Grieve With Hope, Not Like Those Without It (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 · Berean Standard Bible

Paul writes to a grieving church so that they "will not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope." Christians still weep — but their sorrow is lit by the promise that the dead in Christ will rise and believers will be with the Lord forever. The passage ends with a pastoral instruction that has comforted mourners for two thousand years: "Therefore encourage one another with these words."

13Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.

14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.

15By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.

16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.

17After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

18Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Read the wider context: 1 Thessalonians 4.

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