What Happens to Christians Who Die?, Part 2

Again, the anticipation of the coming of Christ and they being blameless when He gets here. Well, if they'd already been glorified, they would be blameless when He got here.

He's assuming that they may be alive when He comes and they're to be unblameable when that happens. Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Can you remember practicing for a big piano recital or athletic competition or preparing for a major job interview or the birth of your first child? No doubt, you felt a powerful sense of anticipation, which greatly affected how you spent your time as the important event moved ever closer. Well, with that in mind, consider the most significant event you could ever face, your own death. As you anticipate the end of this life and what comes after it, what effect should that have on how you live today? John MacArthur helps answer that here on Grace To You. Follow along now as he continues his compelling study, The Rapture and the Day of the Lord. Please open your Bible to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, and I want to draw your attention again to verses 13 through 18. We've titled this message, What Happens to Christians Who Die Before Jesus Comes? The intent of the Apostle Paul is not to give a front to back, top to bottom, reasoned detail, eschatological explanation of the rapture, but to comfort troubled, grieving, sorrowing hearts. It is not a pedantic question, what happens to Christians who die before the Lord returns? It's a painful question on their hearts because their suffering grief for fear that their loved ones who have died are going to miss that great event. Was their death, perhaps they wondered, a kind of judgment where the Lord chastened them, took their life and they therefore forfeited experiencing the rapture? Was there some secret sin in their life and that's why they died? Would they somehow not participate at all in the gathering together and the wonderful trip to heaven? Would they remain bodiless spirits, never knowing the transformation of body into the likeness of Christ?

Would they somehow be considered lesser saints? Are they not as loved as the rest who would live to the rapture? The whole matter led them to grief. So the Apostle Paul writes to alleviate their grief.

Look at verse 13 of chapter 4. We do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. He says, we don't want you to grieve. Grieving out of ignorance is needless. I don't want you to be uninformed in such a way that you grieve and that you grieve like people who have no hope of reunion, the lost, the pagans, the people outside the kingdom of God who see death as the final permanent parting. I don't want you to grieve like the hopeless who have no anticipation of a reunion. Your ignorance has led you to the grief.

So I want to salve your grief by turning your ignorance into knowledge. The main group that he concerns himself with here are those who are asleep. In fact, he mentions them in verse 13. He mentions them in verse 14. He mentions them in verse 15.

That is his concern because that was their concern. What happens to Christians who die before Jesus gets here? And by the way, it's an awfully important question because they were asking it way back then. We're 2,000 years later and a whole lot of Christians have died. Christians have fallen into that category and continue to. Those who are asleep means Christians who have died. And Christians who die do not experience death in its fearful reality because of their life in Christ. Death has been transformed into sleep. The difference between sleep and death is that sleep is a temporary repose and that is a fitting term for Christians. When they die, their spirit goes to be with the Lord immediately absent from the body present with the Lord. Far better to depart and be with Christ. Their body goes into the grave not permanently but only to sleep until it is awakened someday.

But they didn't know how or when or where or what and so were grieving for their loved ones. Paul then explains to them some of the features of the rapture. The term in verse 17, shall be caught up together, is the term from which we get the concept of rapture. It is caught up, snatched up, raptured and it has to do with the catching away of the church, the taking up of the church. It's, by the way, a violent word.

And I pointed out to you last time that out of the Latin derivative comes the word rape, a violent act in which the church is snatched away. It's a rescue of the first order, sudden, instantaneous. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, in the twinkling of an eye. That's not how fast it is to blink. That's how fast it is to see light flash on the pupil.

That fast and faster. Now as Paul then unfolds to them the rapture, remember, his purpose is not to cover everything that could be said about this event. His purpose is to cover a specific issue to bring comfort to their troubled hearts. Four features sum up his teaching in this text on the rapture. The pillars of the rapture, the participants of the rapture, the plan of the rapture, and the profit of the rapture, p-r-o-f-i-t, the benefit.

Now last time we began to look at the pillars of the rapture. And we noted for you in verse 14, the first pillar upon which rapture truth is built is the death of Christ. For if we believe that Jesus died. And I pointed out to you that the reason, first of all, that we can even leave this world and be gathered to Jesus Christ and taken to heaven is because Jesus died for our sins. And having been forgiven of our sins and covered, as it were, by the blood of Christ and clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we are made acceptable to God.

