Caught Up (1Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Today's verses, if you don't know what we're we're talking about here in 1 Thessalonians 4, starting in verse 13, it's regarding end times.

So Jesus' second coming, the rapture, all of that.

And it requires that we get a bit more technical today than we normally would.

There's gonna be more slides, we're gonna be kind of diving into some things a little deeper than we might normally.

So grab some coffee if you need it, just if that's gonna help you at all today.

My hope for you, if you're on if you're not one of those people that's on the edge of your seat, is that you can walk away today just learning a few things.

Or maybe no longer scared of the topic.

Or maybe you leave with your interest peaked in a way that's gonna make you want to go and dive in a little bit deeper and start studying these things for yourself.

For me, any of those outcomes would mean success this morning.

So don't feel afraid if you're like, I don't know exactly what that word means, or I'm not exactly sure what he's talking about, or something like that.

It's okay.

Just learn some things.

Hopefully, it piques your interest, hopefully it calms you down a little bit too.

Because Paul starts these verses by saying, we do not want you to be uninformed.

And I think that applies to us here today just as much.

So just be a bit more informed today than when you walked in here.

That's that's the goal of this morning.

So if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's Word?

So we're gonna be reading 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we're gonna go verses 13 through 18.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For we say this to you by a word from the Lord.

We who are still alive at the Lord's coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are still 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.

Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

Let's pray.

Thank you for your word, for all of it.

Lord, even sometimes when we get to verses like these that make us really excited or make us not excited, whatever it might be, Lord, I pray that you would speak this morning, that your Holy Spirit would do a work inside of each one of us, that we would each walk away with something different that you wanted to show us and teach us, or maybe a different perspective, whatever it might be.

Lord, have your way in our hearts this morning, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

So I want to start off by saying there are a lot of different views on what we're gonna be covering today regarding end times, or eschatology.

That's a big word we're gonna be using a lot today, eschatology, and that just means the study of end times.

What we're doing here today, okay?

Eschatology.

And we should admit up front that these verses that we're gonna cover over the next two weeks, actually, because the beginning of chapter five goes into this as well, they're highly debated, they're highly contested, they can be highly divisive as well among Christians.

So I want us to look first at verse 18 once again.

What does it say there?

It says, Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

So, what's the purpose of Paul writing this?

To encourage one another.

I'm gonna ask you this at various times throughout the sermon, and I want you to respond.

What is the purpose of Paul writing this?

To encourage one another.

Okay?

I'm gonna be testing you, see if you guys are awake a little bit later on, okay?

Paul simply wants to calm their hearts.

I really believe that's his intention here.

And to tell them, hey, you guys, just take a breath.

You know, we're gonna see in 2 Thessalonians that more than one person was trying to convince this church that the day of the Lord had come.

And I think this is Paul simply saying, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt when the day of the Lord comes.

It's not gonna be some quiet moment.

You're not gonna need somebody to convince you that the day of the Lord had come.

So he wanted them to be informed about this in order to calm them down.

I mean, what was the purpose of Paul writing this?

You guys are a little slow.

Maybe next time we go a little bit faster.

But as brief as I can, I want to kind of set up the next two weeks for us, talking about a few different end times beliefs, and just know there are more beliefs.

Um, there's more to each one of these beliefs.

Each one of these beliefs have different subsets and variations, and we're not gonna get into all of them.

I'm just gonna paint with a wide brush and just know there's a lot more to everything I'm about to talk to you.

But briefly, here are some of the main views.

Premillennialism.

That's the first one I want to go through.

And that's really the belief that the church will be raptured before the literal millennial reign of Christ.

And then it has three subsets, well, four subsets actually, to premillennialism.

So this is all under that title of pre-millennialism.

Pre-trib rapture, pre-tribulation rapture.

And that's what we believe as a church here at Bide, as a pre-tribulation rapture.

We believe the rapture of the church, what we're gonna be talking about today, will be before a literal seven-year tribulation.

The next one is a mid-trib rapture.

So, right at the midpoint of a seven-year tribulation, the church is gonna be raptured.

Then we have pre-wrath rapture, and that's before the wrath of God is poured out, as we see in Revelation.

Then the church is raptured before that happens.

The question is with that one is when does the wrath start?

You know, and so um, as we're gonna see next week, God did not appoint us to wrath.

So this view kind of comes from that.

But then the question is, well, where in Revelation does the wrath start?

And then the last one is historic premillennial post-trib rapture.

That's a mouthful, isn't it?

