"Comfort one another with these words" by Scott Klaft

**Comfort One Another With These Words**

By Scott
Klaft

It’s
simple physics: cause and effect. How we behave (the cause) relates to our
relationships whether good or bad (the effect). Christianity is greatly about
correcting our habits for the betterment of our relationships – both with God
and man. How things become people’s habit of behavior, therefore, holds great
interest to me.

I
wonder sometimes how certain reading and interpreting habits have developed.
How is it we can read over passages of the Bible, know the very simple words
and their meanings without any trouble, and yet, completely miss the intended
message or how they are affected in the overall context? How did that habit
develop? I don’t often have a good answer to that question; but what I do know
is that it is our job to help make correction of the bad habits so that our
relationships with God and man may be improved.

Take,
for example, how often 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 is appealed to
without ever considering the stated reason why the apostle was writing on the
subjects he discusses in verses 13 through 18. Verse 13 through 15a introduce
the apostle’s thought process and provides us his motive for writing what he does.

1
Thessalonians 4:13  “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope.

14
 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15  For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord...”

First,
he recognizes his duty to his Lord and brethren to do what he can to stave off
ignorance. As an apostle, Paul had been endowed with immense power and
authority, but he saw it as a tool to help others learn. He saw himself as a
teacher. In proceeding to write what he does, he is trying to provide for what
the Christians may have lacked in their knowledge or memory.

Second,
the subject over which some of the Christians in Thessalonica were having
trouble was that some of their own number were now “asleep” - i.e. in their
graves. They had experienced biological death; and, those still alive, due to
some lacking in their knowledge, were sorrowing for them. We’ll need to
identify the nature of that sorrow in this passage. More on that in a moment.

Third,
Paul did not view their sorrow as something good or natural; it was something
they did not need to experience, because knowledge, as opposed to ignorance,
would prevent such sorrow. This deserves a bit more discussion.

Is
it not natural to have a sense of loss when someone we love is irrevocably
missing from our day-to-day lives? Of course it is. Is it wrong to be sad when
we experience this sense of loss? Of course it isn’t. Do we have a
contradiction in the scripture with something that cannot be avoided in our
emotional attachments to one another? Does Christianity teach us to so love one
another that our hearts and minds become as one, only to expect us to be
unaffected when a part of ourselves is gone? Certainly, no. How do we reconcile
it, then? The apostle is clearly writing to Christians, telling them why they
should not have sorrow. What may we conclude?

Why
did Paul find it necessary to write to them not to sorrow, when sorrow for the
departed souls would be the most natural emotion to feel? It is because Paul
was not writing to convince them not to feel loss when their loved ones pass
from this physical world. He was combating outside influences in how they
considered their faithful dead.

He
qualifies the type of sorrow he is trying to educate out of the Thessalonian
Christian’s heart by saying, “even as others which have no hope” (v. 13). He
didn’t want them to feel sorrow as the result of an incorrect idea regarding
what the resurrection is. Others who “have no hope” would be unbelievers who
had died, forever sealing their fate of separation from God.

The Christians among them had not, and
would not, miss the joy of eternal life, even if their physical bodies had
expired.

When
Paul mentioned their source of confidence, that “If we believe that Jesus died
and rose again...” he placed what followed as the logical conclusion of that
confidence: “...God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1Thes.
4:14). As sure as their confidence is that Jesus rose from the dead, they may
be just as sure that when Jesus returned, those whose bodies had expired while
living faithfully “in Jesus” would be brought with Him upon Jesus’ return.

Pause
for a moment and reflect. Paul is saying to them, ‘They are not lost. In the
day of the Lord, God will bring them with Him.’ Would the knowledge Paul was
imparting (or reminding them) be comforting if there was a prevailing thought
that the hope was only in this world, if the body lived (see 1Corinthians 15:12
– 34 where the Sadducees doctrine denying resurrection seem to be catching an
influence. Is it possible Paul was fighting that here in Thessalonica also?)

By
way of an explanation that God would bring the faithful-dead with Jesus upon
His return, Paul reminds them of something he had probably already taught them:
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord...” (1Thes. 4:15a). He tells
them what Jesus had already said on the matter. In Matthew 24:31, the Lord
speaks of how, in His coming in His Kingdom, the angels would be sent to
“gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other.”

It
is not an inappropriate connection to make in these thoughts to remember the
Lord’s words that address the living and the dead:

John 5:28
 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice, 29  And shall come forth; they that have
done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto
the resurrection of damnation.

