The church as it is supposed to be is:
1) a people of encouragement (1:2–10);
2) a people of self-sacrifice (2:1–12);
3) a people of controversy (2:13–16);
4) a people of joy (2:17–3:13);
5) a people of purity (4:1–8);
6) a people of work (4:9–12);
7) a people of clarity (4:13–5:11);
8) a people of unity (5:12–15);
9) a people of growth (5:16–22).
A people of clarity--1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
13 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. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 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 them which are asleep. 16 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: 17 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. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
I’ve called this section, “The Church is supposed to be a people of clarity because in it, Paul is clearing up a doctrinal confusion about the 2nd coming of Christ, the resurrection of the just, the rapture of the Church, and the Day of the Lord.
He starts by saying, I would not have you ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep. He says to them, 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness,.
A young man had come to his first church in view of a call as Pastor. When he met with the Pastor Search Team for his first interview, the Chairman asked "Young man, what do you consider to be the greatest aspect of your ministry - what is your greatest strength?" He replied, "Well, Sir, in all humility, my greatest strength is my knowledge and depth of understanding of the Bible." "Which part of the Bible do you know the best?" another team member asked. "Well, Ma'am, I know the N.T. the best," he answered. "OK, son," said the chairman, "suppose you share with us your take on the Gospel of Jesus from the N.T."
The young man began, "There once was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, who went down to Jericho by night and fell on thorny ground, and the thorns pretty near choked him half to death! The next morning Solomon and his wife Gomorrah came by and saw him and picked him up and took him down to the Ark so Moses could take care of him. But as they were about to enter the Ark from the Eastern Gate, he got his hair caught in a tree and he hung there for 40 days and 40 nights. Afterward he was ahungered, and the ravens came and fed him with two fishes and five loaves. The following morning three wise men came by and opened their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then they took him down to the boat dock and put him on a boat to Nineveh. A great storm arose and capsized the ship, but God caused a huge whale to swallow him for three days and nights, then spit him back out on the shore. Now when he approached the city, he saw Delilah sitting on the city wall. So he called out to the boys on the wall, and said "Chuck her down, boys!" So they answered and said, "How many times should we chuck her down, till seven times?" And he answered and said unto them, "Nay, verily, I say unto you, NOT till seven times, but seventy times seven!" So they chucked her down 490 times! And she burst asunder in their midst, and they gathered up of the fragments twelve baskets full. So I ask you, In the resurrection, whose wife shall she be?"
Well, the chairman of the Pastor Search Team sat their a moment, scratching his head, then looked at the other team members and said "Folks, I realize he's young -- BUT HE SHORE KNOWS HIS BIBLE!"
We are to be a people of clarity.
Last week I told you that 4:15 through 5:11 clarify some doctrines about the end-times. This section can be broken doen into 2 major topics: the 2nd coming of Christ, (chapter 4 verse 15 “unto the coming of the Lord”) and the Day of the Lord (chapter 5, verse 2 “the day of the Lord so comes”)
We began with the first topic last week; the 2nd coming of Christ.
I. The 2nd coming of Christ
There are three questions that we are going to answer regarding the 2nd coming of Christ. The first is, “Why were they confused?” The remaining two are the points of confusion that Paul wants to clear up; What happens to believers who die before the return of Christ? And What happens to the dead and the living at the return of Christ?
A. Why were they confused?
If we put ourselves in the shoes of these Christians, we come to understand that their understanding of the end-times would have been limited to Old Testament revelation, and to Jesus’ teaching on the end times. And let’s just take the one end-times topics that they were confused about; the resurrection of the righteous dead. Now the Old Testament talked about this resurrection, but it really only conveyed two truths about it; that there would be a bodily resurrection of those who die,
Job 19:26 “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God.”
And the Old Testament also teaches that everybody will be resurrected; righteous and unrighteous.
Daniel 12:2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”
What that means is that in the end of all things every person who ever lived, their spirits will reunite with their bodies. And as Daniel puts it, the righteous go into everlasting life, and the unrighteous will go into an eternal existence of disgrace and contempt.