So the church endures the great tribulation, is this belief, is then raptured at the end of the tribulation to meet Jesus in the clouds, and then immediately comes back with Christ to establish a literal millennial reign with Christ.

So that's all premillennialism, okay?

The next two aren't as long.

They don't have as many subsets, at least that I'm going to be covering today.

But the second view is all millennialism.

The 1,000-year reign of Christ, as seen in Revelation 20, their belief is that it's symbolic.

And that the millennium is a present-day reality rather than a literal future earthly kingdom of Christ.

They think Christ currently reigns from heaven and through the church, with the millennium being the space between his first coming and his second coming.

So they think we are in the millennium right now.

And then there's post-millennialism, and that's the belief that Christ will return after a long period of peace and righteousness established on the earth by the gospel's success rather than through a future tribulation.

They have a preteristic view of the tribulation.

And then the post-mill, they teach that the church will gradually Christianize the world with the kingdom of God growing through time and history.

And you know what?

I know people that I respect highly that hold these beliefs and have their own logical and scriptural arguments as to why they believe what they believe.

And I know some of you here don't hold the same views that our church holds as well.

And that's okay.

I'm so glad that you're here.

I'm so glad that you feel comfortable coming here and having these differences in time beliefs.

The main thing that we need to be concerned about are the salvific issues, the ones that determine whether we're saved in Christ or not.

You know, we need to agree on those issues of salvation, issues of the gospel, issues of who Jesus Christ is.

You know, and it's great to have discussions about all of this and to ask questions about end times, have even healthy, respectful debates.

There's nothing wrong with that.

But if we find ourselves getting red in the face and arguing with people and getting all this keyboard courage, and we start calling them names and, you know, questioning their intelligence because of their eschatology, we're doing it wrong.

Okay?

That is not.

Paul wrote this to encourage the church, right?

You already know that, don't you?

I was actually listening to a debate a few weeks ago, and it was between these two different pastors on this podcast.

They had very different views of eschatology.

They were also very respectful to one another in this debate about their views and what they believed and why they believed them.

You know, one pretty much shared our views.

The other was an Amillennialist.

And it was awesome.

At the end of their discussion, the Amillennialist said something that was very interesting.

He said, I don't think you're right talking to the pre-tribe guy.

I don't think you're right, but I hope you are.

And if you are, I'll be high-fiving you all the way to heaven.

And I just loved that, that attitude of it.

Like we're we're gonna be worshiping each other's shoulder, not each other, we're gonna be worshiping with each other, shoulder to shoulder, in heaven together.

So let's not let this be decisive or divisive rather now.

And I just loved their take and the respectfulness that took place within that debate.

And I really think that's the heart of God.

We may come to different conclusions on this stuff, but if we believe in the salvific issues together, we're gonna be worshiping with each other in heaven together.

You know, you could just tell they both recognized that these were non-salvific issues.

Their eschatologies were different, but it didn't dictate whether they were saved or not.

But, and they both admitted this, it does affect the way that we interpret different verses in Scripture, like the ones that we're gonna be covering here.

Our view, admittedly, affects the lens in which we view scripture.

And one of the arguments that I really don't like is when people are debating on this subject, like, well, you only see this because that's through your lens of eschatology.

It's like, well, yes, and you're in the exact same boat.

Like, everybody's in that boat once they have this eschatological view, it does make you see verses through a different lens.

All that to say, we're not gonna spend a bunch of time on each of these views.

I just really want to focus on what we believe at Abide.

We will talk about a few different views and why we believe what we believe compared to those, but we do see it through a different lens.

You know, believe it or not, what I believe is because in my home office I have these big bulletin boards with flashcards and future prophecy and verses and dates connected by yarn and thumbtacks, and I've got it all figured out.

If you come next week, I'll tell you who the Antichrist is and I'll set a date for you.

So not at all, not at all.

Believe it or not, one of the biggest reasons I believe what I believe in a pre-mill pre-trib rapture is because Paul uses these verses we have today to encourage the people.

He uses it to encourage these people that are going through intense persecution in Thessalonica.

You know, I have a hard time looking at other eschatologies and seeing how Paul's words here could actually encourage them.

You know, it's like he's saying, Be of good cheer, Thessalonica, be encouraged.

Things are gonna get so much worse before they get better.

You're gonna have three and a half years of hell.

You've never even seen persecution before.

You're gonna have seven years of hell on earth.

And then Jesus is gonna come.

I don't know.

That just doesn't really encourage me.

So the fact that Paul's telling them to encourage each other with Jesus' return, that's really big for me.

