Introduction
Briefly review the setting of this letter. In spite of his commitment
to establish them in God's Word, Paul's expulsion interrupted his instruction
of these new Christians—and their incomplete instruction left them
vulnerable to real pain and confusion.
When we have holes in our grounding (regardless of whose responsibility),
it will cause problems in our lives because we don't have the proper
framework for dealing with what life throws at us.
In their case, the problem was how to cope with the deaths of some of
their members (read 4:13). (“Asleep” here is a figurative expression
for physical death.) Would they ever see them again? Or is death's separation
permanent? Because they had no solid answer to this question, they were
in danger of succumbing to a form of grief they should not have to experience
as Christians. The Bible speaks of two kinds of grief.
It is important to note that Paul is not telling them they should not
grieve at all. Biblical spirituality is not stoicism or denial. Jesus
wept at Lazarus' tomb because of death's abnormality even though he knew
that he would raise him a few moments later (John 11:35). Paul wept with
the Ephesian elders because he knew wouldn't see them again in this life
(Acts 20:37-38) even though he was confident he would not be permanently
separated from them. This kind of grief is normal and healthy. The Bible
says we were created to have deep love relationships with other persons,
relationships that are never ended or interrupted. That's why it hurts
when they are interrupted by death.
Paul doesn't want them to grieve “like the rest who have no hope.”
“ Hope” here does not mean a wish (“I hope it doesn't rain
tomorrow”); it means a confident expectation and assurance of an
important future event. This is the grief of one who loses a loved one
and has no basis for knowing that they will be reunited with them. This
may be where you are this morning. You have lost a loved one, and you
are experiencing the pain of separation. This pain is exacerbated by anguish
that for all you know this separation is permanent.
The religions and philosophies of the first century had no such basis.
The body was the prison house of the soul. There was no future for the
body but decay, and the soul was either annihilated at death, or wandered
in Hades bemoaning its state, or was ultimately consumed by the fire
of elemental deity.
One epitaph from this period captures this hopelessness: “I was
not. I became. I am not. I care not.”
An early 2nd century letter from Irene to a family in mourning expresses
this same hopelessness. She concludes her letter by saying, “But,
nevertheless, against such things one can do nothing. Therefore, comfort
one another. Farewell.” How different from 4:18!
The religions and philosophies of today offer no basis for hope.
Naturalism leads to personal annihilation. Bertrand Russell
said: “No fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling,
can preserve an individual life from the grave . . . Brief and powerless
is Man's life; on his and all his race the slow, sure doom falls, pitiless
and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent
matter rolls on its relentless way. For Man, condemned today to lose
his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gates of darkness,
it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts
that ennoble his little day.” What is this? This is the grief of
hopelessness!
Pantheism may sound more hopeful with its promise of reincarnation,
but this is no basis for reunion with loved ones. Our spirits come
back in different forms, and ultimately are absorbed into the impersonal
oneness. This is just another form of personal annihilation. This is
why when Aldous Huxley's mother died, he wrote his sister: “My
dearest sister, I offer you no consolation, for I know of none. There
are things which each must bear as best he may with the strength that
has been allotted to him.” What is this? This is the grief of hopelessness!
Only in the Bible, and specifically in Jesus Christ, do we discover
a hope that tempers and ultimately overcomes this kind of grief. Paul
explains this hope in this passage . . .
The promise: personal, embodied reunion
Paul provides them with a clear promise of personal, embodied reunion.
He hints at this in 4:13 when he describes Christians who have died as
“asleep.” While someone is asleep, you cannot communicate with
him—the relationship is on “pause” (ME WITH BEV TAKING
A NAP). But sleep is only temporary—sleepers wake up eventually,
and then the relationship can begin again.
He explicitly states this promise in 4:17 when he says, “we shall
be caught up together with them”—but more on this later.
This is not something Paul made up. This was the clear teaching of the
Old Testament (read Isaiah 25:6-9). Eternal life is above all else living
forever in God's loving presence. But it is also celebrating with all
of the Lord's people, including being reunited with loved ones who belong
to him.
The basis: Jesus' bodily resurrection
How do I know this isn't just some psychological crutch (FREUD)—an
infantile wish, a projection, a form of childish magical thinking to help
me cope with reality? Paul reminds them of the answer to this question
in 4:14, where he explains the basis for this promise (read).
