Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV)
People die all the time. I looked up some stats on death this week. Have you seen the latest COVID death toll? 750,000 in the U.S. That’s just one thing. Do you know how many people die each year in the U.S. from heart disease? 655,000. From cancer? 600,000. From car accidents? 40,000. We could go on and on. It makes you afraid, doesn’t it? And sad. People die all the time. You don’t need numbers. How many of us went to a funeral over the past year? How many of us know someone who is facing death right now? Mom or grandpa or daughter. COVID or cancer or old age or premature birth. We worry. In an uncertain world, one thing is certain: Death.
What makes it worse is that there’s so much confusion about what happens when a person dies. I realized that when I watched Coco. Have you seen the movie Coco? Coco is an Oscar-winning animated movie. It focuses on the Day of the Dead in Mexico. It’s fun and lively and colorful and filled with terribly false ideas about death. The idea of the movie is that when you die, your spirit goes to the Land of the Dead. There in the Land of the Dead, your spirit lives on as long as your descendants on earth continue to remember you. The moment the memory of you is lost, you disappear for good. How does that sound? It’s what millions and millions of people believe.
And when you watch that movie, it starts to make sense. People live on as long as they’re remembered. That starts to make sense. Or maybe spirits of people come back and haunt people like at Halloween. Or maybe when you die you come back as something else, like a butterfly or a frog. Or maybe loved ones who die become our guardian angels. Maybe… Which is it? See the confusion? Here’s the result: We hold on to this life as if it’s all we’ve got. There’s a phrase for that: YOLO. Heard it? You only live once. Isn’t that the attitude of our world? Who knows what comes next, so live in the here and now. YOLO! But then someone dies. And all there is is grief.
Confusion about death isn’t new. When the apostle Paul wrote to new Christians in Thessalonica in Greece 2,000 years ago, he had to address confusion about death. He wrote, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” Those new Christians were uninformed about death. They knew about heaven. They knew Jesus is coming back on Judgment Day. But they had one specific worry. They were worried that believers in Jesus who die before Judgment Day will miss out on heaven. Understand? So when their loved ones died, they were sad. So sad! They grieved and cried. It seemed like those who died were going to miss out on heaven.
That would be really bad! Do you ever think about missing out on heaven? Missing out on a sale at Kohls is disappointing. Can you imagine missing out on heaven? That would be bad, wouldn’t it? Especially when you know the only other option: Hell! We heard about that from Daniel today: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). People today don’t like to talk about hell, but the Bible does. Hell is a real place with real people. We don’t want to miss out on heaven!
Here’s what happens when you’re uncertain about death: You grieve without hope. So many people do. An ancient letter was written by a lady named Irene to a family in Egypt who lost a little son. Irene wrote, “You can’t do anything about it. So comfort each other. Fare well.” What? If I were to get that letter after losing a child, do you know what I would do? Grieve. Grieve without hope. Just like when that son dies or that spouse dies or that grandma dies today and people say, “I’m sorry.” Or, “It’s going to be okay,” or “Look at all the flowers.” That doesn’t do any good. Facing death without hope leads to grieving without hope. What a terrible thing!
Know what we need? Linus. Remember Linus from the Charlie Brown cartoons? The boy with the blanket? There’s a cartoon where Linus and Lucy are looking outside at pouring rain. Lucy says, “Boy, look at it rain. What if it floods the whole world?” Know what Linus says? “It will never do that. In the ninth chapter of Genesis, God promised Noah that would never happen again, and the sign of the promise is the rainbow.” Lucy looks back out the window and says, “You’ve taken a great load off my mind.” Linus says, “Sound theology has a way of doing that!” Knowing the truth from God takes the load off your mind. We need more than Disney. We need more than good thoughts or vibes. We need God’s Word to know the truth about death!
So listen again to Paul’s words: “We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “Don’t be sad.” Death is sad. Death made Jesus sad. What Paul says is, “Don’t grieve like you have no hope.” Why? Because we have hope! “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” What gives you hope in the face of death is believing in Jesus. Believing that Jesus died to forgive every one of your sins. Believing that Jesus rose to give us eternal life. Jesus brings hope.
