6:00 – 7:00 pm:   All Church Prayer Hour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Our preaching is vain
2. Our faith is vain
3. The writers of the New Testament are false witnesses
4. We are still in our sins, with no hope of Heaven
5. The dead have perished forever
6. We are of all men most miserable

 

  But Christ did rise from the dead, and because of that, we have hope.

 

The Rapture

 

The Bible teaches that one day, Christ will return for His people. He will not stand upon the  Earth at that time (Although He will at a later time) but meet them in the air. We call this event – The Rapture. We see this event most clearly in 1 Thessalonians 4,

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 

The word rapture is not in the Bible, but we get the word from the Latin translation of the Greek word “harpázô” which means “caught up” in verse 17. We believe it is the next event in God’s prophetic timetable and could happen at any time.

 

Both the living and those who have died will have a part in the rapture. Look at 1 Thessalonians again.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 

We see here that the Lord will one day descend from Heaven accompanied by 3 things;

1. A Shout
   2. The voice of the Archangel
   3. The Trump (or trumpet) of God

The trumpet was used in several ways in the Bible

1. Proclaim victory
   2. Call an assembly
   3. Give a warning
   4. Announce a battle

It is used in all these ways at the Rapture.

1. To proclaim a victory. We will finally have victory over death, Hell and sin.
   2. Call an assembly – What an assembly that will be with all the saved who have ever lived gathered in the air with the Lord.
   3. Herald a warning – The warning is to the unsaved who rejected Christ.
   4. Announce a battle. The Tribulation Period is almost ready to begin

What exactly is shouted, or what the Archangel says is not revealed in Scripture, but could John have gotten a glimpse of it in Revelation, chapter 4, verse 1;

 

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up hither, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

 

We will look at this verse again later in our study, but it does provide a possible answer to our question. And, while we are not sure exactly what is said, we do know for certain the sequence of events that take place next.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 

The dead in Christ shall rise first. This is not the ressurection of the Soul. The soul never dies, it is eternal, either suffering in an eternal Hell, or rejoicing in an eternal Heaven.

 

The thing that makes the difference in destination rests entirely on the most important word in our verse – CHRIST. What have they done with Jesus Christ? There are only two choices. One, accept Him as all sufficient Saviour, or two, reject Him to rely on their own goodness or works or church membership or baptism or a million other people of things to save them. There is no middle ground. Those who have accepted Christ are those that will rise at the Rapture.

 

Once again, it is not their soul which rises, that is already with Christ;

 

 

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be

absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

 

So it’s not their soul, but their body will rise from the grave. We will look at this body in a moment, for it will be unlike the body they had in life. But first, let’s look at the next step of the Rapture. After the rising of the Christians who have died comes another rising, this of the living;

 

Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 

Immediately after the rising of the Christian dead from the grave, those born-again Christians who are still alive will rise in the air to meet Jesus in the clouds. This event is also spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15, starting with verse 51;

 

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

 

We shall be changed. Notice that this change is not a long, drawn out process, it is not self renewal or self improvement. It is an immediate change, taking place in the twinkling of an eye. In fact, it is not in our control at all, we shall be changed. Notice also that all will be changed. Some would have you to believe that good Christians are taken in the Rapture and that bad Christians are left behind, but the scripture says that all will be changed. It is nothing but the pride of man to want something to happen that depends upon works. Even after he is convinced that works cannot get him to Heaven, and that only trusting fully in Christ will save him, still wants to make the scripture say that good works keep him saved, or that good works earn him the right to the Rapture. No, none of us are good enough to earn Heaven, none of us are good enough to keep ourselves saved, and none of us are good enough to deserve to be in the Rapture. It is only through the love, mercy and sacrifice of Jesus Christ that any good things happen to us. Now, back to our verses. What does it mean that we shall be changed, and what will that change be? Let’s look closely at 1 Corinthians 15, starting with verse 35;

 

But some [man] will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what

body do they come?

