Friday, November 30, 2012
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus ...
THE BELIEVER WILL NOT REMAIN IN THE GRAVE
Sometimes we use euphemisms (good sounding words or phrases) in an attempt to soften the blow. Instead of telling a child that a parent has a terminal disease, he may be told, "Daddy's tired." Many times we don't like using the word "death." We'll use such terms as "passed away" or "passed on" because to use the word die seems so final and cold. But we don't want to make the mistake of thinking that God is just trying to protect our feelings by calling death "sleep." He tells us the truth. For the Christian, death is sleep from which he will be awakened to live with Jesus.
Some would call us ignorant or naive when it comes to death. The accusation might be that we're not dealing with reality. Here is where we need to go back to the facts that God presents to us. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). There is beautiful simplicity in those words. In Christ there is life. Knowing of Him and His death and resurrection we have the key to everlasting life. In Christ it is not death to die, only sleep.
Faith ties us to Christ. It connects us to what He has done. Through faith His death becomes our death. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. His resurrection becomes our resurrection. In 1 Corinthians Jesus is called the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. In other words, if you're curious about what will happen to you, look at Jesus. His resurrection with a glorified body speaks to your future. Just as the grave could not hold Jesus, so also it will not hold you. The same power that was used to resurrect Jesus will be used to summon you and all believers from the grave. With the idea of sleep there then follows being awakened.
