“Where Is The Hope When Death Knocks on the Door?”
“And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain, the first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful land true…Revelation 21:4-5.”
You and I are created in God’s image. God loves us and knows what worries us the most. He knew in eternity past, we would worry about death, life after death and the death of our love ones. “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant. And remember His precepts to do them.” (Psalm 103:14-18)
Death has been called the most democratic experience in life for we all participate in it. As a defense mechanism, we think of death only happening to other people. We don’t like to grow old and we don’t like to think of our own mortality. Yet the Bible tells us life is only a vapor that appears for a moment and then vanishes or is like the grass that withers and the flower that fades. Unless the Lord comes back first, we will physically die. According to Scripture, it is appointed unto man once to die, then the judgment -- every graveyard and every cemetery testify to this no matter if you deny it or remain ignorant of this biblical truth.
When I was growing up, my mother made a distinction between the word “ignorant” and the word “stupid.” If you were uniformed about a subject that meant you were “ignorant” about that subject. But once you were informed usually concerning some area of discipline to which she wanted obedience, you were “stupid” (and sorry) if you repeated the same offense or did not learn from the mistakes you made out of ignorance. For the first infraction you could plead ignorance but for the second you were just plain stupid. What an enemy “ignorance” is of the believer in Jesus Christ! “For a lack of knowledge my people perish saith the Lord.” Ignorance can rob us of the certainty, the confidence and the comfort available in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ when death knocks on the door. This, in turn, weakens our most cherished asset and offering to the world: hope in the face of death.
Say, “Where Is The Hope When Death Knocks on the Door?” Is this not a common cry in the heart of the world today with all its suffering and pain? Yet, as informed Christians, we stand secure and safe in the face of death. We have the answer in Jesus Christ who conquered death for us on the Cross. He is the hope of this dying world. Satan, who is neither ignorant nor stupid, knows this truth about Jesus Christ. That is why he puts up every obstacle when we try to study the Word. He would desire us to remain ignorant of God’s eternal truths. Likewise, this is why the Bible instructs on the importance to, “study to show thyself approved…rightly dividing the Word.”
A believer’s ignorance of God’s Word is a great weapon in the hands of Satan to give him real estate in your mind. So, fight back with truth -- have the mind in you that is in Christ Jesus! Since God doesn’t was us to be ignorant about death or life after death, he uses Paul’s writing to give us three truths to prove that death for the Christian is only a Shadow. Read carefully this passage of Scripture:
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
The Thessalonian Christians were grieving over the death of their Christian love ones and the uncertainty concerning what happens when you die. What bothered Paul was that the Christians, out of ignorance, were grieving as the lost who have no hope in this world. Therefore, Paul lives out what we are commanded to do in verse 18 above: “Therefore, comfort one another with these words.” To “comfort” means to exhort, to instruct, and to teach and that is what Paul does for these believers and ultimately us concerning this important subject. Paul is going to instruct with the truth to build the Christian’s hope where, in contrast, Satan uses a believer’s “ignorance” to destroy the Christian’s hope.
The first truth is the Certainty of God’s Word. God’s Word is the Truth. Christians need not worry about death or life after death, for we have a revelation from God in His Word. Warren Wiersbe asks the question: “Why substitute human speculation for Divine revelation? Paul says in verses 14-15 that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. The apostle emphasizes in verse 15, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord”. Second Corinthians 5:1 deals with certainty not “I hope so” for the Christian: “For we know that if this earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Warren Wiersbe adds in his writings this wonderful assurance for the Christian, “The blood of Christ makes us safe, the word of God makes us sure.” Are you safe today? Are you sure death has no hold over you?
Paul addresses two certainties in verses 13 and 14. Sleep is always for the body never for the soul. It is not the soul that sleeps – it is the body. First, the spirit or soul does not die at physical death. The same Greek word for “sleep” is used when referring to natural sleep when the body lies down in bed. The Bible definition for death is given in James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead.” At death the spirit leaves the body. Ecclesiastes 12:7: “then the dust (body) will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” The Greek word for resurrection is “anastasis.” It comes from two Greek words: “histemi” meaning to stand and “ana” meaning up and refers only to the body not the soul.
