Everything You Need to Know about the End Times

Everything You Need to Know about the End Times
1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18.

Introduction

It is possible for today’s sermon to be either a very long sermon or a very short sermon.  If I were a Dispensationalist, then the sermon today would be a long sermon with Bible verses from nearly every book of the Bible as well as maps and graphs and timelines to explain how biblical prophecies are being fulfilled.  Or, it can be a very short sermon.  I could say something like, “Everything you need to know about the end times is the fact that God is in control of the future.”

For most people, discussion about the end times basically revolves around beliefs about a future millennium—the one thousand year reign of Christ.  As a result, Christians are divided into three basic groups, premillennial, postmillennial and amillennial.  The premillennial view is that the world as we know it will one day come to an end.  Jesus will return to reign on earth for one thousand years.  The postmillennial view is that the world is gradually getting better and better (not a very popular view after two world wars).  Eventually, the world will become a perfect, peaceful utopia.  This utopia will last for one thousand years, and then Jesus will return.  The amillennial view is that the one thousand year reign of Christ is symbolic.  It does not refer to a literal one thousand years, and it possibly refers to the period of time between the birth of Jesus and the Second Coming of Jesus.

For most of my life, I thought these were the only three views on the end times.  However, I took a class in college on the Book of Revelation.  Our professor explained these three positions—premillennial, postmillennial and amillennial.  One of the students then asked our professor what he believed.  He answered, “I am a pan-millennialist.”  Of course, we didn’t know what a pan-millennialist was, so we asked.  He said, “It’s all going to pan out in the end.”

Our infatuation with the millennium is actually a recent phenomenon which developed in the 1800’s.  Before the 1800’s, there was very little discussion about the thousand year reign of Christ.  It did not factor into early theological writings, because it only shows up in one passage of Scripture—Revelation 20: 1 – 7.  This leads me to believe that we ought to treat the millennium (the thousand year reign of Christ) the same way we treat other things that only show up one time in the Bible.  We should read it and take it seriously (because it is in the Bible).  However, we should never base our entire doctrinal positions on something that only shows up one time.

What we believe about the end times is important.  On one hand, it is important for us to allow our views on the end times to shape our understanding of God and God’s providence.  God is not aloof and disinterested in what is going on in the world.  No.  God is actively involved in the affairs of this world.  And, God is directing things toward their final goal.  On the other hand, it is important that we allow the Bible to be the source of our views about the end times.

I want to repeat something I said last week about Heaven.  If what I say today doesn’t sound like what you believe about the end times, then I encourage you to read what the Bible says about end times.  I say this, because this is not what I was taught while growing up…And, it might not be what you are accustomed to hearing.

Most of what I used to believe about Heaven and the end times is closer to Greek philosophy than to the Christian theology of the Bible.  For example, the Bible does not teach the doctrine known as the “immortality of the soul.”  This is the view of Greek philosophy…that every person has an immortal soul which is released from their body at the moment of death.  The Greeks believed the soul went on to live an eternal, spiritual existence in Heaven, no longer hindered by the physical body.

Another Greek philosophical view which has crept into Christian theology is the view that one day God will completely destroy the physical earth.  According to Greek philosophers, everything physical is evil and temporary.  They also believed everything spiritual is good and eternal.  Therefore, we do not have to worry about the destruction of the physical earth, because our spiritual lives will be rescued from this destruction.  Some people get this position mixed up with the Christian view of end times by believing that Christians will experience a spiritual rescue from the physical destruction of the earth.

Now, compare this to what the Bible actually says.  The Christian view of Heaven is not the “immortality of the soul.”  Instead, both Jesus and Paul teach us about the Resurrection of the dead—eternal life in body and soul.  The Christian view of the end times is not the same thing as the destruction of the physical earth.  Instead, the Bible teaches us that the earth will experience death and Resurrection…Just as Jesus died and rose again, and we will also die and rise again.

If we believe that our bodies will be destroyed or that the earth will be destroyed, then we have to say that Satan has won…That Satan has so corrupted God’s creation (the physical earth and physical human bodies) that they are beyond redemption.  But, Satan has not won (and will not win in the end).  God’s creation is good.  It is not beyond redemption.  And, in the end, God will make all things new.

