As Shay Bradley’s coffin was being lowered into the ground at a cemetery in Dublin, Ireland, last year (October 2019), another sound cut into the mournful strains of the bagpipes.
A shout rang out – from inside.
“Hello? Hello. Hello? Let me out!” yelled the deceased from within the box.
Then came the knocking.
“Where am I?” Bradley yelled. “Let me out, it’s dark in here.”
His loved ones, gathered around the hole in the ground, stood still in shock. Then their tears and sniffles began giving way to giggles.
“Is that the priest I can hear?” came the cry. “This is Shay, I’m in the box. No, [the one] in front of you. I’m dead.”
Then Bradley’s voice launched into a song. “I just called to say goodbye,” he crooned, and the mourners were treated to one last laugh, which was Shay Bradley’s dying wish.
You see, when Bradley got the news of his terminal illness a year prior, he made secret arrangements with his children to make and play the recording. Two days before the funeral, they alerted their mother and other immediately family members, so they wouldn’t be too shocked.
Bradley’s daughter Andrea posted the video to Facebook, along with a few thoughts in tribute. “To make us laugh when we were all incredibly sad… what a man.” (Theresa Braine, “Dead man pranks funeral-goers by screaming from coffin in pre-recorded message as he’s lowered into the ground,” New York Daily News, 10-15-19; www.PreachingToday.com)
Can you imagine that happening at the last funeral you attended? It would certainly shake things up, but it might just put a smile on your face, too!
Now imagine hearing a voice from heaven, the sound of a trumpet, and the corpse coming out of the grave alive. You would be shocked, to be sure, but you wouldn’t be able to contain the joy that wells up from your own soul to see your loved one alive again!
Well, here’s the good news! You don’t have to just imagine it, because you will experience it one day if you’re a believer in Christ. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Thessalonians 4, where the Bible talks about what happens to believers who have died.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (ESV)
The Bible describes believers who die as those who have fallen asleep. That is, their bodies are asleep while their souls are very much alive with the Lord!
The Bible is very clear that to be “away from the body” is to be “at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Paul writes in Philippians 1, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23). And Jesus Himself said to the thief on the cross next to Him, “TODAY, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). When a believer dies, his or her soul goes immediately into the presence of Christ, but their bodies remain on this earth.
So what do you do with the body? You lay it in a grave, which the early Christians called a koimeterion, from which we get our word cemetery. It literally means “a sleeping place.” You lay the body to rest, and that has several implications.
First, the believer who dies is at rest. His or her work is done! They have ceased from their labor, and they are at peace.
It also means that the believer who dies is really alive! D. L. Moody once said, “Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment, I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone higher, that is all-out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal...” (D. L. Moody, Christian History, No.25).
The believer who dies is at rest. The believer who dies is really alive, and the believer who dies will wake up again. Jesus will bring that body to life when He returns with the souls of those who have gone before. So if you’re grieving the loss of people you love...
FIND COMFORT IN THEIR REST.
Find strength in the truth that your loved one’s body is only asleep. Be encouraged that their labor is over, their soul is alive, and their body will awaken someday.
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)
Jesus guaranteed that awakening when He died and rose again! His death paid the penalty of death for your sin, and His resurrection demonstrates His power over death, so that when Jesus returns with the souls of believers who have “fallen asleep,” He will reunite those souls with their newly awakened bodies.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)
Paul had taught the Thessalonian believers that Jesus is coming very soon, but when some of their brothers and sisters in Christ began to die, the Thessalonian believers were concerned that their dead relatives would miss out on the Second Coming. The ancient Jews believed that those who were alive at the end of the world would have an advantage over the dead (Ewart, An Evangelical Commentary on the Bible). Here, Paul refutes that idea and says that those who are alive at Christ’s coming will not precede those who have died. In other words, believers who have died have an advantage over those who are alive at Christ’s return. They get to go first!
So find comfort in that! Find comfort in the fact that your loved one is only at rest and will be awakened when Jesus returns. He or she will NOT miss out on the greatest event in human history yet to come – the Second Coming of Christ!
Peter Marshal, once chaplain of the United States Senate, used to tell the story of a little boy, an only son, who had an incurable disease. Month after month, his mother had tenderly nursed him, read to him, and played with him, hoping to keep him from the dreadful finality of the doctor’s prognosis – the little boy was sure to die.
However, as the weeks went on, he gradually began to understand that he would never be like the other boys he saw playing outside his window. Small as he was, he began to understand the meaning of the term “death,” and he too knew he would die.
