The Hope of the Resurrection

 Meditations on 1 Thessalonians

June 23, 2021

The Hope of the Resurrection

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Imagine you are having coffee with friends after church. A visitor, who has been blind since birth, is brought by a friend to your table just as you are describing the magnificent sunset you saw last evening? In your mind’s eye you still vividly see the awesome display of color that was painted across the sky. How do you describe that scene to the visitor? Of the five senses, sight is the only one the visitor is missing. How do you describe color using only sound, smell, touch or taste? Now you have a measure of the difficulty Paul faced when he needed to explain the second coming of Christ to the Thessalonians (and us.)

Paul relied on metaphors that were inspired from Old Testament events such as Moses descending from the mountain. It is so very important that we do not get lost in the details of the metaphors and try to translate Paul’s imagery into a literal expectation of what it will be like when Jesus comes again. Stand back a bit and try to take in the big picture. When I do, here is what I see in Paul’s description.

This is not about where the dead go when they die or what state the dead are in. It is an affirmation that the dead are in God’s care and when Jesus appears again, they will too.

All God’s children are equal in His sight. When Jesus comes again, we are still equal. Those who have died do not have an advantage over those who are still alive, or vice versa.

Our future resurrection does not mean 'spiritual' life in some faraway place called heaven. It means God’s people will have new and glorified bodies to live with and for God in the new redeemed world God will create.

There is grief when those we love die. But as Paul noted in the opening verse in today’s passage, we do not grieve like people who have no hope.  

My Takeaway:  Christian hope remembers Psalm 30:11,

You have turned my mourning

into joyful dancing.

You have taken away my clothes of mourning

and clothed me with joy

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.