WHERE ARE THE RIGHTEOUS DEAD? Are the righteous dead in heaven? If so, then who are those sleeping in the graves who wake up when Jesus returns?

This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again. (Split)

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

Visit SabbathSchoolDaily.com for more videos like this one.

Let’s invite the Spirit of God

Heavenly Father, we look forward to the last trumpet sound, when Jesus returns, and your people are raised from the dead.  If we should be alive when you come, may we meet you in the air.   In Jesus’ Name Amen (Split)

Sometimes, when second-hand information trickles down, it gets all tangled up.  And what started off as true becomes false.

The Thessalonian Christians somehow had the idea that God would give eternal life only to those who were alive at the Second Coming. So, the Thessalonian Christians

 “Carefully guarded the lives of their friends, for fear that they would die and lose the blessing which they looked forward to receiving at the second coming of Jesus. (Splilt)

But one after another their loved ones died, and with great sorrow and grief, the Thessalonians looked for the last time upon the faces of their dead, hardly daring to hope to meet them in a future life.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 258. Adapted

However, we find in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 that Paul took measures to correct this false notion.

What he said, we often hear some of it, if not all of it read at funerals. (Split)

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

Despite what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 from what we have traditionally been taught, many may have trouble understanding what Paul is saying when he says “bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” in 1 Thessalonians 4:14. (Split)

Some believe the verse implies that spirits from the dead are already in heaven. They think that Jesus, at His Second Coming, will bring with Him the spirits of the dead already in heaven with God. Then these spirits can join with their bodies again when Jesus wakes them up from the dead. Why would someone’s spirit need to be reunited with their body that is in the grave if they are already experiencing life in heaven?

In a previous lesson, we establish that the spirit that goes back to God is breath. The breath that God breathed into us gives us life. We receive his breath again when he brings us back to life.  But because our breath returns to God does not mean we go to heaven when we die. We do not live in heaven with some disembodied body. We remain asleep in the grave until Christ returns. And we awake only when He calls us forth at the sound of the last trumpet. (Split)

The following is one theologian’s commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:14: “The reason why the Thessalonian Christians can have hope as they grieve for the dead members of their church is that God ‘will bring’ them, that is, he will resurrect these deceased believers and cause them to be present at Christ’s return, such that they will be ‘with him.’ The implication is that these deceased believers will not be at some kind of disadvantage at the Parousia or (arrival) of Christ but will be ‘with him’ in such a way that they share equally with living believers in the glory associated with his return.”—Jeffrey A. D. Weima, 1–2 Thessalonians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014), p. 319. (Split)

Besides, if the souls of the dead are already with Jesus in heaven, why does Paul need to talk with the Thessalonians about the Second Coming? Paul would not need to mention the final resurrection as the Christian hope; he could have just mentioned that the righteous were already with the Lord. But, instead, he says that “those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians. 4:14, NKJV) would be resurrected from the dead at his second coming when he returns to this earth to get the righteous dead and the righteous living.

To the believer, Christ is the resurrection and the life. In our Saviour the life that was lost through sin is restored; for He has life in Himself to quicken whom He will. He is invested with the right to give immortality. The life that He laid down in humanity, He takes up again and gives to humanity. (Split)

When Christ comes to gather to Himself those who have been faithful, the last trump will sound, and the whole earth, from the summits of the loftiest mountains to the lowest recesses of the deepest mines, will hear. The righteous dead will hear the sound of the last trump, and will come forth from their graves. . . .

. . . All [the righteous dead] arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. . . . The mortal, corruptible form, devoid of attractiveness, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful, and immortal. . . . Restored to the tree of life in the long-lost Eden, the redeemed will “grow up” to the full stature of the race in its original glory. . . .

The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” 1 Corinthians 15:52. At the voice of God they were glorified; now they are made immortal, and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. . . . (Split)

Little children are borne by holy angels to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are united, nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend together to the city of God.

All the precious dead, from righteous Abel to the last saint that dies, shall awake to glorious, immortal life.—The Faith I Live By, p. 183. (Split)

Trumpets blowing, the dead awaking from the grave and rising to life, and the living meeting in the air, the description of Christ’s return seems like it will be an amazing spectacular event never seen on this earth. Will it be secret as some have said? Find out: Day 6 At the Sound of the Trumpet

Watch Our Past and Present Lessons @ SabbathSchoolDaily.com.