And this is a clear reference to the
prophesy of Daniel 12:2; a reference that Jesus Himself also made in the Olivet
discourse in Matthew 24:15, citing Daniel 12:11. There is no avoiding these
obvious references and allusions. Paul was describing to the Thessalonians the
events of the resurrection that Jesus had discussed and Daniel (and others) had
prophesied. Paul was telling the church in Thessalonica, they need not be
concerned about their faithful dead because they were about to experience the
fulfillment of those prophesies and promise of the Lord in being resurrected to
life.

Just
here, a quick correction of a popular notion would be appropriate. The realm
where disembodied spirits would go, known in scripture as *Sheol* –

the place of the grave, in Hebrew; and *Hades* – the place of departed spirits,
in Greek , was the holding place for the dead, and it is commonly understood to
have contained two regions. There was the place of torment, where the wicked
and unforgiven souls resided in conscious awareness of their eternal doom; and paradise,
illustrated by being called the place of being comforted in Abraham’s bosom,
which is the place where Jesus promised the repentant thief on the cross, He
would be with him on that day. This is where all the saints of all the ages
leading up to the resurrection would be. But, in the resurrection, Hades would
be emptied, and each soul would receive what was due. This is how Paul sought
to comfort the Thessalonians who feared for the fate of their lost brethren.

But just as reminder, let me ask,
how could this be of any comfort if it were not to occur in their own
lifetimes? The judgment of the wicked Jewish nation was under consideration in
Jesus’ words from Matthew 24, and He did tell them this “gathering together”
was to occur within their generation (see Matt. 24:34). Daniel, too, indicated
that the resurrection (Dan. 12:2) would occur in connection to the Judgment of
Israel, in a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation”
(Dan. 12:1 cf. Matt. 24:21, 22) and “when the power of the holy people has been
completely shattered” (Dan. 12:7 - NKJV).

Now,
if we can easily see that the shattering of Judah was in the AD 70 destruction
of Jerusalem, we cannot draw any other conclusion than that the resurrection –
of which all of these inspired men spoke of so similarly – occurred also within
the lifetimes of the first generation of Christians.

That
being so, Paul’s words to the Christians in Thessalonica would be comforting
indeed. He would even remind them that the coming of the Lord to accomplish all
these events would surprise the wicked, but not they who believed (see 1Thess.
5:1-5 – notice the pronouns being very specific to the Christians in
Thessalonica).

As
he continues to cite “the word of the Lord,” in 1Thess. 4:16, Paul reminds them
of the Lord’s decent from the heavens with a shout, in the voice of the
“archangel” (which is an interesting study by itself). These are the very
sentiments of the Lord from Matthew 24:31.

The
gathering entailed that the dead would be spiritually raised to their immortal
body (1Cor. 15:35 – 57; 2Cor. 4:18ff; Phil. 3:21; 1Jn. 3:2). They rise “first”
in the order of events. That the living would not precede them being an
emphasis in Paul’s discourse gives further evidence that the living Christians
were concerned about those who had passed.

But at this point in our main text is where
people get, honestly, but very, confused. Let’s look at it carefully: “Then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Thess.
4:17).

We
have no trouble determining who the “we who are alive and remain” are as long
as we recall that this letter had to have a specific meaning to those of the
first generation of Christians to whom Paul wrote. Without that perspective, we
can go off into any number of possibilities, and many, many have. The “we” (with
whom Paul interestingly includes himself) are those Christians who would live
to see the AD 70 coming of the Lord to punish His enemies and reward His saints
with rest.

We
may spend a little time studying the Greek words represented in English by the
expression, “caught up together with them,” and it would probably be time well
spent; but, we would likely remain just as confused regarding what happened to
those Christians who remained to witness the Day of the Lord. It is the Greek
words translated “to meet” that will give us clarity. It’s a rather unusual
term.

It
comes from, *eis* *apantesin,* which holds a bit more in concept that the word “meet”
lets on in our casual English use. The preposition, *eis* is relatively familiar: “into, unto, to, towards, for, among”
are the most common translations, but

it is always forward looking in purpose
or direction. The noun, *apantesin*,
however, is not very popular with commentators and it is briefly handled by
major lexicographers. When used in attachment with the “coming of the Lord”,
the word caries the idea, not just of a random encounter, but a purposeful
going, meeting, and *accompanying back*
in a gesture of hospitality to one deemed deserving of honor.

