The second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead

This teaching about the Second Coming is something very important, very key for the Church of Jesus Christ and that is why we have been working on this topic these last Sundays. And what we are going to be doing is going through two or three, or four different key passages that there are in Scripture that help us to understand this subject much better, the doctrine of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have not even taken many notes but what I have done is simply choose the passage, they are key passages and then let the passage guide us as it speaks, and then we can explain and round off this doctrine. What I want is that at the end of three or four sermons on this subject you are well educated concerning one of the great teachings of Scripture, which is this doctrine that the Lord comes and comes a second time to seek His people. .

So here in First Thessalonians chapter 4 verses from 13 onwards, 4:13 to 18 says: "Neither do we want brothers that you be ignorant about those who sleep, so that you do not grieve like the others who have no hope." The apostle Paul in the midst of a series of other teachings that he is developing here in First Thessalonians says, I am going to take a moment to speak to you "and I do not want you to be ignorant about those who sleep."

Here are a couple of things, number one: several times I have said that the apostle Paul uses that expression "I do not want you to be ignorant", he uses it for example in First Corinthians chapter 12 where he says "I do not want you to be ignorant about the gifts Holy Spirit." And here it says: "I don't want you to be ignorant about those who sleep." The Lord does not want His Church to be ignorant of this doctrine.

That is why it is so important that in these times we take opportunities so that the Church of Christ is well taught. Because I believe that you cannot have a fully Christian mentality if there is no understanding about what are the ins and outs, the details and the different principles that accompany this doctrine of the Second Coming.

Now it intrigues me that the apostle Paul says "about those who sleep." Who are the sleepers in this case? The dead, the people who have died. But Paul uses a slightly mild expression, he says "about those who sleep." Why does the Bible speak in terms of "those who sleep" instead of those who have died or the dead? Because those who sleep have hope of waking up, yes or no? Normally.

I also remember that the Lord Jesus Christ when He spoke of Lazarus that He was going to the grave to resurrect him, remember? says: our friend Lazarus sleeps. And the disciples who did not understand the symbolic language of Jesus Christ said: oh well, if he sleeps then that means he is fine because he is going to wake up again, the Lord said no, he is dead. But he used the expression sleep because of course He was going to wake him up.

And I think that's important for us to understand. That's not just a play on words. The children of God do not die. The children of God to the maximum sleep and go from an imperfect life to a perfect life. For the children of God there is no death, brothers, for the children of God there is a great hope of eternal life, and death is simply a moment that transfers us from here to eternity and I am going to talk a little more about that.

Then Paul says: I don't want you to ignore the details, the ins and outs of the doctrine of the Second Coming. And we see here another thing is that the doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is related to other doctrines, in this case the resurrection of the dead as well. Because these two things are going to happen simultaneously and we are going to see how the coming of the Lord is related to the resurrection of the dead.

Why doesn't Paul want the Thessalonians to be ignorant about those who sleep? It says: "So that you do not become sad like the others who have no hope." Who are the others? Those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have no hope of the resurrection because they do not have the risen Christ.

So Paul is teaching about this so that we can comfort ourselves. When we lose a loved one, how good it is to know that if he died in Christ, he rises with the Lord, that we do not have to have that sadness, that heartbreaking anguish like the others who have no hope. Have you ever been to a burial, a funeral where people do not know Jesus Christ? Those heartbreaking screams from the people, they throw themselves to the ground, they pull their bows, you have to put up with them so they don't throw themselves down with the dead man and what terrible pain you feel. How dismal it is when people have no hope, when they don't know where their dead are going. When what they have is a doctrinal fog there because they have not taken the time to teach them that they are the children of God.

Let me tell you: one can cry and one should believe when a loved one dies. When a loved one dies, who doesn't hurt? Who does not resent the fact that someone I love is not going to see him here in this world anymore? It is legitimate to cry and I believe that it is even healthy. But what the Bible tells us is that crying, the crying of the son, the daughter of God is a crying that is tinged with hope. It is a cry that knows that there is consolation too. It is a cry that knows that that person who is there is his body but that his soul, his spirit is with the Lord.

You know I'm going to confess something to you personally: I don't really like looking at the dead when they're in their coffins. I beg him, I tell my wife: look at the day I die if I die before Christ comes, cover me up. Because in reality I see that person there, amen, and I respect, look at any preference, I hasten to tell you right now, right? amen, glory to God or if you want to do it with your loved one. But personally I believe that my feeling about death and life is that I know that what is there is the container in which the spirit of the person was, that if he died in Christ that is with the Lord.

So I see there simply as a remnant; it reminds me and it is beautiful, all this but I prefer to remember that person in the Presence of the Lord, vital, full of life, full of joy, his personality. And precisely for this reason, the truth is that death does not scare me, if I saw myself at the same moment, perhaps things would be different, but the truth is that those of us who are in Christ Jesus can be calm in the Lord. We do not run away from him, death does not have that horror that it has for those who do not know the Lord.

That is why the apostle Paul says in First Corinthians: "Where is your sting, oh death, where is your victory, oh grave? Death is swallowed up in victory." Hallelujah because Christ has already destroyed the empire of death. And when we know that Christ comes to rescue the living and the dead who lived in Him and who died in Him, then death leaves, don't let death frighten you my brother, my sister. The important thing is that you have your passport stamped and fixed, your visa for the Kingdom of God, that must be sure because if you are in Christ then you can be confident in the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus Christ says: he who lives and believes in Me will not die, hallelujah. So that's why the apostle Paul wants them to understand that these dead are not dead but are asleep, why?: "Because if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, God will also bring with Jesus those who died in Him." In other words, when Christ comes in His Second Coming, He has to make sure that those who have died in Him are resurrected and are taken with Him.

Now he says in verse 15: "Therefore we say this to you in the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who will remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep, because the Lord himself with the voice of command, with the voice of archangel and with the trumpet of God will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first." In other words there is an order here; those who die in Jesus, those who confessed Christ as Lord and Savior during their lives will not be forgotten there.

It seems that in the Church to which the apostle Paul wrote there was a fear, and what will happen if the Lord will not come soon, what will happen to our dead? If they got into the grave and their bodies have decomposed. So the apostle Paul writes to tell them no, don't worry about that, those who died with the Lord when Christ comes will be resurrected together with Him.

Let me point out a small theological element here and it is the following: in the Church, the Church of Jesus Christ in general, there are differences of doctrine about what happens to people when they die? and they die in Christ, do they sleep until Christ comes in total unconsciousness, or are they present before the Lord and aware of what is happening around them? I personally think and the Bible teaches me that no, that when people die in Christ Jesus one passes into consciousness before the Presence of God.

I believe that what the Word refers to is rather that the bodies of the dead are going to be united, a glorified body is going to be united with the soul of that person who died. In other words, that is interesting because one of the things that I believe happens there is that many times we are not clear about what heaven is going to be like. We are going to be there as I used to say sometimes with a gown floating in the air, transparent so that people can see through us or what. I believe that we are going to have a body, the body that we had here on earth, but it is a renewed body, it is a glorified body, amen?

And that's what the Word says, that the dead will be raised. And I believe that in some way that we cannot clearly understand they are going to be quickened and glorified, and those bodies are going to unite with their souls that are in the Presence of the Lord, and then there is going to be a total resurrection. And those of us who have remained here, whatever generation receives the Lord Jesus Christ, those will be taken up in the air to receive the Lord and be with Him always, as we will see later on.

Now, what guarantees me to think that? Because there are brothers and we cannot say that they are "are not heretics" either, I think they are, for example, the Adventists believe that when people die, they die and are asleep until they are resurrected on the last day. And the truth is that we can't blame them because there are things here in the Word like in this case, those who sleep will be awakened, etc., like they suggest that too. But there are many other texts that are clear that when the person dies he is conscious and enters the Presence of the Lord.

What are some of those texts? In fact Sister Fanny gave me one that I missed this morning as I was discussing this and it's the passage of the thief standing next to Jesus who said, Lord, remember me when You are in Your Kingdom, and what did he say to him? the Lord?, truly I tell you that today you will be with me in paradise. I was not going to be sleeping, I was going to be with the Lord in paradise.

Secondly, the apostle Paul in Philippians speaks of what he says: I am in a bind because I don't know what is better, whether to stay here on Earth and be used by the Lord to advance the Gospel or to be in the Presence of the Lord, because to be with Christ is much better and to be outside the body is to be present before the Lord.

So there is also that passage. Another passage that comes to mind is the passage of Lazarus, not Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha but Lazarus the beggar, who says the Word that when he dies he is taken to the bosom of Abraham which is a Judaic expression to speak of paradise , No?. And this wretched rich man who did not help Lazarus when he was in the world and did not share his food with this beggar says that he is in a place that is hell, remember? It is a place where there is, he says he has, Lord, the rich man tells him, Lord, send Lazarus or whoever he is, rub my tongue with the tip of his finger so that I can drink because of this terrible, consuming thirst that I feel. And the Lord says no, there is an insurmountable wall, there is an abyss, one cannot have contact with the other.

But then notice that both the rich sinner is conscious in his death and the Lazarus, the beggar who is brought into the Presence of the Lord is also conscious in a place of enjoyment. So we see these two things, right?

Now I tell you brothers, there is always an area of nebulosity in these doctrines. We will never know one hundred thousand percent these things and we have to be very tolerant of each other. Do not go there to condemn anyone because they are using the Word and saying: but Pastor, look, I see this, amen. And give people their space too and present your arguments, but don't say oh ya son of hell, you're going to hell because you don't believe this, you don't believe that.

Look at the doctrine of the Second Coming and of eschatology, and of the Apocalypse they have many things that sometimes we are not completely clear, the Bible does not make it one hundred percent clear. We have to be generous with each other and use the amount of light we have and then ask the Lord to help us and enlighten us more and more. But I do believe that when we die we enter into the Presence of the Lord and that body will be waiting one day to be glorified and enlivened. I think it is important that we understand this because I think that many people have an idea of heaven as a disembodied place, eternal life as that we are only going to be playing the harp all eternity, I think that is very boring. For me, I think that's going to be hell, playing without ceasing.

No, I want to eat, I want to work, I want to invent things, I want to keep growing, amen? And you too, brother. So I believe that heaven is going to be a place of much creativity, of much work. And I believe that in our bodies we are not going to recognize ourselves. Glory to God, you're going to be more handsome than you were here, I assure you, brother. Sister, those defects that you lamented so much here and there, that's going to end, forget it, that's going to be something but tremendous, okay?

And Pedro says "They are going to be concrete bodies." I tell the brothers that I would compare it, I believe that Jesus, who is the firstborn, is the firstborn from the dead, is a good example of what we are going to be. Look that when Christ rises, He rises with a body but it is a glorified body. It's a body that does, it's here, it's there, it moves from one place to another, He appears to the disciples and they think it's a ghost because it gets into the room and they don't know how it got there.

And the Lord says: look no, I am not a ghost. Do you have a pupusa over there? look it up to see if This is the Miranda version of the Bible. And he catches a fish, they give him a fish and he eats it, and it's not like there are little holes that food starts to come out of the holes, right? It stays inside. He tells them: look, I am. I am the real one, I am true and he also tells Tomás: come, put your hand in My side, I had the marks.

You know what brother? I believe that when we see Jesus He will still have the marks on His hands and will still have the mark on His side because it is the body of Jesus, it is a glorified body. But it is a body, that is a mystery there. But I believe that our body will be a body that will not have the limitations that it had here on Earth.

And the other difference I believe from what the Bible says is that they will not marry or be given in marriage, and for many of you perhaps that will be a blessing, I don't know for others, perhaps they will say, listen to me, I was hoping by golly that I would I was going to retaliate in heaven but unfortunately it will not be like that. They will not marry, they will be like the angels says the Lord. But apart from that we will have a strong body, glorified that we will be able to travel to Mars and the Moon without having to use planes or anything, glory to God. So it's tremendous what God has for us.

So there is an order though at the coming of Christ, the dead are gathered I would say with their souls and they are raised from the grave, and we are taken up, and we are carried by the Holy Spirit to meet the Lord. Verse 16 says: "For the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

So look how the Second Coming of the Lord is going to be, it is going to be something glorious, remarkable, people are going to know when Christ comes brothers. The Bible says that every eye will see him. It's not like you're going to be there at the factory on Monday and they're going to say: you know, you didn't know that Christ came yesterday? No, that is not like that. When Christ comes the whole world will know it brothers.

It says here with a commanding voice, what does that mean? It's like an order is going to be given. The coming of Jesus is going to be like no other event that has ever happened in history. It will be simultaneously perceived by all the nations of the Earth. I imagine that it will be like a kind of projection, in Australia they will see it and they will also see it in Canada and Alaska. It's going to be something I don't know, virtual or I don't know but very real.

It says: "With the voice of command, with the trumpet of God and with the voice of the archangel." In other words, everything natural and supernatural will conspire to make it noticeable that Christ has come. It is an event that will change history completely and is accompanied by great circumstances. I believe that those who read Revelation, for example, can see there these great events that are going to happen. At the Second Coming of Jesus we are going to see glorious things, things are going to happen in nature, in heaven, on earth, in the sea, in history, wars, different types of situations. We are going to see all that later but it is an event like no other in all of history, and one of the things that happens precisely is this resurrection of the dead and that they are then joined with the living in the Lord and are taken to be with Christ.