If you want to read what the Bible says about Resurrection and the end times, I recommend that you read Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 5; 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5; and Revelation 21 and 22.

1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18.

Some interpreters believe that Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to address a concern that the Second Coming of Christ was delayed or that it had already taken place.  The assumption is that someone had infiltrated the churches and convinced the Thessalonian Christians they were in danger of missing out on the Second Coming.  However, we do not have any clear evidence that Paul is addressing this kind of questioning.

Instead, I think we can build a better case for a different concern in the Thessalonian churches.  Since Paul had left them, some of the Christians at Thessalonica had died.  This created some confusion among the church members.  They were worried about those who had already died.  Were they eternally separated from their loved ones?  Would they see each other again in Heaven?  Have those who died missed out on the Second Coming?

1 Thessalonians 4: 13…Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

Paul addresses these words to the “brothers” at Thessalonica.  “Brothers” is Paul’s favorite way to address Christians and members of the same church.  We are brothers and sisters, because of our relationship with Jesus.  This is significant, because it tells us that Paul is speaking to Christians only.  He is not speaking to non-Christians.

“Fall asleep” was a common way to describe death in the ancient world.  Jews, Greeks, Romans and Christians all used this figure of speech.  There is no reason for us to take this reference and build a doctrine of “soul sleep,” as if death ushers us into a state of unconsciousness as we wait on the final Resurrection.  Instead, we probably need to read it in light of Paul’s other teachings on death (2 Corinthians 5: 8 and Philippians 1: 23), where he tells us that we will immediately be with Christ after death.

Also notice that Paul does not tell Christians that grief is wrong.  He never says “Do not grieve.”  Instead, he says, “Do not grieve like those who have no hope.”  In other words, it is possible to grieve with hope.

The point Paul is wanting us to understand is that our grief is only temporary.  Our grief will not last forever, because our separation from our loved ones will not last forever.

1 Thessalonians 4: 14…We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 

What the New International Version does not show us in their translation is that this is actually a conditional sentence.  Most of the time, we translate conditional sentences as “If, then.”  This verse could read, “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

This is a specific kind of conditional sentence (first class conditional sentence) that actually affirms the reality of the first condition.  In other words, Paul is not casting doubt on the Resurrection of Jesus, and he is not questioning whether or not the Thessalonians believe in the Resurrection of Jesus.  He is actually affirming that he knows that they believe in Jesus’ Resurrection.  So, we could read this verse with the word “since” instead of “if.”  “SINCE we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep.”

The Resurrection of Jesus was not an isolated miracle.  Sometimes we hear people say that Jesus rose from the grave to prove that he really was who he claimed to be—the Only Begotten Son of God.  And, that is a true statement.  But, it is only part of the story.  Jesus rose from the grave as the beginning of a larger miracle that affects all of us who believe.

The Resurrection of Jesus set a precedent.  Before Jesus died and rose again, no one had ever survived death.  No one had died and come back to life.  Now that the Resurrection of Jesus has happened, Resurrection is not only possible for us…Resurrection is assured!  God will finish in us what he began in the Resurrection of his Son.

This is the source of Christian hope.  Christian hope is not that the soul will live forever, because that is what souls do.  Christian hope is the assurance that we will experience what Jesus experienced.  One day, we will participate in God’s final victory over death.  This is not a universal hope.  This is hope for Christians—who live by faith in Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4: 15…According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 

Some interpreters use this verse to suggest that Paul believe that Jesus would return in his lifetime.  It certainly sounds like he believed that—“…we who are left till the coming of the Lord…”  And, I suppose it is fine to think that Paul HOPED Jesus would return in his lifetime.  But, we should not say that Paul was wrong about the Second Coming.

There are two reasons why I don’t believe Paul was wrong about the Second Coming.  First, Paul never made a prediction about when Jesus would return.  He was hopeful that Jesus would return in his own lifetime, but he never predicted it.  Second, when Paul wrote these words, Paul was alive.  (I guess that is obvious, because Paul stopped writing letters to churches when he died.)  Paul described two groups of people: those who are living and those who have died.  Since Paul was still alive, he included himself when he described the living.

