Hope!

For Tuesday, November 19, 2024:

1 Thessalonians 4:13 NLT: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.”

The original Greek reads, “...believers who have fallen asleep,” and there’s a certain rationalization in this. Remember that Jesus was crucified and died, but later was resurrected, brought back to life. So to the casual observer, it may have appeared that Jesus was simply sleeping, then later re-awakened. In fact, a primary argument of non-believers was that Jesus hadn’t actually died!

But we know that Jesus did in fact die. No heartbeat; no pulse; no brain waves. Believe me, the centurions knew what they were doing when it came to crucifixion! Believers uphold the miracle of resurrection, someone who died being brought back to life. If Jesus hadn’t died, there’d be no reason for a resurrection miracle! If he was just sleeping and woke up, it wouldn’t be worth celebrating! But we know the truth!

Consequently, we have hope as promised in 1 Peter 1:3: “According to his (God’s) great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” In other words, just like Jesus, we will be blessed with a life after this life. Believers won’t die, nor will we sleep forever. Jesus confirmed our reservation in the heavenly Kingdom!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship