0612. The Comforting Hope

The Comforting Hope

"Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1Th_4:18).

Some of the saints at Thessalonica had fallen asleep and in comforting them the Holy Spirit gave to the saints of all times the comfort concerning their decease in Christ.

Sorrow is always present at the grave. At the grave of Lazarus, Jesus wept. He wept because, in the death of Lazarus, and in the weeping of Martha and of Mary, and in the host of mourners about the tomb, He saw the others of His loved ones, down through the ages, as they stood with bowed heads and broken hearts at the grave of their beloved dead.

There is always sorrow at the tomb. Believers, however, should not sorrow as those who have no hope.

And, what is the comfort that our Lord gives to those who weep over their dead? Let us note the words:

"If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him; for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not go before them which are asleep. For, the Lord, Himself, will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." These are the words of our comfort.

The Second Coming of Christ will bring the reunion of the living with the dead in Christ. Saints will come from the east and from the west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God.

Blessed day! What a comfort, as we await thy dawning.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR