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1 Thessalonians 4:14
DailyBibleStudy.Org
14 For [gar] if [ei] we believe [pisteuo] that [hoti] Jesus [Iesous] died [apothnesko] and [kai] rose again, [anistemi] even so [houto] them also [kai] which sleep [koimao] in [dia] Jesus [Iesous] will [ago] God [theos] bring [ago] with [sun] him. [autos] KJV-Interlinear
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. NASB
The whole basis of Christianity is Jesus Christ, His existence, His sacrifice, His death and more than all of that, His resurrection. For if there was no resurrection, then death would swallow us all up and there would be nothing more for us than this life, and then oblivion or nothingness.
For without the resurrection, there is no destiny, no next life. And if there is no next life, then all that matters to us, namely truth, righteousness, justice and everything that we have been studying, becomes irrelevant and meaningless. Sin could rule and the laws of the jungle reign over all.
However, Jesus did rise from the dead, defeating deaths grip for all, and defeating our eternal separation from life and heaven and God.
For those who have believed in Christ, and have already passed into death, often called sleep or rest in the Bible, then they are where presently??
They are in heaven with the Lord.
The Bible calls death for the believer, sleep or a period of perfect rest.
If you have ever been very exhausted, and gone to sleep for a complete night, then your stresses and burdens of life seemingly vanish during your deep sleep. You wake up many hours later, but that time seems to have been only a few moments. During that sleep, your worries and troubles of life simply do not exist for you.
Of course they return to your thinking and life in the morning, but that is the way of life in this life.
When a believer dies, this representation of rest or sleep, means just that. In heaven they are not unconscious, but completely free, and forever free, of all of life’s burdens. They are at peace, rested, completely relaxed with all of life’s burdens forever gone.
This Paul teaches us in many verses, so that you will not grieve or worry over your lost loved ones. They are in a perfect place, and certainly far better off than any of us who remain here on this earth.
But one day soon, those friends and loved ones, who are presently with Christ, will be called together in heaven. We can only imagine the scene, with many billions of believers in heaven, all relaxed and happy, doing whatever it is that they are doing in heaven, and then they will be instantly called together.
It is time for the next great event.
Together, with Christ, all of the deceased believers from our dispensation, and who are in heaven, will return with Christ at the Rapture, and they will receive their resurrection instantly, along with those who remain alive on this planet.
Christ was the first resurrection (first of the first fruits), and then believers of our dispensation, the Church Age, will become the second resurrection (the first fruits of believers).
At the Second Advent of Christ, at the end of the Tribulation (which is the official last seven years of the Old Testament era), then all Old Testament believers along with the Tribulation believers, will become the third resurrection. And at the end of the Millennium, all millennial believers will become the fourth and final group to be resurrected.
Resurrection means being returned to a new indestructible body, or transformed into a new indestructible body, which will happen to all of us instantly at the Rapture, and for everyone else at their respective resurrection events.
But for those who have already gone before us to heaven, they will have the treat of their life, in that they will accompany Christ back to earth, into the clouds, or upper atmosphere, not to the ground, for no one on earth will see any of this activity. And there in the clouds, the call will go out to all living believers, and we who remain alive, will be instantly be caught up into the clouds, into the upper atmosphere, to be with Christ.
And then the second biggest parade, procession, in history, will occur, as we will all return to heaven with Christ, and then the Judgment Seat of Christ will begin.
While back on this earth, only unbelievers will remain and the worst period of human history also will begin.
