notes

Main point summary

Encourage one another and grieve with hope because the risen Lord has said those dead in him will rise and meet him together with the living saints to be with him forever.

Discourse

editing

NT

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

esv

mine

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep ,

Now , brothers, we do not want you to continue being unaware of what happens to Christians who die . We want you to know the truth concerning the matter

g that you may not grieve as others do h who have no hope.

because we do not want you to be sorrowful like the hopeless unbelievers are.

For i since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

Considering the fact that we Christians know and trust that our Savior Jesus' death and resurrection is true,

even so , through Jesus, God will bring with him j those who have fallen asleep .

it follows that we are also certain that, by means of our resurrected Savior Jesus, God will resurrect the dead saints on the day of his return.

For this we declare to you k by a word from the Lord, 1

We are not telling you this as Paul, Silvanus and Timothy. Rather, this is what the Lord Jesus himself has said.

that l we who are alive, who are left until m the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep .

When he comes back, we who are still living upon his return will not meet him first any more than the dead saints will

For n the Lord himself will descend o from heaven p with a cry of command, with the voice of q an archangel, and r with the sound of the trumpet of God.

since this is how the Day will be: the Lord Jesus will appear from the heavenly realm with an unmistakably loud call, akin to that of an archangel and a trumpet blown powerfully for Yahweh.

And s the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then at the call, all the dead who trusted in King Jesus will come back to life.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be t caught up together with them u in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,

After that , we the living saints will be lifted up and gathered together with the resurrected saints in the heavenly clouds above so that we all welcome the Lord Jesus in the sky.

and so v we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore , as we will be united with the Lord Jesus that day, we have the blessed assurance that we will fellowship with him forever .

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

On those grounds , inspire hope and comfort into one another about the dead brothers using these words from the Lord.

One interesting meditation is on the value and power of God's word. Jesus is compassionate enough to consider revealing the fate of believers who die, using his word--nothing else. By his assuring word, ignorant and anguishing saints are informed and comforted. By his word (a cry of command), the dead will come back to life. How powerful! We can place our hope on what Jesus has said just like Paul, Silvanus, Timothy and the Thessalonians did. Isn't it amazing that all Scripture is God's word and it carries the same power for our lives? With the same affections behind them? O how much more we ought to treasure our Bibles and grow in our faith in all it says.

Any time Paul or any other biblical author counters heresy (in this case concerning the end times), I look in the present and see different shades of the same things all around. This text is a wonderful resource to correct the error in our own beliefs about death and in others too.

Unimaginable peace envelopes any follower of Christ who reads such a wonderful promise and takes it to heart. We are forever united to Christ. What can take away our hope? Nothing. Not even death.

Over different contexts in Scripture, including here, Jesus' death and resurrection are ever relevant and always have far reaching implications! Here we see that he didn't simply die and come back to life, but also, those historical events form a foundation for the doctrine that Christians too will be brought back to life if/when we die.

I think it is appropriate to say that the main point summary is the takeaway for this portion of 1 Thessalonians.

This is a clear command: encourage one another. The means? Using these words of Christ. The motivation being Christ himself has said that he is coming again. Our anchor is his death and resurrection.

discourse

Outline

OUTLINE OF 1 THESSALONIANS I. opening 1:1 II. main body 1:2-5:22 A. THE GOSPEL WORK IN THE THESSALONIANS 1:2-3:13 1. THANKSGIVING FOR THE FRUIT 1:2-3 2. THE SOURCE OF THE FRUIT: THE GOSPEL 1:4-5a 3. THE FRUIT IN PAUL, THE OTHERS AND THE LORD 1:5b-6a 4. THE FRUIT IN THE THESSALONIANS 1:6b-8 5. THE TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES 1:9-10 6. THE GOSPEL AND ITS MESSENGERS 2:1-12 i. The Suffering of the Messengers 2:1-2 ii. The Purity of the Messengers 2:3-6 iii. The Method of the Messengers 2:7-12 a. Gentleness 2:7-8 b. Mindfulness 2:9-10 c. Encouragement 2:11-12 7. THE CONVERSION 2:13-16 8. PAUL'S DESIRE FOR THE WELFARE OF THE CONVERTS 2:17-3:13 i. The Desire Unmet 2:17-20 ii. Timothy Sent 3:1-5 iii. Timothy Returns 3:6-10 iv. Paul Supplicates 3:11-13 B. PAUL'S ENCOURAGEMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS 4:1-5:22 1. A GENERAL EXHORTATION 4:1 2. EXHORTATION TO PURITY 4:2-8 3. EXHORTATION TO LOVE 4:9-10a 4. EXHORTATION TO WORK 4:10b-12 5. INSTRUCTION ON THE DEAD 4:13-18 6. INSTRUCTION ON THE DAY 5:1-11 7. ROUNDING ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSTRUCTION 5:12-22 i. Honor the Leaders 5:12-13a ii. Keep the Unity 5:13b iii. Build the Body 5:14 iv. Turn the Cheek 5:15 v. Live Joyfully 5:16 vi. Pray Earnestly 5:17 vii. Live Thankfully 5:18 a. Remember the Reason 5:18b viii. Follow the Spirit 5:19 ix. Test the Prophecies 5:20-21 x. Resist the Evil 5:22 III. closing 5:23-28 A. PAUL OFFERS PRAYER 5:23-24 B. PAUL REQUESTS PRAYER 5:25 C. PAUL GREETS 5:26 D. PAUL GIVES A CHARGE 5:27 E. BENEDICTION 5:28

