So we will always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:3 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Finally then, brothers and sisters, we request and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel even more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵ not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ and that no one violate the rights and take advantage of his brother or sister in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you previously and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for impurity, but in sanctification. ⁸ Therefore, the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

⁹ Now as to the love of the brothers and sisters, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed you practice it toward all the brothers and sisters who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to excel even more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we instructed you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. ¹⁵ For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

5 Now as to the periods and times, brothers and sisters, you have no need of anything to be written to you. ² For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night. ³ While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Today’s text says: We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.  This passage is one of the most often referred to regarding the rapture of the church. My intention is not to enter the discussion or debate regarding the rapture, if and when it will be, whether pre, mid, or post tribulation. I’ll leave that debate to the scholars, and to those who see knowing when it will be as a priority. As for me, regarding the rapture, I like to say that I am a pan tribulation believer. I believe it will all pan out according to God’s plan and His will.

The text itself says: Now as to the periods and times, brothers and sisters, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  This aligns with what Jesus says in Matthew 24:36: “About that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”What we do know is that as Jesus says in Matthew 24:14: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” So, we who are here until His return should not focus on the rapture, but rather on sharing the gospel.

If we look at the context of today’s text, we will see that the real intention is not to focus on the rapture, but rather so that we are not: uninformed about those who are asleep, so that we will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. It is so that we are comforted knowing that we will always be with the Lord. In John 11:25 Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies.”  2 Corinthians 5:6-8 says: Knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Philippians 1:21 says: To live is Christ, and to die is gain. So, we take comfort regarding those who have died in Christ, knowing that they are present with the Lord. For them then it is not loss but rather gain. The loss is ours, those of us who are left behind. Regarding our loss, in Matthew 5:4 Jesus says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  This is more than a line on a Hallmark card. It is a promise form the very God of creation. Philippians 4:19 says: My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. It is not just our physical needs that God will provide. He Himself will also provide for our spiritual and emotional needs. He will comfort us when we mourn. Finally, we take comfort knowing that: the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. No matter how long we might mourn the loss of those we love in this life, we will be with them again, with the Lord forever.

May 1 Corinthians 15:54-55;57 be our declaration and prayer: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” …  Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Amen.