Those Which Sleep in Jesus.
By John Nevins Andrews
"BUT I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For 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 prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:13-18. These words have a most decisive bearing upon the subject under consideration. They were written for the purpose of giving instruction on the state of the dead. Moreover they relate to all the righteous dead. It is also to be noticed that they were written for the express purpose of comforting those who mourn the loss of friends. 1. The first great fact which Paul recognizes and affirms is that our dead friends are asleep. But they "sleep in Jesus," for they are "the dead in Christ." 2. Those which sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him even as he brought Jesus from the dead. Heb. 13:20. This does not mean that Jesus will bring those persons from heaven unless the souls of the dead sleep in heaven! But God does not come to our earth. He sends his Son to bring the saints to him. They are asleep in the dust. Dan. 12:2. 3. The manner in which Christ brings the saints to glory is that he descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And at the sound of the trumpet, those who are asleep, awake to immortality in an instant of time. Then the living are changed in like manner, and all being made alive are caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. Having stated this great fact that the sleeping ones shall thus awaken, and with the living shall be caught up to meet Christ, he then says: "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." This reveals the only way that the saints can ever be with Him. It is by the resurrection and the change to immortality, and these are at the advent of Christ. 5. This is Paul's comfort concerning the saints that are under the power of death. They are asleep, but they shall awake to immortality when Christ comes again. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Such was Paul's doctrine concerning the state of man in death. The dead who die in the Lord rest from their labor in quiet sleep. The time of that rest is to them only a moment, and then they awake in the likeness of Christ. It is not till after the sounding of the seventh angel that the time comes to reward the prophets and all the servants of God. Rev. 11:18.