the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (I Thessalonians 4:16, 17). THE LORD HIMSELF How precious those words, the Lord Himself shall descend. The Lord Himself! He will not send angels to call us and escort us into His presence while He waits in Heaven. No, He will not leave this to anyone else. He is coming to get His Bride, and He will entrust this to no one else. The Lord Himself! He is even more thoughtful than this. He knows that we are human, and always will be, and that while we are longing for Him, we are also longing to see our loved ones who have gone before. He knows this and recognizes this. He knows how I long to see mother and father and brother and sister, and when He comes He will not disappoint me, for He has promised that “ them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” What a meeting that will be—to see the ones whom we loved so much and over whose homecoming we sorrowed so deeply. Yes, the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, and with Him will be every saint of God who has gone to Heaven. MEET LOVED ONES FIRST Notice that we shall meet our loved ones even before we meet the Lord. Our precious Saviour is so considerate of our humanity and so mindful of the human ties which were torn asunder when we parted that He will permit us to be united with and greet those loved ones first. There can be no mistaking of the meaning of the words in the pas sage we read. Listen to it once more: . . . the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord. . . . Friend, do you know anything of this blessed hope? The world looks dark. It holds little hope for the future and but little joy for the present. If you are mourning today over broken ties, your heart is bleeding, and you are not in Christ, I as a faithful minister can hold out no hope for you, for there is no rest, saith God, to the wicked. But if you are His, then we can say: Just a few more days to be filled with praise, And to tell the old, old story; Then, when twilight falls, and my Saviour calls, I shall go to Him in glory. I’ll exchange my cross for a starry crown, Where the gates swing outward never; At His feet I’ll lay every burden down, And with Jesus reign forever.
the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall he caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). Nothing could be plainer or simpler to under stand. The only thing needed to understand this passage is to believe it. RECEIVED BY FAITH To all who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, this glorious future day is an assured re ality. The one condition is that you are a believer in Christ. So Paul after giving the occasion for the epistle in verse 13, gives us the condition on which this hope is ours, in verse 14. This is what he says: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him (I Thessalonians 4:14). At the coming of the Lord some will arise from the dead, and some will remain in the graves. The ones who sleep in Christ shall come forth. Their souls are now in Heaven in God’s presence; their bodies sleep in the grave. When the Lord comes, He will bring those souls with Him, and, reunited with their new resurrection bodies, they shall live the life o f full redemption for eternity. The dead out of Christ will remain in the graves, for “ the dead in Christ shall rise first.” After the reign of Christ, the wicked dead too will be raised in their unredeemed bodies to be cast into the Lake of Fire forever. You, my friend, belong to one o f these two groups. You are either in Christ and will rise to meet the Lord when He comes, or you are in sin and will cry to the rocks and the mountains to cover you from the face of God, when Jesus comes. The only requirement to be in Christ and escape the wrath of God is to believe that Jesus died and rose again for you. THE ORDER OF CHRISTS COMING Now notice how clearly and unmistakably Scripture teaches the order of the events when Jesus comes. There are just seven steps in the glorious event: 1. The Lord descends from Heaven. 2. He shouts from the air. 3. The archangel utters his voice. 4. The trumpet is sounded. 5. The dead in Christ are raised first. 6. Living believers are changed. 7. Together all these rise to meet the Lord. All these steps are given by Paul in these verses: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and
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