To Listen ‘Open Message from Title’ and click on Listen Now or To Save: Right Click and ‘Save Target as’ Have you ever heard the saying, “Ignorance is Bliss”? What does it mean to you? It is often better not to know about something unpleasant. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge or educational unawareness of something, often of something important. But what about things that are important in our lives, things that can cause us stress or heartache or harm because we do not know or understand what they mean? How does this bring us bliss? Often a lack of understanding can be more unsettling then knowing completely what is about to occur or the consequences of a decision. If you were going to have surgery wouldn’t you want to know what to expect before and after it or just wait to see what happens then? I believe most of us would rather know what lay ahead instead of waiting in ignorance. It seems that the lack of understanding that the Thessalonian believers had about the rapture was very unsettling to some of them. 2 Thess. 2:2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. This was still lacking in their knowledge in discipleship concerning the return of Christ and the rapture of the believers. So Paul wants to help them understand what to expect and what the plan is for those who have already died. Because ignorance isn’t always bliss. Vs 13 These folks lived in a time much like we do now. Their society as a whole didn’t have any hope for life after death. Most just thought once a person died, that was it, they ceased to exist anymore. This left them with dark feelings of hopelessness about death and loss of loved ones. Paul uses the term here ‘fall asleep’ to refer to a person dying. This was a common reference used in the NT for death. John 11:11-14 Where do we usually put people who have died? The word Cemetery means sleeping place, from a Greek word koimeterion. Now a lot of people confuse this with soul sleep. This is not what this means. The scriptures are very clear about what happens to our spirits, souls, when we die; Luke 23:42–43 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” 2 Cor. 5:8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Phil. 1:23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; This is not soul sleep but the physical body put away so that it may be remade at the return of Christ, when the spirit will be reunited with a physical body. 1 Cor. 15:35-53 Paul was giving these new believers the hope they needed so they would not grieve like the unbelievers around them when they lost loved ones. Yes, we will grieve at the loss of a loved one but it must not be a debilitating grief that stops us from functioning. John 11:35 Jesus wept. Loved one moves across country. For us it is not like we will never see them again, we will when Jesus returns to gather us up. We have a hope that those who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior do not have, that we will be with our loved ones in Christ once again at the return of Christ. We will not be together with friends in Hell. If you don’t have this hope today, you can, by putting your faith in Jesus and His work on the cross for forgiveness of our sins that separate us from God leaving us no hope for the future. Vs 14 We as Christians have reason why we do not have to grieve like others, in hopelessness. God has given us proof that we gain hope from, Jesus resurrection from the dead. God has also made it clear to us that we too will be raised from the dead as well, to live and serve Christ for eternity. This will happen at the 2nd coming of Christ. 2 Cor. 4:13–14 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. Jesus death and resurrection are among the best attested facts of history, since we can be certain of this so we can be certain that those who died in Christ before He returns will come back with Him, in spirit, when He returns to gather up all the saints.2500 predictions in the Bible. Just as the prophesies of Christ’s death and resurrection came true so will this one as well. Is. 53:8-12. Vs 15 Jesus had made this clear to Paul and the early church. No one is sure how or when, it could have been when Paul was instructed by the Lord in the wilderness after he came to faith. Gal. 1:11–12 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that when He returns He will bring the spirits of those who have died with Him so that they will be given then their new eternal, physical bodies. 1 John 3:2–3 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Vs 16 Where is Jesus now? Heb. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. When the time is right He will return, bringing with Him the spirits of those who died in the faith and they will be the first to receive their new bodies. It will happen with a loud command, a shout by the archangel and a trumpet blast will sound announcing Christ’s return. Everyone on earth will know something is happening, believers and unbelievers alike. Ignorance will not be bliss then. Then those who had died, who are returning with Christ in spirit, will have their new bodies raised from the dead. This is only the Christians at this time. The OT saints who were not raised when Jesus was resurrected will not be raised until the end of the Tribulation Period. Matt. 27:52–53 The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared too many people. Dan. 12:1-2 You ask; ‘How could all this be?’ God who created the heavens and the earth through a word spoken can speak again, give a command, and give new bodies to those who have died in the faith. This is not a problem for Him. Vs 17 What about those who are still alive, you ask. 1 Cor. 15:51–52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. After the bodies of the dead are resurrected, all who are left alive in Christ will be caught up into the air to meet those who have just returned. We call it the Rapture. It comes from the Latin word ‘rapturo’ which means caught up.The time between the dead receiving their bodies and those alive being caught up and changed will be infinitesimally short, the blinking of an eye. From that moment on, ever after, we will be with Jesus. He will take us to the place He is preparing for us. John 14:2–3 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. There we will live and serve Him for eternity. Vs 18 What an encouragement and comfort this must have been for those who were so concerned about their loved ones who had died before Christ’s return. The fact that believers who have died will be resurrected to join the living saints, to be with Jesus when He comes, that those who died will get their new bodies in the air and almost immediately those who are alive will join them to be with Jesus forever, what rejoicing there is in this. We do not have to grieve as the unbeliever grieves but look forward to the time when we will be together again for eternity. What a blessed hope we have. Do you have this hope? Or are you living in ignorant bliss right now because you are not prepared for the return of Christ? You might think; “I will have time later to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. I have things I want to do now. I know it is an important decision but I don’t want to deal with it now.” Ignorance is not always bliss. If Jesus were to come back this moment there would be no time for you to make that decision.It would be over in an instant, too late to then choose Christ; you would have only the Tribulation Period to look ahead to, death, suffering and destruction, judgment from God because of the sinfulness of mankind. Now is the time, today can be your day of salvation, to have this hope of life eternal, it is up to you. Benediction: Titus 2:11–14 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