 

It is a very common question, but Paul explains it is a foolish question because the body has to be different. He gives several examples of that change, first – seed planted in the ground;

 

[Thou] fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it

die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall

be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other [grain]:

But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed

his own body.

 

When you want to grow a cucumber, you do not plant a cucumber in the ground, you plant a cucumber seed. For a watermelon, you plant a watermelon seed. The seed is just a pitiful picture of the grown plant, just as this sinful body we have now is a pitiful picture of the resurrection body. The second picture Paul gives is one of differences of flesh;

 

All flesh [is] not the same flesh: but [there is] one [kind of] flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, [and] another of birds.

 

All flesh is different. We may not understand what the all of the differences are, but there are differences. This is just one reason that evolution is a false teaching. A fish cannot become a bird, a bird cannot become an animal, and an animal cannot become a man. There is a difference of flesh. Likewise with the resurrection body. We cannot change it ourselves or acquire it through works, it is different from our fleshly bodies. It has to come through a direct action of God. Third, Paul explains there is a difference in Heavenly bodies.

 

[There are] also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial [is] one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial [is] another. [There is] one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star differeth from [another] star in glory.

 

There is a difference in the things we see in the night sky. Some reflect light, while some have their own light. Some are brighter than others. Some are more glorious than others. Likewise with the resurrection body, it will be far more glorious than this current body. Paul then gives us a comparison of the two bodies.

 

 

 

So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

 

 

What else will the resurrection body be like? Look at Philippians, chapter 3, starting in verse 20

 

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

 

Look also in 1 John, chapter 3

 

 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what

we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be

like Him; for we shall see him as he is.

 

 

We shall be like Him. Our resurrection body will be like His resurrection body. Jesus was the first to have a resurrection body. Others were raised from the dead before Him, but He was the first to have His resurrection body. What will ours be like? Let’s look at what His body was like, for we shall be like Him.

 

1. He had a real, human-appearing body, recognizable to others.

 

All who saw Him knew that it was Him. He was not a mist, a vapour, a bright shiny glow. He had the face and features of the one that they knew. Unless He purposely veiled Himself, they knew that they were seeing Jesus.

 

1. His body had flesh and bones, but no blood

 

Jesus appeared to the disciples in Luke 24. When He appeared, they were terrified and thought that He may be a spirit. Then Jesus spoke to them and said something very interesting.

 

Luke 24: 37-39  ³⁷ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. ³⁸ And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

 

 

Interesting that Jesus did not say that his body was composed of flesh and blood, but flesh and bones. His body had no blood. Why? Where was His blood? That is a fascinating study, we will just look at it briefly. Remember what Jesus said to Mary in John 20:17

 

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my

Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my

Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God.

 

Jesus warned her not to touch Him, for He had not yet ascended. Yet shortly after this, He made another appearance in Matthew 28:9

 

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying,

All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet, and

worshipped him.

 

Here, He allowed them to touch Him. What made the difference? Remember the phrase back in John 20, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. Clearly, this ascension could not be the ascension in the book of Acts, because this did not take place between these two meetings. There had to be another ascension to Heaven which took place between these two meetings. What was its purpose? We are told in Hebrews 9:11,12

 

 

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a

greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to

say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but

by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,

having obtained eternal redemption [for us].

 

Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, ascended to Heaven after His resurrection and entered the tabernacle in Heaven. He then sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat to obtain eternal redemption for us. All those years in the Old Testament, all of the sacrifices that were made, all the blood that was sprinkled were pictures of what Christ would one day do for us by the sprinkling of that precious blood. His blood shed for us. That is why He couldn’t be touched. The high priest, on his way to the holy place, could not be touched or he would be defiled. Jesus Christ could not be touch by sinful flesh either, until He completed the task of sprinkling His blood on the mercy seat in Heaven. That is also why His resurrection body had no blood, His blood is forever on the mercy seat in Heaven, a constant reminder of what He did for us. That is the only blood that will be in Heaven, the blood of Christ.

 

In this fleshly body, the life is in our blood.

