1 Thessalonians 4:13: sorrow not as others

c. 378 · Ambrose of Milan, On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus (De excessu fratris) 1.69

Do thou, then, shake off thy great heaviness, and put from thee the multitude of sorrows, that the Mighty may be merciful to thee again, and the Highest shall give thee rest by easing thy labours.” So, then, my tears shall cease, for one must yield to healthful remedies, since there ought to be some difference between believers and unbelievers. Let them, therefore, weep who cannot have the hope of the resurrection, of which not the sentence of God but the strictness of the faith deprives them. Let there be this difference between the servants of Christ and the worshippers of idols, that the latter weep for their friends, whom they suppose to have perished for ever; that they should never cease from tears, and gain no rest from sorrow, who think that the dead have no rest. But from us, for whom death is the end not of our nature but of this life only, since our nature itself is restored to a better state, let the advent of death wipe away all tears.

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homily on the Paralytic Let Down through the Roof 8

Another perhaps has lost a little daughter or a son, or one of his kinsfolk, and he also having come here listens to Paul groaning over this present life and longing to see that which is to come, and oppressed by his sojourn in this world, and he will go away with a sufficient remedy for his grief when he has heard him say “Now concerning them that are asleep I would not have you ignorant brethren that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope.” He did not say concerning the dying, but “concerning them that are asleep” proving that death is a sleep. As then if we see any one sleeping we are not disturbed or distressed, expecting that he will certainly get up: even so when we see any one dead, let us not be disturbed or dejected for this also is a sleep, a longer one indeed, but still a sleep. By giving it the name of slumber He comforted the mourners and overthrew the accusation of the unbelievers. If you mourn immoderately over him who has departed you will be like that unbeliever who has no hope of a resurrection. He indeed does well to mourn, inasmuch as he cannot exercise any spiritual wisdom concerning things to come: but thou who hast received such strong proofs concerning the future life, why dost thou sink into the same weakness with him? Therefore it is written “now concerning them that are asleep we would not have you ignorant that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope.”

c. 398–404 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Thessalonians (In epistulam i ad Thessalonicenses homiliae 1-11) 6

Therefore to afflict yourselves for the departed is to act like those who have no hope. And they justly. For a soul that knows nothing of the Resurrection, but thinks that this death is death, naturally afflicts itself, and bewails and mourns intolerably as for lost ones. But thou, who expectest a resurrection, on what account dost thou lament? To lament then is the part of those who have no hope. Hear this, ye women, as many of you as are fond of wailing, as many as at times of mourning take the sorrow impatiently, that ye act the part of heathens. But if to grieve for the departed is the part of heathens, then tell me whose part it is to beat one’s self, and tear the cheeks? On what account do you lament, if you believe that he will rise again, that he has not perished, that the matter is but a slumber and a sleep? You say, On account of his society, his protection, his care of our affairs, and all his other services.

c. 398–404 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Thessalonians (In epistulam i ad Thessalonicenses homiliae 1-11) 6

Wherefore dost thou lament thy child? Wherefore thine husband? The former, because I had not enjoyed him, you say; the latter, because I expected that I should have enjoyed him longer. And this very thing, what want of faith does it argue, to suppose that thy husband or thy son constitutes thy safety, and not God! How dost thou not think to provoke Him? For often on this account He takes them away, that thou mayest not be so bound to them, so that it may withdraw thy hopes from them. For God is jealous, and wills to be loved by us most of all things: and that, because He loves us exceedingly.

c. 403–404 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews 4.7

And indeed, that women engaged in the affairs of this life should act thus is no way surprising. And yet indeed this even is dreadful; for from them also is the same philosophy required. Wherefore also Paul says, “But concerning them which are asleep, I would not have you ignorant, that ye sorrow not even as the rest who have no hope.” ( 1 Thess. iv. 13.) He wrote not this to solitaries, nor to perpetual virgins, but to women and men in the world. But however this is not so dreadful. But when any man or woman, professing to be crucified to the world, he tears his hair, and she shrieks violently—what can be more unseemly than this? Believe me when I say if things were done as they ought, such persons should be excluded for a long time from the thresholds of the Church. For those who are indeed worthy of being grieved for, are these who still fear and shudder at death, who have no faith in the resurrection.

