1 Thessalonians 4:14
14 For [gar] if [ei] we believe [pisteuo] that [hoti] Jesus [Iesous] died [apothnesko] and [kai] rose again, [anistemi] even so [houto] them also [kai] which sleep [koimao] in [dia] Jesus [Iesous] will [ago] God [theos]
bring [ago] with [sun] him. [autos] KJV-Interlinear
14 For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him
those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
NASB
The whole basis of
Christianity is Jesus Christ, His existence, His sacrifice, His death and more
than all of that, His resurrection.For
if there was no resurrection, then death would swallow us all up and there
would be nothing more for us than this life, and then oblivion or nothingness.
For without the
resurrection, there is no destiny, no next life. And if there is no next life, then all that
matters to us, namely truth, righteousness, justice and everything that we have
been studying, becomes irrelevant and meaningless. Sin could rule and the laws of the jungle
reign over all.
However, Jesus did rise
from the dead, defeating deaths grip for all, and defeating our eternal
separation from life and heaven and God.
For those who have
believed in Christ, and have already passed into death, often called sleep or
rest in the Bible, then they are where presently??
They are in heaven with
the Lord.
The Bible calls death
for the believer, sleep or a period of perfect rest.
If you have ever been
very exhausted, and gone to sleep for a complete night, then your stresses and
burdens of life seemingly vanish during your deep sleep. You wake up many hours
later, but that time seems to have been only a few moments. During that sleep, your worries and troubles
of life simply do not exist for you.
Of course they return
to your thinking and life in the morning, but that is the way of life in this
life.
When a believer dies,
this representation of rest or sleep, means just
that.In heaven they are not
unconscious, but completely free, and forever free, of all of life s
burdens.They are at peace, rested, completely relaxed with all of life s burdens forever gone.
This Paul teaches us in
many verses, so that you will not grieve or worry over your lost loved
ones.They are in a perfect place, and
certainly far better off than any of us who remain here on this earth.
But one day soon, those
friends and loved ones, who are presently with Christ, will be called together
in heaven.We can only imagine the
scene, with many billions of believers in heaven, all relaxed and happy, doing
whatever it is that they are doing in heaven, and then they will be instantly
called together.
It is time for the next
great event.
Together, with Christ,
all of the deceased believers from our dispensation, and who are in heaven,
will return with Christ at the Rapture, and they will receive their
resurrection instantly, along with those who remain alive on this planet.
Christ was the first
resurrection (first of the first fruits), and then believers of our
dispensation, the Church Age, will become the second resurrection (the first
fruits of believers).
At the Second Advent of
Christ, at the end of the Tribulation (which is the official last seven years
of the Old Testament era), then all Old Testament believers along with the Tribulation
believers, will become the third resurrection.
And at the end of the Millennium, all millennial believers will become
the fourth and final group to be resurrected.
Resurrection means
being returned to a new indestructible body, or transformed into a new
indestructible body, which will happen to all of us instantly at the Rapture,
and for everyone else at their respective resurrection events.
But for those who have
already gone before us to heaven, they will have the treat of their life, in
that they will accompany Christ back to earth, into the clouds, or upper
atmosphere, not to the ground, for no one on earth will see any of this
activity.And there in the clouds, the
call will go out to all living believers, and we who remain alive, will be instantly
be caught up into the clouds, into the upper atmosphere, to be with Christ.
And then the second
biggest parade, procession, in history, will occur, as we will all return to
heaven with Christ, and then the Judgment Seat of Christ will begin.
While back on this
earth, only unbelievers will remain and the worst period of human history also
will begin.
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