So, what you get from the Old Testament is that there will be a resurrection of the righteous, and of the unrighteous. But that’s all you get; and no rapture. So, we are still left with the question, “why are they confused?”
Well, in addition to teaching the church in Thessalonica out of the Old Testament, Paul taught them about Jesus’ words and deeds.
John 5:28-30 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
And, as you can see, Jesus really taught the same thing; there will be a resurrection of the dead; the righteous to eternal life, the unrighteous to damnation.
Then, if you add what Jesus said in the Mount of Olives Discourse,
Matthew 24: 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
This is the sum of what Jesus said there, After the Tribulation, Jesus returns, He raptures, believers, to Himself, in the air,
But He doesn’t mention a resurrection. He just says that He “sends forth His angels to gather the elect from the four corners of heaven. And those in the church at Thessalonica, after Paul is gone, start thinking about all these things, and when the question and answer time comes, somebody raises their hand and asks a question. It might go like this; “You know that I lost my wife this month. And Sister Lois lost her husband a week ago. You taught us that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and that there will be a catching away of living Christians when Jesus returns.” Where are they now? Will we see them again soon? The rapture happens at the 2nd coming of Christ, when does the resurrection of the just happen?
the question “why were they confused?” And this is why. The complete revelation about the end-times had not been given yet. They didn’t have all the information that we have; the rest of the New Testament, the two letters Paul would write them, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, all the other letters, and the Book of Revelation that completes the Scriptures.
A. What happens to believers who die before the return of Christ?
Now this is a relevant question, not only for the church at Thessalonica, but for us as well. Everybody wants to know this answer. And there are many aspects to the question. We want to know,
Do I cease to exist? Will I be awake and aware? Will I have a body, or will I be some disembodied spirit? Will I leave this earth, or is my spirit bound to my body? Do I go straight to heaven? Will I be reunited with loved ones? Where do I go if I die before Jesus’ return?
And I showed you last time that Paul gives 4 answers;
1. The righteous dead are at rest.
13 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.
a. For the believer, death is just like sleep.
b. It is the sleep of the physical body, but not the spirit.
Your body lies dormant in the ground, and your spirit goes to be with God; it is alive, aware, and active. We supported that with scripture.
Jesus also told a story about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus who both die.
Luke 16: 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (both are conscious) 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Notice something about both Lazarus, representing the righteous dead, and the rich man representing the unrighteous dead. Both of them are alive, active, and aware. The rich man lifted up his eyes in torment and Lazarus was in comfort. Notice as well, that the rich man is able to call out to Abraham and ask that Lazarus be allowed to come to him with just a drip of water on his finger for the rich man’s tongue.
This conveys a truth; that both the righteous and unrighteous dead are conscious, and capable of thought and movement.
So, that’s the first assurance that Paul gives them. The righteous dead are at rest. They are like Lazarus with Abraham; alive, aware, and active. But he gives them a second assurance;
2. There will be a reunion of living and dead Christians.
13 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.
There is a truth here that hinges on the phrase, “others which have not hope.” We are not to sorrow as others who have no hope. Those who are not in Christ, non-believers, sorrow in a different way when a loved one dies.
We sorrow over temporary separation. They sorrow over eternal separation. We will see our Christian loved ones again.
Paul gave a third assurance.
3. The righteous dead will be as Jesus was in the grave.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
The key words here are “even so.” If you believe that Jesus died and rose again. This means that if we want to know what happens after you die, if it’s before the 2nd coming, look at the death and resurrection of Jesus. As Jesus died and rose from the grave, “even so also them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Circumstances will be the same for those who die in the Lord, as they were with Jesus, in His time in the grave, and at His resurrection.
So, what do we know about Jesus and His time in the grave? He was conscious, recognizable, with God, in heaven, and active. We went over several scriptures last week that supported these. But let me remind you again what Jesus said to the thief on the cross.
Remember that one of the criminals who was crucified alongside Jesus, first, verbally defended Jesus to the other criminal by saying, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
Then he turned and said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Then Jesus replies to his statement with these words,
Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.
