As we continue with our study in 1 Thessalonians let me remind you of what Paul's encouragement to the church in Thessalonica has been in connection with those Christians in that church who had died.

Many of the Thessalonians may have grieved over, not only the loss of a loved one, but also over what they felt was a disadvantage for these Christians who had died, as it related to the second coming of Christ.

As I mentioned last week the feeling in Thessalonica, evidently, was that the dead in Christ were at a disadvantage because they would not be present at the return of Jesus when He came back to catch His people away.

Having been taught about the resurrection they felt that the dead in Christ would eventually be raised, but as we see in our text the real issue was how it transpired in time. And there seemed to be some misunderstanding.

Their thought must have been that if you were alive at Christ's coming you would not miss any of the thrill and majesty of the King of kings coming back for His people as you experienced heaven opened up, seeing Jesus, the light of the world, radiate His love and glory right before your very eyes.

To see the host of heaven accompanying the risen Lord and all of the celebration that would usher in such an event; standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow believers and singing praises before your Lord. What an awesome time that would be.

And it was undoubtedly this kind of anticipation which left the Thessalonian Christians with a bitter sweet joy, thinking that their friends and relatives who died in Christ might miss this momentous occasion as the living got to experience it first hand.

Paul says to them, 'I don't want you to be uninformed about this and grieve over your loved ones like the rest who have no hope. I want you to know that just as sure as Jesus rose from the dead, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.'

In other words, they're not going to miss out on anything, any more than our friends and loved ones who have died in the Lord will miss out on Christ's coming back. Whether they've been dead for a year or 50 years, it won't make any difference because they too will experience the same event when Jesus comes for us.

In fact, Paul goes so far as to say in verse 15, "According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep."

Again, notice how Paul is, himself, in anticipation of the Lord's possible return even in his own lifetime. "... we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord"

It's interesting too, how Paul drives home his point and how this must have been a comfort to the Thessalonians, when he derives the authority for this information, not from himself, but from the Lord God. "According to the Lord's own word".

What words Of the Lord could Paul be referring to? Well, we know that our Lord Jesus did speak concerning His second coming. We see this in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus was asked by His disciples about this event.

MAT 24:3 "As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

Our Lord went on to give a description of this event in the 24th chapter of Matthew. He spoke of events leading up to the second coming such as wars and rumors of wars; nation rising against nation; kingdoms against kingdoms, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.

Someone might well say, 'these things have been going on for years', and you'd be right. However, Jesus simply gave these signs as not the final evidence for the second coming but rather as merely beginning signs of the last days. He says in MAT 24:8 "All these are the beginning of birth pains."

In fact, He goes on to explain how these birth pains will increase with Christians being persecuted and killed on account of Christ. Many false prophets will arise and mislead many. Lawlessness will increase and most people's love will grow cold.

Again, this has been going on for years and has certainly escalated during our lifetime. But is this the end? Well, as you read through Matthew 24 it almost seems as though two different events are being described, both surrounding the second coming of Christ. On the one hand there seems to be terrible persecution going on that goes beyond anything imagined. It's not just localized, it's worldwide.

We read in MAT 24:21 "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again.
22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened."

This obviously is not some event that has happened in the past, but is future. There has been persecution throughout the world on God's people, but not the kind of persecution which could be classified "unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again."

All of these signs are leading up to the second coming of Christ. But there are others as we see in MAT 24:29 "Immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'" (Isaiah 13:10; 34:4)

This is cataclysmic in nature and it will not be a local event but one which is worldwide. People's lives will be turned upside down. There will be no normalcy in the earth. Everyone's attention will be on the heavens and everyone will be expecting something.

That something is what Jesus speaks of in MAT 24:30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

Make no mistake, every eye will see. The whole world will be made aware of Christ's coming. It will be public and spectacular. And yet, in this same chapter of Matthew there seems to be an entirely different description of Christ's coming which is not public and certainly not spectacular in the sense that "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'"

This is recorded in MAT 24:37 "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left."

How can this be? How can, on the one hand, people be thrown into chaos as the world apparently has the kind of embroiled convulsion of events which grab everyone's attention and alarms everyone that an awesome episode is on its way, and yet on the other hand is the kind of event that no one is alarmed over and are expecting nothing out of the ordinary?

In fact, as Jesus puts it, in those days everyone will be conducting business as usual, just as in the days of Noah where they anticipated nothing extraordinary. The flood took all of those people by surprise. Certainly, they had been warned but they didn't believe it. They thought Noah was a "nut'.

And so they continued living as though nothing would happen, until the flood came and they were shocked into reality. This, says Jesus, "is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

But, again, I ask the question, how can you have both chaos where everyone is alerted, and tranquility where no one is alarmed?

