1Th 4:13-14 | KingComments | STEP | . Paul had already told the Thessalonians several things about the coming of the Lord. They had received teachings about the fact that the Lord Jesus will come with all His saints ( ). But how was that going to happen? Then there was the question about those who were already asleep. How was that going to be with those if the Lord came right now? Imagine that they would miss the coming of the Lord! Paul puts an end to this ignorance. In that way he also makes an end to their despair. They were sad, like there is always sorrow when a loved one dies. But if you have no hope, like the unbelievers, then that sorrow is a desperate, inconsolable sorrow. . The answer leaves room for sorrow, but with a shimmering hope. This hope is the result of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus ( ). That’s what Paul is pointing at. Just as He has risen, also all who have died in faith in Him will rise. He will return together with them. Here you find four important truths of faith: 1. Jesus died and has risen. 2. You ought to believe that, because otherwise you are not a Christian ( ). 3. He will return and 4. will then bring all with Him who have fallen asleep in Him – in the following verses the apostle will tell how He will do that. “Fallen asleep” is a beautiful expression. The believer doesn’t die, but falls asleep, because death has been robbed from its power. Death has become a servant to bring the believer to the Lord Jesus ( ), in order to be with Christ ( ). After falling asleep the believer comes into an interim situation. That doesn’t mean that he has no awareness of anything in such a way that he finds himself in a so-called soul-sleep. That is in contrast to the verses I just mentioned. Also the history in Luke 16, where the Lord Jesus grants us to have a look inside the hereafter ( ), makes crystal clear that the doctrine of the falsely called soul-sleep is a false doctrine. . It must have been a great comfort for the Thessalonians to learn that their loved ones will be united again with them by the resurrection. But still the question is left about how the Lord Jesus will return with all His saints. To be able to respond to that question, Paul received a word from the Lord, that is a revelation. Paul tells about it in what you could call a parenthesis ( ). It is something that in Old Testament times was a mystery ( ). Briefly said, he tells that the Lord Jesus can return with all His saints (including you and I), because He will have caught up all those saints in heaven before that time. There was not a special word needed from the Lord concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus to the earth. In the Old Testament it has already been said about that ( ). But there nothing is said about the coming of the Lord to take up the church first. Only the New Testament speaks about that. You find that in four places: 1. In John 14, where is emphasized that He will come personally ( ); 2. In 1 Corinthians 15, where the emphasis is that those who are alive will be changed ( ). 3. In Philippians 3 that deals with the redemption of the body ( ). 4. Here ( ), where the emphasis lies on the fact that the dead will share in it also and that they will even precede those who are alive, for they will rise first. It appears that Paul already expected the coming of the Lord in his days. He speaks about “we who are alive”. Still, many ages have already passed and the Lord has not come yet. That is not because He is slack with the fulfillment of His promise “I will come soon”. The reason why He has not come yet is because of His longsuffering, for He does not want that any should perish, but that all will come to repentance ( ). Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that it will take another couple of centuries. A lot of signs indicate that the Lord Jesus will soon start again His dealings with His people Israel. Before this could possibly happen it is necessary that the church is caught up. So that event is even closer! . Now the church is seen in a special way in this section. You may imagine that the Lord Jesus takes the church as His bride to Himself. In itself it is true of course. But I see that differently than I read here. Here I read that the Lord will catch up the believers with “a shout”. That doesn’t seem much to me like a way to approach a bride, don’t you think so? Therefore the believers are represented here as an army of warriors that is commanded by the Commander to leave the battlefield in order to enter into the rest. Isn’t that remarkable to you too that in this section the word “Lord” appears five times? That indicates the relationship between all who belong to the church and their Lord. The Lord Jesus is not Lord of the church, but of each individual believer. And who are the ones that are called by the Lord? All the believers who belong to the church and all believers from the Old Testament. I think that “the voice of an archangel” especially regards the believers of Israel. In the Bible there is mention of just one archangel, Michael ( ). He is specially related to Israel ( ). And then you hear also “the trumpet of God”. Just like the shout, this is language that is fitting for an army. In the Roman army there used to be three trumpets. The first trumpet meant: ‘Pack all your things’; the second meant: ‘Line up to march off’; the third and final trumpet: ‘Forward march!’ The trumpet of God is the final trumpet. The silence of God is broken. The moment of the entry in heaven of all who are His, has come. The shout, the voice and the trumpet are the supporting sounds for the coming of “the Lord Himself”. How wonderful is that: the Lord Himself . He doesn’t send his principal angel or a mighty prince, no, He Himself comes. His first act is to raise the dead in Christ. That’s how mighty He is ( ). He has shown His power by His victory over death by His resurrection from the dead ( ). It is as David defeated Goliath. Due to His victory they sang about him to have defeated his ten thousands ( ). He actually defeated only one person, but he who ever defeats such an enemy, defeats the greatest army. He Who has defeated death, will therefore raise those from the dead, who went into death. Here it is yet limited to the “dead in Christ”. All the un believers will rise at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace ( ) to appear before the great white throne to be judged ( ). . By His commanding shout (cf. ) they will appear from all places wherever they may be, wherever the separate body parts may be scattered. The might of His shout merges all parts together and gives them a new appearance. That new appearance will also be received by the living believers. Paul doesn’t speak about that very transformation here. He does that in 1 Corinthians 15 ( ). You need to have both sections, in order to see what is going to happen when the Lord comes. Then the resurrected and the living transformed believers will be “caught up” together. This word ‘caught up’ is connected with the thought of ‘suddenly snatching away with force and bring from the one place to the other place’. And then the great encounter with the Lord will take place “in the air”, in the space between heaven and earth. The air is the territory of satan and his demons ( ). It will take place in their power territory. The Lord meets us there. “And so we shall always be with the Lord.” You can be sure that you will never ever be separated from Him anymore. There will never be any situation in which you have to find your way in faith without seeing Him and tested by evil powers. War is over. The rest has now come. . We can comfort and encourage one another by pointing at the soon coming of the Lord, to persevere the struggle until the moment comes that our duty time is up. Maranatha! – which means: the Lord is coming. Now read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 again. Reflection: Do you expect the Lord daily?