Second, the soul of the departed believer is with the Lord. Paul says in verse 14: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” Paul did not say that the soul went to sleep at death. He made it clear that the soul of the believer went to be with the Lord: He cannot bring them when he returns unless they are with Him. The word used here for Jesus “died” means he died versus the word “asleep” used for the believer. Jesus died that we need not fear death! Death is only a shadow to the believer in Jesus Christ because the sting has been removed. Scripture assures us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
The second truth in the passage is the Confidence of Christ’s Return. Whether Christians live or die, we have nothing to fear because Jesus will come either with us or for us. Christ himself will come. Verse 16 says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” Doesn’t that speak of the personal nature of our relationship with Christ? The Lord won’t be sending angels. He will come himself as our advocate and high priest. He will descend from heaven with a voice of command – with the trumpet of God. His voice will be like the voice of an archangel and the dead in Christ will rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. There are several meanings of the Greek word “caught up”. It can mean to catch away speedily (Acts 8:39), to seize by force (John 6:15), to claim for one’s self [this is the Lord’s point of view], to move to a new place (2 Cor. 12:1-4 & John 14:1-6) and to rescue from danger (Acts 23:10).
Another source of confidence we have is the gift of The Holy Spirit. If we are “alive” in Christ, we have His Spirit (Romans 8:9). At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and gave birth to the church and now indwells all believers. But at the Rapture, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven for His church. The Holy Spirit is serving during the church age as a down payment, a confidence builder and a promise keeper of Christ’s imminent return. He is our witness, our teacher, our guide and comforter in this world. God now communicates with us through His Word and The Holy Spirit. But when Christ returns, His voice will be like the voice of the archangel with all its majesty and authority. Thus, we can have confident hope the King is coming!
The third truth in the passage is the Comfort of His Coming. When Christ comes either with us or for us, we will be re-united, “together with them” (our believing friends and loved ones). The Lord will have the comforting ministry of re-uniting. A picture of this is given in Luke 7:15: “And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he (meaning Jesus) delivered him to his mother.”
This truth means we will know each other in glory. The account of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-5 gives evidence of this truth and first Corinthians 13:12 says, “For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then, shall I know even as also I am known. It will be a glorious event to meet the Lord and always be with Him and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Meeting the Lord face to face conveys the idea of meeting a royal person or important person personally. We walked with Jesus Christ by faith but now we shall “see Him as he is and become Like Him” (1 John 3:1-2). As members of a royal priesthood, we shall come back with Him to the earth to reign with him at the time He sets up His Kingdom.
Paul says since we have the certainty of His Word, the confidence of His return and the comfort of His coming, we should “Therefore comfort one another with these words.” We should talk about these things and become hope givers not hope destroyers out of ignorance or worse stupidity. Instruct and exhort one another concerning death for the Christian. Death is only a shadow for the believer in Christ and shadows cannot hurt you. Adrian Rogers writes, “For every shadow, there must be light. A shadow may frighten you, but a shadow cannot really hurt you. Death is but a shadow if you know the Lord Jesus Christ. If you keep your face toward to The Light (John 8:12), the shadow will fall behind you. You won’t even see the shadow. God doesn’t bring us to a valley to leave us there. He always brings us through.”
Death is not an accident -- it is an appointment. The Bible says there is a time to be born and a time to die. God would not have us be ignorant concerning a believer’s death but to be comforted with the truth of the resurrection hope made possible through faith in Jesus Christ. The door of death simply opens the door of heaven for the believer. May we serve to answer the world’s heart-felt cry: “Where Is The Hope When Death Knocks on the Door?” May people see lived out in our lives that Jesus Christ is not just a hope but the Hope for a dying world.