lookup

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The Coming of the Lord 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, g that you may not grieve as others do h who have no hope. 14 For i since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him j those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you k by a word from the Lord, 1 that l we who are alive, who are left until m the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For n the Lord himself will descend o from heaven p with a cry of command, with the voice of q an archangel, and r with the sound of the trumpet of God. And s the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be t caught up together with them u in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so v we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Notes

Some Key Observations and Questions Author: It is clear that Paul is the author of this letter (1 Thes 1:1). Paul mentions his co-workers Silvanus and Timothy who are with him. This accounts for the use of the first person plural in parts of the letter. Recipient(s): Obviously, this letter is to the church of the Thessalonians (1 Thes 1:1). Relationship: The church of the Thessalonians are fellow believers in Christ. In 1 Thes 4:3, Paul calls them "brothers", an affectionate/familial term for fellow Christians as they're now all God's children . Throughout the remaining portion of the passage, Paul includes them when he writes "we" (except for 1 Thes 4:15a). Moreover, belief in the death, resurrection and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is a fundamental part of who a Christian is. Paul affirms this of the Thessalonians. Occasion: It's not possible to clearly tell the occasion for which the letter was written just by this portion, but in earlier parts of the letter, we learn that it was written because Paul couldn't make it to visit the Thessalonian church even though he had planned and tried to. (1 Thes 2:17 ff). Themes: The main theme in this passage is definitely the fate of believers upon death, especially with regard to Jesus' second coming. The other theme that emerges is the implications of the above for living believers: hope and encouragement as they grieve (and wait). Tone: Paul has an assuring and comforting tone. He earnestly wants the Thessalonians to come to a true knowledge and understanding of their destiny when they die in Christ. Emphatically, he even restates what the Lord himself said about the matter. Purpose: The aim is to complete the doctrine of death and resurrection (for Christ, and all dead believers at his return) in order that the Thessalonians may be comforted/encouraged (and also guarded from hope-sucking heresy) in the face of death. Keywords: Those who are/have fallen asleep [the dead in Christ] Hope (1 Thes 4:13b) The coming of the Lord (1 Thes 4:15b) Rose again/will rise (1 Thes 4:14a, 16b) A word from the Lord/these words (1 Thes 4:15a, 18) General: It's worthy to note the brevity-cum-simplicity of details concerning the last day. Probing questions from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: How did the Thessalonian brothers end up in a state of being uninformed? What does grieving without hope look like? Why did Paul specifically use these references "with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God" to paint the picture of Jesus' public return? Next Steps I hope to use my newly learned skill of paraphrasing and the Biblearc tools I learned about in the Paraphrase course in my personal study of the Bible and especially when preparing to teach Sunday school or to preach homilies and sermons at my local church. I desire more accuracy and appropriateness from my ministry that leads to true heart change (obedience and worship) in me and my hearers. I also hope that this has laid a foundation for me to try and do another Path course. I'd like to study Hebrews (because of its rich connections of the supremacy of Christ with the Old Testament) and perhaps share whatever lessons the Lord teaches me with my wife and some of my fellow church members.

Main point summary

Encourage one another and grieve with hope because the risen Lord has said those dead in him will rise and meet him together with the living saints to be with him forever.