Will We Meet Jesus as Soon as We Die?

well recently we've received a lot of important questions on 1st Thessalonians 4:16 2:17 that famous rapture text here's one from Jonathan who listens to us from New Jersey hello pastor John is fairly typical to hear Christians say of someone who has passed away they're with Jesus now but in 1st Thessalonians 4:16 2:17 that sounds like Paul is saying that Christians who have died will meet Jesus at the second coming new Christians go to be with the Lord when we die or will we meet him when he comes back to earth I guess what I'm asking is this when a Christian dies what comes first seeing Jesus or being raised from the dead the reason this is an excellent question is because 1st Thessalonians 4:16 and 17 really do sound like what Jonathan says that believers who have died are raised from the dead and in that sense first meet the Lord at his coming rather than immediately meeting him when they die it sounds like that but I'm sure that's not what Paul means there and I'll try to show why I think it's really plain from two passages of Scripture that Paul was certain that when he and other believers died they would go immediately to be with the Lord Jesus and see him in that moment and here are those two passages 2nd Corinthians 5 6 to 9 we are always of good courage we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord we walk by faith not by sight yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord those are the two alternatives that Paul sees I'm either here in my body in one sense away from at wholeness with the Lord or I die and I'm at home with the Lord now here's verse 9 so whether we are at home or away whether we're with him or here we make it our aim to please him now Paul did not conceive of a time when the body dies and we are not at home with the Lord to die is to lose the body temporarily and go to be at home with the Lord this is not his first choice I mean that that's one of the things we might correct at funerals is not to give the impression that a disembodied at homeless with the Lord is the first apostolic choice his first choice is oh that the Lord Jesus would come before I die and over clothed my body with eternal life but he says if we die it was better so his his third choice is stay here and work his second choice is go to be with Jesus about my body his first choice is come Lord Jesus and give me a new body so that I never have to be bodiless the other passage is philippians 1 22 if i am to live in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me yet which i shall choose I cannot tell I'm hard pressed between the two my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account now those are the two possibilities for Paul and one of them was not to die and have the soul lie in the grave sleeping that wasn't the choice die and have the soul lie in the grave sleeping until the Second Coming no the two possibilities were go on living here or go to be with Christ which is far far better so I conclude Paul had no doubts about being United with Christ with conscious joy by faith in this life and it would never be interrupted by death and when he left his body when he was martyred he would go to something far better than even the communion that he enjoyed with Christ here now let's say a word about 1st Thessalonians 4 and here you got to put on your thinking cap because I'm sorry the logic of this text is so important I think it's clear but it's complicated it goes like this since we believe this is 1st Thessalonians 4 we'll start at verse 14 since we believe that Christ died and rose again even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep now that sounds like he means to bring them with him from heaven where in fact they are in fact there are souls in heaven we just argued for that from 2nd Corinthians 5:8 in Philippians 1 9 verse 15 for this we declare to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep now that too might sound like we are already in our souls body in the grave souls with Jesus in the presence of the Lord and in that sense those still on earth have not preceded them into the presence of Christ but here's the problem now comes the argument the argument for why those who are left who are alive will not precede those who have died goes like this 4:16 for because we won't precede them because the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of the Archangel and with the sound of the trumpet and the dead in Christ will rise first that's why we won't precede them they rise they rise first then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together not a first and second together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord so the argument for why those who are alive at the Lord's coming will not precede those who have died is that those who have died will rise first then we will all go together no ranking oh you got to go first together to meet the Lord in the air no first no seconds all together so here's my conclusion when I put these three passages together proceed in 1st Thessalonians 4:15 does not refer to the dead preceding the living into the presence of the Lord in heaven which of course they clearly do Paul's just not talking about that rather proceed refers to proceeding with a resurrection body into the glorious experience of the second coming let me say that again because that's what the argument of verses 16 and 17 demands that precede means proceed we won't precede the dead proceed we're preceding them with resurrection bodies into the glorious experience of the second coming in other words what Paul is saying in 1st Thessalonians 4:15 is the living won't have any advantage over the dead when it comes to the fullest enjoyment of that day that resurrection Second Coming day including bodily sight and enjoyment and bodily celebration of the Second Coming because the dead in Christ shall rise first in other words before there is any glorious gathering to meet the Lord in the air the bodies of all believers who have died will be raised from the dead reunited with their souls and then the entire Christian Church the living and the resurrected will together meet the Lord and welcome him to establish his rightful kingdom Wow complicated yes it is complicated thank you Pastor John you know it's not complicated get this of our entire ministry budget for a year round work almost 40% of that annual budget arrives and donations in the month of December alone 40% in December and if you're a regular listener to ask Pastor John podcast would you consider joining the team making a donation before December 31st we'd appreciate it our ministry partners are people just like you and you make it possible for us to provide everything we do at desiring God online free of charge to join us in the work visit desiring god org /give that's desiring god org /give well Jesus came to earth in the first Advent we celebrate this glorious truth in Christmas but there's a second Advent to come and maybe a third Advent to in fact how many times will Jesus return to Earth one more time or two more times that is a really good question is an important question it's on the table Friday we'll see you then you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 477,252

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Ask Pastor John, APJ, death, resurrection, life, truth, die, dying, soul sleep, Christ, heaven, hell, new heavens, new earth, Left Behind, questions, Revelation, Apocalypse, end times, body, grave, soul

Id: AvnGL1FCAWY

Length: 10min 53sec (653 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 18 2018