‏ 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

The Lord Will Come for Us!

1Thes 4:13. Paul had already told the Thessalonians several things about the coming of the Lord. They had received teachings about the fact that the Lord Jesus will come with all His saints (1Thes 3:13). But how was that going to happen? Then there was the question about those who were already asleep. How was that going to be with those if the Lord came right now? Imagine that they would miss the coming of the Lord!

Paul puts an end to this ignorance. In that way he also makes an end to their despair. They were sad, like there is always sorrow when a loved one dies. But if you have no hope, like the unbelievers, then that sorrow is a desperate, inconsolable sorrow.

1Thes 4:14. The answer leaves room for sorrow, but with a shimmering hope. This hope is the result of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (1Pet 1:3). That’s what Paul is pointing at. Just as He has risen, also all who have died in faith in Him will rise. He will return together with them.

Here you find four important truths of faith:

1. Jesus died and has risen.

2. You ought to believe that, because otherwise you are not a Christian (Rom 10:9).

3. He will return and

4. will then bring all with Him who have fallen asleep in Him – in the following verses the apostle will tell how He will do that.

“Fallen asleep” is a beautiful expression. The believer doesn’t die, but falls asleep, because death has been robbed from its power. Death has become a servant to bring the believer to the Lord Jesus (Lk 23:43), in order to be with Christ (Phil 1:23). After falling asleep the believer comes into an interim situation. That doesn’t mean that he has no awareness of anything in such a way that he finds himself in a so-called soul-sleep. That is in contrast to the verses I just mentioned. Also the history in Luke 16, where the Lord Jesus grants us to have a look inside the hereafter (Lk 16:19-31), makes crystal clear that the doctrine of the falsely called soul-sleep is a false doctrine.

1Thes 4:15. It must have been a great comfort for the Thessalonians to learn that their loved ones will be united again with them by the resurrection. But still the question is left about how the Lord Jesus will return with all His saints. To be able to respond to that question, Paul received a word from the Lord, that is a revelation.

Paul tells about it in what you could call a parenthesis (1Thes 4:15-18). It is something that in Old Testament times was a mystery (1Cor 15:51-52). Briefly said, he tells that the Lord Jesus can return with all His saints (including you and I), because He will have caught up all those saints in heaven before that time.

There was not a special word needed from the Lord concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus to the earth. In the Old Testament it has already been said about that (Zec 14:3-5). But there nothing is said about the coming of the Lord to take up the church first. Only the New Testament speaks about that.

