#21—THE HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION

The text of this song, written by the late Sander Vanderploeg of New Westminster, BC, follows very closely the words of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17:

13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For 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. 17After 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.

Each of these five verses of scripture are represented by one of the five stanzas of the song. Both scripture and song encourage us to remain hopeful when we experience death in our families and congregation. We are not to grieve like unbelievers who have no hope. Christ died and rose again; similarly, our loved ones who died will rise again. On the day of the Christ's return, those who have died will return with Him. There will be much noise on that day. The souls and bodies of the saints who were dead will be reunited. After that, those who are still alive will, together with the resurrected, be raptured—caught up in the air to meet Christ. After that we all will live with Christ forever. What a day that will be.

The beauty of this song is how meticulously it follows the text of scripture. The melody, composed by Vanderploeg, is not difficult and very pleasant for voice and ear.