This
word, *apantesin,* only occurs in the
scripture three other times. Two times it is right within the context of the
Lord’s Olivet Discourse describing the events of His coming by way of the parable
of the ten virgins. In verse 1 of that context, the expression is, “...went
forth to meet the bridegroom.” In verse 6, the word is found in the expression,
“...go ye out to meet him.” In both cases, the virgins were intentionally going
out to honor the Bridegroom (Christ), to meet Him, and accompany Him to His
destination. (More on that destination in a moment.)

The
only other time the word is used in this form is in Acts 28:14 – 16. Paul and
company were headed to Rome. Some heard of their *coming*, departed from Rome to *meet*
them, and accompany them back to Rome.

This
was a fairly common practice in the ancient world. While the Greek word may not
be used in these following examples, the concept of the practice is clear:

·    Genesis 14:17
 Where “the king of Sodom went out to meet [Abram] after his return” from
rescuing Lot.

·    Genesis 18:1ff
 Abraham runs from the gate of his tent to meet the Lord and his angels to
ask that they stay long enough for him to provide a meal.

·    Genesis 19:1ff
 Lot rises up to meet the two oncoming angels to the city of Sodom and
requests that they stay at his home.

·
Genesis
32:6  Esau goes out from his home to meet Jacob coming back from his time
with Laban.

·    Matthew 21:7 –
11 the multitudes go out from Jerusalem to greet, honor, and accompany Jesus as
he rides the donkey into Jerusalem.

The
concept Paul was communicating by his word choice was that the living
Christians would go, meet the Lord in the air where the resurrected saints
were, and accompany them back here, to the world of men. There can be no
mistaking the unambiguous words of the declaration made by the great voice in
Heaven heard by John, as he records:

Revelation 21:2
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be
with them, and be their God.”

The location of God’s dwelling is now
among men. The Heaven itself has come down to men. And Paul was telling the
Christians, in his day, that they would witness and even participate in the
event.

Was
it a physical structure, a city made of literal stone and mortar? Obviously
not. The kingdom was not to come with observation (cf. Lk. 17:20). Therefore,
the coming of the Lord in His kingdom was also an event that could not be
observed with the eye of flesh. All of what Paul was describing was spiritual,
and unobservable by the carnal senses.

What
message did the church in Thessalonica take away from Paul’s addressing their
concerns about those of their number who had “fallen asleep”? They were
comforted with the words of the apostle’s affirmation that they were not gone,
permanently imprisoned in the grave, but they would indeed be resurrected. And
in fact would precede those who still lived during the events surrounding the
coming of the Lord.

What
comfort is there for us? If you are not asking that question, you might be
getting caught up into the academic and historical study and failing to make
application to what may be profited by the study. There are many, many lessons
for us in the principles we learn as we study what happened to the church in
the early stages.

·    God keeps His
promises, no matter how displeasing they might be, and certainly for those
glorious promises He always wanted for mankind.

·    God’s
disposition is to reward the humble and obedient (See Matthew 5:3 – 10).

·
God’s
kingdom, being an eternal kingdom (Daniel 2:44; Isaiah 9:7; et. al.), it is
still present today; and, therefore, God desires to give mankind the blessings
of His presence and eternal life with Him (See Revelation 22:17).

·    The conditions
of entrance exemplified by the church (Acts 2:38; 8:37, 38; 17:30; et. al.) as
it was being built have not changed; and, therefore, all spiritual blessings
are available “in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3), just as it was then. This makes
man’s first and highest priority (cf. Matthew 6:33) getting into that
relationship with Christ (cf. Galatians 3:24-29).

·    One of those
terms of entrance into Christ is that we share in His death, burial, and
resurrection with Him in a spiritual way – not symbolically, but the sincere,
full-hearted belief in God’s promises that our hearts, our minds, our
consciences are being made free from sin (See all of Romans 6; 10:9, 10;
Colossians 2:12).

·    The resurrection
that we have by coming to be “in Christ” is the new beginning, the new birth
(Jn 3:3, 5) the new life (Rom. 6:4), the eternal life (Jn. 11:25, 26), the
entrance into Christ’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 12:28). While living,
and passed the stage of bodily death, we have the promise of God for life
eternal, if we will remain faithful (cf. 1Jn 1:3 – 2:5).

Shall we not *Comfort One Another With These Words*?