1 Thessalonians 4: 16…For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

The Second Coming of Jesus will not be a secret event.  It will happen in the most public way possible.  There will be a loud command from Heaven.  There will be angels making a loud commotion.  And, there will be a trumpet.  No one will be left wondering what is taking place.  It will be an obvious and public event.

One of the public aspects of the Second Coming will be the Resurrection of those who are “dead in Christ.”  This is an obvious reference to Christians—the Christian dead.  The Christian dead will rise.

There are a couple of reasons why this is important.  First, when the Christian dead rise, they will be just like the rest of us who are alive and, therefore, will not miss out on the Second Coming.  Second, when the Christian dead are raised, they will be with us.  The Christian dead will not miss out on the Second Coming, and we will be reunited with our loved ones who have died before us.

1 Thessalonians 4: 17…After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 

I want you to notice something about the word “meet” in this verse.  This is a very specific word for “meet,” which only shows up three times in the New Testament.

Matthew 25: 6, “At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'”

In Jesus’ parable, he described a common wedding practice.  After the wedding had ended, the groom would return to his parents’ house, and the bride would return to her parents’ house.  The wedding party (or the bridesmaids as we might think of them) accompanied the bride.  The bride would get dressed to meet her new husbands while the bridesmaids stood watch.  When the bridesmaids saw the groom coming, they would go out to “meet” him and then accompany him on the final leg of his journey to be with his new wife.

Acts 28: 15, “The brothers there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged.” 

When Paul finally arrived at Rome, the Christians at Rome were excited that he made it.  They organized a welcoming party to go out and “meet” him outside the city limits.  When they “met” Paul, they accompanied him on his final leg of his journey.

Paul’s description of the Second Coming of Christ uses this same word for “meet.”  This word usually refers to the actions of a welcoming party who go out to meet a dignitary before he arrives at his house or his city.  When the welcoming party meets the dignitary, they are not going out with the understanding that they are never returning.  They go out knowing that they will escort the dignitary on the remainder of his journey.

Paul’s description of the Second Coming is complicated by the fact that Paul does not specifically say where we will go after we “meet the Lord in the air.”  He does not say that we will meet the Lord and then go into Heaven.  And, he does not say that we will meet the Lord and escort him back to the earth.  He simply says we will “be with the Lord forever.”

However, Paul does describe the Resurrected earth in Romans 8.  All of creation is groaning in the pains of childbirth as it waits for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed.  Because, once the sons and daughters of God are revealed, all of creation will be redeemed.  This leads me to believe that the return of Christ will be an actual return.  Jesus will not just appear and turn around to take us back to Heaven.  Jesus will fully return to earth.  The Christian dead will be raised, the earth will be redeemed, and Jesus will reign on the Resurrected earth for all eternity.

Conclusion: 1 Thessalonians 4: 18…Therefore encourage each other with these words.

There was a time in my life when this passage of Scripture was not encouraging to me.  It was terrifying!  But, Paul did not write this to scare us.  He wrote this to encourage us.  But, that raises the question…How are these words encouraging?

First, Paul is encouraging us by reminding us that God has a plan, and God will complete his plan.  Jesus is coming back!

Second, Paul is encouraging us with the assurance that our grief is only temporary.  One day, we will be reunited with our Christian loved ones who have died before us.  Heaven and eternal life is more than being reunited with Jesus.  We will know and be known, recognize and be recognized, love and be loved by those we have known, recognized and loved on earth.

Third, Paul is encouraging us to be ready for the Second Coming.  We cannot know for sure when Jesus will return, but we know for sure he is coming.  We cannot predict when Jesus will return, but we can be prepared.  Paul never predicted when Jesus would come again, but Paul did live his life as if Jesus was coming back today. 

What kind of difference would it make if you lived as if Jesus was coming back today?  Would it change your choices?  Would it change your view of the world?  Would it change the way you love other people?  Live as if Jesus is coming back today!