Wednesday, November 16, 2016
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
FOREVER WITH THE LORD
There can be no doubt at all that these words refer to the second coming of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus who visibly ascended will also descend from heaven. Then all these things will occur in an instant (1 Corinthians 15:52):
A cry of command -- There will be a cry or shout of command and all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and arise from their graves (John 5:28).
The Voice of an Archangel -- will be heard as the angels of God return with Him to this earth. This will be no secret, but an event unlike any other this world has known.
The Trumpet of God -- will sound announcing the Coming of the Lord to all. Then all the dead will be raised, and the souls of those who died believing in Christ will be reunited with their resurrected bodies and glorified, as it is also written (1 Corinthians 15:51-52): "Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed."
Those who have died in Christ, whose passing we have mourned and whose bodies sleep in their graves to this very day, will arise from the dead. They will not miss out on the glorious return of the Lord Jesus. They will not be left behind here to sleep for eternity.
Therefore, we do not grieve at death as those who have no hope in Christ. We do not merely hope they are in a "better place" for the Scripture declares that they are with the Lord which is far better (Philippians 1:23). They will remain with the Lord Christ until He returns in glory.
