Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Orlando MTC.
16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the
archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven,
and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are
left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in
the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
As the Christmas carols and the festivities of another season of advent fade away and routine life returns to some level of normalcy, we are reminded that just as the Bible foretold the coming of a Saviour as an infant, the Bible also tells us that the same Jesus, our Savior, will return again. If the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus’ first coming were fulfilled to the letter, we can rest assured that the return of our Lord Jesus Christ will also be fulfilled. As Jesus departed from this world at His first coming, the angels informed the assembly of believers, “…This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will return in like manner.” (Acts 1:11b). The joys of advent season should continue as we experience Christ, our Emmanuel, in our own daily lives and be comforted by the blessed hope that Christ will return for His own.
As the Christmas carols and the festivities of another season of advent fade away and routine life returns to some level of normalcy, we are reminded that just as the Bible foretold the coming of a Saviour as an infant, the Bible also tells us that the same Jesus, our Savior, will return again. If the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus’ first coming were fulfilled to the letter, we can rest assured that the return of our Lord Jesus Christ will also be fulfilled. As Jesus departed from this world at His first coming, the angels informed the assembly of believers, “…This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will return in like manner.” (Acts 1:11b). The joys of advent season should continue as we experience Christ, our Emmanuel, in our own daily lives and be comforted by the blessed hope that Christ will return for His own.
In
today’s passage, we see Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians after his
visit to clear the doubts in the mind of believers there. During Paul’s time in
Thessalonica, Paul taught that Jesus is the Messiah and that His return is
imminent. While there was acceptance of Paul’s teaching and anticipation of the
coming of Jesus Christ, there was also some anxiety among the believers that
should they die before Christ returns and that they would miss out on
participating in this redemptive event and thereby miss out on salvation. Here
Paul assures them that even though we die, we will be resurrected in the body
to be with Christ.
All
this is possible only because Jesus paid the penalty for our sin with His own
life (Rom 5:8 and 6:10). Thus Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 describes our
physical death as only a falling asleep, where the body returns to earth while
the soul returns to God (Luke 16:22 and 2 Corinthians 5:8). Then when Jesus
returns as it says in v 15, He will raise the dead first, and then those who
are alive will be caught up in the air. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess
with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved.
It is possible that in vs. 16-17 Paul was making a reference to
this future event just as promised by Christ in John 14:1-3 that He will return
to gather His own. In v. 18, we, as believers, are to take comfort in knowing
that death is a temporary separation before we are re-united with our loved
ones, and together we will all be with our Lord.
This event in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, known as the rapture, marks the conclusion of the church age with the departure and removal of the believers. It was first mentioned by Jesus Christ in John 14: 1-3 and later by Paul in further revealing God’s mystery as described in 1 Corinthians 15:51.
The coming of Jesus
taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, when Jesus returns to gather His church from
the coming wrath, is distinctly different in character compared to Jesus
returning in judgment of the world as described in Matthew 25: 31-46, and
Revelation 19:11-21. We ought to take comfort in knowing that we will be
removed from the world before its judgment.This event in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, known as the rapture, marks the conclusion of the church age with the departure and removal of the believers. It was first mentioned by Jesus Christ in John 14: 1-3 and later by Paul in further revealing God’s mystery as described in 1 Corinthians 15:51.
PRAYER
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Let us pause from the cares of this world and look forward and prepare for the return of Jesus Christ.
Let us pause from the cares of this world and look forward and prepare for the return of Jesus Christ.