Studiesin

1Thessalonians Presentation 06

The Return Of Christ

Chapter 4v13-18

Presentation 06

IntroductionA minister visiting a hospital in Glasgow noticed a patient wearing a large lapel badge that read “built to last”. Sadly the man was dying from a terminal illness. His way of coping was to try and laugh in the face of death. Denial is a common response to death. The church in Paul’s day faced a particular problem concerning death. They were asking, “What is going to happen to Christians who die before the return of Jesus? Are they going to be disadvantaged in some way?”

This question exercises many people in church today. How then does Paul deal with it?

Presentation 06

Built toLast!

Those Who Fall AsleepThe anxieties of the Thessalonians, like so many of our anxieties, were fuelled by ignorance. You would be surprised by how many of our anxieties a thorough understanding of biblical doctrine can dispel.First, Paul describes dead believers as those who are ‘asleep’. He is not simply using euphemistic language to make the subject more bearable.

Interestingly, while the biblical language surrounding Jesus’ death is always - ‘He died’ believers invariably ‘fall asleep’. Cf. Jn. 11v11, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep.’ and Mk. 5v39, ‘The child is not dead but asleep’ and 1 Cor. 11:30, ‘a number of you have fallen asleep’. What we call ‘death’, Jesus calls ‘sleep’. Death as we know it is, for believers, but a sleep.

Presentation 06

Why do we speak in such a deliberate way of Jesus’ death’? Our focus is not merely the bodily agony he endured, nor the cessation of life, but that which caused his soul to shrink back in Gethsemane and which found its consummation in the alienation he experienced on the Cross, when God turned away his face from him. Clothed with the sin of his people he experienced the suffering and separation that should have been theirs.

Writing to the Romans Paul says, ‘the wages of sin is death’ Rom 6.23. No one who believes in Jesus shall ever die that death for Jesus has died that death in our place as our substitute.

Presentation 06

Those Who Fall Asleep

It is not surprising that John Owen, in his great theological treatise, on the atonement calls this death, “The Death of Deaths”. There is no other death like it in all of history, not least because it has destroyed death as an instrument of judgement which had the effect of separating man from God. And the benefits of this unique and remarkable death are accessed by faith in Christ.

This helps us understand the otherwise enigmatic words of Jesus, spoken to Martha in Jn. 11v25,

“he who lives and believes in me will never die”.

In other words they will never experience the punishment of sin which involves separation from God!

Presentation 06

Those Who Fall Asleep

And because this is true we are not to, ‘grieve like the rest of men who have no hope’v13. Theocritus the Greek Philosopher wrote, “Hopes are for the living, the dead have no hope”. But Paul says, ‘Christians stand on different ground!’ The death and resurrection of Jesus is the cast iron guarantee of our certain hope.

There is no room for inconsolable grief. Paul is mindful of the sorrow that believers feel for themselves. Indeed, the quality of pain and distress that believers feel in bereavement can often be deeper than that of those in the unbelieving community, because the Christian faith creates both unique bonds of live and tenderness of heart.

Presentation 06

Those Who Fall Asleep

But the believer, who falls asleep in Christ is not to be sorrowed over, for he has not lost anything, on the contrary he has gained immeasurably! He has gone to be with Christ, which is far better.

In this sense, the hopelessness of pagan sorrow, which mourns the dead because they have been cut off from all that makes life enjoyable has no place in the life of the Christian. The dead in Christ are not cut off!

We may weep for ourselves in our loss, and God will surely comfort our hearts and wipe our tears away, but we need not weep for those we have lost, if they are Christ’s, for they are beyond the reach of hurt or loss. This should encourage our hearts!

Presentation 06

Those Who Fall Asleep

Union With ChristThe reason Paul gives, for the Christian’s assurance concerning the future, is that the indissoluble bond which unites the believer to Christ. It is a bond that even death can never break.

“The ‘last’ enemy can never drive a gulf between the soul and the Saviour”.

