1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God… I. THE CERTAINTY OF THE RESURRECTION. The heathen quite derided the idea of the resurrection (Acts 17:18, 32), deeming it incredible (Acts 26:8); and some who professed Christianity explained away the doctrine relating to it, and represented the resurrection as a merely spiritual change which had passed already (2 Timothy 2:18). Even some of the Thessalonian Church did not appear to be well grounded in it; and hence St. Paul affirmed that it was a doctrine on which they might fully rely. 1. They did believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. On these two facts all Christianity was founded. If Jesus had not risen, all their faith in Him, and all their hope from Him, was altogether in vain (1 Corinthians 15:13-18). These two facts admitted, the resurrection of man would follow, of course. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was both an evidence that God can raise the dead, and a pledge that He will. The same omnipotence that raised Him can raise us. He is "the first fruits of them that sleep." II. THE ORDER IN WHICH THE RESURRECTION WILL BE EFFECTED. This, perhaps, is a matter of curiosity, rather than of any great practical importance; but Paul would not that the Thessalonian Christians should be ignorant of it, and therefore it is worthy of our attention. 1. The dead will be raised from their graves. All that have ever departed out of the world will be restored to life, each clothed in his own proper body. 2. Those who remain alive upon the earth will be charged. They will remain unchanged until all the dead are raised. Their change will be instantaneous. Without dissolution as preparatory to it, the mortal will put on immortality, the material will assume the spiritual. All will then be in that form which they will bear through the ever lasting ages. What an amazing difference will then appear in them! The godly — how beautiful! the ungodly — how deformed! and both having either heaven or hell depicted in their very countenance! 3. Then will they be caught up to meet the Lord. Yes, into the presence of their Judge they must go; and as the earth would not be a theatre sufficient for such an occasion, they must meet the Lord in the air. Blessed summons to the godly! awful indeed to the ungodly! III. THE ISSUE OF THE RESURRECTION TO THE SAINTS. 1. They will receive a sentence of acquittal, or, rather, of unqualified approbation — "Well done, good and faithful servants." 2. They will ascend with Christ and His bright attendants to the heaven of heavens. 3. They will then behold His glory which He had with His Father before the world was. Oh, how bright their vision of His glory! how unbounded their fruition of His love! Nothing now could add to their felicity; nor could anything detract from it. That, too, which constitutes its chief ingredient is — that it will be "forever." Were this supreme happiness to be only of limited duration, it would be incomplete; the idea of its ultimate termination would rob it of half its value. But it will be pure and endless as the Deity Himself. (C. Simeon, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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