This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com.
Paul faces uncertainty in his obedience to Christ. As he boldly takes the gospel to the Gentiles, he is imprisoned, beaten, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, heckled, mocked, opposed by Jewish zealots and pagan idolators alike, worried for the spiritual health of the churches he has planted, and forced to defend his apostleship against the rising tide of false teachers who have infiltrated the Christian community.
Paul may not know what tomorrow brings, but he’s steadfast in his faith in Christ and stands certain of the Savior’s return.
In the previous column, we looked at Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Here, we examine one key passage in the apostle’s two letters to the Thessalonians.
While preaching Jesus as Messiah in Thessalonica, Paul is accused of proclaiming a king other than Caesar (Acts 17:7). Now, the young church in that city suffers persecution. But Paul cheers them on with the promise of a future hope that includes Christians who already have died. The apostle addresses Christ’s return in several places (1 Thess. 1:9-10; 2:19-20; 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:2, 23; 2 Thess. 2:1-3, 8).
Let’s consider 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still 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. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Paul seeks to comfort his persecuted readers with a message of hope in Christ’s return, their future resurrection, and their reunion with those who already have died. He draws from the teachings of Jesus – “a word from the Lord” – to offer divine assurances of a glorious life beyond the grave. This stands in sharp contrast to Gentile beliefs in a shadowy afterlife in the underworld, as well as to elaborate Jewish grief rituals.
There’s much in these verses to stir joy in our hearts. First, Paul ties our future resurrection to the historic reality of Christ’s victory over the grave; he is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (see 1 Cor. 15:20), thus he ensures that a full harvest of saints is brought in.
Second, Christ doesn’t return alone; he brings with him “those who have fallen asleep” – a common euphemism for physical death, and thus a reference to Christians who are “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).
Third, the Lord descends from heaven, where he currently sits at the Father’s right hand as our mediator and intercessor (Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; Heb. 12:2).
Fourth, the archangel’s voice and the trumpet of God herald Christ’s coming. Michael, the chief archangel in Jewish literature, is considered Israel’s guardian angel and figures prominently in the final battle between good and evil. This series of events necessarily involves New Testament believers, who are part of true Israel. Meanwhile, trumpets are used to gather an assembly or to call armies to battle. Both may be in view here. Christ calls his church to meet him in the air, and then he leads the charge against their mutual enemies on earth (Rev. 19:11-16).
Fifth, deceased Christians are the first to rise from the dead. Their spirits already are with Christ in heaven, awaiting future resurrection (2 Cor. 5:1-10). Their bodies come out of the graves, glorified like the body of Jesus, and are reunited with their spirits.
Sixth, Christians on earth undergo an instantaneous transformation in which they, too, receive glorified bodies, but without experiencing physical death. They are “caught up” – from the Greek harpazo, which means to seize, carry off by force, or to claim for one’s self.
Certainly, Christ dramatically snatches believers out of the world and declares us his own. The Latin translation of harpazo is rapio, which lends itself to the popular term “rapture,” describing the future resurrection of Christians.
Seventh, glorified saints meet the Lord “in the air.” Christ descends from the throne of God, passes through the stellar heaven, and breaks into the atmosphere. There, the King of kings meets the Christian emissaries who have come out to welcome him.
In a first-century setting, ambassadors would leave their city to meet an approaching dignitary and escort him into their town. This very imagery of Christians welcoming their King to earth is sure to provoke hostility from those who worship Caesar as lord.
The “clouds” to which Paul refers harken back to Old Testament imagery of the coming day of God’s judgment (e.g. Ezek. 30:3; 32:7; Joel 2:2), as well as the coming of the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13). Jesus applies this language to his return (Matt. 24:30; 26:64; Rev. 1:7).
Finally, followers of Jesus should encourage themselves that they will always be with the Lord. Jesus offers the same promise in John 14:3: “If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.”
In these few verses, the apostle packs a treasure trove of teaching with respect to the return of Jesus. No matter what the Thessalonians are experiencing, they should rest in God’s promise to reunite them – and all believers – to Christ at his glorious appearing.
Next: The writer of Hebrews and Christ’s return