The Dead In Christ Will Rise First

 

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

When someone we love dies, grief can be messy. Will we see them in heaven? The reality of  death is different for a family not in Christ,  than it is for a family in Christ. We can comfort one another with the hope of resurrection and a future reunion. Because Christ lives, death is not a tragedy but triumph.

Because Christ lives,

death is not tragedy but triumph.

Our Daily BreadDecember 12, 2007