One day, his mother was reading to him the tale of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. She read of Lancelot and the other knights. She read of fair maidens, and she read about the last glorious battle where so many of Arthur’s knights met their death.
She closed the book as her little son sat silent for an instant, deeply stirred. Then he asked the question weighing on his childish heart, “Mama, what is it like to die? Mama, does it hurt?”
Quick tears sprang to her eyes and she fled to the kitchen, supposedly to tend to something on the stove. She knew it was a question with deep significance. She knew it must be answered satisfactorily, so she leaned for an instant against the smooth surface and breathed a hurried prayer that the Lord would keep her from breaking down before the boy and that she would be able to tell him the answer. The Lord did tell her. Immediately, she knew how to explain it to him.
“Kenneth,” she said to her son, “do you remember when you were a tiny boy how you used to play so hard all day that when night came you were too tired even to undress and you’d tumble into your mother’s bed and fall asleep. That was not your bed; it was not where you belonged. You would only stay there a little while. Then, much to your surprise, you would wake up and find yourself in your own bed in your own room. You were there because someone had loved you and taken care of you. Your father had come with big, strong arms and carried you away.
“Kenneth, darling, death is just like that. We just wake up some morning to find ourselves in the other room, our room where we belong, because the Lord Jesus loved us and died for us.”
The boy’s shining face looking up into hers told her that he understood and there would be no more fear, only love and trust in his little heart as he went to meet the Father in heaven. He never questioned her about death again. Several weeks later, he fell asleep just as she had said and his heavenly Father’s big, strong arms carried him to his own room (Peter Marshall in James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, p.139-140).
That’s what death is like for the believer. So if you’re grieving the loss of people you love, find comfort in their rest. More than that...
FIND COMFORT IN THEIR COMING RESURRECTION.
Be encouraged that even though their bodies are asleep, they will awaken someday; their bodies will rise up out of their koimeterions, i.e., their sleeping places.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (ESV)
When Jesus descends, the dead in Christ will rise! They will hear the “cry of command,” the “voice of the archangel,” and the “trumpet of God”, and get up out of their graves.
In John 5:25 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
We got a glimpse of that in John 11, when Jesus came to the grave of a dear friend who had been dead for four days. He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43), and Lazarus came out of his cave-like tomb alive!
One commentator said, “If Jesus would not have called out Lazarus by name, all of the dead would have come out of their tombs.” Well, there’s coming a time when Jesus will not specify who. He’ll simply issue the command, “Come out!” to every believer who has died. The archangel will echo that command, and God’s trumpet will sound!
In Exodus 19, Moses summoned the people to meet God at Mount Sinai with a trumpet blast (Exodus 19:16-17). And throughout the Old Testament, a trumpet blast summoned the people of God to assemble before Him in worship (Numbers 10:2; Psalm 47:5; 81:3; Isaiah 27:13; Joel 2:15). So here in 1 Thessalonians 4, the trumpet blast summons the dead in Christ to assemble before their returning King, Jesus.
This trumpet also signals the beginning of the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:1), which Joel 2 describes as “a day of darkness and gloom” on this earth (Joel 2:2). So while God’s people are with Jesus, the people of this world enter into a time of great tribulation.
That’s something to celebrate! All Believers are with Jesus when He judges the world during 7 years of tribulation (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 11:2-3; 12:6; 13:5). When the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise first.
Before Winston Churchill died, he arranged his own funeral. There were stately hymns in St. Paul's Cathedral and an impressive liturgy. But at the end of the service, Churchill had an unusual event planned. When they said the benediction, a bugler high in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral on one side played Taps, the universal signal that the day is over. There was a long pause. Then a bugler on the other side played Reveille, the military wake-up call. (Robert Russell, “Resurrection Promises,” Preaching Today, Tape 151)
I did a similar thing in Ellsworth, Kansas, once, where I played Taps for the military funerals. Right before the graveside service started, the daughter of the man who had died asked me to play Reveille after I played Taps. There was no time to tell anybody else, so no one but she and I knew what was coming. After the 21-gun salute, I played Taps as I normally did. I waited a couple of seconds and then played Reveille.
Now, if looks could kill, my funeral would have been next. So as soon as the service was over, I explained to the organizers that I played Reveille at the request of a family member. Then I told them the reason why.
It was done at Winston Churchill’s funeral, because Taps is not the final trumpet for the believer. Reveille is! When you lay your loved ones to rest in their “sleeping places,” look forward to the day when God’s trumpet will arouse their bodies from sleep, and you will see them again.
Perhaps today! Wouldn’t that be wonderful!
