Turn with me to first Thessalonians. 1st Thessalonians four, beginning in verse 13, “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren.” This is why I'm doing this tonight, because Paul says this is something we need to know. I do not want you to be ignorant “... concerning those who have fallen asleep.”

How many people here have loved ones who have died for all of us? How many of us have people who just were taken from us way, way, way too soon? Paul says, I don't want you to “... sorrow as those that have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,” that's it. Simple faith, childlike faith, in the Person of the work of Christ.

“... even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.” All those who we know that are believers who have died. When He comes, they come with Him, right? It’s going to be a great reunion in the sky. Verse 15, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord.” Paul wants us to know this is God's word, “that we, who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who are asleep. ”

Why does he use the term sleep? Because when you sleep, you wake up, right? The body sleeps in the grave. I don't believe in the teaching of a soul asleep because the Scripture plainly teaches that when we die instantly, we are “face to face with the Lord.” Soul and spirit goes to be with the Lord. Body goes into the ground.

The body is going to wake up. That's important because of something that's coming here. If Jesus brings willing those who sleep in Jesus and “we are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not preced those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

Wait a minute, I thought he just said they're coming with him. He did? Now he's saying that they're coming up from the grave. They are. How does this work? Soul and spirit coming down. Resurrected body coming up. It's not just going to be a reunion with our loved ones. Going to be a reunion of the soul and spirit with a resurrected body.

Your resurrected body (I don't know if this will encourage or discourage you) is going to be the one you have now, but trust me, it'll be better. No more weight problems. No more need for glasses. No more bad hearing. For those of us that are getting long in years. That the body rises. Soul and spirit comes down. There's a reunion of the total person.

“... we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we will always be with the Lord.” From that moment forward, there will never be a separation again. What did Jesus say? “... I will receive you to Myself.” Language in Scripture is very important. Sometimes just failure to understand a single word can set us off track. He didn't say, “I'm coming back to earth.” I'm going to come and “I'm going to receive you.”

The Bridegroom cometh and the bride does what? Leaves everything else behind. And we go to meet Him — instantaneous resurrection body!

Learn about "The Simplicity of Salvation" here:
https://basictraining.org/simplicity-of-salvation/

#shorts #BibleStudy #bibleverse #sleep
#jesus #jesuschrist #devotional
#christianity #death #soul #bible #bride #christ #spiritualgrowth

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You will hear people say, nobody taught the rapture until John Darby came up with the idea of the rapture. It was really Jesus Christ came up with it first in John Chapter 14. To me, this is one of the most important things that you and I can know in the time that we're living in. So if you'll follow me in John 14.

“Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.” Here comes this wedding language. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again.” Don't worry. No matter how long I'm gone, I'm coming back. “I will come again and ...” — here is the phrase I want you to get — “...receive you to Myself.”

Let's go back to the wedding for just a minute. In ancient times, in the days of Jesus, when a young man and a young woman were engaged, they would have a ceremony. They would make a pledge to each other. The young man would then say, I am going to prepare a place for you. So the bride says, well, when are you going to come and get me? And he says, I don't know. I can't come until the father approves of the place that I'm making for you.

So he would go. He would build a house, usually on land that was owned by his father, possibly next to his father's house. The father has to pass approval on it. So when we understand that what Jesus is saying is, “I'm here to call a bride, I'm here for an engagement.” Ponder that for just a minute. No one before the resurrection of Christ was “in Christ.” That's something that happens only by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And the baptism of the Holy Spirit did not happen in the Old Testament. To be placed into union with Jesus Christ, not just as a child of God, not just as a believer, but as what makes us so special, His bride.

Well, when a wedding takes place, the bridegroom comes with his friend, what we call the best man and a company of his buddies. They're not sneaking up. They're blowing trumpets. They're singing. They're shouting. You can hear him coming a half a mile away. The bride lives in expectation every day he's coming every day. She's looking for his coming. That's what we're supposed to be doing about the return of Jesus Christ.

When the bridegroom and his friends came down the street, she ran out to meet him. He didn't come to the house, and they would go to the father's house, and there she would prepare herself and the wedding lasted seven days. Seven days of feasting. Seven days of celebrating. Seven days of singing. It would just be beautiful. “If I go and prepare a place, I will come again and receive you.: We go up, he comes down and we meet.

Language in Scripture is very important. Sometimes just failure to understand a single word can set us off track. He didn't say, I'm coming back to Earth. “I'm going to come” and “I'm going to receive you.” The Bridegroom cometh, and the bride does what leaves everything else behind. And we go to meet Him. From that moment forward, there will never be a separation again.

The simplicity of salvation:
https://basictraining.org/simplicity-of-salvation/

#bible
#BibleStudy
#shorts
#jesuschrist #marriage #christ #christianity #bride #christ #forever #devotional #prophecy

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In John 10:11, Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” The figure of the shepherd was very near and dear to the Lord Jesus Christ. As we look back in history a thousand years before Christ, King David was known as the Shepherd–King. God said that he took him from the sheepfold, from caring for the lambs to place him over His people, Israel. Why? Because he would understand how to shepherd the people and to show them the compassion that they needed.

And so Jesus adopted that symbol. And of course, all through the Old Testament, it looks forward to Him as “The Shepherd.” But He says, “The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” Verse 12 says, “He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, the one that does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.” By the way, I've known many situations around the world where pastors have fled because of persecution and left their sheep to suffer the consequences. This is what Jesus calls a “hireling.”

So Jesus said, the hireling flees. But verse 14, “I am the Good Shepherd.” This is really a declaration of His deity. He is the “I am.” He is the Yahweh or Jehovah of the Old Testament. “I know My sheep and I am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so, I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep.” I want you to notice He's emphasizing who He is and what He's about to do. In other words, there's content to the Gospel. There's information that explains to us why He deserves our trust, why He is worthy of our faith and our obedience. So the emphasis here is His identity. He is “The Good Shepherd.” And what does The Good Shepherd do? The Good Shepherd “lays down His life for the sheep.”

And then, if you'll just jump with me over to verse 27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them ...,” here's the gift, “eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Jesus uses a very strong construction in the original language that says, “Absolutely never, ever!”The moment someone stands at the foot of the cross and looks at the Person and the work of Jesus Christ and places their trust in Him, entrusts their soul into His keeping, that person has eternal life. And eternal life begins at the moment of faith, and eternal life never ends, because it's the life of God. “... Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.” So here's the picture our Lord has painted: the Father's hand encloses the Savior's hand. We are secure in the grip of God.

Salvation comes only by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and only in Him alone. Especially if you've been left behind, learn about "The Simplicity of Salvation" here:
https://basictraining.org/simplicity-of-salvation/

#christ #Salvation #christianity
#life #biblestudy
#jesuschrist
#jesuslovesyou #devotional #bible
#death #shorts #God #believe #christian

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