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Sketches from the Life of Paul
Lord. But, one after another, death had laid their loved ones low; and
they had buried them from their sight with fear and trembling. All their
ancestors had thus been buried, and with anguish the Thessalonians
looked upon the faces of their dead for the last time, never expecting
to meet them again in a future life.
The reception of Paul’s epistle was to them a great event. Written
communications passing between friends were of very rare occurrence
in those times. There was great joy in the church as the epistle was
opened and read. What consolation was afforded them by those words
which revealed the true state of the dead. Paul therein showed them
that those who should be alive when Christ should come would not go
to meet their Lord in advance of those who should be asleep in Jesus.
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For the voice of the archangel and the trump of God should 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.”
The hope and joy which this assurance gave to the young church
at Thessalonica can scarcely be understood by us. That letter, coming
from their father in the gospel, was believed and cherished by them,
and their hearts went out in love to him who had brought them the
precious light of truth. He had told them these things before; but at that
time their minds were grasping doctrines new and surpassingly strange
to them, and it is not surprising that the force of some points had not
been vividly impressed upon their minds. But they were hungering
for truth, and Paul’s epistle gave to their souls new hope and strength,
a firmer faith in, and a deeper affection for, the Redeemer who had
brought life and immortality to light through his death.
The darkness that had enshrouded the sepulcher of the dead was
dispelled; for they now knew that their believing friends would be
resurrected from the grave, and enjoy immortal life in the kingdom of
God. A new splendor now crowned the Christian faith, and they saw a
new glory in the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Paul wrote, “Even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him.” Many interpret this passage to mean that the sleeping
ones are brought with Christ from Heaven; but Paul designed to be
understood that in like manner as Christ was raised from the dead, so
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