The Thessalonians were worried that those who died before
Jesus returned would be left behind. Paul assures them that God has everything under
control and whether one is awake or asleep at the time of Jesus’ coming their hope
of salvation is secure. I don’t believe Paul is any more informed than I am
about the details and even though he shares his version of the timeline his
point is verse 18. “Encourage one another with these words.” The words he
meant as encouragement are that those who have died will be included in the
future final feast. We don’t worry about the same thing as the Thessalonians trusting that our loved
ones are already with the Lord. We even imagine how they are spending their
time. Grandpa's gone fishing. Unfortunately these encouraging words have been used to support a less
than encouraging theology where a select few are caught up in the clouds (rapture)
while the vast majority of people are left behind to endure horrors beyond imagination, although humans are pretty good at imaging and inflicting horrors on each
other. I think the true horror is that rapture theology makes the God of grace
look like every other god humans have created in their own image. So maybe the encouraging
word for us – who no longer worry about where our loved ones are – is that a
God who would suffer and die for humanity is not a God who thinks like we do.
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