Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  2024  Day 130

May 9;       I Thessalonians 4:18;        186/260;        ‘Comfort One Another’

1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The fear of physical death is probably the greatest fear.  Once you become a Christian and know the truth about death, you lose that fear.  The Apostle Paul’s greatest desire was to die physically so that he could be with Jesus (Philippians 1).  Death in the Bible means separation, not termination.  At physical death our spirit separates from our body and our spirit, which is eternal, goes right on living.  Spiritual death is what happened when Adam, representing all of humanity, sinned.  Our spirit became separated from the Lord.  God’s love sent Jesus to be punished for our sins so that our spirit could be reunited with the Father when we become born again.  This passage of scripture, I Thessalonians 4:13-18, teaches us about the rapture of the church.  There will be a 7 year period of time called the tribulation when a demonic leader called the antichrist will endeavor rule the world.  He will require worship and kill those who refuse to do so.  Before the tribulation, Jesus who is always in control will remove the church and take us to heaven.  The Lord protected Noah and his family in the flood.  He got Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah before their destruction.  Once the church is taken to heaven the antichrist will reveal himself.  Multitudes will still be getting born again as angels will be preaching, but the antichrist will kill as many as he can who will not worship him.  God will help the Christians, but many will be martyred. As a Christian physical death opens the door to eternal life. No longer fear, comfort in Jesus.