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What Happens When We Die
1 Thessalonians 4:13 – 5:11 - 3rd June 2007
Andrew Lim
The subject of life after death is a most fascinating one
We have people who claimed to have come back from the dead
to tell us what had happened to them in the realm of the dead
We have people who dabble with departed spirits
making contacts with them / they tell us they have heard from them
We have many Christians / most fascinated with issues about endtimes
We have doomsday prophets / each with his or her own time schedule
of how the last days of planet will be panned out
There is such an engaging and riveting interest
on the subject of what in theology is called eschatology
- issues pertaining to the last days
It may surprise you to know that the interest is as old as the church
Here in our passage / the Thessalonians were troubled
over an issue they didn’t quite understand
Remember this was a church founded by Paul
but in Paul’s absence / some of the believers there have died
and those left behind were anxious
they wanted to know if these dead ones / have gone to heaven
they wanted to know / how Christ’s return
will affect these loved ones who have since died?
- would their death hinder or handicap them in any way?
- will those who are alive at His coming
have an advantage over those who had died?
And Paul goes straight to the point / He says in 1 Thess 4 13
“Brothers / we don’t you to be ignorant about the dead”
Remember they lived among Greek people who had a very different philosophy
about death and the place of life after death
The Stoics / for example / were materialists
they believed that after death the body becomes earth
and the soul returns to the central fire
One inscription on a grave from that region / read this way:
“I was not / became / I am not / I care not”
The Thessalonians lived among a people
who had no word of assurance / of life after death
Remember when Paul spoke about the resurrection
to the Greeks at Athens / they mocked him / Acts 17:32
To the Greeks the body is the prison house of the soul
and to be rid of the body / was their great hope
All the strange philosophies and religions of the world
lie quietly in their dark graves
The only one / who has come out of his grave
with power and vindication / is Jesus
Paul goes straight to the point / v.13b
“We do not grieve like those who have no hope”
“no hope” after death / what a ghastly prospect
to plunge into the utter gloom / and never to see the light again!
- to go to a place where God is not
- a place where no one recognizes you / or know your name
- a place of eternal separation with all those whom you love
where the fire burns without ceasing
Paul says “I don't want you to grieve like people who have no hope”
Christians never ever say a final goodbye here on earth
You will see one another again
I’ve conducted countless funerals over the years
and there is a clear difference funerals of unbelievers
and funerals of believers
With non-Christian funerals / you get a terrible sense
of hopelessness / finality
The goodbye is for good / no more reunion / no future together
never again to touch or kiss the person again
It’s a final drop of the curtain
Paul does not say in v 13 / “That you may not grieve”
He’s not saying we’re not to grieve / it is natural to grieve
Even Jesus wept with those who wept at the death of Lazarus
We’re in fact told in Romans 12:15 to weep with those that weep
There's a natural sorrow / Paul’s not talking about that
Paul says / “We do not grieve like that
Yes we will miss our loved ones / Yes we will be deeply saddened
But we shall never grieve like those who have no hope
For we have the hope of heaven / the promise of God
When we sorrow / we sorrow over our loss / but never over their loss
In fact we cannot even say we lave lost them
To know where something is / is not to have lost it
And we have this hope of life after death
only because Jesus rose from the dead
Apart from the resurrection of Jesus
there is no other assurance of hope of life after death
But there may be some of us who will live to the day of Christ's second coming
Some of us may not have to go through death
If Jesus came back before this years ends / it is highly probable
that we would be alive to witness His coming
Men and women all through the ages
have longed to be alive when Jesus came again
They would dream and hope and pray / Each evening they would pray
“Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus”
All over the world
this prayer has fallen from the lips of countless millions
But for each of them / as the years caught up on them
that hope grew dimmer and more remote
And they have had to look at death in the face / and accepted it
and they have gone / each one / to their own grave
But the Bible explicitly teaches us
that there will be some / who will be alive when the Lord comes again
1 Thess 4:15ff
What will it be like?
