By The Rev. Ron Purkey
Guest Columnist

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

“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.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

The Rev. Ron Purkey

This is the great passage on the rapture of the church.

Sorrow had come to the lives of these believers, and they were wondering whether their dead fellow Christians would be left behind at the return of Christ. The Apostle Paul assures them that their dead will be raised first, and that all the saints will be gathered together to meet Christ in the air.

The rapture (meeting Christ in the air) can take place at any time; but the great tribulation will happen shortly after the rapture, and the Revelation (the second coming of Christ) will occur some seven years after the rapture.

First, there is the comfort that death for the believer is only sleep. “Sleep in Jesus” in verse 14 is literally “put to sleep through Jesus.” Regardless of how a believer dies, Jesus Christ is there to put him to sleep. Of course, the soul goes to be with Christ (Philippians 1:20-24; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8); it is the body that sleeps, not the soul. The word “cemetery” means “a sleeping place”; it is the place where the bodies sleep, awaiting the resurrection.

Second, there is the comfort of heavenly reunion. The hardest thing about death is separation from our loved ones; but when Christ comes, we will be “together with the Lord” forever. The living saints will not precede those who have died; all will be caught up together to meet Christ.

Third, there is the comfort of eternal blessing. We shall be “forever with the Lord.” We shall obtain new bodies (1 John 3:1-3; Philippians 3:20-21). Paul says that the body we place in the cemetery is like a seed awaiting the harvest (1 Corinthians 15:35-58). Of course, the body turns to dust, and that dust becomes a part of the earth (Genesis 3:19).

The Bible no where teaches that God raises and unites every particle of the believer’s body. What it does teach is that the resurrection body has identity with the body that was buried. Just as the seed that is planted (and that dies) in the ground has identity and continuity with the seed it produces, so the resurrection body will have identity and continuity with the body that was buried. Resurrection is not reconstruction.

The words “caught up” (verse 17) are full of meaning. They mean: (1) to catch away speedily, for there will be no warning (1 Thessalonians 5:1-10); (2) to seize by force, for Satan will seek to hinder our Rapture to heaven; (3) to claim for one’s self, just as the bridegroom claims the bride; (4) to move to a new place; and (5) to rescue from danger, for true believers in Jesus Christ will not go through the coming Tribulation (1 Thessalonians1:10; 5:9).