c. 429–457 · Theodoret of Cyrus, Letters 69

When hindered, much against my will, from paying my debt, I deemed it ill-advised to send you a letter at the very moment, when your grief was at its height; when it was impossible for my messenger to approach your excellency, and when grief prevented you from reading what I wrote. But now that your reason has had time to wake from the intoxication of grief, to repress your emotion, and to discipline the license of sorrow, I have made bold to write and to beseech your excellency to bethink you of human nature, to reflect how common is the loss you deplore, and, above all, to accept the divine teaching, and not let your distress go beyond the bounds of your faith. For your most excellent husband, as the Lord Himself said, “is not dead but sleepeth”—a sleep a little longer than he was wont. This hope has been given us by the Lord; this promise we have received from the divine oracles.

1651 · Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying Chapter V. Of Visitation of the Sick: or the Assistance That Is to Be Done to Dying, Section VIII. Peroration Concerning the Contingencies and Treatings of Our Departed

When we have received the last breath of our friend, and closed his eyes, and composed his body for the grave, then seasonable is the counsel of the Son of Sirach: ‘Weep bitterly, and make great moan, and use lamentation, as he is worthy, and that a day or two, lest thou be evil spoken of; and then comfort thyself for thy heaviness. But take no grief to heart; for there is no turning again: thou shalt not do him good, but hurt thyself. Solemn and appointed mournings are good expressions of our dearness to the departed soul, and of his worth, and our value of him; and it hath its praise in nature, and in manners, and in public customs; but the praise of it is not in the Gospel, that is, it hath no direct and proper uses in religion. For if the dead did die in the Lord, then there is joy to him; and it is an ill expression of our affection and our charity to weep uncomfortably at a change that hath carried my friend to the state of a huge felicity.

1651–1677 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. II The Saint’s Triumph over Death; A Sermn Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Christopher Love,, The Saint’s Triumph over Death

Our weeping puts some disparagement upon Christ’s conquest. Why should we weep in the day of their preferment, in the day of their solemn espousals to Jesus Christ? In the primitive times, at funerals, they were wont to sing psalms of thanksgiving. We should bring them as champions to the grave, as those that have passed the pikes, and finished their course, and kept the faith, and have conquered the world, and sin, and death, and danger. Chrysostom, in one of his homilies on the Hebrews, speaketh of the ancient rites at funerals, of their hymns, and psalms, and praises: Haec omnia sunt laetantium, saith he—all these signify joy; and wilt thou weep and sing a psalm of praise and triumph at the same time? I confess it is said, Acts viii. 2, that ‘devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.’ It is our loss when the church is bereaved of such excellent persons; there is cause of sorrow, but there should be a mixture; we should not mourn as those without hope, 1 Thes. iv. 13. As Christians must not rejoice without sorrow, so they must not be sorry without some mixture of joy. Let us declare that we hope for a resurrection, that we expect to meet our friends again in heaven; and when we weep, let it be like rain when the sun shineth.

c. 1714 · Daniel Mayo, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18

In these words the apostle comforts the Thessalonians who mourned for the death of their relations and friends that died in the Lord. His design is to dissuade them from excessive grief, or inordinate sorrow, on that account. All grief for the death of friends is far from being unlawful; we may weep at least for ourselves if we do not weep for them, weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Yet we must not be immoderate in our sorrows, because, I. This looks as if we had no hope, v. 13. It is to act too much like the Gentiles, who had no hope of a better life after this; whereas we Christians, who have a most sure hope, the hope of eternal life after this, which God who cannot lie hath promised us, should moderate all our joys and our sorrows on account of any worldly thing. This hope is more than enough to balance all our griefs upon account of any of the crosses of the present time.

c. 1714 · Daniel Mayo, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18

This is an effect of ignorance concerning those who are dead, v. 13. There are some things which we cannot be ignorant of concerning those that are asleep; for the land they are removed to is a land of darkness, which we know but little of and have no correspondence with. To go among the dead is to go among we know not whom, and to live we know not how. Death is an unknown thing, and the state of the dead, or the state after death, we are much in the dark about; yet there are some things concerning those especially who die in the Lord that we need not, and ought not, to be ignorant of; and, if these things be really understood and duly considered, they will be sufficient to allay our sorrow concerning them.

1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 8 183

In the verse before the apostle comforts Christians, concerning their brethren that were already departed in the faith of Christ, that there was no reason why they should so immoderately grieve for them. “But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others that have no hope;” that is, as the heathens do, who mourn for their dead friends in so grievous a manner, as if they were utterly extinguished by death, and they had no imagination of any life beyond this. And thus we find the apostle elsewhere describing the state of the heathen world: (Eph. ii. 12.) that “they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope.” But Christians should not mourn for their deceased friends as the heathen were wont to do, who had no hope of a better life; because Christians profess to believe that Christ is risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven: “for if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Thessalonians 4.13

it is only the hope of future blessedness that can mitigate this sorrow. Religion reveals a brighter world - a world where all the pious shall be reunited; where the bonds of love shall be made stronger than they were here; where they shall never be severed again. It is only this hope that can sooth the pains of grief at parting; only when we can look forward to a better world and feel that we shall see them again - love them again - love them forever - that our tears are made dry. (4) the Christian, therefore, when he loses a Christian friend, should not sorrow as others do. He will feel, indeed, as keenly as they do, the loss of their society; the absence of their well-known faces; the want of the sweet voice of friendship and love; for religion does not blunt the sensibility of the soul, or make the heart unfeeling. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, and religion does not prevent the warm, gushing expressions of sorrow when God comes into a family and removes a friend.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Thessalonians 4.13

When their friends died, they hired men to play in a mournful manner on a pipe or trumpet, or women to howl and lament in a dismal manner. They beat their breasts; uttered loud shrieks; rent their garments; tore off their hair; cast dust on their heads, or sat down in ashes. It is not improbable that some among the Thessalonians, on the death of their pious friends, kept up these expressions of excessive sorrow. To prevent this, and to mitigate their sorrow, the apostle refers them to the bright hopes which Christianity had revealed, and points them to the future glorious re-union with the departed pious dead.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Thessalonians 4.13

But I would not have you to be ignorant - I would have you fully informed on the important subject which is here referred to. It is quite probable from this, that some erroneous views prevailed among them in reference to the condition of those who were dead, which tended to prevent their enjoying the full consolation, which they might otherwise have done. Of the prevalence of these views, it is probable the apostle had been informed by Timothy on his return from Thessalonica; 1Th 3:6. What they were we are not distinctly informed, and can only gather from the allusions which Paul makes to them, or from the opposite doctrines which he states, and which are evidently designed to correct those which prevailed among them. From these statements, it would appear that they supposed that those who had died, though they were true Christians, would be deprived of some important advantages which those would possess who should survive to the coming of the Lord. There seems some reason to suppose, as Koppe conjectures (compare also Saurin, Serm. vol. 6:1), that the cause of their grief was two-fold; one, that some among them doubted whether there would be any resurrection (compare 1Co 15:12), and that they supposed that they who had died were thus cut off from the hope of eternal happiness, so as to leave their surviving friends to sorrow "as those who had no hope;" the other, that some of them believed that, though those who were dead would indeed rise again, yet it would be long after those who were living when the Lord Jesus would return had been taken to glory, and would be always in a condition inferior to them.

1856–1869 · J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke 23.39-43

Let us remember these things, when our believing friends fall asleep in Christ. We must not sorrow for them as those who have no hope. While we are sorrowing they are rejoicing. While we are putting on our mourning, and weeping at their funerals, they are safe and happy with their Lord.

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Thessalonians 4.13

As this is offered as a consolation to mourning relatives, the mutual recognition of the saints at Christ's coming is hereby implied. that ye sorrow not, even as others—Greek, "the rest"; all the rest of the world besides Christians. Not all natural mourning for dead friends is forbidden: for the Lord Jesus and Paul sinlessly gave way to it (Joh 11:31, 33, 35; Php 2:27); but sorrow as though there were "no hope," which indeed the heathen had not (Eph 2:12): the Christian hope here meant is that of the resurrection.