The answer is that Jesus is most certainly speaking of His second coming, but He speaks of two separate events surrounding that coming. There is the event, which is relatively quiet and secret, where no one is warned and there are no special signs which would usher in this event, where Christ comes for His people. And there is that event where our Lord physically comes back to the earth as Conqueror with His people, and is preceded by cataclysmic events which usher Him in.

It is the quiet event which has no warning that Paul speaks of here in our text in 1Thessalonians. Notice what he says. 1TH 4:16 "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

The Lord most certainly comes down from heaven, but there is no mention of Him coming to this earth to set up any residence as we would expect Him to do after defeating Satan and his army at the battle of Armageddon, which will issue in His thousand year reign which He speaks of in Revelation.

REV 20:3 "He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time."

In 1Thessalonians 4 what we see is that the Lord will come down from heaven, not to fight with the enemy, but to catch up His people in the clouds to meet Him in the air. And according to verse 15 there will be people who will still be alive and will not taste death at this coming as they meet the Lord in the air. This is what is commonly referred to as the rapture.

Now, quite honestly the word rapture is found nowhere in the Bible. But either is the word Trinity. And yet the scriptures certainly teach of both. The word rapture actually comes from the Latin word raspere which is where we get our English word rapture.

But the concept of rapturing out, or of snatching away is not new. Now obviously we see it here in our text in 1TH 4:17 "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up [snatched] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

We will be caught up to be with the Lord. The word caught up in the Greek is harpazo and it means to(1) to seize, carry off by force
(2) to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly
(3) to snatch out or away.

The force of the verb implies a violent action. It's the same word used in connection to Paul's defense of the faith when the Jews tried to mob him in Jerusalem and the soldiers were ordered to take him away.

ACT 23:10 "The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks."

This is the Greek word harpazo and again it implies that Paul was involuntarily taken. We see this word used again in the case of Philip who was taken from one place to another by the Spirit of the Lord.

ACT 8:39 "And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing,
40 But Philip found himself at Azotus; and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea." (NASB)

Here the Spirit suddenly and without warning snatched or raptured Philip away to Azotus. But just as suddenly and without warning Jesus Christ will snatch us away to meet Him in the clouds to be with Him forevermore.

But as we see in 1Thes.4:16, "the dead in Christ will rise first." We who are alive will not precede those who have fallen asleep. And this was to comfort the Thessalonians who remained and wondered about their loved ones who died in Christ.

But where else is this snatching away, this rapture spoken of in the Scriptures? Well, we would need to go back to the words of Jesus found in Matthew 24.

In MAT 24:42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?
46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns."

Here again we see Jesus makes the point that you do not know at what day your Lord will come and that the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.

But the verses which usually characterize Christ's snatching us away and not taking everyone, except those who are His, is found in the verses prior to the ones we just read.

MAT 24:40 "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."

Here we see that the Lord will take one and leave the other. The word taken here is not the Greek word harpazo, but the Greek word paralambano which means to take to, to take with one's self, to join to one's self.

It carries with it the same idea as a snatching in the sense that this taking away brings one into the presence of the Lord while the other one is left, away from His presence. This snatching away of God's people prior to His physical return to the earth is what we know as the imminent return of Christ and it was the same imminent return all of the disciples looked forward to as well. Paul talks about this mystery in the letter he wrote to the Corinthians.

1CO 15:50 "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality."

What we see here is that at this snatching away another interesting phenomenon takes place. In the twinkling of the eye, which by the way tells us that this will happen quickly for both the dead in Christ and those who are alive; but in the twinkling of the eye we will be changed. How so?

Well, we will be changed in the sense that our physical bodies will no longer remain the same. They will be physical, but in a glorified state. Our perishable bodies, as Paul puts it, must clothe itself with the imperishable.

Well, what is the imperishable? It is that body which is like our Lord's resurrected body. He was physically raised from the dead and yet His body was not limited to the physical characteristics on earth. He could walk through walls and appear and reappear at will wherever He desired.

This resurrected body of our Lord's would no longer be constrained by any physical limitations. It would not need sleep, nor food, nor exercise because it was not a body which was perishable. Only the perishable needs these things since the perishable is designed to live in a physical world which is perishing.

On the other hand, we who know Christ are destined to spend eternity with our Lord and since we will receive imperishable bodies, that will never die, they will be designed to live with Him in His presence. This world is not our home and where we're going we'll need imperishable bodies.