The second coming of Christ is the most mentioned subject in the Bible
It is mentioned 1,527 times in the OT / 318 times in NT
The word for Christian love / is mentioned only 115 times
That should tell us how very important that theme is to God
Now the first coming of Christ / as a baby
is one of the strongest authenticated facts of history
And yet there are 8 times as many prophecies
concerning Christ’s Second Coming
as there are those / concerning his first coming
In a sense / the Second Coming is 8 times as certain
as his first coming which can be verified as a historical fact
The fact that Christ will come again is a teaching that is deeply etched
in every written creed / on every doctrinal statement
We may disagree on the time of His coming
We may disagree on the events surrounding the time of His coming
We may disagree on the various details of the timetable of H coming
but all X'ns regardless of denomination or theological persuasion
universally accept the fact of the second coming
We all agree that He will come again to judge the living & the dead
Hollywood and Madison Avenue have been well-equipped
to stage some of the most dazzling spectacular events we’ve seen
But there will be an event / that's truly spectacular and dazzling
it will be celestial / cosmic / greater than earth
- it will yank you out of your socks
- suck the air out of humanity's lungs
- it will send men & women / kings & presidents down to their knees
In terms of spectacle / dazzle and glory
it will supercede any event that has happened on this earth
The whole scene is awe-inspiring and full of grandeur
- it will be mind-boggling
- it will be universal / all eyes will see Him return
There will be no need for spotlights / no need for fog-machines
or amplified music / synthesizer or any other special effects
because it will be REAL
All history will culminate in this event
When Jesus returns it will be to execute judgment on those
who have rejected Him throughout the ages
At His first coming he was the Lamb of God
who came to take away the sins of the world
But at His second coming He is the "Faithful and True"
He will carry out every promise He has ever made
His blazing eyes will pierce the hearts of those who denied Him
& His clothing will be stained with the blood of His enemies
The Antichrist and the False Prophet will be judged immediately
by the Lord Jesus Christ
Because they have been totally / incorrigibly depraved and evil
they will be thrown alive
into the “fiery lake of burning sulphur” / Rev 19:20
and they will become the first inhabitants of the eternal hell
They will not be present at the Great White Throne Judgement
which will be held at the end of the thousand year reign of X'st
Now / our passage before us
presents us with the exact sequence of events that will take place
v. 16 “The Lord Himself will come down with a loud command”
- this is perhaps directed at the dead / who are to be raised
Remember / He raised Lazarus from the dead
with nothing but His powerful Word / John 11:43
The power of His words alone / will bring the dead to life
And it will be the most penetrating cry we have ever heard
And it is none other than the Lord Himself who will come
The end of the age is not to be ushered in by some intermediary
but by our Lord Himself
This is the prophecy if the prophet Micah
“The Lord is coming from his dwelling place
he comes down and treads the high places of the earth” / Mi. 1:3
In the Old Testament God’s wrath is signaled by the blast of the trumpet
- there was often the blowing the blowing of the trumpet
whenever God manifested Himself Ex. 19:16, 19; Joel 2:1; Zec. 9:14
V 17 says 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
The Greek word for “caught up” / is the word “arpazo”
which means “to seize” / “to carry off by force”
“to claim for one’s self eagerly”
It speaks of sheer force and suddenness of this climactic event
You’ll be “snatched away” / as if “taken by force”
This event has been known as “the rapture”
the word comes from a Latin word meaning “to be caught up”
And those who have died before us / will be raised from the dead
- they will actually be raised before those who are living / are changed
Those believers who have died / and exist in a disembodied state
will return with the Lord / in their disembodied state
- in the form of immaterial souls and spirits
And their spirits and souls will be joined with their resurrected bodies
And those who are still be living will be instantly transformed
they will be gathered to the clouds
to meet the Lord / and those who died before them
And all will continue their journey upwards and onwards into heaven
That / is when we will all sit down to enjoy that great feast
called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
And that / is the time we will have our just rewards
Then / after that / there will be an interval of time
before Christ returns to earth to establish His Kingdom
And the end of v 17 simply says “And we will be with the Lord forever”
But chapter 5:1-3 warns us against doomsday preachers
against those who claim to know when our Lord will come again
They will prophesize to you the time of Christ's coming
- they will speculate on the dates
- they will point you to the skies
- they will read the daily papers through their coloured lenses
Paul says / “Brothers / about the times and dates
we do not need to write to you / for you know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night
While people are saying “Peace and safety”
destruction will come upon them suddenly
as labour pains on a pregnant woman / and they will not escape”
who've got nothing on their minds to preach than endtime matters
If you think people are curious today about the date of the second coming
people the were like that too
- when is Christ coming again / when will the rapture take place?
