Well, as we come to the end of
this fourth chapter in the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians,
this evening we'll speak on the last four verses, which is 15,
16, 17, and 18. And we'll just read them. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
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. It's very wonderful to realise
that the Apostle concludes this chapter with those wonderful
words. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. And to the true believer, these
words are a comfort. To the unbeliever they show no
comfort because the unbeliever wants to remain on this earth
forever and to enjoy the vanities of this vain world. But what
a wonderful blessing if God has put in our heart his gracious
and glorious work of grace so that we are a new creature And
we seek after those spiritual and eternal things. Now, this
15th verse says, for this we say unto you by the word of the
Lord. That should be, again, a strength
to us. It's not the word of a man. It is the word of the Lord. It is an eternal word. when we think that God always
has been and his design always has been. A wonderful, great
truth to know that we have such a God. And here we have described
in some detail the end of all things, the end of time. The end of the earth, when time
will be no more. What a day that will be. To realise it is, it will be,
the last day. When the Lord returns, there
will be no more day, there will be no more night, because time
will have ended and there will then only be the eternal state. And what a great blessing it
is to realise for those who are called by the Holy Spirit and
know the Lord as their saviour, and know his love and return
that love, to them it will be a most glorious day. What a prospect it is then to
realise that there's no more evening, no more morning, no
more sun, no more moon, because Christ is the light. And again it's a very solemn
reflection to realise that Christ is the light, but he is only
the light to the Church of God. All those who have perished will
not see the light. They will be in eternal darkness. No light at all. It's a very,
very solemn thought and consideration. And what a terrible thing it
will be to be found in that state with no light. But on the other
hand, what a glory it will be for those who are blessed with
that true light, the blessing of Christ. And we see then, therefore,
some reason why the Apostle says to comfort one another with these
words. But I hope we can understand
there is a vast difference between those who are born again of the
Spirit of God and those who are not born again. What a terrible
difference. What a wonderful difference.
But may we each have the evidence in our own hearts that we are
amongst those for whom Christ died and rose again and is in
glory now and will return again in due time. You may remember
when the Lord Jesus ascended from this earth, having risen
from the dead, and took his disciples out to Bethany. It didn't, of
course, include Judas, who had killed himself, but the other
11. And the angels stood as the Lord went up to glory and said
to the disciples, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. Well, that's the truth of God.
It's a word of God that we know therefore the Lord will return. And that's why we have this statement
by the apostle in this chapter that we read, the coming of the
Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Those who have died
before the Lord comes, those who are the Lord's, who are asleep. And then Paul tells us, for the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice
of the archangel and with a trump of God. That will be wonderful
news to the Church of God. It will be terrible news for
those who do not know the Lord as their Saviour. Well, may we
recognise the truth of it. And when the Apostle wrote to
the Corinthians, he filled this out a little bit by saying, Behold,
I show you a mystery. He says, We shall not all sleep. There will be those who have
died in the Lord who are asleep. 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. So those who are dead and have
been buried or whatever death they may have had, they are the
Lord's, they will rise from the dead in their resurrected form. And those who are alive on the
earth at that time will be changed from their sinful body to what
would be a resurrected body. It'll be an amazing scene, won't
it? And what a blessing if you and I are numbered among them. And may we all be concerned that
we are numbered among them. You let us realise it is an eternal
state. It's not something which will
end. All those who perish in their sin, all those who are
found in that state of darkness, no escape. and that for eternity. How solemn it is to be made aware
of these truths, and yet what a blessing it is to have a good
hope through grace that we shall be amongst those who view the
glorious light which shines forth from the Saviour, and that eternally. And so we see this great mystery. When that trumpet shall sound,
everybody will hear the trumpet. Those who are dead, they will
rise from the dead. Those who are alive, they will
hear the trumpet. No one will be deaf to it. Those who are deaf, deaf by nature,
will still hear this trumpet. and then to view the Lord returning
in the clouds with all the host of heaven, what an occasion that
will be. Well, may we ponder these words
and realise the truth, 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. Ever be. Again, it's something
which is beyond our natural understanding. Eternity, tremendous sound. It is something that we cannot
fully comprehend, but certain it is that the Church of God
will be forever with the Lord in glory. to be able to praise
Him with the whole host of heaven and the whole church of God,
and there will be perfect harmony, perfect unity, no crying, no
pain, no sorrow, peace, perfect peace, eternally. It's good, therefore, to think
on these things. That's why, surely, the Lord
tells us wherefore comfort one another with these things. And
may we all be concerned that we have the wonderful evidence
in our own hearts that it is well with our soul. If we don't have that evidence,
may we seek earnestly that we may know it is well. And therefore when that time
comes, which it will, and we know not when it will come, The
Lord Jesus said it's a day only known to the Father, that great
day when the end of time comes and the Church of God will go
to be forever with the Lord. Well, may we indeed encourage
one another with these things and be thankful to have a record
of it in the Word of God. There's not very much in the
Word of God which speaks about these things. But we're thankful
there are some, and very positive they are. And let us believe
the truth of them and rejoice in them. Well, may God help us
to ever consider these things. Let us now join together in singing
our second hymn. And our second hymn speaks about
these things. Lo, he comes, it's hymn 493. Lo, he comes, with clouds descending,
once for favoured, sinners slain. Thousand, thousand saints attending,
swell the triumph of his train, and with pleasure magnify his
awful name. Every eye shall now behold him,
robed in dreadful majesty. Those who set a nought and sold
him, pierced and nailed him to the tree, deeply wailing, Shall
the true Messiah see? Hymn 493. Faithless descending, once for
favoured sinners slain. Thousand, thousand, thanks for
attending. Firm as a rock upon this plain. And confession, and confession,
and divine wisdom. and with dreadful majesty. ? As he steps out, not a sounding
? ? Gifts and wonders to the dream. ? ? Leave me waiting. ? Day by day they shatter to dust. O come, O come, all ye faithful
joyful and triumphant O come, O come, all ye faithful joyful
and triumphant ? Amen ? ? And redemption of his
brethren ? ? Since the Lord had broken their faith ? ? O'er all
the states far and the gentiles ? ? Thou shalt meet with Him
in earth ? ? Alleluia, Alleluia ? So I'll go across now.