WWUTT 513 The Dead In Christ Will Rise First?

The Apostle Paul told the Thessalonians about a day on which Jesus would return and the dead in Christ would rise.

Well, there's an occasion in Matthew's Gospel where we actually get a preview of that very thing happening when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We want to come once again to the text that we've been studying this week in 1

Thessalonians chapter 4, starting in verse 13. The Apostle Paul writes, 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.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

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. 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. 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. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.

The Apostle Paul is saying to us, through the Holy Spirit of God, as much as he was saying to the

Thessalonians, that whether we are of the generation who will be on this earth when

Christ returns, or we will be among those who will precede that event by falling asleep, the body will die.

We will go into the grave, though our spirit will go and be with the Lord. No one is going to miss out on that great day.

We will all be participants on the day of the Lord. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep.

So the Thessalonians, concerned about their brothers and sisters in Christ who had died and had gone into the grave, oh no, did they miss out on the day of the

Lord? But Paul also means to encourage them in case they might happen to meet the day of their death.

And as their body is passing, they might fall into despair and wonder, is this it? Is my conscience just going to cease to exist and I'm missing out on the day of the

Lord? No, Paul says, for all who are in Christ will be together with him on that great day.

Either they will be among the spirits that are coming back with him or they will be among the people who are seeing his return and they will go up and meet him in the air.

That appendices word that I mentioned yesterday, going up to meet him, just as a group of citizens in a city would go to the city gate to meet the king or the official that was coming into the city and then would move together with the king as he went to the palace.

That's the picture that Paul is using here. And we are looking forward to the return of the king,

Jesus Christ. But notice he says here in verse 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.

So when Christ is returning, he's got everyone who has preceded us in death with him.

The souls of those who have died before the day of the Lord will be coming with Christ.

And what happens is the dead in Christ will rise first. So the bodies will come out of the graves and be united with their souls or, you know, the ashes will come back together for those who have been cremated.

However, that's going to happen. We don't know it's it's wonderful to think about, but to actually conceptualize it in your mind is pretty complicated.

We just know that Christ is coming back to make all things new. And our lowly bodies will be made to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, as he says in Philippians chapter three.

So however, that works in this process, as Christ is returning with the souls of those who have preceded us in death, their bodies will rise up out of the grave and be reunited with them in the air.

And then we who are left will be caught up and join them in the air. And then we will forever be with the

Lord. That's what's being described here. And this is not the first time that this has been taught.

And I told you this yesterday, that Paul is not saying something to the Thessalonians that the apostles have not taught to anyone else.

He didn't get the chance to be with them very long. He had to rush out in the middle of the night.

So they didn't get the chance to ask him about, well, what about the dead in Christ? What about those who have preceded us in death?

Are they going to miss out on that great day? So Paul is responding to that concern among the

Thessalonians, the Epicurean idea that they had that a person when they died just ceased to be.

There was no immortal soul that continued to live on in some sort of an afterlife. So Paul is responding to that concern since he didn't have the chance to teach them that.

But he's not teaching them anything that hasn't been in the apostolic teaching prior to this letter.

As a matter of fact, we already have an example in the Gospels of this very thing.

Verse 14, since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep and then talking about the dead in Christ will rise first, and 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. We already have somewhat of a mini resurrection from the dead, a small picture of what we will ultimately experience on the day of Christ's return.

And it's given to us in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 27, where he talks about Christ's death on the cross, starting in verse 45.

Now, from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

So from noon until three o 'clock, as Christ was on the cross, there was darkness in the land.

And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lemme sabachthani, that is, my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling

Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection.

They went into the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew kind of does a little bit of a fast forward here.

But then he comes back into the present tense of the story that he was telling with Jesus death.

Verse 54, when the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, truly, this was the son of God.

There were also many women there looking on from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Now, this is a very unusual section that we've just read here. And it's the only place in the gospels where we read about the graves opening up and the dead rising with Christ.

There were other saints in the city, in the holy city who rose up at the same time that Jesus came up out of the grave.

Let's look at that section again, starting in verse 51. Behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection.

They went into the holy city and appeared to many. Now, I'm going to apologize in advance for how all over the place this is going to be, but I hope that you kind of understand what the picture that I am attempting to paint here.

So, first of all, we have this description of the temple curtain being torn in two.

And if you know something about the layout of the temple, this curtain was what separated the holy of holies or the most holy place from the holy place.

