What Paul
said so far would conjure further questions in the minds of the Thessalonians.
How could those dead, now without a body, be brought back to mingle among those
with a body? How could spirits without a physical body intermingle with
believers with a physical body? Knowing that this would be a natural thought
process, Paul began to address these concerns in verses 15-18.
In verse 15,
Paul began by asserting divine authority for what he was about to say. So he
wrote, “for this we say to you by the word of the Lord ….” It could well be
that the Lord had granted Paul a special revelation concerning what he was
about to tell the people. Because what Paul would say is the word of the Lord,
it must of necessity be met with careful and close attention.
Firstly, he
said that the living saints have no advantage over those who died in Christ. So
believers who died in Christ would not be at a disadvantage. Paul used two
phrases to describe the living saints. He referred to them as those that are alive; and those that remain until the coming of the Lord. By inference, Paul
was saying that there would be a generation of believers who will not
experience physical death. Amazingly, you will notice that Paul placed himself
in that category by using the pronoun “we.” This tells us that Paul anticipated
Christ to return within his lifetime. Here, he asserted that by no means would
those who are alive then precede those who died in Christ. In fact, they would
only meet the Lord after the dead ones had done so.
Then in
verses 16-18, Paul gave the end-time program before calling for a
practical response to the end-time events. Verse 16 tells us that the Lord
Himself will descend. In other words, the Lord Himself will come in person. He
will not be sending a representative. Praise God for this appearing that will
be both imminent and eminent. This return will also be a triumphant one. It
will be a triumphant event where the command-in-chief would give the word of
command. At that command, the indication will be given for the pageant to
begin. Then the sounding of the trumpet will come next. In the Lord’s return,
He Himself as the Commander-in-chief will give the command and the archangel
will echo His command, followed by the sounding of the trumpet. The shout of
the Lord, the voice of the archangel and the sounding of the trumpet, are just
to indicate that the call to this event will be very distinct and unmistakable.
In verse 14, the Apostle Paul assured the Thessalonians
that God would bring the believing dead with Christ when He comes. Then in verse
15, he assured us that the dead in Christ shall rise first. In other words,
they will be resurrected and come with Christ. In verses 15-16, we are told
that those who are alive will not precede those who died in the Lord. Now, in
verse 17, we are told that those who are alive and remain will be caught up in
the cloud to be united with the dead and the Lord.
Verse
17 shows us that there will be a grand reunion between all the saints and the
Lord. After the grand reunion, both the resurrected saints and those caught up
will remain with the Lord forever.
We need to
remember that Paul’s purpose in narrating these end-time events was not to
answer questions on eschatology. He wrote to comfort the people who were
overtaken by discouragement and fear. They had the idea that their departed
loved ones would miss out on the blessings since they died before the Lord’s
return. With this discourse on the end-time events, he not only encouraged them
but also told them (in verse 18) to comfort each other with these words.
Let’s be
more fervent now that we know Christ will return to receive us to Himself so
that where He is there we may be also. Don’t let what happen in the present
moment distract us from the soon return of Christ. Let’s keep looking up, for
we know it won’t be long!
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