The Comfort of His Coming
1 Thess. 4:13-18
Intro
The pagan world in Paul’s day had no hope of life after death. The believers in Thessalonica were concerned about their loved ones who had died. What if the Lord should return? Would their deceased loved ones miss out? Will those who are alive at His coming have an advantage over the believers who have died? Paul answers these questions with five fundamental facts. 5 “R’s”.
I. Revelation: We have God’s Truth (vv. 13-15a)
• How can man look beyond the grave and find assurance and peace for his heart?
o Paul solved this problem with the words of v. 15.
o We Christians need not worry about life after death, for we have a Revelation from God in His Word.
o Why substitute human speculation for divine Revelation?
• It is important to note that the Revelation concerning death and the afterlife was not given all at one time.
o Many cults use verses from Psalms and Ecclesiastes to “support” their false doctrines.
o These verses seem to teach that the grace is the end, or that the soul “sleeps” until the resurrections.
o We must keep in mind that God’s Revelation was gradual and progressive, and that it climaxed in the coming of Christ.
o We look to Christ and the New Testament for the complete Revelation concerning death.
• God gave Paul a special Revelation concerning the resurrection and the return of Christ back in 1 Cor. 15:51-54).
o What Paul taught agreed with what Jesus taught in John 5:24-29 and 11:21-27.
o And God’s Revelation is based on the historic fact of Christ’s resurrection.
II. Return: Christ is Coming Again (vv. 14-15)
• Paul applied the word sleep to those believers who died.
• Jesus used the same expression in John 11:11-13.
• Paul was careful to state that Jesus died; the word sleep is not applied to His experience.
• It is because He died that we need not fear death.
• However, Paul did not say that the soul went to sleep at death.
• He made it clear that the soul went to be with the Lord.
• He cannot bring them when He returns unless they are with Him.
• It is not the soul that sleeps; it is the body.
• Jesus Christ will return in the air, and this is where we shall meet Him.
• When will this event occur? Nobody knows
• The fact that Paul used the pronoun we in verses 15 and 17 suggests that he expected to be alive when the Lord returned.
• This is called the doctrine of imminent return.
• Imminent means that it can happen at any moment.
• As Christians, we do not look for signs, nor must any special event transpire before the Lord can return.
• These great events will take place “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”
III. Resurrection: The Christian Dead will Rise (vv. 15-16)
• When Jesus returns in the air, He will issue the shout and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
o This does not mean that he will put the elements of the body together again, for resurrection is not reconstruction.
o In 1 Cor. 15:35, Paul pointed out that resurrection of the human body is like the growing of a plant from a seed.
o The flower is not the identical seed that was planted, yet there is continuity from seed to plant.
• When Jesus returns in the air, he will call to Himself only those who are saved through faith in Him.
IV. Rapture: Living Believers Caught Up (v. 17)
• The word rapture is not used in this section, but that is the literal meaning of “caught up.”
• The Latin word rapto means “to seize, to carry off;” and from it we get our English word “rapture.”
• It carries with it many different pictures that all apply here.
1. “To Catch Away Speedily”
• This is the translation in Acts 8:39 where the Spirit “caught away Philip” after he had led the Ethiopian to Christ.
• When the Lord returns in the air, we who are alive will be caught away quickly.
2. “To Seize by Force”
• Does this mean that Satan and his armies will try to keep us from leaving the earth?
• I hope that it does not mean that some Christians will be so attached to the world that they must literally be dragged away.
• A good example would be Lot at Sodom.
3. “To Move to a New Place”
• This views the Rapture from our Lord’s point of view as He comes to claim His bride.
4. “To Move to a New Place”
• Paul used this word when he described his vision of heaven (2 Cor. 12:1-4).
• When Jesus comes, He will take us to that glorious place.
5. “To Rescue from Danger”
• This suggest that the church will be taken home before the time of Tribulation.
• Will the unsaved world be aware of what is happening?
• Will they hear the shout, the voice, and the trumpet?
• 1 Cor. 15:52 indicates that this will happen so suddenly that it will be over in the twinkling of an eye.
• Since this is for God’s people, there is no reason to believe that the unsaved will hear them.
• If they do, they will hear sounds without meanings.
• Millions will vanish instantly.
• Except for those who know the Bible teaching, the world will wonder at what has happened.
V. Reunion: Christian Forever with the Lord (vv. 17-18)
• You and I shall meet the Lord in the air, in person, when He comes for us.
• The Greek work translated “meet” carries the idea of meeting a royal person or an important person.
• We have walked with Christ by faith here on earth, but in the air we shall “see Him as He is” and become like Him.
• It will be a Glorious Meeting, because we shall have glorified bodies.
• It will be an Everlasting Meeting, for we shall be “forever with the Lord.”
Closing
So with all that said, just as the Thessalonians were comforted that day by the words of God through Paul, we too can find comfort today, knowing that when our Lord decided to come for us, it will be nothing short of a wonderful time; because it will be a Revelation, a Return, a Resurrection, a Rapture, and a Reunion.
