Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Subject: Basics of Faith
Theme: The Future Blessing of a Christian
Title: “A Future Hope!”

 
Introduction

• In our series “Basics of Faith,” we looked last time at the fact that every Christian can experience God’s riches blessings in this life. God’s blessings can be experienced by being a witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by experiencing divine power in difficult times and circumstances, and by a grounded faith in Jesus Christ. Even though we still face here various challenges and difficulties, we can experience them as blessings in our life.
• If there is a present blessing for us Christians in this world, how much more should there be a future blessing waiting for us. And that is not just a nice wish or empty saying, it is a reality, as actually just read in our Bible reading in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. As Christians, we have a real future hope. I think every person is at one point thinking about what will come after this life when one dies? There are different opinions about it. But all are human ideas.
• As we see in the Word of God, there is a life after death. There is eternal life for those that are believers and have Jesus in their lives. There is a new heaven and earth different to the one that we are now living And even Jesus promised to his disciples, that he is going to prepare a place for them in the house of the father, where he will take them when he comes back (John 14:3). Also, the Apostle Paul knows, that there will be a future glory. In Romans 8:18 Paul says: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” In Philippians 1:21-23 we read then from Paul that for him to die is gain; he eagerly desires to be with Christ. He was living in a real future hope.
• This future hope of Paul did not lay in any nice promise or wish. This future hope of Paul was in Jesus Christ and the eternal life that He is giving. It is the future hope in Christ that we also just read about from Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. In fact what Paul tell us there is, that…

 
Prop.: As Christian we have a future hope in our Lord Jesus Christ!

 
• In verse 13 we read that the reason for Paul to write about our future hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is the fact that the believers in Thessalonian were worried and grieved about those who had died. In that time the believers still expected Christ’s return in their life time. However, now some people passed away before Jesus came back. They didn’t know how to handle all that. They were uncertain if those that had died would also go to heaven. They were doubting in their future hope in Jesus Christ.
• At this point, Paul writes the section about the future hope in Jesus Christ. Our own future hope is not in any wish or dream of our future, it is alone in Jesus Christ. Paul gives us in this text three arguments where precisely is our future hope in Jesus Christ.

 
I. Our future hope as a Christian is in the salvation work of Jesus Christ (vs 13 – 15)

• Paul, first of all, affirms their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was their primary belief. The death and resurrection is the salvation work of Jesus Christ. Our hope is based on our firm belief of that salvation work of Jesus Christ. If we cannot believe and accept the salvation work of Jesus Christ in our life, we will also not have a real future hope.
• The salvation work contains that Jesus died for mankind, but arose to life again. Jesus himself confirms that in Revelation 1:18: “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Jesus is not just alive, but he is alive for ever and ever. In Jesus is all the eternity. In him, we have our future hope.
• In Romans 14:9 Paul tells us: “For this reason, Christ died and returned to life, so that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” Jesus is the Lord over death and live. That is what gives us full confidence and a firm future hope. It stands and falls (never) with Jesus. If Jesus would not have died for us and arose again to life, we would not have any future hope.
• Our belief in Jesus’ salvation work is seen at the point that we have accepted it personally for our life and desire to follow Jesus. Since we are saved we also have eternal life. We see that best in the very known verse of John 3:16, when Jesus says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” When we believe in Jesus and receive His salvation work, we receive eternal life, because Jesus is the Lord of death and life. We have then a full future hope in the salvation work of Jesus.

 
• Illustrations: “Polycarp Serves to the Fiery End”
Point: Assurance makes a difference in our service
When you have assurance, you can serve Christ – no matter what comes your way. One of the most famous martyrs in history was Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. On a festival day when people were feeling excited and daring, they decided to seize Polycarp. When given the choice to worship Caesar or die, he boldly confessed that he was a Christian and could not worship Caesar. When then threatened with sacrificing to Caesar or being burned, he gave his courageous response: “Eighty and six years have I served Christ, and he has never done me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? As they prepared to burn him he stated, “It is well. I fear not the fire that burns for a season, and after a while is quenched. Why do you delay? Come, do your will.” And with that, they burned Polycarp to death. Let us hear his assurance in those words: “It is well.” He knew that his King had saved him and had been with him during all those years of service. His King would be with him, even in the flames. When you have assurance you can serve Christ no matter what comes. (William Barclay, Letters to the Seven Churches, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press), 2001, 36.
• In 1 John 5:11-12 we get then also the full assurance in our future hope: “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”

