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1 Thessalonians 4
13 But 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.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
(8,6,8,6)
Take comfort, Christians, when your friends
in Jesus fall asleep;
Their better being never ends;
why then dejected weep?
Why inconsolable, as those
to whom no hope is giv’n?
Death is the messenger of peace,
and calls the soul to heav’n.
As Jesus died, and rose again
victorious from the dead;
So his disciples rise, and reign
with their triumphant Head.
The time draws nigh, when from the clouds
Christ shall with shouts descend,
And the last trumpet’s awful voice
the heav’ns and earth shall rend.
Then they who live shall changed be,
and they who sleep shall wake;
The graves shall yield their ancient charge,
and earth’s foundations shake.
The saints of God, from death set free,
with joy shall mount on high;
The heav’nly hosts with praises loud
shall meet them in the sky,
Together to their Father’s house
with joyful hearts they go;
And dwell for ever with the Lord,
beyond the reach of woe.
A few short years of evil past,
we reach the happy shore,
where death-divided friends at last
shall meet, to part no more.
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