The Rapture of the Dead Believers

"The dead shall be raised." 1 Cor. 15:52.

The dead in Christ
"For you are dust, And to dust you shall return" Gen. 3:19. It matters not whether the dust be in a grave or scattered to the wind, "The dead shall be raised." These are "the dead in Christ" 1 Thes. 4:16. More on this later. "For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised" vs 17. "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept" vs 20. Yes, because He lives, we shall live also.

My redeemer lives
Job said it so beautifully, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God" Job 19:25,26. "If a man die, will he live again?" asks Job (14:14). Yes indeed, in heaven or hell. The choice is yours. You will be in the resurrection of the just or the unjust Acts 24:15. More on the unjust later.

No more dying
"But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" 1 Cor. 15:54, 55. We do not sorrow as those who have no hope 1 Thes. 4:13. The hardest thing to do in this world is preach the funeral of an unsaved person. I have had to do it. It is horrible. There is no hope. The is why we must give the gospel to "every person."

I preached my own father's funeral. It was not hard for I had knelt with him four years earlier when at 85 years of age he believed God that Christ died for his sins and rose again and prayed to receive the Lord Jesus as his Savior too. I wept at his funeral but not with sorrow but with joy for I knew that my father was filled with more joy at that moment than he had ever known before.
I preached the gospel and over thirty people prayed to receive the Lord Jesus that day. A funeral is the best place of all to preach the gospel, give them a chance, right there, to receive the Lord Jesus in their hearts and see people saved. Don't give up on your loved ones. I prayed for my dad for 35 years before he received the Lord Jesus. It was worth it all.
 

Prayer:  Father, You are so wonderful to give us this blessed hope and assurance that we and our loved ones shall be raised to die no more and live with You forever. Thank You, in Jesus name.

And I love you, all because the Lord Jesus suffered and died for our sins, paid our debt in full and rose again so we can be forgiven and go to heaven, sumner. Do you believe in that alone for your salvation? Believe and pray to receive Him as your Savior right now. "He that has the Son, has life" 1 John 5:12.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us" Eph. 3:20. GET IN ON IT!