When the Lord returns for His people two things will take place—the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the change of living believers; and then both alike will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is distinctly taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17. When the Lord catches up His own to Himself, whether they have previously died, or are living still upon the earth, according to His Word—"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself" (John 14:3).

We may now consider the manner of His coming, as well as the rapture of the saints. The most precise instruction is given to us on the subject in the Scripture already referred to, which reads: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17).

The understanding of this important passage is sometimes overlooked from inattention to its exact statements. The Thessalonian saints did not doubt concerning their portion in Christ on His return; but, somehow or other, they had fallen into the error of supposing that those who had fallen asleep before that event would suffer loss. It is to correct this mistake that the apostle gives some special instruction "by the word of the Lord," that is, by a revelation on this particular subject. He shows, then, that all who sleep in [or through] Jesus, God will bring back with Him, and that this indeed is connected with our faith, and is a consequence of the death and resurrection of Christ. Therefore, he explains how this is possible, and this explanation it is which formed the subject of the special revelation to which we have referred. The Lord will come, and then the dead in Christ will be raised, the living changed, and thus will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.

This may take place at any moment. Let us therefore familiarize our minds with the scene. Suddenly, then, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven in the manner here described. First, with a shout. This has occasioned a difficulty in many minds. If, they have thought, the Lord returns only for His people, and He descends with a shout, must it not then be in a public manner? By no means necessarily. The word itself is one of relationship, indicating, for example, the order of a commander to his soldiers; and thus it is a shout intended only for those to whom it is addressed, and the import of which would not be understood by others. When our blessed Lord was on the earth, a voice came to Him from heaven, and some of the bystanders thought that it thundered, while others said "an angel spake to Him" (John 12:28,29). So also at the conversion of Saul, his companions heard a voice, or the sound of a voice (Acts 9:7); "But they did not hear the voice of Him that spake to me," nor understand the significance of the voice (Acts 22:9). So will it be when the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven. All His own will hear and understand the import of the shout; but if heard by others it will only seem as the roll of distant thunder. Should the voice of the archangel and the trump of God also be heard, it could likely seem to be a strange phenomenon to be discussed in an attempt to present a satisfying explanation to the vast multitudes of unbelievers left behind for God's righteous judgment upon the world that has rejected him. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent. Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Acts 17: 30,31). It is probable that the three—the shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God—have but one object, the summoning, the assembling together, of the dead and living saints for their translation into the presence of their Lord.

Two great events follow, and follow instantaneously; for the apostle says in another epistle, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:51,52). "The dead in Christ shall rise first." What a stupendous scene! All that are Christ's, including, therefore, saints of the past, as well as of the present dispensation, shall rise at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:23). Tracing down the line of the ages from Adam till the last saint to be gathered in, all this countless multitude will, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," spring up from their graves—raised incorruptible. And not only so, but all the saints then living will be changed, so that all alike will be clothed upon with their resurrection bodies, in fashion like unto Christ's body of glory (Philippians 3:21). It is, "Then when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, that the saying that is written will be brought to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54); see also 2 Corinthians 5:1-4. But no sooner has this marvelous change been wrought, than all its subjects will be caught up "in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Then the Lord Himself enters for the first time, as far as His people are concerned, upon the full fruit of His redemption-work, of the travail of His soul. And what tongue could tell, or pen describe, His joy when He thus redeems from the grave the very bodies of His people, and when He brings by the word of His power all His chosen ones into His presence, and all conformed to His own image! Nor is it possible to express even our own joy, the joy on which we then shall enter, when the longing desires of our hearts are all realized, and "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is" (1 John 3:2), and see Him "face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12), and be with Him for ever.

It is for this we wait, and the time is not far distant when all will be accomplished; for we rest on the sure word of our faithful Lord, who has said, "Surely I come quickly" (Revelation 22:20).

—Edward Dennett (Adapted)