hotcoffee
New Member
1 Thessalonians 4:13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
This week my niece passed away in her sleep. Over 100 people showed up at her memorial service by a rough count. Some, most, cried when the speakers talked. My heart went out to her parents and my husband. They knew her from the moment of her conception. They are going to miss her. I'm not sure how all this will work in the end. It seems to say here that her soul is asleep and she will awaken at the Trumpet Call. She'll see Heaven before we do.
The commentaries seem to talk more about verse 17 than verse 14. They talk about being swept up in the air, forcefully and suddenly into the air. Matthew 24:30 says "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory"
At any rate.... these verses say it's ok to be sad that she's gone before us. These verses seem to say we'll see her again. Finally, Verse 18 says we're supposed to encourage each other saying "we'll see her again" because we believe.