What was Jesus promising? He was promising that, because this man had come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, while he hung on the cross, because he had confessed Jesus with his mouth, and believed in Jesus in his heart, because he demonstrated repentance from his sins; he was saved. In that moment he was changed by the cleansing power of Jesus blood, from unrighteous to righteous. So, when he died, alongside Jesus, they would both go to the same place.
It’s as though Jesus is saying to this man. “You say that you want me to remember you when I usher in the kingdom of God, I want you to know that, because of your faith, you won’t have to wait for some distant future kingdom, you won’t have to wait for me to call you to heaven at some future time, Today, you and I will see each other, alive, aware, and active, in paradise, that is heaven.
We concluded last time with a 4th assurance from Paul. First, the righteous dead are at rest, second, there will be a reunion of all believers, third, the righteous dead are like Jesus was for the three days He was in the grave; alive and aware.
And incidentally, let me ask this. Does this answer all your questions about what is happening with believers who die before the return of Christ? No. I still have questions, don’t you? If I die before Jesus returns, I want to know a lot. Okay, I’m going to be awake, aware, and active, but what will I be doing? And what will I look like? I won’t have my body, so am I going to be an orb of light floating around heaven? There are lots of questions, but I think God limits our knowledge for a reason. We’re not supposed to spend our lives down here obsessing about what death will be like, because God has a job for us while we are still living. So He limits our knowledge to some very basic things; The last of those basic things is number 4.
4.Those who have died will be resurrected at the return of Christ.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
This brings us to the second part of this first section in chapter 4. The first section dealt with what happens to those who die before the return of Christ. The second answers the question; what happens at the return of Christ?
What happens to those who die before the return of Christ—God will bring them with Him.
The broad reassuring truth is that the dead in Christ are not some separated group who miss out on the reunion with living believers, or the 2nd coming of Christ. God will bring them with Him.
But, the news gets even better. Now Paul describes how all of these Christians, living and dead come together at the 2nd coming of Christ.
There’s some exciting news here. This is the layout of the 2nd coming of Christ. You can outline it with three words; Resurrection, Transformation, and Reunion. It’s exciting because it portends change. Anybody here have something in your life that you wish would change? We could spend all day on that one; things about myself, my family, my job, my house, the weather, the world, the system, and on and on it could go. And as Christians we are especially in tune to that “ache” because we can see with God’s eyes.
The world thinks it’s improving, evolving. We see it staying the same. The book of Proverbs says, “What is, has always been. There is nothing new under the sun.” We wish things would change, but they stay the same. I read a blurb about train tracks that illustrates that.
“The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
Why such an odd number? Because that's the way they built them in England, and American railroads were built by British expatriates.
Why did the English adopt that particular gauge? Because the people who built the pre-railroad tramways used that gauge.
They in turn were locked into that gauge because the people who built tramways used the same standards and tools they had used for building wagons, which were set on a gauge of four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
"Why were wagons built to that scale? Because with any other size, the wheels did not match the old wheel ruts on the roads.
"So who built these old rutted roads?
"The first long-distance highways in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been in use ever since. The ruts were first made by Roman war chariots. Four feet, eight-and-one-half inches was the width a chariot needed to be to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses."
Maybe "that's the way it's always been" isn't the great excuse some people believe it to be. “
Clark Cothern Tecumseh, Michigan.
Things don’t change. But we learn from the epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians that a day of change is coming. It will be a day of resurrection, transformation, and reunion.
II. Events of the 2nd coming
A. So, what happens to the dead and the living in Christ, at the 2nd coming of Christ?
15 For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord:[i] We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over[j] those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,[k] with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive 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 encourage[l] one another with these words.
Really, the main thing he does here is he lays out an order of events. And he does so, so they won’t be ignorant, so they will be encouraged. Notice that. We are to be a people of clarity. God wants us to know what His Word is, to know what truth is.
But notice as well that this is not an elaborate treatise on end-times events. Paul doesn’t draw out a huge chart and he doesn’t lay out every detail of what the future will bring. He gives them the information they need to be encouraged in their faith, to have their doubts answered.
Truths from these verses; Coming Resurrection, coming transformation, coming reunion
1. Coming resurrection: Those alive in Christ are on equal footing with those who have died in Christ.
There’s going to be a resurrection of the righteous at the 2nd coming of Christ.
