Sermon Series: “Questioning the Faith”
Sermon #3 “Question about Heaven #3”
Text: I Thessalonians 4:13-17
INTRODUCTION: Welcome to our continuing series on ‘Questioning the Faith’.
Each week, you will remember, I am answering a question put to me by one of you who has written it down on a form and turned it in.
If you would like your question answered, please feel free to take a form.
Over the last few weeks our focus has been on Heaven
• The first sermon on Heaven a few weeks ago, someone asked whether the soul goes to Heaven at death, or must they wait until the resurrection. We found that Scripture indicates that our body and soul do separate at death, with Jesus; story of Lazarus and the Rich Man being our main text (Luke 16).
• Someone then asked, ‘Will we know people in heaven?’ and I said that the scripture indicated that yes we will. The Scripture says we will sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, and also gives us other indicators of consciousness of our past life. (If you would like the note from that sermon or any of these in this series, they are available)
• Last week we talked about different levels of heaven. We concluded that Heaven will not be in forms of levels, but there will be rewards (crowns) given to those at judgment whose lives brought forth works of ‘gold, silver and precious stones’ (I Corinthians 3)
This week we are continuing on this course of questions about our afterlife
QUESTION: What happens to me (personally) if Jesus comes before I die? And what happens if He comes after I die?
To really understand the answer to this, we must first understand that there are many differing views and answers to this question.
The study of the ‘End Times’ is called Eschatology.
Eschatological theories are as various as denominations.
There is the argument of the ‘pre-tribulation rapture’ which has caused many theological debates.
This is the belief that Jesus will come mysteriously before the great tribulation to take out His saints.
It has spawned the greatest Christian fiction series of all times: Left Behind.
There is also the argument of ‘millennialism’
This is the question about when will the 1000 year reign of Christ spoken of in Revelation will occur.
• Some believe it is already happening (Christ is reigning in the Hearts of believers) [Post-millennium]
• Some believe it will happen after He returns and sets up His Kingdom (literal interpretation) [Pre-millennium]
• Some believe it is totally allegorical and we really have no idea what it means [Amillennium]
Tonight, I do not want to argue what has already been argued by men much more intelligent that I am... All I want to do is share what the Bible says will happen for certain when Jesus comes.
I. We know that there will be a rapture
a. You might say, “Brother Foskey, didn’t you just say that the rapture is argumentative?”
i. Not ‘if’, but ‘when’ is what is argumentative
ii. There is no question about whether or not a rapture is going to take place, it is WHEN will it take place (before, during or after the tribulation)
b. The rapture is shown clearly in the Bible
i. I Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
ii. The term ‘caught up’ in Greek is ‘Harpazo’ which literally means to ‘snatch away’
iii. The same word was used by Jesus when He said, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28)
iv. When the Scripture was translated into Latin, this word became the word where we derive the term ‘Rapture’
1. This answers the question that many say, “The word rapture is never used in Scripture”, but it is.
2. Caught up, snatch away and others phrases translated from ‘Harpazo’ are all examples of being snatched away
c. There are other examples of the rapture in Scripture
i. Philip
1. Acts 8:30 “Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.”
2. Caught away is the same Greek word ‘Harpazo’ – though he was not taken into Heaven, Philip was ‘snatched away’
ii. Enoch
1. Genesis 5:24 “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
2. The word ‘took’ is the Hebrew word ‘Laqach’ and guess what it means: To snatch away!
iii. Elijah
1. II Kings 2:11 “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
2. The term ‘went up’ is a different Hebrew word ‘alah’ which means ‘to ascend’; But even this word could be properly translated ‘to be carried away’
d. We do not know when this event will happen, but we know that it will because the Bible says so and it gives us clear examples of it.
II. There will be people alive and well at the rapture – and some left behind
a. Matthew 24:40-42 “Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
b. This is one of the texts cited by people who believe the rapture will happen before the tribulation
i. They ask, “Why would anyone be left behind if this was the end?”
ii. And that is a good question to consider, but it is not our question for today
c. How this relates to our question for today is that it gives the picture of what will happen if you are alive when the rapture comes
i. The Scripture says here you will be ‘taken’
ii. Much like Elijah and Enoch, you will be ushered into Heaven by the Lord
iii. The word Jesus used here is not ‘Harpazo’ but ‘Paralambano’ which means to ‘receive a transmission’
iv. You will be ‘transmitted’ into Heaven like a television may receive a ‘transmission’ from a satellite
III. At the rapture our bodies will be changed
a. We said three weeks ago that the body and the soul are separated at death
i. But 1 Thessalonians 4 indicates that the bodies of the dead will ‘rise first’
ii. Why, if they are already with Jesus, will He need to be resurrected
iii. Because, though their souls are apart from their bodies, this is not their eternal state; because they have not received their glorified bodies
b. The glorified body is the eternal state of the believer in the ‘New Jerusalem’ which is being prepared and will be the final abode of the believer according to Revelation 21
i. When Jesus rose from the grave, He rose with a glorified body
ii. This was a body not bound by this world’s restrictions
iii. The Scripture says He appeared ‘in the midst’, ‘behind locked doors’, yet He still had flesh and bone
iv. Obviously He had a special, glorified body
c. The Scripture says when we see Him, we will become like Him
i. I John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
1. This is not saying we will be Gods
2. But that we will have a glorified body
ii. I Corinthians 15:52-53 “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
1. A translation occurs at the moment Christ returns
2. Translation from this old body to the new incorruptible body in Heaven
3. And for those whose souls are already in Heaven, they will then be reunited with their bodies – and be translated to the new incorruptible as well
CONCLUSION: No one in Heaven has an incorruptible body at this point – Revelation indicates that souls are in Heaven, apart from their bodies:
Revelation 6:9 “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.”
But in the rapture, the body and soul of those who are now dead will be reunited to the incorruptible state of being
And those who are alive will be immediately translated into that new state
The key to this question of ‘what happens when Jesus comes’ is knowing that we cannot enter in Heaven in the form we are currently in.
I Corinthians 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.”
So we know that God is not going to use this body for our eternal state
But He has a new body waiting for me that will never be sick, never going to be tempted to sin and never going to wear out.
And when Jesus comes, we will receive our new bodies and spend eternity with Him – if we have believed in the Gospel and repented of our sins here on the earth
Tonight, I want to end with a thought: Are you ready?
He could come at anytime and call us all home…Are you ready?
(Let us pray)