 

Leviticus 17:11a For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood

 

But in Heaven, if the resurrection body has no blood, what will be the life?

 

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

 

So, it appears that flesh and bones, not flesh and blood, is the composition of the resurrection body.

 

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 15:50 and see if it makes more sense now?

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

 

This mortal, sinful flesh, composed of flesh and blood, can never get to Heaven. No matter how good, no matter what church it belongs to, no matter how clean it is, it is still sinful and incapable of getting to Heaven. But God has prepared new bodies for us. What else will they be like? What else was His like?

 

1. His body was able to pass through solid objects

 

Look at John 20:19

 

Then the same day at evening, being the first [day] of the week,

when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for

fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto

them, Peace [be] unto you.

 

It was now Sunday night. Jesus had risen that morning, and the disciples had been told, yet they were still afraid. They were literally hiding for fear of the Jews. Special emphasis is put on letting us know that the door was shut. Suddenly, Jesus comes in and stands in their midst. This must have shocked the disciples for Jesus quickly calms their fears with “Peace be unto you”. This story is also related in Luke 24:36

 

 

Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” ³⁷ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.

 

The sudden appearance of Christ shocked them. They must have wondered “How did He get in here? The door is shut.” So, they thought it was a spirit.  But it was Jesus in His resurrection body, which was able to enter the room without opening the door.

 

While we can’t explain how it could happen, we believe it because the scriptures say it happened. Jesus, in a real, literal body, passed through a solid door. What a powerful body we will have.

 

1. His body was able to vanish at will

 

Luke 24:13-35 tells the story of two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus came unto them and walked with them. His appearance was veiled so that they did not know it was Him.

 

Luke 24:16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

 

He walked with them and talked with them, talking about the Old Testament prophecies concerning Himself.

 

 

 

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he

expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

 

Late that evening, they asked Him to stay with them and join them for dinner. As they blessed the food, something happened.

 

Luke 24: 30,31  Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

 

Suddenly, when they knew who He was, He vanished out of their sight. Why He vanished is not given, and we will not attempt to guess. All we do know is that the ressurection body is a miraculous, powerful body, with amazing power. But, along with that power, come ordinary human functions. Jesus spoke, He breathed, He ate food. All of these things we also will do. In fact, one day all Christians will sit down with Christ at the great marriage supper.

 

Revelation 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed [are] they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

 

Exactly what that day will be like is not know. The details given in scripture are few, but we look forward to that day.

 

All these features of the ressurection body, we will share with Christ. There will be many similarities. But there will also be a difference. Remember what we found out about our new bodies in 1 Corinthians 15

 

So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

 

 

Our new bodies will have no corruption, no flaw, no blemish. It will be a perfect body. There will be no defect in our new bodies. But look at John 20 and verse 24, when Jesus appeared unto His disciples.

 

²⁴ Now Thomas, called Didymus, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

 

Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared. The disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, but Thomas would not believe, hence the nickname Doubting Thomas. He said that he would not believe unless he could see and feel the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side. Eight days later Jesus appears to the disciples again, this time with Thomas present.

 

 

 

 

²⁶ And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” ²⁷ Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving but believing.”

 

 

Jesus told Thomas to do exactly the things that Thomas had said eight days earlier. He told him to examine His hands and His side, He wanted him to see the wounds. Wounds? Yes, Jesus resurrection body has wounds. The only body in Heaven with defects. While we spend forever in a perfect, defect free body, Christ still has the wounds from the crucifixion. Why? As an eternal reminder of what He did for us, and as evidence against the unsaved at His second coming.

 

All these things will come to pass. Christ will appear in the air, the dead in Christ shall rise, we shall be changed and meet them in the air. We will receive our glorified bodies. These events are certain to transpire, just at the events that are recorded in scripture transpired. When will they happen? The disciples wondered the same thing.

 

Matthew 24:3; And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples

came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?

And what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

 

They wanted to know, When were the things He was teaching going happen? Was there a way to know? Jesus answered in verse 35 and 36

 

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of

heaven, but my Father only.

