Happy Sabbath, friends!

In honor of September 11th — with this week marking 25 years since the attacks of 9/11 — I felt that today’s message should honor the lives that were lost and the families who continue to carry the weight of that loss.

Events like September 11 remind us how quickly life can change and force us to reflect on the reality of death in a very personal way.

Every year, September 11 reminds us how deeply loss can affect families, communities, and an entire nation. Yet for those who follow Christ, grief does not have to exist without hope. Scripture gives us a beautiful promise concerning those who have died — death does not have to be the end of their story.

Many of us may have questions about what happens when we die. The subject of death and the afterlife can feel uncertain, especially when we are grieving someone we love.

Fortunately for us, the Word of God does not leave us without hope or direction.

Asleep In Christ

Throughout Scripture, death is repeatedly compared to sleep.

One of the clearest examples is found within the story of Lazarus.

John 11:1–44 (NIV)
“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.””

When Lazarus died, Jesus initially described his condition as sleep before explaining plainly to the disciples that Lazarus had died.

I find that imagery incredibly comforting.

Sleep is not permanent.

When we fall asleep at night, we expect that there will eventually be a morning when we wake again. In the same way, Scripture points us toward a future resurrection when those who have died in Christ will hear His call and rise again.

Death may separate us from the people we love for a time, but for those who belong to Christ, Scripture gives us the hope that the separation is not forever.

The Dead In Christ Will Rise

Paul gives us one of the clearest descriptions of this promise when writing to believers who were grieving those who had died.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (NIV)
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Notice how Paul begins this passage.

He does not tell Christians that they should never grieve.

Loss hurts.

Missing someone hurts.

Standing beside a grave hurts.

Instead, Paul tells us that we do not grieve as those who have no hope.

Why?

Because Jesus is coming again.

At His return, Scripture tells us that the dead in Christ will rise first. Then those believers who are still living will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord.

What an incredible reunion that will be.

Those who have followed Christ throughout history — including those among the lives lost on September 11 who placed their faith in Him — are not forgotten by God.

The grave does not have the final word.

Jesus does.

Awaiting The Resurrection

There is a common belief that immediately upon death a person enters their final heavenly reward. Yet when we follow the language Scripture uses, we repeatedly find death described as sleep and resurrection as something that occurs at a future time.

Daniel 12:2 (NIV)
“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”

John 5:28–29 (NIV)
““Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.”

Both passages point toward a coming resurrection.

Jesus Himself describes a time when those who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out.

That means our hope is not ultimately found in death itself.

Our hope is found in Jesus Christ and His return.

The person who closes their eyes in Christ does not need to fear the grave. From their perspective, the next conscious moment will be hearing the voice of their Savior calling them to rise.

When The Trumpet Sounds

As Christians, we live with the expectation that Jesus will return.

We do not know the day or hour when that will happen, but Scripture repeatedly calls us to remain faithful and ready for His coming.

Some may hear about the Second Coming and immediately think about “the end of the world” with fear.

But when I think about Christ’s return, I see hope.

I see the moment when God’s children finally see their Savior face-to-face.

I see graves opening.

I see families reunited.

I see suffering ending.

I see death losing its power.

What may sound like an ending is actually the beginning of eternity with Christ.

What a joyous reunion that will be.

Death Does Not Get The Final Word

Death is one of the hardest realities we experience in this broken world.

We will grieve.

We will miss people.

There may always be an empty chair, a memory that brings tears, or a moment when we desperately wish we could speak to someone one more time.

But grief and hope can exist together.

When we place our trust in Jesus, we can cling to His promise that death will not reign forever. Christ is preparing something beyond anything this world can offer, and He has promised to return for His people.

John 14:1–3 (NIV)
““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Jesus did not tell His disciples that separation would last forever.

He promised that He is coming back.

And when He does, everything changes.

When Death Is Defeated

Paul describes that coming moment beautifully when speaking about the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:51–52, 55–58 (NIV)
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

One day, death itself will be defeated.

The graves that currently represent some of life’s most painful goodbyes will no longer hold those who belong to Christ.

For the Christian, the grave is not the final destination — it is a place of rest until the voice of Jesus calls His people to rise.

That is our hope beyond the grave.

As we remember September 11, we honor the thousands of lives that were lost. We remember the families whose lives changed forever that morning. We remember the first responders who ran toward danger, the loved ones who never came home, and the grief that continues even 25 years later.

But as Christians, remembrance can also point us toward hope.

We remember those whose lives were lost.

We honor the grief their families still carry.

And we hold tightly to the promise Scripture gives us — death will not reign forever.

There is coming a day when Christ will return, the dead in Christ will rise, and God’s people will finally be together with their Savior.

Until then, we grieve.

We remember.

We hope.

And we wait for the trumpet to sound.

Amen.