We Believe: He Will Come Again
Text: 1 Thess. 4:13-18
Introduction
1. When Tina and I were in seminary, we had a professor named Dr. Gary McGhee. He grew up in a Pentecostal church that regularly preached in the eminent Second Coming of Christ. He said that they believed in it so firmly that when they were at church he would cling to his mother and keep a firm grip on her dress. He said, I knew Momma was going in the rapture, and if he held on to her dress, he would make it too!
2. As Christians, we believe that Jesus came the first time humbly and meek, but He will come a second time in power and great glory.
3. He will come to both gather His followers to Himself, and to judge the living and the dead.
4. Read 1 Thess. 4:13-18
Transition: Let’s journey together as we believe…
I. He Will Come Again
A. The phrase “He will come again” gives us one of the major teachings of Scripture.
1. Any creed that leaves out the second coming of Christ would be sincerely lacking and incompatible with Christian truth.
2. The New Testament refers to Christ’s return some three hundred times - about once in every thirteen verses.
3. In the Epistle’s it is mentioned once ever ten verses.
4. So, to eliminate it from our doctrine would make it unbiblical.
5. So, can we overstate its importance? No. If we are going to take our bibles seriously, we have to believe in the Lord’s return.
B. It is clear that Jesus predicted His return.
1. “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (Jn. 14:2-3).
2. That’s why this blessed hope is stated in the Apostle’s Creed and the creeds that followed.
3. We may disagree on the particulars, like when He’s coming, but the creed puts it very simply, “He will come again.”
C. Our Lord’s coming will be literal and not merely spiritual. Christians in the first century were taught to expect a literal return of Christ.
1. “And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.” (1 Thess. 1:10).
2. The Apostle Paul refers to it as our blessed hope. “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13, ESV).
D. There are two blessing we receive in the blessed hope.
1. First, the blessed hope brings comfort. “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (Jn 14:1-2).
2. The second blessing of the blessed hope is godly living. The second coming of Christ is an incentive for us to live in holiness.
3. “And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.” (1 Jn 3:3).
4. This plainly tells us that if we really believe that Jesus is coming again, we will live like those who expect Him to come, and we want to refuse to live in evil like the rest of the world.
E. One of the things that Jesus will do when He comes again is “to judge the quick and the dead.” The term quick here is an old English term that means “living,” so, He’s coming to judge the living and the dead.
F. This shows us that several truths about the judgment. First, Jesus is more than a Savior, He is also a Judge.
1. “The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. 27 And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.” (John 5:26-27).
2. The idea of judgment makes us feel uneasy, but yet, we acknowledge it’s correctness. Conscience demands it.
G. Second, it shows us that the Bible distinguishes between groups of people.
1. It doesn’t just lump us all together. Two of the groups are the living (those who are still physically alive when Jesus returns), and the dead (those who have died and buried).
2. He will also judge Christians and non-Christians. He will look at our lives and grant us rewards.
3. For us, eternal life is not the issue; that was settled when we gave our lives to Christ.
4. However, we will be rewarded with what we did with our knowledge of Christ.
H. Judgement for non-Christians will be serious indeed.
1. Jesus said He would come again to judge the world.
2. The most significant thing that they will judge for is whether they were in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
3. “And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power. 10 When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.” (2 Thess. 1:7-10).
I. Now, let’s look at our text for today. Paul begins in v. 13 with, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.”
1. The Christians in Thessalonica had been told that Jesus was coming again.
2. However, while they were waiting, some of them had died. What would happen to them?
3. They were concerned that those who had already died would miss the Kingdom. They were afraid that their loved ones who had died would not be with Christ, and this caused them great sorrow.
4. Paul wanted them to understand that death was not the end.
5. He also wanted them to know, that when Christ returns, all believers - dead and alive - will be united with Christ to live in paradise.
6. He didn’t want them to live in sorrow and worry that their deceased loved ones had missed it.
7. While their grief was real, they would see them again in heaven.
J. In v. 14 Paul tells them, “For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.”
1. Believers have hope in the resurrection because of what Jesus did.
2. Because Jesus died and rose again, we can also have the hope that those who have died before us will also be resurrected.
3. Believers who have died are with the Lord already! They are right now with Jesus and will come with Jesus when He returns.
4. “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8).