We are made joint heirs with Christ, brothers, Jesus is not ashamed to call us, and He will gather us to Himself and take us to heaven where God awaits us because our sins have been dealt with. So the rapture is built, first of all, not on philosophical speculation, not on theological whimsy, but on the death of Jesus Christ which was a perfect satisfaction to God for sin. And since He fulfilled all of the conditions for the forgiveness of sin, He transformed death into sleep for us.

To borrow the words of Paul, He took the sting out of death. The second pillar on which the rapture is built is the resurrection of Christ. Verse 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again.

And here is the necessary corollary to the first. Not only did He die, but the satisfaction of His work was indicated by the fact that God raised Him from the dead and He conquered death. He conquered sin as it were in His dying.

He conquered death as it were in His rising. Sin was dealt with, death was dealt with, not only for Himself, but notice back at verse 14, even so God will bring with Him that is with Christ at His return those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. As He raised Jesus, He'll raise the rest who are in Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 15 and 23 says, Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those that are Christ's at His coming. Jesus said in John 14, 19, because I live, you shall live also. God will treat dead believers the same way He treated Jesus, by raising them from the dead. That's His promise, bodily resurrection. When God comes in the great glorious return of Christ, God will bring with Him those who have died in Christ, just as He brought back Jesus from the dead.

The picture is a marvelous one. It's first painted for us in John 14, verses 1 to 3, the only place in the gospel record where the rapture is discussed. And all it says is, let not your heart be troubled. Again, it's a comforting passage. It's intended to comfort the troubled disciples. You believe in God, believe also in me and my Father's house are many dwelling places.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus there promised, I'm going, but I'm going to get a place ready.

I'm coming, I'm coming to take you where I am in that place. The promise here is that in the same way that God brought Jesus out of the dead and took Him to glory, God will bring us out of the graves who are dead and take us to glory. Now remember, the spirits are already with the Lord, but the body will be resurrected joined to that already in the presence of God's Spirit and the combination of that is the glorified saint in the image of Christ who abides in God's presence forever and ever. This is the resurrection, by the way, described in 1 Corinthians 15, 35 and following.

So those are just review points. The pillars of the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, hold up the doctrine of the rapture. The third one is the revelation of Christ, the revelation of Christ. Paul says in verse 15, For this we say to you, this teaching about the rapture, by the word of the Lord. What he is saying is not only is the rapture built on the death and resurrection of Christ, but on direct revelation from Christ. This we say to you as the tone of an inspired writer who has revealed what God has disclosed to him. That phrase, by the word of the Lord, means a divine utterance. Paul was literally giving to the Thessalonians what came from the Lord. This is divine revelation. Now what does he mean specifically?

It's interesting to note this. When he says, We say this to you, and then goes on to explain about the rapture, by the word of the Lord. What does he mean by that? Some commentators suggest that he means that he is referring to something Jesus said that's recorded in the gospels. However, that doesn't seem to be a valid option at all since there are no exact passages. As I said, the only mention of the rapture specifically is just a very simple statement that Jesus said, I'm coming back. And He said it in, again, a pastoral way rather than trying to cover all the eschatological theology of it. But beyond that, there are no specifics about the rapture in the gospels to which Paul could be alluding.

You say, Well now wait a minute. Doesn't it talk about a trumpet here? And doesn't it talk about a resurrection here? Yes. But they're very different than those times, for example, in the Olivet Discourse where the Lord talked about a trumpet and where He talked about a gathering, and very different from any references in John's gospel which obliquely some have referred to this, such as where he says to Martha in chapter 11, I am the resurrection and the life.

Let me give you some of the differences. In Matthew, the Son of Man comes on the clouds. In 1 Thessalonians, believers ascend in the clouds. In Matthew, the angels gather the elect from the four corners of the world. In 1 Thessalonians, Jesus Christ Himself gathers them to Himself. In the Olivet Discourse, particularly in Matthew, there is no record of the order of the ascent. That is the principle issue here in Thessalonians.

There are other distinctions as well. And so, we can't say that Paul is referring to anything in the gospels because nothing states the things that he talks about here. Others have said, well, probably he's referring to a word of the Lord that was said by the Lord but never written down, like the one recorded in Acts 20, 35 where it says, Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive. Jesus did say that. We know He said it because the Spirit of God revealed to Luke when He wrote that He said it, but it's not recorded in the gospels. It's the only quote from Jesus outside the gospels. Some say what Paul is saying here then must be what Jesus said.

