The good news of the rapture is: I’ll be there. You’ll be there. We’ll all be there if we believe in him.
Sermon Title: CAUGHT UP!
Sermon Text: 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 ESV
Sermon Series: LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 ESV
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
I. The Problem
1 THESSALONIANS 1:9-10 ESV
9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
1 THESSALONIANS 1:6 ESV
6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
1 THESSALONIANS 2:14 ESV
14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-14 ESV
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Jesus will bring the faithful departed with him when he comes back.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:14 ESV
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:9-10 ESV
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.
When the believer dies, they will immediately be brought into the presence of God.
“Soul sleep” is an unbiblical belief that after a person dies, his/her soul “sleeps” until the resurrection and final judgment.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:8 ESV
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
LUKE 23:43 ESV
43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Death is temporary for the believer.
JOHN 11:11 ESV
11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”
DANIEL 12:2 ESV
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
“His death makes our deaths sleep, and his resurrection makes our sleep calmly certain of awaking.”
Alexander MacLaren
II. The Participants
1 THESSALONIANS 4:15-16 ESV
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
“We are more sure to arise out of our graves than out of our beds. Oh! How precious is the dust of a believer!”
Thomas Watson
1 THESSALONIANS 4:17 ESV
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Immortal bodies.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:50-53 ESV
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Glorified bodies.
PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21 ESV
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
JOHN 20:19 ESV
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
LUKE 24:39 ESV
39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
1 CORINTHIANS 15:54 ESV
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
III. The Particulars
The return of Christ will be personal and physical.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:16 ESV
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
JOHN 14:3 ESV
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
ACTS 1:10-11 ESV
10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
1 JOHN 3:2 ESV
2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
It will be resounding.
The rapture (itself) will be immediate.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:17 ESV
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
caught up | Greek: harpazó
“to seize, catch up, snatch away.”
JOHN 20:29 ESV
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”