 
II. Our future hope as a Christian is in the return of Jesus Christ (v 16).

• One of the main messages of Paul in this passage to the Thessalonians is the assurance that Jesus Christ is coming back. Based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:28 that some of His disciples will not see death before the Son of Man is coming in His kingdom, the believers in the time of Paul were eagerly waiting for the returning of Jesus. They fully assumed that it would still happen in their life time. However many of them have waited for 10, 20, 30 years and more. They have got older and some of their brothers and sisters have passed away before Jesus was coming back. They felt a strong feeling of disappointed and were totally insecure about the return of Jesus. Was it maybe not true? Did they misunderstand Jesus or the teaching of Jesus? Is there maybe no life after death?
• Maybe some got similar doubts like in the story of two babies in the womb of the mother. It is a parable of Wayne Dyer in his book “Your Sacred Self”: “In a mother’s womb were two babies. The first baby asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?”The second baby replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.” “Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?” “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.” The doubting baby laughed. “This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short.” The second baby held his ground. “I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here.”The first baby replied, “No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery, it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere.” “Well, I don’t know,” said the twin, “but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.” “Mother?” The first baby guffawed. “You believe in mother? Where is she now?” The second baby calmly and patiently tried to explain. “She is all around us. It is in her, that we live. Without her, there would not be this world.” “Ha. I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.” To which the other replied, “Sometimes when you’re in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her. I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality when it comes….””
• Many People who do not believe in God, also cannot see any life after death. They have often the weirdest ideas. However, as we can read in verse 16 of our text Jesus is surely coming back, even though it still has not happened and we do not know the time when it does. We find various places in the Gospel and in other places of the Word of God where Jesus assures His return and where it proclaims the divine fact that there is eternal life.
• Paul proclaims in our text the fact of the return of Jesus with clear and powerful signs:
◦ “The Lord himself will come down from heaven” – Like the disciples of Jesus has seen Him ascending to heaven he will return again. No one will miss that certainly.
◦ “With a loud command” – God will give the command to return. It a certain matter as it is commanded.
◦ “With the voice of the archangel” – All the heaven will be preparing the return of Jesus. It is not incidental but it will be the main world act when Jesus returns.
◦ “With the trumpet call of God” – As any other royal majesty, our Lord and King will be announced with the loud trumpets of God. It will be a divine proclamation.
• The fact that we are still here, living our daily life with all its facets and just seeing all the things happing in the world, does not mean that Jesus would not return. Even if we do not expect him for the moment, He will certainly return. And Jesus will come maybe when we would not expect it the least. And we will certainly see and realize it when Jesus will come down from heaven. Jesus’ return is our future hope. We can fully trust in Jesus’ return and rejoice in our great future hope.

 
III. Our future hope as a Christian is to be with Jesus forever (vs 17 – 18).

• We read then further in verse 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.” Jesus will not just return, but he will take us up immediately in the clouds and we will meet our Lord in the air. That will work much better than the beaming up in Star Treks (Probably you remember how Captain Kirk and his crew could beam themselves out of the Shuttle to a place they selected and back).
• We will not only meet Jesus in the air but as we read we will be with the Lord forever. Forever means that it is timeless. There will never be an end. As we can read for example in the end of the book of Revelation, there will be a new heaven and earth and we will see the new Jerusalem. At the place where we will ones be with Jesus forever, there will be no pain, tears, crying; etc anymore. It says in Revelation 21:4: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” There will be no lack of anything anymore and we will always be with our Lord and God. There will not be any separation anymore.
• We have received the promise that we will meet Jesus and be forever with Him. This is our future hope. When we look at all that is waiting for us in the future and at the glory of God, then the things that we experience here will be small. We should never forget what future is waiting for us as followers of Jesus.
• Example: If one has planned a trip or some holidays, one is already very much looking forward to that. This has often the effect that the work or the duties we still have to do until that the holiday actually starts, is going easier and better. We know that the work is only temporary. The time is certain that we will stop the work and enjoy all the pleasure of holiday and all that benefits and gives to us.
• How much more is it with the day when Jesus takes us to Him and when we are forever with Him. This is our future hope. I believe every day we should look at our future hope and pray that Jesus would come back soon. We should never lose that prayer.

 
Conclusion

• As Christian, we have a future hope in our Lord Jesus Christ! Our Future hope is not something we are wishing or guessing. It is completely certain. We find then our future hope mainly in the salvation work of Jesus, in His return and in the fact that we will be forever with our Lord Jesus Christ. As we accept Jesus in our lives and follow Him every day, we have the future hope for an eternal life. This future hope in Jesus is also our future blessings that we will experience.
• Paul says in verse 18 that the believers in Thessalonians can encourage each other with these words. We should encourage each other with the future hope that we have in Jesus Christ. We should encourage each other to keep the future hope constantly in one’s life and focus. Let us be assured that we are not just living here and now, but we are preparing for the return of Jesus and for the coming life in eternity. This is the preparation for the better and greater life in Jesus that will come. And it can be even very soon. Whatever happens here on earth and whatever we experience, let us remember that this is not our end, but actually just the beginning of the real and perfect eternal life. We actually just wait here in this life for the next and better life, with Jesus. We have a future blessing in Jesus.
• All what we learned in this series on the basic of faith is directing and focusing to our future blessing. We need a manual for our life the inspired and infallible Word of God, especially the author of life, the one true God who is revealed as man in His Son Jesus Christ; we have to acknowledge that we are sinners and in need of the salvation of Jesus; without the church we cannot grow and even more it is essential to have the Holy Spirit in us; we need to be changed to a holy life and taste already now the present blessing of Christi, so that we can focus to our certain future blessings. We truly have a future hope for a glorious and eternal future with our God and Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.