THESSALONICA: EXCEL STILL MORE

Comfort One Another -- 1 Thess. 4:13-18

Thessalonica

Death And Sleep – The Connection

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 -- But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

Understanding The Metaphor

“My life will end in deathless sleep (where the soul of man never dies….”

What is meant by “asleep in Jesus”

John 11:11 – “…He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.’”

KOIMAO

• Sleep• Slumber• Figuratively of death• Does this mean when we die we will go to sleep until the second coming of Christ?

The Questionable Doctrine Of Soul Sleep

Doctrine held by many Christians.

Doesn’t pay to be too dogmatic.

Cold storage? Or do we go right

into the presence of God?

In Support Of Soul Sleep Job 14:10, 14 – “But man dies and lies

prostrate. Man expires, and where is he?...If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes.”

John 5:28-29 – “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

In Support Of Soul Sleep John 3:13 – “No one has

ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.”

Ecclesiastes 9:5 -- For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten.

Soul Sleep Refuted

Luke 16:19-31 – Rich man and Lazarus

Spoken as an actual event.

Lazarus and rich man awake and aware.

Abraham awake and aware.

Luke 23:43

“And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Revelation 6:9-10 – “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth.?’”

2 Corinthians 5:8

“…we are of good courage, I say, and prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

Matthew 17:1-8 Moses and Elijah are

awake, alert and carrying on conversation with Jesus.

What’s For Sure?

It is for sure that the physical body is asleep.

It is for sure that we will be changed and put on a new body before we dwell eternally in heaven.

It is for sure that God is in control of all these things and our comprehension is limited.

Death And Hope

Vs. 13: “But we do not want you to be uninformed…so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.”

Who had no hope? Anyone outside of

Christ, whether they know it or not.

Alexander Campbell and the Atheist

Lack of fear is not the same as hope.

Reasons For Our Hope

Vs. 14 – “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”

The resurrection The reunion

When IF means SINCE

Vs. 14 – “…if we believe…”

John 14:3 – “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

Rapture and Eternity

Vs. 15-18 – Those alive will not

precede those who died in the Lord.

Those who died have already arisen, so will obviously precede those alive.

Christ remains in the clouds.

No Secret Rapture

The shout of command from Jesus

The voice of the archangel

The trumpet of God The arrival in the

clouds of the righteous dead.

What Is Meant By Rapture?

Vs. 17 – “caught up”

Greek: HARPADZO

Latin: RAPTO English:

RAPTURE

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet….”

Comfort One Another

Vs. 17 – “…will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”