Thessalonian Letters
173
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.”
The Thessalonians had eagerly grasped the idea that Christ was
coming to change the faithful who were alive, and to take them to
Himself. They had carefully guarded the lives of their friends, lest
they should die and lose the blessing which they looked forward to
receiving at the coming of their Lord. But one after another their loved
ones had been taken from them, and with anguish the Thessalonians
had looked for the last time upon the faces of their dead, hardly daring
to hope to meet them in a future life.
As Paul’s epistle was opened and read, great joy and consolation
was brought to the church by the words revealing the true state of the
dead. Paul showed that those living when Christ should come would
not go to meet their Lord in advance of those who had fallen asleep in
Jesus. The voice of the Archangel and the trump of God would reach
the sleeping ones, and the dead in Christ should rise first, before the
touch of immortality should be given to the living. “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.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
[259]
The hope and joy that this assurance brought to the young church
at Thessalonica can scarcely be appreciated by us. They believed and
cherished the letter sent to them by their father in the gospel, and
their hearts went out in love to him. He had told them these things
before; but at that time their minds were striving to grasp doctrines
that seemed new and strange, and it is not surprising that the force of
some points had not been vividly impressed on their minds. But they
were hungering for truth, and Paul’s epistle gave them new hope and
strength, and a firmer faith in, and a deeper affection for, the One who
through His death had brought life and immortality to light.
Now they rejoiced in the knowledge that their believing friends
would be raised from the grave to live forever in the kingdom of God.
The darkness that had enshrouded the resting place of the dead was
dispelled. A new splendor crowned the Christian faith, and they saw a
new glory in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.