What Hope Do You Have? - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

There are a lot of grey heads in our Faith Builder’s Class in Heber Springs. I do not know about other members and their feelings, but I have attended too many funerals already. [In jest, I have said that I have no enemies any more since I have outlived all of them.] To be honest I have never completely enjoyed my responsibility to honor, even my best friends, by attending this solemn occasion. It has been my experience that some funerals are much more beautiful and actually have inspiring influences on those present, while others are very depressing. [You already know where I am going with this.] No funeral can emit any happiness unless the deceased has lived a life of Christian HOPE. What hope do you have?

I have never had a pastor that I did not love and appreciate, and pray for more—than at the time he has to conduct the services at the passing of an unsaved person. No pastor, [or anyone else] can change the life that has now deceased; he cannot preach anyone into the grace of God. His only hope is that he can be of some comfort and a witness of warning to relatives left behind. It seems to me that this would be one of the most difficult chores that any minister could face. When there is no hope—what is left? On the other hand, the tears of the relatives of a deceased saint of God are the first expressions of a wonderful paradox; tears of sorrow at the loss, followed by great joy in knowing the mother, father, son or daughter is now at home in Heaven with the Heavenly Father.

Christians must have a strong faith in the promises of God. This brings us hope and encouragement throughout life and especially and particularly as death approaches. God wants Christian hope to comfort believers no matter their circumstances. In this lesson, my desire is to offer hope to people facing their own demise and also to bring peace of mind to family members and friends.

I realize that some who study this lesson may not believe, and for some reason have never repented of their sins and accepted Christ as Savior. My question to them is: “Why take the chance of being forever separated from God and miss heaven?” If Paul [and many other writers of the scriptures] are right and you take their advice, and repent and accept Jesus as your Savior—you are assured eternal life with Christ in heaven. You have no way to lose because, if they are wrong—and what you believe is right—you still will spend the hereafter just as if you had not believed on the only begotten Son of God. Accept Christ and you are certainly no worse off and you have eliminated the possibility that you may be wrong in your thinking.

Believing in Christ and trusting Him for your salvation eliminates the chance taken that you are wrong. It is a win, win situation and you can’t lose. The possibility of enjoying ever-lasting life with Jesus Christ in heaven is too important for anyone to gamble away. The process of being saved is so simple that many have failed to accept it. What does one have to do to be saved? Just pray this simple prayer in your own words.

Dear Jesus, I realize that I am a sinner and there is nothing that I can do myself that will save me. I believe that you died on the cross to save me. I believe that the wages of sin is death, and that your death paid my sin debt. I place my faith and trust in you, and ask you to come into my heart and save me now. Amen.

You now have been saved through God’s grace [which is His unmerited favor] by your faith in Him. Then you must acknowledge to others that you have trusted him. Why this acknowledgement? It is necessary because he has told believers that; [“If you will not acknowledge me before men, then I will not acknowledge you before my Father, God.”]

Now please read and study for the deep meaning that is revealed in our scripture lesson for today [1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18]. Paul is explaining to these young converts what he means about the coming of the Lord.

Paul had only been with these people for three weeks preaching, teaching and establishing this new church in Thessalonica—before the protesting Jewish leadership forced him to move on to another place. He accomplished much in this short time, but the limit in his time with them made it impossible for him to answer all of their questions. [You can read about this in the first three chapters.] They were concerned about their friends that had ‘fallen asleep’ [died] and what would happen to them. They did not fully understand what the resurrection of Christ had to do with their lives after death and he addresses this in [4:1-2]. Paul wanted them to understand that death is not the end of the story. Because Christ arose from the dead, believers would do likewise. He said that when Christ returns all believers—dead and alive—will be reunited never to suffer or die again. To emphasize this point, Paul said that it was according to the Lord’s own words. Since it is a personal promise from the mouth of our Lord, it has to be an absolute truth. It is not based upon some assumption, or man’s word.

Paul did not try to explain step by step, moment by moment, what would happen at Christ’s second coming, but he said that he believed that God would send Jesus back to earth and that He would bring with him all of the Christians that had fallen asleep up until that moment. All of the dead in Christ will be alive with him, and those that are still alive on earth will be caught up into the air [clouds] to be with Him. This 15th verse says that all that are still alive on earth “Will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” This includes all believers of all ages.

Paul wrote these explanations to comfort those that did not understand and were worried about the hereafter. Today we are to use these promises to encourage those who are old and ill and realize that they will be deceased before the second coming of Christ. We are also to use these promises to encourage one another that are living and losing our loved ones. Why should we use these promises and remind each other of them and what they mean? You must go back to 4:9 for this answer. The answer is—because we have been taught to love each other—this is a brotherly love. This term is used because the scriptures teach that believers are the Sons of God. Believers are the ‘children’ of God—therefore they are brothers and sisters in Christ.

In order to emphasize the importance of the resurrection of Christ, Paul tells us that “Because Christ arose all believers who are asleep will also arise, because death has no dominion over the believer. On the cross, Christ conquered both hell and the grave. If it was important for Paul to explain this to the Thessalonians, it is now necessary for true witnesses to comfort people today with the same promises.

The bible teaches that every eye shall see the Lord when he returns and every knee shall bow. The bowing indicates that every eye that sees Him will know that he is Jesus; every one will recognize him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and bow down to him. Believers will bow in joy and adoration and great anticipation; and sadly, the nonbelievers will bow in adoration, but also with fear and desperation, gritting their teeth and praying for the rocks to fall on them.
There are many paradoxes in the Word of God, but the moment of the second coming of Christ is one of the greatest. When he appears there will be a host of the happiest people ever assembled in any one place. His same appearance will cause the greatest fear, sorrow, and desperation that have ever been experienced. Which of these groups do you want to join? You can make your choice now, while you have time and opportunity. After death there will be no opportunity to change your mind and accept him. It is now [in this life] or never.