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… I. THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST DIE. They are not exempted from the common fate. 1. To walk by faith, not sight, is their rule of life; hence there is this barrier between themselves and the unseen universe. 2. Subjection to death is an essential part of moral discipline to the righteous. Christ Himself became obedient unto death, and was made perfect through suffering. 3. The dying scene affords occasion for the greatest triumphs of grace and displays of God's mercy and love. How many, by such a spectacle, are moved to repentance and faith in Christ! 4. The death of Christians is needful to render the resurrection of them at all possible. A true and complete conquest over death demands that his victims should be recovered from his dominion. 5. Saints die to express God's irreconcilable hatred to sin. They just taste one drop of the bitter cup which Christ has drunk for them, and feel one lash of the chastisement which He has endured. This gives them a keener sense of the value of salvation. II. BELIEVERS AFTER DEATH ARE STILL IN CHRIST. They retain their innocence before God, their purity, their enjoyment of the Divine favour, their hope of final and perfect happiness. Nay, in all these respects their position is incomparably superior to what it was on earth. They are with Christ in paradise. Hence death is no real evil to them. It is an immense boon to them. It cuts them off from some enjoyments, but it enriches them with enjoyments of a far surpassing order, while also it snatches them away from all care, pain and fear, for evermore. Applications: 1. To believers in anticipating death. Look forward to it calmly, acquiesce in its infliction resignedly, and triumph over its terrors in the full assurance of faith. 2. Here is comfort for the bereaved. If your deceased friends are among the dead in Christ, you may be assured of their perfect happiness, and may hope soon to be reunited with them. 3. Address the unconverted. You are not in Christ — yet you will die! And think of the dead out of Christ — how horrible their eternal doom! Oh! then, now seek an interest in Him, that for you to live may be Christ, and to die, gain. (T. G. Horton.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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