It was the most holy place was where the Ark of the Covenant was. This was where the high priest would go in to atone for the sins of the people.

This was the place where God dwelled. And with the earthquake and then the temple curtain being torn in two, this was

God himself showing that because of the sacrifice of Christ, the perfect Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world because of his sacrifice, because that work was finished on the cross with Christ's death.

Jesus then becomes our fellowship with God. And there is no longer any reason for anyone to be sacrificing there in the temple or in that most holy place.

God now dwells with his people through Jesus Christ, not confined to one spot in the holy of holies that only the high priest could enter into.

Jesus is now our high priest who intercedes for us before the father.

So this was the symbol that God was giving to his people that he no longer dwelled in temples made by hands.

But we are living temples of the Holy Spirit of God who's been poured into all flesh, which would happen at the day of Pentecost, some 50 days later or something like that.

So that's what we see there with the tearing of the temple curtain.

And then the next thing that happens is the earth shook. Well, first of all, let me come back to verse 51, where it says the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

I believe that's significant, that that's described as tearing from top to bottom. I'll explain in just a moment.

The earth shook and the rocks were split. And then verse 52, the tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Now, this is this is a really confusing couple of verses here in Matthew's gospel.

And this is the only place in the whole Bible that this appears or let's limit it to just the gospel.

So this is the only place in the gospels that this appears. Luke doesn't mention it, neither does Mark, neither does

John. Matthew is the only one that talks about at the resurrection of Christ. There were other saints in that holy city who rose when

Christ arose and even went into the city and testified. And there are some scholars that are really divided over this whole thing.

They don't know what to think of it. Maybe it's just something we should dismiss. We shouldn't think too much about it. There's one scholar in particular.

I'm not going to represent his argument well, so I'm not even going to say who this is. But he thinks we should just absolutely disregard this and not take it literally because it's apparently supposed to mean something else, since there's no other documentation in the

Bible or outside the Bible that verifies what it is that Matthew is saying here. We can't know what this means.

But there are other scholars who will say who are just theorizing about what this could possibly mean, taking it literally, that there really were saints in Jerusalem who rose when

Christ arose and they witnessed to other people and people knew that. Weren't you dead?

Where did you come from? And they've got new bodies in which they are standing before the people and testifying about Christ's resurrection.

And they would have been around that whole 40 days between Christ's resurrection and his ascension into heaven.

When he ascended into heaven, they went with him. This is according to the theories of what people estimate about what's being said here, what scholars estimate.

I don't have any direct quotations to give you because I didn't pull any of that up before coming to this particular lesson.

This is what I've read. I've not come up with this on my own. I would take credit for it if I did.

But anyway, so that's the theory that when Christ rose from the dead, there were others that came out of the grave.

And this was to give us a small picture, a small taste of what the day of the

Lord will be like when Christ comes back. And there will be those who will rise up out of the grave and meet their souls in the air and have brand new bodies.

There has already been an occasion that has been provided for us in scripture of the dead in Christ rising.

And it happened on the very day of his resurrection. So as Christ had talked about these things and the disciples had seen these things fulfilled, they're connecting the dots with everything that Jesus had talked about concerning his return, which he had described in the

Olivet Discourse. And like I said before, in verse 51, I believe that the temple curtain tearing from top to bottom, even that's significant, that Matthew would go to the length of describing how it tore, not from bottom to top or not just that it tore, but specifically it tore from top to bottom.

Because I believe that even though this is my theory, OK, this

I did not read this from anyone else. This is conjecture on my part, even though this definitely was to symbolize for us that Christ no longer dwelt in temples made by human hands, but our fellowship with God is now in Jesus Christ.

Even though that's what the tearing of the temple curtain was supposed to symbolize. I believe that it also had another symbolic purpose in that on the day that Christ returns, the veil that separates heaven from earth will be lifted.

So when we're talking about Christ coming back on the day of the Lord, we're not just talking about him descending from heaven like he's not coming back from the far reaches of outer space and traveling all the way across the universe until he gets to earth.

That's that's not the way that we're supposed to be picturing heaven. It's not out there somewhere, but rather there is something that is separating us from God.

We are not privileged to be in his presence because we are sinful creatures.

We inhabit sinful flesh and we do not get to be in the presence of God in the state in which we are in.

We can't even inhabit the place where God inhabits in the fleshly bodies that we have.