He then says in verse 17: "We who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." The Word snatched away is a very strong word, it means that we are going to be taken. This is where the word "the rapture of the Church" comes from, meaning, there is the doctrine in the Church that the Church of Christ is going to be taken and taken with Him.

And let me tell you that there is also a great controversy there. And at the risk of how I said, creating complications for the brothers let me tell you this: there are two great doctrines about the rapture of the Church, a doctrine called "the pre-tribulational rapture" says that the Church is going to be taken before The Great Tribulation, which The Great Tribulation is a teaching that we will also see about it later, is a time in history that says there will be suffering, consternation, anguish like never before or after. It is a time of great consternation in the world like never before in history and after that time there will never be the same. That is why they call it The Great Tribulation and it is a doctrine that is in the Scripture.

So some brothers, many brothers at this time, for example, the best known in this regard is brother Gigi Ávila, may the Lord bless him, it is taught that the Church is going to be taken over before that period of which he is speaking here comes, which is going to be before The Great Tribulation. So after the Church is taken in the air, it's up there I don't know where in a hotel waiting, anywhere, because I totally don't believe in that part but that it's going to be taken, it's in the air while it's happening down there , comes, the Antichrist arises, many who did not prepare their lives properly remain.

How many have seen this series of "Left behind" this series of movies? I do not want to spoil the party for those brothers who have seen. But let me tell you: all this is very nice, I want to submit my own, at the risk of going too far in this, but I promise you that I will develop this much more later, okay? But notice here in other words, first: the kidnapping of the Church, then a period of great anguish including this mysterious character that we are going to see later called the Antichrist, a diabolic character who hates the things of God and enthrones himself as the king, like God himself.

So this doctrine says that after the Antichrist ascends and that then after the Antichrist comes, that what this refers to as the final rapture is that it is a second rapture, and that then Christ takes those who remain and then destroys to the Antichrist and then comes the end of time. What I see, however, is time and again in passages like these that a Second, a second rapture is not mentioned to me, but what it says here is that together with the Coming of Jesus Christ it is also the rapture of the Church, the Church is taken and I find that over and over again in Scripture.

So I just encourage them; I don't want to cause you too much confusion because I'll go into that in more depth in a moment. But I suggest you revisit and reconsider that teaching. Because what we are told here is simply that the Lord comes and the dead in Christ rise first, and then the living are caught up, he says, "We will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will be." always with the Lord." There is nothing there like a postlude, or a second phase or a different chapter from which the Antichrist comes later, but what it says is that: hey this is final. The Lord comes, takes the dead, takes the living, they are taken up in the air and we are with the Lord always. So that is the sequence of the Second Coming.

Then he says: "Encourage one another with these words." In other words, brothers, that teaching of the Second Coming should be a reason for joy for us, a hope. I am going to ask that the musicians come quickly here because instead of going into another passage that is very long and I only had the opportunity to work on this passage this morning, we are going to leave it here, then we are going to take up other teachings later on. But what the Lord is clearly telling us here brothers in this passage is: Christ is coming soon, He has a very specific plan, death has lost its definitive power because we know that when He comes He will take care of resurrecting our dead and If we are alive when He comes, we too will be taken with Him and thus we will always be with the Lord.

And we must mention this doctrine. I ask that the Lord touch your heart this afternoon and that you engrave in your spirit that God has a plan, God has a teaching that tells you: the Lord is coming and He has your life in His hands. Therefore take heart, take comfort, do not let death threaten you and that sense of terror creates in you because all things are in the hands of the Lord, God has everything planned, God has everything prepared. There is no detail that the Lord has left undone.

So thank you Father we give you, thank you for Your plan, thank you that Christ is coming, thank you that we do not cry like those who have no hope, because we know that when Christ comes He will take us together with Him and that for those of us who are healed and liberated by Christ there is no death but simply life and eternal life, and death has lost its sting. You have everything prepared in such detail for which we thank you Father. Help us to believe in Your promises and to live like those of us who are here just passing through because we have a God who has everything already arranged and prepared.

Bless my brothers this afternoon Lord, thank you for this beautiful service that you have promised us to have. Get us out of here with Your Peace, with Your blessing in the name of Jesus, amen and amen. Brothers I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ, let's stand up. We are going to celebrate this afternoon with one last song, we are going to thank the Lord for His visitation and I bless you, be dismissed and go home with the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen and amen.