But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, 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. Therefore encourage one another with these words. | 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
I am concluding my reflections on 1 Thessalonians 4 today. This one chapter does an amazing job of building for us a worldview of how we should conduct ourselves as dual citizens of heaven and earth. Yesterday, I focused on the imperatives: aspire to live quietly, mind your own affairs, work with your hands, and walk properly before outsiders. The response to this is often: but what about all of the things that need to be fixed? Living a life of quiet faithfulness does not seem to contain the power needed to effect change. It often feels like evil is winning, no matter how much good you do. Paul anticipates this quastion and responds by pointing to our future glory. Knowing that this earthly life will never satisfy and that evil and good will be forever locked in struggle, Paul reminds us of the day when all will be made new.
Some recoil at this; the focus on the coming kingdom is sometimes criticized as taking away from the care for this world that is needed now. The Apostles never used it that way. They did not write these things to create a complacency in the people of God, but to encourage them in the very real difficulty of living for eternity in a temporary world. They knew that to cast off the temporary to invest in love, service, and sacrifice was going to sometimes feel like a losing endeavor. They drag the eternal into the temporary as a motivator to keep going, to continue just as you are doing, that you do so more and more (1b). This glimpse of the future is not a pacifier, or an opiate for the masses; it is the fuel to keep working when our efforts seem to fall short. Peter gives a similar encouragement at the beginning of his epistle:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. | 1 Peter 1:3–9
Our living hope is that God will accomplish all He intends. When chaos and destruction are happening all around us, we can be confident that His eternal purposes are not thwarted. I have seen some mock this as a position of privilege, pointing out that declaring that no matter who is president, Jesus is still King undermines the struggle of so many. It is the exact opposite. The belief that human beings can overcome all evil and create utopia is a false hope that will continually fail those who strive for it. Telling people to find their hope in this world is setting them up to be continual despair. What the persecuted need is an assurance that a power greater than the hate and abuse they are suffering is at work. They need a living hope that will not let them down.
Paul and Peter want to make sure that we don’t place our ultimate hope in an earthly situation. They point to the future kingdom so that we don’t settle for trying to create heaven on earth. The Bible even has an entire book trying to show us that this world WILL NEVER SATISFY. After searching out every avenue of fulfillment available to us as human beings, the author comes to this conclusion:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. | Ecclesiastes 12:13–14
So keep going. Don’t be distracted by all of the petty squabbles over earthly power, but invest in eternity. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.