Day 793: When Christ really matters – 1 Thessalonians 4 vs 13-18

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

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. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 English Standard Version

In Luke 24:35-37 Jesus said: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning. Be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” Such words would've led the first Christians, as it should do for us too, to be in a state of expectancy of Christ's return. So when some Christians at Thessalonica, who didn't have the benefit of the whole New Testament, saw loved ones pass away before Christ's return, they feared that they had missed out on something wonderful. Paul addresses that fear with the reassuring words of vs 13-14.

His answer is that those who have fallen asleep (what death is like for Christians) will accompany Christ at His return. What's the important thing he adds to this statement in vs 15?

He says this truth was revealed to the apostles by 'a word from the Lord'. It wasn't a doctrinal point they had debated and reached a conclusion on, it was a revelation from God. He then goes on in vs 16-17 to give a picture of that momentous day. The shout that will go out and the sound of, not just any trumpet, but the trumpet of God, will leave no shadow of doubt that the day of Christ's return has arrived. And perhaps the 'cry of command' Paul mentions will be that of Christ calling the dead from their graves. In John's gospel we read how Jesus came to the tomb of a man who'd been dead for over 4 days and “He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.' And the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'” (John 11:43-44)

Though Paul doesn't use the actual words here, this was surely a resurrection of the bodies of those who'd previously died. He gives a more detailed description of that in 1 Corinthians 15. What immediately follows the resurrection of believers who've died before Jesus' return? (vs 17)

Christians who are still living on that day will be caught up to meet their returning Saviour in the air. This is what’s meant by the word rapture. To be ‘caught up’. The same word is used in Acts 8:39 after the disciple Philip had baptized a man from Ethiopia. We read: “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord 'snatched Philip away', and the eunuch did not see him any more, but went on his way rejoicing.” All of this is well expressed in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 where Paul says: “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. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” Wonderful news. So what is the stark difference Paul gives between people who don't have Christ as Saviour (vs 13), and those who do? (vs 18)

To live and die without Christ means having no hope in this world or the next; to live and die in Christ is something that brings tremendous encouragement and comfort to our hearts, now and forever.