 

Only God knows when that day will be. It is not revealed in scripture. Many have tried to guess, to set a date, but they have all been wrong. We don’t know, but it could be soon. It could be today. The study of when the rapture occurs is a study all by itself, but we will give a quick overview here. There are 3 main views of when the rapture will occur;

 

1. Pre-Tribulational – Rapture occurs before the Tribulation Period
2. Mid-Tribulational – Rapture occurs in middle of Tribulation Period
3. Post-Tribulational – Rapture occurs after the Tribulation Period

 

I believe the Bible teaches that the Rapture will occur before the Tribulation Period. There are many reasons why, but let’s quickly look at a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.The church in Revelation

 

The book of Revelation is mostly chronological. Churches are mentioned many times in Revelation. We see the most mentions in chapters 1-3, in the letters to the seven churches. That is picturing the church age, what we are living in now. Then suddenly, when we get to chapter 4 and what we said could be a vision of the rapture. Nowhere in chapters 4-18, the great teachings on the Tribulation Period, are the churches mentioned. We do not see the church again until chapter 19 when we see the bride of Christ mentioned, which we are taught in Ephesians 5 is the church.  

 

2. The wrath of God

 

1 Thessalonians 5:9 says,

 

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

 

The Tribulation Period is a time when God pours out His wrath upon the entire Earth. The plaques of the time are on a global scale, affecting the entire population. But God has not appointed us to wrath, we will not be here. Notice what God said to the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10

 

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep

thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the

world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

 

God will not allow His people to go through the Tribulation Period.

 

3. The removal of the Holy Spirit from the Earth

 

Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:7

 

For the ^[d]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[e]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

 

The church at Thessalonica was frightened. They thought that the day of the Lord had already begun, and that the Antichrist was about to come. But Paul told them that someone was hindering the rise of the Antichrist, and that he could not appear until that someone was taken out of the way. The someone is universally understood to be the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. Until the Holy Spirit is removed from the Earth, the Antichrist cannot come. When will the Holy Spirit be removed from the Earth? Remember where the Holy Spirit lives now.

 

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

 

The Holy Spirit dwells in Christians. He does not dwell in a church, a temple or a shrine. We call a church, “God’s house”, but God’s real house here on Earth is in the body of His people. And if God lives in the body of Christians, then the Holy Spirit will be on the Earth until all the bodies of Christians are in Heaven. This only occurs at the Rapture. Immediately after the Rapture, there will not be one truly born-again person on the Earth. There will be some who call themselves Christians, but they were never born again. They trusted in their works or their priest or their church to save them instead of trusting in Christ. Now, many will be saved during the tribulation period, but at that moment, no person on Earth is a true Christian, the dwelling of God. Only then, when all Christians are gone, can the Antichrist arise and the preparation for the Tribulation Period begin.

 

 

4. The example of Noah and Lot

 

In the lives of these two men, God gives us a picture of the future.

 

Matthew 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the

coming of the Son of man be.

 

Without spending too much time on this point, there were two characteristics of this time when God judged sinful man.

 

1. The removal of the righteous
2. The judgment of the wicked.

 

Before God judged the Earth with a flood, He removed Noah and his family. Likewise, before God judged Sodom for their sin and homosexual lifestyle, He removed Lot. God will also remove the righteous (born again Christians) before He judges the Earth (Tribulation).

 

5. Unknown time

 

Matthew 25:13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour ^[b]in which the Son of Man is coming..