15 For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord:[i] We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over[j] those who have fallen asleep.
They were confused. They wanted to know if their dead friends and relatives had missed the 2nd coming. They wanted to know if they were some sort of second class citizens. And his answer is “no!”
He tells them that at the 2nd coming, there will be a moment of equality.
This reminds me of the old saying, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.” It also reminds me of a statement Paul made about equality in the kingdom of heaven.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
We are used to inequality in this world. It always has been, and always will be. Despite the plans of men; communism, workers vs bourgeoisie, Slavery, the feminist movement, even in Christianity, the church, there are divisions because of sin, there is inequality
But at the 2nd coming, there are no second-class citizens. The Thessalonians may have been concerned that their brothers and sisters who had passed would somehow miss the rapture, or the reunion of the 2nd coming of Christ. But Paul tells them, don’t worry, the Lord will gather all of those who are His own. In fact, He will call the dead back, before He calls the living.
We will all be on equal footing at the return of Christ. In fact, that is going to be the very first moment of complete equality that the people of God will have ever experienced.
Think about it, there have been 3 groups in Christianity from the time of Jesus resurrection, forward. The first group is comprised of just one individual; Jesus Himself. He is resurrected from the dead, and is in a permanent transformed, resurrected body. When He came out of the grave, He looked like a man, but was able to appear and disappear, enter rooms without opening doors. Yet He ate with the disciples. Sometimes they recognized Him, sometimes they didn’t. That new body has the capacity to live on earth, and in heaven, and to pass quickly between the two.
But, since Jesus’ resurrection, there has also been a second group; the righteous dead. Among them are the Old Testament saints, and any person who put their faith in Jesus Christ and died after Jesus rose. These are in heaven, but they are spirits. They have not been reunited with their earthly bodies and transformed as Jesus was. They are waiting for the return of Christ for that to happen. At present, there is inequality.
And then there is the third group. Believers who are still alive on earth. They are living the struggle of the Christian life, seeking to be in heaven, seeking to be changed.
But, at Jesus 2nd coming there will be inequality
And in that moment when He appears, in His glorified form, in the twinkling of an eye, the bodies of the dead saints will rise, and be transformed into their glorified forms and be united to their spirits as they descend with Christ in the heavens, and the living Christians will be caught up together with Him, and in the split second between their catching away, and their meeting Christ, they to will receive their new glorified form. There will be equality.
At that moment all the Church of God will finally be the same, like Christ in our glorified resurrected forms.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We all, living and dead become equal. We are all changed into our eternal forms; our bodies and spirits unit, corruption puts on incorruption, mortal puts on immortality, and we become lie Christ in His resurrected form. In the moment of the 2nd coming of Christ the ground is indeed level.
So, Paul says to those in Thessalonica, don’t worry about your departed loved ones, they are not second- class citizens in the kingdom. we will all be called together into a perfect equality, at the return of Christ.
First, there is resurrection. Then there is Transformation.
2. Transformation; the rapture of living Christians
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,[k] with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
The Lord Himself will descend from heaven. What a wonderful truth. He is not sending a subordinate. He’s not sending an ambassador or emissary. He is coming Himself. That has always been the promise to the followers of Christ. Let me show you. In Matthew 24 Jesus said,
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man (Jesus Himself) in heaven:
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
We are not waiting for angels, or prophets. We are waiting for the Lord Himself. Jesus said this to His disciples;
John 14: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
This is a remarkable truth. Jesus is coming Himself, and He is bringing Transformation
But the key point is; we are then with Him. He is here, and we are changed. We enter the millennial kingdom with Him, to rule under His Sovereignty over the world.
There is a branch of Christian teaching that says that the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth is not literal. They are called “Amillennialist.” In other words, they say that Jesus doesn’t reign visibly during the millennium. He reigns invisibly through His Church. And that Church is not yet transformed into their eternal forms. They are just mortal, sinful human beings. This branch teaches that the Church will end up ruling the world. This idea comes under the label of “Dominion Theology,” “Kingdom Now,” “Christian nationalism.”
