Paul, Pt. 24:”The Blessed Hope”

THE BLESSED HOPE (1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18)
(When I told my wife I am speaking on the rapture of the church, she replied negatively, “Sure death!” 實死)

In the 90s, a cult from Taiwan relocated to San Dimas, California, and registered itself as God's Salvation Church. In 1997, the Chen Tao cult (真道教 or 飛碟會), also known as the Flying Saucer cult, led by Hon-Ming Chen (陳恆明), headed to Garland (mistaken for “God Land”), Texas, where they expect Christ to come down in a flying saucer to pick them up. 140 followers of the church - dressed in white, wearing sunglasses and white cowboy hats - left for Texas for the expected March 31 date with their Maker.

Chen was born in 1955 and was a former Taiwanese sociology teacher. He claimed to be the father of Jesus Christ and that God will assume an identical body to his own at 10 a.m. on March 31. Members purchased more than 20 homes in an upper-middle class south Garland neighborhood. At the time the group had roughly 160 members, 40 of which were children. According to neighbors, as reported in The Dallas Morning News, “they dressed in white, wore cowboy hats and drove luxury cars. They reportedly believed that two young boys in their group were the reincarnations of Jesus and Buddha. They told reporters they had come to Garland to watch God come to Earth and take human form at 10 a.m. on March 31, 1998, at the home of Mr. Chen.”

God's alleged TV appearance on Channel 18, as Chen predicted, failed to materialize. Immediately after the failed prediction some of the members had to return to Taiwan due to visa problems. In total, roughly two-thirds abandoned the group and an estimated 30 members moved to Lockport, New York. The group entered a sharp decline after the failed prophecies and virtually nothing was heard of them after 2001 and the current whereabouts of Hon-Ming Chen are unknown. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Tao

Predicting the coming of Christ is hopeless and unbiblical. Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt 24:36, Mark 13:32). When 911 occurred my sister-in-law thought the world was coming to an end. The same thought struck me when gas hit $2.50 a gallon. War, earthquakes and famines often capture peoples’ doomsday imagination. Many people are concerned with the signs of His coming rather than the significance of His coming.

How does His future coming affect our present behavior? The answer is not relocation to the wilderness, retreat from the world and resignation from the workplace.

Rejoicing in Hope is Prescribed
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. (1 Thess 4:13)

Someone conjectured: When the end of the world arrives how will the media report it?
(Reader-friendly) USA Today: We’re dead
(Financially sensitive) The Wall Street Journal: Dow Jones plummets as world ends
(The sensational) National Enquirer: O.J. and Nicole, together again
Playboy: Girls of the apocalypse
Microsoft Systems Journal: Apple loses market share
Victoria’s Secret Catalog: Our final sale
Sports Illustrated: Game over!
Wired: The last new thing!
Rolling Stone: The Grateful Dead reunion tour
Readers Digest: ‘Bye!
Discover Magazine: How will the extinction of all life as we know it affect the way we view the cosmos?
TV Guide: Death and damnation: Nielson Ratings soar!
Lady’s Home Journal: Lose 10 lbs by judgment day with our new “Armageddon” Diet!
America Online: System temporarily down. Try calling back in 15 minutes.
Inc. Magazine: Ten ways you can profit from the apocalypse!

First of all, Christ’s coming puts in perspective the grief we experienced. “Ignorant” (a-gnoeo) is basically agnostic in Greek – unawareness; not knowledgeable due lack of information, insight or intelligence. Ignorance of the future results in grieving in the present, like unbelieving and godless men who have no hope. Paul is not against grieving with tears or grieving like others, but against grieving like people without hope.

“Grieve” (lupeo) means sorrowful, sad, as Jesus felt in the garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:37) and Peter felt when he failed Jesus (John 21:17). Grieving is natural and normal, inborn and instinctive, human and healthy, just as the disciples, too, were saddened and sorrowful (Matt 26:22, 26:37, Mark 14:19, John 21:17). The difference lies in grieving with hope versus grieving without hope. The hurting grieves because of feelings but the hopeless grieves because of fate. The former feels parting is painful but the latter fears parting is permanent. The hopeless expects a gloomy future, but the hopeful a glorious tomorrow. Without Christ one wakes to dread, doom and despair, but in Christ it is waking to deliverance, distinction and delight.

