Good morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Friday,
As you look into the future, be it your personal calendar, or the eternal future God has planned for the human race, are there some future things you are very excited about, or maybe dread? Of course, we all understand living in great anticipation of an upcoming event, right?
Today we’re again with the apostle Paul in the later part of 50ad, as he’s writing a wonderful letter of encouragement to the few Christians in Thessalonica, Macedonia. Paul himself had visited that city, not long before, and Paul brought them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who had enthusiastically responded to Paul’s message were seeking to keep growing and stand firm in their faith, even without Paul or any other anointed teacher among them. Remember they did NOT have the New Testament as you and I have it today!
Then as now, one of the troubling issues facing everyone was something that occurs thousands of times every day, all around the world and will impact EVERY human life at some point… DEATH. Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write hope and life into their uncertainty about death. Paul began with these captivating words: “Brothers 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.” (1 Thess. 4:13)
From that day to this, whenever anyone comes to this place in the Bible and reads those words, there is a wonderful sense of relief and hope! God cares about the grief, the pain, the confusion and even fear so many people struggle with when news of death comes to them, or they witness death approaching for themselves or someone they love. God wants us to be informed with God’s truth, because God’s truth defeats the grief, pain, confusion and fear.
Do you notice Paul’s use of the phrase ‘sleep in death’? Every society in the world normally distinguishes SLEEP from DEATH as two similar but very different human experiences. So why would Paul combine those two words? Because fundamental to our understanding of death, from God’s truthful perspective, is that ‘death’ is NOT the cessation of LIFE. Once God creates a person in the conception process, their soul and spirit is designed by God to be IMMORTAL. Do you know the distinction between soul and spirit? (Heb. 4:12)
SOUL is the combination of our God created intellect, emotions, will and personality. (Ps. 103:1-4) SPIRIT is the moral aspect of us, that part of us, which is our sinful nature at birth, but is radically transformed by the Holy Spirit, into a God honoring spiritual nature through our salvation experience. (John 3:3-7) Our BODY, from its conception and formation in our mother’s womb, is very temporary, not lasting more than about 100 years at most. But our Body is home to our soul and spirit and of course is visibly recognizable.
Death is the cessation of the life-giving functions of our body. Our heart stops beating, our lungs stop breathing, our brain stops thinking. In that moment, our immortal soul & spirit leave our dead body. Where do our soul & spirit go at the moment of death? Well, that is determined by our decisions while we were alive. What decisions?
Specifically, the decisions of WHO Jesus Christ is and WHAT the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplish for humanity? And ultimately the decision of will we trust God’s truthful, redemption plan? Will we trust Almighty, Holy God to rescue (save) us from our sin-nature bondage and sin condemnation as God accepts Jesus’ death as payment sufficient for our rebellion against God? (Rom. 5:20,21) Will God apply Jesus’ death payment to our sin debt and save us, rescue us, because we fully believe Jesus is God the Son and His death is therefore the only payment God will accept for our sin? (1 Peter 1:3,4)
If a person acknowledges to God their need for a Savior, realizing they cannot save themselves, and they trust Jesus Christ to be that only Savior (John 14:6) then God rescues that person from their sin condemnation (Rom. 6:23) and at the moment of their death God brings their soul/spirit from their dead body into Paradise, the presence of Jesus! (Luke 23:43) If any person does NOT make that decision, they will spend eternity separated from God. (John 3:16-18&36)
This is, of course, the core truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it calls everyone reading these words or listening to my voice to answer one life and death question: Have you trusted Jesus Christ to be your Savior? Have you experienced Almighty God transforming your Soul and Spirit by His miraculous salvation work. Jesus called it being “born again” (John 3:3-7) because in that experience God makes you into a new creation in Christ! (2 Cor. 5:17)
Paul was so convinced of this concept of ‘sleep in death’ that Paul used the word “departure” twice in his writings, as another description of death. Paul was confident his death here on earth would involve the departure of his soul/spirit from his dying body and the immediate arrival of his soul/spirit in God’s Presence! (2 Tim. 4:7,8 & Phil. 1:20-23)
I have that same assurance for myself, my wife, my 99-year-old Dad, my daughter, her husband and our 5 grand girls. What about you, my friends? Oh, thank you Jesus that our hope is fully in YOU as the reality of death approaches for all of us!! If you have any questions about that my friends, please contact me, we want to help you, so you don’t “grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope.”
As always, the “lessons learned” will be very helpful to you at the link below as will the worship song, and let’s meet here tomorrow for Paul’s description of Jesus’ return!
Today’s Scripture: 1 Thess. 4:13.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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