For the last few weeks we have been focusing on the return of Jesus Christ.. What some refer to as the Rapture. That is term which I prefer not to use because that is not a word found in the English translations of the Bible.. However, it is not totally foreign to the Scriptures. It comes from a passage found in 1st Thessalonians 4: 17After 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.
See those words “caught up”? In the Latin Vulgate translation of the scripture the word use there is “raptio” which means caught up.
Interesting it is the same word used to describe how the Spirit caught up Philip near Gaza and brought him to Caesarea (Acts 8:39) and to describe Paul’s experience of being caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Thus there can be no doubt that the word is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 to indicate the actual removal of people from earth to heaven.
But why confuse people using the word Rapture which they might not understand the meaning of at all instead of just using the words “caught up” or “taken up” which they almost certainly understand.
Using the word Rapture to describe the event is like using the words “sanctification”, “remission” which the people in the church may understand but to the people we are trying to reach it is all Greek or in this case Latin.
So having said all that, I want for us to take a look about some of the misconceptions about the return of Christ and the church being caught up to meet Him.
Not so much as what will happen on that day but what happens when we die, because that was the whole reason that Paul wrote this passage to the church at Thessalonica:
13Brothers 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. 14For 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. 15According 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. 16For 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. 17After 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. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
First thing we see is Paul says what I am about to tell you is important so that you will not be misinformed.. so you will understand.. what is to take place…. not so much as to how the return will take place but the state of our loved ones who have died and now await his return along with us.
The second thing I want you take note of is the phrase “sleep in death” makes it plain that in Paul’s writings he use the term death and sleep synonymously. This is important to correct a misunderstanding that some had then and many today have about what happens when we die. Paul is writing this to correct hat misunderstanding in order that they might have comfort in their lives and not grieve over those loved ones that had died.
Some think that when a person dies.. That is it.. They lay in the grave with no consciousness and no knowledge of anything going on around them. They base this on an Old Testament writing:
Ecclesiastes 9:5 reads, “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.”
They take this to mean that the grave is the end..
And even those that believe in a resurrection think this means we lay in the grave until the return of the Lord… that, we are in a state of oblivion if we exist at all.
However that is not what Solomon is saying for he goes on to say.. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
In other words, the living knows what is going on in this world, even knowing that one day they are going to die… but the dead?.. They no longer have a part of this world..
What they have accomplished up to that point is all they will accomplish.. as much as we might desire to have them, There will be no “do overs” in this world.
But the question is, is there scriptural evidence that the dead do not just lay in the with no knowledge of what is going on around them. Personally I think scripture is replete with proof but this morning I would like for us to consider three of those passages,
Rich man – Lazarus Found in Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Now, many people say this is a parable given by Jesus.. a fictional story used to illustrate a point… However, if that is the case, there is something very unusual about this story. It is the only parable given by Jesus that mentions a person by name.. Could it be that it is an actual even? That Lazarus and the rich man were real live people that walked the earth and now we see the fate of each?
We are told the rich man dressed himself in purple, indicating he was very, very wealthy.. Lazarus n the other hand was a poor beggar, covered with sores that laid at the gate of his home begging for enough scraps of food to get him through another day.
The rich man passed by him daily and paid no attention to him, never offering to help him. Why? We aren’t told. Perhaps, the sight of Lazarus was revolting to him… Maybe, he thought Lazarus not worthy of his help. Or perhaps he was caught so in his own self importance that he never even noticed Lazarus laying there.
The why doesn’t really matter but the end result certainly does. The callous uncaring attitude resulted in the rich man being confined in a place of punishment. Lazarus on the other hand, was in a place of reward.
The rich man was in terrible torment and begged that Lazarus be allowed to come and place one cooling drop of water on his tongue.
But Abraham tells him that is not possible. I want you notice that the rich man can see the pleasure and contentment Lazarus is enjoying at the die of Abraham… Do you not think that didn’t add to his torment? The fact that he could see the reward that could have been his if he had just followed the commands of God?
Notice too, that we have no record that Lazarus can see the torment of the rich man.. No images to disrupt the serene peace he is enjoying.
And, then there is the matter of his brothers.. Brothers he apparently loved very much.. Brothers that he was concerned about .. knowing they were soon to be doomed to endure the same eternal torment he was enduring… Do you not think that knowledge of their fate did not add to his torment?
I have often heard people joke about bursting hell wide open when they die… What this man is doomed to endure forever and eve.. Throughout eternity certainly does not sound like a joking matter.
But the thing I want us to take away from this event this morning is that the rich man and Lazarus are not laying wasting away in the grave.. They are aware of their surroundings… And, this is taking place before the return of Christ because the people on earth are still going about their daily routines.
The next proof I want to offer about the state of the dead is found in Paul’s own account about an experience that he had..
2nd Corinthians 12: 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
We believe that the even Paul is describing took place when he was stoned and taken outside the city and left for dead. He states he is not sure whether he was actually dead or if he was given a vision of what it would be like to be dead… But the I want us to notice that whichever the case might be, he was aware of his surrounds and heard conversations carried on.. things that he was not at liberty to share with those who are still living. This is probably the same event that prompted Paul to confidently write that, :to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”..
The final proof I offer as to the state of the dead is found in our text.
The fact they will return with Christ. Our text states that 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…. How can Jesus bring them with him if they are not with Him.… if they are still lying in the grave?
16For 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. 17After 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.
Compare that carefully with what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:51-53… 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
Brothers and sisters, Paul has told the church, do not grieve over those that have died before you…Those that are dead in Christ are in a wonderful place.. waiting with Him for His return at which they they are coming back with Him… They are coming back for a purpose.. to claim an glorified impermissible body… a body like the one Christ exhibited when He appeared to His disciples.. A body that could be touched, a body that could consume food and yet it was a body that could pass through solid alls and locked doors…. Isn’t that amazing?.
And, once they have claimed their bodies, for they shall get theirs first, then those that are living on that day will have their body changed to the same state…. And, from that day forward, their body will never be ravaged by the twin demons of sickness and aging,, they shall never experience pain of any kind and their eyes shall never shed a tear…
Oh, what a body and what a wonderful day that will be.
INVITATION.