So there is kind of a curtain, a hidden veil that separates heaven from the existence in which we are in.

But then when we are transformed to be like him, we will see him as he is because we'll be made to be like him.

As John talks about in 1 John 3, 2. So when our bodies are changed to be like his glorious body, then we can be with him in his presence in the place in which he dwells.

Paul even calls the Corinthians foolish for trying to think of heavenly things or thinking of the resurrection in worldly terms, in an earthly sense, because he says the perishable will be raised imperishable.

And that's what has to happen in order for us to be in God's presence. If we were to enter into God's presence the way we are, we would melt.

It would obliterate us being in that holy place in such crude flesh in which we inhabit.

So on the day of Christ's return, essentially what happens is that veil that separates heaven from earth is lifted, kind of like it is torn in two from top heaven to bottom earth.

And so just as we see kind of a kind of a mini resurrection of the dead with Christ's resurrection from the grave.

So we also kind of see a mini return of Christ. It's kind of a small picture of what will ultimately happen on a global scale or a universal scale.

You probably talk about it that way. When Christ returns, the curtain that separates heaven from earth lifted and we see him coming in his glory.

Now, jumping back over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, it says that we who are alive, who are left 1

Thessalonians 4 17 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. Now, being caught up in the clouds doesn't mean literally caught up in the sky clouds.

OK, not like not like precipitous rain clouds, but rather glory clouds, the glory of God that will be revealed to us when that veil that separates heaven from earth is lifted.

Like, think of it in terms of what Daniel saw in Daniel chapter seven. I saw the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and he was presented before him.

OK, clouds kind of like that. And it's the same sort of a cloud that took Jesus away from the disciples that we read about in Acts chapter one.

And when he had said these things, as after he spoke with his disciples, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

So it's not like they watched him rise up into the air until he disappeared into the rain clouds. That's not what they were talking about.

But rather, there was a heavenly cloud that took him away. And then you've got the two men that stand by the disciples in white robes still there in Acts chapter one, and they say, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

So those clouds of glory, the clouds of heaven that took Jesus away are going to be those same clouds that will reveal him that he will be coming through as he returns to earth with the saints who had fallen asleep.

And then we who are left. And when Paul talks about this in verse 17, we who are alive, who are left, he's talking about a collective we.

So he's not necessarily saying himself, I will be here. And so will you. When Christ returns, he's talking about we in the sense of the church, the church that is still here on planet

Earth at the time that Christ returns will go to meet him in the air, and then we will forever be with the

Lord. Amen. Isn't this encouraging? Isn't it cool to study? Isn't it something that you look forward to all the more as your mind and your hearts are being filled with these good things, the promises of Christ that have been given to us through his apostles.

So let us look forward to that day. Boy, the clouds of earth can sometimes be scary and destructive.

We're considering that right now after Hurricane Harvey that decimated the Texas coastline.

And then we've got Hurricane Irma that is coming up through the Atlantic and is probably going to be making landfall in Cuba and in Florida.

And so we're looking at clouds right now. We're preoccupied with earthly clouds that bring storms and destruction.

But we're looking forward to that day when Christ returns in heavenly clouds, in his heavenly glory, and he will put an end to all of the destruction and misery that happens on earth.

So as we go through these difficult trials that we experience in this life, let them make us long all the more for that day of glory and be able to cry out as the

Apostle John did, come quickly, Lord Jesus. And we were driven all the more to our knees in prayer asking for his deliverance and that he would use the circumstances that we experience as long as we're here on this earth to shape us in sanctification all the more for that great day when we will be presented to him in splendor.

And we could go on talking about that all the more. But I just hope as as the teacher coming from the text in the 20 minutes that we've shared here that I'm able to fill your heart up with good things and be encouraged as Paul tells us we should be.

Encourage one another with these words. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our great

God, I thank you for these things that have been revealed to us through your apostles, through your son,

Jesus Christ, that we would have hope that we would not despair by the things that happen in this world.

But we know that a day is coming in which Christ is going to lay all these things to rest, that creation is going to be delivered from its bondage to futility because of sin and that you are going to make all things new.

You are making all things new even now. You are making us new as we are growing in sanctification in Christ Jesus.

Cleanse us from our sins. Lead us in righteousness for your name's sake and help us as we desire to in all circumstances give all the glory to God who is working all things for our good for those who are called according to his purpose.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.