- are the signs pointing to an imminent return?
Paul says / “Brothers / about the times and dates
we do not need to write to you / for you know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night
It is even more amazing to know that even our Lord Himself
the Son of Man / doesn’t know when He’s going to come again
Only the Father alone knows the exact date and hour
He says in Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows
not even the angels of heaven / nor the Son / but the Father alone”
Nobody knows / not men / not angels / not even the incarnate Son of God
The Father has left that out for a reason
So that each succeeding generation will live in such a way
knowing it could happen in their generation
There are three specific passages in the New Testament
that speak directly about the Rapture
John 14 / 1 Corinthians 15 / and here in our text 1 Thessalonians 4
But not a single of those passages tell us the timing
when its going to be
We know many things about the second coming
But the one thing we don’t know / is the timing
Yes / there are some indications that the day of the Lord is near
and a discerning child of God could know that it was coming soon
but no one gets to know the day or the hour
But one thing you and I can be sure
When it comes / it will come so very suddenly / so unexpectedly
Paul is saying that we already know full well what we need to know
What's that?
“That the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night”
That’s the one thing we need to know
It’s going to happen when people least expect it
In Matthew 24 / Jesus says He will come in terrifying judgment
He comes to gather the elect from the four corners of the world
Heaven and earth are going to pass away
The coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah
for as in those days which were before the flood
they were eating and drinking
they were marrying and giving in marriage
until the day that Noah entered the ark
Noah preached righteousness / and warned the people
but they were indifferent / and remained indifferent
until the flood came and took them all away
The same with the second coming of Christ
it will come when people lease expect it
Now this is most unbelievable / because our Lord
has just been describing all kinds of things
that people living at that time may look and see for themselves
There will be wars and rumors of wars
and there will be nation rising against nation
kingdom against kingdom / there will be famines and earthquakes
terrible pestilence / plagues / disease
all that will begin to escalate / as the Antichrist rises
He tells them that false prophets will come to lead people astray
He lets them know about desecration of the temple
spoken of by Daniel the prophet
He talks of a world-wide apostasy
He talks of the nations are going through an upheaval
He talks about terrible tribulation / such as never been seen
since the beginning of the world
He talks people living life as usual / marrying / eating / drinking
until the time comes / and they're swept away
And there will be other evidences
listed in the first five seals of Revelation
that will indicate that we are heading towards the end
And Jesus is here saying / that with all that sign right before us
when it finally happens / we will still be caught unexpected
He is warning us here / “You better be ready because I’m coming
when you least think I will come”
These are His actual words / “Be on the alert
For you do not know the day nor the hour”
Now you may say / “Surely when those events start to happen
won’t the people alive at that time know?”