PHI 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

John also speaks of the resurrection body of Jesus and how we will receive a body just like His. 1JO 3:2 "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

It is at the time Jesus comes back for us that our bodies will be transformed. And what Paul was assuring the Thessalonians is that the dead in Christ will get their glorified bodies first and then we who are alive will be caught up with the Lord as we too then receive our glorified bodies.

This time of receiving our glorified bodies at the snatching away of His people is also referred to as the resurrection of our bodies. Paul speaks of this as well in 1CO 15:20 "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him."

It is when He comes for us that those who have fallen asleep, or died, will be raised from the dead to receive their glorified bodies first and then we who remain will then receive ours. This is going to be an awesome time as we go to be with the Lord. Our hope lies in front of us and our hope lies in our Lord coming and giving us the same kind of resurrection body He has to be with Him forever.

This will be a glorious resurrection as Paul describes in 1CO 15:41 "The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."

This was a promise and a hope the early church looked forward to. They knew Jesus was coming back for them, and for many they believed it would be in their lifetime. They knew that there was no special sign that had to be fulfilled to have Christ come and snatch them away.

Interestingly enough, even the O.T. saints looked forward to the resurrection of the dead. And quite possibly there may have been some O.T. saints, who would have been friends and family of the surviving believers in Thessalonica after Christ's resurrection.

The prophet Isaiah wrote of the resurrection in ISA 26:19 "But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead."

They knew that their new life in Christ was true life and they knew that they had been delivered from their death sentence and that this new life would one day manifest itself in glory as Christ came back. The Corinthians knew this; the Thessalonians knew this; the disciples who were with Jesus knew this and taught others. The Colossians knew this as well as they looked forward to that day.

COL 3:3 "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Again and again we hear people today tell us that they know the day Jesus is going to rapture us out of this world. As we approach the 21st century we are going to hear more and more of the date setters who will tell us when Christ must return.

In fact, many have already given us times and dates. Even recently we've heard of such date setting. And yet others are predicting dates closer to the year 2000, and again many are giving us the exact month and in some cases the week or day He will return.

I hope He does come soon, but it is not for us to know the exact time or date. Only God knows that and He tells us that it will be just like the days of Noah, which means at least two things.

#1) In the days of Noah the populace didn't look for the coming of God and His flood because they were too busy concerned with themselves and quite honestly they didn't care because they did not fear God.

That sounds similar to todays attitude where men mock God by flaunting their immorality and deeming themselves to be their own gods who have their own destiny well in hand.

#2) In the days of Noah people were given opportunity to repent, but they wouldn't. And when the floods came it was a total surprise, and it was totally too late.

The coming of Jesus Christ to snatch His people away will also take most by surprise. It will probably take place when we least expect it. But we are told to be faithful to the end. We must be about doing our Father's work whether Jesus comes back today or not. This is the point the writer of Hebrews makes.

HEB 10:36 "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
37 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay."
38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

Whenever the Lord comes we are to be awaiting His return and living by faith in Him and resting in His promises, not the least of which is His coming for us.

He told His disciples in JOH 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

We see this eternal purpose for our lives when Paul gives us a glimpse or an overview of how God would work in our lives and what the ultimate outcome would be.

1CO 6:11 "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

ROM 8:30 "... those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

We are called, by God, out of the darkness of our sin which has us on a path of destruction; we are justified, which is to be declared not guilty for the penalty of our sin, as we humble ourselves before God, repenting of our sin and embracing Him for our salvation; we are sanctified which is the supernatural process where the Spirit of God conforms us, more and more into the image of Jesus our Savior, a lifelong process; but then we are glorified.

We shall be resurrected unto the life promised by God as we come into His presence forever more. Jesus is personally coming for us and unlike the first time He came, He will not leave us behind. He is coming to bring us to Himself, to fulfill everything His death and resurrection was to accomplish.

These are the words Paul gave to the Thessalonians and they were to be an encouragement to them as he states in the 18th verse.

How should they encourage us? Well, first of all you need to understand that your salvation is of the Lord from the beginning to the end unto eternity. And in all of it Jesus is personally with us until He brings us to Himself.

PHI 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

That day is approaching. We may not know the exact time, but we do know that if the Lord does tarry we can still adore and praise Him for His love for us and His grace in us as He uses us for furthering His Kingdom unto His honor and for His glory.

There is work to be done and I hope you can see that our salvation is much more than sitting on the sidelines with our packed bags waiting for His return. Yes, one day we will be reunited with our loved ones in Christ and we will most certainly recognize them and rejoice together in the salvation we have in Christ. But, in the meantime our Lord has called us to a holy purpose.

1JO 2:4 "The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
1JO 2:28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming."

1CO 15:58 "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

TIT 2:11 "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

Look eagerly for His coming, but be eager to do His will with grateful hearts until He comes.