Ignorance is bliss. I’m convinced that whoever said this did so in ignorance… and for the worse. Ignorance isn’t bliss; it’s just ignorance. Ignorance doesn’t mean that somebody is stupid or dumb. Ignorance means to be uninformed or to have no knowledge. If you search the Scriptures, you will find that ignorance of God’s Word isn’t spoken of very highly. Depending on the topic, ignorance of God’s Word brings anxiety where God would have us be at peace and still.

PAUL BRINGS HOPE AND ENCOURAGEMENT WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY AND THE LIFE EVERLASTING THROUGH THE RETURN OF CHRIST

A crisis has developed in Thessalonica. The Thessalonian Christians experience hopelessness and discouragement simply because they are uniformed regarding their dead brothers and sisters in Christ. Early Church Christians anticipated Christ’s return at any moment—as we all should! Scripture says to keep watch, stay awake, and be ready. The Thessalonians are ready! However, they think that those who die before Jesus’ glorious return will miss out on God’s eternal kingdom and be dead forever. They death would claim them forever. The Thessalonians think salvation is contingent on whether or not a Christian is still living when Christ returns.

Imagine the terror they experience. They don’t want their loved ones to die before Christ returns. They want to do everything within their ability to stay alive until the coming day. So, when Paul says that he doesn’t want them to grieve as those who have no hope, he means that they have been grieving the deaths of loved ones as if they will not be able to enter eternal paradise. They grieve as though their loved ones who have died in Christ will be condemned with the unbelieving world. How tragic!

Paul comforts them in their affliction, saying that Jesus died and rose again. This is the foundation of their hope. Think through it a second. The Lord Jesus who died, also rose again. He holds the power over death and resurrection. The Thessalonians are of the mindset that not even the Lord Jesus can save their loved ones after they die. And Paul says, “No, no, no, the we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Of course He can save your loved ones through death! In fact, through Jesus God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. Jesus died for their sins and yours and by His resurrection He will raise them to inherit eternal life with those who are left. Not only can Jesus save them, but He will save them. It’s a done deal waiting to be revealed. His sacrifice for sin and His rising again on the third day has made it a foregone conclusion.”

Therefore, Paul says that they have fallen asleep. “Sleep” is not simply a euphemism for death. In Christ Jesus, death has been turned into sleep. Jesus said that the little girl was not dead, but sleeping. He said, “Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” In Christ death isn’t permanent; it’s just like going to bed for the night. When the day of Christ’s return arrives, the dead in Christ will be called to life. They will be woken up from the sleep of death just like (for example) a parent, a spouse, or an alarm wakes people up in the morning.

Paul gives the Thessalonians a word from the Lord. Those who are alive when Jesus comes again will not enter heaven before those who have fallen asleep. The Lord will descend with angel, trumpet, and the cry of command. There’s no secret rapture. He will call the dead to arise, exactly as with a loud voice He commanded to Lazarus, “Come out.” This will all happen in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. The dead in Christ will rise, those who are alive will be caught up with them, and all believers (the Church) will be joined to the Lord, where they will always, always, always be with the Lord forever in His kingdom. The Thessalonians need not grieve as the world grieves, because their loved ones will enjoy the return of Christ with them. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, who has mastery over the grave.

We, too, may fall prey to being uninformed about those who have fallen asleep. Many people believe things about the resurrection that aren’t grounded in God’s Word. Look out for where maybe you’ve fallen prey to any of these false ideas.

It’s popular for the world to talk about those who have fallen asleep as if they become an angel. “Today heaven gained another angel,” people often say at the time of death. I get it. It seems nice to help a family think about their loved one as a cute, little, chubby, Precious Moments cherub. While it sounds nice, there ultimately is no comfort in it. Especially because it’s not true.

In the Bible, we do hear of angels taking on human form. But… this is just a temporary change in appearance and the angels are still angels. Never does the Bible say that humans become angels. It says in heaven we will be like angels in regard to marriage.

Angels are a species of creation totally different from humans (as different as humans and salmon). Even though all of creation was declared to be very good, human beings are the only creation made in God’s own image and likeness. Then, God sent His Son to become man in order to redeem mankind. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He didn’t lose His humanity in any way. He is, right now, both God and man.