1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 135

Against this fault, which is inconsistent with those virtues, and, therefore, tacitly forbidden in the precepts that enjoin them, St. Paul warns us in express words: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him: — Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thess. 4:13, 14, 18.) And these, indeed, are the only words which can give lasting comfort to a spirit whom such an occasion hath wounded. Why should I be so unreasonable, so unkind, as to desire the return of a soul now in happiness to me, — to this habitation of sin and misery; since I know that the time will come, yea, is now at hand, when, in spite of the great gulf fixed between us, I shall shake off these chains and go to him?

1872 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 18 (1872) 1067

You have lost those dear to you—amend the statement—they have passed into a better land and the body which remains behind is not lost, but put out to blessed interest. Sorrow you must, but sorrow not as those that are without hope! I do not know why we always sing dirges at the funerals of the saints and drape ourselves in black. I would desire, if I might have my way, to be drawn to my grave by white horses or to be carried on the shoulders of men who would express joy as well as sorrow in their habiliments, for why should we sorrow over those who have gone to Glory and inherited immortality? I like the old Puritan plan of carrying the coffin on the shoulders of the saints and singing a Psalm as they walked to the grave.

1892 · James Denney, The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles to the Thessalonians The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, XI. The Dead in Christ

The Christians in Thessalonica feared that their brethren who had died would be shut out of the Messiah's kingdom; they mourned for them as those mourn who have no hope. The Apostle corrects their error, and comforts them. His words do not mean that the Christian may lawfully sorrow for his dead, provided he does not go to a pagan extreme; they mean that the hopeless pagan sorrow is not to be indulged by the Christian at all. We give their proper force if we imagine him saying: "Weep for yourselves, if you will; that is natural, and God does not wish us to be insensible to the losses and sorrows which are part of His providential government of our lives; but do not weep for them; the believer who has fallen asleep in Christ is not to be lamented; he has lost nothing; the hope of immortality is as sure for him as for those who may live to welcome the Lord at His coming; he has gone to be with Christ, which is far, far better."

1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 4.13

Greeks and Romans used this figure of sleep for death as Jesus does (Joh 11:11 ) and N.T. generally (cf. our word cemetery). Somehow the Thessalonians had a false notion about the dead in relation to the second coming. Even as the rest which have no hope (καθως οι λοιποι οι μη εχοντες ελπιδα). This picture of the hopelessness of the pagan world about the future life is amply illustrated in ancient writings and particularly by inscriptions on tombs (Milligan). Some few pagans clung to this hope, but most had none.

1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 8 183

In general these words signify a blessed resurrection, as may be seen by the opposition: “If we believe that Jesus died, and rose again; even so them also that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him.” Whereto Christ’s death is opposed our sleeping in Jesus; and, to his resurrection, God’s bringing us with him; that is, his raising us out of the grave to accompany him at his coming. But the meaning of this expression will best appear, by considering what follows after the text: “for this we say by the word of the Lord,” that is, by special revelation, “that we that are alive, and remain, at the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them that are asleep;” that is, we shall not be taken up into heaven, before the saints who are already dead shall be raised; but thus it shall be: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” The plain meaning of all which is, that first the dead in Christ shall be raised and taken up to him in the air, to accompany him at his coming, and thus he shall bring them with him; and then those, which are alive at his coming, shall be changed and taken up likewise, “to meet the Lord in the air.”

1843 · Henry Edward Manning, Sermons, Volume 1 21

“I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” ONE great miracle in the new creation of God is this, that death is changed to sleep; and therefore in the writings of the New Testament we do not read of the “death” of the saints. “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.”

1856 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 2 (1856) 66

The burial service used in the Church of England most wisely offers us no comfort concerning the soul of the departed believer, since that is in bliss, but it cheers us by reminding us of the promised resurrection for the body; and when I speak concerning the dead, it is not to give comfort as to the soul, but as to the body. And this doctrine of the resurrection has comfort for the mourners in regard to the buried mortality. You do not weep because your father, brother, wife, husband, has ascended to heaven—you would be cruel to weep about that. None of you weep because your dear mother is before the throne; but you weep because her body is in the grave, because those eyes can no more smile on you, because those hands cannot caress you, because those sweet lips cannot speak melodious notes of affection. You weep because the body is cold, and dead, and clay-like; for the soul you do not weep.