What is the purpose of Paul writing this?

Hey, you guys are getting better.

So, with all of that, that was a super long intro, but I felt like we needed to set up the next two weeks.

Let's take a look at verse 13.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

You know, asleep here, as you probably figured out, is referring to Christians who have died before Jesus came back.

Before he comes back.

You know, I love that term that the Holy Spirit has Paul use here.

Christians don't die, they sleep.

Isn't that a much softer language than what he uses to describe Jesus' death in this verse?

You know, if somebody's asleep, there is this expectation that they're gonna wake up, right?

Jesus used this term, this exact word in the Greek.

He told his disciples upon learning of Lazarus' death, he said, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm on my way to wake him up.

You know, and a quick side note here, I just wanted to cover this just to make sure, real shortly, but there is a false teaching that is called soul sleep.

You know, some try to teach through verses like this that when we die on this earth, that our soul goes to sleep until Jesus' return.

So basically our soul's unconscious from the time that we die until Jesus comes back.

And it's really very unbiblical.

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, right?

The thief on the cross next to Jesus, Jesus said, Today you will be with me in paradise.

And there's a lot of other verses, but I just wanted to make sure that none of us, you know, start thinking along those lines.

But back to this idea of Christians grieving differently than those that have no hope.

You know, if you're a Christian and you know a Christian who has passed, you know that grieving is different, don't you?

You know, I've done and I've been to a lot of different funeral services for people and families that are on both sides of the fam of the spectrum, so to speak.

You know, if the deceased or the family of the deceased did not know the Lord, it's different than when you're at a Christian memorial service or celebration of life.

You know, when when there's no certainty of eternity, people just start saying things like, well, they're in a better place.

But really, they don't know where that place is.

You know, they have all kinds of grief at these services before and after.

For the deceased person dying, they feel bad for the deceased person dying.

They feel, you know, bad and they feel grief for everybody that's their mourning.

They feel grief for themselves having lost this deceased person, not knowing if they're ever gonna get to see them or talk to them or be with them again.

Now you go to a celebration of life for somebody that is a Christ follower, it's just different.

We grieve differently and we should grieve differently.

Because we know where we are going.

We know where the deceased has gone, and it's not goodbye.

For Christians, it's like, good night.

I'll see you in the morning.

You know, in the scope of all eternity, that's really what it is.

You know, we still grieve and we should.

Grieving's a very healthy thing that we need to go through, but we shouldn't be grieving for a deceased Christian, not for them.

They're in a much better place, and we know exactly where that place is.

The grief is because we're gonna miss them here on earth.

We grieve, you know, for the family, because they're gonna miss them here on earth.

We, you know, we still have that grief.

We need to grieve on this side of things, but it's different.

You know, Warren Wearsby mentioned something interesting in his commentary, and it's that Christians shouldn't say, I'm sorry for your loss, to another Christian.

Because you can't lose something when you know where it is, can you?

I saw that for the first time this week.

I thought, I really like that.

Like, we're not gonna get all crazy about that, you know, like you shouldn't say that, you're a Christian.

But I love that we know where Christians are, so you can't say sorry for your loss because if you know where it is, it's not loss, right?

You see, for Christians, we have the ability to grieve with hope.

The hope only Jesus can give us in eternal life, the hope of his return as well.

And that's the difference between the grief of the world and the grief of a Christian over somebody that's died.

It's hope.

That's what it is, it's hope.

And this is me guessing here of why Paul is writing these words at this time to this Thessalonian church.

So take it with a grain of salt, because I'm guessing.

But I wonder if, while Paul was with them for that short time, maybe probably three to four weeks, he had them so excited and so convinced that Jesus would come back at any moment, that maybe they were surprised when that first Christian died in their church and Jesus hadn't come back yet.

And they were like, what on earth, Paul?

What about them?

They missed Jesus' return.

What's gonna happen to them?

Are they gonna miss out on the blessing of meeting Christ in the air as you have taught us, Paul?

What's gonna happen to these people?

So I think Paul writes them with this hope and encouragement in verse 14.

Look at it with me.

For if we believe that Jesus died in the same way through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

So, in the same way, the believers who are alive at the rapture of the church will be caught up with Jesus.

For those that are asleep, God's going to bring them too.

We're all gonna get to go together.

They're not gonna miss out.

They're actually gonna rise first in the same manner Jesus did, as it says right here.

And then we all get caught up together.

You know, the logistics of this, nobody exactly knows.

You know, I have a lot of questions about how all of this takes place and what this looks like, and there's a lot of speculation as well.