We just don't have a record of it. But He doesn't say Jesus said it. He doesn't quote directly anything that Jesus said in the gospels, and He doesn't specifically say that Jesus said this. He just uses that rather general term it was a word from the Lord.

Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 15, would you notice verse 51 or just listen to it? Paul, beginning a discussion there about the rapture says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. Mystery means something hidden that is now revealed. Paul is saying, I am now going to reveal something that has been hidden, which leads us to the conclusion that Jesus never did reveal the details of the rapture. It was a mystery until Paul opened it up.

He was the apostle of that mystery. And here again, if Jesus had taught this, and it had been common knowledge that He taught it, whether recorded or not recorded, surely then Paul would have unfolded it to the Thessalonians. But here they are in complete confusion about this event called the rapture, and Paul again must give to them some new truth from the word of the Lord.

So we think there is no way to associate this with anything Jesus said. If you'll notice chapter 5 verse 2, he says, You yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Apparently they knew a lot about the day of the Lord.

That's judgment. And they didn't need to be taught about the day of the Lord, but they did not know about the rapture, the snatching, the catching away. And Paul then is revealing to them something that has heretofore been a secret, and it's come to him by the word of the Lord. Now that could mean it came through the mouth of a prophet that some prophet, New Testament prophet like Agabus mentioned in Acts 21, may have been the Lord's spokesman to Paul and uttered it and Paul heard it. In fact, Agabus said when he talked to Paul in Acts 21, this is what the Holy Spirit says. So it could have been a prophet like Agabus that was God's instrument to speak to Paul. It could have been another means by which the Spirit of God communicated to Paul. It could have been direct like when he was on the ship in Acts 27 sailing across the sea and an angel came to him at night and told him exactly what the Lord wanted him to hear. But somehow in some way he got direct revelation which he now unfolds. So what is the rapture built on?

Not philosophy, not some whimsical theological speculation. Built on the death of Christ, sin is paid for, therefore we're acceptable to God, the resurrection of Christ in whose resurrection we rise, the revelation of Christ which unfolds its details. Strong foundation, wouldn't you say?

Strong pillars. Now let's turn to the word of the Lord. What did the Lord say to Paul about this event? That takes us to the second point, the participants of the rapture. The participants of the rapture. Verse 15, he says, For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, and here are the two participants, that we who are alive and remain, and then the end of the verse, those who have fallen asleep.

There are the two participants. There are only two kinds of people at the rapture, the people who are alive and remain and the people who are dead. That is a very simple contrast, and that's all he's talking about. People who live and people who have died.

You see, that was their burning concern. What happens to Christians who die? Simply, he says then, let me tell you about each of the two participants. First of all then, we who are alive and remain, Christians living at the time when the Lord comes. We who live, who do not die, to see the perusia.

Would you please notice the word we? Does Paul think he'll be alive then? Does Paul think that it could happen in his lifetime? Surely he does. Surely he does. He certainly demonstrates what is a proper anticipation and a proper expectation for his Lord's return without laying out a specific time for it. I'm sure he would never do that.

Certainly under the inspiration of the Spirit of God he wouldn't do it. And like all early Christians, I believe he saw the event as very near. That's why he uses the word we. We who are alive and remain. We is sort of a generic term, we meaning the believers who are alive at that time. But he doesn't say they as if he's necessarily pushing it off to a future generation. He can say we and be comfortable about it because it might be in his lifetime.

There are other indications that he believed that in Romans 13, 11. And this do, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep, for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone. The day is at hand. Boy, there's an urgency there, isn't there? Our salvation is nearer.

What do you mean? Our deliverance. We've already had our soul salvation, but our bodily salvation, the redemption of the body that he talks about in Romans 8, it's nearer than it's ever been. The day is at hand. At hand means next.

The night is almost over. It'll be soon. In 1 Corinthians, would you notice chapter 6, verse 14 for the same kind of expression, he says, Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Did he believe he'd be in that resurrection? Did he believe that he would be in that future resurrection? It seems on the one hand at one point he believes it's going to come in his lifetime. On the other hand, on the other point, he believes he may be in the grave. Chapter 10, 1 Corinthians, verse 11, Now these things happened to us as an example.

