1 Thessalonians 4:15–16

Paul introduces this explanation with the words "this we declare to you by a word from the Lord." That shows what follows is not something already made known, but something freshly revealed. His authority for saying it is not Old Testament scripture, and not anything said before, but the direct revelation of the Lord.

This was a new revelation, as he hints when he opens the subject in verse 15. The day of the Lord was not a new revelation. Hardly any great subject comes up more often in the Old Testament, from Isaiah to Malachi. Even where that phrase is missing, the idea is usually there. But the Old Testament never made known what the apostle teaches the Thessalonian believers here. They are distinct truths.

This is a special and unique revelation, which he gives to the grieving Thessalonians. It was prompted by the mistake they had made when some of their fellow believers died. They feared that these dead friends had lost their share in the coming glorious meeting between the Lord and His saints... (Their pagan neighbours had no hope of meeting loved ones again after death. The classic Greek and Roman writers are full of bleak words about the hopelessness of death.) We must remember that the New Testament did not yet exist.

Some people today are quite surprised that anyone found this hard. But the sorrow of the Thessalonians came from the simplicity of their faith, and people feel no difficulty now partly because they have no real faith in it. If they had more faith, they might have their puzzles too — not at the end, but, as usual, at the start.

The meaning of a word is decided not by where it came from but by how it is used. Take the word prevent. Going by its origin, it would mean to come before, or to get there first. When the Authorized Version was made in 1604 A.D., that was still how people used it, so the translators put it in Matthew 17:25 and 1 Thessalonians 4:15. Today it is never used in that original sense, but always to mean hinder.

So it is clear that if there is any moment of difference, it favours those who sleep, not those who remain alive. Those who are asleep are woken first. Remember, sleep is for the body. Scripture never says or assumes that the soul is asleep.

See how the apostle kept on expecting the coming of the Lord. Some people have dared to say that Paul made a mistake in expecting the Lord to come in his own day. They are the ones making an awful mistake. God never revealed when Christ would come, and Paul did not pretend to know it. But he knew the time had come when we should always be expecting Him... That is why Paul put himself in this group: "we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord." He lived like a man who expected Christ every day.

The flexible use of the Greek present participles here does not force us to take the Apostle as saying that he would be one of those alive at the time; nor does the English wording of the common translation... The form of words may certainly mean "those of us who," and so on. ... It was from God, for the good of believers all through this age, that he left the "blessed hope" of that event in such general terms.

That statement is emphatic: "The Lord Himself will descend." In that supreme hour He will not act through a deputy. He will come Himself! He will descend with an assembling shout. Countless angels will serve, for the archangel's voice will ring out. The hosts of God will be on the move, for the trumpets of God will sound. Yet all these are secondary to the mighty action of the Lord Himself. Verse 16 gives us His sudden descent from heaven into the air, and the exertion of His power — the voice that wakes the dead.

The word used here is the technical word for an admiral's call to his seamen, or a general's to his soldiers. More widely, it is any special call of command to those in a special relationship with the one commanding them. It is not a call to the world — it is not a call to everybody. The gospel is that, and thank God for it; but this shout is only for those who know His voice, who have heard Him already... The word "shout" has nothing to do with loudness, and just as little to do with being for everyone — the very reverse.

The archangel is Michael (Jude 9). He is Israel's prince (Daniel 10:21), the great spiritual power that stands for Israel. Every time Scripture names him, it is about events in the history of that nation... If this is the interpretation, we have here three widening circles. (1) The Church, (2) Israel, (3) All men... As I have said, the church will respond at once. The work will be slower for Israel, but from that moment the nation will begin to move...

Some have suggested that the archangel's voice may have some connection with the raising of Old Testament saints at the coming of the Lord. Without more solid grounds it would be unwise to decide whether this is so. But at least we can see that the occasion will be one of great angelic rejoicing.

We also hear "the trumpet of God," and this is a divine, declared testimony. For the church on earth it will be "the last trumpet" (1 Cor. 15:52). The seven trumpets of Revelation are of a different order. They are trumpets of judgment, sounding a clear testimony to a world in rebellion against God. Saints, however, will hear this "trumpet of God," and it gathers them together to the Lord. As others have pointed out, this seems to connect with Numbers 10:4. There the blowing of one trumpet was the signal for the princes of Israel to gather to Moses.

He assures their hearts about the order of events connected with His coming. The first thing that happens is the resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. They lose nothing by having departed. They will be the first ready to go up and meet the Lord... This is grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus. At the same time we know that God will accomplish every event connected with His coming in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. No one can measure the interval.

Old Testament saints will certainly share in the first resurrection. But Paul is writing here only about Christians, so Old Testament saints are not in his mind. Those who "sleep in Jesus" in verse 14 are the same group as "the dead in Christ" in verse 16. At His coming the Lord will wake them and call them out of their graves, and that is why Scripture describes them as sleeping. He has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1). So death for the believer is only a passing sleep... As far as this world is concerned, saints are dead just like sinners. But the added words — "in Christ" — mark them out as the Christian dead.