The Comfort: Life After Death

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

Leading up to the Passover Jesus had been telling the disciples that He would die, and then rise again on the third day. He kept saying things such as, “I lay down My life,” and, “from now on you will not see me,” and, “after I have been raised” (John 10:11–18; Matthew 23:39; 26:32). On the night before Jesus was crucified, He spent some time trying to calm the fears of His disciples. He said to them, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”

So on the night of the Passover, which was the night of “The Last Supper,” Jesus told His disciples that He was going to His Father’s house to prepare a place for them. Additionally, He said He would return and receive them so that wherever He was, they would be there as well (John 14:1–3). By this time, they understood enough to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. However, they were lacking full understanding of end-time events. After Jesus rose from the dead, He explained the scriptures to His disciples (Luke 24:45–48).

Years later, there were some new disciples who needed to be reassured about their brethren who had died. The apostle Paul sent a letter to Thessalonica, “so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). He explained that Jesus will return, the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:14–17).

Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said that a trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised to live forever in a new body that will never die! (1 Corinthians 15:35–58). Paul reminded the Philippians that our citizenship is in heaven, and that we are eagerly waiting for our Savior to return and then take us home (Philippians 3:20–21). In these last days while the world runs around frantic, Paul said that concerning the brethren who sleep, and the return of Christ, “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).