The basis for this hope for the future is something that has already
happened in the past—Jesus' bodily resurrection. This is why
Paul refers to Jesus' past resurrection as the “first-fruits”
of our own future resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20; EXPLAIN “FIRST
FRUITS”). We live after the buds have formed! If/since we have solid
reasons to believe that Jesus was raised from the dead in the past, we
can be confident that he will raise us from the dead reunite us with believing
loved ones in the future.
The real question, then, is: Is there adequate evidence that Jesus was
raised from the dead? This is a whole teaching (or series) in itself.
If you want a great book on this, check out Lee Strobel's The Case For
Christ (EXPLAIN). The evidence for the empty tomb, the disciples' martyrdom,
and the emergence of the Jerusalem church are as solid as any fact of
ancient history. Consider the conclusions of these scholars:
Chief Justice Darling (Court of England): “The crux of the problem
of whether Jesus was or was not what he proclaimed himself to be, most
surely depends upon the truth or otherwise of (his) resurrection. On
that greatest point we are not merely asked to have faith. In its favor
as . . . truth there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and
negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the
world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is
true.”
Sir Edward Clarke, famous British lawyer who approached the issue as
a skeptic: “As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidence
for the events of the first Easter Day. To me the evidence is conclusive,
and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict
on evidence not nearly so compelling”
B. F. Westcott, New Testament scholar at Cambridge University: “Indeed,
taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there
is no historic incident better or more variously reported than the resurrection
of Christ. Nothing but the . . . assumption that it must be false could
. . . suggest the idea of deficiency in the proof of it.”
You'll have a great opportunity to take a closer look at the evidence
for Jesus' resurrection NEXT WEEK . . .
The event: the “rapture”
When will this happen? Read 4:15-17. The Bible doesn't give us a date
for this (and Christians should quit trying to fix it)—it gives us
an event. It will happen “at the coming of the Lord,” or what
we call “the rapture.” This term comes from the Latin Vulgate's
translation (rapiemure) of “caught up” in 4:17.
Without getting into all the details, this is evidently the first event
of the complex of events known as “the end of the age.” Before
the emergence of the Antichrist, before the Great Tribulation, before
Jesus' return to earth to reestablish God's loving rule over humanity—before
all these things, Jesus will come to gather up his own to meet him in
the air.
Here, Paul emphasizes that those who die before this event will still
participate in it. Their death in no way disadvantages them. In fact,
it's a “win-win” situation. Those who die in Christ before his
coming are caught up to meet him first; those who are still alive bypass
physical death!
From this moment onward, all who belong to Jesus will be “together
with him.”
In another passage, Paul tells us that both groups receive their new,
immortal bodies at this time (read 1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
The result: comfort
Read 4:18. You can receive (and give) real comfort from this promised.
It is based on reliable evidence, it is firmly rooted in Christ's resurrection.
It overcomes the grief of hopelessness and tempers the pain of losing
a loved one. This is why genuinely Christian funerals are so different.
There is sadness, but there is also celebration . . .
Let's listen to the testimony of brother who has recently experienced
this comfort (VIDEO).
The condition: belonging to Christ
Before we close, I need to make explicit something that has been implicit
throughout this passage and video: There is a condition. This hope is
for those who belong to Jesus Christ. Paul has said this through the passage.
In 4:13, this promise is to the “brethren” over against “the
rest who have no hope.” In 4:14, ". . . if we believe . . .
those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” In 4:16, “. . . the
dead in Christ shall rise . . .”
If you want to be with Christ and his people in the next life, you
have to turn to Christ and put your trust in him in this life. This
is because death is a result of sin/rebellion against God—and only
Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God's
lifeline, extended to all of us, no matter how far we may have strayed
from him. But you have to take hold of his lifeline by admitting your
guilt to God, by trusting that Jesus alone (not WORKS, etc.) is God's
provision for your guilt, and by asking him to forgive you and give you
eternal life (John 11:25).
The moment you do this, you are guaranteed eternal life with Christ and
all who belong to him. You can know you will be reunited with your believing
loved ones, and you have a hope to share with your family and friends.
Have you done this? If not, why put it off?
Footnotes
Copyright
2000 Gary DeLashmutt