They were written for our instruction. Our instruction, listen to this, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. He believed he was living in the ends of the ages, the messianic times.

And I'm sure he had no idea they would be as long as they have been already. Look at 1 Corinthians 16, 22, If anyone doesn't love the Lord, let him be accursed, maranatha. You know what that means? O Lord, come. O Lord, come. And look at our letter, 1 Thessalonians 1, 10, They were waiting for His Son from heaven. Chapter 3, verse 13, He says that He wants their hearts established unblameable in holiness before God and our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Again, the anticipation of the coming of Christ and they being blameless when He gets here.

Well, if they'd already been glorified, they would be blameless when He got here. He's assuming that they may be alive when He comes and they're to be unblameable when that happens. Chapter 5, verse 23, May the God of peace sanctify you entirely. May your spirit, soul, and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the only way your body could be without blame and complete at His coming would be to be alive when He got here. And again, I say, He anticipated that Jesus could come in His lifetime. To Titus, He said He was looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was looking for Christ.

He believed that it could happen in His lifetime. And yet, follow this, on the other hand, He also believed that He could die before Christ came. Chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, verse 10, He says, He died for us that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live for Him. And He uses we there. He might be awake, He might be asleep when Jesus comes. But either way, we'll live together with Him, either way. In 1 Corinthians 15, 52, He says at the rapture, we shall be changed.

And He puts Himself at the scene. And yet, in Philippians 1, He says, Christ shall be exalted in my body, whether it be life or death. To me to live is Christ, to die is gain, having a desire to depart and be with Christ. And in 2 Timothy 4, He says, I have finished the course, I've kept the faith, I've fought the good fight, the time of my departure is at hand, and He sensed His own death.

Why all of that? What I'm saying to you is, He believed it could happen in His lifetime. He lived in that anticipation. And you hear the hope in His heart as He talks about we and us at that great event.

But on the other hand, He knew it might not, and that He might die before it happened. So He really associates Himself with both possibilities, and that's the way the church has always lived, with expectation and anticipation that it could come in my lifetime. You've been listening to John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.

He's chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. And today's lesson is part of John's current series on grace to you, titled The Rapture and the Day of the Lord. Well, John, thinking more about your lesson, in particular, what you said happens to believers at the rapture. I'd like you to answer a question that one of our listeners asked about the salvation of people who will be alive after the rapture. We'll play his question and then you can respond.

Good afternoon. My name is Edward. If a person on this side of the rapture misses the rapture, will they have an opportunity to accept Christ after the rapture and make it into heaven? Very good question, Edward, and I've been asked that a lot through the years, and the answer is yes.

Yes, of course, every person has his lifetime or her lifetime. To be more specific, the rapture is that event in the future, a secret event at an unknown time, when the Lord calls his church out of the world, when they're literally lifted up, those who are alive in the air, those who are dead, bodies coming out of the grave. The rapture of the church is the gathering of the church into heaven.

Now, people are still going to be living on earth. The gospel, even though the church is gone, will begin to be preached. Who's going to preach the gospel?

The book of Revelation lays it out. There will be angels actually flying in the sky, preaching the everlasting gospel. There will be 12,000 Jews from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, totaling 144,000, who will come to faith in Christ and become evangelists for the gospel.

There will be two witnesses, according to Revelation chapter 11, who will preach the gospel and be seen by the whole world, which speaks about television. There will be all kinds of people coming to faith in Christ out of every tongue and tribe and people and nation, it says in the book of Revelation. So there will be a massive influx of people being saved during the time of tribulation. So you need to keep in mind that those who miss the rapture don't necessarily miss salvation, because God intends to continue to redeem sinners all the way until Christ comes to establish his kingdom on earth. And even after he establishes his kingdom, there will be people born in the world to those who were alive when he returned, and the possibility of salvation would still be open to them in their lifetime as well. Don't count, however, on the fact that you have a lot of time left, because no man knows the day or the hour when Christ comes to gather his church, nor do we know when we've taken our last breath.

So now is the day of salvation. Yes, and that's a comforting reality, so thank you, John. And friend, if you have a question you'd like to ask John MacArthur about the Bible or the Church or Christian living or anything biblical, call our Q&A line. You may hear John answer your question on an upcoming broadcast. Contact us today. Our Q&A line number is 661-295-6288. Again, to record your Bible question for John, you can call our Q&A line at 661-295-6288.

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