 

Man does not know the time of the Rapture. It could happen at any time. However, we do know something about the time of the tribulation, it will last 7 years. We know many of the events of the period. IF the Rapture occurs at the end of the Tribulation Period, then Jesus was wrong in Matthew 25, for we would know when the Rapture was coming, seven years after the Tribulation Period began. IF the rapture occurs in the middle of the Tribulation Period, we would know the timing, three and one half years after the Tribulation Period began. Only if it comes before the Tribulation Period, would the time remain a secret until it happens. It must occur prior to the rise of the Antichrist, or else we would be able to pinpoint the time. These and many other passages point to the fact that the Rapture comes before the Tribulation Period and could come at any time. Are you ready? If the Rapture happened today, would you be caught up? There are only two possible answers because there are only two groups of people in the world today. The first group are those who are sinners, but have trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour and have asked Him to forgive them and take them to Heaven. They are Christians. The other group are those who are sinners and who are trusting in their good works, their baptism, their church, their pastor or priest, their prayers, their offerings or many other things to get them to Heaven. They have never personally accepted Christ as Saviour. They are sinners, lost and on their way to Hell. Which group are you in today?

 

And what does God want each group to do?

 

 

 

Part Three

The response expected of the sinner*

 

If you are in that second group, the group that has never personally trusted Christ as Saviour, there are some things that God wants you to know.

 

1. You have sinned.

Look at Romans 3:23

 

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the

glory of God;

 

You may be a good person, you may be exceptionally good, but all of us have come short of God’s righteousness. All of us have sinned.

 

2. There is a penalty for that sin.

 

Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin [is] death

 

Because of sin, we must die, and not just our bodies, but our spirits die as well. If we do not get the sin taken care of we are condemned to an eternal torment in Hell

 

Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of

fire. This is the second death

 

3.Good deeds cannot remove sin from our record.

 

Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall

no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law [is] the

knowledge of sin.

 

Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and

that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of

works, lest any man should boast.

 

No amount of good deeds, prayers, candles, tithing, church attendance or anything else can remove one sin from your record. We can never be good enough to get to Heaven.

 

4. God provided a way to pay the sin penalty.

 

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,

while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to Earth, lived 33 years, and died on the cross. Why? To pay the sin debt that we owed, for you see;

 

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be

touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points

tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin

 

 

Jesus Christ never sinned. Not one time. So He owed no sin debt. He died for us, to pay our sin debt.

 

5. He offers salvation freely to all who ask.

 

Romans 6:23    For the wages of sin [is] death; but the

Gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus

Christ our Lord.

 

Ephesians 2:8     For by grace are ye saved through faith; and

that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

 

Jesus Christ paid the sin debt for our salvation. Therefore He can offer it any way He wants. He could make it difficult to obtain or easy to obtain. He has chosen, through His mercy, to make it easy to obtain. He offers it as a free gift. Free for the asking. All you have to do is ask.

 

Romans 10:13   For whosoever shall call upon the name of the

Lord shall be saved.

 

Call upon the Lord and you will be saved. It doesn’t take a perfect life, just a perfect trust. When you put you full trust in Jesus Christ, and His payment for your sin you shall be saved.  Just pray a simple prayer like this; Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner and deserve to go to Hell, but I am now trusting you completely as my Saviour. Please forgive my sins, cleanse my life and save me today. Thank you Jesus. Amen.

 

If you prayed a pray like that, and meant it, then you are saved. Your destiny for eternity has been changed. You are a new creation in Christ.

 

Part Four

The Response expected of the Christian

 

If you are a Christian, one who is saved by grace through faith in Christ, then God has some things for you to do as well. This study should inspire you to do some things.

 

1. Comfort and encourage others.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord himself shall descend

from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and

with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up

together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and

so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one

another with these words.

 

Part of our job here on Earth is to comfort other Christians who are in grief. The loss of a loved one is a difficult time, both for the saved and the unsaved. There is a difference though.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant,

brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not,

even as others which have no hope.

 

The unsaved truly have no hope. Their destiny is already determined. The unsaved dead are doomed to an eternal Hell. Nothing can be done. They rejected Christ in life and made their choice.  But we, as Christians, have hope. We will see our loved one again, in Heaven. What a comfort that thought should be to us, and to others who are in grief. We need to remind them of that blessed hope.

 

2. Win the lost to Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                             Lacey  Bowman                                    Ken Starlin                                       Nick Massa                                      O.B. Holeman