But I think this simply means those that have passed before the return of Christ will not miss out on anything.

So be encouraged, Thessalonica.

Don't worry about those that have fallen asleep first.

We're all gonna get to go together.

Now look at verse 15.

For we say this to you by a word from the Lord.

We don't know if Paul got this directly from Jesus, you know, maybe in a vision, or maybe it was something that was passed down through the disciples.

They said, This is exactly what Jesus said about this, and Paul learned it from them, but we just know this is from the Lord.

And he goes on, second half of verse 15.

We who are still alive at the Lord's coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

First, I want to point out Paul's expectancy here.

He says, we, doesn't he?

We who are still alive at the Lord's coming.

He lived, I firmly believe, like Jesus was coming back at any moment.

He was expecting the imminent return of Christ.

We who are still alive, when Jesus comes back, will not precede, will not go first, will not, you know, meet Jesus in the air first.

We all get to go together.

But going back to the logistics a little bit, we're on the surface, and the people that haven't, or I'm sorry, the people that have passed away, what happens to them?

I often get the question is it okay for a Christian to be cremated?

Because of this.

Well, at the resurrection, if my ashes are spread at sea and part of me's in the Pacific and part's in the Atlantic, and we'd be like, what does this look like exactly?

I want to share with you.

What I do know.

First Corinthians fifteen thirty-five through thirty-eight.

There's a Paul writing here.

But somebody will ask, How are the dead raised?

What kind of body will they have when they come?

You fool, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

And as for what you sow, you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain.

But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.

Now how the bodies are a seed, and how God will bring together those that are lost at sea, those that are cremated, bodies washed away in a flood from thousands of years ago.

I don't know.

But I know he'll do it.

I know we're gonna love whatever body we receive, and I know he doesn't want us worrying about it either.

Look at verse 16 with me.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout.

Your translation may say, a command, with an archangel's voice, could possibly be Michael, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

So let's take this verse in smaller chunks here, because there's a lot here.

So it says the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a command.

So this is Jesus.

This is not angels, this is not a representative of Jesus.

This is Jesus, and it says singular, one shout, or with a singular command.

So why on earth would I point this out?

Well, those that believe in a mid-trib, pre-wrath rapture will use this verse to say, this is Revelation 10.

But I personally see some differences.

That's why I don't go along with that mid-trib or pre-wrath way of looking at things.

Because this is a singular shout from the Lord Himself.

Revelation 10, there's seven loud voices thundering.

It's not clear in Revelation 10 what type of angel this is.

Very well could be an archangel.

Don't know for sure.

Our passage today says the trumpet of God to gather his church.

This is gathering his church.

In Revelation, there are seven trumpets blown by angels.

They were blown against the earth and against the inhabitants of the earth.

Our verse today speaks of Jesus in the air, in the clouds.

Revelation 10 is an angel in the clouds with one foot in the sea and one foot on land.

So I personally don't see it.

Don't think these are the same two events that we're looking at here.

I think the purpose, again, of Paul writing this is to say, when the day of the Lord comes, you're gonna know.

It's gonna be loud.

Like you're gonna you're gonna see it, you're gonna know.

You're not gonna have to have anybody try and convince you that, oh, it already came.

Like, you're gonna see it, you're gonna hear it, you're gonna know.

Verse 17.

Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them.

So with those that are sleeping, in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Again, I just see Paul's anticipation one more time here.

He's using the word we again.

We who are still alive will be caught up with those Christians who have died before us.

And there's gonna be no point where we're gonna be separated from Christ again.

That makes me excited.

And then this term caught up here, this is where we get our word rapture from.

But you'd actually have to be holding a Latin Bible in your hands to see that word.

But for some reason in English, we latched on to that word and we use it, you know, all the time, but it's actually a Latin word.

In the Greek, though, what we're actually looking at here today, it's harpazzo.

And that means to seize, to carry off by force, to seize on, claim for oneself eagerly, to snatch out or away.

We see this word in Revelation 12.

When Jesus was caught up to heaven, harpazzo.

Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch carried away to Adzatas, Harpazzo.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 caught up to paradise or the third heaven, it says, again, harpazo.

In Acts 23, 10.

The commander was afraid that Paul was gonna get torn into pieces by the crowd, and he commanded, take him away for his own safety.

Again, harpazo.

That's our word that we're looking at right here in verse 17.

And we know from scripture that this is gonna happen unexpectedly, it's gonna happen in the twinkling of an eye, nobody's gonna know the day or the hour, and it's gonna happen when nobody expects it.

