In one of Gulliver’s travels, he met a man who had invented a device for extracting sunshine from cucumbers. The inventor could store it away in bottles for brightening the house on dark days. Dark days come to us all. Discouragement is an ever-present danger, and sorrow is the stalker of us all. Like the new Christians at Thessalonica to whom Paul addressed this text, sometimes our hopes fade and doubts rise. Why not try Paul’s prescription for those dark days?
What does he recommend? “Encourage each other with these words” (
I. Return is a word of strong encouragement (
First, our Lord will return. He will return personally. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven” (
Also, our departed loved ones will return. As Paul wrote, “We believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (
II. Resurrection is a great word of encouragement (
Again, in view in this word is both the resurrection of Christ already realized and the promised resurrection of “the dead in Christ.” It is because we do believe “that Jesus died and rose again” (
In another letter to another church, Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. . . . Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. . . . The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (
III. The third word of encouragement is reunion (
Once again the reunion anticipates both a meeting with Christ and meeting again with those we have loved and lost for awhile. “We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (
We are not immune from suffering and sorrow in this life. We are often in need of encouragement. If there is comfort and strength in talking to Him in prayer, how much more when we see Him face to face. If there is encouragement in singing the great hymns of the church and in reading and recalling His promises (and there is!), then how much more when that hope is realized. That will happen when He comes and we are gathered to Him. “Therefore encourage each other with these words” (