8/27/14- 1 Thessalonians 4

13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14For 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. 15According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For 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, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4) 

Thoughts: So what happens when we die, and what will happen at the end of history?  This is what Paul is talking about here.  First we are not to believe that death is the end, or that God is not in charge of life- even when we die.  Second, we are not to grieve like people who do not believe and do not have hope.  We grieve with limits- because we will see those who believe again.  
    A word of caution here.  Paul uses the metaphor- "sleep" to describe those who have died (vs. 16b).  Some (like the Jehovah's Witnesses) believe that when we die we sleep until the end times (called soul sleep).  But we always interpret scripture with scripture.  Jesus told the thief on the cross "today you will be with me in paradise."  Paul said that to depart from this life was to be with the Lord. Jesus spoke in Luke 16 in his parable of Lazarus and Dives that Abraham was conversing with Lazarus before the end times. The transfiguration of Elijah and Moses is also an indication that these believers do not sleep but live a transfigured life.   
 For Christians death is like sleep because we close our eyes on this side, but wake up on the other side in heaven.  But let us not miss that is it a metaphor here.
    The end of the story is that we who believe will be with the Lord forever.  It is because of God's presence after death that we will have hope and we can encourage one another. 

Prayer: Lord, keep me encouraged- so that I will not lose hope no matter what.