You find that in four places:

1. In John 14, where is emphasized that He will come personally (Jn 14:1-3);

2. In 1 Corinthians 15, where the emphasis is that those who are alive will be changed (1Cor 15:51-57).

3. In Philippians 3 that deals with the redemption of the body (Phil 3:20-21).

4. Here (1Thes 4:15-18), where the emphasis lies on the fact that the dead will share in it also and that they will even precede those who are alive, for they will rise first.

It appears that Paul already expected the coming of the Lord in his days. He speaks about “we who are alive”. Still, many ages have already passed and the Lord has not come yet. That is not because He is slack with the fulfillment of His promise “I will come soon”. The reason why He has not come yet is because of His longsuffering, for He does not want that any should perish, but that all will come to repentance (2Pet 3:9).

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that it will take another couple of centuries. A lot of signs indicate that the Lord Jesus will soon start again His dealings with His people Israel. Before this could possibly happen it is necessary that the church is caught up. So that event is even closer!

1Thes 4:16. Now the church is seen in a special way in this section. You may imagine that the Lord Jesus takes the church as His bride to Himself. In itself it is true of course. But I see that differently than I read here. Here I read that the Lord will catch up the believers with “a shout”. That doesn’t seem much to me like a way to approach a bride, don’t you think so? Therefore the believers are represented here as an army of warriors that is commanded by the Commander to leave the battlefield in order to enter into the rest.

Isn’t that remarkable to you too that in this section the word “Lord” appears five times? That indicates the relationship between all who belong to the church and their Lord. The Lord Jesus is not Lord of the church, but of each individual believer. And who are the ones that are called by the Lord? All the believers who belong to the church and all believers from the Old Testament.

I think that “the voice of an archangel” especially regards the believers of Israel. In the Bible there is mention of just one archangel, Michael (Jude 1:9). He is specially related to Israel (Dan 10:13 ; 21 ; Dan 12:1).

And then you hear also “the trumpet of God”. Just like the shout, this is language that is fitting for an army. In the Roman army there used to be three trumpets. The first trumpet meant: ‘Pack all your things’; the second meant: ‘Line up to march off’; the third and final trumpet: ‘Forward march!’

The trumpet of God is the final trumpet. The silence of God is broken. The moment of the entry in heaven of all who are His, has come. The shout, the voice and the trumpet are the supporting sounds for the coming of “the Lord Himself”. How wonderful is that: the Lord Himself. He doesn’t send his principal angel or a mighty prince, no, He Himself comes.

His first act is to raise the dead in Christ. That’s how mighty He is (Phil 3:20-21). He has shown His power by His victory over death by His resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:4). It is as David defeated Goliath. Due to His victory they sang about him to have defeated his ten thousands (1Sam 18:7). He actually defeated only one person, but he who ever defeats such an enemy, defeats the greatest army.

He Who has defeated death, will therefore raise those from the dead, who went into death. Here it is yet limited to the “dead in Christ”. All the unbelievers will rise at the end of the millennial kingdom of peace (Rev 20:5) to appear before the great white throne to be judged (Rev 20:11-15).

1Thes 4:17. By His commanding shout (cf. Jn 5:28-29 ; Jn 11:43) they will appear from all places wherever they may be, wherever the separate body parts may be scattered. The might of His shout merges all parts together and gives them a new appearance. That new appearance will also be received by the living believers. Paul doesn’t speak about that very transformation here. He does that in 1 Corinthians 15 (1Cor 15:51-57). You need to have both sections, in order to see what is going to happen when the Lord comes.

Then the resurrected and the living transformed believers will be “caught up” together. This word ‘caught up’ is connected with the thought of ‘suddenly snatching away with force and bring from the one place to the other place’.

And then the great encounter with the Lord will take place “in the air”, in the space between heaven and earth. The air is the territory of satan and his demons (Eph 2:2). It will take place in their power territory. The Lord meets us there.

“And so we shall always be with the Lord.” You can be sure that you will never ever be separated from Him anymore. There will never be any situation in which you have to find your way in faith without seeing Him and tested by evil powers. War is over. The rest has now come.

1Thes 4:18. We can comfort and encourage one another by pointing at the soon coming of the Lord, to persevere the struggle until the moment comes that our duty time is up.

Maranatha! – which means: the Lord is coming.

Now read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 again.

Reflection: Do you expect the Lord daily?