Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Thessalonian Letters,”

pp. 255–268; “Called to Reach a Higher Standard,” pp. 319–321, in The

Acts of the Apostles.

“The Romans,” writes Stephen Cave, “were well aware of the Christians’

belief that they would one day rise bodily from the grave and did every-

thing they could to mock and hinder those hopes. A report of a persecution

in Gaul in 177 ce records that the martyrs were first executed, then their

corpses left to rot unburied for six days before being burned and the ashes

thrown into the river Rhône—‘Now let us see whether they will rise again,’

the Romans are reported to have said.”—Immortality: The Quest to Live

Forever and How It Drives Civilization (New York: Crown Publishers,

2012), pp. 104, 105.

This little object lesson in theological skepticism, however dramatic,

is beside the point; it proved nothing about the biblical promise of the

resurrection. The Power who raised Jesus from the dead can do the

same for us, as well, regardless of the state of our body. After all, if that

same Power created and upholds the entire cosmos, He certainly could

translate the living and resurrect the dead.

“ ‘Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him’

[1 Thess. 4:14], Paul wrote. Many interpret this passage to mean that the

sleeping ones will be brought with Christ from heaven; but Paul meant

that as Christ was raised from the dead, so God will call the sleeping saints

from their graves and take them with Him to heaven. Precious consolation!

glorious hope! not only to the church of Thessalonica, but to all Christians

wherever they may be.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 259.

Discussion Questions:

Ê Someone said: “Death wipes you out. . . . To be wiped out

completely, traces and all, goes a long way toward destroying the

meaning of one’s life.” What hope, then, do we have against such

meaninglessness in our lives?

Ë How can we harmonize the need to grow toward perfection

(Phil. 3:12–16) with the fact that only at Christ’s second coming

will we receive an incorruptible and sinless nature (1 Cor. 15:50–

55)?

Ì How might we be able to help someone caught up in the idea

of the “secret rapture” to see why this teaching is wrong?

Í Read again 1 Corinthians 15:12–19. What in these verses pre-

sents such powerful evidence for the teaching that the dead are

asleep as opposed to being up in heaven with Jesus? What sense

do these verses make if the righteous dead are, indeed, in heaven

with Jesus now?