The Comfort of the Coming King
Text: 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
This is one of those passages we often hear at funerals used to comfort those who have lost loved ones. In-fact Paul writes to the Thessalonians and tells them to use this teaching to comfort one another. So most likely; when Timothy had come to check up on them they sent him back to Paul with a whole slew of questions, and one of those questions had to do with Christians who had died. We can tell by Paul’s response what their question probably was. “What happens to those who die before Christ returns?” So Paul says, “We don’t want you to be ignorant about this…” Now that word ignorant isn’t used as an insult like it sometimes is today. I am ignorant when it comes to doing calculus, or trigonometry, or basically any math beyond simple algebra. I just don’t know it. Well it’s kind of the same with the Thessalonians, they just didn’t know what happened to their brothers and sisters in Christ who had already died. They didn’t know what was going to happen. And again from Paul’s reply we can tell that they were worried that those who had died might miss out on glorification of the body at the Lord’s return. So Paul tells them that when Jesus comes again, He will be bringing those who have already passed away, with Him.
Most of the time when we’re thinking about eschatology, we’re thinking about the end times; the end of the age, when Jesus returns, but much of eschatology also has to do with our end, the end of life. So the first part of this Paul is telling the Thessalonians that those who have died in Christ will return with Christ when He comes again. Turn with me to 2nd Corinthians 5:1-8 (Read). Now this passage, as well as our text in 1st Thessalonians, as well as a few other places, give us our understanding of what happens to a Christian when they die. They go to be with the Lord.
And I’ll explain it to you quickly because I want to get to the rest of our text in the time we have. When a Christian dies, they immediately go to heaven to be with the Lord. They remain in heaven until the Lord returns at His 2nd coming. That’s often called the intermediate state. So when Jesus comes again, these saints that have gone on before us, come with Him, and their bodies are resurrected and made glorified. Also at this time… or just a few seconds after, we who are alive and remain will be caught up into the air to meet Jesus and these saints. This is called the rapture, and that’s the thing that it seems most Christians are interested in. The key is to not get too preoccupied with it. It’s good that believers want to be with the Lord. In-fact the Bible says all of creation is groaning for that final day of redemption; so we have this longing in us, but there is a lot of work yet to be done here on earth. So we have to occupy until the Lord returns and do what we can while we’re here. But Paul does address the “rapture” here in our text so we’re going to look at it.
The word “rapture” isn’t actually used. It comes from the Latin term that was used to translate the Greek phrase “caught up.” Now since the 70’s there have been books written and movies made about the rapture, and what happens to the people who are “left behind,” I vaguely remember watching parts of one of those movies called “A Thief in the Night.” It was a bad B-Movie. The acting was bad, the film quality was bad, and it was just… hokey.
Then I watched the first “Left Behind” movie when it came out, and I felt pretty much the same way I did watching “A Thief in the Night.” I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but it was just kind of silly. Hundreds of millions of people disappear and no one knows exactly why, and then this world leader appears on the scene, makes a peace treaty with Israel for 7 years and then 3 and ½ years into it; he breaks his treaty and becomes this really bad dude. But meanwhile a few people figure out that God is real and that if they want to make it to heaven then they have to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior before the 7 years are up, because then its too late, wile simultaneously avoiding this world leader who is actually the anti-Christ. And that’s how those movies work.
But this isn’t exactly how Paul describes the rapture here is it?
Look at verses 16 and 17 (Read). Now turn with me back to 1st Corinthians 15:50-55 (Read).
So… the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. And it just so happens that it’s the last trumpet according to 1st Corinthians. Revelation 11 tells us that the 7th trumpet is the last trumpet. But the problem is that the 7th trumpet takes place after the tribulation, after the anti-Christ has been revealed, and it’s basically all wrapped up except for the coming of the New Heavens and the New Earth.
Scripture says that Jesus returns with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet blast. In-other words, this is a pretty noisy event. This is probably why Revelation 1 says, “Behold He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him…”
I personally think that this shout is a command from Jesus for the dead in Christ, and possibly for us to “Come!” I get that from John 5:28-29, let’s turn there and read that really quick (Read). So it’s kind of like Jesus commanding Lazarus to come out of the tomb. And the voice of an archangel is added to the shout. The Catholic Church teaches that there are several Archangels, and maybe there are, but Scripture only mentions one… Michael. In-fact every time we read about Michael the Bible refers to him as Michael THE Archangel. So I tend to think there’s only one Archangel and that’s Michael. That makes more sense to me being that the prefix “Arch” means highest in rank, or above the others. Regardless the voice of an archangel is added to the shout, and then a trumpet blasts. 2000 years ago, the trumpet was not a jazz instrument. It was military instrument. This is the sound of a charge!
Then look what happens there: The dead in Christ rise first, that is their glorified bodies rise up, and then we who remain will be “Caught Up” “raptured” to meet them in the air. So Paul is telling the Thessalonians, “Don’t worry about those who have died in the faith. They are presently with the Lord, and actually, they are going to get their glorified bodies before we do.” And he told them this in order to comfort them and so that they could comfort one another with this knowledge.
Now the question is; what happens after this meeting in the air? Well some say we go back with Jesus into heaven and wait for 7 years, and during that 7 years there is tribulation on the earth, the anti-Christ is revealed, and all the bad things we read about in Revelation take place. And I’ll tell you that I believe that is completely wrong. That word “Meet” is the Greek “apantesin” and it refers to a civic custom of ancient times where the people of a city or community would go out and meet an important person and then return with that person into the city or community they had left from.
We actually see that done in John 12 when John writes about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The people went out; and then they came back WITH HIM, into the city. And this is what Paul has in mind. We meet the Lord in the air, and then immediately return WITH HIM to the EARTH where we rule and reign with Him for all eternity in the New Jerusalem!
And this is also written to comfort the Thessalonians, because remember they are being persecuted for their faith. They are enduring hardship and facing some serious persecution.
We’ll see later on (in the next chapter) that Paul tells them to be ready, because the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. The Day of the Lord always refers to the 2nd Coming, where Jesus judges the righteous and the wicked.
Now I understand that this isn’t what you all have probably been taught over the years, and I understand that the idea of us going through the tribulation can bother a lot of people, to be honest with you, it can sometimes bother me as well. But I believe that is what the Bible teaches. But rather than get bogged down in whether or not we will have a pre-tribulation rapture, a mid-tribulation rapture, or a post-tribulation rapture, let’s instead focus on just being ready.
I’ll give you an example from history and then we’ll close.
In 1914; Sir Earnest Shackleton, and explorer from England attempted to cross Antarctica. His exploration didn’t go so well though as his ship, “The Endurance,” was caught in the ice pack and slowly crushed as the ice closed in around it. Luckily, Shackleton and his crew managed to make it off the ship and they camped on a drifting iceberg for 5 months. The problem was that the iceberg was drifting into warmer waters and would eventually melt, so Shackleton and his men took the lifeboats they had left and set out. They came to an uninhabited island. Shackleton and five others decided that they would go for help, while 22 remained on the island under the command of Frank Wild.
Month after month, those men waited until they were finally rescued in August of 1916, two years after they had initially set out to cross Antarctica. And the story goes that Frank Wild was the one who kept hope alive in the hearts of those men on the island, and the way he did this was; every morning he would pack up his things in cheerful anticipation of the promised rescue and return of Shackleton. He would say to his men, “Roll up your sleeping bags boys, the boss may come today!”
Paul says that we can encourage one another in a similar way. With the knowledge that the King is coming, despite what you might go through in life, some day, maybe sooner than later, the King is coming. Jesus will return, and we will meet Him in the air, and forever be with Him.
Lets Pray
