Certain Hope for Uncertain Times
01/06/2002 - What will happen when Jesus comes?
About this time each year at our house we have the ceremonial changing of the kitchen calendar. It's the first week of the New Year and that means it's time to retire the 2001 calendar and put up 2002. The changing of the kitchen calendar is almost a sacred event, right up there with taking down the Christmas tree and throwing out the fruitcake that someone always seems to give us every year! Our life runs on the almighty kitchen calendar. God forbid that we should ever lose the kitchen calendar. Life as we know it on this planet would be over. Maybe that's a good thing.
It's on the kitchen calendar that we have recorded dentist appointments and doctor's visits and piano lessons and violin lessons and swimming lessons and basketball practices and games and gymnastics practices and meets and school assemblies and family birthdays and relatives birthdays and friends birthdays and meetings of one kind or another and vacations and trips and conferences and church events and retreats and weddings and funerals (not funerals)! Some dates are circled and some dates are starred and some dates, like the kid's birthdays, have big neon signs attached to them. And when I Iook at the kitchen calendar, I can get exhausted. So I try not to look at it too much. When I do look at it, I try to look at just one day at a time.
Kitchen calendars. A lot of us live by them. Do you know that God has a kitchen calendar too? He does. He's got a huge kitchen calendar. He has everybody's birthday written on it and everybody's death day written down too. King David wrote in Psalm 139:16, All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
On God's kitchen calendar all the special days are circled. Like the day he created the world and the day Adam and Eve sinned and the day he flooded the earth and the day he rolled back the Red Sea and the day his temple was dedicated in Jerusalem and the day his temple was destroyed and the day Jesus was born and the day Jesus died and the day Jesus rose again and the day Jesus went back to heaven. All those special days are circled on God's kitchen calendar. And the next date that God has circled on his calendar is the return of Jesus Christ at an event called the rapture of the church. And it could happen anytime.
But there's something special about this date. Nobody knows when it will be except God the Father. He's the only who knows when it's going to happen. The angels don't know when it will happen. The Holy Spirit doesn't know. Even Jesus doesn't know the date of his return. That's what he said in Matthew 24:36,42, No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father ... Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
Yet, while no one knows the day or the hour of Christ's return, we do know what will happen when Jesus comes. And this morning we want to look at the most descriptive passage of the next event on God's prophetic calendar, the rapture of the church. If you have a Bible turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Today we continue our series called Certain Hope for Uncertain Times. As we enter this New Year we all know that we live in uncertain times and we need certain hope. And certain hope is only found in knowing the truth. And when it comes to the future there are a lot of crazy ideas out there about what might happen and most of them have little or nothing to do with truth. Which is why we need to take our cues from the time tested truth of God's Word.
And the book we've been studying together, 1 Thessalonians, has a lot to say about the certain hope we have in the second coming of Jesus Christ. Each one of the five chapters in the book ends with a promise about the return of Jesus. And the most detailed is found in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Now before we look at the passage let me show you just how much God has to say about the second coming of Jesus Christ and not just in the New Testament. According to one scholar there are 1,845 references to the second coming of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Seventeen of the 39 books in the Old Testament talk about it with some prominence. There is way more in the Old Testament about Jesus' second coming than about his first coming that we just celebrated on Christmas. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to it. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament there are 316 references to the second coming of Christ. That's more than one per chapter, or one out of every 30 verses. By far, the return of Christ is the most dominant theme in the New Testament.
For every prophecy in the Bible about the first coming of Christ there are eight that look forward to his second coming. This is truth that saturates the Bible because God doesn't want us to miss out on this certain hope. Jesus Christ is coming back. Guaranteed. Count on it. And it could be in our lifetime. It could be today. Now let's look at the event known as the rapture, as it's described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep (that's a euphemism for believers who die) , or to grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
It's important to realize that this passage on the return of Christ was written by the apostle Paul not to address some theological debate, or answer some intellectual question, but to bring comfort and hope to people who were grieving and mourning the death of their loved ones, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles.
Paul is writing to brothers and sisters here, Christians, new believers from the church he started in Thessalonica. And these new believers were concerned that Christian family members and friends who had died, fallen asleep, Paul says, would miss out on the coming of Jesus. They thought they would miss out on the kingdom that Jesus would bring to this earth. That's how close they thought his coming was. They thought they'd never see their loved ones again. And so in this passage, Paul assures them that they will see their deceased relatives and friends again and they're not going to miss out on a thing. In fact, they're going to be resurrected from the grave and be first in line at Christ's return. Paul says it's okay to sorrow and grieve over the loss of a loved one, but not like those who have no hope.
Now, look at what's going to happen when Jesus comes. Four events are mentioned in this passage that can easily be remembered by four "R's." First, there is the return of Christ. Look at verse 16, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.
The Lord himself is coming for his church. He's not sending a messenger to go it. He's coming himself. And when he comes it's going to be a noisy event. It's going to be loud. Loud enough to raise the dead! The first coming of Jesus was a quiet affair. Only a handful of people knew that a baby had been born in a parking garage, behind a packed out Holiday Inn in downtown Bethlehem. People a few feet away didn't even know what happened. That was the first coming of Christ.