1 Corinthians 13:13 say faith, “hope” and love remain. Faith is present, hope is tomorrow, and love is forever. Our hope is based in the Trinity, our Triune God.
Our God is the God of hope (Rom 15:13), our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 1:3, 1 Tim 1:1) and our hope is sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom 15:13). God the Father is the initiator (motivator), the Son is the incarnation (manifestation) of hope, and the Spirit is the intercessor (manner) of hope. The Bible tells us generally we hope in the glory of God (Rom 5:2) and in salvation (1 Thess 5:8) and eternal life (Titus 1:2, 3:7), but specifically we hope in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6), which is the living hope (1 Peter 1:3) and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, which is the blessed hope (Titus 2:13).

Resurrection of Believers is Promised
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. 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. 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. (1 Thess 4:14-16)

On May 14, 2008, Swiss aviation enthusiast and inventor Yves Rossy became the first man in the world to fly with wings and four jet engines strapped to his body. The inaugural flight in Bex, Switzerland lasted six minutes.

The 48-year-old daredevil made his first public flight with his self-made flying device in front of the world press after five years of training and many more years of dreaming. Rossy stepped out of an aircraft at 7,500 feet in the air, unfolded the rigid 8-foot wings strapped to his back and dropped. Passing from free fall to a gentle glide, Rossy then triggered four jet turbines and accelerated to 186 miles an hour as a crowd on the mountaintop below gasped — then cheered. Steering only with his body, Rossy dived, turned and soared again, flying what appeared to be effortless loops from one side of the Rhone valley to the other. At times he rose 2,600 feet before descending again. Should things go wrong, there's always a yellow handle to jettison the wings and unfold the parachute.

His mother, who was among the spectators, told journalists she felt no fear. “He knows what he's doing,” Paule Rossy said. “It's like a second skin,” he later told reporters. “If I turn to the left, I fly left. If I nudge to the right, I go right.” Rossy said he is ready now for bigger challenges: crossing the English Channel and flying through the Grand Canyon.
(“Swiss 'Fusion Man' Flies Over the Alps With Jet-Propelled Wings”)
Source: Associated Press, May 15, 2008
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355609,00.html
Video: http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=82460

There will be a lot of airborne brothers and sisters, bodies launched with no flying suits hurling through the skies in the end days.

Believers who died in Christ will discover they are merely “asleep in Him” (v 14), not abandoned by God. This expression was first uttered by Jesus concerning the deceased Lazarus (John 11:11). Jesus told the disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” Departed believers are not dead, deceased or disintegrated, but fallen asleep, taking a rest, a snooze or a nap. They are primed and purposed to wake up upon hearing three things when the Lord descends from heaven: (1) a loud command, (2) the archangel’s voice and (3) the trumpet call. Three “with” are also recorded in Greek, in this order: For the Lord himself “with” a shout, “with” the voice of the archangel and “with” the trump of God shall descend from heaven and the dead in shall rise first.”

The “loud” word in verse 16 is missing in Greek, but the “command” is worth one’s examination. It is no so much a “loud shout” as much as an authoritative command. People authoritatively issuing this order in the Bible include Pilate (Matt 27:58), Gamaliel (Acts 5:34), Herod (Acts 12:19), the magistrates that ordered Paul and Silas to be beaten (Acts 16:22), the commander who ordered Paul to be flogged (Acts 22:24), Ananias (Acts 23:2), Festus (Acts 25:21), Governor Felix (Acts 23:35) and a centurion (Acts 27:43). All creatures and things in heaven and earth will listen, respond and obey this powerful and piercing command, even the dead who cannot hear, but a command does not depend on the hearers’ ability to reply, but to respond.

What is special is not the ordinary voice (pho-ne) but the extraordinary angelic spokesman. We are not sure if the “archangel” in question is Michael the archangel (Jude 9), since he is the only specified archangel in the Bible. Gabriel is the one that proclaim Jesus’ first coming, at his birth, but Michael His second coming. Michael is the same angel who will fight and defeat the dragon (Rev 12:7-8). Gabriel is the peacemaker but Michael is the warrior. Gabriel ministered to Daniel, Joseph and Mary (Dan 8:16, 9:21, Luke 1:19, 1:26), but Michael fight in God's name and strength.

