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 (1 Thess. 4:16-18).
This is the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just, the resurrection to life. The living saints will then be caught up with those who have just been raised from the dead to meet the Lord in the air. This is translation. It is then that we shall be changed from mortality to immortality. "Then shall be brought to pas the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15:54). To God's children this is the end of the former things and the beginning of the new. Therefore let us "comfort one another with these words."
Dr. A. T. Pierson relates that the telegram announcing the death of his friend, Dr. A. J. Gordon, came at 3:00 in the morning. Being unable to sleep, he scanned the entire New Testament to see what it said about death. He noticed that after the resurrection of Jesus the apostles seldom used the word "death" to express the close of a Christian's life, but "sleep." What a comfort it is to think of our loved ones as being asleep in Christ, instead of having ceased to be. We look forward to the morning.
When I shall awake in that fair morn of morns,
After whose dawning never night returns,
And with whose bright glory day eternal burns,
I shall be satisfied then.
__Horatius Bonar
MEDITATION PRAYER: "In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever" (Ps. 44:8).
This is the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just, the resurrection to life. The living saints will then be caught up with those who have just been raised from the dead to meet the Lord in the air. This is translation. It is then that we shall be changed from mortality to immortality. "Then shall be brought to pas the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15:54). To God's children this is the end of the former things and the beginning of the new. Therefore let us "comfort one another with these words."
Dr. A. T. Pierson relates that the telegram announcing the death of his friend, Dr. A. J. Gordon, came at 3:00 in the morning. Being unable to sleep, he scanned the entire New Testament to see what it said about death. He noticed that after the resurrection of Jesus the apostles seldom used the word "death" to express the close of a Christian's life, but "sleep." What a comfort it is to think of our loved ones as being asleep in Christ, instead of having ceased to be. We look forward to the morning.
When I shall awake in that fair morn of morns,
After whose dawning never night returns,
And with whose bright glory day eternal burns,
I shall be satisfied then.
__Horatius Bonar
MEDITATION PRAYER: "In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever" (Ps. 44:8).
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