You know, scripture says, like a thief in the night.

Next week in chapter 5, we're gonna say when others are claiming peace and security.

This is also another reason why we believe in a pre-trib rapture.

You know, if we did find ourselves living during the tribulation, we could do some calculations.

We could look at Daniel and Ezekiel and Matthew and Revelation, be like, oh yeah, mid trib's around the corner, or you know, or the end of the tribulation is about to hit.

We'll know exactly when that moment is.

But once again, one of the main reasons that we are a pre-mill, pre-trib here at Abid is because of verse 18, which we already read.

Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

He's coming back.

Be encouraged.

You know, if you're mid-trib, pre-wrath, post-trib, all millennial, it would make it hard to do this, I think, personally.

You know, be encouraged.

We're gonna go through hell on earth in a period where the Lord has removed his restraint from earth, and the enemy's gonna run wild.

There's gonna be times where you want to die and you can't.

We're gonna be dehydrated and starving, and things are gonna be eaten on us, and then Jesus will come.

So be encouraged.

Like, I don't know.

That just doesn't make sense to me.

Next week, in chapter 5, the verses we're gonna be covering there, in verses 9 and 10, Paul will tell them as a source of encouragement once again that God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

And if you're thinking, how do you know he's not talking about the wrath of hell here?

Well, you just have to come back next week and I'll tell you.

No, I'm just kidding.

I think he is talking about hell, absolutely, but I also think he's talking about every other aspect of our life.

Not having to go through the wrath of God.

We're saved from God's wrath.

All of it.

But again, we'll get into that a little bit more next week.

So today, as we finish, the main thing I hope that we leave with is not just some random facts or firepower for debates or whatever.

The question I want to leave us with is are we ready for the return of Christ?

Regardless of your belief regarding end times, all the eschatologies that we just talked about today, especially at the beginning, all believe that Jesus Christ is coming back.

We can all agree on that.

So the question is, are we ready?

Are we excited for his return or are we dreading it?

Are we encouraged when we think about his return being imminent?

Or again, are we dreading it?

Are we scared of it?

Do we just not want to think about it?

Paul said, don't be uninformed about these things.

Look at verse 14 again.

If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, that is the key to all of this.

If we believe Jesus died and rose again, then we get to look forward to this day.

No exceptions.

He wants us to look forward to this day.

He wants us to be excited for it.

He wants us to encourage one another with it, just like he's encouraging this church in Thessalonica.

And if you haven't believed that Jesus died and rose again for your sin, why not?

Then you don't have to fear all of this stuff or avoid all of this stuff.

You too can be encouraged by the return of Christ and what we get to look forward to in eternity with him.

Scripture says that if we simply confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in our heart that God raised him from the grave, then we too can be encouraged that he is gonna raise us up when he returns, that we are going to be snatched up with him.

Whether we're alive or we're dead at that time, we can look forward to that by committing our life to Jesus Christ.

And you can do that right now in your seat.

You can do that when you get home and if you had some time to think about it.

You can come up afterwards and we'll pray with you regarding that, whatever it might be.

But are we ready for the return of Christ?

Will you please pray with me?

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for even sermons that might freak us out a little bit or whatever it might be or might cause some debate or whatever it might be.

Lord, we just thank you that you're coming back for your church, for your bride.

Lord, I pray that there would be a genuine excitement in each and every one of us in this room for your return.

That we would live in such a way that we're ready for it.

Not out of fear that you're gonna catch us in the act of something, Lord, but but ready for it, expecting it, encouraged by it, wanting it to happen, because we can't wait to be with you in all of eternity.

We can't wait to be with each other in a place where there's no sin and there's no consequence of sin anymore.

We long for that day together.

So, Lord, I pray that there would be a genuine excitement.

If there is fear in our heart, if there is scariness, Lord, would you bring those things to the surface?

Would you show us why we have those issues and those problems and whatever it might be?

And would you help us, Lord, to resolve those things?

Lord, we love you so much.

We simply want to be your church that's found abiding in you when you return.

So would you show us individually how to do this and as a church how to do that well?

Just clinging to you, depending upon you for everything, because without you, we can do nothing.

God, we love you.

We thank you for your love.

We thank you that you don't want to just leave us in our current state of sin, but you want to catch us up to be in eternity, in perfection with you forever.

We thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that makes this possible, that cleanses us and washes us of our shortcomings, of our sin, and makes us the bride of Christ that is worthy to be his bride, not because of anything that we've done, but because of everything that you've done.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.