1 Thessalonians 4
At a recent Bible study we changed up
our regular format at played, “Ask the Pastor.”
Thankfully the group had supplied a list of questions beforehand! Many of the questions dealt with a topic that
people often ask about: What happens when we die?
We are far from the first to wonder about
what happens to people who die. Apparently
the Thessalonians were wondering about it too.
Paul wrote to them, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers,
about those who are asleep (a euphemism for “dead”), that you may not grieve as
others do who have no hope.”
Many of the questions that get asked
about death and dying, heaven and hell, do not get answers as clear as we’d
like. The Bible doesn’t fully disclose
these mysteries, although heaven is clearly wonderful (gold, jewels, and
glorious light) and hell awful (fire burning, being eaten by worms, and never-ending
darkness). The thing that is clear about
those who die is that they will rise … bodily.
One of the popular misconceptions of the
Christian faith is that when we die we go to heaven and live forever as
spiritual beings. Another is that we
become angels when we die. Neither of
these are true.
God made us human (I’m assuming all of
us reading this are human … any aliens out there?). Humans are soul and body, and we are never
whole without both. It is true that when
we die we go to be with the Lord like the criminal one the cross that Jesus
promised, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” But we still anticipate a day of resurrection
with Job who knows that he will see God with his own eyes even after his skin
has been destroyed. Jesus’ promise to
Martha is that He is the resurrection and the life, and He will raise us up on
the last day.
A day will come when Jesus will descend
from Heaven, a glorious day, with a cry of command, the voice of the archangel,
and sounding of the trumpet of God. And
we will see Jesus face to face in glorious resurrected bodies that death cannot
touch.
Lord Jesus, come! In the meantime, let me share the hope of
resurrection through You for all who will believe. Amen.
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