THE GLORIOUS HOPE
Revelation 21:1 – 22:5   1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (text)
INTRODUCTION
Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, many years ago I had to go and see the parents of a young fellow who worked for me and who had, very sadly, died from drowning. I found it a very difficult thing to do. For I went to them as a Christian, a bearer of a message of hope, with no hope. The young man and I had had several conversations about the Lord over quite some time, but he had never put his faith in Jesus Christ.

Some years later, I was talking to an unbelieving workmate who was commenting on the difference he saw between funerals of a believer and funerals of unbelievers. He made the remark that when he had been to funerals in evangelical churches, they had quite a different note about them – a note of hope and joy that brightened the sorrow.

Such is the difference between a believer who has a message of hope visiting those who grieve with no hope and an unbeliever with no hope visiting those who grieve but who have hope.

The Thessalonians had this hope also. They knew Christ was coming again. They believed in God and were waiting for his Son from heaven, Paul told us in 1:10. They knew God had called them into his own kingdom and glory, he said in 2:12.

But some things had happened lately that clouded that hope and their joy. Since Paul had been with them, some of their fellow believers had died. It seems that the Thessalonians had thought Jesus was to come again in their lifetime. So they were afraid that those who had died were lost – because the Son from heaven they were waiting for hadn't arrived yet. Furthermore, if that was the case for them, what about us who at present, at least, are still alive? What if we die? Do we miss out on this salvation? What's going on Paul?

It is possible their question might have been a little different. It might not have been that they thought these former fellow-believers were lost. Maybe they still believed in the resurrection on the last day as Mary, the brother of Lazarus believed in it. But then these fellow-believers who had died would miss out on the wonderful meeting when Christ comes again to call us into his kingdom and glory. And that is not a day to be missed. 2 Thessalonians 1 tells us that on that day Christ will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and in flaming fire … and with the glory of his power; and that he will be glorified in his saints on that day and marvelled at among all who have believed. As I said, it doesn't sound like a day to be missed. It sounds like and it will be a cosmic, historical one and only. So maybe the Thessalonians' fear is that those who have died will miss out on this.

Whatever their precise concern, Paul's concern underneath all he says is for the Christian joy and hope, the confidence of the Thessalonian believers, and their comfort over the loss of their loved ones. And these three go together. You can't have hope without confidence; you can't have joy without confidence; and you can't have confidence without joy and hope.

What exactly is the Christian hope? Paul tells us in Titus 2:11-13 that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires … looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus.

The appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, he says. And when that appearing is like Paul described it in 2 Thessalonians 1, who would want to miss it? 

There are two aspects to Paul's teaching here about meeting and being with Christ that I would like to talk about this morning. The first thing I want to say is this;

1.	TO MEET CHRIST IS TO BE WITH CHRIST
Three times here Paul talks about believers who have died as being asleep. It is common in many religions to talk about death being sleep. But in other religions, it is a euphemism – a nice way of talking about a very un-nice thing; a way of blurring the hard reality.

But when Paul talks about believers being asleep, he really means it. The body is presently lifeless; it is dead so far as this life is concerned. But when Jesus comes again, that body will be raised again to new life. It can really be described as being asleep and it will one day wake up, as it were.

If the body is asleep, what then about the soul? Some people have believed that the soul of believers also sleeps – that when believers die, they are not conscious at all. They are not aware of anything either in heaven or on earth, but they are unconscious until Christ raises them when he comes again.

But if that is true, what does it mean then when Jesus told the thief on the cross, Today, you will be with me in Paradise? That is only really meaningful, that is only really a comfort if it means that he is conscious that he is in Paradise and conscious that he is with Christ.

So Paul can say, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He thought he might soon die and he didn't know whether to wish for death or to remain alive with the Philippians and continue to be useful to them in their faith. I'm hard-pressed to make a choice (as if he had a choice!), because I desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better (than his present state) (Philippians1:21ff.).
 
Paul talked often about the blessing of being united with Christ and having communion with Christ even in this life. If the soul sleeps between death and the resurrection at the return of Christ, how is it a gain to die? If the soul sleeps between death and the resurrection at the return of Christ, how is it far better to depart, to die, and be with Christ?

When we die, our bodies are indeed asleep in the grave, but our souls are immediately in Paradise with Christ. So, for our essential personality, to die is to gain; it is far better because we are immediately with Christ – as spirits without bodies. So Paul speaks in verse 14 about those who have died as being asleep in Jesus. Even though the body is dead and in the grave, their souls are still united with Christ. Death does not break that union and that fellowship with God and his Son, Jesus Christ, which is part of what it actually means to be a believer.

