CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Thessalonians 4:13. Them which are asleep.—The R.V. reading changes the perfect participle (“them who have fallen asleep and continue to sleep”) unto the present, “them that fall asleep,” as they drop off one after another. See on the expression our Lord’s beautiful words, Luke 8:52; John 11:11 f.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Sorrow for the Dead.
The Thessalonians who cherished a vivid expectation of the near approach of the second advent of Christ appear to have fallen into a misconception as to the relation of their deceased friends to that glorious event. While believing that the pious dead would ultimately be raised again, they feared they would not be permitted to share in the joy of welcoming Him back to His inheritance of the redeemed earth and in the triumphant inauguration of His reign. “It was just as if, on the very eve of the day of the expected return of some long absent father, a cruel fate should single out one fond expectant child, and hurry him to a far distant and inhospitable shore.” But all their fears and perplexities were dissipated by the sublime disclosures contained in this epistle.
I. That sorrow is a merciful relief to a soul bereaved.—Sorrow is nowhere forbidden. It may be an infirmity, but it is at the same time a solace. The soul oppressed and stricken by the weight of a great calamity finds relief in tears.
“O ye tears! O ye tears! till I felt you on my cheek,
I was selfish in my sorrow, I was stubborn, I was weak;
Ye have given me strength to conquer, and I stand erect and free,
And know that I am human, by the light of sympathy.”
The religion of the Bible does not destroy human passions. We do not part with our nature when we receive the grace of God. The mind that is capable of a real sorrow is capable of good. A griefless nature can never be a joyous one.
II. That sorrow for the dead is aggravated by ignorance of their future destiny.—“I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). The radius of hope is contracted or expanded in proportion to the character and extent of intelligence possessed. Ignorant “sorrow is a kind of rust to the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away. It is the putrefaction of stagnant life, and is remedied by exercise and motion.” The heathen, who have no satisfactory knowledge of the future life, give way to an excessive and hopeless grief. Du Chaillu describes a scene of wailing for the dead among the Africans. “The mother of poor Tonda,” he writes, “led me to the house where the body was laid. The narrow space of the room was crowded; about two hundred women were sitting and standing around, singing mourning songs to doleful and monotonous airs. As I stood looking, filled with solemn thoughts, the mother of Tonda approached. She threw herself at the foot of her dead son, and begged him to speak to her once more. And then when the corpse did not answer she uttered a shriek, so long, so piercing, such a wail of love and grief that tears came into my eyes. Poor African mother! She was literally as one sorrowing without hope, for these people count on nothing beyond the present life.” It was the dictum of an old Greek poet—a man once dead there is no revival; and those words indicated the dismal condition of unenlightened nature in all lands and in all ages. What an urgent argument is here for increased missionary efforts among the heathen!
III. That sorrow for the dead in Christ is soothed and moderated by the revelation of certain great truths concerning their present and future blessedness.—
1. That death is a sleep. “Them also which sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The only part of man to which the figure of the text applies is the body. As to the soul, the day of death is the day of our birth into a progressive and eternal life. It is called a departure, a being with Christ—absent from the body, present with the Lord. Sleep is expressive of rest. When the toil of life’s long day is ended, the great and good Father draws the dark curtain of night and hushes His weary children to rest “They enter into rest.” Sleep is expressive of refreshment. The body is laid in the grave, feeble, emaciated, worn out. Then a wonderful process goes on, perceptible only to the eye of God, by which the body acquires new strength and beauty, and becomes a fit instrument and suitable residence for the glorified soul. Sleep implies the expectation of awaking. We commit the bodies of the departed to the earth in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection. They wait for “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.”
2. That the dead in Christ will be roused from their holy slumber and share in the glory of His second advent.—“Will God bring with Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The resurrection of the dead is a divine work. “I will redeem them from the power of the grave.” Christ will own His people in their persons, their services, and their sufferings. They shall receive His entire approval, be welcomed by Him into His everlasting kingdom, and crowned by Him with glory and the affluence of incorruptible bliss.
3. That the resurrection of Christ from the dead is a pledge of the restoration and future blessedness of all who sleep in Him.—“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Christ Himself is the resurrection, not only as revealed in His word and exemplified in His own person, but as specially appointed by the Father to effect it by His own power (John 5:25; John 6:39). The word of God sheds a light across the darkness of the grave, and opens a vista radiant with hope and immortal happiness. “Let me penetrate into Thy heart, O God,” said an afflicted saint, “and read the love that is there. Let me penetrate into Thy mind, and read the wisdom that is there; then shall I be satisfied—the storm shall be turned into calm.” A vital knowledge of Christ silences every murmur and prepares for every emergency.
Lessons.—
1. An ignorant sorrow is a hopeless one.
2. To rise with Jesus we must live and die to Him.
3. Divine revelations regarding the future life greatly moderate the grief of the present.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14. The Sleep of the Faithful Departed.
I. The dead are said to be asleep because we know they shall wake up again.
II. Because they whom men call dead do really live unto God.
III. Because they are taking their rest.
IV. Death is changed to sleep, so that it becomes a pledge of rest and a prophecy of the resurrection.
Lessons.—
1. We ought to mourn rather for the living than for the dead.
2. In very truth it is life rather than death that we ought to fear.—H. E. Manning.
1 Thessalonians 4:14. The Resurrection of the Body.
I. The heart seeks it.
II. The Bible declares it.
III. The redemption of Christ secures it.—A. F. Forrest.