In dying on the cross Jesus redeemed our human race, and in rising to new life He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. So, humans will not become angels in heaven, but they will be perfectly renewed in Christ’s image. That is to say, we will be perfectly renewed in the image of God—in which Adam and Eve were created.

It’s popular for the world to talk about loved ones looking down on us. Again, I get it. It sounds nice to think of your parent watching over you on this earth. And yet, think about the fullness of your life. Do you experience sorrow, pain, sin, affliction? Do you want your loved one watching over that! Rather, as we heard last week, our loved ones who have died don’t experience pain or sorrow or sadness anymore. I sometimes tell my loved ones, if I die before you, I’m not going to be watching over you, I’m going to be enjoying paradise! Besides, you don’t really need your loved ones to be watching over you, nor will your loved ones need you. We all have Jesus who promises to be with us to the end of the age! The Lord who laid down His life for us, never leaves us or forsakes us. We have no need of others to watch from heaven, because God Himself is with us always.

It’s popular for the world to speak of loved ones as passing away. This is a euphemism for death. It sounds nicer to say that so and so passed away, rather than so and so died. It reduces some of the sharpness of death for us. Although “pass away” is a biblical phrase, it isn’t one we should want to apply to loved ones if we give some thought. Scripture says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

To speak of something as passing away means to speak of it as fading into oblivion, non-existence. Scripture doesn’t speak this way of those who die in the Lord. This is where Scripture’s use of the word “sleep” comes into play. Those who die belonging to Christ don’t pass away; they fall asleep in Christ. Their bodies await the day upon which the Lord will call them to life.

Unfortunately, it’s also popular (even in the Church) to forget the resurrection of the dead. Many Christians have adopted a notion that at death either the soul goes to heaven and that’s it or the dead believer immediately receives some kind of spiritual body. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We are losing the understanding of what it means to be human. The ancients often thought about and discussed what comprises a human being. In the early church, those discussions only increased because Jesus (fully God and fully man) has now entered the picture.

Scripture teaches that humanity is comprised of body and soul. To be human is to be body and soul. We confess in the Small Catechism, “I believe that [God] has given me my body and soul.” Death is the separation of the body and soul. This separation is the reason Jesus could say both that the little girl was sleeping and also tell the thief on the cross that He would be with Him in paradise on that very day. At a committal service, “the body is laid to rest,” and the soul had already departed to be with the Lord at death. However, humans are not meant to continue in this dehumanizing state of separation called death.

So, the Lord restores us to full humanity through resurrection. Paul says that when Christ returns, the bodies of the dead in Christ (which will be the majority of Christians), will be raised from death. Their bodies and souls will be rejoined in a glorious and eternal state of being, renewed in the image of Jesus (which is the image of God).

Christians who are alive when Christ returns will experience bodily transformation into a glorious and eternal state of being, renewed in the image of Jesus (which is the image of God).

Some people don’t like the idea of resurrection, because they don’t like their bodies. Maybe they don’t like something about their face or their height or their weight or they walk with a limp (you get the picture). Will God transform our bodies to be perfect as the world views perfection? I don’t know. It’s possible. God is the author of beauty. Yet, we all are human beings created and loved by the Lord God. So, if the Lord doesn’t transform our bodies to the perfection we may admire now, our way of thinking will certainly be renewed to His way of thinking.

The Lord promises to resurrect us so that we may always be with Him, so that we may never experience loneliness, so that we may always experience fullness of joy, so that we may always have peace and comfort, so that we may always be protected, so that we may never hunger or thirst, so that we may always be encouraged. The Lord loves us so much that He desires to raise the dead saints and bring them with the living saints into His kingdom forever.

Paul encourages us to encourage one another with these words. Because death is a terrible curse upon this world, we will grieve the death of loved ones. But in Christ Jesus, through His own death and resurrection, we don’t grieve as the world grieves. After all, we don’t look upon eternity as the world does. We are filled with hope—sure confidence that Christ will come again to redeem us. We are given assurance that He won’t reject us or condemn us. He will command the dead to rise. Then, the living and dead in Christ will be gathered together as the Church and brought to the new heaven and new earth. For a time death brings sadness, but the sadness will eventually give way to ultimate, inextinguishable joy in the heavenly kingdom. Amen.