At a funeral service, the pastor got carried away with his sermon and far exceeded the time limit. Finally, the funeral director whispered, “It’s getting late sir!”
“I know,” the pastor said, “but this doctrine of the resurrection is extremely important.”
“Yes sir,” the funeral director responded, “but we’ve got to get the body over to the cemetery in time for it.” (Forbes Magazine, June 5, 1995, p.198)
Oh, my dear friends, if you are grieving the loss of people you love, find comfort in their rest; find comfort in their resurrection; and finally...
FIND COMFORT IN THE GRAND REUNION TO COME.
Find strength in the fact that you will see them again. Be encouraged that death is not the final “goodbye.” It’s “see you in the morning when you wake up.”
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (ESV)
When the Lord returns, not only will the dead in Christ be raised, but we who know the Lord will be raptured. We’ll be caught up. We’ll be snatched away to meet the Lord with those who have gone before.
Now, in Bible days, when a dignitary visited a city, the leading citizens would go out to meet him and escort him into their town. That’s the picture we have here when Jesus comes to visit this earth again. Before He arrives, every believer, dead or alive, goes out to meet Him on the way. We meet Him “in the clouds,” and we will escort Him to earth 7 years later when He arrives to set up His thousand-year reign (Revelation 19:14 cf. 3:5; 20:1-4). When Jesus comes, we’ll all be together with the Lord and each other forever! So find comfort in that grand reunion to come!
In Steven Spielberg’s famous movie, Jaws, the second victim the great white shark kills is a young boy named Alex Kintner, played by Jeffrey Voorhees. When the crowd realizes what has happened, there’s a panic, and everyone in the water goes running back to the safety of the beach. Mrs. Kintner, Alex’s mother, stumbles around in the shallows calling for Alex, but he doesn’t return.
Later in the movie Mrs. Kintner dressed in black widow's garb, approaches the chief of police (the hero of the movie). Take a look (show Jaws Movie clip).
She slaps him in the face for not closing the beaches. She says, “I just found out that a girl got killed here last week, and you knew it. You knew there was a shark out there. You knew it was dangerous, but you let people go swimming anyways. You knew all those things, but still my boy is dead now, and there’s nothing you can do about it. My boy is dead.”
Several decades after the release of Jaws, Lee Fierro, who played Mrs. Kintner, walked into a seafood restaurant and noticed that the menu had an “Alex Kintner Sandwich.” She commented that she had played his mother so many years ago. The owner of the restaurant ran out to meet her, and he was none other than Jeffrey Voorhees, who had played her son. They had not seen each other since the original movie shoot. (www.youtube.com/watch?reload= 9&v=AJLqTY Ahlgk; IMBb, Jaws Trivia, Universal Pictures, 1975; www.PreachingToday.com)
The return of Christ will be a lot like that, only a lot better. Instead, of actors being reunited, actual mothers and sons will be together again. Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, friends will see each other, and they will never part again. “We will ALWAYS be with the Lord,” verse 17 says.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Comfort one another. Help one another. Come along side one another. If you’re grieving the loss of people you love, find comfort in their rest; find comfort in their resurrection; and find comfort in the grand reunion to come.
However, only those who believe in Jesus can find this comfort. If you don’t know Christ, there is no rest; there is no resurrection to glory; and there will be no reunion. So I urge you, if you haven’t already, trust Christ with your life. Admit that you’re a sinner. Believe that Christ died for your sins and rose again, and commit your life to Christ. The Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). So call on Him today and find real comfort even in the face of death.
Jill Briscoe talks about a missionary kid, who was at boarding school far away from her parents. Her name is Heidi, and she was in 5th grade when she wrote this letter to her parents:
“My two first-grade roommates are fine. They gave me the biggest bear hug tonight. But I will explain one of my very hard nights. I'm homesick, Mom. I was woken up by loud laughing. Julie was laughing really hard; she'd flooded the bed. Aunt Janice changed the sheets. I'd just gone to sleep when Esther woke me up.
"She was homesick. I got her to sleep finally. Then Julie woke me up, homesick, and I got her to sleep. And drifting off, I heard Julie crying again. She'd thrown up, and Aunt Janice was asleep, so I woke her up, and she had to turn on the light and change the sheets. I finally got to sleep.
"Last night somebody woke me up so homesick that I crept into bed, and we held each other. Even though it's a pain sometimes, I like to be known as the comforter.” (Jill Briscoe, “Hanging Up Our Faith,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 148; www. PreachingToday.com)
The more funerals I attend, the more homesick I get for heaven. Are you homesick because people you love have died? Then like 5-year-old Heidi, hold others who are homesick and be a comforter.