When Paul goes on to speak about meeting the Lord when he comes again, the end of it all is; thus shall we always be with the Lord. Think about this for a moment. This is The End Paul is talking about here; this is the climax of all history; this is ultimate point to which all the work of God and Christ in the world is reaching for. This is the final state, the eternal state he is describing here: thus shall we always – and how does Paul describe this final, climactic, ultimate state and condition in which we will always be? He describes it as being with the Lord; thus shall we always be with the Lord.

In other places – and I quoted some of them earlier – he talked about the coming of Christ as being with the power of his mighty angels and great glory, being glorified in his saints and marvelled at in those who believe.

In Revelation it is talked about as being the time when all tears will be washed away from our eyes and there will be no crying, nor pain or suffering. And it talks about the beautiful city of God being adorned as a bride dressed for her wedding day and coming down out of heaven back to a renewed and cleansed earth and there will be streets paved with gold and city gates shining with precious stones and a river of life running through the middle of the city with trees on either side whose leaves are for the healing of the nations and which bear fruit every month – and all sorts of other wonderful things like that.

It is all very true and it is all very wonderful and we ought to look forward to it. But when Paul wants to talk about it in one phrase, he simply says, so shall we always be with the Lord. To live is Christ and to die is gain – more of Christ. I would love to depart (this world) and be with Christ, which is far better.

So in the middle of those beautiful pictures in Revelation about the new heavens and a new earth is Christ. There is no temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city doesn't need the sun or the moon, for the glory of God illumines it and its lamp is the Lamb. Even there, the centre-piece of all that glory, the crowning glory, that which makes all the rest glorious, indeed even possible and certainly meaningful, is the Lord Jesus Christ. All those other things without Christ only amount to a Muslim heaven, a heaven of sensual pleasures.

What does Paul tell us God is doing in the world in Ephesians1? He wants to sum up everything, he is gathering up everything in Christ – so it all finds its meaning, its place, its joy, its fulfilment, its happiness, its glory, in Jesus Christ.

Which means this, brothers and sisters. What heaven means to us in the future is what Christ should mean to us now. Heaven is not so much to be relieved of suffering, but to be with Christ (Veldkamp). Is that what drives us right now? Can we say with Paul; for me to live is Christ? And everything else I might ever own or achieve I consider but dung and will readily be done with it that I might know Christ better?

To meet Christ when he comes again is to be with Christ. Even as life should be Christ right now. How much do we pursue that?

2.	ALL CHRISTIANS WILL ENJOY CHRIST EQUALLY
Paul says whether we die now or are alive and remain when Christ comes makes no difference to our enjoyment of all this. As I said, whether the Thessalonians were concerned that the believers who had died were lost; or that they would miss out on the wonderful and glorious history-fulfilling event, his Second Coming, we can't be completely sure. But either way, those who have died in Christ before he comes are at no disadvantage.

What is the programme?
Verse 14 tells us that since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so when he comes again from heaven, God will bring them, that is, their souls, with Christ. He must bring their souls from heaven with him because if Christ died and rose again in his human body, so must all those who die in him be raised in their human bodies – because Christ is our representative; he is our captain; what is true of him must be true of us.

In verse 15, we who are alive and remain when he comes have no advantage over those who have died. We will not precede them – we'll not receive our resurrected bodies before them.

Verse 16 – now Paul tells us what will happen. At the last day, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout – actually a command, the word means. He will command the graves to open and release the bodies of the dead. The archangel will announce his coming and the trumpet of God also – exactly what that means I don't think we can know and we don't need to. But certainly it is going to be a very public event. All who are in the tombs will hear his voice and shall come forth (John 5:28). And the dead in Christ will be raised first. And their resurrected bodies will be reunited with their souls that Christ has brought down from heaven. 

Then – verse 17 – we who are alive and remain when he comes shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in air. And as we are caught up, we too shall be given new resurrected bodies. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians15:50-53. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trump will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
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On this point, this is a clear enough passage. And what is the state of those asleep in Christ is not really a problem for us today. 

Yet, if we think about what Paul says immediately before this passage about getting on and attending to our own business and working with our hands that we may commend the Gospel to outsiders and not be in any need, there is something to say to us here today. Always there is a tendency to see ourselves as the last generation, the generation on which all history hinges and has waited for. The Corinthians, so Paul, acted as if all wisdom had come with them. The Thessalonians had the view the Lord should come for them.