1869 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 15 (1869) 863

O mourning Rachel, refusing to be comforted, "Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears: for your work shall be rewarded and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." Sorrow no longer, you mourners, around the grave, as those that are without hope—for since Jesus Christ is risen, the dead in Christ shall rise also! Wipe away those tears, for the Believer's grave is no longer the place for lamentations—it is but the passage to immortality! It is but the dressing room in which the spirit shall put aside, for awhile, her travel-worn garments of her earthly journey—to put them on again on a brighter morrow—when they shall be fair and white as no fuller on earth could make them!

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Thessalonians 4.14

For if—confirmation of his statement, 1Th 4:13, that the removal of ignorance as to the sleeping believers would remove undue grief respecting them. See 1Th 4:13, "hope." Hence it appears our hope rests on our faith ("if we believe"). "As surely as we all believe that Christ died and rose again (the very doctrine specified as taught at Thessalonica, Ac 17:3), so also will God bring those laid to sleep by Jesus with Him (Jesus)." (So the order and balance of the members of the Greek sentence require us to translate). Believers are laid in sleep by Jesus, and so will be brought back from sleep with Jesus in His train when He comes.

1884 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 30 (1884) 1799

When the Lord comes there will be no more death; we who are alive and remain (as some of us may be—we cannot tell) will undergo a sudden transformation—for flesh and blood, as they are, cannot inherit the kingdom of God—and by that transformation our bodies shall be made meet to be ‘partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’ There shall be no more death then. Here, then, we have two sacred handkerchiefs with which to wipe the eyes of mourners: when Christ cometh the dead shall live; when Christ cometh those that live shall never die. Like Enoch, or Elias, we shall pass into the glory state without wading through the black stream, while those who have already forded it shall prove to have been no losers thereby.

1890 · Henry Burton, The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel According to St. Luke Chapter XVIII. The Transfiguration

What is death, after all, but the transition into life? Retaining its earthly accent, we call it a "decease;" but that is true only of the corporeal nature, that body of "flesh and blood" which cannot inherit the higher kingdom of glory to which we pass. There is no break in the continuity of the soul's existence, not even one parenthetic hour. When He who was the Resurrection and the Life said, "To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise," that word passed on a forgiven soul directly to a state of conscious blessedness. From "the azure deep of air" does the eagle look regretfully upon the eyrie of its crag, where it lay in its unfledged weakness? or does it mourn the broken shell from which its young life emerged? And why should we mourn, or weep with unrestrained tears, when the shell is broken that the freed spirit may soar up to the regions of the blessed, and range the eternities of God? Paganism closed the story of human life with an interrogation-point, and sought to fill up with guesses the blank she did not know. Christianity speaks with clearer voice; hers is "a sure and certain hope," for He who "hath abolished death" hath "brought life and immortality to light." Earth's exodus is heaven's genesis, and what we call the end celestials call the beginning.

1897 · John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ Part II

And how parents grieve when their beloved children die, when they lie breathless before their eyes! But, brethren, do not fear, and do not grieve beyond measure. By His death Jesus Christ our Saviour has conquered our death, and by His resurrection He has laid the foundation for our resurrection, and every week, every Sunday, we solemnise in the risen Christ our common future resurrection from the dead, and begin beforehand the life eternal, to which our present temporal life is but a short, narrow, and most sorrowful way. For a true Christian death is merely like a sleep until the day of resurrection, or like birth into a new life. And thus in solemnising every week the resurrection of Christ and our own resurrection from the dead, let us learn to continually die to sin, and to rise with our souls from dead works, to enrich ourselves with virtues, and not sorrow inconsolably for the dead. Let us learn to meet death without dread, as the decree of the Heavenly Father, which, through the resurrection of Christ from the dead, has lost its terror.

1900 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 46 (1900) 2659

Heathenism is hopeless to afford any comfort to the bereaved! But when you come into that part of the catacombs which was devoted to Christian burial, everything is different. There you may constantly read these consoling words, "He sleeps in peace." There is nothing dreadful or despairing in the inscriptions there—they are submissive, they are cheerful, they are even thankful! Frequently they are victorious and the most common emblem is—not the quenched torch, as it is on the heathen side, where the light is supposed to have gone out forever—but the palm branch, to signify that the victory remains eternally with the departed one. It is the glory of the Christian religion to have let light into the sepulcher, to have taken the sting away from death and, in fact, to have made it no more death to die!

