The Pilgrim Path---First Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, 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 fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the LORD, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the LORD, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the LORD himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air, and so we will always be with the LORD. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

We do not grieve as those who have no hope…

At about 4 in the morning, on Christmas Day, the phone rang in our manse (the church provided home). This was my first congregation. There was only one phone in the house. You made your way down a long hall. There was a neat little nook nestled in the wall just for the phone. Who calls on Christmas morning? Something must be wrong? A troubled voice, “This is John Ashley---I need help!” Click…Who was that? John Ashley? There was no John Ashley in our church. I told my wife that was odd. Was someone just trying to get me out of the house? A sick prank of some kind? I tried to settle down. Then it hit me: quite a few folks in our church had gone caroling a few nights before. We had gone by John Ashley’s home. Small house. His dear wife was ill---right on a hospital bed in his living room. John was a member of the Edwards Baptist Church. I went to his house immediately. His dear wife had died. Turns out---he had tried to call his pastor---but he kept dialing the church, rather than his pastor’s home. He figured he would call me. My number was in the phone book. What a Christmas morning. At least it was bright for his precious wife---it was incredibly hard for dear Ole John. I called his minister: Dr. D. W. Greene (godly man). We waited for the coroner to come. We waited for some of John’s children to arrive. The shock of it all---is simply hard to get over. We cried, but we found some measure of joy knowing we would be reunited with this lovely little woman again---because of the sure and certain hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We expect to grieve at the death of loved ones and friends---But we are not captives to grief--- if they belong to Christ. Thanks be to God!

In 1985, I performed my father’s graveside service. It was mid-April. I had left seminary to make the trip back to Georgia. It was the “rush” of memories that brought my tears---sometime after the service. My dad brought my first baseball bat home (still have it). He taught me something of “how” to fly a kite. I sometimes look at his New English Bible. He really struggled in death. A terrible bout with cancer. All that woe is over now. Spurgeon used to say of our departed loved ones and friends, “you could never get them to return to this world---them having seen and experienced--- what they have.” Ask the LORD of Life to help you rest in His purposes. At times, He removes some of our precious ones at a young age. He has His wise and holy reasons. As Amy Carmichael used to say, “the hands of the crucified will reunite us in His good time.” Our days here are brief. A far better existence in Christ Jesus is ahead. Ask Him for mercy to continue well, regardless of the “transitions” He calls on you to face---before you go home. HE will give us what we need---we encourage one another with these words…

From Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Oh, how sweet the prospect of the time when we shall not behold Him at a distance but see Him face to face: when He shall not be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night but shall eternally enfold us in the bosom of His glory. We shall not see Him for a little season, but,

Millions of years our wondering eyes,

Shall over our Savior’s beauties rove;

And myriad ages we’ll adore,

The wonders of His love.

In heaven there shall be no interruptions from care or sin; no weeping shall dim our eyes; no earthly business shall distract our happy thoughts; we shall have nothing to hinder us from gazing forever on the Sun of Righteousness with unwearied eyes. Oh, if it be so sweet to see Him now and then, how sweet to gaze on that blessed face for aye, and never have a cloud rolling between, and never have to turn one’s eyes away to look on a world of weariness and woe! Blest day, when wilt thou dawn? Rise, O unsetting sun! The joys of sense may leave us as soon as they will, for this will make glorious amends. If to die is but to enter uninterrupted communion with Jesus, then death is indeed gain, and the black drop is swallowed up in a sea of victory.

Richard Baxter: The sick who are looking at death are most considerate, and it is a great part of the duty of the youth in good health to consider their frailty and the uncertainty of their lives, and always live as those that wait for the coming of the LORD. Since time is so swift, common reason teaches us to live in a constant readiness to die.

From Samuel Rutherford: If there were millions of worlds, and as many heavens full of men and angels, Christ would not be pinched to supply all our wants. Christ is a well of life, but who knows how deep it is to the bottom? I have little of him, yet long for more. God has many fair flowers, but the fairest is heaven, and the flower of all flowers is Christ. Ones years’ time in heaven shall swallow up all sorrows beyond all comparison. Christ Jesus is the end of your journey; there is no fear, you may look death in the face with joy.

HYMN

Whether to live or die, I know not which is best;

To live in thee is bliss to me, to die is endless rest.

Living or dying, LORD, I ask but to be thine;

My life in thee, thy life in me, makes heaven forever mine.

Grace and Peace in Jesus, the Only Redeemer of broken and wretched souls, Pastor Jason