The answer is simple
They may have all that information
but they will still be making exactly the wrong calculation
They’ll be saying “Peace and safety”
when it will be just the very opposite of that
Some of you might be saying
“I thought the Bible says you can’t know the day or the hour”
That's right / we will never know the day or the hour
but we are given the ability to discern
the general time frame / for the day of His coming
This is why our Lord says:
“When you see these things” / what things / the signs
He is saying that there will be signs before the end comes upon you
Here are some of the signs:
The fact that against all incredible odds / in 1948
at the end of second WW / the Jewish state of Israel was reborn
The fact that
- Jerusalem is now in the hands of the Israelis
- there is an alliance of Arabs under Egypt / which was predicted in Dan 11
- the reunification of East and West Germany
- that the European bloc is rapidly forging themselves together
- in the East / there is now a belligerent power
that has been awaken from a sleep of centuries
and now boasts of an army of 200 million men
Is there here a an Armageddon Coalition here? / One wonders
The fact that
- we are already experiencing the beginnings of persecution
- churches are being attacked and destroyed in Indonesia
- China continues to persecute religious minorities
- In Islamic African nations - such as Ethiopia and Sudan
Christians are routinely attacked and killed
by government forces
- In Sri Lanka the Buddhist establishment
is calling for an imposition of anti-conversion laws
- that false prophets are emerging
- that deceiving spirits are leading many astray
- that the world is on the march
to a new political social and economic order
- that there are signs that a conspiracy to form a new world order
is well under way
- that we are seeing the changing weather patterns
- that we are documenting the frequencies
of plagues / famines / and earthquakes
Most important of all / events in the Middle East
are pointing to an imminent cataclysmic end
And there are some today who believe that the anti-christ
is already on planet earth
- in his forties / and preparing to make his debut
All the signs are there
It is time to be alert / to be ready / to walk carefully
to be sharing the gospel
with those whom you don't want to see left behind
But in spite of all that / and in spite of the Antichrist / in spite of all of that
people everywhere will read the signs / in just the very opposite way
They will predict peace and safety / when its all tumbling down
There will be a great delusion / a grave deception
And many people will have their eyes blinded and their hearts deceived
Because there will be preachers
who will precisely be preaching those messages
Verse 8 says / all these things / are the beginning of birth pangs
What’s that
Birth pains / when it comes to a very pregnant woman
come suddenly / they come repeatedly
But they come progressively / and more intensely
The analogy is this
This world of ours is going to be inflicted with a pain
and that pain / will be followed by another pain
followed by another / and then another
And that’s going to be intensified / progressively intensified
until finally the event takes place
And just as birth pains are sudden / painful / repeated / intensified
and they result in a tremendous event / the birth of the child
there are some grave events that will afflict the world
grave enough for us to know that a great event is coming
But these people are going to be blinded from see what that great event will be
because there are going to be false prophets
who will be preaching “Peace and safety”
Our Lord warns us / He says “See to it that no one misleads you”
“Many will come in My name saying
I am the Christ and will mislead many”
There will be wide-spread deception
false religions / false prophets / false teachers / false leaders
false Christs will come and proclaim themselves Christ
An the number of deceivers and deceived
will increasingly grow as people grope about for an answer
Now it is precisely the chances of us getting deluded / that Paul warns us
He says in verse 4 / “But you / brothers / are not in darkness
so that this day should surprise you like a thief”
What he’s saying here is this
“The thief is coming in the night / but you’re not people of the night”
You will not be caught out
In verse 5 says: / “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day
We do not belong to the night or to the darkness”
In other words / the way to be prepared for Christ coming
is for us to live our lives in a way that is consistent
with those who are to be called children of the day
Verse 6 Paul says / “Be alert / Be self-controlled”
- the word “alert” simply means “be awake”
- the Greek word is “gregoreo” from which the name Gregory comes
Paul says / “Don’t be sleeping / Don’t be slumbering”
The point is this / If you're walking with God
if you're listening to the impulse of the Holy Spirit of God
if you are alert to what God is doing in the world
and you have your finger on God's pulse
you will live in such a way
that you'll be ready for Christ to appear any day
We live in a generation / which must provoke us to say
that our first priorities in life / are spiritual priorities
He is at the door / ready to return
I'm not saying that we quit our jobs or quit school
But I'm saying that we plan our lives in such a way
that first and foremost
we make ourselves familiar with the Word of God
- growing in our faith
- and growing in our ability to communicate the gospel
compellingly and prophetically
We are living in a time when Christians will see
the greatest return of souls for Christ / for effort we put in
People everywhere are lost / and yet incurably religious
Time is running out
and we need to have our lives planned / or it'll fritter away
In the hour that you think not / the Son of man comes
And this time / He comes not as a Lamb / gentle and meek
But He comes / as the Lion of Judah
So we pray "Maranatha / Come! Lord Jesus"
We need to be watchful & prepared
We need to sanctify ourselves
We need to be vigilant against spiritual seductions
We need to beware of losing courage
We need to meditate and pray
We need to commit ourselves to the ministry
We need to be careful that we not neglect the church
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