1905–1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4.14

So, dear 'brethren, I would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope.' And I would have you to remember that, whilst Christ by His work has made it possible that the terror may pass away, and death may be softened and minimised into slumber, it will not be so with you—unless you are joined to Him, and by trust in the power of His death and the overflowing might of His Resurrection, have made sure that what He has passed through, you will pass through, and where He is, and what He is, you will be also. Two men die by one railway accident, sitting side by side upon one seat, smashed in one collision. But though the outward fact is the same about each, the reality of their deaths is infinitely different. The one falls asleep through Jesus, in Jesus; the other dies indeed, and the death of his body is only a feeble shadow of the death of his spirit. Do you knit yourself to the Life, which is Christ, and then 'he that believeth on Me shall never die.'

1905–1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Luke 24.5-6

‘God giveth His beloved sleep’; and in that peaceful sleep, realities, not dreams, come round their quiet rest, and fill their conscious spirits and their happy hearts with blessedness and fellowship. And when thus lulled to sleep in the arms of Christ they have rested till it please Him to accomplish the number of His elect, then, in His own time, He will make the eternal morning to dawn, and the hand that kept them in their slumber shall touch them into waking, and shall clothe them when they arise according to the body of His own glory; and they looking into His face, and flashing back its love, its light, its beauty, shall each break forth into singing as the rising light of that unsetting day touches their transfigured and immortal heads, in the triumphant thanksgiving ‘I am satisfied, for I awake in Thy likeness.’ ‘Therefore, comfort one another with these words,’ and remember that we are of the day, not of the night; let us not, then, sleep as do others; but let us reckon that Christ hath died for us, that whether we wake on earth or sleep in the grave, or wake in heaven, we may live together with Him!

1908 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 54 (1908) 3077

We know they are supremely blessed—we think of them as glorified spirits above who are "forever with the Lord." We have that hope and then we have another hope concerning those—we hope that though we have buried them, they shall rise again! In the verse following our text it is written, "Those also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." We rejoice that not only do "they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them," but that after they have rested a little while, their bodies shall rise again! We know that their Redeemer lives and we are certain that He will, at the latter day, stand upon the earth and that they shall stand on the earth with Him! We rejoice that the dead in Christ shall rise first—that they shall come on that day when, "with clouds descending," "He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them who believe." We look for a day when buried bodies shall be living frames once more! We expect that glazed eyes shall again be radiant with light!

1915 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 61 (1915) 3452

The body, like Esther, is bathing itself in spices to make it ready for the embrace of the all-glorious Lord! The old, worn-out vesture is laid aside awhile, until God makes it fit to be worn in the high festivals of Heaven! Oh, if Jesus lives, we wipe away the tears and we carry not our dead to their graves with sound of weeping and with the noise of lamentation, but with the sound of holy Psalms and shouts of victory! We lower the conquering champion into his rest in sure and certain hope that he shall rise to participate in His great Captain's everlasting victory! "Christ is risen" is the cure for wounded affections when the wound rankles through unbelief.

c. 1714 · Daniel Mayo, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18

It is but a sleep to them. It is their rest, and undisturbed rest. They have retired out of this troublesome world, to rest from all their labours and sorrows, and they sleep in Jesus, v. 14. Being still in union with him, they sleep in his arms and are under his special care and protection. Their souls are in his presence, and their dust is under his care and power; so that they are not lost, nor are they losers, but great gainers by death, and their removal out of this world is into a better. 2. They shall be raised up from the dead, and awakened out of their sleep, for God will bring them with him, v. 14. They then are with God, and are better where they are than when they were here; and when God comes he will bring them with him. The doctrine of the resurrection and the second coming of Christ is a great antidote against the fear of death and inordinate sorrow for the death of our Christian friends; and this doctrine we have a full assurance of, because we believe that Jesus died and rose again, v. 14.