The trumpet (v 16) is also known as the last trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52-53, which says when the last trumpet sounds, “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”

Reunion with Christ is Permanent
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. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words. (1 Thess 4:17-18)

John Todd was born in Rutledge, Vermont, into a family of several children. They later moved to the village of Killingsworth back in the early 1800s. And, there, at a very young age, both John's parents died. The relatives wondered what they would do with so many children, how they could parcel them out to other friends and relatives. One dear and loving aunt said she would take little John. The aunt sent a horse and a slave to get John, who was only six at the time. The slave, Caesar, came and put the little boy on the back of the horse. On the way back an endearing conversation took place:

John: Will she be there?
Caesar: Oh, yes, she'll be there waiting for you.
John: Will I like living with her?
Caesar: My son, you fall into good hands.
John: Will she love me?
Caesar: Ah, she has a big heart.
John: Will I have my own room? Will she let me have a puppy?
Caesar: She's got everything all set, son. I think she has some surprises, too.
John: Do you think she'll go to bed before we get there?
Caesar: Oh, no! She'll be sure to wait up for you. You’ll see when we get out of these woods. You'll see her candle shining in the window.

When they got to the clearing, sure enough, there was a candle in the window and she was standing in the doorway. She reached down, kissed him, and said “Welcome home!” She fed him supper, took him to his room, and waited until he fell asleep.

John Todd grew to be a great minister of the gospel. But it was there at his aunt’s, his new mother, that he grew up. It was always a place of enchantment because of his aunt. It awed him that she had given him a second home. She had become a second mother to him. Years later, long after he had moved away, his aunt wrote to tell him of her impending death. Her health was failing and she wondered what was to become of her.

This is what John Todd wrote to her:

“My Dear Aunt,
Years ago I left a house of death not knowing where I was to go, whether anyone cared, whether it was the end of me. The ride was long but the slave encouraged me. Finally, he pointed out your candle to me, and there we were in the yard and you embraced me and took me by the hand into my own room that you made up. After all these years I still can’t believe it - how you did all that for me! I was expected; I felt safe in that room- so welcomed. It was my room.

Now it's your turn to go, and as one who has tried it out, I'm writing to let you know that Someone is waiting up. Your room is all ready, the light is on, the door is open, and as you ride into the yard - don't worry, Auntie. You're expected! I know. I once saw God standing in your doorway - long ago!” (James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited)

If you have not longed for the Lord’s return, you are either young in age or young in faith. To be “with the Lord” forever (v 17) is the hope of heaven, the honor of homecoming. Paul uses the a varying phrase but same preposition “with Christ” (instead of “with the Lord”) only once in other passage - Philippians 1:23, where he says, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.”

“Forever” in the Lord’s presence is hard to imagine. There are few instances of close fellowship and encounter with the Lord in the Bible, none nearer than Moses. The closest Moses got to see the Lord was to see God’s back, but not His face (Ex 33:23). Further, God “spoke” to Moses face to face (Ex 33:11, Num 12:8), just as He did with the Israelites in the wilderness (Deut 5:4), but never the two other options: (1) Moses “saw” God face to face, and (2) Moses spoke to God face to face; it’s always “God spoke to Moses face to face” – God as the subject, the speaker.

Of all the elements in the sky, the cloud - not rain, thunder or lightning - is the most significant in His second coming. After Jesus ascended to heaven in a cloud, it was announced that Jesus will come back in the same way the disciples witnessed him going into heaven (Acts 1:9-11). Further Jesus announced in Matthew that the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory (Matt 24:30). Matthew (Matt 24:30) and Luke (Luke 21:27) agree He will come with “power and great glory,” while Mark says it is with “great power and glory” (Mark 13:26) – take your pick. Revelation reveals the reason that He is coming with the clouds is that so that “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him” (Rev 1:7). Further, only in His coming are the words “great glory” (Matt 24:30, Luke 21:27) recorded in the Bible.

Conclusion: God in Christ has prepared for us the most wondrous hope: to be in the fellowship of God forever. God’s promise is forever. His presence is forever.
Is the loss of health, money and loved ones causing you more grief than you can bear? Is your hope anchored on the rock of refuge (Ps 31:2), the Rock of our salvation (Ps 95:1), the Rock of Israel (Gen 49:24)? The Lord is our Rock and there is no Rock like our God (1 Sam 2:2). In Him all hopes are realized, all hurts are resolved and all honor is returned.