They believe that we, the Church will bring in the 1000-year reign of Christ, by becoming influential, and dominant in government, until we have complete control. The world keeps going as it is, but Christians gain control. And that that control will last for 1000 years. Then after that, Jesus will present Himself visibly, resurrect and transform all believers and take them to heaven.
But I tell you what I am happy about? That’s not how Scripture describes Jesus’ setting up His kingdom. “The Lord Himself” will come, and we will be “transformed.” I am happy about two things here. First, I’m so happy that Jesus does not expect me to set up His 1000-year kingdom on this earth, as I am now. Can you imagine believing that? As a mortal, sinful human being, I’m supposed to take over the world’s institutions and make them Christian. We’ve got to get all and only Christians into position at all levels of government, from the school board to state and national government. And then we all have to agree on what God would have our laws to be. That makes me tired. It is enough for me that my job is to spread the gospel.
First, when Jesus comes back, there is the resurrection of the dead in Christ, then the transformation of the living in Christ, then there is reunion
3. Reunion
17 Then we who are still alive 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 encourage[l] one another with these words.
We will be reunited with all Christians of all ages, and with Christ, in the air.
So, here’s the order of events that Paul gives us. After the Tribulation, Jesus returns, the dead in Christ are resurrected and united with their spirits which have returned with Christ, the living believers are raptured and changed into new bodies as they meet Christ in the air.
It’s a glorious reunion. And, as far as I’m concerned, the Bible could have stopped the story there. People often ask, “Well then what happens?” We all meet in the air, then what? But the spiritual side of me says, “Who cares?” We are with our departed loved ones, and with Christ. We are in our new bodies. At that point, we just go where Jesus goes. But in my humanness, I want to know the events that will follow. So, here they are,
At the 2nd coming of Christ, all the living and dead saints are united with Christ in the air. They are all in their new bodies. There’s going to be a great big reunion in the air, in the atmosphere, or sky above the earth.
Some may wonder, well why are we meeting in the air? I’ve got an answer for you. Where on earth would it be possible for Jesus to meet all the Christians of all the ages, including Old Testament saints who trusted in a coming messiah before that messiah came the first time? Can we meet in Intrust arena? No, there is no place on earth to gather millions of Christians, except, in the air. At one time, we will all be able to see Him and hear Him.
So, what then? What happens after the gathering in the air?
After the gathering in the air, Jesus descends from heaven, and sets foot on the Mount of Olives. The Battle of Armageddon follows, and then His Millennial reign on earth. Jesus sets up His Kingdom on earth for 1000 years.
But you say, “what do we do?” From now on, we are “with the Lord” “Where I am, there you may be also.”
This is what I think. I think we remain in the air, like sitting in the grandstands while the final battle of Armageddon is fought. But at some point, we join Him on the earth to witness and be a part of the reign of Christ for a millennium.
Let me remind you of a verse we’ve cited before.
Jude 1: Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
But look at the next words,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jude describes the coming of Jesus, “with ten thousands of His saints.” And then immediately after Jude says the Lord comes with the saints, what does it say that He does? “execute judgment” the Battle of Armageddon, the judgment of the antichrist and his prophet, casting Satan out, and the judgment of the nations.
That’s what we do. We come with Him for the millennial kingdom.
Let me lay out the order that I’ve taught up until now.
First comes the 7- year Tribulation.
Then Jesus said that His 2nd coming will be “after the Tribulation.”
At His 2nd coming, He resurrects the righteous dead.
He also raptures the living Christians.
All Christians of all ages are with Him in the air.
Then He descends to the earth and sets His foot on the Mount of Olives.
We come with Him back to the earth.
The antichrist and the earth’s armies have gathered against Israel in the Valley of Megiddo.
Jesus descends and destroys those gathered armies, and saves Israel.
He sets up His Kingdom, based in Jerusalem. He rules the world. We, in our new forms, become His
Governing agents in the world.
What a wonderful promise; Resurrection, Transformation, Reunion, and reign.