But at his second coming everyone will know something's up! First, there will be a loud command. Jesus put it this way in John 5:25, I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
Jesus used a loud command to bring Lazarus back from the dead in John 11:43, When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" Someone has said that if Jesus hadn't said "Lazarus, come out," the whole cemetery would have come back to life. Lazarus was raised to life, but he wasn't resurrected. He was only resuscitated. He didn't get his glorified body so eventually he died a second time. Kind of mixed blessing for poor old Lazarus, the man who died twice.
There will be a loud command. There will be the voice of the archangel. There's only one archangel mentioned in the Bible and his name is Michael. He's referred to in Jude verse 9 and Daniel 12:1 where he's described as the great prince who protects God's people. Michael will have a big part in this special event.
And then there will be the trumpet call of God. Trumpets were used in Paul's day to signal special events. And this event will be special.
Paul also talks about the trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NLT), Listen, I tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die.
Nothing in history can compare to the fanfare that will accompany the return of Jesus Christ. It will get everyone's attention!
When Jesus returns there will be a resurrection of the dead. Look again at verse 16, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command (shout), with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
These troubled believers in Thessalonica needed to know that they would see their loved ones again. And Paul says, "Yes you will. If they were believers, if they were in Christ, they will rise from the dead when Jesus returns." And that is certain hope.
In the Roman world at that time there was no hope of resurrection. It was not unusual to find the words "No hope" chiseled on Roman tombstones. People in that day had no hope of a resurrection. But Paul says, "We do!"
And when we're resurrected our bodies will be transformed into bodies just like Jesus had after his resurrection. Paul puts it this way in Philippians 3:21 (NLT), He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere.
When Jesus came back from the dead he had a body that could eat and drink, that could be felt and touched. But it was also a body that could disappear and pass through walls. It had a supernatural quality to it. It was a glorified body. And that's the kind of body we'll receive at the rapture. If we're alive when Jesus returns our bodies will be instantly transformed. And if we're dead when Christ comes back our bodies will be resurrected out of the grave glorified.
Will we recognize one another? Absolutely. Will we be able to touch and hug each other? You bet. What about people who have been cremated or vaporized? Can God resurrect them? He sure can. Remember, he's the God who created the universe out of nothing and Adam out of the dust of the earth. Nothing is too hard for him.
If you're a believer in Jesus Christ when you die, your spirit goes immediately to heaven, to be with the Lord. That's what Jesus said to the thief on the cross who believed, "Today you will be with me in paradise." To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But our bodies go into the grave and await the return of Christ when they will be resurrected and joined with our spirit in that mid air collision.
And that will happen at this event called the rapture of the church. Look at verse 17, After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Jesus will return to the clouds. The dead in Christ will be resurrected and go first, then those who are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds. The word "caught up" is the word rapture. It comes from the Latin word "rapto" which means to "be caught up or snatched away."
We have illustration of it in the New Testament. A man named Philip was raptured after he led an Ethiopian official to Christ and baptized him. The story is found in Acts 8:39-40, When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away (raptured Philip away), and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
God did a little rapture test with Philip. He snatched him away from one city and dropped him back down in another. Major jet lag I'm sure. That's what's going to happen to us. God's church will be snatched away, plucked right off the planet and taken to heaven. And I can't wait.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Only two things in life are certain ... death and taxes." Well, he was half right. Taxes are certain. But death is not certain for believers who will be alive at the rapture. And that could be us.
The return of Christ. The resurrection of the dead. The rapture of the church. And then the reunion of loved ones. Look again at verse 17,After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Archeologists have discovered an inscription found in a cave in Thessalonica written at the time of Paul that reads, "After death there is no revival. After the grave no meeting of those who have loved each other on earth." What a sad perspective on life. How untrue!
There is going to be a meeting of those who loved each other on earth. There's going to be a great reunion in the clouds. It's going to be awesome! Now I know family reunions aren't always awesome. But this is going to be a wonderful thing. Seeing family and friends and people from our past. People who have moved out of our lives, but never moved out of our hearts. There'll be people there that will surprise you. You'll look at them and say, "What are you doing here?" And they'll look at you and probably say the same thing.
The return of Jesus Christ at the rapture will be the most exciting event of our lives. I don't care if you're into snow boarding or mountain climbing or bungee jumping or sky diving or extreme sports the most exciting experience of your life is ahead of you, if you know Jesus Christ. That's the certain hope that we as Christians have to look forward to in these uncertain times.
And Paul concludes this section by saying in verse 18, Therefore encourage each other with these words.
The truth of Christ's return is meant to encourage us. These words weren't meant to scare us or confuse us or cause us to argue and debate with one another. They were meant to comfort and encourage us that we will see our loved ones again who knew Jesus. And they're not going to miss out on thing.
Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead he ascended into heaven. And when he did, he had a round trip ticket. He's coming back and that event could happen at anytime. Are you ready for his return? Will you be at that great reunion in the sky?
At Valley View Community Church we honor the seeking process. Take as much time as you want to investigate the claims of Jesus. But remember, there's an urgency to putting your faith in Christ. Unless you know the future, none of us know how long we'll be here. Jesus could come today. So do your homework, but then seal the deal. Come to faith in Jesus.