If Jesus died and rose again, then those that sleep in him, he will bring with him when he comes again because they are indissolubly united to him. They are a part of the body of Christ!

Presentation 06

Union With ChristThe words in Romans 8v38, that ‘neither death nor life..., shall be able to separate us from the love of God’ are meant to be taken literally as well as seriously. We are one with Christ, and he is one with us, in life and death alike, and in every conceivable circumstance, and those who sleep in him are no more dead than he is dead.

It would be true to say that Jesus cannot come again without his redeemed people, since he is bound to them and they to him in such an intimate union. ‘He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit’ says Paul elsewhere 1 Cor. 6v17

Presentation 06

A further implication needs addressed, believers who die are not separated from fellow-believers. To be united to Christ is to be united to one another. Believers are like spokes in a wheel with Christ at the hub. This means that the communion of saints is not disturbed by death. This is no warrant for the absurd claims made by spiritualists that they can make contact with the dead.

However, the truth expounded here is a glorious reality which robs sorrow of its sting and its finality. It is sore to see believing loved ones pass on but by virtue of our common union with Jesus we will see them again. We do not sorrow as those who have no hope.

Presentation 06

Union With Christ

In v 15-18 Paul says - and this is the final assurance for what he has been emphasising - that there will be no difference between believers who are alive and remain on the earth at Christ’s coming and believers who have already died.

It will simply be a question of the resurrection of the dead taking place and for them to join the living [who will have been changed so that they are now clothed in a glorious body], so that together they will be caught up to be with the Lord for ever.

Presentation 06

When Christ Returns

The Greek term Paul uses to describe believers on earth being caught up together with the dead in Christ is ‘apantesis’ a technical term that was used in the ancient world. It referred to the meeting of a delegation of citizens from a city with an arriving dignitary in order to honour the visitor by escorting him back to the city. These processions were common place in the ancient world. ‘Well’, says Paul, ‘believers who have died and those left living on earth at his return are going to be caught up in the biggest procession imaginable’. And thereafter we will be forever with the Lord.

Presentation 06

When Christ Returns

The term ‘apantesis’ is rarely used in the NT, but significantly, it is used by Jesus in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins cf. Matt.25v6. One group was ready and waiting for the return of the bridegroom, and the other was not! One group had oil in their lamps the other had not! One group gained access to the wedding feast the other did not!

However you interpret this parable, one thing is clear and unambiguous; Jesus’ return will mean a separation. It will catch some people unaware. They will not be ready. And they will discover to their surprise that it is too late for them to remedy the situation.

Presentation 06

When Christ Returns

Why would Jesus teach such a disturbing parable? Surely he was trying to awaken the complacent? Time and again people will indicate that one day they will do something! One day they will respond to the gospel! One day they will submit their lives to Christ’s Lordship but not yet.

Spiritually speaking all they want to do is fall asleep! No wonder we read in scripture, “Today if your hear God’s voice do not harden your hearts...”Heb.4.7

When Christ Returns

ConclusionPaul unpacks glorious truths to the believers at Thessalonica. Truths that excite our minds and set our hearts on fire. Truths that are designed to encourage the heart as v18 makes clear.

However, they can only thrill the hearts of those, who have committed their lives to him, who have placed their faith in Christ alone as their Saviour, those who have oil in their lamps.

If that is not true of you then decide today to put your trust in Jesus! Don’t wait until it is too late!

Presentation 06

The doctrine of the second coming also has practical application for the believer. Christians can spend a lot of time arguing over a minutia of details surrounding Christ’s return. They can become so distracted by these details that they fail to respond to the moral imperative to be ready for Christ’s return. A. W. Tozer the famous Bible teacher was once asked to settle an argument over the details of Jesus’ return.

He responded, “Gentlemen, I believe in it, I live in the light of it, and that settles it”. Instead of arguing over detail, he was determined to live his life in a spirit of expectancy. Do we do that? And if not might not be a good day to begin?

Presentation 06

Conclusion