about. We are beneficiaries of his work. All who die in faith in Jesus are beneficiaries of his victory. We are safe not by any work or might or strength we have produced, but solely because of our Savior. He did it all and he did it all perfectly. Rejoice in your triumph that your Savior freely gives, and seek out ways to encourage one another with these words. Praise and thanks and honor be to our victorious Savior, now and forever! Amen.
