1Thessalonians 4:13-18 (Pt. 3)  But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

            In vs. 14 of this vitally important passage of Scripture, Paul moves from his comment on ignorance vs. hope in the previous v

erse to the all-important question of our faith.  The faith that we claim to have in Jesus Christ is to be an all-encompassing faith that influences both our day-to-day lives and our long-term outlook.  This same Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 15:19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”  Such a passage as this requires us to examine our own personal faith.

            Do we truly believe that Jesus Christ hung on a cross, at a pre-arranged time dismissed His life from His body, left that lifeless body in a tomb for three days, and then came back to inhabit that body, raising it to life again?  Friends, if we can believe that He died a miraculous death, experienced a miraculous resurrection and is alive today we should be able to believe everything else that He has ever said.

            That is important because the Bible says that one day Christ’s saints will rule with Him on this earth.  (See Romans 8:16-17 and 2Timothy 2:11-12).  Believing that Jesus experienced a bodily resurrection, we must also believe that we and all our born again loved ones will also receive a bodily resurrection.  If we believe John 14:3 –“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also,” we must believe that when He comes back to Earth we will come with Him. 

            There arises at this point another important question of faith.  Do we really believe that Jesus will one day return to this Earth?  From reading this passage of Scripture we can conclude, I think, that the Bible assumes it is already a done deal; throughout Scripture it seems that Christ’s second coming is taken for granted.  Yet in the lives of many who call themselves believers there is not such a certainty.  Why is that?  For sure the world does not want us to believe that He is coming again, and it tries to do everything in its power to discourage our faith in that blessed future event.  This is nothing new because since the days of the apostles godless men have been challenging this belief.  The apostle Peter wrote about such a distraction in his second epistle – “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation’” (2Peter 3:3-4).  Satan has littered our world with skeptics who he uses to try and cast doubt on every single truth of the Holy Bible, and the second coming of Jesus Christ is no exception.