You may have seen the Peanuts comic strip in which Lucy and Linus are staring out the window on a rainy day. Lucy muses, “Boy, look at it rain! What if it floods the whole world?” Linus responds, “It will never do that. In the ninth chapter of Genesis, God promised Noah that would never happen again, and the sign of the promise is the rainbow.” Lucy replies, “You’ve taken a great load off my mind,” to which Linus responds, “Sound theology has a way of doing that!”
Paul believed the same truth. There were believers in Thessalonica who were ill informed about the truth of the state of those who had died in the Lord before them. This was causing them to grieve hopelessly, which was not healthy. In the text before us this morning (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18), he provides sound theology about the return of Christ in order to “encourage” them, and to help them “encourage one another,” with his words.
The theology that he provides here does not answer every question we might have about the return of Christ, but it does offer basic information that should take a load off our minds as we consider the realities of death and eternity. Essentially, he offers encouragement with these simple truths: Jesus is coming back; he will bring with him believing loved ones who have died before us; we will be resurrected; and, together with deceased loved ones, we will spend eternity with the Lord. Death should not cause us to grieve hopelessly because there is a promise of resurrection.
As we briefly consider the sound theology recorded in these verses, we observe at least three ways in which it offers us relief.
First, Paul encouraged his readers (and us) that the future hope is less about a place and more about a relationship. His emphasis in these verses is not about what heaven will look like, or what the restored earth will be like. His emphasis is on the fact that “we will always be with the Lord.”
Christians have all sorts of questions about heaven. Randy Alcorn, who is touted by some as an “expert” on heaven, has written a book length treatment on heaven. The simple reality, however, is that most of what we think about heaven, or the afterlife in general, is pure speculation. Alcorn answers questions in his book like, “Will animals, including our pets, live again?” and, “Will there be arts, entertainment, and sports?” and, “Will we design crafts, technology, and new modes of travel.” While we might derive answers to these questions philosophically and, to a degree, theologically, the Bible doesn’t directly address them. The Bible is less interested in telling us what our eternal dwelling will be like and more interested in encouraging us that, whatever it looks like, we will be “with the Lord.” And since that is our eternal destiny, we should spend as much time as possible getting to know the Lord in the present.
Second, Paul encouraged his readers (and us) that death is not the end of our existence. Significantly, he did not focus on the intermediate state—and the Bible says very little, if anything, about the period between our death and resurrection—but on the resurrection. Our hope in the face of death is not a disembodied state in heaven moments after we die but the resurrection of our bodies when Christ returns.
This understanding should encourage us as it informs our expectation of the eternal state. We, and our loved ones who have died before us, will not remain dead forever. A day of resurrection is coming, at which point we will be ushered into eternal bliss in our Lord’s presence. This will be a corporate experience (“we will always be with the Lord”), which means that Christians look forward to a glorious experience of eternal reunion in a relationship in which we will be eternally freed from sin, suffering, and death.
Third, Paul encouraged his readers (and us) that our theology of death and resurrection should profoundly impact the way we live in the present. A sound theology of resurrection offers us hope (v. 13), encouragement (v. 18), and enables us to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). A sound theology of Christ’s return is profoundly impactful for the way we live today.
As you meditate on 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 this morning, allow the sound theology of Christ’s return and our resurrection to eternal life to offer you hope and encouragement in your daily life.
