Dear Disciple,
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
Wow. I can’t stop mulling these words of brother Paul over and over in my mind. Wow.
There is something so tenderly personal about this statement of Christ’s intention in dying for us. He didn’t die for us simply to be a hero to the nameless masses or to demonstrate a noble ideal. He died so that real people with real names and real stories could live together with Him forever. He died so that the eternal community of Father, Son, and Spirit could grow and expand to include a great multitude of created and recreated human beings. He doesn’t just want us to stay alive; no, He wants us to live WITH HIM!
And let’s not pass too quickly over Paul’s phrase, “whether we are awake or asleep”. As you read 1 Thessalonians 4, you understand what he means. The disciples in the city of Thessalonica were getting worried about the disciples who had died physically because they didn’t have a full understanding of what eternal life means in the grand purpose of God. To help them understand, Paul used the language of “asleep” for those who die physically. “Don’t fear for the dead in Christ,” he would say, “because they’re included in the effects of His death, too.” All who belong to Christ, no matter the state of their physical bodies, have the solid and immovable hope that we will live together with the One who died to rescue us from wrath. As the One who died and rose again forever, our Master Jesus can fulfill that hope for the living and the dead!
Let me offer one more thought for your consideration today, Disciple. Notice that Paul wrote “live together with Him”. This brings the focus on more than just the wonderful fact that I will live with Jesus. A significant part of our future bliss in the new creation will actually flow from the fact that we get to be with Jesus as a community. We will have the eternal joy of being with a new world full of Christ-like people. By then, of course, God the Father will have what He has always wanted: a great company of those who have been “conformed to the image of His Son so that He might be the firstborn of many children” (Romans 8:29). We will get to enjoy that beautiful accomplishment with Him as we spend countless years to come with one another, and so many other saints that we have yet to meet. All this because Jesus, our Beloved, died for us!
Living with Him – both now and forever – with you,
Ryan