5. When we die, we go to be with the Lord.
K. Then in vv. 15-16, Paul tells them, “We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.”
1. Paul wanted them to know that this was information he got directly from the Lord.
a. He either got it directly from Jesus Himself, or the other apostles passed it on as something Jesus taught them.
b. Regardless of how he got the information, he wanted these believers to know that neither the dead nor the living would be at a disadvantage when it came to Jesus’ return.
2. All believers would share in the blessings of the resurrection.
a. Those who were dead were already with Him and would come back with Him when He returns.
b. Those who are still alive when Christ returns will not rise first, but those who are in their graves would rise first and then would meet together with those who were still alive.
c. We will all meet together to be with the Lord. Talk about perfect timing!
3. He wrote them to challenge and encourage them. He wanted to give them something to hang their hat on when a loved one dies.
4. I love to use this Scripture when I perform a funeral because it gives us so much hope!
5. What we need to understand about the Second Coming is that it will come in God’s time and not ours. It will be perfect timing!
6. God alone will bring it into being. Christ will descend from heaven, which is where He’s been since the Ascension.
7. His return we be evident! No one will be caught unaware because He will come with a shout from the archangel and the trumpet call of God.
8. All three of these sounds will announce His return. Hollywood could not compete with this spectacular event!
L. Next, Paul tells them in vv. 17-18, “Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.”
1. References to clouds in Scripture often symbolizes the presence of God.
2. “The LORD went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night.” (Ex. 13:21).
3. Paul says we will all be “caught up together in the clouds.” The phrase “caught up” comes from the Greek word arpazo, and this is where we get the English word Rapture.
4. All believers, both alive and dead, will be with one another and will be with the Lord in the air.
5. This amazing event will cause a great reunion among all believers in the air.
6. Now, there are various interpretations of when this will take place.
a. There’s pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation rapture.
b. So, before, middle, and after the tribulation.
c. But Paul doesn’t go into that, and neither does the creed, so, neither will we.
d. So, it’s not really important when it happens, but rather that it will happen!
Transition: Now, let’s look at…
II. What Do We Need to Know About the Second Coming
A. Stay away from those who try and predict the timing of the Second Coming.
1. “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” (Matt. 24:36).
2. When I first became a Christian, there was an author that was very popular named Hal Lindsey. His most famous book was called The Late Great Planet Earth.
3. There was another book written years ago called Eighty-Eight Reasons Jesus Will Come Back in 1988.
4. If either of these authors, or any of the others like them were correct, we missed it because we’re still here!
5. The point is, we cannot predict when Jesus will return, because even Jesus doesn’t know the day or the hour.
6. Later in that same chapter, Jesus said, “You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” (Matt. 24:44).
7. It’s not important for us to know the day or the hour, but to constantly be ready because it could happen today!
8. Don’t waste your time trying to figure out when Jesus is coming, just be ready all the time!
9. “He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms it is far off, nor is it he who says it is near. It is he who, whether it be far or near, awaits it with sincere faith, stead-fast hope and fervent love.” — Augustine of Hippo
B. The Second Coming ought to cause us to live in holiness as we await the Lord’s return.
1. “So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:13-16).
2. “The essential part of Christian holiness is giving the heart wholly to God.” (John Wesley).
3. Being ready when Jesus returns means living as He has called us to live.
4. It means living according to His Word.
5. It means rejecting the things of the world and living for the things of God.
6. It means following Jesus in everything we do.
7. It means living as if He was returning today!
8. When tempted to sin, ask yourselves, “If Jesus came right now, would I want to be doing this?”
9. Living in holiness is the essence of being ready for the Second Coming.
C. The Second Coming of Christ will not be a happy day for everyone.
1. “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.” (Matt. 25:31-33).
2. “When Jesus came the first time He stood before Pilate; when He comes the second time, Pilate will stand before Him.”
3. The Second Coming will be a day of judgment. That’s why the Scriptures refer to it as “The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.”
4. It will be great for those who have surrendered their lives to Christ. To all those to whom He says, “well done, good and faithful servant!”
5. But to those who are living for the things of the world it will be a terrible day. To all of those people He will say, “Away from me; I never knew you!”
6. If we truly believe that Jesus is coming at any time, it ought to put in us a sense of urgency to go out and tell people about Him.
7. It ought to put in us a burning desire to share the Good News with anyone who will listen.
8. It ought to cause us to take seriously, “Go and make disciples of all nations.
Conclusion
What’s the point preacher? The Second Coming of Christ can happen at any minute. It will happen when we least expect it. So do all that you can to be ready for the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.
