“I don’t know.” Those can be some of the most difficult words for us to say. To say, “I don’t know” is to admit that we don’t have all the answers. And we like to have answers because it makes us feel more in control, more secure, more prepared. That’s probably one of the reasons that doctors normally meet with a patient and their family before surgery. That explanation of what the doctor intends to do, how long he expects the surgery to take, and the hoped for time of recovery – all of those things help to relieve some of the stress and fear. You may still not look forward to that surgery, but at least you know what to expect. Or think of the night before you begin a new job or travel to a place you’ve never been to before. While excited, you might not get a real good night’s sleep because the unknown keeps you awake – the wondering of what is it going to be like, how will people treat me, am I going to enjoy it, what if this happens or that happens? The fear of the unknow.
If you asked people what is going to happen to them at the end of life, what answers do you think that you would get from them? Some people might respond, “Heaven!” Others might say, “Nothing. You just die and that’s it.” But there are a whole lot of people who would say, “I don’t know” or, “No one really knows” or maybe even, “I don’t care because there’s nothing I can do about it anyways.” Wow! That’s kind of a big thing not to care or know about, isn’t it?
Dear friends, this is one of those really big questions in life that God does NOT leave unanswered. He wants you to know exactly what to expect when your life here on earth comes to an end. In fact, he tells you! Listen to the answer that the Lord gives through the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4. In verse 13 we read, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death.” The Bible often describes death as a sleep. You might remember Jesus talking to the parents and friends of a 12-year-old girl who had died. When Jesus arrived at their house, the funeral had already begun. Jesus said to them, “The child is not dead, but asleep” (Mark 5:39). Do you remember the reaction of the people? They all laughed at Jesus because they knew that she was dead. Jesus then went into the house and said to the little girl, “Get up” and the little girl immediately came back to life, sat up and got out of bed, like she had just woken up from a nap.
Just as a person goes to sleep and wakes up, so also death is temporary. At the end of life, the body of a person is laid to rest for a time, while the soul immediately goes before God to determine where it will start spending eternity. The Bible tells us, “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Just like waking up from a good night’s sleep, so also at death, the soul of a Christian immediately wakes up fully rested with Jesus in heaven’s glory.
KNOWING that gives us hope. As these verses go on to say, “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” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). When a fellow Christian falls asleep in death there is naturally grief at the separation that we experience from that fellow Christian. But our grief is different than for those who are NOT Christians. Our grief is a hope-filled grief. That is the hope that comes from KNOWING – from KONWING that our fellow Christian’s last breath in this life was immediately followed by their first breath in heaven, that they have woken up in heaven never to struggle with sin, sickness, suffering or loss ever again.
How can we be so sure of that? The Bible tells us, “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” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Hope is only as good as that which hope is based on. I can hope that the Packers or the Vikings win the Super Bowl, but I can’t say with any certainty that will in fact take place. It may or may not happen. Did you notice what the Christian’s hope of heaven is based on? Our hope of heaven is based on something that has already occurred in the past and cannot be changed. It is based on what Jesus has already done! “Jesus died and rose again.” What a relief! My hope of heaven is NOT based on how good of life I have tried to life, or my promises of trying to do better in the future. No! Our hope of heaven is based on what Jesu has already done for you – the perfect life he lived in your place, the payment for your sin that he made at the cross, his rising from the dead as a demonstration of his power over death itself. That perfect and powerful Savior Jesus is the basis of our hope for heaven.
Now you might be thinking, “Hold on for just one second here. I thought that we heard this morning in John 5 that good people go to heaven. Doesn’t that mean that people who maybe aren’t Christians, but still do good things will also get into heaven?” You are right that Jesus did say, “Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:29). But now let me ask you this, “What is good in God’s sight?” The only thing that a perfect God considers good is perfection. Nothing less than perfection will do. Nothing a person does, no matter how many people it may help or how much praise they may receive from the people around them, is pleasing in God’s sight BY ITSELF. The Bible tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). How does faith make someone and what they do pleasing in God’s sight? Through faith in Jesus, we, and all we are and do, is covered in the perfection of Jesus – like a Christmas present completely wrapped. When God the Father looks at us, he only sees the perfection of Jesus covering our every attitude, our every action, our every word. Through faith, our good works are wrapped up in the perfection of Jesus, and then are evidence of who we are. We are God’s perfect people whose names have been written in that book of life which we heard described for us in our first lesson from Daniel 12. There is a place reserved for you in the glory of heaven.
The Christians to whom these words of 1 Thessalonians 4 were initially written still had a question. Will those souls who are already in heaven miss out in some way when Jesus returns at the end of time? Once again, look at what God wants us to know, “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you what 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” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). There’s a lot to unpack in those few verses and plenty of other places in the Bible that provide additional information about different aspects of Jesus’ return. However, these verses mainly focus on what the Christian can expect. Jesus will loudly announce his return from heaven. Jesus will raise back to life the bodies of those who have “fallen asleep” in death. The souls already in heaven will be reunited with their bodies, and all Christians will have their bodies instantly transformed into perfect bodies. It is then that Jesus takes this glorious group away from this sinful world to finally experience what we have only seen through faith – an eternally perfect life and perfect relationship with our God “And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
Why does God want you to know this? It’s not just for your personal benefit, so that you can say, “I know that I’m going to heaven.” This section finishes by saying, “Therefore, encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). We need that encouragement, don’t we? When we think about heaven, it encourages us to be careful – not to get so wrapped up in the things of this life that we lose sight that this life is only meant to get us ready for heaven. Therefore, I want to make sure that I’m doing everything possible for me and those around me arrive to arrive at that destination. Heaven helps me when I see the terrible things taking place in this world – shootings, suffering, violence, and vengeance. When people wonder, “Why doesn’t God do something about this?” heaven reminds me that God already has done something about it. He’s not going to leave us here, but he’s going to permanently take us away from these terrible things to live with him forever in the safety and peace of heaven.
Thinking about heaven encourages me to look around, realizing that there are too many people that do not have the hope that comes from knowing Jesus. When that topic of the end of life comes up, maybe that conversation goes something like this, “Don’t you wish there was someone who had gone through it, who had died and come back to tell us what to expect? There is. His name is Jesus and he tells us, not only what to expect, but how to be ready for it, and even promises to walk with us through it.” That’s what God wants us and everyone to know. Amen.
