I always counted it a great privilege to know my aunt Charlotte. Granted, you might say I had advantage with half my family going to the same church. I remember walking down the halls of the children’s wing after Sunday school and I’d see her in her class room. I’d say, “when will Aunt Charlotte be my Sunday School teacher?” My mom told me that probably wouldn’t happen because she had “other children she needed to love.”
That didn’t really make sense to me at the time, but I understood one simple thing was that my aunt had a lot of love. When I got older and volunteered the help with children’s ministry, I spent a few Sunday’s helping in my aunt’s classroom. That’s when I figured out what my mom meant all those years ago. Charlotte had other children, those with special needs, who she was called to show God’s love. And she showed it endlessly. These children needed someone with exceptional patience, grace, and kindness. My aunt Charlotte was all of those things. I became more proud of her than ever, and I look forward to seeing her again some day.
It’s an interesting feeling, isn’t it? Being at a funeral. It’s like a sorrowful hope. There’s this tension of emotions–and we see it through the Scriptures. Mostly in the Psalms and in Lamentations. Hope that’s punctured with lamenting, waiting, and yearning. God’s word deals with our heavy, conflicting emotions and our torn hearts. It’s true, we can take courage in knowing that Charlotte is at home with the Lord–but she is away from us, and we are left here to cope with her absence. I want to spend a few moments together taking a look in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. If you have a Bible, maybe an app on your phone, then feel free to pull that up. Before we get into that, however, I’d like to read a short poem.
I am standing by the seashore.
“Gone From My Sight” by Henry Van Dyke
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch
until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says, ‘There she goes!
Gone where? Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the places of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
‘There she goes! ‘ ,
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout :
‘Here she comes!’
That was a poem called “Gone from my Sight” by Henry Van Dyke. It expresses something similar to what we see in Scripture. Let’s get into.1 Thessalonians. We’ll be in fourth chapter starting in 13th verse. Here, Paul is writing a letter of encouragement to the church in Thessalonica, some of whom have recently experienced the loss of a loved one. So in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, we begin,
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (CSB)
At this time, in this season, we feel heartache, pain and loss–but God’s word offers up comfort, and encouragement. Paul is writing to those who are hurting and grieving, and to them–he offers hope.
Paul tells us that how we respond to loss should look different than those who “have no hope.” There are two things we should keep in mind.
The first is that grieving is natural. Paul isn’t telling us not be sad. We read in Psalm 116:15, “The death of His faithful ones is valuable in the Lord’s sight.” Here, the word “valuable” can also be translated as precious stones or possessions–as costly or expensive. We are God’s children, and he does his work on earth through us, doesn’t it make sense that he would see us as valuable, and our deaths as costly?
Not only that, but he knows our loss because he experienced it with us. You remember the story about Lazarus’ death? Jesus knew that he would raise Lazarus from the dead, but he grieved his loss anyway. When he saw the faces of the family, as he approached the sealed tomb, and felt the loss of a loved one, Jesus wept. We know that we will see departed believers again, but being apart from them causes pan and grief that is natural.
Paul explains that we respond differently than those who have no hope. Although we mourn, the Lord is with us through it all. As believers, we have comfort and hope in the future, we know that our loved ones who put their faith in Christ are now with the Lord. The Bible even calls them blessed,
“Then I heard a voice form heaving saying, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘so they will rest from their labors, since their works follow them.’”
Revelation 14:13
Paul reminds us that if we believe in the gospel, we also believe in the Second Coming of Christ! Nothing is more comforting to us now in this moment than knowing that we will be resurrected. It is the true hope that we, as Christians, have. Paul paints the picture for us: When Christ returns, He will bring the deceased believers with Him. While we mourn their loss, we can be certain that they rejoice and look forward to the day when they will be the first to see Christ return for His people.
We are told that,
“The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16
When Christ came the first time, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes as a baby in a manger, announced by a single star to wise men or by an angel to shepherds. When he comes again, he will be wrapped in glory and majesty with a ground-shattering, earth shaking shout of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God himself! And who will be the first to see these things? The dead in Christ.
After the deceased saints are resurrected to be with Christ in His glory,
“Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet their Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord”
1 Thessalonians 4:17
We will be together with other believers, those who we have lost, and all of us will be united with Christ in all His glory–for the rest of eternity.
Today, we are naturally grieved. But we also have cause for great comfort. I encourage you to put a bookmark in 1 Thessalonians 4. When you feel the deepest pain, you can read this passage. In verse 18, Paul writes “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” As we leave here today, let’s remind each other in our grief that Charlotte will be of the first to see the magnificent return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that we will one day see her again, together in the clouds.
Westerman.Blog 