“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1Th4.16-17 NKJV
These words so often and so appropriately read at funeral services, express the heart of Christian hope. I would think that because many people are still in shock at the death of a loved one, they only numbly hear the words as they are being read. It is good then to visit them while the clouds are at bay, for there are several substantial comforts offered to us in them. One, is that when we die we will not pass into nothingness, that there is more to life than just this life. Another, is that we will meet our loved ones who have already passed into the eternal realm , so while the experience itself is unknown there will be someone familiar to help us with the transition. There will in fact be a number of familiar experiences, people, music, sights and sounds. Yet somehow all will be changed into something so grand as to be without description though many have tried.
But the summit in this experience will be when we see the cause of it. We will meet the Lord in all His glory, and because of Him, we will finally be dressed in our own. Christian hope is not only to live forever but to live forever with Him. He is the sugar in the pie, the sweetness of every sweet thing, the life in eternal life. 5/31/07 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
