SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/6/2014
11:14 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
What Happens to Christians who Die PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15a
Message of the
verses: We will be looking at our
second SD on what the Bible calls The Rapture of the Church, and in particular “The
Pillars of the Rapture,” which covers verses 14-15a. I want to also write something on verse
thirteen which will probably have been said in our last SD, but worth
repeating.
“13
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep,
so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.”
As
we look at this last part of verse thirteen we see the reason for Paul writing
this section to the Thessalonian believers.
We looked at a quote from William Barclay in our last SD about those who
have no hope and it was not a pretty sight to read what unbelievers had to say
about dying, something that is on the minds of all people from time to
time. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following about
how the Bible speaks about death. “It is
important to note that the revelation concerning death and the afterlife was
not given all at one time. Many cults
use verses from the Psalms and Ecclesiastes to ‘prove’ their false
doctrines. These verses seem to teach
that the grave is the end, or that the soul ‘sleeps’ till the resurrection. We must keep in mind that God’s revelation
was gradual and progressive, and that it climaxed in the coming of Christ ‘who abolished
death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel (2 Tim.
1:10 NASB). We look to Christ and the
New Testament for the complete revelation concerning death.” Now as we saw when we studied the book of Job
that Job knew that there would be a resurrection of the righteous and also when
we looked at the book of Daniel we saw a similar teaching.
At
this time I want to include the outline that Warren Wiersbe has for this
section of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: “Revelation:
We have God’s Truth (1 Thess. 4:13, 15a).”
“Return: Christ Is coming Again (1 Thess. 4:14-15).” “Resurrection: The Christian Dead will Rise (1 Thess. 4:15-16).” “Rapture:
Living Believers Caught Up (1 Thess. 4:17).” And “Reunion:
Christians Forever with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17-18).” Now I will be following the outline from John
MacArthur’s commentary but will also be looking at what Dr. Wiersbe has to
write from his commentary.
The Pillars of the Rapture (1
Thessalonians 4:14-15a): “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. For this we say to you by the word of the
Lord,”
We
can see that the truth about the Rapture of the Church did not come from
philosophical speculation or did it come from religious mythology, or a fable
that some well meaning person brought up to comfort those who lost love ones,
however it came from the marvelous truth that the Lord Jesus Christ will return
to gather believers to Himself and this is based upon three unshakeable
pillars; “the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the revelation
of Christ” as outlined in John MacArthur’s commentary.
The Death of Christ: (1 Thess. 4:14a): “For if we believe that Jesus
died,”
Paul
does not doubt the death of Jesus Christ, for this could be written “since we
believe that Jesus died.” There are some
who would have people to believe that Christ never did die, but was revived in
the coolness of the tomb. My answer to
that is that if the Romans were going to crucify someone they were going to
make certain that that person was dead. MacArthur
writes “The apostle’s simple statement summarizes all the riches of Christ’s
atoning work, which provides the necessary foundation for the gathering of the
church. His death satisfied the demands
of God’s righteousness, holiness, and justice by paying in full the penalty for
believers’ sins. By virtue of Christ’s substitutionary
death, when God ‘made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him,’ (2 Cor. 5:21), Christians have
been made acceptable to God and thus fit to be gathered into His presence.”
Next
we must understand that when Paul was speaking of the death of Christ he did
not use the word “sleep” because Christ had to go through death in order to pay
for our sins. MacArthur writes “Jesus
experienced the full fury of death in all its dimensions as He ‘bore our sins
in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness’
(1 Peter 2:24). It was because of Christ’s
death that when a believer dies he is said to be asleep. MacArthur quotes T. E. Wilson who wrote “Death
has been changed to sleep by the work of Christ. It is an apt metaphor in which the whole
concept of death is transformed. ‘Christ
made it the name for death in the dialect of the church (Acts 7:60) (Findlay)’” MacArthur concludes “When believers die,
their spirit goes immediately into conscious fellowship with the Lord, while
their bodies temporarily sleep in the grave, awaiting the Rapture.” We will continue looking at this main section
in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: How
wonderful that Christ took my place on the cross and then experienced death for
me so that if the Lord tarries my body will only be asleep awaiting the trumpet
call to join my soul/spirit as I return with Christ from heaven at the rapture
of the church.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Live like this is true in my life because it
is.
Memory verses for the
week: Review of Philippians 2:5-11.
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus 6, who, although He existed in the form
of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied
Himself taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of
men. 8 Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him,
and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name
of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.
Answer in yesterday’s Bible
question: “At Troas” (2 Timothy 4:13).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who was the wife of Boaz?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/6/2014 12:09 PM
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