We still have the same thing today. In some circles there is a fanatical expectation for the coming of the Lord and a great concern about being left behind. Well, if that makes people fervent in seeking to win their neighbours for Christ, perhaps not so much harm is done. But brothers and sisters, we have been waiting for 2,000 years and who knows if we may not have to wait another 2,000?

In the meantime, the Lord can come for any one of us at any time – we might die like those Thessalonians. So whether the Lord might come at any minute should, in one sense, make little difference.

But Paul's point was to encourage the Thessalonian believers about their loved ones who had died. Look people, he says, don't be concerned about them; their future is as sure as yours. Indeed, they are with the Lord right now and they shall actually receive their resurrection bodies a split second before those who are alive when Christ comes. But the outcome for us and them is the same – complete and full renewal of body and soul. And thus all saints shall be together, in fellowship with one another and with the Lord always, forever. 

This is another proof that we will recognise one another in eternity. There is no point Paul comforting them by telling them they shall be together with their loved ones who have died before them if they are not going to recognise them when they meet, if we are really all going to be, in reality, a bunch of new and different people to each other.

True, we will not be married in eternity. Our present human family ties will not mean the same. But we will recognise each other and be very glad to see each other and be reunited. So Paul tells us that our grief over our loved ones who have died in Christ must not become despair. He doesn't tell us not to grieve – but there is hope underneath it and it is on that hope we live.

But there is another encouragement here too. The most important thing in life – this life and the next – is to be with Christ, to live in communion with Christ, to serve Christ.

People of God, is this our aim in life? Jesus told us to cut off any love for anything that hampers our communion with God. For what good shall it be if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

What good is it if you get that extra job but it makes you a hassled mother and you cannot make your home an oasis of peace and quiet and stability in a world of turmoil in which children don't know what to believe and are pulled this way and that at every turn. And perhaps also because you don't have the energy to give them the time they need.

What good is it if you get a better job, perhaps in nearly every way, but which requires you regularly or often to work on the Lord's Day so that not only do you disobey the Lord, not only is your communion with the Lord with your brothers and sisters cut in half, but neither does your whole home and family enjoy the Lord's Day as it ought – together in peace and quiet with the family and Christian friends and with relaxed time for fellowship and discussion, especially for the things of the Lord? And for how many of us is that almost the only time in the week when we can have a reasonably lengthy period of time for that sort of thing? And neither do you set the example of a Christian home for your children to follow with your grandchildren.

What good does it do us if we get caught up in the busyness of this life, and its attractions and entertainments – even the good things of creation, things God has given us directly, if we don't have time to nurture our souls and life and fellowship with Christ? This is eternal life, to know God in fellowship with Jesus Christ. For me to live is Christ, and to die is to gain, for whether in this life or the next, the aim, the ultimate, the climax of it all is to be with Christ.

If the comfort Paul gave these Christians in their fear of having lost their loved ones was that they would always be together with the Lord, can the same blessed treasure not be even better compensation for whatever of this life we might not have to be real, devoted children of God? If that is the comfort for the loss of a loved one, surely it is even greater comfort for the loss of lesser things?

Jesus calls us to sacrifice – you can't have me and the world, he says. And brothers and sisters, we are becoming worldly. We are getting far too caught up with the things of this life. Jesus said, Whoever gives up whatever in this life will be rewarded a hundred times in joy in this life, and in the life to come, with eternal life; eternal, blessed fellowship with your believing loved ones with the Lord; with the living God! with the eternal Creator and Almighty ruler of all that is or ever shall be; with the fountain of all blessedness and joy and happiness and true pleasure.
Will we really spend our lives with the trifling toys that are passing away? For it is the things that are unseen, spiritual things, the things of God, Paul tells us, that are eternal.

Jim Elliot, the missionary to the Auca Indians and who died at their hands in 1956 said, He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep to have what he cannot lose. But we are definitely fools to try to keep what we cannot and in so doing pass up what otherwise we can never have.
 
Have you lost a loved one in Christ? Grieve – but hope – and hope with a sure hope for you shall see him again and together you shall forever be with the Lord who loved you and gave himself for you.

Are there lesser things to be given up or thrown away? They are but dung, Paul says. But it is disappointing how much dung means to us sometimes. Give them away for that may be the very thing you need to do so as forever to be together with your loved ones with the blessed God for an eternity of infinite happiness and pleasure at his right hand which simply can't be had in this world in anything. Surely that comfort is worth the loss of anything of merely this life.

To be with Christ, people of God, that is the goal, that is the great joy in this life and the next. Let us strive for it.							Amen

John Rogers, Reformed Church of the North Shore, 28th September, 2003.