Now, let me address an objection from those who teach a pre-tribulation rapture. If you believe, or you’ve been taught that the rapture of the Church happens before the Tribulation, you’ve also likely been taught that after the pre-trib rapture, Christians, the Church goes to heaven during the 7 years of Tribulation in the world. So Jesus returns invisibly, and takes Christians immediately to heaven.
So now I’m describing a chronology where Jesus returns after the Tribulation with all the dead saints, and the living saints are caught up and changed into their new bodies. And then, we all come back to earth for a thousand years.
We don’t immediately go back to heaven. We are caught up into the air, and then come right back down.
And your question is, “What is the point of that?” Why meet Him in the air? Why don’t we go back to heaven? If all we’re going to do is go up, and then come right back, why do we need to go up at all? He can still change us right where we stand. And they say this as an objection to believing the rapture is after the Tribulation. They are saying, “It’s ridiculous to believe that the rapture is after the Tribulation, because if it is, then Christians are just going to go up into the air, and then come right back down, what’s the point of that?”
Well, I have a three answers to that. And they paint a beautiful picture for us.
My first answer to the question, “why rapture Christians up into the air, just to have them immediately come back down?” is, I don’t have to answer that. An old saying goes, “Ours is not to question why, ours is just to do or die.” And in Christian terms what that means to me is, see if you agree with this. If Jesus says that “5+3=8.” As Christians, we believe what Jesus says. Right?
You may say, “But I’ve always believed that 5+3=9.” It doesn’t matter what you have always believed. If you discover that Jesus said something different, by faith we believe what Jesus said. You might say, and by the way, we get this a lot in Christian circles, “That doesn’t make sense to me that 5+3=8.”
How many times have we heard people debate about Christian doctrines by saying, “Well that doesn’t make sense?” The Jehovah’s Witnesses say, “That doesn’t make sense that Jesus is God.” People say, “It doesn’t make sense that Jesus is both God and man.” “It doesn’t make sense that God is in control of everything, but will judge us for our choices.”
But if we are believers, for the most part, we say, “I don’t entirely understand it, but by faith I believe it.” Here’s my point. It is not our job to make sense out of everything in the Bible. It is our job to figure out what it says, and to believe it.
So, my first reply to those who say, it doesn’t make sense for us to go up in the rapture, and then come right back down is, “if that’s the way Jesus said it would happen, it’s not our job to make sense of it, it’s our job to believe.”
My second answer to that objection is a practical one. You ask, “why gather us all in the air, just to come back to earth for the millennium?” This is my answer. In the millennium, believers will have jobs to do, won’t they? We will reign with Christ as kings and priests. In one of Jesus’ parables the master gave a steward 5 minas, to invest while the master is gone. The same thing was done for a stewards with 10 and one mina. When the master returned, the stewards over 5 and 10 minas had doubled the master’s investment. The master said to these two, “well done good servant, because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over 5 cities, over 10 cities.” This parable is in Luke 19.
A Mina was about 3 month’s salary for an average working man. But notice what the master said, “you were faithful with what I gave you, I’m going to make you responsible for the government of 5 or 10 cities. This is what will happen at the millennial kingdom. Faithful Christians will be given positions of authority, based on their faithfulness during their lives.
Now, do you know what your job is going to be in the millennium? I don’t know what mine will be. Do you know where you will be stationed in the world? I don’t know where I will be stationed. So, it would probably be a good idea to get everybody together before we are all dispatched to our jobs, wouldn’t it? We need to have a big meeting before work begins?
My third answer to the question, “Why have us go up, if we are just going to come back down?” is a beautiful picture of what happened in the ancient world when a king or dignitary visited a city. In the ancient world, if a king was coming to town, or even just a special visitor, do you know what the people of that town would do? They would go out of the town, and meet the king on the road, welcome Him and escort Him back to town. It was sort of like a parade scenario. It is similar to what happened to Jesus as He came to Jerusalem at His triumphal entry. As soon as people found out Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, as soon as they found out where He was, they left town to meet Him. They cut down palm branches and spread them as a welcome mat on the road into Jerusalem. They shouted “Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
And that is a beautiful picture of the return of Christ. We meet Him in the air, because we will accompany Him as the returning Victor. We are His entourage.