A Brief Glimpse at the Events Concerning the Lord's Return

In this pericope of scripture - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 - Paul is going to tell the Thessalonians what is going to happen at the return of the Lord, and he has a practical purpose for doing so.

The Revelation from God Clarifying the Facts About the Lord's Return - 4:12, 15

Paul solved the problem when he wrote, “For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord” (1Thess. 4:15). We Christians need not wonder about death or life after death, for we have a revelation from God in His Word. God gave Paul a special revelation concerning the resurrection and the return of Christ (see 1Cors.15:51-54). What Paul taught agreed with what Jesus taught (John 5:24-29; John 11:21-27). And God’s revelation is based on the historic fact of Christ’s resurrection. Since our Savior has conquered death, we need not fear death or the future (1Cors. 15:12). The authority of God’s Word gives us the assurance and comfort we need.

When Paul uses the word “sleep” to describe those who have died in Christ, he was using a familiar New Testament euphemism for death which describes the appearance of the deceased. It describes the dead body, not the soul (cf. 2Co_5:1-9; Php_1:23). Sleep is used of Jarius's daughter (Mat_9:24), whom Jesus raised from the dead and Stephen, who was stoned to death (Act_7:60; cf. Joh_11:11; 1Co_7:39; 1Co_15:6, 1Co_15:18, 1Co_15:51; 2Pe_3:4). Those who sleep are identified in verse 1Th_4:16 as "the dead in Christ." The Thessalonia believers, in ignorance, had come to the conclusion that those who die miss the Lord's return, and they were grieved over their absence at such a glorious event. Thus, the departure of a loved one brought great anguish to the soul. But there is no reason for Christians to sorrow when a brother dies as if some great loss to that person has come.

The Return of the Lord for the Final Time – 4:16

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”         

This passage in 1 Thess 4:13-18 is used to support one of the most popular teachings today in Evangelical and Charismatic churches called the pretribulation rapture. The pretribulation rapture teaching is that there are two separate comings of Christ. The first coming is secret and occurs before the future seven-year tribulation. At this coming Jesus comes for the saints (i.e., all genuine believers) both living and dead. These saints meet the Lord in the air and then are taken to heaven to escape the horrible judgments that take place during the seven year tribulation. At the end of the great tribulation Jesus returns to the earth with the saints. This coming is not secret but is observed by all. At this coming Christ crushes His opposition, judges mankind, and sets up a one-thousand-year reign of saints upon the earth (the millennium). Some pretribulation advocates speak of two separate comings while others prefer to speak of one coming in two separate stages or phases (phase one is the secret rapture and phase two is the visible coming in judgment). Popular prophesy writer, Hal Lindsey, likes to refer to the rapture as “the great snatch.” He writes: “The word for ‘caught up’ actually means to ‘snatch up,’ and that’s why I like to call this marvelous coming event ‘The Great Snatch’! It’s usually referred to as the ‘Rapture,’ from the Latin word rapere, which means to ‘take away’ or ‘snatch out.’”

It is my firm conviction that neither this passage nor any other teaches the dispensational view. There is one last coming of Christ in which there is a general resurrection, judgement, and the transformation of the earth followed fully and finally by a New Heaven and a New Earth, where God and his redeemed and glorified children will happily ever after!

In 1 Corinthians 15:52, Paul makes it very plain that the resurrection takes place at the last trumpet. 1Cors. 15:51-52, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” The trumpet here is the same one as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16.

The Word of God teaches the resurrection of believers will be at the last day. Not as the secret rapturist teaches, some 1007 years before the last day!

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. (John 6:39).

Compare these additional verses from John 6:40 - For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 44 - No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 54 - Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Again, in John 11:24: Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

The Resurrection of the Dead in Christ will be the First in Line - 4:15-16

“Will not precede those who have fallen asleep…”- They will not go before or anticipate, obtain the preference over, get before, so that those that are asleep might be left behind and fail of the prize. “…Those who have fallen asleep.” This is referring to those who are dead. The living are not going to be glorified before the dead in Christ, or perhaps hinder their glorification.

For the Christian, death has no final word. Leon Morris states this well: “For Christians death is no longer that adversary whom no person can resist, that tyrant who brings all worthwhile existence to a horribly final end. Death has been overcome by the risen Lord, and that has transformed the whole situation for those who are in Him.”

Paul wanted the Thessalonians to understand that those who die suffer no defeat and experience no loss. Their bodies may be asleep in the grave, but a day of awakening is coming! The Thessalonian Christians therefore had every reason to be hopeful and optimistic.

The Rapture of the Living Believers in Christ will Follow Him Back to Earth – 4:16

Paul introduces the subject of the Lord's return with these simple words: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God." No advance warning, no heads-up, and no notice given. With a shout, a voice, and a trumpet, the Lord will come. Paul makes this same point to the Corinthians when he writes, “We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.” (1 Cor 15:51-52;)

The key to understanding what Paul is saying is to realize what resurrection itself means: it doesn't mean disembodied life in some mid-air heaven, but the re-embodiment of God's people in glorified bodies to live with and for God in the new, redeemed world that God will make. It would therefore be nonsense to imagine that the presently alive Christians are literally going to be snatched up into the sky, there to remain forever. How would they then be with the others who, having died previously, will be raised and given new bodies?

When Paul talks of Jesus descending, he doesn't suppose that Jesus is physically above us at the moment. Heaven, where Jesus is, isn't another location within our space, but another dimension of reality.

So, when Paul talks of Christians 'being snatched up among the clouds', he is again not thinking of a literal vertical ascent. The language here is taken from Daniel 7:13-14, where 'one like a son of man' goes up on the clouds as he is vindicated by God after his suffering - a wonderful image not least for people like the Thessalonians who were suffering persecution and awaiting God's vindication. And their 'meeting' with the Lord doesn't mean they will then be staying in mid-air with him. Paul conjures up images of an emperor visiting a colony or province.  The citizens go out to meet him in open country and then escort him into the city.  Paul’s image of the people “meeting the Lord in the air” should be read with the assumption that the people will immediately turn around and lead the Lord back to the newly remade world.

The Reunion of All the Family of God Will Bring Them into a Forever Fellowship – 4:17-18

Paul's aim was to provide answers and not to create more questions. To make this clear, he ends his discussion with two promises.

1. We Have Assurance About Tomorrow – 4:17b - The Thessalonians' uncertainty about their future and the fate of their dead friends had undermined the Thessalonians' hope and robbed them of joy. They needed assurance and they needed it quickly. One can find no greater assurance than to hear that the Lord Himself wants nothing more than for His children to always be with Him.
2. We Have Hope for Our Lives Today - 1 Thess 4:18 – “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Death does not have the final word. The false teachers do not have the final word. Human speculation does not have the final word. Into the darkness of our confusion, God shines the light of His truth. God's truth can transform ignorance into understanding, grief into joy, and hopelessness into assurance. In connection with Christ's last coming there is a sound to hear, a sight to see, a miracle to feel, a meeting to enjoy, and a comfort to experience. It is also good to notice the recurrence of the word Lord in these verses: the word of the Lord (v. 15), the coming of the Lord (v. 15), the Lord Himself (v. 16), to meet the Lord (v. 17), to always be with the Lord (v. 17). Forever with the Lord! Who can tell all the joy and blessedness that is included in these words?