Our hope as Christians is rooted in Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus promises us, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). I once told an experienced pastor that I was struggling. He said, “Learn to love what 1 Peter 1:3-4 says.” I had to look it up. “In his great mercy God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4). Here’s our hope: Believers in Jesus have an inheritance in heaven that can never perish, spoil or fade. That’s why we don’t grieve like people without hope. “We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”
It’s just that sometimes the timeline can throw us off. Death. Life. Body. Soul. Heaven. Hell. Judgment Day. Ahhh! It makes us confused. But it doesn’t need to. It’s simple. The Bible says that when you die, “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). When you die, your body goes to the ground. Your soul goes to heaven or hell right away, depending on whether you believe in Jesus. If you don’t have faith, be afraid. But if you trust in Jesus, “to die is gain!” (Philippians 1:21). Remember what Jesus said to the thief on the cross? “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). When? Today!
Your soul goes to heaven the day you die. But that doesn’t make Judgment Day any less special. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” On Judgment Day, Jesus is going to raise the bodies of people who have died and make us all new again. Then we will live forever—body and soul—in heaven. Got it?
Knowing the truth about death clears up the confusion. The souls of people who die don’t depend on how long their descendants remember them. That makes for a cute movie, but what an awful teaching! I’m glad that the eternal life of my grandparents doesn’t depend on how well I remember them. It depends on Jesus! There’s no reincarnation. Would you really want to live on earth over and over and over again—as a butterfly, a frog, a tree. Please, no! There are no human spirits haunting the world. Your grandma is way happier in heaven than in your attic. Don’t be uninformed. Seek the truth about death from God’s Word. Then you won’t grieve without hope.
Remember the confusion in Thessalonica? They worried that believers in Jesus who die before Judgment Day miss out on heaven. Did they need to be worried? No! There’s actually a story in the Bible that proves that someone who goes to heaven without dying and someone who dies and goes to heaven end up the same. Know which story? Transfiguration Day. On Transfiguration Day, Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah. One went straight to heaven without dying—Elijah. The other died and went to heaven—Moses. Where were they? Not sleeping. Not in purgatory. Not haunting relatives. Both in heaven. Perfect. Right now! The truth about death gives us hope!
I know I haven’t answered all your questions. Here’s one: What’s the difference between being in heaven before Judgment Day with just your soul and being in heaven after Judgment Day with your soul and your new body? I don’t know. It’s going to be great the moment you die and go to heaven. And somehow it will be even better when your body is raised again on Judgment Day. So here’s another question: What is your body going to look like in heaven? Well, the Bible says that all men will look like Alex Rodriguez and women like Jennifer Lopez… No! We focus so much on outward appearances, don’t we? You’re going to be and look great. Isn’t that enough?
Because here’s the key: You’re going to be with the Lord forever. That’s the best part. “And so we will be with the Lord forever. Encourage each other with these words.” Ever wonder what Jesus looks like? Ever wonder what it feels like to have Jesus give you a hug? You’re going to know—forever. On Thanksgiving, it will be great to be with your loved ones for a day—maybe! In heaven, you get to be with the Lord forever. This is why you don’t have to grieve like those who have no hope. “We will be with the Lord forever. Encourage one another with these words.”
My grandma died this past year. She was 103! But now, because of Jesus, she gets to be with the Lord forever. That’s even better! Who is it for you? Maybe it doesn’t look like mom is going to make it much longer. That’s heart-breaking. But remember this: “We will be with the Lord forever.” Maybe Grandpa seems like just the person COVID is going to get. That’s scary. But remember this: “We will be with the Lord forever.” Maybe you look at your kids and you can’t imagine one of them dying before you do. But even if God has other plans, “We will be with the Lord forever.” Maybe it looks like your day is coming sooner than you planned. There’s so much you didn’t get to do. But there’s nothing compared with this: “We will be with the Lord forever.”
There’s an old hymn that says, “Teach me to live that I may dread; The grave as little as my bed.” Like Linus said, sound theology does that. It’s okay to cry. Just don’t grieve like those who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” You know the truth about death, so you have hope! “We will be with the Lord forever. Encourage one another with these words.”
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