Christ's return

1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18. The day of Christ's return.
(Bible quotes are from the New English Bible, unless otherwise noted)

One thing above all was troubling the church at Thessalonica. They understood well the relationship that ought to exist among the members of their church. But what about those Christians who had died shortly after Paul's departure from the city? Paul found the answer to that in his conviction that the Lord he knew was present in the church by the operation of the Holy Spirit would one day come back openly and triumphantly. Meanwhile, the Thessalonian Christians should not worry unduly about loved ones who had died: 'since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep'.(Drane, J. Introduction to the New Testament p 304)

V 13.
We wish you not to remain in ignorance, brothers, about those who sleep in death; you should nor grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
It was important for the believers to have absolute confidence that when their Christian loved ones died, they were not gone for ever. They were asleep in death. Sleep is not a final oblivion: it's only temporary and waking follows.

V 14.
We believe that Jesus died and rose again; and so it will be for those who died as Christians; God will bring them to life with Jesus.
Jesus died and rose again. We have been promised the same. We share his death and resurrection, both now and in the future:

spiritual 'death' and re-birth - being born again through acceptance of Jesus as God who took on his shoulders our sins in the crucifixion and conquered death in his resurrection on the third day.
physical death and resurrection - Jesus said he would prepare a place for us in Heaven and the Bible tells us (1 Corinthians 15) that we'll have new spiritual bodies, as Jesus did.

NB: These promises are for those who die as Christians.

V 15.
For this we tell you as the Lord's word; we who are left alive until the Lord comes shall not forestall those who have died;...

Eugene Petersen in The Message paraphrases it like this.... And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence - we have the Master's word on it - that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they'll be ahead of us.

Note: Paul states that what he says is 'the Lord's word', not his own opinion, as he often lets us know. Paul is always honest about what he tells us - whether it's his opinion or God's.

V 16.
....because at the word of command, at the sound of the archangel's voice and God's trumpet-call, the Lord himself will descend from heaven; first the Christian dead will rise, ....

See Jesus' own description of his coming again in Matthew 24: 30-31. ( Also in John 5: 25. ) Paul used Jesus' words to describe his coming again.

It's a noisy return! The shout of the archangel to awaken the 'sleepers' followed by the trumpet-call of God. What an entrance - not one to be missed.

V 17.
....then we who are left alive shall join them, caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
The Message describes it as "We'll be walking on air". Those Christians who are still living will be caught up in the air to go and meet Jesus - as children run to meet their daddy or mummy when they come home.

V 18.
Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Console one another, then, with these words. (encourage one another - NIV)
From then on we will always be with Jesus - a fact to encourage each other with.

In times of difficulty we are tempted to doubt. We need our fellow Christians to be encouragers for us. That's why it's important not to try to be a Christian alone. Christ established his church to be an encouraging community of believers.

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