1 Thessalonians 4:16–18

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.

"Caught up." He is coming clothed in the glory of resurrection, in the way most fitted to display His own power. The bodies dead in the grave are all gathered up in a moment — an expression of the strength He applies. There is no power in us to rise. We are caught up in a moment, to meet the Lord in the air. He fills us up with life.

The law of gravity did not prevent Enoch being taken; it did not hold Elijah when the time came for God to take him up; it did not prevent the ascension of our own blessed Lord. How could it? He is the Creator of every law, and the power by which He went up is the power that will catch us up when He descends from heaven with that wonderful shout of triumph and pent-up love for His church.

This event has nothing at all to do with death, though people have often confused the two. Far from it: when the Lord Jesus Christ appears, a believer who is alive will never see death. See 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 17. It has so little to do with death that the apostle says plainly, "We shall not all sleep." Here it is contrasted with death.

In verse 17 notice the word "together." The Thessalonians were grieving, and so often do we. Taught by God to love one another, their hearts were torn when death snatched some away from them. We too know what these wrenches are. We do not grieve as those who have no hope, and neither did they. The life-giving voice of the Son of God is going to reunite us. We shall meet Him, but not in ones or twos or in scattered groups. We shall be caught up TOGETHER.

People often ask, "Will we meet our loved ones and also recognise them?" Here is the answer: "together with them" implies both reunion and recognition. These words would mean nothing if they did not mean recognition.

The word used here occurs only three times elsewhere in the New Testament, in Matthew 25:1 and 6, and Acts 28:15. In each case it means "going out and returning with." That is exactly what happened when the believers from Rome "met" Paul. They went out as far as the Forum of Appius, and having met him they joined his company and returned with him to Rome. So shall we all meet our Lord in the air. We join His company, never to part from Him. Later we shall return with Him, when He is revealed to the world in His glory.

Suppose a great king at war with another sent a message to his army in a distant battlefield, saying he would meet them in the capital of the enemy's country. We would say he will need to crush the enemy's power before he can do that, and if he does it, it will be the clearest possible proof of his complete victory. It is just so here.

The saints were not to wait for the day of the Lord to come on the earth, but to go up to meet Him in the air, and be for ever with Him. If He appeared, we know they would appear with Him... The church's connection with the return of the Lord was to go up to meet Him in the air, to be gathered to Him. The day was an entirely different thing; it was vengeance from His presence.

Notice here that the apostle, when speaking of the Lord's coming, does not enter at all, as regards our portion, into the consequences in glory and rule. That has its place. God had revealed to him how He would call up the saints to their enjoyment. And for his own joy and delight, what satisfies and fills the apostle's heart is all contained in this: "and so we will always be with the Lord."

When a believer departs, the deepest joy of that state is to be with Christ... Yet that state was intermediate and imperfect, however blessed. The body was not glorified; nor were all the saints gathered. At His coming all will be complete and perfect for the heavenly family, "and so we will always be with the Lord."

But how so, since they sleep in death, and He comes from heaven in power and glory? What follows is a most enlightening and fresh message, "in the word of the Lord." It clears up the difficulty by unfolding the order of events, and so the way by which the sleeping saints are to come with Jesus. The Thessalonian believers had imagined the departed would miss the joyful reunion. They thought the dead would at least come behind the living who remain. But it is not so... Here we learn how it can be: He first descends for them, and afterwards brings them with Him.

The Lord's coming was not a strange doctrine to them. Paul could not think of a Christian dying without his going to heaven. Yet the comfort he gives is not that, but their return with Jesus. Death did not deprive them of this; God would have them with Him... Christ's first coming so finished redemption and the putting away of sin that His second coming means glory and being with Him, for dead and living saints alike... If I were to comfort the friends of a departed saint by saying that God would bring him with Jesus when He came again, what would they think of me? That I was mad or wild. Yet such is the comfort Paul gives to the Thessalonians, and no other. Elsewhere he teaches plainly that the soul of the saint goes to be with Christ when he dies.

The coming of the Lord is the one bright guiding star on faith's horizon... The one who is dying has no right to say, "You will meet me where I am going," for that may never happen. Instead, we shall meet in the clouds, and the Lord Himself will welcome us together in the air. The one left behind has no right to draw his comfort, as David rightly did in his day, from the thought, "I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." His comfort should be this instead: "since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep."

But there is another privilege marked out here, and in itself it is far more precious. "So we will always be with Him." This is the deepest joy of the state a saint enters at death — to be with Christ... Only that state was intermediate and imperfect, however blessed. For the body was not glorified; nor were all the saints gathered. At His coming all will be complete and perfect for the heavenly family, "and so we will always be with the Lord." What could be missing from such words of infinite and everlasting joy? What could be added?

In that chapter the apostle had been expanding on the details of the Rapture. The very thought of that wonderful moment thrills the hearts of all who love the Lord. He ends by saying, "Therefore encourage one another with these words." What a ministry of comfort is open to each of us, as we take up this call. This world is moving faster and faster towards the day of judgment. The spirit of anti-Christ is already at work. Persecution is the lot of "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus"... but the end for the believer is sure and glorious.

The Apostle also urges us to build one another up in our most holy faith. So the Christian company according to God consists of believers who love one another, comfort one another, and build one another up (1 Thess. 3:12; 4:9, 18; 5:11).