273. God will bring us with Him
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
God promises to bring us with Jesus when He comes from heaven to earth again the second time to judge. This is a surprising promise. We eagerly look forward to the Second Coming of Christ to Judge, but we did not seek to, nor did we expect to, come with Him when He comes, but there it is. God will bring us with Jesus when He comes at the End of time. The very bodies of those who believe in Jesus and have died and are buried will suddenly rise from the dead; then these bodies with join with their souls and they will meet the physical resurrected body of Jesus in the air as He comes from heaven to earth. “Them which sleep in Jesus” are all those who died believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior. The “sleep” refers to the physical body; the soul does not sleep for it is with the Lord.
Those who are still living on the earth when Jesus comes again at the End will die and resurrect immediately in a twinkling and they will be changed. Then they, too, in their new resurrected bodies will join with Jesus and those who were buried. Then all the saints and angels will be with Jesus Christ when He stands on the earth to begin the Judgment and usher in the Eternal State of the New Jerusalem on the New Heavens and New Earth.
Of course, we cannot predict exactly how it will all happen and in what order, but we do know we will come with Him when He comes. Everything will be so suddenly and drastically changed forever. Sin, Death, Antichrist, Satan and all his angels will be contained in the eternal fire. The Flesh will be changed, the World will disappear, and there will be no more temptation to sin, disobey, rebel, and reject God ever again. The Eternal State of harmonious beauty, love, and peace will be beyond any description that our human minds can comprehend.
Why will we come with Him? We don’t know, but in some way God wants us to be involved with Christ in the Final Judgment. We died with Christ, are buried with Him, we rose with Him, we reign with Him, and we will judge with Him. Our role in the Judgment is simply this: that we are united with Christ in all that He does and will do. We can’t explain our involvement in the judgment, but God loves us so much that He draws us into Him so closely that He shares His life with us in everything He does. Indeed, Jesus is “with you until the end of the age.”