1733 · Jonathan Edwards, The Christian Pilgrim; or the True Christian's Life a Journey towards Heaven 3

“They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” It is true, we shall see them no more in this world, yet we ought to consider that we are travelling towards the same place; and why should we break our hearts that they have got there before us! We are following after them, and hope, as soon as we get to our journey’s end, to be with them again, in better circumstances. A degree of mourning for near relations when departed is not inconsistent with Christianity, but very agreeable to it; for as long as we are flesh and blood, we have animal propensities and affections. But we have just reason that our mourning should be mingled with joy. ” But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others that have no hope: ” (i. e.) that they should not sorrow as the heathen, who had no knowledge of a future happiness. This appears by the following verse; ” for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.”

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Thessalonians 4.18

The word comfort probably best expresses the meaning. They were to bring these glorious truths and these bright prospects before their minds, in order to alleviate, the sorrows of bereavement. The topics of consolation are these: first, that those who had died in the faith would not always lie in the grave; second, that when they rose they would not occupy an inferior condition because they were cut off before the coming of the Lord; and third, that all Christians, living and dead, would be received to heaven and dwell forever with the Lord.

1888 · W. G. Blaikie, The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Samuel Chapter XVI. Penitence and Chastisement

Words cannot express the desolation of heart which such bereavements cause. When Rachel is weeping for her children she cannot be comforted if she thinks they are not. But a new light breaks on her desolate heart when she is assured that she may go to them, though they shall not return to her. Blessed, truly, are the dead who die in the Lord, and, however painful the stroke that removed them, blessed are their surviving friends. Ye shall go to them, though they shall not return to you. How you are to recognise them, how you are to commune with them, in what place they shall be, in what condition of consciousness, you cannot tell; but "you shall go to them;" the separation shall be but temporary, and who can conceive the joy of re-union, re-union never to be broken by separation for evermore?

1892 · James Denney, The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles to the Thessalonians The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, XI. The Dead in Christ

Is it not a striking proof of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we have, on the express authority of His word, a special revelation, the exclusive aim of which is to comfort? Jesus knew the terrible sorrow of bereavement; He had stood by the bedside of Jairus' daughter, by the young man's bier at Nain, by Lazarus' tomb. He knew how inconsolable it was, how subtle, how passionate; He knew the dead weight at the heart which never passes away, and the sudden rush of feeling which overpowers the strongest. And that all this sorrow might not rest upon His Church unrelieved, He lifted the curtain that we might see with our eyes the strong consolation beyond. I have spoken of it as if it consisted simply in union to Christ; but it is as much a part of the revelation that Christians whom death has separated are re-united to each other. The Thessalonians feared they would never see their departed friends again; but the word of the Lord says, You will be caught up, in company with them, to meet Me; and you and they shall dwell with Me for ever. What congregation is there in which there is not need of this consolation? Comfort one another, the Apostle says. One needs the comfort to-day, and another to-morrow; in proportion as we bear each other's burdens, we all need it continually. The unseen world is perpetually opening to receive those whom we love; but though they pass out of sight and out of reach, it is not for ever. They are still united to Christ; and when He comes in His glory He will bring them to us again.

1901 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 47 (1901) 2726

As for all who die in the Lord, we sorrow not as those who are without hope. There will be blessed meetings, by-and-by. You look back, with great sorrow, to the loss of a dear husband, wife, brother, sister, father, mother—yes, but you know where they are and you have the blessed assurance that you shall meet them again in the day when the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised—and you, with them, shall form an unbroken family around the Throne of God in Heaven!

1905–1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5.27

We all know that wonderful passage of unsurpassed tenderness and majesty, which has soothed so many hearts and been like a gentle hand laid upon so many aching spirits, about the returning Jesus 'coming in the clouds,' with the dear ones that are asleep along with Him, and the reunion of them that sleep and them that are alive and remain, in one indissoluble concord and concourse, when we shall ever be with the Lord, and 'clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss in over-measure for ever.' The coming of the Master does not appear here with emphasis on its judicial aspect. It is rather intended to bring hope to the mourners, and the certainty that bands broken here may be re-knit in holier fashion hereafter.

1909 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 55 (1909) 3125

If that grievous sorrow could divide the heart of Jesus from the heart of His elect, then might we dread to die—but it is not so! If death makes any difference to us, the bonds that unite us to Christ shall become still firmer and the Revelation of Christ shall become yet brighter—and Jesus shall be nearer and dearer to us in our departure from earth than He ever was before! "Therefore comfort one another with these words."