The Good News Is Hope

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But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the cloud. Therefore, encourage another with these words.

Paul had a profound message for the people in 1Thessalonians; and he began that message by telling them that he would not have all of them to be without knowledge of the hope for Christians who have gone on and arenow with the Lord.It is the Apostle’s custom to encourage believers on their spiritual journey; so, he writes“For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gifts to strengthen you or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles” (Romans 1:11-13).Grieve they will, but not to the extent that all is lost; in the future there will be a new Kingdom’s reunion.

The Apostle’s primary case is that Christ died, rose, and continues to live. In this fact lies the believer’s hope. Writing to the Corinthian believers,Paul penned, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ(1 Cor. 15:20-23). This presupposes that those who have died in Christ are now with Him; and when He returns they will come back with Him.
All who are living and working for Christ will be junior to those who are living with Christ and the living earthly believers will have no advantage over the dead when Christ appears again. In verses 16-17, the Apostle laid the order of events at the time of Christ’s coming. The Lord will descend with a shout by the trumpets and by the voice of the Archangels (1 Cor. 15:52). The dead in Christ will be resurrected and be taken up into heaven;after which Christ’s remaining worshippers will be snatched upand all will be with Him.

Paul’s point is that, believers must feel safe in the face of death. The heathen as far as Paul is concerned is constantly living in hopelessness. John in his account of the Gospel records Jesus saying these words, “Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned” (see also Daniel 12:2).

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