1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are 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.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, November 12, is First Thessalonians chapter four, verses 13 through 18. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do, who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, and with a voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are 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 urines the reading this passage from First Thessalonians is a teaching that St. Paul gives to the Thessalonians. Whenever you read Thessalonians, you should remember that St. Paul had a very short time with them before he was driven away. I think it was about one week. And so you can imagine it's very short time he goes in he preaches a whole bunch of people are converted by the miracles in the work that he does. And then the persecutors chase him out. Can you imagine being a brand new baby Christian, and you've only had a teacher for a week? What kinds of things might you believe and not know about? And so Thessalonians is all all about correcting some misunderstandings and encouraging them to remain faithful and their baby Christian state. And this one is all about informing them about what happens when Jesus returned. This was also the passage that I'm going to preach on. And this Sunday, I'll talk a little bit about the rapture and why this is not consistent with Lutheran theology. But we won't dive into that so much today. Instead, we're just going to take a look at what St. Paul says specifically, he says, We do not want you to be uninformed brothers about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do, who have no hope. St. Paul's using a fingering figure of speech, when he uses the word asleep. What he means is dead. But they're asleep in Christ, because Christ will come back and wake them up. Pretty great, right? So he says you don't grieve, like others do because they have no hope. We Christians, we still grieve, but not as people without hope. We have the hope knowing that Christ will come again and raise them from the dead. He continues, for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with Him, those who have fallen asleep. So the pattern for resurrection is the same pattern that Jesus had. Because Jesus died and rose again, all who are in Christ will who die will rise again as well. Jesus will wake up the sleepers. Paul continues. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. So St. Paul is saying that when Jesus returns, the dead will rise first, as it continues, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. So, St. Paul is giving us a clear image of what will happen on the day Jesus returns, He will descend from heaven with a cry of command, a voice of an archangel, and the sound of a trumpet. You're not going to miss that. Jesus coming down from heaven, his voice crying out calling up the dead, with a voice of an archangel in the sound of a trumpet, this is going to be a big deal. Then the dead rise first. Ball continues, then we who are 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. So the dead will rise first. And then God will gather all who are alive who are with the Lord. up with him in the cloud. St. Paul also reminds us in First Corinthians chapter 15. What happens with us who are alive is that our bodies will change, that the perishable body will put on the imperishable, and the mortal body would put on immortality, and death will be swallowed up in victory. So the Thessalonians were worried about this and St. Paul gives them a clear teaching, that when Jesus returns, you're not going to miss it is not going to be a secret. He will raise the dead, we will all be caught up with him and be with Him forever. And he finished his out saying, Therefore encourage one another with these words. And that's what we've been doing the Christian church ever since then, we encourage one another with the promise of Christ that on the day he returns, we will be with Him forever. That's it for today. See you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai